Printing World articles from May 1999

Printing World archives from May 1999

Yellow Pages throws down its colour gauntlet to UK top six.
May 3, 1999... Press and other equipment manufacturers are anticipating a massive order from the printer winning the contract to print the new Yellow Pages. The phone directory publisher invited six printers to a meeting near Henley on Thames as Printing...

Arjo - `Some improvement'.
May 3, 1999... Arjo Wiggins Appleton chairman Ken Minton says Arjo's first quarter was similar to the last half of 1998. No significant change in general demand is expected during the rest of this year. "We expect the group's performance in 1999 to show some...

Confusion as UK joins the Misomex mess.
May 3, 1999... Misomex UK, the troubled plate imaging company, has fallen into the hands of the receiver, prompting fears as to whether existing customers will continue to receive servicing and support for their machines. The appointment of Smith &...

Trinity - results better than expected.
May 3, 1999... Regional newspaper publisher Trinity International says it has made higher than expected first quarter profits, raising hopes that its proposed takeover of Mirror Group will get the go-ahead from the government. "First quarter advertising...

Second Chromapress for Ravensworth Print.
May 3, 1999... Clocking up 1 million impressions on its first Agfa Chromapress in less than a year has prompted Ravensworth Print to order a second. Paul McKie, chairman of the Newcastle upon Tyne company says: "Our first machine is running at the...

Sheehan replaces Kuhn as the boss of Goss.
May 3, 1999... James Sheehan has succeeded to the top spot at Goss Graphic Systems, replacing Robert Kuhn who is retiring. Mr Sheehan's appointment was expected as he was the chairman of the board of directors and was responsible for the successful...

IPA Systems appointed.
May 3, 1999... Polaroid Graphics Imaging, a division of Polaroid Corporation has appointed IPA Systems to sell its range of digital proofing systems throughout Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Jarvis Porter says the only way now is up.
May 3, 1999... Labels group Jarvis Porter has announced an annual loss of #2m, but says that the costly cuts package it is implementing will deliver "significantly enhanced performance" next year. The company made pretax profits of #5m (excluding...

Sappi woodfree up 6%.
May 3, 1999... Sappi is raising its woodfree coated paper prices by an average of 6% because of increased demand. The increases, which are intended to harmonise prices across Europe, average out at 6% but this conceals big variations. Sheet prices...

Xeikon pushes up sales 40%.
May 3, 1999... Xeikon has announced a 40% increase in sales for the current first quarter compared with the same period last year. Sales rose to $36.7m from $26.3m in the first quarter of 1998. Gross profit rose 50% to $13.4m from $8.9m last year. ...

20 country presence for new fine paper venture.
May 3, 1999... The consolidation trend among European paper suppliers marched on last week with news that Swedish groups MoDo and SCA are bringing together their fine paper and merchanting operations. The news comes just months after MoDo announced that...

Kolorco tenfold expansion.
May 3, 1999... Bradford printer Kolorco has invested in a two-colour Komori Sprint and a five-colour Lithrone 526 in anticipation of a 30% growth in sales this year. Kolorco has expanded tenfold in the last seven years since it started in a lock-up unit,...

Profits slump 64%.
May 3, 1999... AssiDoman has reported a 4% increase in net turnover to Skr5.9bn in its first quarter of 1999, but net profit has slumped 64% to Skr119m. "Earnings improved for forestry and wood supply, barrier coating and packaging, but fell for other...

9% rise in turnover.
May 3, 1999... Metsa-Serla, the Finnish forest giant, and owner of UK Paper, has posted a "better than forecast" interim report for the first quarter of 1999. The company reported an increase in turnover to E1bn, up 9% from the corresponding period in...

Israeli backing for Portalis.
May 3, 1999... Portalis, which last year unveiled a replicator to capture already printed matter for subsequent digital printing, has received a $10m vote of confidence from the Israeli investment community. The company which announced marketing...

Xerox changes rules to solutions not products.
May 3, 1999... Xerox's plans for growth see it moving away from the increasingly competitive digital print market towards effectively becoming a consultancy service for organisations using document knowledge sharing. At an international announcement held...

MWL success.
May 3, 1999... MWL UK, the subsidiary of US printing group Mail-Well has announced it has received acceptances in respect of 77.25% of the issued share capital of Porter Chadburn. The offer has been declared unconditional.

