Printing World articles from June 2001

Printing World archives from June 2001

Porn sideline ends in prison.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... A printwork boss's profitable sideline in supplying hard-core porn film covers earned the family man an eight-month prison sentence last Monday. The 33-year-old played middleman to the sex industry by organising under-the-counter...

Print workers' wages witheld.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Staff at The House of Print in Redhill, Surrey, claim they have not been paid for almost six weeks as creditors move to attempt to recover at least #14,000 from the company. One member of staff, Michael Maynard, says the workforce was due...

Print centre site.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Construction of Scottish Media Group's #38m print centre near Glasgow is scheduled for completion in the autumn of next year (Printing World, May 28). Production director George Martin says: "We have been lucky to have had a mild winter. We are...

Polestar job cuts.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Polestar's Watmoughs bindery in Bradford has made 74 of the 219 employees redundant, with 85 of these being casual staff. GPMU national officer Mike Griffiths said that members voted to accept Polestar's proposals in the Group's bid to decrease...

Ring binder closure.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... TPL Printers is closing down its ring binder factory, TPL Loose Leaf, with the loss of 22 jobs in Kidderminster. Sister company Marshall Cavendish Partworks now publish most of its launches in Europe, making the manufacture of binders in...

Labour backs statutory training scheme.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... A statutory training levy is a distinct possibility if the Labour Party wins the general election. In its Ambitions for Britain manifesto, the party says current training provisions are not good enough, particularly among small and medium...

Consignia contracts up for grabs?(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... The Post Office and Royal Mail's huge print spend could be up for grabs and could be outsourced to a print management company if Labour win a second term, according to leaked documents. According to press reports, their parent company...

Print Factory's SM.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... The Print Factory last week began installation of the first of two six- unit Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 presses at its Watford site, kicking off a #4m investment programme. The first press will replace an existing model and the second...

Picdar LiveLink business continuity service.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Digital asset management specialist Picdar has launched the Picdar LiveLink business continuity service which allows picture editors to access live feeds during emergencies and system downtime. Available without having to install new systems,...

Prima picks Polestar.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... National Magazines' Prima women's monthly magazine is to be produced by Polestar. The two year contract marks the return of this title to the UK, having been previously printed gravure in Germany by Gruner & Jahr. Prima will join other NatMags...

Ricoh for RPM.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Chichester print firm RPM Reprographics has invested #4,000 in a Ricoh FW760 wide format copier. The company says this format is ideal for the production of architectural drawings, plans and surveys. RPM says it will also provide its clients...

Drive to flush out the finishing fiddlers.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Eight hand finishing companies have joined forces in a bid to oust cowboy operators who undercut them by paying casual staff less than the minimum wage and cutting corners on health and safety. The competing firms have formed the...

Poor conditions rife in finishing.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Poor wages and conditions are still widespread in print finishing, a low-margin business which still relies a great deal on manual labour. One inserting company in Romford, Finishing Force, is accused by former staff of only paying them...

Dotcom death?(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... PrintRepublic.com, the online marketplace for consumables, equipment and training, is rumoured to have gone into liquidation following a lack of funding. PrintRepublic directors were not contactable as Printing World went to press but many...

Scilly Isles charity calendar.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Following in the footsteps of the Women's Institute, the latest group of outwardly respectable citizens to bare their all in a charity calendar are inhabitants of the Scilly Isles. They decided to de-robe in order to raise money towards a...

Repropoint move.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Repropoint, Southampton, has doubled its floorspace with a move to the Mount Pleasant Industrial Estate from Shirley. The company specialises in the production of architect's drawings and plans for the construction industry, and has had an...

Feasible pulp mill?(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Scottish Enterprise Grampian claims that the pre-feasibility study for the Scottish pulp mill should be complete by the end of June. Paper Federation Director of Business Affairs Graham Barnard says: "While the paper industry is interested in...

Playing the Games.
June 4, 2001... Manchester agency Access Advertising has attempted to attract the crowds to Manchester with a new Commonwealth Games logo. Access Advertising production director John Neate says: "The logo will be on posters, leaflets and point-of-sale. It will...

