Printing World articles from February 1999

Printing World archives from February 1999

Schawk steals Photobition's thunder with 70p top bid.
February 1, 1999... US prepress operation Schawk has made an approved 70p a share bid for Wace in a deal which would create a #350m worldwide prepress business. The Illinois-based group is offering Wace shareholders a price 40% above the existing Photobition...

SR captures EC direct mail plum.
February 1, 1999... SR Communications, the south London data handling to print company has won a five year contract from the European Commission. The deal is for SR to provide the EC with a full database management, direct mail services, print on demand,...

Haynes resilient.
February 1, 1999... Haynes Publishing, the dominant company in the car repair manual market, has recorded a slight drop in profits which it attributes to its investment in the US. Group pretax profits for the six months to November 30 1998 were #2.4m (#2.5m),...

StoraEnso to lose 2,000 jobs worldwide.
February 1, 1999... Around 2,000 jobs are to be lost as a result of the coupling of Stora and Enso to create the world's largest volume producer of paper and packaging board, it was revealed last week. The merger of the Swedish and Finnish companies was...

Goodhead profits slide but sales up 8%.
February 1, 1999... Goodhead, the Bicester print group, has seen its turnover rise by 8% to #24.5m, but its profit before tax slide from #1.28m to #556,000 for the six months to November 30. The increase in turnover is due, says the company, to the inclusion...

Delta extends with more space and staff.
February 1, 1999... West Belfast carton manufacturer Delta Print & Packaging has officially opened a new factory extension at a ceremony attended by Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the MP John Hume. The 55,000sq ft extension takes the total production capacity...

EfI has a good year.
February 1, 1999... A successful year in the UK was recorded by Electronics for Imaging for the last quarter of 1998. It showed a 1% increase in revenue at $126.7m up from $125.3m in the third quarter of 1998, and up 105% from $61.7m in the fourth quarter of...

US predicts inks boom.
February 1, 1999... Demand for printing ink in the US is set to rise 25% over the next five years, with litho holding up well to the digital explosion, according to a new report. The study says that total ink sales are forecast to reach $5.2bn in 2002 but...

John Guy to lead Heidelberg's global thrust into used machinery.
February 1, 1999... Heidelberg is losing no time in getting its new used printing equipment business off the ground. Based at Slough, and initially probably employing no more than 30 - including some of the former Heidelberg Finishing factory workforce - the...

'Opportunistic and cheap' P&S slates Johnston.
February 1, 1999... Further consolidation of the regional newspaper sector appears to be on the cards, with newspaper publisher Portsmouth & Sunderland fighting off a takeover bid from the larger Johnston Press group, which is trying to increase its stake in...

Rexam settles US tax claim.
February 1, 1999... Rexam has reached a settlement with the US Internal Revenue Service in relation to an alleged tax liability arising from the demerger of Bowater in 1984. The IRS has asserted that $93m plus penalties of $28m were payable. Rexam has reached...

Intercolor's #100,000 colour laboratory.
February 1, 1999... Intercolor, the West Thurrock specialist inkmaker, has invested more than #100,000 in a fully equipped colour laboratory and management support system. The newly constructed laboratory has been equipped with a Gretag ink formulation...

US packagers jostle over Field Group bid.
February 1, 1999... A new suitor has created the prospect of a bidding war taking place for the Field Group. Shorewood Packaging, New York, has joined Chesapeake in bidding for the firm. Shorewood Packaging says it is considering making an offer for Field,...

Epson hits out at bogus inks supplies.
February 1, 1999... Epson is cracking down on the counterfeiting of printing ink by those trying to deceive consumers by selling cartridges and ribbons. In the UK, counterfeit products valued at #95,000 and imported from Canada have been seized by HM Customs...

SHM and Cranfield in sleeve advance.
February 1, 1999... Strachan Henshaw Machinery is on course to launch a further development of its sleeve technology, the fruits of a joint project with research scientists at Cranfield University. Its existing sleeves have been in use now for over 25 years,...

RIM Mirror bid is 'a bit rich' says GPMU.
February 1, 1999... The GPMU has reacted angrily to the bid made by Regional Independent Media, owner of the Yorkshire Post, for the Mirror Group, while the company is in the process of reducing its workforce by 10%. RIM made a 200p a share offer worth...

