MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
February 1 – February 8, 2007 Edition
Lightning Source
Adds Pennsylvania
Printing facility
LAVERGNE, TN/1/29/07—Lightning Source Inc., the leading provider of demand-based book manufacturing and distribution solutions to the book industry, has announced it will establish a third book manufacturing facility in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
The new manufacturing center will be Lightning’s second U.S. facility, and third worldwide. The headquarters facility is in LaVergne, Tennessee, near Nashville. The second facility was established in the United Kingdom in 2001 at Milton Keynes, near London.
“This is an important step for us and our valued customers who need high quality and speed to properly serve their customers in the book industry,” said J. Kirby Best, President and CEO of Lightning Source Inc. “This new facility will help us deliver high quality books faster to publishers and retailers in this area – a distributed print model.”
In Pennsylvania, Lightning Source will occupy an existing building at 860 Nestle Way in the Boulder Business Center. This is west of Allentown in Breinigsville, in Upper Macungie Township. The facility will cover approximately 130,000 square feet. The location was chosen because of its proximity to all the large, metropolitan areas of the Eastern United States. Many of Lightning’s publisher customers are within this important region of the United States.
When fully operational, the new Pennsylvania facility will house 16 black and white presses, ten web fed color presses, five sheet fed color presses and 12 binding lines.
The announcement of a third facility follows the recent news that Lightning Source acquired 15 new state-of-the-art Océ printing presses for its global operation. The new Océ VarioStream® 9210 black and color ready digital printers enable Lightning Source to provide customers with dramatically enhanced graphic and halftone capability.
“Our purchase of 15 ‘top-of-the-line’ presses, which provide absolutely amazing print quality, is proof of our commitment to quality, to our customers, and our future,” Mr. Best said. “We expect to create approximately 150 jobs at our new location within three years,” Mr. Best added. “The new facility and our recent addition of new equipment is a significant capital investment by Lightning Source in the book publishing industry.”
“Governor Edward G. Rendell of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has made it clear that creating jobs for Pennsylvanians will continue to be one of his highest priorities,” said Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky.
“The 150 family sustaining jobs that will be created by this project will have a positive impact not only on the Lehigh Valley, but on the entire commonwealth.”
The project was coordinated by the Governor’s Action Team, a group of economic development professionals who report directly to Governor Rendell and serve as a single point-of-contact for businesses considering locating or expanding in Pennsylvania. The team works with domestic and international businesses and professional site consultants on projects possessing significant investment and job creation opportunities.
“The decision by Lightning Source to locate one of its three global manufacturing facilities in the Lehigh Valley is a prime example of the Governor’s commitment to creating an environment where businesses can expand and compete in both national and international markets,” Yablonsky continued.
Mr. Best expressed gratitude to Governor Rendell and Secretary Yablonsky of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development. He credited the leadership and guidance of state officials, including members of the Governor’s Action Team, for assisting Lightning in its consideration of the Lehigh County location.
The Lightning Source Pennsylvania facility is expected to begin operation in June 2007.
About Lightning Source
Lightning Source Inc., a subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc., provides a comprehensive suite of demand-driven publishing solutions for publishers. The company is revolutionizing the options available to the industry in the storage, management, and distribution of digital content. Lightning Source stores books and other information electronically and delivers them “on demand” in either traditional printed format or as e-Books in response to orders from booksellers, librarians, and publishers. Lightning Source has printed over 40,000,000 books for over 4,500 publishers around the world. For more information, visit our website at www.lightningsource.com
