Printing World articles from April 2005

Printing World archives from April 2005

Technical directors have integration aim.(appointments)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Barry Fitzpatrick and Dave Brown have become group technical directors of Wyndeham as the company seeks greater integration across its prepress and print business. Mr Fitzpatrick will manage the process from the prepress vantage point,...

Presses roll at Sheffield.(Polestar Sheffield gets ASDA Group PLC's contract)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Polestar Sheffield was brimming with eager anticipation this week as the first live job was set to roll off its giant gravure press. The milestone was a 96pp plus cover magazine for supermarket Asda. Printing was scheduled for Tuesday with...

GDP set for 48pp format.(Garnett Dickinson Print)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Garnett Dickinson Print is leaving its central Rotherham factory for new premises in the Rotherham Enterprise Zone where it will take delivery of a 48pp MAN Lithoman in November. "It's perfect for printing short run products which is where...

Financial Times in India.(publishing)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The Financial Times wants to extend its satellite printing to India. The Financial Times, which has a stake in the Indian business newspaper Business Standard, currently prints in Dubai. The paper has asked the Indian government to relax laws...

Wasted printed paper.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Despite notions of paperless commerce, the nation's desks are straining under the weight of thousands of unread documents, according to a new study by Lexmark. The average worker prints out 10,000 pages a year leading to 2,354 million sheets of...

Laminex contract.(printing industry)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Security card company Laminex, which is to be part of security printer PP Payne, has won a contract to supply 1 million promotional cards to promote National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre's (NISCC) latest initiative, Security...

Honeywell to acquire Novar.
April 7, 2005... US technology manufacturing company Honeywell is to acquire Novar, Surrey, following clearance by the European Commission and plans to divest its Security Printing Services within the coming year. Honeywell said printing does not fit in with...

Premier Brochures wound up.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Blackpool publisher Premier Brochures has been wound up following a scam, which saw it offering restaurants the chance to be listed in a full-colour guide and on a website. It failed to place the adverts, and dished out fake discount vouchers...

Advanced Vision Technology in China.(new office)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Advanced Vision Technology, which produces inspection systems for the labels, packaging, forms and converting markets, has opened an office in China and appointed William Bai general manager. Mr Bai previously worked at Scitex Creo and...

Creative Clusters conference.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The Creative Clusters conference in Belfast on October 24-26 will focus on `Creative Investment, Skills and Inclusion'. It follows Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget assertions that creative industries are now key drivers of UK productivity and...

Simpson superplant to set new standard for UK.
April 7, 2005... Simpson Print Group will open a 70,000sq ft display print superplant in Washington at the end of this year, giving it the "most modern display print factory in the country". The purpose built factory will house the four- and five-colour...

Pope's death boosts demand.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Printers were busy this week meeting the demand for books to mark the death of the Pope. Publishers gave the go ahead over the weekend for reprints and new titles to reach the shops in a matter of days. Butler & Tanner has been working flat...

Burall jobs set to go.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Up to 35 staff jobs are to be lost at the Burall Group's label and commercial packaging printing division in a company reorganisation. Burall is currently carrying out consultation to determine how many staff will be made redundant and...

Graphoprint future unclear after the fire.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The future of fire struck printer Graphoprint remains unclear this week. The Deeside company would not comment on recent events and Amicus was unavailable. The outcome of investigations into the cause of the fire are still unknown but...

London Marathon.(printing industry)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Kinyo's production supervisor Mark Wilkinson is celebrating his 40th year by running the London Marathon on April 17. Mr Wilkinson has been training for the event for the last six months and will be raising money for `Get Kids Going', a charity...

PPA Salary Survey.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The first PPA Salary Survey of the year is now available with the next update of the biannual survey planned for September 2005. Of the companies taking part in the PPA survey 95% have been active in the recruitment market in the twelve months...

Xerox push.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Xerox Corp, the office document company, has expanded its line of colour office printers aimed at the medium sized corporate market, accelerating a push to grow sales of its more profitable colour technology. The drive comes as Xerox works to...

Manufacturing activity accelerates.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The slow recovery of the UK's struggling manufacturing industry has gained some more strength this month, a key gauge of conditions suggested. The latest CIPS/Reuters purchasing manager's survey of British manufacturing showed that activity in...

