Printing World articles from December 2000

Printing World archives from December 2000

Distribution battle turns nasty.
December 4, 2000... WH Smith stands on the brink of losing its biggest customer, Associated Newspapers, after the publisher of the Daily Mail gave notice to quit its newspaper distribution agreement. WH Smith immediately retaliated by threatening to sue Associated...

Tabloids flex muscles for circulation war.
December 4, 2000... The sale of Express Newspapers to publisher Northern & Shell appears to have triggered a circulation battle between the mid-market dailies. The new Express chief Richard Desmond has promised to get sales of the tabloid daily above the 2 million...

New training programme.
December 4, 2000... Barry Shaw, who has spent his working life operating Herzog+Heymann folding machines is leading a new training programme for print finishers being offered by PPS with H+H equipment it supplies. PPS is concerned about the lack of expertise in...

Belligerent McCorquodale "acting illegally".
December 4, 2000... The management at McCorquodale Confidential Print are acting "at best appallingly and at worst illegally" by proposing a 10% cut in pay and conditions and several redundancies, according to the GPMU. The company is cutting 19 jobs, ten at...

Knapp switches to KBA UK as Kelvin Lowe moves on.
December 4, 2000... Kelvin Lowe, the convivial managing director of KBA UK is leaving the company at the end of the year and is to be replaced by Christian Knapp, recruited from MAN Roland. Mr Lowe has been known to be restless at KBA for some time having held the...

Leary buys Pafra's applications business.
December 4, 2000... The US glue detection, quality assurance and production data management business WH Leary has purchased Pafra Systems, the adhesive application business of the Pafra Group. The Pafra adhesives manufacturing business at Basildon remains...

Flame plucks away AMI Technology.
December 4, 2000... Flame Technology, Kings Langley, has bought the business of AMI Technology, less than a week after the AMI Group put its machinery arm into the hands of receivers. Now Trevor Surridge, managing director of Flame, is aiming to consolidate the...

Kingston top hats new recycling deal.
December 4, 2000... As a result of a recycling contract between Kingston upon Thames and waste management company Sita, residents will be doing their bit for the environment. From today, locals will be asked to separate their used newspapers and magazines bound...

MBA installs a second PlateJet8.
December 4, 2000... North London direct mail and financial printer MBA Group has purchased a new Gretag Cymbolic Sciences' ctp system from Bousfield. The purchase follows the installation of an identical PlateJet8 model last year. The machine produces both plates...

French beef up euro note production.
December 4, 2000... France's central bank, the Banque de France, has adopted emergency measures to speed up the printing of euro banknotes in preparation for the January 1 2002 introduction of the currency as legal tender. As one of the 11 European central banks...

Reed Elsevier rights pays for Harcourt.
December 4, 2000... Anglo-Dutch publishing giant Reed Elsevier is planning a #1.2bn rights issue to fund the part-purchase of US educational publisher Harcourt General. The money will be raised via an international offering of 98,870,000 new ordinary shares in...

Hey Presto! We are now PPL.
December 4, 2000... The Presto Print copyshop chain is renaming itself PPL now it has become what it calls a full communications group offering many other services besides print. "Moving to a new brand name has been a hard decision, yet for most of our customers...

Harvey Nichols fails to amuse Royal borough.
December 4, 2000... Bureaucrats from the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea have gone to war against Harvey Nichols, the favourite department store of the late Princess Diana and immortalised in the television comedy Absolutely Fabulous. The London borough...

Kevin Donald joins Polestar Select.
December 4, 2000... Kevin Donald, the former sales director at Broadprint has joined Polestar Select as business development director. Mr Donald has more than ten years' experience in the direct mail sector. Polestar Select managing director, Mike Walmsley, says:...

CMYK giant inkjet will print on anything.
December 4, 2000... South London digital printer CMYK is celebrating winning a new award with the installation of the UK's first large format flatbed ink jet printer. The Swiss-made machine is fitted with Xaar inkjet heads and is being installed in what was a shop...

Sakurai celebrates fourth UK Oliver 572 installation.
December 4, 2000... Sakurai's Oliver 572 large format press is proving popular this year, with the fourth press installed in the UK. Vario Press, Langley, received a special visit from the manufacturer's president Yoshikuni Sakurai to mark the occasion. Vario...

