Printing World articles from August 2001

Printing World archives from August 2001

Williams Lea clinches R&SA.
August 6, 2001... International insurance group Royal & SunAlliance has outsourced its entire marketing print management to Williams Lea in a five year contract worth around #75m over the period. The company will assume responsibility for the management of...

Moon walks.
August 6, 2001... Paul Moon, who for the past 11 years has been a key figure in helping Pershke Price Service and MAN Roland to win major orders for newspaper presses, has left the group. Mr Moon, who was web director at the Mitcham supplier was reluctant...

Polestar considers gravure options.
August 6, 2001... Polestar is in negotiations with unions at DH Greaves in Scarborough aiming to save money in what operations director Chris Pavlovsky calls "a plant with a very high cost base". The favoured option would be to decommission one of the...

Hyway jobs go.
August 6, 2001... The Hyway Print Group has made 19 of its 140 staff redundant as part of a cost cutting measure. Chief executive Alan Jones says they are predominantly in administration roles, based in the London financial printing division. One member of staff...

Fulmar slides.(profits fall from 1999 to 2000)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Profits at Croydon printer Fulmar have slipped from #4.6m in 1999 to #4m last year and the company says it remains cautious for the remainder of 2001. Chief executive Mike Taylor says: `Our commercial businesses operate in highly competitive...

GPMU victory.(Graphical, Paper and Media Union is recognized by DC Thomson)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... After 75 years of opposition to union recognition, Scottish newspaper and magazine publisher DC Thomson has finally recognised the GPMU. The agreement covers 200 production staff at Port Dundas Road in Glasgow. Copyright: CMP Information...

Hello to Hamadas.(printing facilities expanded at City Ruling Co.)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... After its purchase by Mailtech UK, commercial printer The City Ruling Company, Peterborough, has expanded its premises. Mailtech provided the #100,000 investment to double City Ruling's existing premises and install two Hamada presses and...

Telegraph and Express to share West Ferry.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... West Ferry Printers is to remain as a joint venture between Telegraph Group and Express Newspapers following a High Court judgement last week. The ruling means Express publisher Richard Desmond would get tens of millions of pounds less...

Celebrations at Canary Wharf.(Daily Telegraph wins against Express Newspapers)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Both sides of the West Ferry dispute were claiming victory last week, though it is clear that the smiles were broader at Canary Wharf - home of the Daily Telegraph - than at Ludgate House. "We're very pleased with the judgement, which says...

Lynx Press found liable in unpaid salaries tribunal.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Two employees of London sheetfed printer Lynx Press have shared more than #80,000 compensation after the company failed to pay them. Between them, Roy Morgan and Michael Warr had worked at the company for nearly thirty years but found their...

Potts dividend up despite drop.(Thomas Potts financial results for year)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 6, 2001... Thomas Potts has suffered a big fall in annual profits but has raised its dividend to shareholders, saying that the print slowdown appears to be over. "All our major customers have increased their print spending year-on- year," says group...

Future talks.(Future Network will not sell out)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Magazine publisher Future Network has announced takeover talks for the company are off. Share prices plummeted more than 25% on the news to 40p, down from 926p last year at the height of the technology boom. Future Network in Bath is the...

Pearson warning.(profits could fall )(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Pearson, the group that owns Penguin Books and the Financial Times, has warned profits could fall by 15% from last year's #211m because of the slump in advertising revenues. Pearson made a profit of #5m in the first half, but a loss of 2.6p per...

Ads gloom `ending'.(advertising spending losses to end)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The latest Bellwether survey of advertisers shows that the second quarter of 2001 saw ad spending cut for the fourth time in a row. However, AOL Time Warner and Viacom have said that the decline in ad spending may have bottomed out. ...

Union makes progress at Amazon.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Following a concerted campaign by the GPMU at Amazon.co.uk's Marston Gate distribution centre near Milton Keynes (Printing World, April 23), union recognition seems a step closer. This follows the first meeting between the anti-union firm...

Essex heads up north for FM.
August 6, 2001... Essex County Council is in the run up period to switching its print activities to Corporate Document Services, Leeds, a specialist in handling the printing and communications, requirements of local authorities and other corporations. "We...

On the board at Baird.
August 6, 2001... Following its recent acquisition of Corporate Document Services in Leeds, the W&G Baird Group has appointed Roy Hill and Mick Reid as new non-executive directors to its board. Mr Hill has almost 50 years experience of the industry, most...

