John Little

Letterpress printers should stay sharp on options in combination process, web widths, and overall press design. By Susan Friedman Package printers who have grown sleepy at the helm of traditional letterpress operations should perk up: developments in various combination platforms, wider webs, and in-line designs could offer new business opportunities. The potential for specific printing processes to partner with letterpress appears intriguingly open-ended. According to John Little, president of Nilpeter, UV screen and hot stamping are its most common complements, with UV screen typically used to lay down a solid white background or solid borders. John Warwick, sales director at Ko-Pack, reports his company's

Will web offset ultimately gain greater quality or efficiency momentum? By Susan Friedman You've got to hand it to offset for being such a well-rounded printing process—the printing equivalent of a person who's attractive and athletic, with a good personality to boot. Web offset, of late, has brought many positives to many package printers. Eric Short, president of RDP Marathon, confirms web offset's continuing ability to satisfy on multiple counts with his prediction that this process will be strongest in both high-volume and high-quality package printing applications in the coming year. Several recently introduced presses appear poised to make this prediction come true, but

One-time, from-the-ground-up press designs aren't package printers' only route to acquiring a unique'specialized' printing and converting system. By Susan Friedman It's a doozy of an order, a real profit-booster—hundreds of thousands of impressions and multiple reruns during the next few years, but nothing currently on the pressroom floor can print and convert it the way the customer has specified. Is this a signal to recruit a supplier to build a one-of-a-kind specialty press? Not always. Chris Faust, marketing manager, Comco International, says specialty press purchases are indeed often motivated by the end-user's need to put a value-added, printed product on the shelf that draws