Quebecor World Inc. announced that for the 2007 fiscal year it generated a net loss of $2.2 billion, compared to a net income of $28.3 million the previous year, and revenues of $5.7 billion compared to $6.1 billion in 2006.
Quebecor World’s 2007 revenues reflect a reduction in volume in its North American operations, in particular as the result of several plant closures as the company moved to complete its 3-year restructuring and retooling program. In addition to goodwill, IAROC and specific charges, QW says the decrease in profitability reflects volume reduction, pricing pressure, underperforming European assets and higher financial expenses.
On January 21, 2008, Quebecor World filed for creditor protection in the United States and Canada due to its inability to raise new capital and to complete the sale of its European operations. “We have made important and substantial efforts to stabilize our business and to reach out to all our stakeholders in this process,” said Jacques Mallette, president and CEO, Quebecor World. “I am pleased with what we have accomplished so far, and it demonstrates the support of our customers, our suppliers and our employees to our business going forward. We continue to renew and earn new business with important customers across our global platform including, most recently, McGraw Hill, Wenner Media and RONA.”
Since the initial filing, QW received the final order for its $1 billion DIP (debtor-in-possession) financing from a US court. It had unrestricted cash balances of $160 million and access to revolving credit facility of up to $400 million, and believes that this financing and its ability to generate significant cash flow from operations will allow it to emerge from creditor protection as a strong company. It has also recently hired Randy Benson as chief restructuring officer.
”The restructuring process is proceeding as planned. To date we have passed several important milestones and we are actively developing our five-year business plan which we expect to be completed in the second quarter. The appropriate creditors and ad hoc committees have been established in the U.S. and Canada and we are pursuing an active and ongoing dialogue,” added Mr. Mallette. “To date we have had more than 60 uncontested motions approved in the U.S. process which is a strong indication of everyone’s focus and determination to make this process a success by exiting creditor protection as soon as possible.”
Industry veteran Marc Fortier, formerly of PLM, has joined Grafikom as senior VP in Business Strategy. He will report directly to president and CEO Gord Griffiths.
"Grafikom is a customer-centric organization that makes decisions based on where its customers are heading," said Griffiths. "Marc will be helping us to do just that, continually understanding where we need to go and, along with the rest of the senior management team, articulating and executing plans to keep us aligned with our customers' requirements."
Fortier's expertise in digital printing will help Grafikom develop in that arena, which Griffiths describes as a key growth area.
"For more than a decade I have worked to complement traditional print solutions with emerging digital technologies," said Fortier. "Grafikom possesses one of the most robust print platforms in Canada. As customers' requirements continue to transcend traditional print, I am excited about the opportunity to lead the evolution of Grafikom's current digital print service offering."
As an initial step to support the expansion of the digital business, in Toronto, Grafikom is in the process of creating a major digital printing and fulfillment centre at its Scarsdale Road location. In parallel, Grafikom is combining its Toronto-based commercial and packaging operations into a single location at 180 Bond Avenue. As a result, Grafikom's Toronto operations will each have a distinct focus. Digital capabilities, according to Grafikom, will then be expanded into Western and Eastern regions of Canada.
Transcontinental Inc. has announced it has purchased Acquizition.biz, a Web-based platform for buying and selling businesses. The company offers more than 1,500 listings representing over 20 sectors of activity, including services, manufacturing, warehousing, processing, technology, retail, transport, the restaurant industry and lodging. Since its creation in 2004, Acquizition.biz has received more than 40,000 members who wish to buy and sell small- and medium-sized businesses.
André Forest, co-founder and president of Acquizition.biz, said, “We are connecting Acquizition.biz with Transcontinental’s network of business publications which can only enhance and improve our offering for customers, partners and members. I am thrilled to work with the Transcontinental team.”
Transcontinental’s online business properties include digital spin-offs of the publications Les Affaires, Finance et Investissement, and Investment Executive.
“Transcontinental is committed to serving targeted communities of interest—in this case business people, and more specifically entrepreneurs,” said Pierre Marcoux, VP Business Publications and Book Publishing, Transcontinental Media. “Integrating a digital platform like this with Transcontinental’s business publications truly complements our offering for this community.”
Future Shop and Best Buy have announced they will be closing their internal photo services, known as Futurephoto and imagelab, respectively. They have instead chosen to partner with the Kodak Gallery service, recently launched in Canada.
