Printing World articles from February 2003

Printing World archives from February 2003

Suppliers suffer as phoenix dives.(CK Digital increases debt to creditors)
February 3, 2003... CK Digital, Whitstable, is under fire as a double phoenix leaving a trail of debts amounting to tens of thousands of pounds owed to creditors. Meanwhile former sales director John Read is running a new company called Smart Solutions (GB)...

Riverview Press is sunk.(fails to meet payments to creditors)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Riverview Press in Tonbridge has ceased trading, having failed to meet the first payment under the company voluntary arrangement it reached with creditors last October. Riverview Press owed #2.6m to creditors, including #441,000 to...

Oakhill pulls out of the States.(sale of Meridian Printing, its US business, to a specially formed company, MPI Acquisition)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Copyright: CMP Information Ltd. Irish print and packaging group Oakhill has announced the sale of Meridian Printing, its US business, to a specially formed company, MPI Acquisition. Because of the size of the deal relative to Oakhill,...

Net gains.(London Book Fair to offer free Internet access)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Free Internet access will be on offer to visitors and exhibitors at this year's London Book Fair at Olympia from March 16-18. Sponsored by Microsoft Press, this will enable attendees to search the web and pick up e-mails which meeting suppliers...

PPMA booking up.(Processing and Packaging Machinery Association show)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... This year's PPMA show is now 80% booked up according to organisers the PPMA and Reed Exhibitions. Show director Barbara Jackson says: `Last year's show provided the processing and packaging machinery industry with a much needed boost to...

Folex fidelity.(firm shows inkjet printed samples of its large format media coating technology in an A5 loose leaf swatch book)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Folex is now demonstrating inkjet printed samples of its large format media coating technology in an A5 loose leaf swatch book. Paper and film products suitable for piezo and thermal printers have been assembled to show off the high resolution...

Fraud case closed.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Two businessmen who admitted stealing #558,000 from a City bank to buy printing equipment have escaped jail. Chartered accountant Roger Crow and James Lovat, director of Ilford printing company Grangewood, confessed to stealing #558,000...

Pims toasted as first IGen3 arrives.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... The first Xerox IGen3 in the UK has been delivered to the Pentonville Road premises of Pims in north London. The Pims group is one of the UK's largest users of Xerox equipment, both colour and black and white. Following acquisitions last...

Heidelberg gets extra finish.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Heidelberg is bolstering its finishing division with the acquisition of three Jagenberg operations from Rheinmetall, Jagenberg's parent company. The three produce carton gluers and ram punch equipment at plants in Neuss, Moechengladbach...

KBA keeps schtum.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... KBA is expecting to release details this week of an order for two superwide gravure presses signed by a German customer. The machines are each 4.32m wide, the widest yet designed. The current record is 3.684m, the width of the presses sold...

Quality samples.(An Esko-Graphics Kongsberg XL 24 sampletable )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... SCA has installed an Esko-Graphics Kongsberg XL 24 sampletable at its plant in Hartlepool. `We invested in the upgrade because we wanted to improve the throughput in the design department to give us more time at the development stage,' says...

Gurus to speak.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Two big names in manufacturing will be speaking at the Manufacturing Networking 2003 best practice event at Thorpe Park on February 19-20. Professor Sushanthan Bhattacharyya and Professor Dan Jones will give delegates an insight into what...

It's a date.(Bemrose Promotional Products has won 17 awards at the National Business Calendar Awards in London)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Bemrose Promotional Products has won 17 awards at the National Business Calendar Awards in London. Bemrose was outright winner in the pictorial bespoke category for the `Andrex Playful Puppy Calendar' and in the stock calendar category for...

Berrys waves flag as ctp starts up.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... WE Berry, Bradford, is embarking on a profile raising campaign to exploit the power of its presses and newly installed prepress and ctp set up. The aim, says production director Tony Lee, is to ensure that new customers have a much better...

`Cooling off' jobs talks at Jarrold.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Plans by Norwich magazine printer Jarrold to reduce its workforce by 59 and cut pay by 15% have been shelved after staff voted in favour of strike action. Following the ballot result on January 24, the GPMU says that Jarrold's management...

Happy days for B-Print.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... B-Print and Display, Tyneside, has won a 12-month contract to print the point of sale and promotional material for the 630 Alldays stores in the UK. In a review of its print buying aimed at reducing cost, the convenience chain decided to...