New hq for Harlands of Hull.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Harlands, the Hull label printer, is moving to new premises in Kingswood Park on the edge of the city early next year. The new, 30,000sq ft factory, smaller than the current building in Anlaby but much more modern, will open by the end of...

Daily Jang strikers plan Ramadan action.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... The GPMU has promised an "unusual" form of industrial action among its members at the Daily Jang, the biggest selling Urdu/English newspaper in Europe. After having commenced a one-hour daily strike last week, union organisers said they...

Gilt edged greetings cards!(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Cards that use gold foil are just pale imitations of the real thing. So why not use the real thing? Foil Ribbon & Impact Printing in Edinburgh has just completed the production of 500 greetings cards using 23 carat real gold foil - for the...

Euromoney - not leaving old media behind.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Financial magazine publisher Euromoney Institutional Investor spent #1.2m in launching new products last year, including four new business magazines and a number of newsletters and journals from Institutional Investor. The company, 71% owned by...

SynRG ceases trading with 45 jobs lost.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... When the plans to merge SynRG into the Anton Group, first initiated just over a year ago ran into difficulties at the beginning of this year, SynRG, the south London financial and accounts printer chose to continue to trade independently. This...

Speculation over Emap's B2B magazines future.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Publishing giant Emap has dismissed as "speculation" news that it has put its business-to-business magazine division up for sale with a price tag of #750m as it seeks to move solely into consumer markets. The company owns many of Britain's best...

AD adds to its global partnerships.
December 4, 2000... Leading graphic arts public relations company AD Communications has linked up with Broadford & Maloney, one of the largest graphic arts PR companies in the US. The move follows close on the heels of an alliance signed with Guan Ming in...

Male macho industry - moi? Nous?(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 4, 2000... A "jolly boys' club" indeed! Major travel print buyer Denise Hart delivers some hard-hitting barbs in her letter below. The sally about our ctp lunch picture showing only men round the table is perhaps a bit unfair - after all, company...

Financial common sense.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... To feel compelled to write about the BPIF two weeks in succession is unusual. Perhaps it is a sign that the federation in its new modern home is at last waking up to the needs of the industry. This week's announcement of a federation-sponsored...

Letter: Are we just a jolly boys' club?
December 4, 2000... I read with interest Printing World every week and have subscribed to it for many years now. I find it informative and interesting despite its very strong print bias - which is to be expected. However, recently I am beginning to feel that...

Letter: NTO initiatives broaden access to training.
December 4, 2000... Following the letter, BPIF Skills Action Fund Deluged with Apathy, from Peter Sotheran (Printing World, October 30) may I inform you of a project that the Print & Graphic Communication National Training Organisation is running which aims to...

Letter: IUKE visits are fruitful.
December 4, 2000... You overlooked reporting Manor Creative (Printing World, November 27) as a host company in your review of the latest IUKE brochure. We were recruited two years ago after demonstrating a track record of business excellence and have found the...

Letter: Beware permeating pigments.
December 4, 2000... It was interesting to read that Komori UK is to have a conference to tell the world that it can over-varnish on top of wet ink. Big deal. If any of this coated stock has then to be unsewn (perfect) bound into a book or magazine it should be...

Medler sets up buy, grow or sell service for BPIF.
December 4, 2000... The British Printing Industries Federation has launched a powerful corporate finance and business brokering service for the confidential use of individual members. The federation has selected Fiat Lux Media Management Consultants to offer, on a...

A six-colour thank-you from Cloister Press for its new Heidelberg 74.
December 4, 2000... Cloister Press of Cambridge is sending a mailer to its clients to thank them for their loyalty and for enabling the company to install a new six-colour Heidelberg 74 press. Cloister has invested #700,000 in the press and a further #300,000 in a...

Foil problems hold AOT back.
December 4, 2000... The reintroduction of a successful demetallised foil for use in banknote manufacture promises, when completed, a bright future for Applied Optical Technologies. However, since August when AOT announced that elements of its demetallising process...

Blunkett applauds Leeds college Print Media Centre.
December 4, 2000... David Blunkett, the Secretary of State for Education has singled out the Print Media Centre at Leeds College of Technology for special praise in a visit last week. Mr Blunkett was on a fact-finding mission to hear about the #1.75m of private...

