In Memoriam - Carlos Kaldas
It is with great sadness that the family and staff of Tharwat (Carlos) Kaldas announce his passing after a long battle with cancer.

Carlos will be remembered as a good kind friend to all he encountered in this industry, as well as in his personal life.
Carlos built Federal Graphics over 15 years to a vibrant successful company. He was always willing to offer his advise and assistance to anyone who asked for his help. He will be sadly missed by all the staff at Federal and the clients with whom he had such great relationships.
The family and staff wish to assure everyone that the business will continue as before, with Paul Mark Kaldas taking over the operations of the company.

RP Graphics expands its extensive services with an Inca Spyder 320+ six-colour printer
RP Graphics Group, a commercial printer located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, has extended its full-service offerings by installing an Inca Digital Spyder 320+ six-color flatbed printer, purchased from Fujifilm Canada.

RP Graphics Group has grown over the past 30 years to become a comprehensive provider of print and documents with specialization in commercial and digital printing, and most recently 1:1 Marketing and web-based solutions. The company has always evolved its commercial printing offer by embracing new technology to maintain its leadership position in the market. Blending the latest in digital print and Internet technologies, RP Graphics Group provides leading edge solutions to its wide variety of customers which includes very large retail accounts.
“We have some retail customers who were using our resources combined with some from another printer,” explains George Mazzaferro, RP Graphics President. “We knew that by adding a flatbed digital printer, we could be a one-stop shop, printing and distributing all our customers’ materials. We could print sheets and separately mount them, but the ability to print finished products using the Spyder 320+ flatbed printer seemed like an excellent idea.” With very little time to finish projects, typically a few days, speed was extremely important, along with exceptional quality and flexibility to print on virtually any substrate.

Avanti to demo its JDF Framework at Graph Expo
Think JDF is the exclusive domain of large print shops? Think again! Avanti has several large JDF customers but also several customers with less that 30 people that are realizing the benefits of a JDF-based workflow every day.

Avanti offers a JDF Framework that gives print shops the ability to send automated JDF job instructions directly to the prepress department and subsequently to digital and litho presses as well as the bindery equipment. Upon job completion, information is automatically passed back to Avanti using JDF/JMF for job tracking and job costing.

To arrange a demonstration of Avanti’s JDF Framework at Graph Expo, please contact Michele at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or visit Avanti at booth 4241.

Xpedx names Canadian paper distribution executive Mike Kearney as Group Vice President
Xpedx has named Michael Kearney, a veteran Canadian paper and graphics industry executive, as head of its Canadian operations and new Toronto-area distribution center.

Meantime, the company said it is making progress toward full operations in Fall 2007 at its new Brampton, Ont. operations and distribution center, which will also serve as the national headquarters of xpedx Canada.  xpedx has announced a new 150,000-square foot distribution center as well as two paper and graphics stores in Brampton and Markham, Ont.  xpedx is a major North American distributor of printing papers, graphics, packaging and janitorial-sanitary supplies and equipment.

Kearney, who previously served as president and chief operating officer for Vancouver-based Coast Papers, has a 30-year career working with printers of all sizes across Canada.  He has a demonstrated commitment to strong supplier relationships and an established record of expanding service and support to the Canadian printing industry.

“Mike is a proven leader and is the best person for this important new position at xpe @graphicartsmag.com dx,” said xpedx executive vice president Art Douville. “He knows how to build customer-driven businesses, is expert in paper, printing and supply chain management, and is focused on bringing customers the best local market offering of products and service.” Kearney will report to Douville, who is based at xpedx headquarters in Loveland, Ohio.

All Internet-based Remote Service functions are now available for all Heidelberg CtP systems.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is now equipping all its Computer-to-Plate (CtP) systems, both the Suprasetter and Prosetter families, with all Internet-based Remote Service functions. Since the end of 2006, when the company first began equipping the Suprasetter A series with Remote Service functions, 20 percent of all systems worldwide have been connected up to Heidelberg Remote Service, and this trend is growing rapidly.

“Customer demand for intelligent, online-based services is growing all the time, which is not surprising given the clear benefits this Heidelberg solution offers as an overarching technology. While rapid reaction times help boost machine availability, the drop in service callouts drives down costs,” explains Bernhard Steinel, Senior Vice President Service at Heidelberg, neatly summing up how Remote Services benefit users.
Heidelberg has been offering its customers Internet-based Remote Services since 2004. Users can link their production systems via the Internet to their local Heidelberg service team, which can diagnose any problems online, resolve many issues directly, or prepare appropriate solutions. Service representatives can also provide users with guidance and assistance via the Internet.