Yellow Print boss unabashed.
August 6, 2001... Yellow Print managing director David Buckley is unapologetic about the debts left by his previous company, MCH Holdings, accusing one creditor of making MCH a laughing stock in Whitehall. Mr Buckley had been managing director of MCH...

Bigger in Basford.
August 6, 2001... Colour screen, litho printing and logistics company Clearpoint Print Services has moved to larger premises at Park Lane, Basford in Nottingham (0115 979 7925). Managing director Jim Taylor says he is also hoping to take on extra staff. ...

Rival kit sold.
August 6, 2001... Receivers for the Rival Envelope Company are to sell two envelope producing machines from the south-east London works. A spokesperson for receivers PKF says: `We have agreed the sale of the machinery, although we cannot identify the purchaser.'...

Jarvis Porter sells off assets.
August 6, 2001... Jarvis Porter has reached the end of its 90-day consultation period regarding the closure of the Creative Packaging Hinckley factory with 257 job losses. Although a buyer was not found for the business, the company has managed to sell its...

Haynes manuals reports first ever loss.
August 6, 2001... Motoring manuals publisher Haynes' fortunes have crashed, recording the first loss in its 40-year history. Although turnover increased by 18% to #33.4m, up from #28.2m in the same period the previous year, it recorded a loss before tax of...

OCS/BPIF stay close.
August 6, 2001... Optichrome Computer Systems and the BPIF have renewed their partnership deal and will continue to work together in developing training courses and web pages. Andrew Brown, BPIF training and commercial products director, says: `We have a common...

Arsoma in Ireland.
August 6, 2001... Irish roll-label manufacturer Multiprint Labels has commissioned a Gallus Arsoma EM 410 UV, its ninth colour self-adhesive label production line, for its new #3m headquarters in Dublin. The new machine has eight uv flexo stations and two...

Direct mail goes ctp with Screen.
August 6, 2001... Direct mail printer Geoff Neal Litho in Feltham, Middlesex, has completed its move to digital workflow with the installation of a Screen PlateRite 8000 B1+ ctp system with single automatic loader. The company has used Screen's TaigaSpace...

Tamlyn takes over in 58k.com mbo.
August 6, 2001... Managing director Martyn Tamlyn has, with support from his financial backers, bought 58k.com Europe. The news follows US Internet print procurement company Servador's announcement that it has bought the North American 58k.com print auction...

SR hits the jackpot.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... SR Communications' Print Management Division in Leicester has been awarded a #1.25m contract to produce 15 million scratch cards. Isomatrix, a company within Redstone Telecom group, plans the cards as insertions in national newspapers. ...

PrintMax backed.(Prontaprint)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Prontaprint, one of the UK's largest High Street copyshop networks, has endorsed the PrintMax large format print solution supplied by PCG in London. Based on the Hewlett Packard DesignJet 5000 printer, the PrintMax features the latest 42in or...

Smarter Sainsbury.(redesigned its vehicle graphics )(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Supermarket chain Sainsbury has redesigned its vehicle graphics with the help of designer Supersine Duramark and Avery self-adhesive films. Avery 6702 was used on the vehicles' sides and Avery 900 QM supercast films on the rear. Both were...

Ricoh does well.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Ricoh saw net profit rise 18% in the first quarter this year between April and June compared to the same period last year, buoyed by a fall in the value of the yen and rising sales of high-end multi-function printers. Copyright: CMP...

Training pact.(Guardian Media Group has joined with CCI Europe)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The Guardian Media Group has joined with CCI Europe to co-operate in what is described as a `beyond-the-state-of-the-art' Newsplex facility for training, demonstration and research into the next generation, cross-media news handling methods and...

Paper pulls in profits.
August 6, 2001... Swedish paper group AssiDoman claims that the US economic decline is expected to reach its lowest point at the end of the year, with the weakening of the European economy to continue. AssiDoman posted an operating profit of Skr2.39bn for...

Lightning Source up and running.
August 6, 2001... Lightning Source has opened its books-on-demand factory in Milton Keynes, promising that it will grow from one IBM printing line to four or even five lines within three years. It opened just days after news broke that Stratus Holdings, the...