OPINION: Catching the turning tide.
May 3, 1999... Driving Xerox must be akin to commanding a supertanker. There is no place for sudden movement, and any change of direction must be decided some time before any results are seen. Thus last week's announcement that Xerox was moving into the...

Sun buys Swale as Brent clears its decks for group offers.
May 3, 1999... Sun Chemical has agreed to buy Swale Process, Brent International's inks and coatings business and, as forecast exclusively in Printing World on April 19, patience has paid off as far as the price is concerned. Sun is paying #8.4m for...

HP's 1000 series six times faster.
May 3, 1999... Hewlett Packard's latest range of large format digital printers has gone on sale and it is expected to prove as popular with retail and office display markets as with print professionals. In developing the DesignJet 1000 series, HP's main...

ATS for JDS.
May 3, 1999... John Dickinson Stationery, an envelope manufacturer in Washington, Tyne & Wear, has bought three new ATS envelope banding machines. The Swiss-made machines were sold through Jenton International, Whitchurch, which says it has conducted...

Kelvinside buys again.
May 3, 1999... Kelvinside, the Irish print and packaging group that has been on a British buying spree for over two years, has bought No Limits Reprographics, a London digital imaging business. The latest acquisition will complement C-3 Imaging, a...

Watmoughs has to be content with silver.
May 3, 1999... There may have only been one British finalist at the Sappi European Printer of the Year awards this year, but there was some cause for celebration as Polestar Watmoughs came away with a silver in the magazines category. This year, the...

30 suppliers support UPMG.
May 3, 1999... Around 30 suppliers are expected to exhibit at the second University Printing Managers' Group (UPMG) conference and exhibition which will take place on July 5-7 at the University of Derby. Exhibitors include IBM, AB Dick-Itek, Sakurai,...

IMS cooks up label idea.
May 3, 1999... Attracting shoppers back to beef is no mean feat these days, but Irish producer Superquinn thinks it may have cracked the problem with a new range of labels with recipes on them. They are thermal transfer labels produced by IMS labels of...

Openshaw to sell Tecsa range.
May 3, 1999... Openshaw International has stolen a march on rivals by securing an agreement with Tecsa to be the first UK wide dealer for its range of copydot scanners and related software. Ted Freer, Openshaw's senior electronic product manager says:...

Edotech's new works.
May 3, 1999... Edotech, the print and mail specialist which is part of Barclays Bank, has opened an additional 34,000sq ft factory at its Barnwood, Gloucester, site. Last year Edotech, which employs 220 people, produced 700 million A4 pages and mailed...

Ink management guide.
May 3, 1999... A comprehensive overview of ink management is on offer in Cost Effective Ink Management for Printers, a new best practice guide from the government's Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme. The 38pp guide is available free by...

Towers for Blackburn.
May 3, 1999... Paul Towers, the central region sales director at Polestar has resigned. He is to take up the appointment of sales director at John Blackburn, Leeds.

Insight lifts Crewkerne with #3m upgrade.
May 3, 1999... Insight Cartons is spending over #3m in upgrading its Crewkerne factory - the former S&D Cartons operation acquired by the MY Group last autumn and now renamed. Crewkerne becomes the third works in the Insight armoury, and with its...

DHM's Italian coup.
May 3, 1999... Bielloni Castello has appointed David Hulme Machinery, as its sole UK and Ireland agent. The Italian company's range comprises flexo presses, extruders, laminators and slitter rewinders. DHM, the Wakefield supplier of secondhand and...

First Variquik set for eastern Europe.
May 3, 1999... Strachan Henshaw Machinery has sold its first press to eastern Europe with a #1.2m Variquik sale to the Czech Republic. The Bristol-made Variquik PC15 book press is going to Tesinska Tiskama near Prague, a book printer since Napoleonic...

Collaborating to compete.
May 3, 1999... London E17 screenprinter Bovince is to share its expertise in quality management, purchasing, human resources and IT with other British companies as part of a business ideas exchange. Bovince will "collaborate to compete" as part of the...

Dublin move next door.
May 3, 1999... Dublin screenprinter International Screen has relocated next door to its sister company, litho printer Euro Screen, in a bid to reduce overheads. The venture was a carefully timed move to fit in with the company's production schedules. ...

