Printing World articles from March 2004

Printing World archives from March 2004

CGI bought from ADP by Furlonge mbo team.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... CGI Europe, the London financial printer, has been bought out from its giant US owner along with three international operations in the Pacific region to create a $40m turnover independent group. The four businesses were part of Cunningham...

Communisis lifted by Centurion.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Communisis has achieved a large increase in sales thanks to its takeover of print farmer Centurion Press. Overall, turnover was up 15% to #300.7m, but operating profit fell back slightly from #25.1m to #21.7m. Communisis' print...

Watkiss finally overcomes Plockmatic in patent fight.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Watkiss Automation has won a lengthy patent battle with Plockmatic, a Swedish manufacturer of collating and binding systems. Central to the dispute is the Watkiss Automation system of giving saddlestitched booklets a square back spine on...

Correction.
March 4, 2004... Last week's story about the proposed closure of St Ives' Multimedia plant in Tunbridge Wells (February 26, page 4) wrongly identified the St Ives' customer whose decision to move CD replication from Sussex to the north of England is a major...

Contract for Pindar.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Welconstruct has awarded a two-year contract to Pindar for its fully integrated end to end catalogue production. Welconstruct is a British company that has been designing and installing equipment in the workplace since 1945. Welconstruct...

Rayfount moves to new premises.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Coventry printing firm Rayfount has moved to new premises on the Woodcoats estate in Earlsdon. Over the past three years the company has invested #500,000 and a new member of staff will soon join the current nine-person workforce. Rayfount's...

John Good Holbrook installation.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... John Good Holbrook has updated its ctp equipment with the installation of a new Lotem 800V. The company produces more than 80% of the theatre programmes printed in the UK. At the height of the last panto season the company was producing 1,800...

Education visit.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Polestar Colchester has hosted an education visit for journalism students from Harlow College as part of the promotional activity for the 2004 `Magazine Academy' competition, a joint initiative from the Periodical Training Council, UPM and...

C3 Imaging expands.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The C3 Imaging chain is to expand its geographical spread with five new branches in Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh, giving it a total of 14 operations across the country. The outlets offer a variety of digital print...

Purnell must change for the better or close.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Polestar Purnell has been told that it faces a grim future and possible closure unless drastic changes are made to working practices to cut costs and return the loss making plant to profit. Polestar ceo Barry Hibbert told a local paper last...

Reed Packaging on the market.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Reed Print Group has put its Reed Packaging division up for sale and issues a warning that it may well be forced to close down completely if a buyer cannot be found. The company was also due to take the GPMU to the High Court at Leeds on...

Cathedral belle.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Mega Profile's 1,710sq m safety wrap around St Pauls Cathedral has won the category for best signage at the annual Property Advertising Marketing and Design Awards. Described as a stunning piece of marketing which was fantastic, bold...

Official supplier.(Uefa Champions League)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Canon is to be the official supplier at the Uefa Champions League. The three year deal runs until the end of 2005/06 season during which time Canon will supply Uefa with a range of digital imaging products including digital still cameras,...

AMC - appointment.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... AMC has appointed Derek Hall (below) as development director responsible for the company's successful Matrix2 Publishing Distribution solution. Alan Readon, AMC's corporate development director, says that Matrix has become a significant part of...

Creo equity offering.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Canadian specialist ctp manufacturer Creo Inc is planning to raise C$66.95 million ($50m) through a `bought deal' equity offering. The company says it would issue five million common shares at C$13.39 each through a syndicate of underwriters...

Aellora Digital appointment.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Dr Michael Stoudt has been appointed full time president of Aellora Digital, a Markem company providing digital chemistries drop on-demand ink systems and services for commercial, graphic and other digital printing applications. Dr Stoudt was...

Heidelberg sales rise but remain below par.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Heidelberg's sales are improving, but are still below last year's level and losses are running at E725m for the year. It says that by year end sales will be 10% below the previous year. The biggest shortfall in sales compared to last year...

Heidelberg UK reports loss.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Heidelberg made a loss of #5.6m in the UK in the last financial year, because of the failure of its used equipment refurbishment operation and the write-off of Linotype-Hell, the Heidelberg subsidiary that has now stopped making prepress...

