Printing World articles from December 2001

Printing World archives from December 2001

Centurion wins Barclaycard.
December 3, 2001... Colleagues Direct Marketing has lost one of the biggest print management contracts in the UK - Barclaycard - to its rival Centurion Press. Colleagues, based in Bath, had had the Barclaycard contract for at least five years. The business...

Sunday Business limps on.
December 3, 2001... Johnston Press in Portsmouth and the Kent Messenger Group in Maidstone will both be hit by the latest relaunch of Sunday Business in the New Year. With 100 redundancies under discussion at West Ferry Printers (Printing World, last week),...

Julie Furber moves up at De La Rue.
December 3, 2001... De La Rue has a new head of its merged holographics and tapes division. She is Julie Furber, who used to run De La Rue's Dunstable works which produces Microsoft labels. The merger of the two divisions comes after a poor performance at...

Collision course.
December 3, 2001... Directors at Media Square, the Aim-listed digital printing and online design company, are at loggerheads over a restructuring plan. Finance director Russell Stevens was sacked by new chairman Chris Swan after refusing a pay cut, and was...

West Ferry waits on vote.
December 3, 2001... GPMU members at West Ferry Printers have voted for possible industrial action over proposals for 100 job cuts. Workers met last Wednesday and agreed to hold a ballot on action at a later date if necessary. Another meeting was due to be held as...

Phoenix posse formed by ICSM.
December 3, 2001... Credit checking agency ICSM has started a "phoenix posse" to track down rogue directors and insolvent companies on behalf of its members, in conjunction with Printing World. The idea is for a group of creditors to club together to share the...

Mark Andys head for Salford.
December 3, 2001... Brook & Whittle, the transatlantic label printer, has installed two new Mark Andy presses in Salford to make its British operations a mirror image of its American one. Now both factories, one in Salford and the other in North Branford,...

International scores with Utd.
December 3, 2001... Card manufacturer International Greetings has signed a pact with the Red Devils to significantly boost its sales. The three-year deal with Manchester United football club is just one of a range of initiatives that has pushed interim sales...

Breathing space for Xeikon.
December 3, 2001... Xeikon has bought itself some time with French and Belgian court rulings that give it four months to restructure without having to pay its debts. Xeikon and its French subsidiary Xeikon France applied to the courts for creditor protection...

Hoping for a sale.
December 3, 2001... Warman & Bannister, the advertising and new media consultancy in London has gone into administration. Nicholas Hood and Ranjit Bajjon of Begbies Traynor have been appointed administrators and hope to sell the firm as a going concern. Warman &...

We'll drink to that.
December 3, 2001... The iconic Coca-Cola bottle has been decorated for the first time with a full length shrink sleeve for a special Christmas promotion. Rockware Glass in Yorkshire, which produced the bottle, worked with Fuji Seal to find the sleeving solution....

Long service.
December 3, 2001... To mark 20 years of service with Nottingham print firm Hill & Tyler, Alan Siddons - who has handled print enquiries since the company's inception - was presented with an antique gavel by Damian Froggatt, production manager of Nottingham...

Photobition cast-off bounces back to life.
December 3, 2001... Photobition Print & Promotions, one of the few parts of Photobition Group not bought by Service Graphics, has been picked up by former owner Charles Gardiner from the receivers for an undisclosed amount. Service Graphics, set up by former...

Harrison goes for growth.
December 3, 2001... One of the oldest packaging companies in England has invested #200,000 in a new prepress department. Harrison Packaging, established by the Harrison family in 1882, has installed Mac workstations outputting to a large format Avantra 44...

Publishing probe.
December 3, 2001... Just a few months after finishing its study into the printing industry, the Government is now preparing to carry out an wide ranging investigation into the current and future competitive position of the UK publishing sector. Pira...

Virata plugs into HP kit.
December 3, 2001... US communications software manufacturer, Virata, has signed a package deal with Hewlett Packard to use its Universal Plug & Play software in HP's future desktop imaging and printing products. Product offerings from Hewlett Packard likely to...

The man from the John Smith's adverts.
December 3, 2001... Bezier has given the man from the John Smith's adverts a new `no nonsense' look with a sparkly jacket and bow tie over his traditional green T-shirt. He is being used to support a campaign behind the No Nonsense National Raffle that culminated...