Macfarlane pierces BPI's defence with new increased bid.
December 4, 2000... Macfarlane packaging group has raised its #92m hostile bid for British Polythene Industries to 310p per share, upping its original offer of 250p. The increased final offer is to be made by Noble Grossart for BPI's issued share capital. BPI...

Gretag ceo quits as profits dip.
December 4, 2000... The chief executive officer of Swiss prepress specialist Gretag Imaging, Peter Fitzgerald, has resigned after two years with the company. Gretag says: "Thanks to his approach, the group sales doubled within the space of two years." But his...

Broadgate becomes IIP UK showpiece.
December 4, 2000... When your company gets a worldwide reputation for developing staff, you are probably doing something right. And this is the status Broadgate Promotional & Financial Print, Wickford is rapidly acquiring. Just a few months after being chosen...

Wildlife magazine creates a first.
December 4, 2000... The BBC Wildlife magazine has created a first with its December issue pictured above. Published by BBC Worldwide, the magazine is the first in the world to carry the Forest Stewardship Council logo, certifying that the paper used comes from a...

Xaar to work with Sericol on ink development.
December 4, 2000... Xaar has signed an ink partnership agreement with Sericol Imaging, part of the BP Amoco conglomerate, in order to allow the Cambridge inkjet group to target new areas of the industry. Sericol will work with Xaar in the UK and Sweden to develop...

Chameleon opens up in Leeds.
December 4, 2000... Chameleon Search & Selection, a print and design industries' recruitment specialist with headquarters in London has opened a new office in Leeds. Managing director Ian Moring says the north of England is a key location for both print and design...

Canon to spend #7bn on imaging and SEDs.
December 4, 2000... Canon is to invest more than #7bn in the development of three key areas over the coming years in a bid to become the world'sNo 1 in networking technologies. President and ceo Fujio Mitarai says that society is increasingly becoming one that...

Kall Kwik franchise moves up to a Speedmaster 52-5E.
December 4, 2000... In an attempt to increase turnover by 20%, Kall Kwik, Middlesbrough, will bring in the new year with a Speedmaster 52-5E. Franchise owner Piers Mitchell says: "The SM 52-5E is the highest quality, fastest and most comprehensive press at this...

Room Raiders labels win Diamond status.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... The BBC series Changing Rooms has helped Simpson Label near Edinburgh pick up a Xeikon Diamond Award. Simpson printed labels for a new range of Craig & Rose paint, called Room Raiders developed with Changing Rooms presenter Anna Ryder...

#100,000 a year man in tribunal hearing.
December 4, 2000... London pressroom consumables supplier Ultrachem was locked in a two-day employment tribunal last week for the alleged unfair dismissal of accountant Andreas Soteriou. Mr Soteriou claims to have worked at the company as a full-time employee...

Primarc expands in US.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Primarc, the Slough uv lamps company has set up an additional factory in the US to meet the demand for its products. The company claims that the New Jersey works will complement its sales office, Jeff Bade having been appointed sales manager to...

Bath Press appoints new ops director and a gm.
December 4, 2000... Bath Press Group, the major part of CPI UK, has recruited a manufacturing specialist as UK operations director. Chris Foreman joined the group last week having spent much of his career in senior manufacturing roles with firms such as Rank...

BPIF gets blown away in Chicago.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Nine BPIF members have just returned from a fact finding mission to Chicago in the US to visit the Document Management Industries Association conference and exhibition. The main attraction was an e- commerce summit where delegates could talk...

Gutenberg grabs attention but via the Internet for 600th anniversary.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... As part of the Gutenberg 2000 celebrations to mark the 600th anniversary of printing inventor Johann Gutenberg's birth, the British Library has put two versions of the 15th century Gutenberg Bible on the Internet. In conjunction with...

Strong UK presence at Moscow conference.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... A number of UK paper and printing companies will take a trip to Moscow early in the new year to attend the 1st International Security Printing Conference. Sponsored by BSC International, Pyrabelisk and Cross Group, the two-day conference will...

A TruePress a month for Screen.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... The UK's first Screen TruePress 5444 has been installed at Independent Reprographics in Hemel Hempstead, with another three presses due to be installed at other UK sites. The press, which started production last week, is Independent...

