MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 21 -- Delphax Technologies Inc., a leading provider of high speed digital presses, has joined forces with Boise Paper Solutions, Stralfors Inc., Shuttleworth Inc., Muller Martini Corporation, and Amatco to produce and donate books for New York City Schools at the 2003 On Demand Printing and Publishing Expo. According to Kevin Mitchell, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Delphax, the idea for the "Books for Schools" program stemmed from the company's desire to do something more useful with materials generated during the show. "Like others in this industry, our way of showcasing our capabilities is by printing relevant application samples on the show floor. Traditionally, the majority of vendors discard these materials," explained Mitchell. "We started thinking, 'what if we could print something to both demonstrate our capabilities and to serve a worthy cause at the same time?' That's when the idea came up to donate books to schools." Delphax approached New York City schools, which were thrilled at the idea of receiving classic novels for junior and senior high school students at no cost. "On behalf of the thousands of Bronx students who will soon receive the benefits of this generous donation, I extend the New York City Department of Education's deepest expression of appreciation," said Dr. Askia Davis, Superintendent, New York City Department of Education's Office of Strategic Partnerships. "The three classics are timeless. The characters and challenges that they bring to life will remain vivid in the minds of our students as each continues to discover and master his/her own character and challenges." Creating the Program The "Books for Schools" program partners were selected based on their reputations within the industry and on the capabilities of their products for the on-demand market. Each partner readily agreed to participate in the program. Without exception, each partner company was excited about the opportunity to showcase their own new products and, at the same time, create books for New York City schools. A live production line will be set up at the On Demand Expo, Booth #3335, to produce classic titles including The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and Homer's The Odyssey. The Production system will incorporate the following donated products and services: * Boise Paper Solutions will donate the Dakota Digital Book(TM) paper to be used by the Delphax CR1300P Digital Press to print each book. * Delphax Technologies Inc. will produce the books in their booth at the tradeshow. The Delphax CR1300P ultra-high speed digital web press, featured at the show, will print each book at 2400 (6 by 9 inch) pages per minute. * Stralfors Inc. will provide their LX500 Series finishing system to cut, stack, and deliver consistent book blocks to a conveyor/buffering system. * Shuttleworth, Inc. will provide the "intelligent" in-line conveyor/buffering system to deliver each book block to the perfect binder and to accumulate book blocks during cover changeovers in the binding system. * Muller Martini Corp. will combine each book block with the appropriate cover to create a professionally bound softcover book using their AmigoDigital(TM) perfect binder system. * Amatco will provide their AccuTrim(TM) 3-knife book trimmer to cut the head, foot, and face of each book. The resulting books will be completely finished and available as show samples as well as donations to the schools. Roughly six 400-page books will be produced each minute. In order to generate even more interest in the program, the partners have agreed to donate additional books* to schools for individuals that log on to the "Books for Schools" website and fill out a donation form at www.delphax.com/BooksForSchools (and enters Promo Code = FreeBooks), or visit Booth #3335 at the On Demand Digital Printing and Publishing Expo to have a book donated in their name.