Printing World articles from May 2000

Printing World archives from May 2000

Breakthrough to new plain English NVQs.
May 1, 2000... Significantly improved standards for NVQs, clarified, improved, and presented for the first time in plain English, were heralded last week as a major breakthrough for printing education. New standards devised and proposed by the industry's...

Leeds strike action halves Hunters Armley shifts.
May 1, 2000... Nearly 200 staff at Hunters Armley in Leeds have stepped up industrial action over a round of redundancies at the factory, with the result that one shift in three is being cancelled until further notice. The unrest began when Hunters Armley, a...

Pindar puts Manutan online.
May 1, 2000... Pindar Systems, Scarborough, has underlined its strength in electronic data handling after winning an order from the Manutan Group to catalogue its entire product range on the web. Manutan is one of Europe's largest industrial suppliers of...

AGT Photolabs - Photobition strikes again with another American buy.
May 1, 2000... Photobition has YET again expanded its presence in the US with the $11.5m (#7.3m) acquisition of Applied Graphic Technologies' photographic laboratory business. Formerly part of the Wace Group, the laboratories are in New York, Los Angeles and...

Aberdeen printers ballot over job changes.
May 1, 2000... The result of the ballot on strike action by 40 GPMU staff at Aberdeen Journals, publisher of the Press & Journal and Evening Express, is expected to be announced tomorrow (May 2). The print workers have refused to accept new shift patterns...

Advertisers block digital ad progress says mag fraternity.
May 1, 2000... Magazine printers and publishers will next week be told to get digital in a bid to advance the cause of digital ad transfer and acceptance by the industry. The focus will be a session of the PPA conference dedicated to "the future of...

WDA helps Cambrian Printers expansion.
May 1, 2000... Cambrian Printers is to invest #1.8m in a new Heidelberg press and a factory extension at its Llanbadarn Road premises. The move, which is expected to create eight jobs, is intended to keep the Aberystwyth firm ahead of demand. "The...

Xeikon dips with $4.2m Q1 loss.
May 1, 2000... Xeikon is suffering the Drupa effect as buyers hold back investment decisions until they have visited the show later this month. The impact has been felt on its first quarter results which see the company report a net loss of $4.2m. This...

Colourful envelopes.
May 1, 2000... A colour to strike the right tone for every occasion is the claim made by Modo Merchants with its new range of Office Colours wallet envelopes. Available in 11 vivid colours the range comes in DL, C5 and C4 sizes with peel and seal flaps. Modo...

Prism switches its HQ to the UK from Sydney.
May 1, 2000... MIS software supplier, the Prism Group, is moving its headquarters from Sydney, Australia to Slough. Group managing director Chris Johnson says: "Having now enjoyed two years of outstanding success in the UK, we now see Europe as the centre of...

`Come buy with us' Quebecor invites leading printers.
May 1, 2000... Quebecor World has called for closer industry-wide co-operation between larger printers in order to reduce procurement costs of items such as ink and paper. The world's largest printer believes the industry is riddled with inefficiencies and...

Tony Brown back at Printing World.
May 1, 2000... Tony Brown has rejoined Printing World this week as deputy editor, after a two-and-a-half year absence. He joins from The Grocer magazine, where he was news editor, and spent time with printing PR consultancy Bespoke and as the personal finance...

Purup-Eskofot sues CreoScitex over Lotem.
May 1, 2000... Purup-Eskofot is suing Creo-Scitex for patent infringement over technology used in the Lotem platesetter. The original action was launched against Scitex, but with the transfer of the prepress business to Creo, the Danish company has now filed...

Quadracolor expands to a six-colour.
May 1, 2000... South-east London printer Quadracolor has bought and installed a new six-colour Heidelberg 102 CD in a general expansion for the company. The press is an additional machine to the existing Heidelberg stable of two five-colour B1 presses, a...

Brazil leads Latin America into plastic banknotes.
May 1, 2000... Brazil, the country of coffee, carnival and the samba, is celebrating the 500th anniversary of its discovery by Portuguese settlers with a move to plastic currency. Latin America's largest economy is to issue a 10 real bill (about #3.55) made...

Intype gives Xerox a Drupa showpiece.
May 1, 2000... Intype, the Wimbledon digital printer, is displaying one of its recent products centre-stage at Drupa. The company has printed one of the first novels to be produced completely digitally. To the Chase, by Steve Emecz, published by...