Thomson to invest in SM102s.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... J Thomson Colour Printers in Glasgow is to buy two new presses, a Speedmaster 102 six-colour and a 102 five-colour, both fitted with the latest coaters to enhance drying and capable of offering specific finishes. The company has spent over...

Staff celebrate 25 years.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Two staff from Bridson & Horrox on the Isle of Man are celebrating 25 years with the company. Ffinlo Crellin, services manager began his career as a litho paste-up artist and keyboard operator. Margaret Atkinson, bindery supervisor, began...

Etrinsic appointments.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Etrinsic in Birmingham is expanding and has restructured its account handling operations. Six new appointments have been announced to cover the Midlands and south-east England. Andrew Berry and Nick Rose join as account director and...

Print 05 conference.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Print 05 will expand the conference by adding a new international showcase for package printing and converting technologies - Converting 05. The conference will be held in the McCormick Place South building, Chicago between September 9-15. The...

Waterston moves into profit.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Security Printers George Waterston in Edinburgh is benefiting from its de-merger last June. The company, which has a history dating back to 1752, has now moved into profit. Chief operating officer Craig McKie says the company is moving into a...

Komori readies 32pp heatset web for Drupa.(Drupa (print media))(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Komori is introducing a 32pp heatset web press to the European market at Drupa. The System 38S uses the same reel width as the 16pp version but is a double circumference machine that Komori UK managing director Martin Rickards says is ideal for...

Lea gets 3i cash.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Print management giant Williams Lea is set to expand its presence after receiving #20m of extra funding by 3i. The venture capitalist is backing Williams Lea because it expects widespread growth in print management and believes it can take...

Polestar Purnell gets to work on 3am shift.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Polestar has won the contract to print the Daily Mirror's new mid-week celebrity magazine. Polestar Purnell printed 3am's first edition on March 3; production will switch to Polestar Varnicoat for further issues. The UK's first ever...

Graphic consults its staff.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Graphic Inline in Leicester has begun a 30-day consultation with its 135 staff over redundancies following the decision to replace offset capacity with digital (Printing World, last week). Managing director Robin Welch will not reveal how...

Polestar contract.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Polestar Colchester has secured the 12-month contract to print Archant's 220 page monthly, Sussex Life. It won the contract after a three-month trial period. Archant supplies two different covers for each monthly issues, one specifically...

Label to speed up mail shots.(QuickPeel)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Avery Dennison has launched a label designed to speed up mail shots by 25%. The QuickPeel label has vertical strips on the A4 sheets meaning that each label is easy to use. The labels are guaranteed jam free through laser printers with...

New RR Donnelley.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... RR Donnelley and Moore Wallace have announced that they have completed the combination of the two companies. The combination was cleared by shareholders of both companies and all the US and Canadian regulatory authorities. The new RR Donnelley...

Xerox strategic partner.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... EFI has been named Software Partners of the Year by Xerox Corporation. EFI has been a strategic partner of Xerox since EFI's Fiery servers arrived in 1991. The firms collaborate on a range of server solutions and workflow initiatives.EFI's...

Haven assets sold to namesake Colourprint.(Haven Colourprint)
March 4, 2004... The name and assets of Haven Colourprint in Pembroke Dock have been bought from its liquidators PricewaterhouseCoopers by Colourprint UK in Cardiff. Colourprint's customers include Orange, Saatchi & Saatchi and Williams Lea and it is a...

Highwater signs.(Original Equipment Manufacturer deal (Oem))(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Highwater Designs has signed a worldwide Oem deal with Esko-Graphics which will see the Belgium prepress supplier supply the Python platesetter as the PlateDriver Compact. The rebadged platesetter will slot in as an entry level device as...

Formara investing.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Formara, the Southend-on-Sea printer is continuing to invest in new equipment in response to market changes. Freddie Kienzler, managing director, says: "Our latest acquisition includes a two-colour Shinohara to go with a recently installed...

Efta show is hailed a success.(European Flexographic Technical Association)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Over 700 packed the Hotel Metropole on Monday night for the European Flexo Technical Association (Efta) Print Awards 2004. The awards were presented by the BBC's Steve Ryder and best in show award went to Alcan Packaging, Cumbria. Its...