“Tens of millions of people trust Kodak Gallery with their pictures and we are thrilled to bring Canadian customers a Kodak Gallery site that is uniquely tailored to them,” said Madhav Mehra, general manager of Kodak Gallery.
Best Buy, which owns Future Shop, decided to close all of the retail locations' in-store developing facilities, starting earlier this year. Ten Future Shop locations have removed its in-store developing equipment and have converted to pick-up only services.
Kodak claims the Canadian version of its Gallery service is unique and includes exclusive products, such as photo-printed hockey pucks. There are currently 10 different international versions of Kodak Gallery, including sites for the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The service started in the United States in July 1999 as Ofoto Inc. Kodak acquired the company in June 2001.
Users transferring from Best Buy and Future Shop's services will receive an incentive of 100 free 4x6-inch prints at Kodak Gallery.
The June issue of PrintAction will feature the 6th-annual listing of Canada's 50 Most Influential People in Graphic Communications (PA50). In addition to the PA50 list, this year will also feature a selection by the readers of PrintAction.
To take part, email the top-five people you consider to be most influential in Canadian graphic communications. As a starting point, we have a list of potential candidates arranged alphabetically into commercial, trade, packaging and specialty printing categories, as well as a category for schools, associations and NGOs. This list is in no way exhaustive and we welcome you to submit choices that may not be on the list.
Submit your Top 5 choices by May 16 to pa50@printaction.com and look for the result in the June issue of PrintAction.
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To celebrate K-North’s 5th anniversary, and Howard Graphic Equipment’s 40th, the companies held a gala evening last week with entertainment that included Taiko drumming, Canadian rockers April Wine, and a press demonstration. Also on the bill was Canadian humourist Rick Mercer, who amused the night’s guests with a frantic story of how he got Republican Mike Huckabee – his “first governor” – to say, “Congratulations Canada, on preserving your national igloo.”
The formal event was held on the shop floor, with its presses covered. Only Komori’s new SX29 stood revealed, off-stage left for a presentation by K-North’s Rob McGillis.
Along with a candle-lit bar and food from around the world, the event included a picture-timeline-based display of Howard Graphic’s history from 1967. It also held raffles and a silent auction, of celebrity-autographed items, high-end electronics, limited edition print, and golf and sports event packages, to benefit the Special Olympics Ontario. HGE says it raised $10,500 for the cause.
Bill Howard, father of the company’s current president, Nick Howard, who hosted the event, founded Howard Graphic Equipment after the demise of the Toronto Type Foundry. From absorbing the press world as a teenager, Nick Howard has taken the company to its current 90,000 square-foot building designed to recondition million-dollar machines for resale.
Two days after it announced the appointment of its chief restructuring officer, Quebecor World has announced workforce reductions at two more plants, including its Etobicoke, Ontario (Islington) facility. The layoff losses at Etobicoke and New Haven, Connecticut amount to about 700 full-time positions. QW says the cuts are part of its 2005 retooling and restructuring program, designed to reduce costs and improve productivity across the Company’s global platform by consolidating volume, which is being completed in 2008. The program has included investing in and deploying state-of-the-art presses and accompanying technology in fewer but larger facilities.
The Islington facility produces retail flyers and catalogs, and binds directories. The facility will continue to operate its bindery for directories which requires approximately 60 full-time positions. The North Haven facility primarily produces general commercial printed products. Volume from both facilities will be relocated to newer, larger facilities equipped with state-of-the-art technology. In the last three years, QW says, it has invested $1 billion upgrading its facilities with the latest presses, robotics, quality control systems and bindery technology. In the company’s magazine platform alone this included the installation of ten new 64 and 96 page wide-web presses at seven facilities.
Randy Benson is QW’s new chief restructuring officer, reporting to the restructuring committee of the board of directors. Benson most recently served as chief restructuring officer (and interim leader) for Hollinger Inc., and prior to that held the same position at Ivaco Inc. Mr. Benson was senior VP and CFO at Call-Net Enterprises-Sprint Canada Inc. and before that he served as a division president at Parmalat Canada and as executive VP and CFO of Beatrice Foods Inc. He is the principal of R.C. Benson Consulting Inc., a management consulting company focused on providing strategic analysis, chief executive management, and financial and operational restructuring expertise.