Dataform deal.
December 3, 2001... Premier Paper is supplying Dataform in Newcastle with paper from its Premier Elements range. Dataform, a print management company, is using Earth for volume copying and printing. Dataform's marketing director Ian Spence says the paper is a...

LM's pasta knack.
December 3, 2001... Lawson Mardon Salterbeck in Cumbria has printed the new packaging for Dunnes supermarkets' St Bernard pasta range. The process flexo printed illustrations were produced on LM's Fischer & Krecke flexo press, and Dunnes says the new look for the...

Gravure dials 999.
December 3, 2001... Flexible packaging printer Alcan Packaging Lawson Mardon, has ordered a sixth Opti-Color 2000 viscosity control system for its gravure presses. It will be supplied to the Midsomer Norton company by Jenton International. The latest Opti-Color...

FlatRite booster.
December 3, 2001... Colophon Press in Carlisle claims its Screen FlatRite 1050 ordered at Northprint is making a huge difference to its output. The B2 platesetter and Harlequin Rip has increased the company's productivity by 50% since more than 100 plates per...

Receivers in at Capital Paper.
December 3, 2001... Administrative receivers from Kroll Buchler Phillips have put Capital Paper Holdings and its subsidiaries up for sale as a going concern. AJB Publishing Papers and holding company Capital Paper Holdings are in receivership after 52 years...

#6m contract for HHA.
December 3, 2001... Print management company HH Associates has been awarded a #6m contract with the Carphone Warehouse. The contract will firmly establish HH Associates as a major player in the print management market, with an estimated turnover of #20m. ...

Wohlenberg in Purfect company.
December 3, 2001... Purfect Binding in Park Royal, London, has opened for trade finishing business using a Wohlenberg perfect binding line purchased from Pershke Price Service. The company, so named because it uses PUR or polyurethane adhesive as standard on...

Lloyd James has new role for Hamlet.
December 3, 2001... South-east London direct marketing services company Lloyd James has bought Hamlet Press in nearby Woolwich for an undisclosed amount. The company aims to offer customers a one-stop shop encompassing list broking, data management and direct...

Proliferation of systems a headache.
December 3, 2001... The proliferation of different file transfer systems is an issue for both printers and prepress providers. John Charnock, technical director at St Ives, summed it up. He said: "One of the many frustrations we have is that there are so many...

V2 of Pass4Press wins approval.
December 3, 2001... The Periodical Publishers Association has involved a much wider swathe of the industry in coming up with Version 2 of Pass4Press, the version of PDF it launched one year ago. Introducing the upgrade, Emap print and repro buyer Andy Franks,...

Schreier puts faith in digital.
December 3, 2001... Bernhard Schreier's keynote speech to the PPA conference last week drummed home Heidelberg's evangelical message that the future of the printing industry is digital. "Digital printing in five to seven years from now will be as big as...

Future aims for 100%.
December 3, 2001... Future Publishing is to switch off its two Quasar imagesetters this week as it completes a move to 100% digital operation. The only non-PDF pages are film supplied from overseas advertisers, said prepress manager Brian Hook. The publisher...

Responsibility is a must.
December 3, 2001... The solution to the publishing responsibility chain is collaborate, communicate and facilitate. In a session looking at this issue, speakers from publishers, prepress, printer and ad agency declared their support for a digital workflow and...

Red Dot for Gallus.
December 3, 2001... The Gallus RCS 330 label press has been awarded the Red Dot Award for design by Nordrhein-Westfalen's Design Centrum. The first machine was sold to Romer Etikett in Germany, to help develop its digital workflow system. The machine system was...

Kall Kwik contracts.
December 3, 2001... Kall Kwik UK is to provide print, design and copier services to E.conomy, PricewaterhouseCoopers' B2B marketplace for indirect services, office supplies, travel and temporary staff. Kall Kwik was chosen as it has such a broad geographical...

Encore expands.
December 3, 2001... Encore Print Finishing, the new company set up by Mike Biggs, former managing director of Smyth-Horne, has been appointed exclusive UK distributor for the Thando range of pile turners. Encore also distributes KAS Paper Systems' Integra cover...