Willett opens up in Bangkok.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Coding and labelling supplier Willett has continued its expansion around the world, this time with the opening of a subsidiary in Bangkok. Thailand is a market in which Willett has a number of industrial contracts, and by opening a sales centre...

PHYSICIST turned economist.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Perceived as a research organisation, Pira now describes itself as a major forecasting consultancy. TERRY ULRICK meets the man leading a new Pira Mike Hancock is a Cornishman and a trained physicist. He joined Pira 22 years ago. Today he...

To E5bn and beyond for Agfa-Gevaert.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Agfa-Gevaert is confident of reaching its goals for 2000 and beyond, the company announced last week, after signalling it was set to achieve a double-digit percentage earnings increase in the third quarter of this year compared to 1998. The...

Magic spell at Bloomsbury.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... City analysts might well be used to hearing tales of woe from the publishing community and listening to profits warnings. So it is an absolute joy when you can issue a profits upgrade. The spell was cast over the City slickers when fictional...

On the mezzanine floor.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... A growing number of companies are paying a minimum wage of about #4 an hour, higher than legally required, to stave off competition for employees in a tightening labour market. The statutory minimum wage for adults was raised from #3.60 to...

The claim after the storm.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... The Federation of Small Businesses is providing emergency funding to members whose companies are at risk as a result of recent floods. Up to #140,000 per company is available across seven regions hit hardest by the severe weather. The average...

AGT's photo finish.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Applied Graphics Technologies, owner of Wace and Seven Worldwide, is seeking to sell its US photo finishing operations to Fuji Photofilm for $18m, as the company continues its sell-off to focus on prepress, not photo work. The proposed sale...

Indecision online.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Even in the US, printers are proving slow to bite the online bait. A study of a sample of 200 printers, large and small, by State Street Consultants shows that only 21% give quotes or receive jobs online, although 42% buy their own consumables...

TM heads Southnews.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Trinity Mirror is almost certain to take over regional newspaper publisher Southnews now that it has received acceptances from 92% of the shareholders. The takeover of Southnews, which publishes 84 weekly free and paid-for newspapers across the...

Sappi buyback.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... In a sign of the times for paper stocks, Sappi is seeking permission from shareholders to be able to buy back its shares "from time to time". Although Sappi's annual results last month showed a 65% increase in profits, its share price has...

Small footprint, big inkjet potential.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Scitex Digital Printing is so pleased with the success it is enjoying with its Versamark inkjet printing system that it has formed a new market segment called Business Color. The first European development to come to market is the DataRunnar, a...

A very secure paper from Portals.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... The use of laser printers in security printing applications could take a significant leap with the development of Securitext, a specially developed paper from Portals, Bathford. Portals is one of the few mills dedicated to the production of...

DiAlta new model does 75 pages per minute.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Minolta has added to its award-winning DiAlta range of digital copier/printers with the high speed Di750. With a print and copy speed of 75 pages per minute, the black and white Di750 is Minolta's introduction to the low-end print on demand...

Compact Pro range not so compact after all.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... BABS International has added to its Compact Pro range of wide format roll laminating machines for encapsulating inkjet posters, cad drawings and other large digitally printed graphics. The two new models bring the number in the range up to...

A new formula.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... If the equation does not fit, you need a new formula. Business forms is one area where gold looks set to turn to lead. ALEX GRANT toils to find the trouble in the market How often are you asked to sign for goods being delivered these days?...

Halcyon days?(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... In the US - so often at the forefront of global trends - an estimated 70% of all forms produced in 1999 were printed digitally, with just 28% offset. Conventional forms printers are either closing down or diversifying, fast. Standard...

Race against time.
December 4, 2000... Grasmere Press is a company that has responded to market changes, and responded well. ROBIN MEADE visits the Blackpool company Grasmere in Blackpool became the biggest independent business forms manufacturer in the country on the back of...

Grasmere - from garage to 100,000 sq ft.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Grasmere Press began life in a garage in Ron Easter's home in Grasmere Road, Blackpool, in 1962. It moved to a purpose-built factory in Bispham in 1971 and introduced rotary production in 1976. Additions and expansions followed and it now has...

Jewel in the crown.
December 4, 2000... Key markets, alternative media, strength of sterling, dotcoms and new strategies. Christoph Riess, head of Heidelberg's central Europe division talks to GARETH WARD Heidelberg UK is a jewel in the press manufacturer's crown - not the...