Barbieri bags global role.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... DuPont has named Paolo Barbieri as global business director for colour proofing. This follows a shake up of DuPont's structure into strategic business units which the company says will allow it to focus on customer needs. Dr...

Achievers Club dinner.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Litho Supplies brought together 23 of its best performing sales people for a special `Achievers Club' gala black tie dinner. Membership of the club is highly prized and each recipient is presented with a solid gold lapel badge and a...

Dow Corning Industry team.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... People are moving around within Dow Corning's Pressure Sensitive Industry team. Shelley Bausch has assumed global leadership and management responsibilities and is now responsible for the overall strategic and operational success of the team....

Transparency oil mounting unit.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Fujifilm Graphic Systems has announced the introduction of a transparency oil mounting unit for the Finescan 2750, 2750XL and Lanovia Quattro scanners. Customers using the unit will be able to improve the image quality of scratched...

Green procurement trade fair.(ReMaDe Kent)(ReMaDe Essex)(London Remade)(Medway)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... As part of the Thames Gateway Partnership, ReMaDe Kent and Medway, ReMaDe Essex and London Remade are jointly hosting Buying Greener in the South East, a green procurement trade fair. This free event sponsored by Cleanaway brings together...

Green Award.(Legal & General Green Award)(Adare Carwin)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Adare Carwin has won the Legal & General Green Award 2003 in the first year the competition has been open to external suppliers of Legal & General. The award has been running for three years and recognises environmentally aware organisations,...

Trinity's profits up but mulls over Scots print.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Trinity Mirror has announced better than expected results but increased its 2005 cost savings target by #5m and has announced a review of its print sites in Scotland. Pre-tax profits are up from #266.2m to #60.6m but Trinity Mirror says it...

Bobst shows off Alpina II.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The Bobst Group has rolled out the next generation of its Alpina folder- gluer in some considerable style. Bobst held an open day simultaneously in three countries, Switzerland, the UK and US, to put the Alpina II through its paces. Alistair...

Desmond in Fantasy sell off.(Fantasy Publications)(Remnant Media)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Richard Desmond has sold off Fantasy Publications, his stable of 45 adult magazines, ahead of Express Newspaper's bid for the Telegraph Group being considered by media regulator Ofcom. They have been sold for a reported #20m to...

BPI boosts profits and expands in China.(British Polythene Industries )
March 4, 2004... British Polythene Industries has announced a 7% increase in pre-tax profits in 2003 to #14.2m, at the top end of expectations, but is increasing its printing and converting capacity in China. BPI's site at Xinhui, which already produces...

BASF appointment.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... BASF has appointed Russell Foxley as managing director of BASF Printing Systems in the UK. Mr Foxley has worked for the company since 1992 becoming the company's finance director in 1997. In 2001 he took over as general manager of BASF...

EpubLondon cancelled as standalone event.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... EpubLondon, the annual e-publishing conference tied to the London Book Fair has been cancelled as a standalone event. Organiser Reed Exhibitions has decided to roll the conference into the main body of the LBF and it will now run as two free...

Sales of Alpha continue apace.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Worldwide sales of Edale's Alpha continue apace with more than 80 sales in 20 countries since the Alpha's 2001 launch. Geomax of Uzbekistan has just invested having seen the Alpha at LabelExpo in Brussels. Co-owner of Geomax Maksim Legonkikh is...

Epic Print Services investment.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Epic Print Services in Dorset has invested in a Matchprint Inkjet Color Proofing System from Kodak Polychrome Graphics. The company has recently installed a new Mitsubishi six-colour press and a Screen PlateRite 4300 ctp system which will be...

VeriVide to sponsor Printing Skills Centre.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... New British Printing Industries Federation member, VeriVide, has become a sponsor with the Leicester College National Printing Skills Centre. VeriVide is a specialist in the manufacture of visual and colour assessment equipment and is marking...

Polestar and GPMU team up to boost skills.(Graphical Paper and Media Union)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Polestar is teaming up with the GPMU to improve skill levels across all 4,500 employees in the biggest training initiative of its type. Surveys are being sent out to all staff today to find out the specific areas in which employees feel...