Cover bonanza.
June 4, 2001... Special edition magazine covers seem to be all the rage these days - with Impact Litho in Basingstoke the main beneficiary. IPC magazine's film title Uncut is being printed under four different covers in July, each one featuring a different...

PaperExchange closes in Europe.
June 4, 2001... PaperExchange has become the latest dotcom casualty after closing its London office, resulting in 20 job losses, marking a start of a withdrawal from European operations. It is a rapid turnaround in fortunes for the London office that only...

PaperX software buy.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Former PaperX directors Ian Leader, Borge Bogaard and Christoph Ferch have acquired all the software developed by PaperX.com from the receivers and set up e-commerce software vendor Exteriority. According to Mr Leader, Exteriority will not...

Risen from the ashes.
June 4, 2001... D&R Finishers, Basildon, is back on track just one year after a fire damaged an entire factory unit. Thanks to good insurance cover, the company has managed to invest #1m in refurbishing the plant, the most recent purchase being a...

PPA pushes on with plans.
June 4, 2001... The Periodical Publishers Association is pushing ahead with plans to develop a new online trading system for media owners and agencies. The online trading system is being developed to make buying advertising easier and more accurate, with...

BestColor distribution.
June 4, 2001... RES Distribution has been appointed UK distributor for the BestColor RIP for Hewlett-Packard inkjet printers, partnering Guideline Distribution. RES will also distribute the Best thermal inkjet range of substrates. Managing director Robin East...

Sticky study.
June 4, 2001... AWA Alexander Watson Associates' 2001 study into the self-adhesive graphic arts market has been produced, giving an overview of the market segments and influences. The packaging, coating and printing market specialists have expanded the study...

Election special.
June 4, 2001... Smith and Ouzman, the Eastbourne security printer, has been busy printing two million polling cards and 750,000 ballot papers for the local and general elections this week - a more demanding job than ever this time. Divisional director...

Walsall collects Swiss stamps.
June 4, 2001... Long established stamp printer Walsall Security Printers has bought the key assets of Helio Courvoisier, a Swiss stamp printer closed last month for an undisclosed amount. Helio Courvoisier, founded in 1931, had been suffering from a lack...

Waterless at Park Lane.
June 4, 2001... Family owned Park Lane Press in Wiltshire has become a 100% Komori house after the installation of its second waterless Komori press - a four-colour Lithrone 428EM plus coater. The company's move to waterless two years ago has meant an...

Waddies is willing.
June 4, 2001... Workers at Waddies, the Scottish direct mail printer, have voted in favour of changes to shift patterns and in some cases pay cuts to reduce overheads in the face of poor trading conditions. As Printing World closed for press a ballot of...

KPG gains productivity.
June 4, 2001... Kodak Polychrome Graphics claims to have acheived a 125% productivity gain for its Newsetter system, placing thermal newspaper ctp in the same productivity range as visible light ctp. The improvements have been acheived through optimisation of...

Visitors are buyers.
June 4, 2001... Results from Newstec show that 56% of visitors confirmed an intention to buy as a result of attending the show. Organisers IIR says that 55% of the total stand space for Newstec 2003 has already been booked. The event is supported by the...

Polaris to Ireland.
June 4, 2001... The Irish Times has confirmed an order for an Agfa Polaris computer to plate system and Intellinet Series 2 software, allowing the newspaper to automate from editorial to proof and printing. Copyright: United Business Media International...

PCS unveils its new image and ambitions.
June 4, 2001... Press Computer Systems is adopting a new image as it stretches its customer base beyond the newspaper industry. The new livery was evident at Newstec where the company took its largest ever stand and pronounced itself happy with the result. ...

KPG thermal jury.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... With its first thermal ctp system live for less than a month, KPG is still waiting for a full check of the benefits of going thermal for a newspaper. The first system at Eastern Counties Newspapers in Norwich was installed smoothly and...

Autologic platesetter.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Autologic is to install a second platesetter at Mortons of Horncastle, taking its worldwide population of platesetters beyond 120 systems. The contract newspaper printer bought one of the first 3850 platesetters after the last Newstec two years...