Getmapping takes the high road.(Arerial mapping firm gets contract)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Getmapping has made peace with Ordnance Survey after the OS awarded a #0.5m contract to the company that is creating an aerial photographic map of the UK. Last year, Getmapping accused the OS of breaching competition law in its planned...

Utah tour.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... ArtSystems is taking eight of its key resellers to Salt Lake City, Utah, the home of Onyx Graphics, to learn more about Onyx Rip solutions. In part a thank you for their support of the Onyx Rip, they will be given a tour of the headquarters and...

On guard.(Mk modular machine guarding)
February 3, 2003... Mk modular machine guarding has become easier to specify and order via its new Mk Dialog 3 CD. Using the new software customers can estimate a price for any standard module without having to make any calculations. Where the standard modules are...

Dublin up.(Compu-Data in distribution agreement with Tharstern, Ireland)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... MIS supplier Tharstern has strengthened its sales and service network in Ireland with the appointment of Dublin firm Compu-Data as sole distributor. Compu-Data, which until recently represented Jenem, is well established in Ireland's printing...

Greaves says hello to Hello!(Polestar to move printing of Hello! magazine from Spain to UK)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Polestar is to move production of the weekly celebrity magazine Hello! from Polestar Hispanica in Spain to its UK gravure plants so that the publisher Hola can benefit from enhanced scheduling and cost savings. Greaves will begin production...

Apex to spring sales from Ryobi.(Apex Digital Graphics Ltd., Ryobi Printing Presses )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Apex Digital Graphics last week celebrated its takeover of the UK and Ireland agency for Ryobi Printing Presses by throwing open the doors of its Hemel Hempstead showroom. Apex has taken on ten former Ry-Offset employees, led by Neil...

KPMG sued over Xerox.(by Securities and Exchange Commission, US)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Accountancy firm KPMG and four of its partners are being sued by The Securities and Exchange Commission for fraudulently allowing Xerox to manipulate its accounting practices to cover a $3bn hole in its accounts. The SEC is accusing KPMG...

Three into one at Kelvinside.(Kelvinside Group merges 3 divisions to form Multisets Print Solutions, UK)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... The Kelvinside Group has merged three of its divisions into one business so that its print management arm places more work with group companies. The three divisions are Bristol laser bureau Print Data, Wokingham print broker Reedform and...

Clear voice for paper.(Picon Ltd., paper machinery division new name of British Paper Machinery Suppliers Association )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Picon's paper machinery division is adopting the name of the British Paper Machinery Suppliers Association (BPMSA). The rebranding is part of Picon's ongoing strategic development and is intended to provide the paper machinery division with a...

Canadian ISO for Creo.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Creo has received ISO 14001 1996 certification for environmental management of its Canadian operations. This completes environmental management certification for both of the Creo design and manufacturing operations. Creo operations in Israel...

People first.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Loughborough design and print specialist Foxprint has achieved the Investors in People standard. Owner Neil Bamford says: `I've seen a radical change in staff morale, productivity and profitability since Investors in People. We see it as...

Waterston completes its move.(George Waterston & Sons is completing its move into a new factory at Newbridge, England)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Edinburgh printer George Waterston & Sons is completing its move into a new factory at Newbridge, on the western boundary of the city. The transfer has been two years in the planning, since the decision was taken to leave its Edwardian...

BPIF sets up printer helpline.(British Printing Industries Federation, UK)
February 3, 2003... The BPIF is launching a confidential telephone helpline service offering free advice to struggling printers in order to encourage companies in difficulty to take remedial action at the earliest opportunity. It is a joint initiative between...

R&R aims for expansion.(Ratcliff & Roper)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Ratcliff & Roper has taken on extra press capacity in order to power an expansion that could see it targeting the whole of the UK commercial market. It has a production site in Worksop in which it installed a Speedmaster SM 74-5L...

Technique adds capacity.(Technique Studios installs a five-colour Speedmaster SM74)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Banbury design company Technique Studios will no longer be outsourcing its print requirements after installing a five-colour Speedmaster SM74. Established in 1986 the company has gradually been increasing its print capacity after taking on...

Black and white print.(Imagistics enters the high-volume black and white digital print market )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Imagistics, the former Pitney Bowes Office Systems business, has entered the high-volume black and white digital print market with rebadged Konica and Sharp devices, cluster printing software and finishing options. The most productive engine is...

Time to breach the walls.(pros and cons of digital printing)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... The arrival of the first Xerox IGen3 throws the spotlight on the challenge digital offers traditional print. It's easy to dismiss the costs and the productivity of these machines as not being a match for litho, but that is to miss the point....