Xaar opens research hq.
February 1, 1999... Xaar, the manufacturer of multiple jet, inkjet printheads and related inks, has opened its #2.5m 22,000sq ft research and design centre in Cambridge Science Park. The company hopes the investment will generate new technology to allow it...

Keane inks deal renewed.
February 1, 1999... German inkmaker Hostmann-Steinberg has recognised the success of Keane Graphic Products in the UK market by the renewal of its sole distribution contract for another five years. Eric Keane, managing director of the Ashford company says: "I...

Rotatec signs up BASF.
February 1, 1999... Packaging firm Ferguson International Rotatec, Brough, East Yorkshire, has signed a three year exclusive ink and plates supply deal with BASF Printing Systems. Rotatec's production manager, Ken Mann, cites the variety of uv,...

De La Rue achieves peace at Gateshead.
February 1, 1999... De La Rue drew a line under its troubles in Gateshead last week with the announcement that 165 employees will operate the streamlined north east England factory with its existing range of banknote equipment. The news comes after seven...

Container board sale.
February 1, 1999... The container board business of Tenneco, the US packaging and automotive group has been sold off for $2.2bn to Chicago investment group, Madison Dearborn Partners. Tenneco is retaining a 45% equity interest in the business which, after...

Nebiolo Colora for CMCS.
February 1, 1999... In a move to widen its penetration of the point of sale and poster sectors, the CMCS group, Dartford, has installed a four-colour Nebiolo Colora 8000. The machine can print a 60x40in sheet and the company plans to also use the machine to...

Post & Echo in #10m spend on Goss HT units.
February 1, 1999... Goss has won a #10m order from the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo. The order reflects the increasing demand for colour throughout in the buoyant regional newspaper sector. It also shows that if a company had invested in new equipment over the...

Upex on target but its no to Northprint.
February 1, 1999... Plans to have a Upex used machinery section at the Northprint exhibition in Harrogate in April have fallen through. Northprint organiser Reed Exhibitions demanded a commitment from Upex before Christmas, but Upex director Mike Steele was...

Action in Miami.
February 1, 1999... The UK used machinery industry was in action at the Graphics of Americas printing exhibition held in Miami, US, last week. A strong group of visitors from the UK found British exhibitors also waving the flag. Printing & Graphic Machinery,...

Another Irish move out of town.
February 1, 1999... The Irish Times has followed fast on the heels of its rival Independent Newspapers, by confirming it plans to build an out of town print centre near Dublin. Like the Independent titles, which plans to desert its Middle Temple Street...

Senator doubles size with new finishing plant.
February 1, 1999... Senator Press is this week due to open its #500,000, 4,000sq ft finishing unit next to its works in Havant. The new Hampshire operation will be run as an independent business under the Senator name. Three new jobs will be created by...

Xante 'health warning'.
February 1, 1999... Since Agfa started printing a recommendation for the Xante platemaker on boxes of its laser printer plates six months ago, Xante's agent InfoTec Distribution has seen a 30% increase in enquiries for platemakers. Unlike the warnings on...

Specialised list buying for printers.
February 1, 1999... Many printers consider offering direct mail facilities as a value added service, but balk at doing so for want of knowledge of mailing lists. Ownership, control and distribution of effective direct mail lists is no longer an exclusive...

RSR and Lamp Express.
February 1, 1999... UK distribution rights for products from Lamp Express, the major German manufacturer and distributor of lamps for printdown and contact applications, have been awarded to Repro Sales & Repairs, Rayleigh. The Essex company, which employs 10...

Newspaper industry fetes Usher Walker's Ron Loynton.
February 1, 1999... The newspaper industry gathered in London last week to mark the retirement of one of its own special people. Over 100 friends and colleagues gathered in the River Room of the Savoy Hotel to mark Ron Loynton's substantial contribution to the...

Taking printing presses to the cleaners.
February 1, 1999... Pressclean, a family business in West Yorkshire which is dedicated to cleaner, better looking, better running printing machinery, has moved to bigger premises in Dewsbury. The site comprises 2,500sq ft of workspace, along with its own...

Bovince wins DTI award.
February 1, 1999... East London printer Bovince has received a DTI award in recognition of its contribution to improving competitiveness in UK industry and commerce. Here, Dr Ken Poulter of the DTI (right) presents the award, part of the Inside UK Enterprise...

