Germany

Owing to the low sales volumes, Muller Martini has decided to cease production of printing presses in the first half of 2015. Muller Martini will continue to provide service support for printing press customers worldwide in the future.

Mohawk, North America's largest privately owned manufacturer of fine papers, envelopes and specialty substrates for commercial and digital printing, has announced a new partnership with Metapaper GmbH & Co., based in Stuttgart, Germany, to support sales and marketing for Mohawk's Continental European operations.

Eastman Kodak said it is ending production of Sonora printing plates at its Leeds, U.K. plant by next year and will look for a new site to meet demand in the Americas.

Additionally, Kodak said it's selecting another site for printing plate production to serve customers in the Americas. 

Meanwhile, Kodak has invested in upgrading its high-speed Sonora plate manufacturing in its Osterode, Germany, plant. The Osterode plant started shipping Sonora plates in November, and Kodak said volume is increasing every month. 

The company also said it upgraded its Xiamen, China, plant to produce the plates.

EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, announced that the Federal Patent Court of Germany has invalidated substantial parts of a patent held by Durst Phototechnik Digital Technology GmbH related to white ink printing that Durst had previously asserted in an infringement action against EFI.

Surgeons from the Asklepios Hospital on Hamburg-Barmbek, Germany, have successfully performed liver surgery with the help of an iPad and an augmented reality (AR) application. While this may not register as a major medical breakthrough, it does show that augmented reality technology is beginning to move away from the field of advertising and entertainment.

The AR application allows the liver to be filed and superimposed over the real world in real time. Virtual models allowed surgeons to locate and remove tumors that had grown on the patient’s liver. The app allowed surgeons to navigate the patient’s innards to complete the surgery.

Hans Müller, founder of the Muller Martini Group and pioneer in machine construction for the graphic arts industry, passed away at the age of 96 in Zofingen, Switzerland.