Miles 33 wins new order.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Miles 33 has won the order for Newsquest (Southern)'s new advertising system which will extend to 450 seats across publishing centres in Southampton, Bournemouth, Winchester, Weymouth and Basingstoke. The company beat off competition from...

Is #100 too much to ask?(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Burden or benefit? Tax or treat? The spectre of a national training levy has reared its ugly head again. The Labour Party has come out and hinted that training levies are on the cards if it succeeds at the ballot box this Thursday. It does...

Wide format growth.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Wide format printer sales grew by 50% in 2000 and should rise threefold between now and 2005, research by IT Strategies shows. Twenty-four inch machines from the likes of HP and Epson, which already have market share of 72%, should enjoy...

HP joins PWC for IT.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Hewlett Packard, which last year failed in its attempt to take over PriceWaterhouseCoopers' consulting arm, is joining forces with PWC to offer IT products and services to the aviation industry. IT for aviation is traditionally dominated by...

Price is not right.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... The Daily Mail and General Trust has abandoned plans to sell off its business magazines and conference arm, DMG Business Media, reportedly because of difficulty in finding buyers willing to pay the price tag of #60m-#80m. Copyright:...

French float.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Outdoor advertising group JC Decaux could be about to float on the French stock exchange this summer, following an aborted flotation last year. The company is said to be planning to sell 15% to 20% of its shares for g1bn. Copyright:...

Hand is out of Emap following US fall.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Emap has ousted its chief executive Kevin Hand after making a #545m write-down from its foray into American publishing, and suffering a fall in advertising revenues. Preliminary results for the year to March 31 show a net loss of #527m,...

UK revenues rising for time being.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... The poor results from Emap has one silver lining: in the fact that UK advertising revenues are still rising. But this could be about to change, according to new research. ACNielsen MMS, the media monitoring company, reports that spending fell...

Print contracts review follows sale of magazines.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... ET Heron and Quebecor's contracts to print Viz, Bizarre and Fortean Times are up for review since the titles were bought from John Brown Publishing by the unrelated James Brown, ex-editor of Loaded. Mr Brown's company, I Feel Good, has...

KBA profits up but sales are down.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... KBA has increased its first quarter profits by 20% to E9.3m, despite a 7.5% fall in total sales - and a 35% drop for web presses. For the first time ever, KBA sold more sheetfed presses than web presses in the first three months of 2001....

Yell finds a buyer to publish Yellow Pages.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Yell, the BT subsidiary that publishes Yellow Pages, has finally been sold to a venture capital consortium for #2.14bn, considerably less than BT had been hoping for. The directories business has been bought by Apax Partners and Hicks Muse...

Profits up for Independent.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... ADVICE Independent News and Media, publisher of the Independent newspaper titles, increased its profits by 13% in 2000, and grew sales by 15% to reach E1.34bn despite economic uncertainty and an increase in newsprint prices. Sales in...

Appointment of liquidators.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... * Rosyform Ltd Trading name: Garian Print Printing. Liquidators: MJ Moore and NA Brackenbury, Kroll Buchler Phillips, 5th Floor, Airedale House, 77 Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5AP * System Colourbox Ltd Previous company name: Hurstdet Ltd and...

Appointment of receivers.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... * Elf Print Media Ltd Previous company name: Triangle Press Ltd General printers. Receivers: TCH Ball and AS Wood, Mazars Neville Russell, Clifton Down House, Beaufort Buildings, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4AN Copyright: United Business Media...

PC-free technology.
June 4, 2001... Polaroid and ActivePhoto have joined forces to develop a new generation of mobile, wireless digital imaging workflow solutions without the need for personal computers. Using ActivePhoto's proprietary technology, Polaroid plans to market a...

Dellprint Tanto-ed.
June 4, 2001... Father and son team, Terry and Tony Baily of Dellprint, Essex, have installed Screen's TrueFlow digital workflow system and Tanto B1+ imagesetter ctf solution in a bid to win new business. Copyright: United Business Media International...