Rosehill backs a winner on betting slips.
May 1, 2000... Rosehill Press has secured a major contract win producing betting slips and coupons for one of the UK's leading betting and gaming companies. On the strength of the win, the Rotherham company has invested #370,000 in two Form All Edelmann web...

Westvaco buys Impac for music growth in Europe.
May 1, 2000... Packaging company Westvaco has taken over its US rival Impac, in a $500m deal as part of a global expansion policy in the consumer packaging markets. The deal will allow Westvaco a stake in the burgeoning European market for computer, music and...

Partners miss launch party.
May 1, 2000... Long hours are an occupational hazard if you run your own repro house, but they normally do not mean that you miss your own launch party. However, when a last minute job came in at Pro Imaging in Sheffield, a new company with #50,000 worth of...

Hillprint content with just in time tag.
May 1, 2000... Hillprint, the Bishop Auckland company this year judged by the BPIF to be the top UK printer with sales under #5m, has begun a major period of expansion. In two months' time, it is set to move to new 15,000 sq ft premises where it will install...

COMMENT: Do we have an overpaid overclass?
May 1, 2000... What is termed the dotcom revolution seems to be having its effect on staff hierarchies and staff earnings. Look at the national press to see job advertisements indicating that companies are screaming out for e- commerce staff, people...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
May 1, 2000... Where has the #170m gone? Your article, Training for the Future, (Printing World, last week) confirms that the industry is spending the same as the national average on training - around #1,000 per employee per year if you include...

Oxfam shop manual is a top print winner.
May 1, 2000... A prime example of award winning print produced on a small budget is the National Retail Standards Manual now in operation across all Oxfam shops. The manual will be featured at the Total Publishing show at London's Earls Court next month. It...

HP `reinvents' printing with its Internet links.
May 1, 2000... Hewlett Packard is planning to take the concept of distribute and print one step further by transforming the role of the office printer through the Internet. The company has signed an alliance with seven Internet firms to expand the...

Premier Print goes over to computer to plate.
May 1, 2000... Premier Print in Nottingham has gone over to computer to plate, saying that the time is finally right for medium-sized printers to take the plunge. "Medium-sized companies cannot afford to be there at the very beginning," says managing director...

Scramble likely over Low & Bonar sell-offs.
May 1, 2000... Acquisition hungry US packaging group Chesapeake is set for a showdown again with its rival Shorewood as they fight over the bones of the break up of Low & Bonar. The sale of L&B's European packaging interests announced in February (Printing...

CreoScitex president promises aggression and growth.
May 1, 2000... CreoScitex president Mark Dance has issued an appeal to investors to buy stock in Creo, promising "year-on-year income growth" and an "aggressive organisation" now that Creo and Scitex have merged their prepress operations. Investors should put...

Edwin Boorman lined up for NS presidency.
May 1, 2000... Edwin Boorman, chairman and chief executive of the Kent Messenger Group looks likely to take over as president of the Newspaper Society in 2001. The Society's council has proposed that Mr Boorman be appointed as the next vice-president, putting...

Security paper.
May 1, 2000... A paper for digital security printing is being made available by Modo Paper. When printing digitally, the substrate can be the only barrier to counterfeiting, and Modo is launching its Silverseal product for the short run market with a...

PAPER NEWS.
May 1, 2000... Dutch luxury paper from Sappi Sappi has unveiled a web-grade, reeled paper named Empress, which it says is a premium product. Manufactured in the Netherlands, it is specially designed for luxury cover applications. "Nowadays, more and more...

Wrong weight paper leads police to fake fivers.
May 1, 2000... A printer who forged an estimated #1m in #5 notes has been jailed for six years. Anthony Flynn, 53, was found guilty of counterfeiting banknotes at the firm he founded, Calder Press, in Oldham. Following a tip-off, a police raid discovered that...

Print bills being paid a little faster - BPIF.
May 1, 2000... Printers are making up for poor margins by getting customers to pay their bills faster, according to the latest BPIF quarterly Directions survey. But the survey for the first quarter of this year shows much the same problems as the last one -...

New greetings card web site.
May 1, 2000... A new website, launched on St George's Day, allows greetings cards to be bought online. Not to be confused with the virtual greetings cards which are sent by e-mail, card-city.co.uk gives customers the opportunity to search for real cards in...

