By: M.L. STEIN
THE ONLY PRESS maker whose name seemed to surface with every rumored sale of Rockwell Graphic Systems was Heidelberg Harris Inc., Dover, N.H.
A supplier of presses that include advanced direct-imaging equipment, the U.S. arm of the German company took over the Harris press business several years ago. The handful of Rockwell's other major worldwide competitors for single- and double-width newspaper and commercial press sales also have parent companies headquartered overseas.
At about 150 sites, Harris and Heidelberg presses are more numerous among U.S. dailies than any other except the Goss machines at some 1,100-plus sites (see table, p. 27).
But Heidelberg Harris marketing communications supervisor David Noel said that while it was "entirely possible" his company had some interest, he was unaware of any moves to buy Rockwell Graphic Systems. Rumors, he said, led his department to consider how it would deal with such an acquisition, and whether a perception that it was "buying up the industry" would result in some sort of "backlash" in the market.
A decision to buy Graphic Systems, said Noel, "would depend on how [Heidelberg Harris] viewed the newspaper business and how badly they wanted to be in the newspaper industry."
For that "capital-intensive" industry, he said, "the market is not showing significant growth."
Right now, Heidelberg Harris is "not a factor, at least in the North American market" for double-width newspaper presses, Noel said, adding that his company would probably "have its hands full" just serving the world market for commercial presses.
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