E-business plan.
June 4, 2001... UK engineering and property e-business services provider Bidcom has formed a strategic alliance with Service Point UK. Service Point will provide consultancy and e-reprographics services, allowing print work orders to be submitted and processed...

PostScript proofing.
June 4, 2001... SeeColor is releasing a PostScript option for its computer-to-proof colour proofing solution. The company has chosen Apago's PostScript engine for its new integrated PostScript offering, enabling users to process PostScript files within the...

ECentral supports customer service.
June 4, 2001... CreoScitex has launched online services to help its customers increase productivity. CreoScitex's web-based business portal, ECentral, aims to help its customers maximise their technology investment by providing access to a suite of services...

Keene's first Ficelle.
June 4, 2001... London repro house Keene Group is the first UK user of Dalim Software's Ficelle web-based production workflow reporting system, where it produces three of BBC Worldwide's monthly magazines: BBC Good Food, Eve and Gardens Illustrated. This is...

Quebecor goes Direct!
June 4, 2001... Commercial print media services company Quebecor World, has installed Wam!Net's Direct! managed network services for its secure digital file transmission and delivery. Says Steve McCullock, pre-press services manager: "Wam!Net Direct! has...

TDS range from Oce.
June 4, 2001... Oce has launched its range of Technical Document Systems for scanning, printing and copying. The TDS range is headed by the TDS800 wide format printer with a throughput of 13m per minute. The TDS600 offers flexible media handling for A4 to...

Ideas matter.
June 4, 2001... Sappi has produced its first book on the Ideas that Matter graphic design grant programme. The book, printed by Flevodruk Harderwijk on Sappi HannoArt Silk 200gsm, profiles the five European campaigns selected by Sappi for grants to fund the...

Words matter.
June 4, 2001... M-real has produced Words, the third in its series of publications to challenge our perceptions. Previous magazines have focused on colour and light. Created for print media professionals, the latest magazine focuses on the printed word. It...

Fly on the Eye with McNaughton.
June 4, 2001... James McNaughton Paper Group is offering lucky draw winners the chance to fly high over London with a trip on the London Eye to celebrate the launch of Image. James McNaughton has taken a leaf out of International Paper's book and launched...

Paper mill blaze wipes out stock.
June 4, 2001... Austrian office paper manufacturer Neusiedler, owned by Mondi Europe, is facing a battle to maintain delivery services following a blaze at its Hausmening mill which completely destroyed the central warehouse. Neusiedler says despite the...

Paris paper plumps for Bunzl.
June 4, 2001... Thibierge & Comar, the Parisian paper design company, has chosen Bunzl Fine Paper to distribute its Cromatico and Canevas brands in the UK, replacing Robert Horne. Thibierge & Comar claims that Bunzl's presence throughout the UK and within...

MSDW recommends SCA and Sappi.
June 4, 2001... Investment house Morgan Stanley Dean Witter has tipped SCA and Sappi as strong buys despite challenging market conditions in the US and Europe. MSDW claims that with the recent pulp price collapse non-integrated fine paper margins have...

Bolivian Quickmaster.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Industria Grafica Centro is installing the first Quickmaster 46-4 DI sold in Bolivia. Purchased from Heidelberg Used Equipment, the press is part of an investment comprising a Printmaster QM46-2, a Polar 92-ED guillotine, a colour proofer and a...

CreoScitex down under.(Pacific Magazines )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... In what is described as the biggest ever prepress order outside the newspaper sector, Australia's Pacific Magazines is undergoing an upgrade programme claimed to be worth between Aus$10m and Aus$14m (#3.6m-#5m). The publishing group has...

US newspaper jobs hit by slump.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... The North American newspaper business is in turmoil as the rising cost of newsprint on top of a domestic economic slowdown is costing hundreds of jobs. A Quebecor subsidiary has axed over 300 jobs; the Mercury News in California has...

Shanghai supplies.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Agfa is gunning for the Chinese market by setting up an Operation Centre in Shanghai dedicated entirely to sales and service within that market. Previously, Agfa has handled all Chinese sales and support activities from its offices in Hong...