Letter: Canon can, actually.(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2003... I have just read the article in which I am quoted under the banner "What a performance" (Printing World, January 27). I am extremely upset at the misinterpretation of what I said over the telephone. The article gives the impression that I...

Letter: Surely some mistake.(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2003... I was amused to see an error on page 21 of the latest edition of Printing World (January 27). The article on the right starts "When it comes to choosing paper for a job, Tony Kenton marketing director of CPI, owner of Bath Press and Cox & Wyman...

Letter: Plea for a course.(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2003... I am currently looking to develop and train one of my production staff initially into the role of production coordinator and eventually production manager. I am looking to send him on any relevant training courses and wonder if you are...

AOL to quit books?(AOL Time Warner is considering the sale of its book publishing arm )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... AOL Time Warner is considering the sale of its book publishing arm in a bid to tackle its $26bn debt. However, market analysts predict the business, which includes Warner Books and Little, Brown and Company, would only raise $500m and have...

Short time work.(MAN Roland is implementing short time work schedules )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... MAN Roland is implementing short time work schedules in all its Augsburg production sectors from February for an initial period of six months. The company says it is compensating for gaps in its utilisation capacities until scheduled large...

Quarterly questions.(John Thain, Goldman Sachs)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Deutsche Bank's Josef Ackermann and John Thain of Goldman Sachs have added their weight to the growing debate about the value of quarterly financial reporting. Mr Ackermann says quarterly reporting encouraged short-termism and was one of the...

Buyout market recovery.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Britain's buyout market saw a sharp recovery in the third quarter of 2002, according to printing, packaging and direct marketing mergers and acquisitions specialist Richmond Capital Partners. The market value of buyouts across all industry...

Xerox returns to profitability.
February 3, 2003... Xerox has returned to profitability according to its full year results for 2002. Income for the full year was $91m including full-year after- tax restructuring charges of $470m. Revenue in 2002 was $15.8bn, compared with $17bn in 2001. ...

Growth plans for Skanem.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Skanem, one of Europe's largest labels producers, says it plans to grow its business by 10% in 2003. The Norwegian group bought SE Labels last year to add to its metal packaging and film interests. Owner and president Ole Rugland says:...

CBI survey shows slump.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... A bleak picture of manufacturing has been painted by the CBI in its quarterly survey of the sector, which has found that of 904 manufacturers responding, 31% have seen orders decline in the last four months. Three-quarters are running...

Smurfit boosts European interests.(Jefferson Smurfit Group signs a letter of intent with Smurfit Stone Container Corporation )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... European packaging manufacturer Jefferson Smurfit Group has signed a letter of intent with Smurfit Stone Container Corporation to exchange its 50% stake in Canadian corrugated producer Smurfit MBI and consideration of E185m for SSCC's European...

SMG shares are on the up.(sale of its newspaper division to US publisher Gannett)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Shares in SMG have risen following the news of shareholder approval of the #216m sale of its newspaper division to US publisher Gannett. Disposal of SMG's newspaper arm will reduce its #400m debts incurred by its acquisition of Virgin Radio...

Reaping rewards.(US newspaper websites report growth)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... US newspaper websites are finally reaping the modest rewards of streamlining strategies. Knight Ridder Digital's fourth quarter results were in the black for the first time, according to the company's financial results. Chairman and ceo...

Appointment of liquidators.(printing industry business failures, UK)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... * Tripod Press Ltd Printers. Liquidators: J Russell and A Cooper, Poppleton & Appleby, 93 Queen Street, Sheffield S1 1WF * The London Centre of Arab Studies Previous company name: Soulmode Ltd Production and publishing of books. Liquidator:...

Appointment of receivers.(printing industry business failures, UK)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Z-Media Group Ltd Sale and promotion of marketing products. Z- Publishing Ltd Printing and publishing. Z-Finishing Ltd Printing and publishing. Z-Card Europe Sales and promotion of marketing products. Receivers: D Hygate and DH Gilbert, BDO...

Meetings of creditors.(UK)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
February 3, 2003... * Spectrum Signs & Display Ltd at 60-62 London Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 6QZ on February 18 at 4pm * Organic Life Publications Ltd at Torrington House, 47 Holywell Hill, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 1HD on January 28 *...

Notices to creditors.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... * Spirit Level Design Ltd Creditors to send claims to J Berman, Berley, 76 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 9TB by February 20 * European Newspapers Associated Ltd (formerly Precis (1040) Ltd) at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cornwall Court, 19...