200 to exhibit at Flexo 99.
February 1, 1999... Flexo 99, March 2-4 at Birmingham's NEC, looks set to establish itself as the largest showcase for the graphic arts in the UK this year, with over 200 exhibitors taking up 3,500sq m. This represents a 75% increase on the extremely...

Fujifilm four are now on call.
February 1, 1999... Fujifilm Graphic Systems has created four new strategic roles for business development managers to provide its customers with consultants who are specialists in their fields. The four new managers are: Jim Dale, whose area will be dealer...

PPA adds strength.
February 1, 1999... The Periodical Publishers' Association has made a series of senior appointments to strengthen its management team with three senior managers being promoted operational directors. Phil Cutts has become director of advertising marketing. Mr...

Sales trio.
February 1, 1999... Hedsorboard has strengthened its external sales team with the appointment of three area sales managers. Matthew Robb will be responsible for Scotland and for Northern customers; Glenn Robertson will be in charge of the Midland region; and...

New team for Cranleigh envelopes manufacturer.
February 1, 1999... Following the acquisition of envelope manufacturer Southern Converters, Cranleigh, by Direct Holdings, a new management team has been installed. Tony Collins becomes managing director, and Bob Binfield becomes finance director. The...

Paper snippets.
February 1, 1999... Evolve Business & Office, the 100% recycled brand from UK Paper has been awarded the Nordic Swan label. This is an independent group which guarantees that the products which carry it meet high environmental and quality standards. Factors...

Tissue switch for new Oakenholt mill future.
February 1, 1999... Cartoinvest, Italy's largest tissue paper manufacturer, has purchased the Oakenholt papermill from Barlow Paper. Cartoinvest, a privately-owned business group based in Tuscany, is set to invest #17.8m in the Flintshire, Wales, papermaking...

Stracel newsprint rebuild.
February 1, 1999... UPM-Kymmene's Stracel newsprint papermill in France is investing FrF500m in a new product line to be produced on its existing PM1. The revamped machine will start up in the first quarter of next year. The rebuild is not expected to...

Arjo to exit Basingstoke?
February 1, 1999... Arjo Wiggins Appleton is "likely" to move out of its Basingstoke home, following the announcement of its extensive company restructure (Printing World, January 18). At present, the building is only half occupied with 300 members of staff....

Euro change may cost more than the 2000 bug.
February 1, 1999... Converting office system printers to be able to print the euro symbol may cost companies up to five times the amount industry is paying to sort out the Millennium bug, according to US laser, inkjet and dot matrix printer developer Lexmark....

Three Eskofots for Chemnitz.
February 1, 1999... Regional German newspaper publisher, Chemnitz Printing & Publishing, is to install three Purup-Eskofot ctp DMX systems. CPP is the publisher of Saxony's biggest daily newspaper, Die Freie Presse, which has a circulation of 440,000 copies....

BASF Indian purchase.
February 1, 1999... BASF Industries, Mumbai, India, subsidiary of BASF, Germany, has acquired JBA Printing Inks, Mumbai. The activities, which will be integrated into BASF's Printing Systems Business Unit, include production, marketing and technical services....

Polish progress.
February 1, 1999... Ferag is making progress into the eastern European market, with the fifth installation of one of its gathering-stitching and trimming lines in Poland. Poligrafia, in the town of Kielce, has commissioned an SHT-350 gatherer- stitcher drum...

French printer ready for Variquik bonus.
February 1, 1999... Seen at a recent visit to Strachan Henshaw Machinery, Bristol, are representatives from French short-run book printer, Groupe Corlet Imprimeur. Technical director Michel Corlet, who says that short-run book printing is increasingly...

Ole Roland.
February 1, 1999... MAN Roland has installed over 150 of its 700 printing units in Spain in the last two years, with the latest installation a five-colour press at Saavedra, a label and packaging printer in the Canary Islands. Meanwhile, Villena Artes...

A Conscious benchmark for a print marketplace on the web.
February 1, 1999... ROD HAYES takes a look at a new system providing a flexible print buying facility on the web, rapidly being adopted by agency buyers. The Internet at present is not unlike the early days of the laser; a brilliant idea struggling to find a...

Setting international standards for cylinder engraving.
February 1, 1999... ROD HAYES looks at an area of the UK which has a high profile in gravure and flexo work and how best practices are being established. The need for setting ISO standards within the industry to improve overall standards of quality and...

