Essex Products Group announced NAMA Graphics Inc. as a new distributor for its KeyColor line of automated ink control systems and software. NAMA Graphics in Wheaton, Ill. now features KeyColor III, C and E, as well as AutoSet, AutoKey and AutoPage software in its product mix.

Digital Convergence Corp.’s New York team has moved to a new office at 401 Park Ave. South, 12th Floor, New York, N.Y., 10016. The new phone number is 212.951.8400.

Harper Corp. of America, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., completed equipment acquisitions from Harper West L.L.C. for the expansion of its Charlotte and Green Bay anilox roll manufacturing facilities. The closing of Harper West was recently announced due to the start up of a new facility in Thailand, Harper Asia/Pacific, as well as the rising cost and unpredictability of electrical utilities in California.

George R. Hall Contracting acquired six used Goss Headliner offset presses currently in production at The Indianapolis Star. The presses are for sale with the option to rebuild, reconfigure, upgrade, change to a 50-inch web width, and install. The equipment consists of 142 total printing couples and six double 3:2 folders.

Hall also sold four used Goss Cosmo presses units, as well as an upper former section to the Kenosha (Wis.) News. Hall will rebuild 10 units (four additional and six existing Cosmo units), rebuild the upper former section, reconfigure the existing press and convert the additional units and formers to a 50-inch web width.

Three recent worldwide Heidelberg Mainstream 80 press installations feature Quad/Tech International’s Register Guidance System V Series N Integrated register controls.

Dansk Avis Tryk of Denmark chose RGS V Series N Integrated and recently completed installation of the first Mainstream 80 press in the world. Dansk Avis also installed two full ribbons of QTI’s Ribbon Control System 4000 Integrated, its Silicone Coater 4000 and Web Guide 4000 on the new press.

The Telegraph Group in England purchased seven one-by-four Mainstream 80 presses from Heidelberg at drupa 2000 and will install the QTI register control solution on the first two of those presses. The first will be installed at its Trafford Park facility in Manchester and the second will follow at its West Ferry facility in London.

“RGS V Series N was picked as the best solution for integrated register control in a modern newspaper environment,” said Simon Wilkinson, IT manager at West Ferry Pronters. “The product has a compact format and reliable architecture. Coupled with QTI’s abilities and dedication to control systems, we thought they were the best integrators for Mainstream.”

Tesa Tape Inc. made its first appearance at Nexpo, showing its new line of EasySplice tapes. Tesa has been based in Germany for more than 75 years and has had a U.S. presence for 30 years, but the company only recently entered the newspaper market in February with the debut of the EasySplice series.

The EasySplice NewsLine is geared toward newspaper printers. The tape allows newspapers to splice straight across the newsprint roll with one strip, rather than using a complicated pattern, according to the company, saving the newspaper both splice time and money. The tape does not require nose tabs or tie-downs.

The tape has a separation band placed in-between the two adhesive sections. When the splice is made, the section is designed to easily separate.

Tesa
800.429.8273
www.tesatape.com

DesignAlliance and McClier announced at the show that their two companies are merging.

McClier focuses primarily on architecture, engineering and construction, while designAlliance has focused primarily on consulting, including process analysis, strategic planning and interior design.

The merger, according to designAlliance, will give the companies more power in the newspaper consulting industry by offering expanded breadth and depth of newspaper services, better tailored delivery of projects, and a multi-disciplined approach to projects.

Both companies have offices in Atlanta, Boulder, Colo., Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and San Francisco, as well as several offices worldwide.

Varn International introduced the new Kompac VI automatic dampening system for Goss Community presses, which will reduce paper waste by 50 percent and shave 30 minutes off production time, according to Varn.

The Kompac VI holds the fountain solution in a nip reservoir between the roller and the metering roller. The form roller rolls across the plate with the non-image area of the plate taking fountain solution and the image are of the plate splitting a layer of ink with the form roller. The Kompac form roller is both ink and water receptive, and the ink and water are milled under pressure at the roller nip. The oscillator roller smoothes out the ink in water film.

Varn International
201.337.3600
www.varn.com

K & M Newspaper Services introduced the new HL-2000 Mini Loader, which will operate on all circular, oval and high-speed inline inserters. The company also released the new X-50 jogging table, which is a 17-square-inch delrin table.

K & M Newspaper Services
845.782.3817

In addition to its newly designed Compass stacker, Total Mailroom Support Inc. introduced the Mattop Curve, a conveyor system designed to reduce the damage to the bottom copies of tied and untied bundles.

The Mattop is made of a tightly woven plastic that contains an open area of approximately 42 percent, helping to reduce the chances that a newspaper will catch and tear. The system runs on a 2-horsepower engine and has digital variable speed drive. It can be bent at an angle ranging from 15 degrees to 180 degrees.

TMSI
440.239.9000
www.thetotalmailroom.com