Presstek comes back.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Presstek is back in the black, with an $8.1m profit in 2003 compared to a net loss of $8.3m the year before. Sales are up from $83.5m to $87.2m, despite the loss of revenue from the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI - whose sales have not met...

Curtis is friend to ancient forests.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Environmental report printers are now being offered a range of grades that carry Ancient Forest Friendly credentials covering the entire supply chain. The Retreeve range is made by Curtis Fine Papers, Guardbridge, which worked with...

Ian Stott plots new course.(IST UK )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Ian Stott is leaving uv systems supplier IST UK because his business travel commitments meant he was spending too much time away from his family. As well as being managing director of IST UK, Mr Stott also has responsibilities for the IST...

IN MY OPINION: Step back to move forward.
March 4, 2004... Jan Ruysschaert of Artwork Systems explains how prepress methods are about to affect the commercial sector Developments in the technology used in the prepress departments of packaging printers have reached the point where the software and...

Drupa News - Ko-Pack.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Ko-Pack, best known for its label presses, is launching the Euroflex 250 Artificial Casing press at the show. This is designed to print polyamide food casings at speeds up to 150m/min using 12 printing units that are positioned around two...

Drupa News - Global Graphics.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Global Graphics is to show a JDF enabled Harlequin Rip at the show within the Print City space. The Rip will be put to work on a proofing application receiving PDF files from the Agfa workflow and outputting on an inkjet proofer in a simulation...

Drupa News - GMG.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... One of the new proofing solutions for Drupa will come from GMG. The highlight will be V4 of the ColorProof software which has the Fogra colour bar included as a guarantee of output consistency. The system comes with spectrophotometer and label...

Drupa News - Constantin Hang.(Type 245-00 (paper drill) )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Drilling specialist Constantin Hang is to demonstrate the Type 245-00 paper drill which is capable of handling 2,000 stacks of paper per hour, thanks to a servo controlled drilling stroke. It can form part of three-knife trimmer, banderoling...

Drupa News - Rohm und Haas.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Rohm and Haas will bring samples of environmentally friendly adhesives to meet requirements of the flexible packaging market. These include the ELM, extreme low monomer solventless range; Robond L water-based adhesives for dry bond laminating;...

Drupa News - Simec.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Simec, a specialist in anilox rollers and other engraved cylinders, will show both its existing line up of cylinders for a variety of applications and machinery for cleaning these cylinders. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Esko thinks prepress stage is set for Scope.
March 4, 2004... Esko-Graphics believes that this Drupa will be an opportunity for the industry as a whole to see the merger of two powerful forces in the prepress sector is now complete. Kim Graven-Neilson, president and ceo, says: "We had a very strong...

Presstek focuses.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Presstek, the force behind a number of on-press digital imaging systems and plate technologies, will be using Drupa to show the world its technologies have now matured into strong commercial products. One of the steps it has taken to show...

Scitex has new Vision.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Scitex Vision is stepping up the way it challenges the traditional screen printing sector. It has announced two new printing systems for Drupa. One unit likely to create considerable interest is a flatbed device targeted at the...

Big time for Versa.(Versamark printing systems )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Big things will be expected of the Versamark printing systems now that it is part of the Kodak Commercial Printing Group. Kazem Samanderi, vice president global marketing and product management, acknowledged that such a complex and powerful...

Artwork connection helps.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Enfocus at a recent conference stated that since it became part of the Artwork Systems stable it has retained all its existing Oem partners. This was achieved by focusing on refining the six steps to PDF quality management by publishing and...

COMMENT: Awards are not just for filmstars.
March 4, 2004... Nobody can expect to collect 11 awards, as Peter Jackson and The Return of the King managed at the Oscars in Los Angeles this week, at the Printing World Awards in July. But the winners will be just as elated as Mr Jackson, Renee Zellweger and...

Letter: A more accurate price appraisal.(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2004... I just wanted to make a couple of comments on your piece `Paper and pulp falls as print climbs' (Printing World, February 19) on UK prices which I think will give a more accurate appraisal of the situation. Although paper and pulp output...

