PRESSMAKERS' FUTURE PRESENT

The six companies still active in the U.S. rotary-press market continue to carve out market share, but are becoming as different in philosophy and direction as night and day. Still, all plan to demonstrate surprising new technologies this year while addressing existing customer concerns, top representatives said during the second of two Friday SuperConference segments on press issues and answers.

One new technology suspected of all, but confirmed by few, is digital printing. Three manufacturers now plan to show prototypes of working digital presses at DRUPA 2000, May's massive equipment show in Dusseldorf, Germany: Heidelberg (according to Heidelberg Web Systems Inc.'s Robert A. Brown), KBA (in partnership with Scitex, says Scott R. Smith, president and chief executive of KBA North America), and MAN Roland Inc. (according to Peter Kuisle, executive vice president for worldwide sales).

Kuisle added that a conglomeration of 61 companies will demonstrate a variety of interworking production technologies at DRUPA. Some will demonstrate DICO: "Digital changeover where we image and erase on the press itself," he said.

WIFAG Vice President of Sales Joe Ondras said the Swiss company will also demonstrate advances in single-fluid technologies on a press that requires no dampening system.

While future gear waits to be seen, touched and heard, speakers also addressed existing problems. Before the pressmakers' segment, newspaper executives tackled the issues component of "issues and answers" by detailing a series of recent press installations; the onus then was placed on the six supplier representatives to provide answers. And answer they did, addressing project support through installation and beyond, parts availability and the shape of the industry.

Kuisle said his company recognized the problem of having MAN Roland representatives in local areas. "We have to put in much more local service," noting that as many as 85 percent of its project-management staffers come from its Augsburg, Germany, headquarters. "As a worldwide supplier, we have to have the balance of people inside and outside of Germany … to quickly support our customers," he said.

Mike Shafer, national sales manager for TKS (USA) Inc., said his company maintains a "dispatch engineering" team that includes mechanics, electricians, press operators and other critical support crew. However, no pressmaker "has enough A-team" people now, he cautioned.

U.S. press manufacturer Goss Graphic Systems Inc.’s Richard J. Sutis says that in a "labor market that is quite full," the Westmont, Ill., company must work continuously to keep top-notch people on staff.

The panel also noted the varying relationships between pressmakers and newspapers during installations. Some newspaper executives expect the pressmaker to oversee the entire project, including some subcontracting of non-press work. Ondras argued that any pressmaker should be able to provide that kind of support, as his company did in its first U.S. installation at the Tulsa World.

The nature of the relationship should be ironed out during the sales process, with discussion of liabilities, relationships between vendor and customer engineers and whether independent certification is required.

Parts supplies also were on the minds of attendees. "It’s impossible to keep every part in stock, as you can imagine," said KBA's Smith. He described a critical parts pool and another from which other parts could be created and shipped within 12-to-24 hours.

Sutis, who is Goss' executive vice president and general manager for Asia/Pacific and its chief technology officer, urged newspaper press managers to pre-plan. Goss can audit press sites and help compile a list of parts that might be needed, he said.

Heidelberg’s Brown talked about the relationships of newspapers, vendors and outsourced items such as inking controls. Heidelberg markets its ability to provide total solutions, but also understands the need for choice. "It becomes a business problem," he said. "What does the customer want?"

As in other areas of newspapering, systems increasingly boast open architecture, meaning the "brains" can interact and work properly. "We’re going to have to develop standards so there is a choice," Brown said.

No matter where equipment originates, the pressmaker is the company that has to make it work, said Sutis. His company sells few presses in Asia without Goss press-control systems, he said. In the United States, however, buyers often choose to opt for other controls.

Sutis also answered questions about his company's recovery from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, from which it emerged late last year. He said the company is repaying its debt ahead of schedule and had inked $200 million in new orders in the 10 weeks before the late-January conference (the latest a deal with a Malaysian newspaper).

He says Goss' success is being driven by the newspaper segment. "Newspapers are doing better than any other segment around the world," he said. As newspapers retool to satisfy reader and advertiser demands, "color is what’s driving it," he added.

All but Brown naysayed the oft-opined notion that more consolidation looms ahead for pressmakers. Brown said his company had recently acquired companies that make dryers, splicers and finishing gear, but he knows of no plan to acquire another pressmaker. That may be in part because it might not make sense in an increasinly wired future, he opined.

"We think ink-on-paper is in for a fight," he told attendees. "When distribution and content merge -- as they have at America Online and Time Warner -- I think we’ve got a problem."

-Bob Sims