Newton and Mascia move up at AB Dick.
May 3, 1999... Ken Newton has been promoted to senior vice president, AB Dick, after joining the Chicago company last June as vice president. Prior to joining AB Dick he spent eight years at Screen USA, the last four as president and ceo of the wholly...

Training lift for Konica.
May 3, 1999... Konica Business Machines has appointed Peter Hobson to establish a new training and development programme. Following five years at Konica early on in his career where he was responsible for managing and expanding dealer channels, Mr Hobson...

Xeikon names its new team.
May 3, 1999... The news that Xeikon is to create five business units dedicated to its primary markets, (Printing World, April 19), is accompanied by the announcement of new personnel appointments to strengthen Xeikons sales and marketing teams. Etienne...

Key man for carton board.
May 3, 1999... Alex Bekesi is to join Robert Horne as its new key account manager in the carton board division. His position will involve developing new areas of volume business and managing the top 50 accounts in the carton board division. Mr Bekesi was...

1,000 job cuts.
May 3, 1999... UPM-Kymmene has confirmed that it is to lose 1,000 jobs during this year as part of a restructuring programme. The number, from a total of 32,500 employees, includes the loss of 90 jobs at Caledonian Paper, the Ayrshire LWC producer,...

Conqueror and a hidden language of colour.
May 3, 1999... Arjo Wiggins Fine Papers, the maker of Conqueror, is meeting what it describes as the backlash against the e-mail culture with research that analyses the hidden language of colour paper. Carol Davies, marketing manager for Conqueror says:...

Now its Inapa.
May 3, 1999... Portuguese papermaker Inapa has relaunched its UK merchant subsidiary, J Price Campbell as Inapa Merchants. Chris Bevington has been appointed managing director of the Stratford operation. "The name change will boost and enhance Inapa...

McNaughton Scottish branch.
May 3, 1999... James McNaughton Paper Group, Erith, has opened a new branch in Scotland at Bothwell, near the M74, east of Glasgow. Jim McKenzie has been appointed as branch manager while Sean Beggs assumes the role of office manager. The branch will...

Aylesford modernisation.
May 3, 1999... Aylesford Newsprint in Kent has installed a Da Vinci quality control system to its PM13 from Honeywell-Measurex, as part of a modernisation programme. "We have noticed an immediate improvement in reel uniformity and winder runnability from...

Quebecor's Argentinian base in South America.
May 3, 1999... After entering the South American market just 18 months ago, Quebecor has already become the largest commercial printer in the continent. The Canadian giant has completed the acquisition of Argentina's largest publisher, Editorial Perfil,...

De La Rue Lisbon euro print factory.
May 3, 1999... De La Rue is to establish a new print factory near Lisbon which will be its first dedicated exclusively to the production of euro banknotes. The project is a joint venture with the Banco de Portugal with De La Rue having a 25% stake. ...

250ft of shaftless Geoman presses.
May 3, 1999... As part of a $100m expansion, a US newspaper has ordered three MAN Roland Geoman presses, making a huge shaftless printing line over 250ft long. The Omaha World-Herald in Omaha, Nebraska, has a print run of 315,000 each Sunday - small...

Rexam sells in NZ.
May 3, 1999... Rexam is selling its flexible packaging operations in New Zealand to Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer for #8.6m. The businesses had been part of Rexam's Speciality Food Packaging sector, which is being retrenched to focus on the US and...

Bigger reach for PPS.
May 3, 1999... PrePress Solutions has sold a major controlling interest to a company allied to IPA and Monotype. The imagesetter manufacturer that can trace its history to AM Varityper and then AM International, produces the Panther filmsetter and...

Slimmer Moore clocks up `encouraging' quarter.
May 3, 1999... Moore Corporation, the Canadian business forms printer, has announced a 4% increase in first quarter turnover excluding paper and currency fluctuation costs, following last year's "kick in the head" profits decline. Turnover for the first...

Bigger bins influences Maxima choice.
May 3, 1999... The ability to stack up to 50cm in each of the seven feeder hoppers was a significant factor in the decision by Masterange to purchase the Maxima collator from Smyth-Horne, the London N18 finishing equipment supplier. This suction-fed...

`Best for speed and cost'.
May 3, 1999... Keywords Direct, a Southampton mailing house, has radically expanded its laser print capabilities with a #200,000 investment in a Nipson 7000 model 400. The Nipson was chosen because Keywords believes it offers the best combination of...

