Printing World articles from August 2004

Printing World archives from August 2004

GPMU votes in favour of Amicus merger.(Graphical Paper and Media Union)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The GPMU is to become incorporated within Amicus after its members voted resoundingly in favour of the merger proposed by the Executive Council. On a turnout of 33%, a total of 26,709 members gave their support to the move, representing an...

Lamport gets SM CD.(Lamport Gilbert, Speedmaster CD)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Lamport Gilbert, Reading, has strengthened its position in B1 sheetfed printing with an order for a new Speedmaster CD, while sister company Blackmore Press, Shaftesbury, considers its investment in B2 presses. Both companies are part of...

BGP in revamp.(Benham Goodhead Print gets new equipment)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Benham Goodhead Print (BGP) has now completed a major revamp of its finishing department. This has seen the removal of three of its older stitching lines, which have been replaced with two state of the art machines. Just under a year ago a...

Reed Print gets go ahead.(Reed Print & Design's new plant)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Reed Print & Design has been given final go ahead from Sunderland Council for its planned #15m superplant to replace the building that burned down in November 2003. At 11,000sq m, the new development is twice the size of its predecessor....

Waste Legislation report.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Market research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures has published a white paper of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Legislation, which requires companies to dispose of old computers and peripherals. The report looks at the regulations in the first...

Repro City technology.(PlateRite 4100 thermal platesetter, Trueflow workflow management system )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Repro City, which is celebrating 20 years in business this year, has replaced its existing film and plate technology with a PlateRite 4100 thermal platesetter and Trueflow workflow management system from Screen. The new package will supply...

Work-related deaths.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The number of people killed at work rose to 235 last year prompting fresh calls for the government to implement the corporate killing offence. The government wants a 5% reduction per year in fatalities, but last was a 4% increase, bolstered by...

HumanEyes deal.(HumanEyes Technologies Ltd., Sharp Systems of America)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... HumanEyes, the 3D image specialist, has signed a deal with Sharp Systems in the US to support Sharp's 3D monitor and laptop displays with HumanEyes Lite allowing true 3D viewing without the use of special glasses. HumanEyes software enables...

US Standards.(American National Standards Institute to review safety standards of printing industry)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Binding and finishing safety standards are coming under review in the US. The American National Standards Institute is revising B65 released in 1999 to harmonise with other presses and printing equipment. It will look at design and mechanical...

NUR Macroprinters in profit.(NUR Macroprinters Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... NUR Macroprinters, the Israeli supplier of wide format inkjet printers, says it has gone into profit for the first time in three years with $1.2m in the black, following a year of steady growth. The company says the improvement is due mostly to...

Express has five weeks for Ferry bid.(Express Newspapers PLC's Richard Desmond plans to buy West Ferry Printers)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Richard Desmond has just over a month to decide whether he will try to take control of the West Ferry newspaper printing plant in the Docklands, following completion of the Telegraph sale last week. Last minute legal wrangles with Telegraph...

Wheatons paves way with Timson ZMR.(Polestar Wheatons, Timsons Ltd., ZMR T48A press)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Polestar Wheatons is to be the first in the UK with Timsons' revolutionary ZMR T48A press. The Kettering press manufacturer has already sold ten of the book presses worldwide to customers in France and Italy as well as eight to the US. ...

Trinity shuts Chester.(Trinity Mirror Digital Media Ltd.'s facility closure)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Trinity Mirror is to close its Chester print site as part of the group- wide reorganisation of manufacturing under ex-Stationery Office and West Ferry print chief Rupert Middleton. The news came last week during a report on printing...

Inside job.(Checkprint receives contract from Her Majesty's Prison Service)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Checkprint has been awarded a three-year sentence by Her Majesty's Prison Service to provide cheques and credit books to 130 prisons across the UK. Supply of the cheques, which include a hologram and a watermark in the form of a padlock, are...

Auto Printers has new Printmaster.(Heidelberg Printmaster QM46)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Auto Printers in Cardiff has taken delivery of a new Heidelberg Printmaster QM46 to replace the company's existing machine, which was bought secondhand six years ago. Managing director Robert Pingel says the company is moving into more full...

Winters Pioneer places order.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Winters Pioneer has placed an order with Litho Supplies for #230,000 worth of digital production equipment. The company, which purports to be Dundee's oldest family commercial printers, will take delivery of an Agfa Palladio B2 automatic...