Valmet helpline.
December 3, 2001... Valmet Converting's 24-hour technical service helpline is now answering phone enquiries for all product groups within Valmet Converting in many different languages. The global call centre is supported by three product service centres. The...

Two Scottish firms unite for bright future.
December 3, 2001... Two of Britain's oldest printing companies announced their forthcoming marriage last week when Edinburgh printers George Waterston and Mackenzie & Storrie revealed they are to merge. The agreement means the transfer of ownership of...

Print Factory books Hilton.
December 3, 2001... Watford facilities management group The Print Factory has renewed and extended the scope of its contract to supply print for Hilton Hotels. The contract, worth #9m over three years, now encompasses UK, European and worldwide markets and...

TR Systems targets the UK.
December 3, 2001... US software supplier TR Systems is opening a UK operation as it seeks to expand. The firm, which supplies networked solutions for printer applications, is looking to build its European links. It has appointed Graham Martin as regional...

Wizard graphics.
December 3, 2001... Warner Brothers has attempted to put a little magic into public transport by covering one of WAGN's trains in wizard graphics. To promote the release of the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, they have enlisted the help of Halo...

Marlowe support.
December 3, 2001... Marlowe Graphic Services in Berkhamsted and RES Holdings have reached an agreement by which MGS will provide service support to RES's Purup- Eskofot customers. MGS previously provided support to the RES Digital Imaging Division, but it will now...

Tasty subject.
December 3, 2001... Jarvis Porter Labels, Leeds, has produced the new labels for the Duchy Originals Organic Preserves range. The labels were made on Jarvis Porter's seven-colour Gallus R200 press. Repro and imaging for the labels was undertaken by OMS of Hull....

Olympic challenge.
December 3, 2001... Applied Optical Technologies, provider of technology products and services for anti-counterfeiting applications, is to supply brand protection for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games merchandise range. The contract involves the manufacture of hang...

Washington investment pays off.
December 3, 2001... Tyne & Wear's Washington Envelopes claims its #3m investment in eight Winkler & Dunnebier envelope printing machines and two Halm Jet presses is paying off. The company is experiencing its busiest pre-Christmas rush on record for the...

Clark poised for Poole promotion.
December 3, 2001... Southernprint managing director Chris Smith is retiring after Christmas and handing on the reins to former Polestar director Stephen Clark, who has returned to the UK after a year in the US. While the 62-year-old Mr Smith had been planning...

Southernprint looks to 100% ctp.
December 3, 2001... Mr Clark's new job is a far cry from his last one. Southernprint has its origins in Sydney J Mates & Sons, founded in 1846 and was taken over by Newsquest in June, 2000. The magazine printer has turnover of #29m and 220 staff split between a...

Calverts on the march.
December 3, 2001... Calverts, a common ownership co-op and social enterprise which uses a five-colour Heidelberg 74, in Tower Hamlets, London, has entered The Inner City 100 index. The index, which recognises successful businesses operating in the challenging...

Pims plans #2.25m spend.
December 3, 2001... Marketing and communications specialist Pims is investing a further #2.25m in seven DocuTech 6180 machines, making it one of the largest Xerox users in Europe. The London N1 company is one of the pioneers in high quality, fast turnround...

Join our phoenix posse.
December 3, 2001... We shall hunt them in the cities. We shall hunt them in the towns. We will root them out wherever they hide and we shall not surrender. This week we have thrown the gauntlet down to phoenix companies, the scourge of the printing community....

Letter: I like ISDN and here's why.
December 3, 2001... The article on file transfer systems was interesting (Printing World, November 12) but I found the criticisms of ISDN were just a little unfair. The piece stated that the disadvantages are obvious - to whom? In three years I have no...

Letter: Put our claims to the test.
December 3, 2001... Tut tut, Mr Roche. Your letter of November 26 did not do you justice. You may remember it was your very own poor definition of your company's product in the Managing MIS article of November 5 which called into question whether it was MIS or...

Postal problems.
December 3, 2001... Post Office parent Consignia's first-half losses stand at #100m, up from #20m last year, and turnover is only just rising, up by just 2.6% to #4.06bn. Consignia now has competition from Hays and other private operators, having lost its historic...