Fujifilm Graphic Systems U.S.A announced this week that Masahiro Ota is the company’s new president and chief executive officer. Ota replaces Hiro Tada, who has taken a new position as president and chief executive officer with Fujifilm’s Medical Imaging Division. Ota joined Fujifilm in 1980 and first worked in human resources in the Fujinomiya site. As president and CEO of Fujifilm Graphic Systems U.S.A., Ota will be responsible for managing the relationships with Fujifilm Group companies Fujifilm Sericol and Fujifilm Hunt Chemicals.
“Fujifilm is well-positioned to face this challenging market, thanks not only to our ability to produce quality, reliable plates and prepress equipment, but also our ability to integrate new technologies – such as digital printing and wide format imaging – into our customers’ operations,” said Ota.
Most recently, Ota was president of Fujifilm Starlight Graphic Systems (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., created out of a partnership with the China Academy of Printing Technology. Within four years, Fujifilm Starlight Graphic Systems captured the top position in China’s graphic systems market, increasing sales of both conventional and CTP plates and systems.
In 2007, Ota was named Guest Professor at the prestigious Bejing Institute of Graphic Communications.
At the age of 80, Allan Teather, a long-standing member of the printing community in Canada, succumbed to lung cancer at his home on April 25. Teather's career in the printing industry lasted more than 40 years with the St. Catharines Standard, which is today part of Quebecor’s Osprey Media division.
Teather retired from the Standard in 1991 and immediately went back to work by dedicating himself to community pursuits in the St. Catharines area. One of his biggest efforts was put toward the Mackenzie Printery & Newspaper Museum in nearby Queenston – part of the Niagara Parks commission. For a number of years, he served as chairman of the Printery, helping to reorganize and set the heritage site on a new course.
The Mackenzie Printery is based in the restored home of William Lyon Mackenzie and contains technology from 500 years of printing. The most rare piece in the museum's collection is the Louis Roy Press (from the year 1770), the oldest press in Canada and one of the few original wooden presses remaining in the world.
A month and two days after announcing a new Environmental and Paper Procurement Policy, around its in-house eco-friendly Legacy line, Webcom has now added a new product to eco-friendly papers, called Legacy Standard News, engineered for printing books, catalogues and directories. The new 100% recycled paper, according to Webcom, is the first newsprint grade in North America to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Webcom, based in Toronto, suggested, that when it comes to paper pricing, Legacy Standard News fits in a price gap between traditional recycled lines and virgin-fibre supply.
“The introduction of Legacy Standard News 100% to our inventory of environmental paper is significant for two reasons. One, for the FSC certification and secondly, for the cost benefit to our customers who publish directories and catalogues.” says Webcom President and CEO, Mike Collinge. “This paper signifies a clear shift in the tide away from the use of virgin fibre in favour of recycled FSC-papers.”
Webcom’s new paper contains 85 percent post-consumer waste and is processed chlorine-free, which are two measures that also qualify the product as an Ancient Forest Friendly (www.marketsinitiative.org) paper in addition to being FSC-certified. In March, Webcom issued an environmental policy with a target of 40 percent usage of recycled paper by 2012, including 12 percent within the first 12 months. The company now states, with the latest addition to the Legacy grades, that it expects to reach a level of 14 percent of recycled content by the end of 2008.
After being the first of the three major plate players to release a less chemically dependent CTP, in November 2004, Agfa today continues to increase the installations of its Azura process-less plate technology across Canada. By September 2005, some 300 printers around the world had installed the technology.
Astro Printing in Cornwall, Ontario, has recently installed an Agfa Acento CTP engine to image the Azura plates. Astro Printing has also upgraded its workflow to Apogee X Prime. On the East Coast of Canada, Eastern Sign Print has also installed an Acento to run Agfa’s Azura plate. The company, based in Stellerton, Nova Scotia, is a subsidiary of Sobey’s Inc. and was founded in 1972. Eastern Sign provides offset, screen printing and industrial sign graphics to its marketplace. The company has also installed Agfa’s ApogeeX Prime workflow and a SherpaProof inkjet engine. ApogeeX Prime is part of a new modular software family, in which Agfa reorganized its workflow offerings to customers (see PrintAction January, 2008).
Pictured left to right: Richard Juneau of Agfa, Marc Ladouceur and Astro Printing's Manager Leslie Meyer with Melissa Gareau and Dan Poirier all of Astro Printing.