The launch of the Suprasetter A52/A74 in the fall of 2006 made the latest generation of Remote Services a key component of the Heidelberg portfolio for customers working with CtP (Computer-to-Plate). As a result, almost all Heidelberg prepress, press and postpress products are now equipped with this technology. “This makes Heidelberg the only supplier that offers its customers the far-ranging benefits of an Internet-based remote service solution across the entire value-added chain,” comments Steinel.

SPICERS and Coast Paper to Sell KODAK NEXPRESS Presses
SPICERS, a Division of PaperlinX Canada Limited, and Coast Paper, a Division of PaperlinX Canada Limited, now offer a full line of KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Production Color Presses, making it easier than ever for Canadian printers to adopt the award winning digital print technology. Under terms of the agreement, SPICERS and Coast Paper will sell the KODAK NEXPRESS 2100, 2100 Plus and 2500 Presses, and the recently announced S3000 when available later this year.

“SPICERS’ and Coast Paper’s sales associates are some of the most highly trained and knowledgeable in the business and their customer base stretches throughout Canada, making them an ideal sales partner for the KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Color Platform,” said Kevin Joyce, Managing Director, United States and Canada, Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. “We look forward to working with SPICERS and Coast Paper to help Canadian printers capitalize on the growth opportunities presented by digital print.”

X-Rite to Acquire Pantone, Inc.
X-Rite Incorporated, a leading provider of color solutions for measuring, formulating, matching, and simulating color, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Pantone, Inc. for $180 million. The deal is expected to close in the fall of 2007.

Pantone, Inc., headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, is an authority on color inspiration for the design world with the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM, an innovative system for identifying, matching and communicating colors to solve color reproduction problems in the graphic arts market. Pantone has expanded its color matching system to other industries where accurate color reproductions are critical, including digital technology, fashion, home, plastics, architecture and contract interiors, and paint.

Pantone generated revenue of approximately $42 million in 2006 with adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of approximately 27 percent of revenue. Pantone sells its products, services and technology directly, and through hundreds of licensees in over 100 countries in the graphic arts, fashion, home, interior, plastics, architectural, paint, industrial design and consumer markets.

Anticipated strategic, operational and financial benefits of the acquisition include:

Deepening X-Rite’s range of offerings by adding Pantone’s color standards to its leadership position in hardware, software and services solutions

Leveraging X-Rite’s global presence and distribution capabilities to expand the reach of Pantone’s color solutions

Enhancing X-Rite’s revenue-generating opportunities and further diversifying its revenue base

Accelerating technology and business model innovation

Achieving significant synergies in marketing, operations and administration

The transaction is expected to be accretive to X-Rite’s cash earnings per share during year two of the combined operations. X-Rite expects to achieve approximately $6.5 million of annual operating expense cost savings associated with the transaction in year two. During the first year, the company expects to incur cash restructuring costs of approximately $5.5 million.

Agfa Graphics Names New Account Manager for Canadian Inkjet Market.
Agfa Graphics Canada announced today the appointment of Jonathan Browne as account manager, Inkjet. Browne, who has extensive experience in the graphic communications industry, will create and implement sales initiatives designed to promote the benefits of Agfa’s :Anapurna and :Dotrix to printing and graphic arts professionals throughout Canada.

Takeover Bid by Transcontinental to Acquire Printer PLM Group for C$3.50 Per Share
Transcontinental Inc. and PLM Group Ltd. today announced that Transcontinental has agreed to make a takeover bid to the shareholders of PLM, Canada’s fourth-largest printer. PLM has 470 employees in four facilities in the Greater Toronto Area. In 2006, it reported revenues of $126 million.

Transcontinental is making an all-cash offer to acquire all of PLM’s approximately 29.5 million shares outstanding, on a fully diluted basis, at C$3.50 per share, for a total enterprise value of $130 million including debt. Transcontinental and PLM have signed a Support Agreement pursuant to which the PLM Board of Directors has unanimously agreed to recommend that shareholders accept the offer of Transcontinental. Barry N. Pike, founder and Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of PLM, and Pike Holdings Inc., a holding company controlled by Mr. Pike, which combined hold approximately 51.2% of the shares outstanding, have signed a hard Lock-Up Agreement pursuant to which they have agreed to tender the shares they hold and accept the offer of Transcontinental.