Rulings may relax.
December 3, 2001... Media ownership rules could be relaxed soon, a Government consultation paper has signalled. The DTI's proposals are that rules could be revised every two years, raising hopes that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation could soon be allowed to have...

Euro resistance.
December 3, 2001... The euro is becoming less popular among UK exporters before it has even gone live, research by Bibby Financial Services shows. The proportion of exporters who think that the UK should join the single currency has fallen from 65% to 47% since...

How the Indigo-HP deal was done in days.
December 3, 2001... Benny Landa, the man whose name is synonymous with Indigo, will leave the company once the acquisition by Hewlett Packard is completed. According to HP, Mr Landa may provide services under a consulting agreement which lasts for two years...

MIS blow to Thomas Potts.
December 3, 2001... Thomas Potts, the print group that includes Premier Metropolis, has seen turnover more than double since its takeover of print farmer CCS, but a management information system problem eat up a quarter of its profits. Pretax profits for the...

De La Rue profits increase by 7%.
December 3, 2001... De La Rue has increased its first half profits by 7% to #29.8m, despite a loss of #2.7m in its new Global Services division. Cash Systems has fared best of all De La Rue's divisions, with operating profits up by #10.2m to #14m, partly...

Gretag managers cleared over dealings.
December 3, 2001... Gretag Imaging, which sold its large-format printer business to Oce last month, has denied reports in European news papers that its senior managers were guilty of insider dealing. Three founding shareholders, William Recker, Dr Eduard...

Compulsory winding up.
December 3, 2001... The following cases are due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL * DL Printers Ltd Station House, 41 Blackfriars Road, Salford, Manchester M3 7DB on December 5 at 10.30am. Petition by Inland Revenue * The...

Appointment of liquidators.
December 3, 2001... * Print Around Ltd Commercial design and print broking. Liquidator: L Harris, Leonard Harris Partnership, 75 Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HR * Press-on-Printers (Herne Hill) Ltd Printer and bookbinder. Liquidator: DW Darrell, Nayland...

Meetings of creditors.
December 3, 2001... * Eaton Press Direct Ltd at PKF, Sovereign House, Queen Street, Manchester M2 5HR on December 6 at 11am * Finchmark Ltd and Finchmark Direct Mail Ltd at Premier Lodge, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester on December 5 at 10am Copyright:...

Notices to creditors.
December 3, 2001... * Gulliver Press Ltd Creditors to send claims to J Taylor, Begbies Traynor, The Old Exchange, 234 Southchurch Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS1 2EG by January 4 * Essential Screen Print Ltd Creditors to send claims to JA Heggarty, Smith &...

Final meetings.
December 3, 2001... * Fellows & Clark Ltd (t/a The Regency Press) at Begbies Traynor, 2-3 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1EE on December 21 at 10am for members and at 10.15am for creditors * Star Paper Products Ltd at Stephen Conn & Co, 17 St...

Disclaimer.
December 3, 2001... * Ace Bookbinders of Unit 4B Faircharm Trading Estate, Creekside, London SE8 3DX wishes to make it known that it has no connection with Ace Print Finishers Ltd mentioned in Legals of November 26 Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

XPS moves house.
December 3, 2001... XPS has brought all operations under a single roof at Portslade Business Park near Brighton. This gathers together all the acquisitions made over the last year and creates a genuine one stop shop service. The only equipment left out of the move...

Publishing partners.
December 3, 2001... Ebrary (www.ebrary.com), a leading provider of information distribution and retrieval services, has signed agreements with two more major publishers to distribute their titles through multiple online channels, including libraries, institutions...

Free photos.
December 3, 2001... Dynamic Graphics has launched its royalty-free image library at www.creatas.co.uk. The site features more than 30,000 photographs and 20,000 illustrations including animations in Mac and PC formats, as well as a range of PAL video footage. ...

HP picks Pixology.
December 3, 2001... Pixology, the UK digital imaging and Internet printing specialist, is to provide digital Internet printing services to four of Hewlett Packard's European Share-to-Web affiliates: BT Openworld, Jessops, Memory Gold and Jenoptik Xpressfoto. ...

UltraStream duo set for Clicks.
December 3, 2001... Digital production and print company Clicks is on the verge of ordering its second Indigo UltraStream, three years after it bought its first e- Print 1000 from the company. Prior to that, Clicks had concentrated on digital display output...

