Asia
Sometimes you have to search high and low to find what you want. For Doug Bekkering, press and quantity team leader at RBC Ministries, and Doug Eizenga, maintenance engineer at the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Christian publisher, their search for a press led them to Madrid, Spain.
MGI USA, the multi-substrate (paper and plastic) digital press and finishing solutions manufacturer, announced that they have added six new dealers to their U.S. network within recent months: The Oldham Group, Graphco, Paper Handling Solutions, Guaranteed Service & Supplies, Inc. (GSS Graphics), Print & Finishing Solutions and Ken Williams Graphic Consulting, Inc.
In the midst of Drupa, the spotlight shifted briefly to the U.S. printing industry during a press luncheon in which Public Printer Bob Tapella and NPES President Ralph Nappi addressed journalists. Quoting NPES survey data, Nappi revealed that the key issues concerning U.S. printers are the economy (by far), followed by profitability and rising energy/paper prices. He noted that the U.S. print market will dominate the global print market over the next three years but will continue to lose share to Asia. U.S. printers will continue expanding into value-added services, he noted. Tapella, who led a delegation of 17 GPO staffers to Drupa to
Lasermax Roll Systems has appointed Jeff Kewin as president, Americas and Asia/Pacific. For the past three and a half years, Kewin was executive vice president, global marketing and business development for Lasermax Roll Systems. William Carroll, the prior president, Americas, was recently promoted to president and CEO of Lasermax Roll Systems. Previously, Kewin was president of the U.S. operation of the Stralfors Lasermax division, after being promoted to this position from an earlier stint as vice president and general manager.
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—It’s official: drupa 2008 will break all previous records. With some 170,000 square metres of net exhibition space (roughly equivalent to 40 soccer fields) and exhibitor numbers topping 1,800, the print media fair to be staged from 29 May to 11 June 2008 will be the biggest ever in its more than 50-year history. This will entail the use of the Düsseldorf Trade Fair Center’s full capacity, including all new additions. There were already indications of this trend last year, shortly before the official close of registrations on 31 October. Increases to leading international technology suppliers’ space requirements, plus larger-scale joint presentations from