Final meetings.(Calendar)
February 3, 2003... * Deadline Printing Ltd at Moore Stephens, 1-2 Little King Street, Bristol BS1 4HW on February 27 at 10.30am for members and at 10.45am for creditors * Cougar Graphics Ltd at Poppleton & Appleby, 4 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6EN on...

HP extends Indigo inks.(committs to an investment in new ink production facilities for HP Indigo presses in Israel)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... HP has committed to an investment in new ink production facilities for HP Indigo presses in Israel. It will build a $25m extension to the existing plant, one of nine HP projects in the country. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Fuji motors ahead.(sells digital printing system to A&S Publishing)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Fujifilm Graphic Systems has supplied a Pictro Proof to A&S publishing, a specialist in motoring magazines. It comes as the publisher switches to an all digital workflow at its offices in Gloucester having decided after investigating the market...

Vio frees ticket design.(Vio Worldwide Ltd., users can design job tickets )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Vio is allowing its users to design their own job tickets around its Send to Me application. This will allow companies to integrate the service into their websites without forcing the user to move into a different interface. The job tickets are...

Centurfax quits nick.(moves to New Barnet, UK)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Centurfax has left its converted police station premises in Barnet for a 2,500sq ft production space location in New Barnet, leaving sales and support to operate from Ampthill. The move at the end of the year follows a record month for sales of...

Creo five-year term agreed with Xerox.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Creo has signed a five-year deal with Xerox to develop and supply front ends to its current and future digital colour printers. This extends the relationship based on Creo's Spire technology at a time that Xerox is clearly anticipating...

Xerox beats colour forecasts.(data about sales of new Docucolor 6060 digital color press, UK)
February 3, 2003... Xerox has been selling its Docucolor 6060 at the rate of two a week since the launch of the digital colour press in July. This gives a UK population of more than 50 of the machines. The DC6060 builds on the success of the previous DC2060...

Pyramid schemes take off with first Scitex XLjet3.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Pyramid Digital has passed the testing phase with its Scitex XLjet3, the first of the high speed large format machines in the UK. The press was delivered to the company's Byfleet premises in November and has now been fully commissioned with...

Total decision.(Total Graphics obtains Dicopress digital press from Man Roland Druckmaschinen AG)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... A first digital press for Dublin's Total Graphics, a design and repro company, is a Dicopress from MAN Roland supplied by the Reprocentre group. The company will target Dublin companies with short run colour print complementing the design and...

Wallenberg winners.(2003 Marcus Wallenberg Prize )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... The 2003 Marcus Wallenberg Prize will be shared by four researchers, three of them women. They have been selected for their development of a method that provides a better environment and lower costs for the production of pulp. The winners are...

Corporate control.(The Paper Company Ltd., new corporate director, Mark Smitheram)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... The Paper Company has a new corporate director to take charge of company secretarial and legal matters and oversee all aspects of corporate governance. Mark Smitheram was the commercial manager for sister company PaperlinX merchant division...

Chocolate delight.(Purbeck Chocolate Co., Pearlfisher use cartonboard from Iggesund Paperboard Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Purbeck Chocolate Co and its design agency Pearlfisher have used Incada Silk 325gsm folding cartonboard from Iggesund Paperboard to produce the packaging for its Chococo range. Pearlfisher realisation director Darren Foley says: `Each box was...

Maestro please.(York and Ford Paper Ltd. promoting Maestro Print paper )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... York & Ford Paper is promoting its new Maestro Print paper quality with a campaign aimed at the UK's colour quality conscious brochure and leaflet printing sector. A specially designed conductor character will appear on all Maestro Print...

Horne penalises small orders.(Robert Horne Paper Company Ltd. introduces surcharge )
February 3, 2003... Small printers have reacted unhappily to the decision of Robert Horne to introduce a #20 surcharge on any order under #100. The UK's biggest merchant says it has devised the policy because it is inefficient for it to deliver small...

Silken performance.(Sappi Nash Mills, Silken used by CGI BrandSense)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Sappi Nash Mills' "total performance brand" Silken has been used by CGI BrandSense for the production of British Nuclear Fuels' Report and Accounts and Annual Review. Silken Ultra White 250gsm was used for the cover of both documents with...

Sodra ahead of target for forestry certification.(Sodra Cell AB)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Swedish forest industry group Sodra has bettered its 2002 target for pan-European Forest Certification forest certification, and says customer interest in certified products continues to increase. In 2002, Sodra certified 120,300 hectares...