Purchaser of Editis.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Wendel Investissement has been confirmed as the purchaser of Editis, the former Vivendi Universal Publishing business divested by Lagardere. The deal means that Editis is now the second largest French language publisher. Lagardere was...

Goss order.(Greensheet, Goss Magnum )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Texas publisher Greensheet has ordered 20 Goss Magnum printing units and two folders for its new facility in Houston. Replacing an ageing Harris V15D press, the two four-high towers and six two-high towers are expected to reduce production time...

Eastman Kodak sued.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Eastman Kodak is being sued by black workers in the Federal District Court in the western district of New York over claims that they had been paid less, promoted less often and suffered a pattern of harassment. The suit, for unspecified...

Fuji to resell Docucolor.(Fuji Photo Film Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Fuji Graphic Systems is to resell Xerox's mid range and entry level Docucolor digital presses, including the 6060, 5252 and 3535 in Canada. Fuji will also provide support for the Efi Fiery and Xerox DocuSP workflows. Copyright: CMP...

Mail offers discount on magazine postage.(Royal Mail Group)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The Royal Mail has launched an initiative designed to boost weekly magazine subscriptions by offering a 25% discount for one year to October 8, 2005. Tom Wasilewski, head of publishing Royal Mail, says: "This initiative has been driven from...

Express speeds away with Lithrone.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The market is proving strong for sales of 26in or 660mm presses and Paul Hampton, managing director, Express Printing of Chichester explains why: "We have just installed a five-colour Lithrone 26 and though we looked at a 28in model because...

BAPC bests.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... To celebrate its 25th anniversary the BAPC has launched a national campaign to seek out for 2004; the UK's best printing business; the best supplier and the best product. Nominations for any of the three categories are not restricted to...

Gojet printer.(Scitex Vision America Inc.'s product introduction)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Scitex Vision is to debut its Gojet superwide format inkjet printer in Europe at Viscom in Paris next month. The Gojet is a three-metre machine for large and small print houses and sign shops that specialise in outdoor applications such as...

Documents from Greece.(Olympics)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Some 4.5 million printed and electronic documents was sent from Greece in a single operation to the 202 countries in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was the largest despatch ever undertaken by the Greek private sector and included forms,...

Colour Confidence webstore.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Colour Confidence, the colour management division of Typemaker, has launched a webstore for colour management software for Spain and the Benelux markets. It features products such as ColorVision, Gretag Macbeth and X-Rite, as well as Colour...

DuPont dividend.(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... DuPont, the chemical, ink and proofing systems supplier, declared its 400th consecutive quarterly dividend since the company's first in 1904. Second-quarter earnings were up 29% to $805m, excluding the costs of a major cost cutting and disposal...

ABB turnround.(ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... ABB says it has completed a turnround of the Swedish engineering group and leading press controls supplier begun two years ago when bankruptcy was on the cards. Chairman Jurgen Dormann says Fred Kindle, who takes over as chief executive next...

New operation rises from St Ives merger.(St Ives Print & Display)
August 5, 2004... St Ives has completed the merger of its Multimedia and DisplayCraft divisions to form St Ives Print & Display. Officially inaugurated on August 1, the new unit combines multimedia print and packaging with point of sale and display printing...

Pallet disposal service launched.(J and G Environmental)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Problems regarding pallet disposal could be a thing of the past for printers, thanks to a new environmentally friendly scheme. The collection and recycling service has been set up by J&G Environmental of Blandford, which already manages...

Nipson cuts share offering.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Nipson reduced the number of shares on offer on the eve of its AIM flotation, raising #10m through the offering instead of the planned #25m. The share placement was reduced to 32% from 40% in line with poor equity market conditions that...

MBO to Acorn Press.(MBO America)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Acorn Press (Swindon) a commercial B1 printer specialising in the quality end of the market has boosted its finishing capacity with the addition of an MBO B30/444. This machine is replacing a Stahl unit which has, says Paul Hopkins, operations...

Printers' Charitable Corporation lunch.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... MP, lecturer, broadcaster and raconteur Sir Jeremy Hanley is to be the speaker at the Printers' Charitable Corporation annual lunch at the Stationers' Hall on October 21. Sir Jeremy, the son of actors Jimmy Hanley and Dinah Sheridan, is an...