Retirement celebration.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Howard Smith Paper Group held a retirement celebration at Crayford Greyhound track for its longest serving employee. Peter Johnson, who had his name marked on every racecard, also presented the winning trophy on the evening. Past and present...

Ormolu ready to carry fight after restructure.
April 7, 2005... Ormolu is coming out fighting following the successful conclusion to debt restructuring negotiations. Chairman and chief executive Bob Hodgson said the issue the company has now "is to decide exactly what is our business. At present we are...

Brown closes and jobs lost.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The owner of failed Ringwood printer Brown & Son, which laid off its last 29 employees on Friday, believes the company could have been saved. The 200-year-old Hampshire firm went into voluntary liquidation owing #1.3m. However, managing...

Polestar can Dream on.(extending of contract)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Polestar has extended its ties with Dream Direct for a second year after being handed the mail order firm's 2005-06 print contract. The deal means Polestar will continue to produce Dream Direct's 32pp and 48pp catalogues for a further 12...

Losses at Times climb.(increase in turnover)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Losses at Times Newspapers increased to #40m despite a 6% increase in turnover, according to filings at Companies House for parent company News Corporation. Losses went up from #28m a year before, even though the papers' turnover was #400m...

St Ives sells off ailing Johler Druck for #1.5m.(to Arques Industries)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... St Ives has sold Johler Druck, its loss making German plant to a company putting together a German based print group. All 114 staff and assets including three web presses have been sold to Arques Industries, a company which in December last...

MAN Roland choice puts R300 in doubt.(MAN Roland GB)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The decision by MAN Roland to put a revamped entry level version of its Roland 500 as the first new press to be produced at the proposed `superplant' at Offenbach raises as many questions as it answers. The first question must be, `does this...

Presstek turns focus on Euro plans for AB Dick.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Presstek in the US has completed all the legal niceties involved in the friendly takeover of AB Dick. The US manufacturer of digital imaging systems for the graphic arts has now turned its hand to reshaping AB Dick's structure in Europe. ...

System 38 pays off in spades at Ancient House Press.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Ancient House Press is reaping the rewards of its decision to replace two eight-page Komoris with a 16pp System 38. "So far the press has been very busy and well received by our customers," said joint managing director Allison Berry. ...

Complete Product adds Indigo 3050.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The Complete Product Company has some big plans for its new Indigo 3050. Kevin Assinder, managing director of CPC, explained that he saw creating a product for his clients that differentiates it from competitors as the key to success. "I...

IPD opts for Mitsubishi Diamond 1000.(Impact Print and Design)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Impact Print and Design in Rotherwas, Hereford, has installed a new Mitsubishi Diamond 1000 five-colour. As part of the investment two Roland 200 presses, a four-colour and a two-colour have been traded in. It has all gone like clockwork...

Blair promises personal attention to magazines.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised the publishing industry that he will personally look into the current Office of Fair Trading investigation into press distribution and its impact on magazines. The PPA claims that a shake up of the...

MCS signs up for Northmann AGS at KPG open house.(Modern Colour Solutions, Northmann Automatic Graphic System)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Modern Colour Solutions has signed up for a Northmann Automatic Graphic System at KPG's open house. Strengthening existing customer relationships was the main reason for the investment. MCS studio manager Adrian Berry said: "We now have an...

Waterside equipment goes up for auction this month.(Waterside Press)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Three presses and a Muller Martini finishing line from the failed Waterside Press, Hatfield, will go under the hammer later this month. The progressive B1 commercial printer closed its doors on March 16 following the appointment of joint...

Purpose built envelope distribution centre.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Stolk and Reese Kuvert, part of the Mayer Kuvert envelope manufacturer, has opened a 45,000sq ft purpose built envelope distribution centre at Haydock. The facility will hold stock in depth for customers to call off in bulk down to half pallet...

Alpha-Cure appointments.(Vanessa Mulley and Deidre Clarke )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Uv curing lamp manufacturer Alpha-Cure has appointed two export executives. Vanessa Mulley will specialise in north and south America, eastern Europe and India while Deidre Clarke will develop sales throughout Africa, Australia, New Zealand,...

Trucard service.(by Tullis Russell )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Tullis Russell has launched its Trucard Xpress service to deliver volumes between two and ten tonnes of its Trucard brand within five working days. Running from a base in Holland, the service will initially serve the Dutch, Belgian, German,...