PDG goes ovenboard.(Print Design and Graphics develops ready meals ovenboard lid )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Print Design & Graphics has developed a new ovenboard lid for ready meals. The north-east packaging printers says the lid seals directly onto CPET food trays, dispensing with the need for a clear film seal and printed oversleeve. It is printed...

Wrapid handling.(Wrapid Packaging Systems distribution deal with SmiPack S.p.A.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... A new range of automatic handle applicators is to be sold in the UK, under a distribution deal with Wrapid Packaging Systems. It is sole distributor for three machines made by Italian company SmiPack. They apply handles on shrink film packs,...

Ultra Moroccan.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... A Vutek UltraVu was used by Moroccan large format printer Visual Impact to produce six-part point of purchase supermarket and shopping mall displays for Omo washing powder. Twenty of the 2.5m packs were printed onto polypropylene using the 3360...

KPG reveals proofing of unlimited colours.
February 3, 2003... KPG is to unveil a system for flexo and packaging printers to provide proofs of unlimited colours on any substrate, which it says will bridge the gap between concept and finished product. The launch will be at Flexo 2003 at the NEC in...

Talks to save Medway Sacks.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Talks were underway last week at the former Medway Sacks packaging plant in Kent to avert closure and save about 70 jobs. Staff have been told that the site will close unless a way is found to turn around continuing losses. The talks were...

Buyout aims to be market leader in labelling.(Double-S Systems)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Investors behind a buyout at Bradford based label application equipment provider Double-S Systems have promised "considerable" investment to become a market leader in labelling kit. IntelLabel Ltd bought the company from Double S Labels,...

Questions of attitude.
February 3, 2003... A lunchtime debate underlined the divide between printers and those running digital printing presses By Gareth Ward We've been here before. A decade or so ago companies using equipment from Crosfield Electronics, Scitex or Hell would look...

Specialist knowledge.
February 3, 2003... Being good at a task may result in superb quality but will it sell? Specialist software developers are having to guard their territory By Rod Hayes Concentrating on one task usually means that you can get pretty good at it. However, any...

Start to finish.
February 3, 2003... Thinking of expanding into finishing? Not sure where to start or how far to go? Look no further than this guide By Jim Larkin The days of the trade finisher are far from over but in the current market it is becoming increasingly hard for...

A surprising reluctance to spend #250,000.
February 3, 2003... Print finishers appear to be a canny lot. When a small number of finishers were offered a hypothetical opportunity to spend #250,000 on equipment they did not have at present, very few could offer a specific reply. Replacing existing...

End of the line.(printers bringing finishing in-house.)
February 3, 2003... From space and time to lack of trade finishers, printers are finding more and more reasons to bring finishing inhouse By Robin Meade Equipment suppliers have been pushing the integration of prepress, press and finishing through CIP4...

Komori UK - Appointment.(Phil Holland)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... A further addition to its sales team has been announced by Komori UK. Phil Holland has been given the responsibility for South Wales and the West Country. No stranger to selling printing presses, Mr Holland has been selling Ryobis for the past...

PCS DotNet - Appointment.(Keith Hemmings)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Press Computer Systems subsidiary PCS DotNet has appointed Keith Hemmings to its customer services installation team. The job will exploit Mr Hemmings' in depth experience of prepress and newspaper industry knowledge, much of which has been...

TypeMaker - Appointment.(Paul Walker)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... No one is quite sure how long you have to be in the industry to be called a veteran, but that is how TypeMaker describes its latest recruit Paul Walker. With 28 years in the industry, mostly in prepress within the newspaper sector, Mr Walker is...

One door closes another opens.(Owen Davies)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... One door closes another opens. Owen Davies thinks so for he is leaving Northcliffe Electronic Publishing to plough new furrows outside the Northcliffe Group. Good wishes for his new career has come from Northcliffe's MD Kevin Beatty who says...

Nipson UK - Appointment.(Sven Verghote)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Sven Verghote who has been general manager of Nipson UK's operations has won promotion to chief operating officer and will soon be working from the head office of the parent group based at Milhouse in north- east France. Copyright: CMP...

Presstek - Appointment.(Dominique Derez)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Pressteks' regionalisation strategy in Europe has taken a further step with the appointment of Dominique Derez as regional sales manager for France, Spain and Portugal. Apart from promoting Presstek's processless plates, he will also play a...

Friedheim International - Appointment.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Growth has prompted a number of staff changes within Friedheim International, the finishing equipment supplier. Robin Brown is now the new national sales manager, overseeing Hunkeler and Tecnau, while Stuart Bamford is southern area sales...