Berlin arts project.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... A Vutek UltraVu has been used to print a 540sq m graphic that was mounted on the underside of the Eiserne Bridge leading to Berlin's Museum Island. It was made in 180 pieces on vinyl at 360dpi for an arts project. The segments are backlit by...

Northern Whig appointment.(Richard Williams)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Richard Williams has joined Belfast printer Northern Whig as sales and marketing manager having led development programmes for the United Nations and been a board member of the Marketing Services agency in Hong Kong. Northern Whig, founded as a...

New option for Cumulus Photo Suite.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... JPY has launched a new option for Canto's Cumulus Photo Suite that lets users manage RAW images from digital cameras. The new RAW filter reads metadata from the images of nine leading camera companies and more than 80 models. It is now...

Glasgow to spread net for brochure printer.(Glasgow City Council)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... One of the trickiest and most sensitive print tenders to be called in the UK for many years is due to be announced in the next ten days by Glasgow City Council. There are two contracts on offer, in effect the same job but split into two...

Devon opts for Agfa.(Devon Print Proof )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Packaging and PoS printer Devon Print Proof in Leicester has gone from manual platemaking to ctp with the installation of a #250,000 Agfa prepress system, including an Xcalibur VLF ctp system, ApogeeX workflow software, Printdrive and Sherpa...

Presstek looks to second half.(Presstek Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Sales for Presstek dipped ahead of Drupa but have rebounded since to leave the company with its largest backlog of orders in its recent history. The company has orders in hand worth $11m most of which will be shipped in Q3. The Q2 figures...

Gang of four vote Busch.(Busch Graphic Machinery)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Four printers in the last couple of months have caught the vision of productivity that pile turners offer. Mackays of Chatham, Zenith Media, Cardiff and GKD Litho in Hull have all placed orders for Busch Graphic Machinery pile turners. A...

Vat fraud.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... MPs are pressing for tougher penalties on Vat fraud after a report by the Commons public accounts committee revealed #11bn in revenue was being lost each year. It called on Customs & Excise to make greater advantage of the merger with the...

J and G appointment.(J and G Environmental)(Bill Bush )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... J&G Environmental, the specialist waste disposal company that handles the needs of 1,100 UK printers, has appointed Bill Bush customer services advisor in the north. Bill, 60, joined J&G after 20 years with the Leicester Mercury where he was...

Esko-Graphics appointment.(Sean Runchman)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Sean Runchman, who consistently won sales person of the year in Esko- Graphics' UK ctp sales division, has been promoted to manage international accounts in both the company's packaging and commercial printing operations. He has been appointed...

Recycled papers for government.(Department of Transport)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The Department of Transport has developed a new framework for the supply of recycled coated and uncoated printing papers to UK central government departments and their agencies. A contract notice is to be placed in the Official Journal of the...

Big digital ad players unite in shared vision.(Quickcut)(Adstream)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The leading providers of digital advertising management services in the print and media markets are to merge and launch a multimedia product. QuickCut has the business of most national newspapers and recently upgraded the Guardian to...

Westland round the clock.(Westland Rollers)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Westland Rollers, the UK arm of the German manufacturer, has moved to 24-hour production at its factory in Corby to meet increased demand as the result of the efforts of UK distributor MAN Roland. Westland md Peter van Dijk says the company...

St Ives Peterboro' top says the Economist.(St. Ives Peterborough)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The Economist has judged St Ives Peterborough its highest performing printer, before the company sees the benefits of investment in a new Lithoman and Ferag bindery. The publisher produces the weekly magazine at sites in Switzerland,...

HH serves north with Leeds base.(HH Associates)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Print management company HH Associates has opened an office in Leeds to provide customers in the north of England with a more local service. The Labour Party, MI International and Synovant are already northern based clients for HH and...

Cheques survey.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Cheques are checking out at the checkout with just 1% of the UK population choosing to pay for their shopping with paper. A survey for Switch/Maestro found 48% use a debit card, twice as many who pay in cash. De La Rue closed its last UK cheque...

Xerox UK employees in Olympic torch relay.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Xerox UK employees Chris Evans from High Wycombe, and Sam Robinson of Ayrshire, joined sporting legends in the Olympic torch relay across Greece. They were chosen after being nominated by their colleagues. Xerox, as a worldwide partner to...