THE DIMINISHING WATER HOLE.
May 3, 1999... New methods and new ideas are going to tear at the heart of conventional printing, says ROD HAYES, who investigates the arguments and attitudes surrounding waterless printing. Almost as if by stealth, the structure of printing has changed,...

KEEP COOL.
May 3, 1999... Arcade UK of Bedford is spreading the lessons learnt from waterless into more conventional forms of print. ALEX GRANT pays a visit to the firm. Every printer is familiar with the problems of emulsification and dot gain that printing with...

BOX OF TOYS.
May 3, 1999... ALASTAIR SUTCLIFFE profiles 21 Colour, the Glasgow company not yet eight months old, expecting bright things, and a #2m turnover, from the future. David Clark, Ken McAskill and Trevor Price give the impression of being boys who have found...

Perfect binding - more profitable in the decade of the paperback.
May 3, 1999... The 1990s is the decade of the paperback. Perfect binding, bookbinders say, is more profitable than other kinds of binding, and more and more popular with customers. Casebinding, on the other hand, is suffering from overcapacity and means...

`Masters of our trade' says Erith envelope printer.
May 3, 1999... Envelopes have always been a challenge to overprint, with adhesives and inconsistent paper width causing problems with runnability. But the Envelope Printing Company in south-east London says the old problem is licked nowadays. "Business...

Zip goes Caxton's envelope printing system.
May 3, 1999... A new four-colour envelope printing system has been launched by Caxton Printers Supplies, Romsey. The Zip Envelope Printing System has been on trial for over four years and is now available from the Hampshire company which is its exclusive...

Oscar Friedheim to bid farewell to Waterloo.
May 3, 1999... Oscar Friedheim has been supplying equipment to printing companies since 1884, but it will not be doing so for much longer from its large and valuable premises at 250 Waterloo Road, London SE1. The company, now a member of Fairfield...

Sharp marketing at Southernprint!
May 17, 1999... Southernprint, the Poole magazine printer, has a new marketing director in John Sharp. Mr Sharp has come from Ferguson International, the troubled label group, where he was sales and marketing director for self-adhesive labels. Prior to...

Broadprint targets 400m mailers with #2m spend.
May 17, 1999... Broadprint in Altrincham, the direct mail arm of Rexam has spent over #2m in a bid to double its output. David Shaw, joint production manager, says: "At present, we are doing 200 million mail packs a year each with about five items, but we...

Insight in #4.5m uv inks deal.
May 17, 1999... BASF has secured a three year #4.5m supply deal with food packaging specialist Insight Cartons. The contract, which involves the supply of uv inks and varnishes to Insight Cartons' three sites in Gillingham, Tring and Crewkerne will run...

NB Group move gets closer.
May 17, 1999... NB Group, the Tyneside marketing printer, is nearing completion of its #3.4m Gateshead factory which will begin production later in the summer. The 35,000sq ft building is due to be completed in early July, with production shifting to the...

Arjo sale?
May 17, 1999... Arjo Wiggins Appleton confirms that it is in disposal discussions with the Canadian Cascades group. The subject is the possible sale of Arjo's production plant at Sainte- Marie, France.

New `togetherness' for BASF consumables.
May 17, 1999... BASF, often regarded as the sleeping giant of printing consumables, has woken up. That was the message from Geoff Walton, BASF's printing plates business manager, at the opening of a new showroom at its Huyton works near Liverpool last...

Smith Print's `capable set-up'.
May 17, 1999... Smith Print Group, Gateshead, has won a contract to supply the entire print requirements of the North East Regional Development Agency. The work ranges from letterheads to full colour brochures which are distributed both in the UK and...

Ferag UK gets wired.
May 17, 1999... Ferag UK is to begin selling stitching wire to newspaper and commercial printers after signing an agreement with manufacturer Prime Wire. Ferag will now be able to sell wire for its own range of drums and all Tolerans stitchers it sells.

KPG deal.
May 17, 1999... Wam!Net and Kodak Polychrome Graphics have formed a sales partnership in which KPG will extend its customer services by endorsing Wam!Net as its preferred data communications provider.

