Industry Companies

Newspaper Agency Corporation, which prints, distributes, and sells advertising for the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News, has signed an agreement to begin building an $80 million printing facility. The facility, to be located in West Valley City, Utah, is expected to be the nation's most technically advanced plant of its type, and is slated to be completed in spring 2006.

Target Corporation is folding its catalog business, which includes three Marshall Field's catalogs, Signals, and the "I Love a Deal" catalog. The company reportedly will focus on making its Target.direct business purely Internet-based.

Vertis has agreed on a $175,000 settlement with Carlsbad, Calif.-based prepress provider Pacific PreMedia, Inc. and several of the latter's founders and employees. Vertis alleged that the individual defendants, while on Vertis's payroll for more than six months, actively conspired to establish a competitive company based almost solely on Vertis clientele and misappropriated trade secrets and proprietary information. Pacific PreMedia admitted no wrongdoing.

Technotrans AG of Germany has announced that Baldwin Technology Company, Shelton, Conn., terminated a non-binding letter of intent drafted in December regarding its sale to Technotrans.

Pitman Company, Totowa, N.J., has merged its Los Angeles operations with Litho Supply Co., Inc., based in Monrovia, Calif.

EFI, Foster City, Calif., has agreed to acquire ADS Communications Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz., a provider of service automation software for the printing industry, for $11.5 million in cash.

UP3I Limited, which has a registered office in London, has announced that Duplo, Hunkeler, IBM, Océ, Strälfors, and Xerox, core members of the UP3I initiative, have formed a joint venture to promote UP3I as an industry standard to ensure seamless integration of automated workflow solutions.

Two Dallas-area printers, Ussery Printing Company, Inc. and Impression Graphics, have merged to form one of the largest printing companies in the area. The merged company will operate as Ussery Printing, and Impression Graphics will move into Ussery's 31,000-square-foot facility in Irving.

Progressive Impressions International (PII), Bloomington, Ill., has purchased six DocuColor iGen3 digital production presses from Xerox Corporation, the largest DocuColor iGen3 installation to date. Five of the presses will be located in the U.S., a sixth in PII's Netherlands facility.