Sharper sales focus for Varn by Litho Supplies.
May 1, 2000... Countrywide representation for Varn International's range of pressroom chemicals has been revamped Litho Supplies, Varn's second largest dealer, (Coates Lorilleux is the biggest). It has now created a dedicated regional sales team of eight...

Tarrant offers casebinding answer from Italy - the CMC line.
May 1, 2000... With casebinding coming back into fashion, it is still difficult to find a cost-effective way of binding very short runs of books without resorting to handwork. However, Tarrant Machines, Ilkley, says that it could have the answer in the shape...

Was this man WRONG?
May 1, 2000... GARETH WARD debates the impact of digital printing and finds that the conventional litho press companies are fighting back. You can, he says, teach old dogs new tricks Benny Landa president and founder of Indigo, stuck his neck out at Ipex...

Joy sells out but battles on single-handed at the Eskdale Advertiser.
May 1, 2000... One of the last, if not the last, of Britain's single-handed, independent local newspapers has finally succumbed to merger. And the biggest change will be that the editor can now look forward to taking a holiday. Since Joy Chatters and her...

Hannibal goes for Ko-Pack No 4.
May 1, 2000... Leicester self-adhesive label printer Polestar Hannibal says it cannot have too much of a good thing and has taken delivery of its fourth Ko- Pack press. Impressed with reduced makereadies and consistent high quality over longer runs, Hannibal...

Make a May date for China Print 2001.
May 1, 2000... Asia's answer to Drupa is due to roll out in May next year with the arrival of China Print 2001 - the Fifth Beijing International Printing Technology Exhibition which is seen as a showcase for all things print in the Asia/Pacific region. ...

DRS prints the mayor decider for London.
May 1, 2000... Data & Research Services has been gearing up its inhouse print facilities to cope with an imminent and highly visible assignment. For when Londoners finally get to choose officially between Ken Livingstone, Frank Dobson and the other...

LEGALS.
May 1, 2000... Compulsory winding up * The following cases are due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL Column Publishers UK Ltd Unit 2-3 Baines Building, Garswood Street, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan, Lancashire WN4 9AF...

Hollinger slims down its locals.
May 1, 2000... Hollinger International, the owner of the Daily Telegraph, is putting large amounts of its local and metropolitan titles, mostly in North America, up for sale. The impact on the UK is set to be slight, however, because the company owns no...

Mitsubishi's ctp open house.
May 1, 2000... Over 200 visitors enjoyed a full day of workshops and demonstrations when Mitsubishi opened its Leeds showroom for three days of a computer to plate open house event. The occasion, the result of collaboration between Mitsubishi...

Internet `a blast of oxygen for print'.
May 1, 2000... The Internet has added "a blast of oxygen" to the printing industry, according to Charles Cavell, world chief executive of Quebecor World. The world's largest commercial printer says demand for advertising to promote websites has helped it...

Splash first quarter recovery.
May 1, 2000... US colour server manufacturer Splash Technology has recovered some ground with first quarter results showing sales up 47% and profits up by 22%. The encouraging results, partly due to the launch of two new servers in its Splash T series, have...

Xerox dips a little less to please.
May 1, 2000... Shares in office equipment giant Xerox jumped by over 13% after its first quarter results revealed better than expected revenue growth in key markets. Revenue, adjusted to take account of adverse currency conditions, rose by 3% to $4.43bn,...

Two back three is Streamline press recipe.
May 1, 2000... Streamline Press, Leicester, has installed a new five-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 Perfector which it is running in the slightly unusual configuration of printing two colours on one side and three on the other. It is also linked to the...

Carnival cameras sold under Imacon banner.
May 1, 2000... Danish scanner manufacturer Imacon has kept its promise to provide a digital camera by taking ColorCrisp whose Carnival cameras will now be sold under the Imacon banner, and will be made compatible with Imacon's Colorflex software. This means...

CSA and Pira deal extends data choice worldwide.
May 1, 2000... A new agreement between US firm Cambridge Scientific Abstracts and two leading providers of technical and management information has "significantly enhanced" the company's database. The deal with Pira International and Paperbase International...

IP squares up to UPM over Champion.
May 1, 2000... A bidding war looks likely after International Paper trumped an offer by Finnish forest products group UPM Kymmene for US rival Champion International on April 25. IP's offer of $6.2bn of cash and shares could scupper an agreed merger between...