Field expands in Ireland.
May 17, 1999... Field Group has expanded its pharmaceutical and healthcare division with the acquisition of the Irish leaflet and self-adhesive label printer Berry Print Group for an undisclosed sum. Located in Westport, County Mayo, Berry is a Ir#7.2m...

Van Dijk for Europe and Ogden returns.
May 17, 1999... Polestar has been busy in the recruitment market with group sales and marketing director John Ashfield strengthening his team with the appointment of Edwin van Dijk as European market director. Mr van Dijk joined Polestar's packaging...

Foil and laminates are API mainstay activity.
May 17, 1999... API, the hot foil, packaging and office products group, has announced a reduced profit margin for the six months ending April 3. Turnover rose #7.4m to #79.4m, but pretax profit remained stable at #4.9m. However, this figure includes...

Kent firm adds Dutch labeller.
May 17, 1999... Inprint Systems, the Ashford printer of leaflet labels for the pharmaceutical industry, has expanded into Europe with the acquisition of Witsiers, a family printer in Oss in the Netherlands. Witsiers is a #4.6m turnover company with three...

Coleridge means business.
May 17, 1999... Coleridge Press, London NW2, has changed its name to Coleridge Business Services, and added a new logo after developing the range of print solutions it offers. The company began as a printer, then bolted on a stationery division and now...

150 tissue jobs go.
May 17, 1999... Inversoft, which makes a range of kitchen and toilet tissue, is closing its two factories in Larne, Northern Ireland , with the loss of 150 jobs. The GPMU which represents the majority of the Larne workers says it is disappointed by the...

Cameron Taylor heads Glasgow YMPs.
May 17, 1999... Cameron Taylor of Scotforms Computer Stationery, Livingston, has been appointed chairman of the Scottish YMP Glasgow branch. Mr Taylor says that his prime objective for his year in office will be to increase the number of new members...

Mail contract renewed.
May 17, 1999... Bristol United Press subsidiary Western Newspaper Printers has gained an extension to its contract to print the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday until 2007. The contract is worth about #1.8m a year and involves printing about 190,000 copies a...

Spear buys European launch pad in Usk.
May 17, 1999... Spear Inc, the Ohio, US, innovator of clear pressure sensitive film labels has purchased recently established Global Labels, Usk, which will represent Spear's launch into European expansion. The company already has an alliance operation...

Litho Supplies signs deal for sales of Intergraph workstations.
May 17, 1999... The rapid take up of client/server installations based around Windows NT has prompted the forging of an agreement for Litho Supplies to sell the Intergraph range of Windows NT based work stations. Litho Supplies has been selling...

Linda Beal swaps over to FFEI commercial ops.
May 17, 1999... Fujifilm Electronic Imaging has strengthened its commercial and customer operations group by recruiting Linda Beal to the position of business manager. Reporting directly to Andy Cook, director of commercial and customer operations, she...

Sadler new money man at Newscom.
May 17, 1999... Newscom has announced the appointment of a new group finance director Keith Sadler who succeeds Colin Rowley. Mr Sadler will join the group next month from Bristol United Press where he has been group finance director since 1993. He...

Thomson joins QTMS.
May 17, 1999... Ean Thomson is to join QTMS, Colchester, as international sales manager. His tasks include responsibility for sales in the US, Scandinavia and Spain, and contact with the firm's Oem suppliers, as well as sales support in QTM's other main...

Meet Simpson's Georgia Brown.
May 17, 1999... Simpson Print Group, Washington, Tyne & Wear, has strengthened its business development team with the appointment of Georgia Brown as creative designer. In her new role she will be responsible for developing Simpson Print's image and...

Wood back from Italy.
May 17, 1999... Nicholas Wood is returning to Barco Artios having spent three years with Barco in Italy. He will take up the role of northern sales manager, printing division. Mr Wood has worked for Barco Graphics since its inception in 1990 and...

Kent firemen fight to contain Kemsley blaze.
May 17, 1999... A fire destroyed nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste paper at St Regis Paper's Kemsley Mill in Sittingbourne, Kent, last week, And although no cause has yet been established, Kent Fire Brigade is investigating how it started. The fire, which...

Royal visit marks millionth tonne.
May 17, 1999... Prince Michael of Kent paid a visit to Aylesford Newsprint last week, at which he unveiled a plaque to commemorate the production of the first million tonnes of Renaissance newsprint by its paper machine 14. Alan McKendrick, chief executive...