Heidelberg bridges gap.
August 6, 2001... Bridge Offset of Aldershot has invested in a new Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102-6LX with a dedicated coating unit to replace an existing five- colour Speedmaster. Dave Holden, joint managing director at Bridge Offset, says: "An increasing...

Centurfax award.(Supplier of the Year)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Centurfax, manufacturer of the CCDot DotMeter, last week celebrated its award of the BPIF Supplier of the Year and began its 21st birthday celebrations in London. John Brazier, chairman of Picon (centre, front), represented the award,...

Breaking up is hard to do.(Williams Lea's five year contract with the Royal & Sun Alliance)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The big news this week is the #75m outsourcing deal signed by Williams Lea. The five year contract with the Royal & Sun Alliance means 18 of its staff will now work from the R&SA offices to provide everything it needs in terms of ink on paper....

KCG shares on ice.(Kalamazoo Computer Group)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Kalamazoo Computer Group has requested a temporary suspension of the listings of its ordinary shares because it has exceeded the UK Listing Authority's 120-day deadline for the release of the results to March 31, 2001. Copyright: CMP...

Merger synergies.(Havas Advertising of France)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Havas Advertising of France has identified merger synergies of #15m once the agreed all-cash #425m bid for media buyer Tempus is completed. The merged group would create one-off savings of g17m and a yearly revenue uplift of g6m. It faces a...

Booming Quebecor.(net income)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The world's largest printing company, Quebecor World of Canada, has announced net income has increased 5% to $105.7m compared to the same period a year ago. Europe reported positive results with revenues increasing 4% and operating income...

AGT saved by rescheduling.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Applied Graphics Technologies, the US prepress giant that owns Seven Worldwide, has reached a debt rescheduling deal with its banks, staving off the day when the company must either sell parts of the group or file for Chapter 11. Its share...

Trinity Mirror cuts set to hit print.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The printing sites of newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror are set to be hit hard in the round of job cuts announced last week. It is believed up to one quarter of the management staff at Mirror Colour Print works in Watford and Oldham are...

Filofax gives in to Letts.
August 6, 2001... Filofax, the personal organiser company that was a flagship of the 1980s, has succumbed to a bid from Letts, the Dalkeith diary producer. Filofax floated in 1987 with a valuation of #12m and was sold to US company Day Runner in 1998 for...

Big Blue beats the blues with profits.
August 6, 2001... IBM has managed to achieve a 5% increase in second-quarter profits but is warning of harder times to come, particularly in chip sales. Sales were the same as last year at $21.6m, but profits rose because of increases in its Global Services...

Loot for sale by Scoot.
August 6, 2001... On-line directory group Scoot is believed to be considering the sale of Loot, its advertising magazine bought for #180m in July 2000 but now believed to be worth only half that amount. Scoot is looking for funding for its online directory...

Presstek profits plummet due to Lasertel.(second quarter profits)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 6, 2001... Presstek has suffered a big drop in profits in the second quarter, despite a 28% increase in sales to $27.1m. The US company blames the shortfall in profits - down from $568,000 to just $105,000 year-on-year - on its Lasertel subsidiary, which...

Compulsory winding up.(Garnett Dickinson Print Ltd. vs. Eduational Publishing Internatioanl Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The following case is due to be heard at Leeds District Registry, 1 Oxford Row, Leeds LS13 3BG * Educational Publishing International Ltd The Maltings, 59 Lythwood Road, Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 0NA on August 7 at 10.30am....

In a SpinJet.(Litho Supplies to offer new proofing system)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Litho Supplies is to supply the SpinJet 100 proofing system developed by Troika Systems. It takes a post-Rip file and prints it as an imposed duplex proof, so it fits into a ctp workflow as a final check before imaging. The first customer for...

Formara's Canon.(new printing system arrives at Formara)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Formara, a Southend on Sea on-demand printer has taken delivery of a Canon black and white ImageRunner 110 printer. The kit backs up the company's litho presses and steps up previous digital productivity based on Canon's GP605 printers. The...

Austrian proofing.(Reprotechnik Biberle uses PGI Prediction for proofing)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Reprotechnik Biberle, an Austrian repro house, is using a PGI Prediction for its digital halftone proof requirements. The system proofs to a range of materials and handles gold and silver as well as conventional and process colour inks. It will...