The nation's printer.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... TERRY ULRICK visits the Parliamentary Press, the #15m turnover arm of the Stationery Office which prints Hansard and many other official publications Being labelled "the nation's printer" is quite an accolade, but one that Parliamentary...

Special baseball cards for a very special player.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Baseball cards are a rather curious aspect of an equally curious game. Apparently, our cousins across the pond find the prospect of a group of grown men playing rounders so enthralling they have turned it into a multi-million dollar industry in...

Packaging free of charge.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Now, there are a lot of obvious jokes were could crack about this picture but it would be nice to think that sort of thing is beneath us, so instead we shall just mention the work our friends at Print Design & Graphics, Newcastle, are doing for...

Scoop! Herbert Walker in unpaid bills shocker!(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... It is not often a company is keen to draw attention to its financial difficulties, but log on to the Herbert Walker & Son website and you will find a printer doing just that. However, suppliers should bear in mind these difficulties are from...

A friend in need is an online friend indeed.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... PrintRepublic is no revolutionary operation. As GARETH WARD finds out, the company sells tried and tested material saving printers money Will UK printers buy products over the Internet? Peter Petyt, managing director of PrintRepublic.com...

GETTING THERE... William Alden, md of the Alden Group.(Brief Article)(Interview)
December 4, 2000... William Alden is group managing director of the Alden Group in Oxford and chairman of the Print & Graphic Communication National Training Organisation How did you start your career in printing? My earliest memories are of wandering...

Penguin production chief controls #100m.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... FIONA FRASER looks at the ads for a top job with colossal print buying responsibility One of the top jobs in book manufacturing and one of the foremost print buying jobs in the country is up for grabs. Advertised in last week's national...

IIR team readies for Newstec 2001 and Ipex 2002.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... Caroline Eden (centre foreground) has been promoted to managing director of IIR Exhibitions, the organiser of the Ipex and Newstec exhibitions. Seen with her team, Ms Eden is surrounded by (from left) Khilna Shah, exhibitions administrator,...

PEOPLE NEWS.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2000... * Printing consumables distributor Openshaw International has made several key appointments to its logistics team. Russell Blair will ensure that supply chain management, distribution and warehousing operations run smoothly as logistics...

Colossus of a Greek order for KBA.(Iris Printing orders four newspaper presses)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... KBA has notched up its biggest single sale to the Greek print market. Iris Printing in Athens - a joint venture by Lambrakis Press and Pegasus - has placed an order for four similar Comet newspaper presses, a Compacta 408 commercial web offset...

Last minute rescue for SMS Group firms.(administrative receivership)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... Several of the SMS print group's companies went into administrative receivership last week, but were rescued by SMS Howards Labels, a joint venture company formed by SMS Group and Howards Labels. Commercial print businesses Spectrum Marketing...

Sealing the fate of tampering.(BP Labels security labels)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... Pharmaceutical manufacturer Bayer is benefiting from the security labels expertise of BP Labels, Cardiff. BP has met the call for increased product security and tamper evidence with a security foil that safeguards the product while also...

Large format option for Kall Kwik franchises.(Printmax brand)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... Kall Kwik has joined with London company PCG to provide a large format print service under the Printmax brand. Printmax will be available to many Kall Kwik centres and will offer customers the service by using Hewlett-Packard DesignJet printers...

Bunzl calendar.(Bunzl Fine Paper introduces 2001 calendar)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... Bunzl Fine Paper believes it has catered for all tastes with its 2001 calendar. Bunzl's head of marketing Bob Ide is seen displaying the two faces of the calendar which he says should satisfy those who want a functional calendar and for the...

Jigsaw chooses a Heidelberg Christmas present.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... It will not fit in a Christmas stocking, so Heidelberg's elves will be working overtime between Christmas and the New Year to install a five- colour Heidelberg CD 102 FL at Jigsaw Colour in London. The #1.2m investment has the latest CP2000...

500th Luxel F9000 installation.(large format imagesetter)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2000... Fujifilm Electronic Imaging is celebrating the 500th installation of its Luxel F9000 large format imagesetter. Launched only 12 months ago, FFEI claims the F9000 has "exceeded sales expectations in all markets despite pessimistic predictions...