Colourgen's Kodak contract.
December 3, 2001... Colourgen has signed a deal with Kodak to distribute its 5260 large format printer and supplies, suitable for the production of indoor graphics and short term laminated outdoor applications. The first available model is a dye based 1,574mm...

C&R invests #170,000.
December 3, 2001... C&R Printing Services has invested #170,000 in ctp technology for its digital prepress department, now offering digital Matchprint and ctp facilities to clients. A Spectrum Trendsetter was purchased with all ancillary upgrades and software...

Faithful to the original.
December 3, 2001... She might never say where she came from, but the image has definite roots. Marianne Faithful is one of a 100,000 strong collection from photographer Gered Mankowitz, taken using the best photographic equipment. When it came to digitising...

Sailing challenge.
December 3, 2001... StoraEnso has held a paperboard event with a difference - it challenged six teams to build a seaworthy boat using PE coated packaging board, duct tape and plywood for the StoraEnso Carton Cup. Once the boat had been built, the team had to test...

Nice event.
December 3, 2001... Pulp & Paper International is to hold its 13th Market Pulp Conference in conjunction with Paperloop.com on April 15-16 in Nice, France. The keynote address will be delivered by Frank Dottori, chief executive of Tembec, Canada. The conference...

Poster papers.
December 3, 2001... Digital media specialist Folex has reformulated its photo-quality poster papers to meet the needs of printers switching from proofing systems to inkjet machines. Folex ColorFul inkjet papers have a matt finish suitable for use on Epson, Mutoh...

Closure for Silverdalen.
December 3, 2001... M-real is to close down its papermill in Silverdalen, Sweden in March with 200 jobs at risk. The mill was brought into the M-real fold through the purchase of Modo Paper last year. M-real claims there is no business rationale for returning...

Workington's big spend pays off.
December 3, 2001... A #51m investment in Iggesund Paperboard's mill in Workington is paying off says the company. The result of the investment is Incada, a new family of folding box boards with improved printing properties, to meet the demand for quality...

Finance chief joins Inveresk.
December 3, 2001... Troubled papermaker Inveresk has finally found a new group finance director following Gerard Cassels' move to NMT Group. David Harrison joins Inveresk from Iomart Group, an IT company, where he was finance director. A manufacturing...

Certification ongoing.
December 3, 2001... The Finnish Forest Industries Federation claims the Pan European Forest Certification Council is now the world's leading certification system, with more than 39 million hectares certified. Offering independent third party accreditation, the...

SCA expands with New York purchase.
December 3, 2001... Following the news of Swedish giant SCA's packaging expansion in France and Finland, SCA has announced further plans to grow its US tissue operations through the purchase of Encore Paper, New York state, for $92m. Encore's annual paper...

Smart thinking.
December 3, 2001... Harry Quadracci, president of QuadGraphics, told a US conference that `The press of today is just another office machine', that the `art of printing has become the science of printing' and that as a result, the industry needs both general...

Mexican wave.
December 3, 2001... The Mexican daily El Universal has ordered both a MAN Roland Regioman and a Heidelberg Mainstream press which will give a genuine opportunity to compare the two presses. MAN Roland reports that more than 700 units of its Regioman have been sold...

Aussie alliance.
December 3, 2001... Consolidation continues in Australia where Penfold Printing has merged with Buscombe to create the largest sheetfed printing operation in the country. Penfold has sales of around A$60m while Buscombe, which has three plants, brings in revenue...

Quebecor backtracks on Charleroi.
December 3, 2001... Quebecor World has backtracked on plans to bring a gravure factory in Belgium under the management of its operation in Corby. Following the acquisition of Hachette's printing works in France and Belgium, the original intention was to...

Elanders plans Swedish cutback.
December 3, 2001... Elanders, the leading print operation in Scandinavia, is to cut back its directory printing works in Kungsbacka, Sweden. This will involve all 80 employees. The company says that this is part of a group wide cost reduction policy and a...

De La Rue cards deal.
December 3, 2001... De La Rue has teamed up with Global Computers in Ghana to produce security cards to help Ghanaian organisations combat fraud. The plastic cards will be produced under a licensing agreement for banking, insurance and Government bodies. De La...