IF YOU'VE GOT IT, FLAUNT IT.
February 1, 1999... Once the apotheosis of repro black magic, high end colour flatbed ccd scanners are now altogether much more approachable pieces of kit. LAUREL BRUNNER presents an overview of what has gone before, and what is available today. Once upon a...

PERFECT PICTURE.
February 1, 1999... The concept of digital photography has experienced highs and lows in recent years. MARK ALLISON visits Priory Graphics, Liverpool, which is pioneering a new service to regain industry faith and put digital originals back on the map. ...

Suffocation by cyberspace - union targets labels group.
February 8, 1999... A 21st century style of picketing was practised to mark the second anniversary of the UK's longest currently running industrial dispute at Critchley Labels, Croespenmaen, near Newport. Last Friday, members of the Communication Workers Union...

Edinburgh carton printers fight on pay and hours.
February 8, 1999... One hundred and forty GPMU members at First Carton Thyne, Edinburgh, have voted to take industrial action in protest at its plans to introduce seasonal working and a freeze on pay. A ballot of members last week showed little support for a...

P&S shrugs off rival's bid.
February 8, 1999... Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers has managed to fight off a takeover bid from rival Johnston Press - for the time being at least. Johnston, which already owns 15% of P&S, launched a bid for a further 10% last week, but only received valid...

Minerva nerve centre for Burgess.
February 8, 1999... Burgess, the Abingdon greeting cards specialist, appears to be coming out of the shadows, and looks set to give the greetings cards sector a real shake up. Part of the Bezier Group formed after a #53m management buyout of Wace's major...

East Lancs to increase coloureds.
February 8, 1999... East Lancashire Paper Mill, Radcliffe, plans to upgrade one of its paper machines, to increase its capacity of woodfree coloured papers and boards. The mill, which relaunched its Elan coloured range of papers and launched its new range 777...

Adland reshapes on single site.
February 8, 1999... Adland Print is being reshaped for future growth, focusing its activities on one site in south London and launching a division called Adland Communications. Production is to be concentrated on the factory in London SE6 where the company...

Write-offs fuel Scitex losses.
February 8, 1999... Scitex has cleaned up its balance sheet, resulting in a reported loss of $111m for 1998, but positioning the company for what ceo Yoav Chelouche calls "an exciting and challenging 1999". The losses came as a result of the write off of...

Four company TSO 'demerger' planned.
February 8, 1999... The Stationery Office has begun the legal steps to convert the status of its wholly owned subsidiaries into four separate companies. The four companies for Publishing, Office Supplies, Document Management, and Security Printing will each...

GPMU poised for action over 'overtime squeeze'.
February 8, 1999... GPMU workers at De La Rue, High Wycombe, are poised for industrial action unless the management agree to a meeting at national level and restore the status quo. Two hundred and twelve members met in a school hall recently and decided...

Robert Horne expands sample facility.
February 8, 1999... Paper merchant Robert Horne opened its refurbished, and 50% enlarged samples room at its Northampton headquarters last Wednesday, a project which represents an investment of over #100,000. The opening ceremony was conducted by Jas Sandhu,...

SLS buys another chunk of Westward Group.
February 8, 1999... SLS Communications has bought another part of the Westward Communications Group, for its customer base. Westward Colour, Frimley, is a B2 litho printer with a workforce of around 25. SLS has adopted its customers, but will move production...

New adhesives plant.
February 8, 1999... Croda, the ink and adhesives manufacturer, has commissioned a water- based adhesives plant and completed the installation of a new high capacity line for hot melt adhesives at its Newark, Nottinghamshire, site. A feature of the hot melt...

Akzo Nobel broadens range.
February 8, 1999... Akzo Nobel inks has broadened its range of speciality inks to cover an increasingly wide range of security and marketing issues. The inks fall into clear categories, and different inks can be used on the same document to counter a wide...

Flexpross simulator unveiled.
February 8, 1999... A first version of the new Flexpross flexo printing simulator, being designed by Sinapse Graphic to help companies with flexo training, has been unveiled to the project's UK partners. A number of printers, colleges and other institutions,...

Halm four-colour debut.
February 8, 1999... The first Halm four-colour envelope printing machine currently running at Tower Supplies, Bury, is capable of printing 30,000 C4 envelopes an hour. It has the four printing modules located around a central impression cylinder with the...