Pictured from left to right: William Wilson and Craig Colbourne, Operations Manager of Eastern Sign Print.
Coast Paper, a graphic arts supplier with offices in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal, announced its entry into the flexographic printing supplies business. The move focuses on what the company calls two flagship product lines, one each from Hostmann-Steinberg and Kodak.
The first product line is Kodak’s Flexcel printing plates, which includes the recently developed Flexcel NX System (see Andrew Tribute’s column in PrintAction, November 2007). The Flexcel NX Plate is designed to deliver flat tops with a stable shape for what the company says are consistent dots – as small as 10 microns – using thermal imaging. When it first introduced the system, Kodak touted the product as means to achieve “offset-like” quality on a standard flexo press.
The second flexo flagship now being carried by Coast is Hostmann-Steinberg’s line of water-based and UV-curable flexographic inks for the label and wide web packaging markets. Hostmann-Steinberg is a member of German-based hubergroup, which has a substantial Canadian sales and manufacturing facility in Toronto.
“We envision we will be a full-line supplier to the flexo industry in a matter of months,” said Ed Gamelin, general manager of Coast Paper Toronto, in a press release. “We wish to extend Coast’s logistics capability and reputation for servicing our customers to another part of the printing industry.”
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The Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council (CPISC), a group funded by the government to improve skills standards and human resources in the industry, announced its Second Annual Forum will be held in Montreal on June 13, 2008. This year, the Forum is organized in partnership with le Comité sectoriel de main d’oeuvre des communications graphiques du Québec, and will focus on the future of printing. More information about the event and contacts can be found at www.cpisc-csic.ca.
CPISC also announced that it is joining forces with Heidelberg Canada to create a “Team Canada Selection Event” to ensure that Canada has a competitor in the upcoming 2009 WorldSkills printing competition. WorldSkills is the biggest trade skills competition in the world. It sets world-class standards in over 45 skill categories ranging from cabinet making to Web design. The last event brought competitors from 48 countries to test themselves against tough international standards.
“Encouraging young people to enter the printing and graphic communications industry is critical and hosting such a competition will provide an opportunity to demonstrate how printing has changed and the key role technology has played in that change”, says Jeff Ekstein, CPISC Co-Chair.
The Selection Event will be held at Heidelberg Canada in Mississauga from August 25 to 26, 2008.
IDEAlliance, the Virginia-based research and consulting organization that drives print-related colour control methods like SWOP and G7, announced it has approved 27 monitor proofing systems based on its newly launched Monitor Proofing Systems Certification Program. The program was developed in partnership among IDEAlliance, the SWOP Technical Committee and the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Printing Applications Laboratory. Their work was engineered to determine how best to judge the quality of monitor proofing systems "to the numbers.”
When SWOP merged with IDEAlliance in 2005, plans were set to aggressively modernize the SWOP specifications for improving proofing quality and the proof-to-press match. By 2006, SWOP approved a second proofing stock, the #3 stock typified by Fortune Gloss. In addition the committee ratified the use of the IDEAlliance G7 Proof-to-Press Process for calibrating both proofing systems and presses. In the summer of 2006, the IDEAlliance Print Properties Working Group conducted a series of web press runs, on behalf of SWOP, using G7 techniques to develop a realistic characterization of publication printing. The new characterization datasets that were developed as a result of these web press runs were recently balloted as ANSI/CGATS TR003 and TR005.
These datasets, along with a new dataset for the GRACoL #1 sheet for commercial publishing now known as TR006, were used as the basis for launching a new “to the numbers” proofing systems certification program. Prior to this, the SWOP Certification program combined a numeric evaluation of proofs produced on a sheetfed offset press based on target TVI values along with a human evaluation of visual similarity of candidate proofs to the reference offset proof.
According to Gina Sigmon of Quebecor World, and chair of the SWOP Committee, “We believe in the near future, hard-copy proofing will be obsolete. The rapid shift toward virtual proofing, means that SWOP must focus its attention on issues unique to emerging virtual proofing workflows. We need to develop specifications and best practices that will assure that monitor proofing can reliably and confidently match the visual appearance of an image on press. The new IDEAlliance Monitor Proofing Certification Program for SWOP and GRACoL takes a major step in that direction.”
