Innotech sells PCS to Hindu

Innotech said it installed a Panorama Centerfold System at The Hindu in Chennai, India. The system, Innotech’s first in the Indian market, was placed on the daily’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries DiamondSpirit press.

Innotech modified the PCS to mesh with the press. The system will allow The Hindu to produce three- and four-page-wide center spreads inside the newspaper. Two more presses will be equipped with PCS systems next month, Innotech said.

Latin American publisher opts for DTI circ app

Corporación La Prensa S.A., of Panama purchased Digital Technology International’s DTICirculation to the newsgroup’s two publications, La Prensa and Mi Diario.

DTICirculation will manage the publisher’s circulation, distribution, marketing and reporting software to help improve efficiencies at Corporación La Prensa, DTI said.

“We were confronting high return rates on some sales points and running out of stock in others,” said Carlos Rabat, general manager, Corporación La Prensa. “We needed a program that would effectively evaluate production and distribution volumes, with a user-friendly interface. We are expecting a reduction in return rates while increasing circulation through better allocation amongst sales points.”

DotLine to unveil new CTP at IfraExpo

DotLine GmbH said it will unveil a new computer-to-plate unit, the DotLine Vmax, at IfraExpo in Vienna next month.

The new unit has a power spectrum from 50 single plates per hour up to unique 400 single plates per hour, the vendor said.

The VMax is available as semi-automatic or fully automatic device, and can expose plates formats from 300-by-490 millimeters up to 640-by-930 mm.

The fully automatic unit has a modular loading device and allows a straight, left or right orientated plate flow so that it is easy to integrate and flexible, DotLine said.

HP partners with RR Donnelley for digital press options

Hewlett-Packard and R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. finalized plans on a collaboration to develop digital printing solutions for inkjet-based digital presses.

"With the introduction of the Inkjet Web Press at Drupa last year, we broke new ground in the analog-to-digital transformation of the graphics industry," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP’s Imaging and Printing Group.

“We are taking this transformation one step further by collaborating with the world’s largest print service provider to bring greater value to our customers.”

Under the proposed arrangement, RR Donnelley’s Research and Development Center is expected to collaborate with the Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions unit of HP to develop new digital printing technologies. Products will be sold under the HP brand.

The companies said they initially plan to focus on the development of a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) printing solution.

In Brief

Richard Cowles joined ColorQuick LLC as a business development analyst.

KBA North America named Mark Hischar, president and CEO. He will officially begin his new post Oct. 1, 2009.

German regional newspaper publisher Nordwest Zeitung said it will roll out Methode software from EidosMedia to support its print and online operations.

The Beacon-News in Aurora, Ill., introduced its new tabloid format today. The Sun-Times Media Group paper is the second newspaper in as many weeks to convert to a tab, with the Post-Tribune in Gary, Ind., announcing its conversion effective Oct. 5.

McClatchy Co. said that all 30 of its daily newspapers joined AP Mobile. The Associated Press’ AP Mobile is a multimedia news portal that provides anytime access to international, national and local news.

Quark Inc. said will make all of its software available for purchase through DistributorX Inc. The agreement replaces a distribution agreement Quark formerly had with ThePowerXChange.com, Quark said.

Commercial printer Consolidated Graphics Inc. purchased two Xeikon 5000plus 1,200 dpi digital color presses. The presses are in addition to the Xeikon 6000s that CGI has already been using to produce high-quality dust jackets for photo books.

Mediaspectrum Inc. said its platform is now available as an Internet-delivered service accessible to users via a Web browser.


Pageflex, a division of Bitstream Inc. and Choice Software, a system integrator for the printing industry, announced that CPS Printing in Carlsbad, Calif., a commercial print enterprise, implemented an integrated production workflow that automatically transfers data between their online logistics solution, cor-Port (powered by Pageflex Storefront), and their MIS platform. The bi-directional integration was developed by Choice Software using their ChoiceICE connector product, which eliminates manual data entry by digitally transferring order, job, and shipping information between the two systems.


Protecmedia said it will unveil SHIPO, software based on geomarketing, designed to manage everything connected to the circulation of a newspaper, at IfraExpo in Vienna next month.
The app allows close control of delivery routes and sales outlets, obtaining data that, once cross-referenced, generates valuable results publishers can use to optimize performance, Protecmedia said.

Xeikon, a division of Punch Graphix, and Screen (USA) entered a joint marketing program. Through the program, Screen will be able to offer the Xeikon digital color solutions to its US-based clients for book publishing and transactional/TransPromo applications and Xeikon will be able to offer the Truepress jet 520.

Sept. 11, 2009 -- KBA names North American president

KBA North America today named Mark Hischar president and CEO, effective Oct. 1.
Prior to joining KBA North America, Hischar was the president, CEO, and board member of W+D Machinery Co., an Overland Park, Kan., wholly-owned subsidiary of a German manufacturer of envelope manufacturing machines. He also served as president and CEO of Royse Manufacturing Co. and held an executive post at Matthews International Corp., a prepress and printing plate vendor.
"I am honored to begin my new post at KBA North America at a time when the company is poised to enter a new growth phase," Hischar said in a statement. "I look forward to leading the company ahead as a top-performing customer-oriented manufacturer in both sheetfed and webfed presses."
Hischar succeeds Holger Garbrecht.

Sept. 8, 2009 — Gannett consolidating ad production at 2 sites

Gannett Co. Inc. will consolidate ad production of its 83 U.S. Community Publishing newspapers at two new ad production centers to be located at the Des Moines (Iowa) Register and Indianapolis Star.
The transition, to begin this fall, will concentrate the bulk of U.S. Community Publishing’s ad production and prepress activities at the two newspapers. The full rollout will be completed in 2011.
Gannett will use DPS Inc.’s AdTracker enterprise edition software to underpin the centers. Sixty Gannett papers already use the software, according to Scott Waschitz, DPS’ vice president of development and client services.
Documents posted on the Gannettoid.com Web site said undisclosed staff reductions will occur as a result of the consolidation, but both The Register and The Star reported they expect to add employees once the new centers are fully operational.
The creation of the ad production centers mirrors what Gannett did in 2007 when it opened two regional toning centers — also based in Des Moines and Indianapolis — to process images groupwide.