Box maker, French style.
February 8, 1999... Sodeme, a French maker of corrugated boxmaking machinery has launched a new piece of kit capable of forming, glueing, and stitching base material of up to 2.8m into boxes at 4,500 an hour. Some radical thinking has gone into its design,...

Mirror Group snaps up First Press magazines.
February 8, 1999... The Mirror Group has expanded its magazine interests with the acquisition of First Press Publishing, Glasgow, by the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail. First Press, started six years ago by Steve Sampson, a former editor of the...

Komori web forums.
February 8, 1999... Komori will be holding its European web forum in Leeds on February 23- 24, along with Agfa, Sun Chemical, Quad/Tech and Megtec, to debate, discuss and demonstrate the latest technological solutions for commercial web. The forum will also...

WS Cowell presses at auction this week.
February 8, 1999... The presses and finishing equipment of WS Cowell, the Ipswich security printer which closed down before Christmas, are going on sale by auction on February 10. Two Heidelbergs - a 1983 MOZP two-colour and a 540x770mm cylinder press - are...

Transcom's 'enabler'.
February 8, 1999... Transcom, the Tenbury Wells direct mail specialist, has installed a new Hunkeler Mini-Web finishing line . The company is now retaining inhouse web finishing work which was previously put out to the trade, often with long delays. According...

Waterlow's winners.
February 8, 1999... Waterlow Corporate Christmas Cards, part of the Oyez-Straker Group, has raised #87,575 for three major charities. The money, symbolised by these giant cheques, were presented to representatives of Age Concern, Marie Curie Cancer Care and...

Firms sold.
February 8, 1999... Two of the businesses which make up the Macdermott & Chant group, the diary producer which fell into receivership at the end of last year (Printing World, January 11), have been sold off in an asset sale by Neale Datadday. This means the two...

Newbon takes the reins for Impac worldwide.
February 8, 1999... Lee Newbon, chief executive of Tinsley Robor, has been appointed chief operating officer of Impac Group, the $300m US based packaging giant that acquired all the shares of Tinsley Robor last September. Reporting directly to Richard Block,...

A digital specialist.
February 8, 1999... Robin Waterhouse is to be the new digital products manager at Northampton merchant Robert Horne Paper. Mr Waterhouse will act as a link between Robert Horne's customers and communicate their necessary requirements to the manufacturers for...

MoDo Paper puts out 'co-operation' feelers.
February 8, 1999... MoDo Paper has unleashed a frenzy of speculation with the announcement that it is "ready to co-operate with other companies" in the fine paper sector to strengthen its competitive position. The company, subsidiary of Swedish forest giant...

World print leaders' good results.
February 8, 1999... RR Donnelley and Quebecor, two of the world's largest printing companies, have announced strong quarterly results after a year of increased productivity and cost cutting. Quebecor has announced record profits of $51m for the fourth quarter...

Packagers position for Chinese carton surge.
February 8, 1999... With demand for cartons in China set to rocket in the next few years as more and more of the population can afford consumer goods, two Western companies have just announced that they are to open factories in China this year. Delta Print &...

Komori makes merry in the Med.
February 8, 1999... Komori is boasting of a sales boom in the Mediterranean, with six Lithrone B1 presses sold in Spain and five Lithrone 40s sold in Greece in recent months. In Barcelona, repro houses Index and Tecfoto, and Redgraf, a commercial printer...

Solna strides forward.
February 8, 1999... Solna, the Swedish web press manufacturer, has made strides into the developing markets of North Africa and the Middle East, installing a total of 34 units. The Moroccan Socialist party newspaper, Al Ittihad-Al Ichtiraki, has bought two...

Upgrades in Europe for Ferag.
February 8, 1999... Ferag has upgraded inserting lines at two newspapers: Gotesburg-Posten and Le Journal de Saone et Loire. Gotesburg-Posten, the main daily in Gothenburg, Sweden, is getting new matrix switching systems to split newspapers from each press to...

Trinity exits the US.
February 8, 1999... Trinity International, Britain's largest regional newspaper publisher, has pulled out of the US print market by selling Trinity Holdings to a management consortium for $57m. The US arm made a profit of $6m in 1997. It had been part of the...

Careful counting at Corby.
February 8, 1999... Quebecor is spending over #250,000 to install seven more QTMS copy counter and press monitoring systems at its Corby magazine and commercial print factory. The firm will be looking to gain the same success with these installations as it...