Card Manufacturing Expo.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... A study of the worldwide plastic card printing industry will be unveiled at the 13th annual Card Manufacturing Expo in Prague October 17-20. The study will report on current and future trends, and be followed by speakers from many of the major...

Broadband data.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Broadband Internet access has been taken up by almost 60% of UK adults, according to market analyst Mintel. The figure is up from 50% in April, and Mintel believes this will rise to 67% within two years before reaching a saturation point of 75%...

Ink on Paper conference.(Pira International)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Pira's Ink on Paper conference in Ireland is scheduled for September 29- 30 at the Gresham Hotel, Dublin. Pira says the list of speakers from printers, publishers and papermakers guarantees a broad focus from Europe and the US. There is also a...

Graphique goes one step further with gallery.(Graphique Media Solutions)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Display printing specialist Graphique Media Solutions has taken the success of its art reproduction services one stage further by opening a dedicated gallery. The company, located near National Trust property Lanhydrock House and Gardens...

Polestar finance plan puts it on firm footing.(Investcorp)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Polestar has a "considerably strengthened balance sheet" and "significantly enhanced financial flexibility" following a restructuring of its debt obligation and the injection of #74m of new money from majority shareholder Investcorp. This...

Trilogy gets the Shuttleworth edge.(Trilogy Media Group)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Trilogy Media Group in Solihull has installed the first modules of a Shuttleworth MIS with the aim of integrating the three companies within the group. The 36 people at C3 Design, Axiom and Trilogy CDP handle design, printing and print...

UBM shows all round growth.(United Business Media)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... United Business Media, the parent company of Printing World, increased revenues across all of its operations for the first time in three years. Chief executive Clive Hollick revealed first-half results that exceeded expectations with...

Survey shows late payment is worsening.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Printers are taking almost three days longer to pay their bills than six months ago, a new survey has found. And the gap with other sectors is widening, raising the prospect of increased cashflow problems in the industry. Credit...

Craft turns violet.(Printcraft Colour Printers)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... "The time just seemed to be right," says Nigel Walsh, reprographics manager at Printcraft Colour Printers, when explaining why the Coventry printer has just gone into ctp. The decision to go for a Luxel V-6 from Fujifilm Graphic Systems...

Scapa ready to bond with Rotary Koater.(Scapa Tapes)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Scapa Tapes has taken delivery of a printing, coating and laminating machine for the small scale pilot production of tapes, security labels and holograms. The Rotary Koater enables Scapa Tapes to develop new products and test adhesive...

COMMENT: Getting it right first time works.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... At every turn we are finding the same simple mantra: get it right first time. It comes through as a key message from the services that Vision in Print supplies, it is there in technology designed to automate prepress production workflows and it...

Letter: Thanks a bunch guys.(Letter to the Editor)
August 5, 2004... Re your editorial `In the eye of the beholder' (Printing World, July 29), thanks a bunch! To be frank, I never thought of you as an oil painting either, nor do I care. For what counts is our joint commitment to make the print industry more...

Letter: Missing the point.(Letter to the Editor)
August 5, 2004... Am I missing a lighter side of the coverage of Richard Gray of Vision in Print in the letter to the editor `A vision in print' and your comment `In the eye of the beholder' (Printing World, July 29), or is it just unnecessary offensiveness. It...

Letter: Give us a clue.(Letter to the Editor)
August 5, 2004... I read with interest the article by Bob Holt `The standards joke' (Printing World, July 29). There is very limited information about The Dupont proofing and Press Signature system in his article. I found a tiny bit more on the Internet about...

Provisional findings.(Archant Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally cleared Archant's #63m acquisition of 27 weekly newspapers in London, including the Islington Gazette and the Kensington Times. In its provisional findings, the CC has concluded that the merger...

AVT revenues up.(AVT Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... AVT, the supplier of web inspection systems, reports second quarter revenues up 23% to $5.2m, fuelled by product launches at Drupa. The company took $5.7m of new orders, an increase of 51% over the same period last year. There was strong sales...

Credit management.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The average payment period in UK companies increased to 59.5 days in the six months to May, its highest level since 1998, compared with 58.4 days in the previous half-year period, according to Experian, which says companies need to adopt better...

Optimism among manufacturers.
August 5, 2004... Buoyant exports in July have boosted optimism among manufacturers in Germany after two consecutive months of decline, says the Munich based Ifo economic institute. Apart from construction, all sectors of the economy showed improvement in the...