Stationers fund school publishing suite.
May 1, 2000... PUPILS from the Central Foundation Boys School in Islington, London, have been using a new computer, part of a publishing suite funded by the educational charity of the Stationers' Company. The Stationers have funded printing and publishing in...

UFB Drupa finance help offered.
May 1, 2000... UFB Print Finance has created an online form on its website at www.ufb.co.uk to help customers obtain financing quotations before they visit Drupa. Alternatively, representatives of printing firms can request an Internet quote while they...

Margins up but capital returns down.
May 1, 2000... Despite rising productivity in the British economy, the strong pound and higher overheads mean that most large companies became less profitable in the second half of 1999. And once again print, packaging and paper seem to be doing worse than...

Buoyant pulp boosted.
May 1, 2000... Pulp continues to be the main driver of the European paper scene. With a steady improvement in prices during 1999, a further 11% increase in the first quarter of this year, and the effects of the April 1 uplift still to be felt, things are...

Tipsters like Photobition.
May 1, 2000... Photobition shares are currently being tipped as a good buy in the City. The Daily Telegraph describes Photobition as a "low risk, high margin business" whose share price "seems to be taking good care of itself". However, the tipsters seem to...

Waste strategy worries.
May 1, 2000... The Government's plans to recover or recycle more waste paper could prove expensive, according to a leaked Whitehall report. Plans to reduce landfill waste by 45% and have 30% of rubbish recycled or incinerated for energy by 2010 could cost an...

Internet cash into print.
May 1, 2000... The surge in online advertising revenues in the US continues, but, much of the money seems to be channelled back to print. In the last quarter of 1999, Internet advertising grew by 161% to $1.7bn, according to research by the Internet...

Yahoo! `may buy Emap'.
May 1, 2000... Speculation that magazine publisher Emap is to be bought by Internet portal Yahoo! have been sweeping the City, based on the assumption that Yahoo! has been disconcerted by the cross-media merger between AOL and Time Warner. Emap particularly...

Better Smurfit-Stone.
May 1, 2000... SMURFIT-STONE CONTAINERS has managed to make a $50 a tonne linerboard price increase stick during the last quarter, but still experienced a drop in operating profits as a result of increased raw materials costs. But the Nasdaq listed operation,...

Noritsu minilab offers new high street print opportunities.
May 1, 2000... The Japanese manufacturer Noritsu is launching a photographic-based digital printing system into the UK market which is totally self- contained and functions along the lines of the systems found in one- hour photo service outlets. This...

Where paper is KING.
May 1, 2000... Finland may be one of the paper powerhouses of Europe, but its paper companies are increasingly worried about globalisation and market share. ALEX GRANT reports from where paper is king Imagine John Major joining the board of a British...

What's it all ABOUT?
May 1, 2000... It has been a long time coming, but now Drupa 2000 - the biggest ever graphic arts event - is nearly upon us. AVELEINE BYRD presents an overview My abiding memory of Drupa 95, and I am willing to bet my house that there are others who have...

Banking on paper.
May 1, 2000... The decline of banks in rural areas is big news at the moment, but when it comes to paper banks, Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council has nothing to complain about. Nearby Aylesford Newsprint has just installed 25 in its area in a bid to...

Julie puts her mind to it in Africa.
May 1, 2000... Someone else doing their bit for charity is Julie Albion, an engineer at Apple Web Manufacturing Systems, who is trekking her way around Namibia to raise funds for Mencap. The charity event was originally planned to have taken place in...

On your bike says Production Company.
May 1, 2000... As Sheffield Wednesday's Premiership future hangs tantalisingly in the balance (much to the chagrin of Printing World's new deputy editor and Wednesday nut Tony Brown), the club can at least take solace in the fact it has sparked off a...

A new use for newsprint.
May 1, 2000... Aylesford Newsprint and companies like it may have a bit of competition on their hands when it comes to getting hold of newsprint to recycle if a new pilot housing scheme takes off. An ultra-futuristic new home designed to be very...

Small footprint - big output.
May 1, 2000... Vertical collators can be the answer for printing companies that want to keep their finishing work inhouse reveals ALEX GRANT. They can also be a wise investment for trade finishers More and more printers are bringing their finishing...