The newly certified monitor proofing systems include:
- CGS Publishing Technologies International ORISProof Grade #1, #3 and #5 on the EIZO CG241W Display and the EIZO CG221 Display - DALiM DiALOGUE for Grade #1 on the Apple Cinema 23” Display and for Grade #3 on the Apple Cinema 30” Display and the EIZO CG211 display - EIZO Proofing System with Adobe Acrobat 8 for Grade #1 on the EIZO CG241W Display and EIZO CG301W Display - ICS Remote Director Proofing System for Grades #1, #3 and #5 on the Apple 30" Cinema Display and the EIZO CG241W display. Grades #1, #3 on the Apple 23" Cinema Display. Grade #1 on the EIZO CG221 and Grade #3 on the EIZO CG211 Display - Kodak Matchprint Virtual Proofing System for Grade #3 and #5 on the Apple Cinema 30” Display, on the EIZO CG241W Display and the EIZO CG211 Display
Icon Digital, a large-format printer based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, has installed a new HP Scitex Turbojet 8300. The company, which specializes in large format printing and is a leader in this field. Working with the retail and advertising industries, Icon Digital produces all applications of large format products from posters to outdoor advertising to vehicle wraps.
“We went with the HP Scitex because it is a very high quality machine and very efficient,” says Peter Evans, vice-president at Icon Digital. “It’s also versatile in some of the things it can do. It can print on different thicknesses of stock and also produce work at different speeds depending on the end application.”
Icon Digital also owns wide-format inkjet presses by Gandinnovations, Vutek and Océ. In addition to large format, the company also handles POP, brochures, and offers design services.
Photo (L-R): Peter Evans, Icon Digital vice-president and Juan Lau, president.
In an unexpected move, German publishing house Bertelsmann will be producing a printed version of the venerable online encylcopedia Wikipedia. The encyclopedia is famed for being completely open-source and user-driven in content.
"I know it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Wikipedia but our mission at the Wikimedia Foundation is make all human knowledge accessible to everyone, and that includes bringing that knowledge to the offline world," wrote Kul Wadhwa, Wikipedia's head of business development.
The book will contain about 50,000 entries and 1,000 illustrations from the German edition of the Website and will span 992 pages. In contrast, the online German edition has more than 739,000 entries. The pages will be selected based on popularity rather than relevance. As such, the book is more likely to include pop culture references rather than the traditional encyclopedic information. Controversial entries will be fact-checked, the publisher claims.
"The book is only in German for the German market but we will be watching this innovative project closely because…who knows? You can’t change the world unless you push the limits and try to break existing paradigms," continued Wadhwa.
Das Wikipedia Lexikon in einem Band (The Wikipedia Encylopaedia in one volume) will go on sale this fall for about 20 euros (or about $32).
The BBC has produced a program which tracks the development of the Gutenberg printing press. Hosted by comedian and intellectual Stephen Fry, the program travels from France to Germany on the trail of Johannes Gutenberg.
To understand the machine, Fry gets his hands dirty and becomes part of a team working to create a replica of the iconic press. The program also covers the creation of paper using 15th-century methods and creating hot metal type.
The program can be viewed below, in six parts, on YouTube.
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Heidelberg Canada has made significant organizational changes to its salesforce. Don Robinson has taken over as VP of sales for the newly merged segments of Equipment and Consumables. Since Heidelberg Canada got into the consumables business in 1999, it had operated its sheetfed and finishing components separately from the consumables and prepress, according to president Richard Armstrong, which resulted in crowding. “The teams became so integrated over the years, we had multiple sales managers in one region,” he said. The company’s new structure avoids the situation of two managers covering the same customers for different products.
While the merging required the elimination of management positions, little has changed at the field sales level – the field sales reps are still in position, Armstrong says, causing no immediate impact to customers.
Jean-Francois Colpron
In a parallel move, former VP of prepress and consumables sales, Jean-Francois Colpron, has become VP of product management and marketing. “Previously, we had all of our sheetfed and finishing product managers reporting to one sales manager, and then we had our consumables and prepress product managers reporting to another sales manager,” says Armstrong. “As our solutions become more broad to the customer base, more all-encompassing and integrated, we wanted to have a strong central product management team.”
Heidelberg is also taking the savings from its sales-management consolidation process and reinvesting it in its support structures. Armstrong says it is bringing in people from other parts of the Heidelberg world. “We’ve got some new electricians starting, some new [instructors] starting. We find the most important thing for us is the after-market service area, and we’re investing in that with new technical people.”