Printing World corporate change.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... As part of an internal restructuring on 1 March 2004, the business and contracts (including subscriptions) of CMP Europe Limited, Property Media Limited, The Builder Group Limited and CMP Information Limited were transferred to a legal entity...

Novar operating loss.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Novar, the building to cheque printing conglomerate, made an operating loss of #30m last year because of a goodwill impairment charge of #93m. But the impairment was in the intelligent business systems division, not Novar's security printing...

3i Group negotiations.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... 3i Group, the UK private equity group that has just bought Trinity Mirror's Northern Irish papers, is in negotiations about making an investment in German regional paper the Frankfurter Rundschau, according to press reports. Copyright: CMP...

United Business Media in profit.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... United Business Media, owner of Printing World publisher CMP Information, has achieved a 41% rise in pre-tax profit in 2003, despite a 5.9% fall in like-for-like turnover. Although the recovery in the US is masked by exchange rates, business in...

Late payment problem getting worse.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The late payment problem in the UK is getting worse, not better, says Experian. On average companies are taking 58.4 days to pay their bills, 0.5 days longer than in 1998 when legislation to tackle the problem was introduced. Larger companies...

NUR Macroprinters loss.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... NUR Macroprinters made a fourth-quarter loss of $4.8m last year. But for the full year the loss was down from $6m in 2003 to $1.6m in 2003, before exceptional items, though after them the loss worsened from $24.1m to $27.7m. Sales are up on the...

All eyes on Heidelberg after Hochtief sold off.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... RWE, which has a 50% stake in Heidelberg, has sold its majority stake in building group Hochtief for E950m, which suggests it might be a step closer to finally selling off the press manufacturer earlier than its 2005 deadline. RWE's latest...

Printing.com lowered.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Printing.com's sales will be slightly below earlier forecasts in the second half of 2004, according to new forecasts by corporate research house Hardman & Co. Hardman's forecast is based on the growth of Printing.com franchises, which mean...

Howitt Offshore changes name.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Howitt Offshore, the printer located in Guernsey which was sold off by the ailing J Howitt and Sons last November, has opted to dispense with the Howitt name and will from now on be known as INK Group as its former owners chase the receivers of...

Scitex to settle its dues.(Scitex Corporation Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Scitex Corporation, the Israeli company that has recently sold the lion's share of its assets to Kodak Versamark, has agreed to pay $5.6m of back taxes for the years 1992 to 1996 following an audit by the American Internal Revenue Service. ...

Barclay bid for Hollinger is blocked.
March 4, 2004... The Barclay Brothers' bid for control of the Daily Telegraph publisher Hollinger International was blocked in a Delaware courtroom last week, where a judge said that Hollinger's former chief executive and chairman Conrad Black had no power to...

Investing increases says ONS.(Office of National Statistics )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Manufacturing investment rose for the first time in 18 months in the last quarter of 2003, according to Office of National Statistics figures issued last week. Investment by private sector manufacturers increased from #2.979bn in the third...

Compulsory winding up.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The following cases are due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL * Headington Paper Ltd Becket House, 1 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7EU on March 3. Petition by the Company * Clockhouse Publishing Ltd...

Appointment of liquidators.(Brief Article)(Directory)
March 4, 2004... * Data 2 Mail Ltd Direct mail distributors/printers. Liquidator: M Levy, Berley, 76 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 9TB * Status Graphics Ltd Sellers of printer consumables. Liquidator: A Miller, 26-28 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4HE *...

Meetings of creditors.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... * Spectrum Digital Media Ltd at Holiday Inn Norwich, Ipswich Road, Norwich, Norfolk BR4 6EP on February 26 * Solutions Print Management Ltd at Fryern House, 125 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire SO53 2DR on February 27 *...

Final Meetings.(Brief Article)(Directory)
March 4, 2004... * PSP Publications Ltd at Brentmead House, Britannia Road, London N12 9RU on April 23 at 10am for members and at 10.30am for creditors * Protech Print Management Ltd at Turpin Barker Armstrong, Allen House, 1 Westmead Road, Sutton, Surrey...