Mittera Celebrates New Koenig & Bauer Rapida 105 PRO Press (piworld.com)

Despite the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy and within the printing industry, Marquis is announcing two significant investments at its Toronto plant. These investments aim to increase the production capacity of monochrome and color books for trade, educational and professional publishing markets. "These investments demonstrate the trust we have in the publishing world. We sincerely believe that the paper book is resilient and will go through future crises and technological developments to remain the refuge of knowledge and imagination. We have dedicated and very professional employees who operate our equipment and the existing management team created the confidence to enable Marquis to continue to invest in the operations of Marquis Toronto," said Serge Loubier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marquis Book Printing. click read more below for details

Worzalla was ranked the largest employee-owned book printer in North America and the fifth-largest North American book printer in Printing Impressions’ latest industry rankings titled “2021 Printing Impressions 300.” Worzalla was also ranked the 63rd largest printer by annual sales on the general list that includes all printing companies in North America. This is the second consecutive year Worzalla has been ranked as a Top 5 Market Segment Leader in the book printing category. Worzalla also held its ranking as the 63rd largest printer from last year. “Our consistent growth and ranking in Printing Impressions’ annual report is a reflection of Worzalla’s ability to support its customers as book sales continue to increase across America,” said Jim Fetherston, President and CEO of Worzalla. “Much of our success is due to our dedicated associates, who do so much to deliver quality products for our customers despite the challenges our industry has faced over the last few years.” In 2021 Worzalla launched phase three of its modernization plan adding needed printing capacity to its facilities in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The expansion included the addition of a new casemaker and press. Additionally, Worzalla continued to grow its workforce for the day-to-day operations of creating the millions of books ordered by Worzalla’s customers each year.

CJK Group, led by CEO Chris Kurtzman, is a largely unknown, low-profile industry conglomerate that's been methodically consolidating the book manufacturing market. But the entity can no longer fly under the radar screen as it sounds another "Bang!" ... no pun intended ... with yet another major M&A transaction. The latest acquisition by Brainerd, Minn.-based Bang Printing and its holding company, CJK Group, is the assets of Webcrafters, a 270-employee, Madison, Wis., printer that caters to the educational publishing community as a manufacturer of textbooks, workbooks, teacher and student guides, and related educational support materials. Terms of the definitive agreement reached between the two privately-held companies were not disclosed. CJK Group is the holding company for Bang Printing, a manufacturer of books, catalogs, publications and fulfillment services in Brainerd, Minn., and Palmdale, Calif., which has already acquired Hess Print Solutions in Brimfield, Ohio; Sentinel Printing, St. Cloud, Minn.; Victor Graphics in Baltimore; Sinclair Printing, Los Angeles; and The Sheridan Group with production facilities in Waterbury, Vt., Hanover, N.H., Hanover, Pa., Chelsea, Mich., and a corporate office in Hunt Valley, Md. Prior to Webcrafters, CJK Group's most recent acquisition comprised the $196.5 million, 1,000-employee Sheridan Group this past April. Click Read More below for additional detail.