Forest and timber company Weyerhaeuser’s board of directors has named Daniel Fulton, the company’s president, to the additional post of chief executive officer and member of the board. Fulton, who has served as president since January 1, assumes the role of CEO from Steven Rogel, who remains chairman in a non-executive role, the Washington-based company said.
The company has struggled with key dips in the American economy, and recently benefited from the divestiture of its Fine Paper business, as well as the sale of its Containerboard Packaging and Recycling business to International Paper for US$6 billion, which included nine containerboard mills, 72 packaging locations, 10 specialty-packaging plants, four kraft bag and sack locations and 19 recycling facilities.
“The continuing erosion of the U.S. housing market created very unfavourable market conditions for our Timberlands, Wood Products and Real Estate businesses,” Rogel said in February. “Despite difficult market conditions, which we expect to continue through 2008, Weyerhaeuser remains focused on managing through the downturn and positioning the company to take full advantage of stronger markets once conditions improve.”
For the fourth quarter 2007, Weyerhaeuser reported a net loss of US$63 million. Weyerhaeuser has reported a number of facility closings since January, at Maryland, Oregon, Honolulu, Washington, Kamloops, and Saskatchewan.
In March, Larry Burrows replaced Fulton as president of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company. Weyerhaeuser also recently announced that Mark Emmert, president of the University of Washington, would join the company's board effective June 1.
With approval from the German Federal Cartel Office, Bobst Group completed the 100-percent acquisition of the Fischer & Krecke Group, based in Germany. According to Bobst, the move is in line with intentions to expand operations in the worldwide flexible materials market, eager for a larger presence in flexographic printing. Bobst expects the one-time cost of the acquisition to lead to a negative operating profit in 2008, with return to normality in 2009.
The Fischer & Krecke Group, in addition to its Kochsiek brand, focuses on two areas: rotogravure printing (including decorative) and inline rotary die-cutting of paperboard packaging for liquids. In 2007, the turnover of Fischer & Krecke and its affiliates was EUR85 million and the company employed 395 people worldwide. In 2007, Bobst employed 5,428 people. The company was founded in 1990 when Joseph Bobst opened a printing supplies shop in Lausanne.
With this acquisition, Bobst Group plans for what it calls a worldwide center of competence for Flexographic printing for flexible materials in Bielefeld, Germany. As well, a Piacenza site in Italy will be transformed into a Bobst production facility similar to the existing sites in Itatiba (Brazil), in Shanghai, China and in Pune (India).
Describing itself as Atlantic Canada’s full-service printer, Atlantic Digital Reproductions has installed new ApogeeX software and Agfa’s Acento platesetter that will run that company’s process-less Azura plates. The company, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, runs technology that opens up its services from traditional offset to large-format printing, everything from business cards and brochures to billboards and car wraps.
From its Burnside Industrial Park location, Atlantic Digital focuses much of its print work in the sign-printing arena, with the ability to produce up to 10-foot by 20-foot billboards. The company also offers copying, scanning, laminating, decaling, dry mounting, folding and binding.
Pictured (left to right): Keith Rafuse, Unisource Canada, Richard Juneau, Agfa Inc. and Doug Lewis from Atlantic Digital Reproductions.
Unisource Canada released its annual NUARS Call for Entries designed by Soapbox Toronto and printed at Somerset Graphics, setting a deadline of June 1, 2008. All winning pieces (both annual reports and corporate brochures) of the 2008 competition will be put on display in Unisource's traveling exhibit, which will reach 10 Canadian cities this fall and early 2009. The winning pieces will also be featured in Unisource’s NUARS Winners Catalogue that is distributed to over 3,000 design firms, and agencies across Canada.
New to this year’s competition is the category called Sustainability/ Corporate Social Responsibility Report. In last year’s competition, the Best of Show Award went to Pen Canada, for its Bad Words annual report. This year’s judges are: Davis Craib of Parable Communications in Ottawa, Michael Dangelmaier of Calgary’s Karo Group, Mario Mercier of orangetango in Montreal, Nigel Smith of Toronto’s Hahn Smith Design and David of Saint Bernadine Mission Communications in Vancouver.