PPA seminar.(publishing industry)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The PPA is running a seminar on May 4 which will address the Pic4press digital image initiative and JDF. The Conde Nast Publications project manager Jonathon Moore will present a case study on the former while St Ives technical director John...

Radtech event.(Calendar)
April 7, 2005... Radtech has announced details of its 2005 uv/eb curing event and second Awards for Innovation competition. It is inviting companies to exhibit and enter the awards, which will be presented at the show in Barcelona on October 18-20. ...

Print 05 & Converting 05.(Calendar)
April 7, 2005... Print 05 & Converting 05, taking place in Chicago on September 9-15, will host a wide format pavilion, 15 times larger than at the previous event in 2001 to provide more space for live demonstrations. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Cradley feels the pinch as web rivals hit figures.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Cradley felt the pinch from sustained competition in the commercial web market in the second half of 2004, cancelling out effects of cost cutting measures introduced at the group. Difficult trading conditions pushed turnover at the West...

Collins gets Spica.(Collins Print, Komori Spica 429P)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Collins Print has replaced its ageing Speedmaster 72 with the newly developed Komori Spica 429P. The Cork printer has cottoned on to the benefits of having a B2 press that is purely and simply dedicated to producing four colour work to the very...

Hollywood is leading lady.(Image and Print Group appointed Angela Hollywood as a director)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Glasgow printers Image & Print Group has appointed its longest serving employee a director. Managing director Stephen McPhee said: "Angela Hollywood started here as a 16-year-old trainee in our prepress department. She has become such a...

Eyes on the Xerox prize.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... UK printers are gearing up for the Xerox innovation awards, the annual showcase for users of Xerox kit. DSI Digital in Rainham, Essex, was the overall European winner of the Pixi awards last year by transforming a travel programme with...

Ellen rises at Domino.(David Ellen promoted as US sales director at Domino Amjet )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Inkjet and laser printer manufacturer Domino Amjet has promoted David Ellen to US sales director. Mr Ellen is now heading the coding and marking division in addition to directing the commercial print division in North America. Prior to...

Oce grows but leasing loss hits.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Oce has continued to increase sales this year, but the balance sheet remains blighted by the switch away from leasing to supplying digital printing equipment and supporting software. The introduction of the second generation CPS900 colour...

Amazon buys print on-demand book producer BookSurge for single sales.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Online bookstore Amazon has bought US print on-demand book producer BookSurge. The printer was founded in 2000 and has its head office in Seattle, though there are an increasing number of sites worldwide. These sites include countries...

BPIF workshop.(British Printing Industries Federation )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Terry Nagi, the workshop presenter and published author of print sales related books, will be joining forces with the BPIF in a two-day solutions selling workshop. Designed specifically to improve the techniques and success rates of print sales...

Distributor for Casper.(Colyer Computing )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Colyer Computing has secured a contract to become the sole distributor for Casper, a new suite of administration software designed to streamline and simplify the management of Apple Macintosh operating systems. The company, part of the Colyer...

Quebecor contract.(with Dex Media)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Quebecor World has signed a new multi-year contract for the printing of the white and yellow page directories of Dex Media. The deal is expected to quadruple the number of directories the Montreal company prints for the US firm. Quebecor will...

Fuji Photo in China.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Fuji Photo said last week it will be setting up a second plant in China for production of printing plates as part of its efforts to expand its printing business. The Japanese film and camera maker said in a statement it will spend $39m to build...

Sales of books about Pope have soared.(Pope John Paul II )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Sales of books in the US about Pope John Paul II have soared since his recent death, with several quickly reaching the top 20 of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. Leading titles include five written by the Pope himself, The Way to Christ,...

Prepress Training Week.
April 7, 2005... The full programme for Pira's new Prepress Training Week has been finalised and is available to download. The training will be held in July 11-15, at its offices in Leatherhead. Designed for inhouse production staff and print buyers, the event...

GN Litho opts for CD102 on grounds of versatility.(Geoff Neal Litho)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The decision by Geoff Neal Litho to replace an existing six-colour SM102 reflects a dilemma many printers are going to have to face over the next couple of years. The Feltham, Middlesex, printer has opted to replace this press with a new...