Digital images.(Cadmium Systems to represent Image Source)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Cadmium Systems, already one of the largest distributors of royalty- free digital images, has added Image Source to those it represents in the UK. This follows on expansion for Image Source which has acquired ElekraVision, one of Germany's...

Interest in Dalim.(new workflow application)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Dalim has high hopes of securing further orders for its Ficelle web based workflow application having seen UK publishers show interest in it at the recent Total Publishing show. It is already in use at Keene Graphics in London as well as...

Digital sweeps GATF awards.(new products focus on digital capabilities)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Digital and prepress technologies were to the fore among the winners of the 2001 GATF InterTech awards, presented by the US research association to leading innovative products. Creo's platesetter has been a past winner and all winners must...

25 years for Technik.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Berkhamsted repro house Technik celebrated a rare accolade for a prepress company marking its quarter century with a celebration dinner for more than 100 customers and staff. Managing director Terry Walker handed a Rolex watch to production...

Standard definition.(digital printing)(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... The American National Standards Institute-backed Committee for Graphic Arts Technologies Standards has defined a format for variable digital printing. This stands a good chance of becoming the universal standard to solve the problem of...

Sappi on the web.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2001... Sappi is the latest paper company to jump on the dotcom bandwagon, with the launch of a new website for printers and designers. The Idea Exchange comprises a library of printed samples, paper handling information, products, Sappi awards and...

TSSI signs US deal.
August 6, 2001... TSSI, a document and packaging protection specialist, has signed a licence with Appleton Papers to provide it with secure structured magnetic threads for security papers. For TSSI in Swindon, the agreement will open up new US markets. Appleton...

Doors close on Donside after mbo failure.
August 6, 2001... Aberdeen's long-suffering Donside Paper company has finally announced it is to close after the management buyout deal collapsed last week (Printing World, July 23). Despite hopes from the receiver Iain Bennet of PricewaterhouseCoopers that...

Cassels moves on.
August 6, 2001... Gerard Cassels, Inveresk group finance director since June 1998 is to resign from Inveresk, the speciality paper manufacturer, with effect from August 19. Mr Cassels will take up a new appointment as finance director of NMT Group, a...

StoraEnso slides in second quarter.
August 6, 2001... StoraEnso's second quarter sales at E3.39bn were about 7% less than the previous quarter's E3.64bn as production curtailments of 558,000 tonnes hit sales volumes. Operating profit excluding non-recurring items was E346.4m, 33.8% less than the...

Bobst for Blockfoil.
August 6, 2001... Blockfoil's High Wycombe site has invested #350,000 in a Bobst 1260 foiling machine. Commissioning of the equipment took place in July by specialist US engineering firm Eagle Systems. The foiling press, which has a format of 1,260x920mm, claims...

Total proofing.
August 6, 2001... In a move to provide 80% of its customer base with a total proofing package of imposition and contract colour proofs, Taylor Bloxham, Leicester, has ordered a SpinJet 1000 proofing package from Troika Systems. The company will use SpinJet as a...

Large format.
August 6, 2001... Kall Kwik in Fairfax Street, Bristol, is one of the firm's first centres to invest in Hewlett Packard's large format colour inkjet technology under the new PrintMax scheme from PCG, London, in association with UK HP distributor RES...

Roland in Rayleigh.
August 6, 2001... Character Print & Design in Rayleigh, has added a third MAN Roland press, a six-colour R306, to its print stable as part of a #2m investment programme. The new machine joins a R305, which is now being updated with MAN Roland's advanced...

Compose Rip aids workflow.
August 6, 2001... Reading commercial colour printer Lamport Gilbert has installed new Compose Rip and workflow software and a large format Hewlett Packard DesignJet printer in readiness for a switch to ctp. The equipment was bought from Marlowe Graphic...

Ryobi makes an impression.
August 6, 2001... The installation of a Ryobi 524HXX, supplied by Ry-Offset, at the Imex Group in South Wales is the latest step in the company's transformation from traditional printing company to full design-to- print service provider. Last year the...

X-rite gets it right.
August 6, 2001... X-Rite, the US provider of colour measurement solutions, has installed the first of its Auto Tracking Spectrophotometer Systems at Quebecor in Corby, Northamptonshire. The installation consists of three 1,016mm and two 1,397mm ATS (Publication...

