PRINTING United Expo

At the inaugural PRINTING United, Dino Pagliarello of Konica Minolta discusses the debut of the MGI JETvarnish 3D One.

Blue Octopus is a printing operation serving AWRC, parent company Benchmark Human Services, and the private sector. It prints for the organization, generates revenues, and provides jobs for disabled workers.

A Philadelphia, Pa.-based printer received a large project with a tight deadline for a bank chain. The project consisted of more than 15,000 wide-format posters encapsulated using a 10mil gloss thermal laminate front and back. The print shop used the AGL 6400 from Advanced Greig Laminators to perform this project.

An exploration of “convergence” by industry thought leaders Marco Boer and David Zwang turned into a freewheeling, open discussion.

I’ve seen profound change within the industry, and within the core printing segments SGIA has long represented. As with all new technologies, some saw the possibility inherent in their use, while others viewed them as a threat to the status-quo. Over the years since, “the shock of the new,” has become “the new normal.”

The current unemployment rate is less than 4%, hovering near the lowest it’s been since the late 1960s. There are now more job openings than unemployed job seekers — a huge shift from last decade’s recession, where more than six unemployed people were vying for each job opening.

Ford Bowers, president and CEO of SGIA, and Dave Leskusky, president of NAPCO Media, offered their insights into what PRINTING United will mean to the industry and how the two organizations behind the show have grown even closer over the past few years.

Ultimate Paperbox, City of Industry, Calif., will expand market share with its Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-8+L, which will give them the ability to consistently produce high-end products at 18,000 sph.

One of the more comprehensive printIQ builds undertaken recently was for CPC Colorado, which recently expanded through the acquisition of a new company specializing in wide-format and flexo. With the acquisition of the new company wanted to bring everything into its existing MIS system.

Kingery Printing Company (KPC), a family-owned company in Effingham, Ill., installed a Versafire EP from Heidelberg to satisfy its short-run workload and provide the flexibility it needs to allocate jobs between its digital and offset equipment.