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A laser lightshow in a recently completed production hall, along with dancers, a juggler and someone on stilts, preceded the unveiling of KBA’s new Rapida 106 sheetfed press. The press, built from the Rapida 105 architecture that was introduced at drupa 2004, runs at 18,000 sheets per hour (sph) and has a sheet size of 740 x 1,060 mm (29 ½ x 41 ¾ inches). KBA also introduced the new Rapida 75 to replace its Rapida 74 and Performa 74 models. The 75 has a slightly larger sheet size of 520 x 750 mm (20½ x 29½ inches), running at 15,000 sheets per hour, configurable with two to eight colours – plus coater and perfector.
KBA has also upgraded its “universal” 105 press and reverted back to its original Rapida 105 name with a re-engineered machine that runs at 15,000 sph (16,500 sph with the high-speed package), available with up to seven printing units, plus coating, UV or as a hybrid. In September 2007, KBA introduced its DriveTronic SPC dedicated plate-cylinder drive system for the Rapida 105, which also becomes available for the 106.
“Some 40 presses, with together around 300 units, have so far been ordered with DriveTronic SPC dedicated plate cylinder drives, and many are already in production,” Ralf Sammeck said at the April 8th press conference. DriveTronic supports simultaneous plate changing in less than 60 seconds, regardless of the number of printing units. After spending five years as CEO of KBA North America, Sammeck returned to Germany and on August 1, 2007, became responsible for the sales of KBA’s main sheetfed offset division in Radebeul. The company expected to host 1,500 printing professionals over the next three days to show some of its new technology that will be exhibited on its 3,400 m² (36,600 ft²) drupa stand.
“When it comes to large formats, a good 80 years of experience qualify KBA as the undisputed market leader and number one in packaging printing,” said Sammeck. “The recently celebrated entry of Heidelberg into large-format sheetfed offset, a segment which had for decades been put down as a minor market niche, also underlines that this market has long since emerged from its supposed marginal existence.”
At the press conference, Sammeck announced KBA would begin to offer a new “special format” for its Rapida 162 large-format press. Specifically, the print length of the perfector version of the Rapida 162a has now been extended to 1,170 mm (46 inches), which means that the full sheet format can now be used in perfecting mode. The Rapida 142 long perfector, meanwhile, has completely new sheet guiding, including a new multi-Venturi system.
KBA also announced it has partnered with MIS-provider Hiflex to launch a new consulting service to printers and media enterprises. Called KBA Complete, the service offers strategies and know-how for printers to build JDF workflows. At the press conference, the company showed examples of working with Kodak Prinergy workflow. Other partners of the initiative include Muller Martini, MBO, Perfecta, Kodak, ClimatePartner, IPM Muller und Resing.
Montreal-based Objectif Lune, a provider of printing workflow software will be providing Pitney Bowes, one of the world's top mailstream solutions company with a print-to-mail solution for the office environment. It will include document composition, variable data printing, and postal savings, with a Print-to-Mail workflow that includes email, fax, and other electronic delivery options.
“All companies print transaction documents that end up in the mailstream, invoices and statements being good examples. Many companies do not consider mail discounts and postal automation due to perceived complexity or cost,” said Didier Gombert, president and CEO of Objectif Lune. “This strategic relationship and the combined technology brings within reach of most companies; significant cost savings and workflow automation with a compelling ROI. Deliverable in locations supported by Pitney Bowes, print to mail is now a reality for all.”
The partnership combines Objectif Lune's PlanetPress Suite with Pitney Bowes' PB First file management software, effectively merging document creation and mailing requirements. Transpromo documents are created in PlanetPress, then sent to PB First imports address data, applies postal barcodes and even combines separate documents for the same recipient into a single envelope to save on mailing.
“Today’s mailers are looking for document management solutions that can help provide enhanced data printing opportunities and greater postal savings,” said Jeff Marshall, vice president of Customer Marketing, US Mailing for Pitney Bowes. “Our collaboration with Objectif Lune will offer customers an integrated product suite for the cut sheet office environment that can help maximize envelope contents and marketing efforts while reducing overall postage spent.”
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. announced this week that it will be acquiring the office imaging division of Danka Business Systems. This move will cost Konica Minolta an estimated US$240 million.
"Konica Minolta's acquisition of DOIC will further enhance our leadership in the colour and high volume production print markets while complementing our overall growth strategy with our independent dealers and branch network." said Jun Haraguchi, President and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. "We're excited about the prospects that this strategic acquisition will create, and believe the combined strength of the new organization will be beneficial to our customers, the DOIC customer base and the DOIC employee family."