HighWater aims at small format Australia.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... HighWater believes it is well on the way to establishing its Platinum 2218 blue violet laser ctp system in the Australian small format market. HighWater's Platinum 2218 featured in seven orders sealed by Heidelberg at the Pacprint show in...

Weighing up the variables.
June 4, 2001... Heidelberg gave us an exclusive and candid interview about the NexPress. The technology may impress, but can it make you any money? By Jim Larkin In what is without question the biggest launch of the year, the NexPress 2100 will go on sale...

The Iceman cometh.
June 4, 2001... As demand for carbonless paper drops, the remaining players in this market are having to fight for their share By Alex Grant Carbonless paper, a decidedly old economy product that faces eventual annihilation by electronic payment systems,...

Location, location, location.
June 4, 2001... Location decisions are now a big influencing factor in recruitment and companies should think long and hard before moving By Marion Wilson Location is something that may be overlooked as a potential advantage in the competition to attract...

RES goes for best.
June 4, 2001... RES Distribution (01603 404 420) is to take over the exclusive distribution of the Best colour proofing Rip when it is used with Hewlett Packard printers. Guideline will continue to distribute the Best Rip for non-HP devices. RES is also to...

Lyson lights up.
June 4, 2001... A new range of outdoor inks has been launched by Lyson (0161 442 2111) and the range is particularly suitable for the Roland HiFi wide format printer, though a minor modification would be required. The inks, being solvent based, can be used...

Colurkit keeps up.
June 4, 2001... ColourKit's ICC based scanner application from Fujifilm Electronic Imaging (01442 343 672) will shortly be available in a Mac OS X version. ColourKit is claimed to be a complete, easy to use image capture editing package for Fujifilm's range of...

4-Sight information.
June 4, 2001... Transmission Director, the 4-Sight (01202 208 400) workflow automation and job validation software now incorporates ADSL compatibility, meaning Transmission Director can now simultaneously communicate over both ISDN and ADSL. Files can be...

Digipath stream.
June 4, 2001... A major streamlining of the digital production and workflow software, DigiPath has been announced by Xerox . DigiPath, originally conceived as a workflow solution geared towards major installation customers, is now available in two...

Wideboy drops bang on target.
June 4, 2001... Wideboy is not a disc jockey or a World War Two bomb but a six pages across newspaper press made in Preston, Lancashire, by Printing Press Services International (PPSI) which now boasts one of the most modern printing press manufacturing...

David S Smith tags on track.
June 4, 2001... The Packaging division of David S Smith, Bristol, has announced the launch of Ident, a range of product identification tags. These tags can be radio controlled and can be placed on pallets and tracked by radio frequency call-ups. Other...

Sherpa extends to packaging.
June 4, 2001... The Agfa Sherpa has now established itself as a practical proofing solution in the commercial sector. Year-long trials of a version designed to transfer the success enjoyed in commercial print to the packaging sector have been completed. ...

A waste of paper.
June 4, 2001... Despite a series of swingeing charges, nothing is being done to create alternatives to paper finishing up as landfill By Rod Hayes Recycled paper has become a fact of life and in many cases the quality of this form of paper, particularly in...

Hybrid coats.
June 4, 2001... The number of coatings paper receives in manufacture does make a difference, although not as much as people may think By Rod Hayes There is a problem with coated stocks such as gloss art which, while it appears more prevalent in the US,...

Paper and liquor.
June 4, 2001... Papermaking is today more efficient and more environmentally friendly but complacency must not be allowed to creep in By Rod Hayes A quick round up of general knowledge quiz questions may include: "Which country invented paper?" Everyone...

Perfect polymer.
June 4, 2001... Paper is certain to be around for a long time yet, the only question could be in what form it is likely to take By Rod Hayes Paper as a communication tool is without peer. Those who dispute such a statement need only be aware that...

Writing on the wall.
June 4, 2001... From printing company to MIS supplier, Imprint believes the deeper an operation can be penetrated, the bigger the benefits By Robin Meade The week's production schedule is displayed on the wall for all to see. The jobs for each of the...