The PLM Board of Directors has received an opinion from the financial advisor to the PLM Board of Directors and Special Committee that Transcontinental’s offer is fair to PLM shareholders from a financial point of view. The PLM Board of Directors, after consultation with its financial and outside advisors, has determined that the price per-share is fair and in the best interests of the Corporation and its shareholders, and is recommending that PLM shareholders accept the offer of Transcontinental. Transcontinental’s offer represents a premium of 19% over the closing price of PLM shares on the TSX on August 13, 2007, the day before PLM announced that it was in exclusive talks with a potential buyer, and 25% over the closing price of PLM shares on the TSX yesterday, August 20, 2007.

Outlook for the global printing industry
PRIMIR/NPES recently published a series of three reports entitled “The World-Wide Market for Print 2006-2011.” The research was conducted by UK’s Pira International. The first report identified and profiled 51 country markets that essentially account for 99% of the global print market. The second report explored those markets and identified the markets for printing equipment, paper and supplies. The final report rolls up the findings from the first two phases, identifies and profiles eleven key emerging or developing markets, and provides a global forecast as well as forecasts for each print market including forecasts for equipment, paper and consumables markets through 2011.
According to the study, the global print market is forecast to grow by 18% to US$721 billion by 2011, with fastest growth in developing/emerging countries.

Markzware Donates Preflight Software To PIA/GATF
Markzware, the leading developer of preflighting, data extraction and conversion software, today announced the donation to PIA/GATF of a thirty-seat license of FlightCheck Professional.

FlightCheck Professional is a preflight tool for professional designers and prepress production departments within the print, graphics, and publishing industries.

Joseph Marin, Senior Prepress Technologist at PIA/GATF, states, “FlightCheck Professional is an important component to both PIA/GATF production and training programs. FlightCheck Professional is a tool used to efficiently preflight both native application files and PDF files. The software’s user-friendly interface and short learning curve is a perfect fit for our training programs.”

GRAPH EXPO 2007 Sells Out Exhibit Space
Graphic communications professionals will find a plethora of new equipment, products and services—and first-time exhibitors - at this year’s sold out GRAPH EXPO 2007 to be held in Chicago’s McCormick Place South, September 9-12, 2007. Showcasing an all-inclusive blend of offset and digital printing equipment, products, software and supplies, this year’s total count of 640 exhibitors welcomes over 120 new vendors to the 460,984 net sq. ft. of exhibit space and reconfirms GRAPH EXPO’s status as the largest graphic communications exhibition and conference in the Western Hemisphere.

With the number of exhibitors and amount of square footage sold exceeding 2006 numbers, this year’s GRAPH EXPO promises visitors to the event an unsurpassed opportunity to see and explore “everything print” with live running applications throughout the show floor demonstrating every step of the print process from prepress, to finishing, to converting and package printing, to wide format printing, to mailing and fulfillment, and the latest new profit opportunities utilizing digital technologies.

“The dynamic environment created by the growth of this year’s GRAPH EXPO offers even more opportunities for show goers to connect with industry vendors to learn about the latest technologies and explore new business opportunities,” noted Ralph Nappi, President of the Graphic Arts Show Company. “The presence of so many new exhibitors on the sold out show floor underscores the depth and breadth of the cutting-edge technologies and ideas that will be on display at the show,” he added.

HP and Pantone Develop New HP Indigo Digital Color Toolbox to Take the Guesswork Out of Spot-color Matching

HP today announced the availability of a Digital Color Toolbox developed by HP and Pantone to further enable accurate reproduction of PANTONE® Colors with HP Indigo digital color presses. This latest product offering is the next step in a history of close cooperation between HP and Pantone, continuing a collaboration that has already yielded the broadest range of Pantone-licensed solutions in the digital printing world.

The Pantone and HP Indigo Digital Color Toolbox includes the PANTONE COLOR BRIDGE® swatchbook, as well as the CMYK and HP IndiChrome on-press color guide. Together, the two swatchbooks offer a convenient way to compare solid PANTONE Colors with their simulations in offset four-color, HP Indigo four-color, and HP IndiChrome on-press six-color processes.

Smart Papers upgrades passport recycled line

SMART Papers has upgraded and added four new colors to Passport, one of the earliest recycled and fiber-added printing paper lines in the U.S.  All Passport products now contain 30% post-consumer waste fiber.  The updated line is showcased in a new swatchbook, which doubles as a print demonstration.

SMART Papers is North America’s largest independent manufacturer and marketer of premium coated and uncoated printing papers.  Passport is its premier uncoated line of recycled, fiber-enhanced papers and maintains one of the industry’s largest palettes in smooth and felt finishes.
Designers have long sought fiber-enhanced papers to create dimensional pieces, giving them depth and visual texture as well as a ‘color-in-color’ look.  The Passport upgrade restructured the line so it now features only the papers of most interest to today’s printers, designers and end-users.

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