McGraw-Hill profit.(McGraw-Hill Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... US publisher McGraw-Hill says its quarterly profit rose 16% to $165.6m helped by gains at Standard & Poor's and improved advertising revenues for its magazines, including BusinessWeek and Architectural Record. Revenue from information and media...

Lessening the business rate burden.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Revised thresholds for the small business rate relief (SBRR) scheme will lessen the business rate burden for many small businesses and could result in a 50% reduction for the smallest of businesses. They will now pay between 3 to 3.75% of total...

Quebecor cuts costs and returns to profit.(Quebecor World Inc.)
August 5, 2004... Quebecor World has returned to profit in the second quarter as a result of cost cutting measures and improved productivity and efficiency. The company reported a $15m profit, compared with a loss of $62m last year, on sales of $1.54bn, a...

WH Smith to increase its greetings card range.(WH Smith Group PLC)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Greetings cards printers could benefit from plans at WH Smith to increase its card product range. The number of greetings cards in the average store are to be more than doubled to 3,500, as part of chief executive Kate Swann's plans to...

Yell looks to US for growth.(Yell Group)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Yell Group, the publisher of telephone directories, increased group revenues by 7.1% to #280.9m for the three months to June 30, driven by growth in the US following acquisitions last year. Group profit after tax was #20.7m, compared with a...

Trinity Mirror savings target increase.(Trinity Mirror Digital Media Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Trinity Mirror has achieved cost savings of #11m and is on track to save at least #20m this year, according to chief executive Sly Bailey. As a result the target for savings in 2005 has been increased to #35m, up #5m from the #30m previously...

Xerox growth is driven by colour.(Xerox Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Sales of colour products at Xerox now account for 25% of turnover and are a key driver of the corporation's growth strategy. Colour products, including the IGen3 and Docucolor 5252, have helped production colour product sales to increase by...

Oprah helps out at FT.(Financial Times Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Cost cutting at the Financial Times and a helping hand from Oprah Winfrey saw Pearson out of the red. Last year's #1m first-half operating loss turned into a #2m profit. The FT showed the first growth in advertising for three years, which...

Appointment of liquidators.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... * Onesandzeros Ltd Reprographic and archiving services. Liquidators: PJ Clark and JJ Godefroy, Menzies Corporate Restructuring, 17-19 Foley Street, London W1W 6DW * First Printing Company Ltd Printing and publishing. Liquidators: CS...

Meetings of creditors.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... * Chatham Printers Ltd at The Stoneycroft Hotel, 5-7 Elmfield Avenue, Stoneygate, Leicester LE2 1RB on July 29 * City Life Publishing Ltd at Tomlinsons, 2 AC Court, High Street, Thames Ditton, Surrey KT7 0SR on July 29 Copyright: CMP...

Final meetings.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... * Print and Leaflet Distribution Ltd at 2 Nelson Street, Southend-on- Sea, Essex SS1 1EF on September 6 at 2pm for members and at 2.15pm for creditors * Shamora Ltd (formerly Direct Dial Publishing Ltd) at the Red Lion Hotel, Todwick,...

Tullis Russell reigns in Spain with Naturalis.(Tullis Russell and Company Ltd.)(Fnac)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Scottish papermaker Tullis Russell has strengthened its presence on the international paper market with a substantial order for its premium uncoated paper Naturalis from FNAC, the leading European distributor of cultural leisure products. The...

Q&A The benefits of automated inking.
August 5, 2004... Peter Benton of Technotrans argues that automated inking is an unstoppable force because of its cost saving capability What is the best ink supply system to use? That depends on the volume of work you put through your plant but there...

Getting there: Ross Dorras.(Pitney Bowes Management Services)(Interview)(Biography)
August 5, 2004... ROSS DORRAS What has been your career high? My first ever sale with PBMS for variable data printing for two blue chip organisations in the same month. What was the one that got away? We worked very hard with an IT facilities...

WHY BUY: IBIS SMART BINDER.
August 5, 2004... The Ibis Smart Binder comes in four versions. All of them offer good design in abundance and innovative features that boost productivity By Rod Hayes Every now and again I get the opportunity to see something that is clever, well...

Ibis history.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Ibis came into existence when Heidelberg decided to close down manufacturing at the Sheridan Binding Systems facility at Slough. Many of the core technical and engineering staff at Sheridan formed the nucleus of Ibis. Competing products...