Eden gets Stitchliner for inhouse finishing.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... DI printer Eden Litho Reproduction has created its own full finishing capability inhouse. It has installed a Horizon Stitchliner to combine collation, folding, saddlestitching and three-knife trimming in one unit. Md Paul Bridger said he...

Autotype to debut film and stencils range at Fespa.(printing machinery)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Autotype will launch a range of films and stencils at Fespa. The Autotex AM hard coated polyester film is the first of its type to include Microban Antimicrobial protection to ward off bacteria, mould and mildew. It is designed for...

Royal Mail's size pricing greeted with criticism.(publishing)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Changes to Royal Mail's proposals on size-based pricing that offer a hand to the magazine and direct mail industries have met with fierce criticism from greetings card manufacturers. If approved by regulator Postcomm, the plans announced...

EC to draw line in sand on leased price levels.(European Commission)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The European Commission is to restrict prices on leased communications lines saying that the differential across the EU is too great. Customers in one country can be paying seven times as much as is paid in the cheapest country for a 2...

Inca throws net further with Spyder 320.(printing machinery)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Inca has launched the mid-priced Spyder 320 large format flatbed printer in an attempt to reach a new market. The printer has a bed size of 3.2x1.6 metres, the same as Inca's Columbia model. Managing director Bill Baxter said: "Over...

Pair register In-Store idea.(printing industry)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Digital signage software manufacturer Scala and broadband satellite network systems company Hughes Network Systems are creating an entrance capsule for the registration area at the In-Store Show, Earls Court on June 14-16. Scala will also...

Duffield uses MetalFX for Leeds Guide cover.(Duffield Printers)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Duffield Printers, Leeds, has produced a MetalFX cover for The Leeds Guide on its ten-colour Heidelberg SM-74. Two versions were created, one containing metallic greens and the other metallic purples. Both were printed on the same run. ...

Sebright weighs up digital.(Sebright Printers invests in Speedmaster)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Commercial B2 house Sebright Printers is looking at adding digital capability after investing in a five-colour perfecting Speedmaster. The Bristol company is retaining a four-colour SM74, but has traded in a five-colour model for the new...

Duo grows Digital Chips books range.(Pantone)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Pantone and Xerox have got together to expand the range of the Digital Chips books to include work produced on the IGen3 and Docucolor 8000. A Digital Chips book is like the conventional Pantone colour chip books where perforated swatches of a...

COMMENT: Profit is the only security.(Garnett Dickinson)(Simpson Group)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Who said print was dead? Not the backers of the multi-million pound investments that have broken into the news pages this week. Here we have web printer Garnett Dickinson Print investing #20m on a new plant with a huge boost to capacity...

Letter: On the issue of size.(Letter to the Editor)
April 7, 2005... Your article `Season in the sun' (Printing World, March 24) on large format presses made interesting reading, and was very thought provoking at a time when we are considering our options with regard to format size. On visiting many of the...

Letter: The gloves are off.(Letter to the Editor)
April 7, 2005... So the new Heidelberg XL105 sheetfed press is now in production and we should expect a press into the UK showroom next month. I cannot resist commenting that KBA already has over 300 units of its new Rapida 105 delivered, installed and up...

Stora Enso changes.(management and organisational changes )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Stora Enso has unveiled a number of management and organisational changes designed to support product development and expansion in emerging markets. Among the moves is the appointment of several key personnel, pending the retirement of senior...

Indian government considering changes.(Financial Times Ltd.)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... The Indian government is considering making changes to regulations on foreign media investment, after a plea from the Financial Times to allow the newspaper to be printed within the country. Currently foreign newspapers can be sold but not...

Rises put smaller businesses at risk.(Federation of Small Businesses)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Small companies are drowning under the weight of increases in utility bills and business rates, says the Federation of Small Businesses. The organisation has warned that energy cost rises are now being followed by water rate increases of around...

Latin American joint venture.(Suzano Bahia Sul Papel e Celulose)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... One of Latin America's largest paper and pulp producers, Suzano Bahia Sul Papel e Celulose, has acquired Ripasa in a joint venture with Votorantim worth #378.5m. Ceo Murilo Passos said the deal extends the group's leadership in the Brazilian...

