The top 30 book manufacturers

Keeping in line with the supersizing trend, BookTech's list of the top 25 book manufacturers has been expanded to include the 30 highest grossing book printers in the United States and Canada.The decision to add to the list was to offer production professionals a more expansive look at those manufacturers at the top of their field. The types of products offered by the various companies run the gamut from fine editions to best-selling paperbacks to trade publications to textbooks to yearbooks. More detailed information about each printer follows the list in the form of brief synopses.

In addition to expanding the list, there have been other changes as well, including Quebecor World edging R.R. Donnelley in the race for the top spot. Along with Quebecor World and R.R. Donnelley, most of the usual suspects make an appearance on the list, with slight shifts throughout. Banta moved up to the third position this year from fourth in 2001, trading places with Von Hoffmann. Courier and Bertelsmann Arvato swapped the sixth and fifth spots, respectively

The list is based on information provided to our sister publication, Printing Impressions, from the manufacturers. The information was used for the magazine's 400 Who's Who in Printing published in December 2001. Only those companies with facilities in the U.S. and Canada are included.

1 The leading North American book printer, Quebecor World is the largest commercial printer and imagemanagement company in the world. The company prints more than one billion books a year

2 R.R. Donnelley & Sons' book operations provide a full range of services to meet customers' requirements. With five manufacturing facilities in the eastern and midwestern United States, and Mexico, R.R. Donnelley provides the following services: hardcover and softcover book manufacturing, web offset, sheetfed offset and digital print technology; conventional and digital prepress operations, including composition and page makeup; custom publishing and on-demand printing; packaging design and assembly; and digital conversion into Web-ready formats.

3 Banta offers softcover book products and value-added packaging and fulfillment services for educational and general book publishers. Its clients include those companies in the educational, trade, professional, religious, health care and financial markets. The company offers electronic design and composition, page layout, proofing and image services, and CD-ROMs, diskettes, and cassette tapes.

4...