Novar falls by 53%.
August 6, 2001... Novar, the security-printing group, has suffered a 53% drop in profits and is cutting 1,000 jobs at its Ackermann building systems subsidiary in the US. Novar is still under pressure from shareholder UK Active Value Fund to make more radical...

Russian success.
August 6, 2001... MAN Roland has had its most successful year in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Sales are running at double the forecast rate by the mid-point of the current financial year and calendar year 2001, according to the German...

Stralfors' coup.
August 6, 2001... Stralfors, the Swedish information logistics company has signed a letter of intent to acquire Posten MailHouse, the output data management and printing operation of the Danish postal service, Post Danmark. The planned deal means Stralfors will...

Quebecor goes large.
August 6, 2001... Quebecor World has unveiled the world's largest web offset heatset press at its directory printing centre in Merced, California. The $23m investment is for a KBA four-colour press that can produce 144 pages per impression. It will be used...

Wam!Net sells its soul to Cerebus.
August 6, 2001... Wam!Net seems to have secured the financial lifeline it was seeking - but at a hefty price. A New York company called Cerebus Financing is willing to lend up to $100m to the troubled network services provider, but at an interest rate of...

Mulcahy is Xerox boss.
August 6, 2001... Anne Mulcahy is to take over as president and chief executive of Xerox when Paul Allaire retires at the end of the year. Ms Mulcahy has been president and chief operating officer since May 2000. She has tried to focus Xerox on innovations...

ICC reviews anti-dump tax.
August 6, 2001... The International Trade Commission has announced it is to review anti- dumping duties on newspaper presses from Germany and Japan in the US. The Commission aims to determine whether revocation of the duties would destroy the...

Heidelberg gears up for Print 01.
August 6, 2001... Heidelberg will announce the first stages of its Prinect industry workflow, launch the NexPress 2100 and show off a new direct imaged press at Print 01 in Chicago. While the company has for a long time promised that the event in September...

City slickers.
August 6, 2001... Williams Lea in 2001 is far removed from its City printer roots, but as a corporate information solutions outsourcer, it is still making good use of its printing expertise By Sasa Jankovic Williams Lea has added another financial giant to...

Scarborough fair.
August 6, 2001... Disputing its low rating in the league table of late payers, as highlighted in Printing World, Pindar is keen to set the record straight By Tony Brown The 10.38am from York was taking me to a known destination but with an unknown outcome....

Postal orders.
August 6, 2001... Envelopes face an uncertain future, but those in niche markets are claiming brisk business By Jim Larkin When Rival Envelopes crashed just a few weeks ago, it sent shockwaves through the whole of the industry and threw the envelope...

Patently obvious.
August 6, 2001... Leaflet labelling development is highly secretive and highly lucrative, which is why Denny Bros keeps the details of its developments under wraps By Robin Meade One of Barry Denny's roles as a family businessman in a market town community...

Curtis Fine Papers - Appointment.
August 6, 2001... The deputy manager of Curtis Fine Papers' Dover mill, Paul Egan, has stepped up to manager of the company's Guardbridge mill at St Andrews. Mr Egan has 13 years' experience in the paper industry, and holds a degree in chemical engineering from...

Image Colourprint - Appointments.
August 6, 2001... Generating annual sales of #1m has had its reward for Russell Thomas. He has been promoted to sales manager at Image Colourprint, Willerby, the firm he joined in 1994 as a salesman. Stepping into the role of sales executive at the East...

Scapa Tapes - Appointments.
August 6, 2001... Scapa Tapes has promoted Ramesh Lhila to the post of global vice president of research and development while Sarkis Kalyadjian joins the board as a non-executive director. Both appointments, says the company, are to support its development as a...

Polestar - Appointment.
August 6, 2001... Joining Polestar from the Institute of Grocery Distribution is strategic analysis manager Daniel Turner. He will work in Manchester and report to group sales and marketing director John Ashfield. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

NexPress - Appointment.
August 6, 2001... NexPress Solutions has made Paul Willems European sales and marketing director for its colour business unit, working closely with Heidelberg. In addition, Mr Willems assumes responsibility for service and solution planning and marketing with...

NUR Europe - Appointment.
August 6, 2001... NUR Europe, the subsidiary in Belgium of Israeli manufacturer NUR Macroprinters has taken on Amos Leibermann as vice president of marketing. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.