GETTING THERE... Stephen Mason, md of Airedale Rollers.
May 1, 2000... Stephen Mason is the managing director of Airedale Rollers, a leading supplier of rollers for the printing sector. He joined Airedale from Polymer Holdings in 1998 How and why did you begin your career in the printing industry? I was...

Putting a value on employee health.
May 1, 2000... SIMON TURNER makes the case for company private health care and argues the cost may be less than many think A company's employees could be considered its most valuable asset. It is, therefore, logical to prepare for the possibility that one...

PEOPLE NEWS.
May 1, 2000... * NUR Europe has appointed Robert Huxley as director of marketing. His remit is to maintain growth and take advantage of new market opportunities following the launch of NUR's new wide-format digital production press, the Fresco. Mr Huxley...

Gary Iceton's departure end of an era for Clays.
May 8, 2000... Clays managing director Gary Iceton is leaving his job after 33 years at the Suffolk book printer, whose plans to relocate to a larger site were recently put on hold pending a judicial review. Mr Iceton, who turns 50 this year, has worked at...

Scottish pay talks break down.
May 8, 2000... Despite two days of discussions, the talks between the Scottish Print Employers' Federation and the GPMU on the wage levels for the Scottish industry for 2000-2001 have been broken off without any agreement. As Printing World went to press, no...

Indigo makes a Blind date with TurboStream.
May 8, 2000... The Royal National Institute for the Blind has installed an Indigo TurboStream at its site in Peterborough. Like most organisations, the RNIB says it is experiencing a trend towards short run, on-demand work, and needed a colour press to cope....

Boyall exhibits at Dome.
May 8, 2000... Forget Drupa, Northampton printer Boyall Graphics is exhibiting at the Millennium Dome. Visitors to the Big Greenwich Tent may not have recognised it as such, but it is the company responsible for printing the backlit panels on the numerous...

Olive branch waved at Hunters Armley.
May 8, 2000... Strike action at Hunters Armley in Leeds has been called off after a compromise was struck between the GPMU and employers over redundancy terms for 30 workers. The colour web and inkjet printer made 17 staff, most of them in the bindery,...

Happy Goss turning the corner with more orders and money.
May 8, 2000... Goss Graphic Systems looks to be coming back from the brink in the US. Following its emergence from Chapter 11, the US press manufacturer last week announced orders for the first quarter of 2000 which amounted to $195m - more than double that...

Aberdeen Journals dispute rumbles on.
May 8, 2000... There was still no sign this weekend of any resolution to the dispute between Aberdeen Journals and the GPMU members employed in the pressroom and mailroom. In a double ballot of the 40 members, 38 voted and were unanimous in favour of taking...

Agfa hits CreoScitex with patent writ.
May 8, 2000... Agfa has issued writs alleging patent infringement by CreoScitex of technology that Agfa has developed for its Galileo platesetter. At the heart of the action are claims that the automatic plate handling system and software used to manage the...

Tim Webb takes over Picon chair.
May 8, 2000... Tim Webb has been appointed as the new chairman of Picon, the business support organisation representing suppliers to the printing, papermaking, packaging and publishing industries. He replaces Martin Rickards, who has held the post since April...

Southend print merger sparks investment spend.
May 8, 2000... Two Southend printing companies, Wednesday Press and Grainger House, have merged to form a single company now called Wednesday Press, but using the corporate identity of Grainger. The coming together will spark off an initial #170,000...

First UK print dotcom goes public on the AIM.
May 8, 2000... Ctrlp.com has become the first UK print dotcom to achieve a public listing, selling 14.5 million shares to institutional investors at 60p each to raise #8.7m. This is below the #15m that the company had hoped to raise through a listing on the...

BBC invests in Enterprise system.
May 8, 2000... BBC Worldwide has invested in a 115-user Enterprise advertising system for its Wood Lane site in London. Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC and produces a wide range of market-leading consumer magazines including the Radio Times, Good...

Union wants assurances for the Belfast Telegraph.
May 8, 2000... The GPMU has called for assurances that the Belfast Telegraph will still be printed in the city, and not south of the border, if the paper's sale to Independent News & Media goes through as expected. The Telegraph has long been owned by...

Sun Chemical celebrates Derbyshire factory re-opening.
May 8, 2000... Sun Chemical Gibbon, less than two years on from the acquisition of Gibbon Inks, celebrated the opening of new premises last week. SCG managing director Graham Frost, hosting the opening of a #3m refurbishment of the South Normanton factory in...