Minuteman Press Franchise Owners Lynne and John Regas Show Print is Essential in Frankfort, Illinois (whattheythink.com)

Walker Printing LLC of Red Bluff, Calif., recently upgraded its prepress department to improve their ecological impact with a new Suprasetter A75 Gen III CtP and Saphira ND 100 plates from Heidelberg. In an effort to make Walker Printing greener, the company switched from an older, less efficient CtP device. Using the lowest heat output and energy usage in its class, the Suprasetter A75 makes a huge impact on Walker’s energy output. Additionally, the Suprasetter A75 only requires the pressroom to be below 86° F, so it does not need extra cooling to run. Click Read More below for additional details.

The final chapter has been written for Offset Paperback Manufacturers (OPM), based in Dallas, Pa., with the end of May closure of what, in its heyday, was reportedly the largest paperback book manufacturing plant in the world — employing nearly 1,000 unionized workers, within a 24/7 operation, and capable of producing more than 250 million books per year. Founded in 1972, several generations of local families were employed at the OPM Back Mountain facility, but the employee head counts had dwindled over the years with various rounds of cutbacks and retirements. CapEx investments were also not being made at OPM to replace what was an aging fleet of offset presses and ancillary equipment, which impacted OPM's efficiency and operating cost structure.

CJK Group, Inc. announced that it has completed an agreement to acquire the assets of Times Printing, LLC in Random Lake, Wisconsin. Previously owned and operated as part of Nicholas Karabots’ Kappa Media Group of affiliated companies, the 324,000 sq. ft. print facility specializes in high quality 4-color printing of magazines, catalogs, and a wide spectrum of commercial print products. Times Printing capably serves the retail, consumer, and special interest markets, including B2B, travel and leisure, comics, and fundraising industries. The facility handles a variety of finish sizes, including digest, tabloid, slim jim, and oblong. Web and sheetfed presses accommodate long runs, short runs, and short cut-off work, heat set processes, and complex versioning and fulfillment. The facility offers full mailing and logistics services including co-mail, co-mingle, bound printed matter, and drop ship mailing. This acquisition will bring additional services and capabilities to the Sheridan companies, while giving Sheridan access to new markets. Organizationally, the plant will be recognized under the Sheridan brand, to be known as Sheridan Random Lake.