Ottakar caution.(sales and profits)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Book chain Ottakar's has reassured investors that it will not repeat January's profits warning but cautioned that sales had slowed post Christmas. The company expects the short term slowdown of 1.6% to turn into an annual gain of 2% on the back...

Pearson pay.(annual pay of executives)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Pearson head Dame Marjorie Scardino earned a 75% pay increase last year, taking her annual pay packet to #1.54m. John Makinson, head of the group's Penguin book division, received an #18,000 pay decrease to #791,000 after a 24% drop in profits...

Michelson will leave when Creo joins Kodak.(Amos Michelson)(Creo UK Ltd)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Creo ceo Amos Michelson will leave the company once it becomes part of Kodak. That day has come a step closer with the 99.8% vote in favour of the deal last week. The deal now only needs the approval of regulatory authorities, already...

Bloomsbury's wizard profit.(Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Bloomsbury, publisher of the blockbuster Harry Potter series, said that it would register record profits in 2005 thanks to sky high demand for the boy wizard's latest instalment. The publisher revealed last week that pre-orders for Harry...

Emap's consumer titles fare better in UK than in France.(Emap Consumer Media)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Emap's UK consumer magazine business is performing better than its French equivalent where trading is currently 10% down on last year. The publishing group is pondering options for France, which might lead to an eventual sale of the...

IP sale to Mohawk nears completion.(International Paper Co.)(Mohawk Paper Mills Inc)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... International Paper expects to net #35m from the sale of its fine papers business. The sale to Mohawk Paper Mills was first announced in December as part of International Paper's plans to focus on its core operations but no financial...

HP print spin off put on back burner.
April 7, 2005... Hewlett Packard's new chief executive has put any plans to spin off the company's printing division on the back burner, at least for the immediate future. In his first discussions with analysts, Mark Hurd, successor to ousted chief...

Appointment of liquidators.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... * Quicktime Media Ltd Previous company name Sapphire Multi Media Ltd Publication of top shelf magazines. Liquidator: VM Bairstow, Begbies Traynor, 32 Cornhill, London EC3V 3BT * Universal Print Ltd Print. Liquidator: SL Conn, Begbies...

Meetings of creditors.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... * John Barry Printers Ltd at Tenon House, Ferryboat Lane, Sunderland SR5 3JN on April 14 at 11.00am * The Forrest Press Ltd at 66 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2HQ on April 18 at 3.15pm * Just Print Ltd at Clareville House, 26-27 Oxendon...

Notice to creditors.(DK Printing (Bath) Ltd)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... * DK Printing (Bath) Ltd (t/a The Riverside Press) Creditors to send claims to JW Lewis, JW Lewis & Co, Suite B1, White House Business Centre, Forest Road, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 8NH by October 14 Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Final meetings.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 7, 2005... * Rose Digi Graphics Ltd at Begbies Traynor, The Old Exchange, 234 Southchurch Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS1 2EG on April 26 at 10.00am for members and at 10.15am for creditors * SPL Print Ltd at Charlotte House, 19B Market Place,...

FACTS & FIGURES: Docucolor by numbers.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Facts and figures on the IGen3 digital press Vital statistics: * Software code lines: 5,000,000 * Weight: 6,200lb * Number of unique parts: 4,000 * Connectors: 2,800 * Motors: 100 * Printed wiring boards: 70 ...

FACTS & FIGURES: The positive effect of customer magazines.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Magazine printers could stand to benefit further from the growing customer publishing sector after new research gave strong backing to the efficacy of the medium. The Advantage study from the Association of Publishing Agencies has found...

Hydraulic guillotine.(Ideal )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Ideal has introduced its first hydraulic guillotine that will be at the show from BABS. The 52cm width machine benefits from faster operation through quicker clamp and knife action. The stand will also feature the Eurofold DCM 45 rotary...

Environmentally friendly fount additive.(Lee James Graphics )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Lee James Graphics will offer the environmentally conscious printer Varn's IPA Eliminator, a one step alcohol replacement fount additive. It is a proven system for meeting forthcoming legislation on handling of chemicals in the workplace. The...

Leeds training courses.(Leeds College of Technology )(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Leeds College of Technology will be on hand to discuss its Impress part time degree course in print management and its online training courses in print media, as well as the more traditional NVQ and City & Guilds qualifications. The college...