The two companies began a partnership in 2007 to market Konica Minolta's bizhub line through Danka's distriubtion channel. Danka also offers Kodak, Canon, and HP products.
Also this week, Konica Minolta finalized a strategic alliance with The Netherlands-based Océ in which the two companies will share research and development as well as sales strategies. This involves Konica Minolta supplying equipment on an OEM basis to Océe's business line of products and light production products, while Océ will supply Konica Minolta with mid-and heavy-production printing systems.
Fujifilm will debut its new Ecomaxx-V chemistry-free violet CTP plate at NEXPO 2008, a plate which has a run length of up to 200,000 impressions and compatible with violet platesetters already on the market.
"This new plate is a broad market product and is suitable for newspaper publishers of all sizes, from those running two-page CTP units to those running more than 300 plates per hour on a large Krause device," explains Jim Crawford, Fujifilm's group manager for consumables. "There are fewer processing steps with this plate, saving time that's critical to every publisher."
Chemistry-free and processless plates have gained popularity in the last three years, with newer iterations overcoming limitations in run lengths. Despite higher unit prices processless/chemistry-free plates command, its popularity can be attributed partially to the global green trend, as well as the simplification of the plate creation process, The Ecomaxx-V plate will join Fujifilm's family of Brillia High Definition plates in the first quarter of 2009.
HP is now accepting submissions for its first Indigo printing competition, held worldwide.
The contest is open to all HP Indigo commercial press users and will include best-of-category prizes for marketing collateral, photo specialty, direct marketing and publishing applications, as well as an “other” category for special, innovative and inspirational entries. First-, second-, and third-prize winners in each category will be announced at HP’s Gala Dinner for commercial customers at drupa on June 3, and many contest entries will be on display in HP’s booth at drupa.
“We are excited about this global contest because it presents an opportunity to highlight how customers everywhere are successfully leveraging the look and feel of offset available with HP Indigo,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo division, HP. “HP Indigo is a leading print technology in India, China, Brazil and the many other nations that are rapidly adopting digital, and visitors to our drupa stand will be able to see why when they view the entries.”
Contest entries will be judged by a panel of respected experts. The final deadline for submission of entries is April 25. Interested companies can submit through HP's online customer portal.
In what seems to be a recent trend in the industry, PIA/GATF president Michael Makin has made an humourous video giving an overview of the PIA/GATF on YouTube. The video by Makin, who was previously president of the Canadian Printing Industries Association, has recieved 2,000 views since it was uploaded in late March.
On April 4, 2008, PrintAction held its first ever supporter-appreciation event at the Grand Prix Kartways in Toronto. More than 30 industry members signed up in an afternoon of racing run. The racers spent the afternoon hurtling along at speeds of over 30 kilometres per hour in a short indoor track.
The top three finishers were Steve Manning of APP, Debbie Redgers of Cascades and Wilfred Tang of Mondrian Hall.
Some photos from the event:
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NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 1, 2008
The Magog plant opening, 1971 (Photo courtesy of Quebecor World)
QUEBECOR WORLD SIGNS DEALS, CLOSES PLANT
Quebecor World has announced it will be extending its contract with The McGraw-Hill Companies to print educational textbooks and related products. The contract is until 2014 and worth an estimated $285 million.
“We are pleased to renew and expand our partnership with The McGraw-Hill Companies,” said Jacques Mallette, president and CEO Quebecor World Inc. “We are committed to serving their needs for many years to come by providing an on-time, quality product and expanded value-added solutions to help them grow their business.”
This week also saw the beleaguered company close one of its plants in Quebec, permanently laying off 300 workers. The Magog, Quebec plant had previously been running at about 20 percent capacity due to what the company calls “reduced demand at this time of year.” 200 of its workers who had been temporarily laid off got a permanent dismissal. Quebecor Printing spent $2 million to build the ultramodern Montréal-Magog printing plant in 1971, a sum roughly equal to $11 million today, adjusted for inflation.
Quebecor World says it will be working with the union and the government to assist retraining workers.
The Canadian Club of Toronto has named St. Joesph Communications’ Tony Gagliano and David Pecaut as the 2008 Canadians of the Year. Since 1992, the club has honoured Canadians of “distinguished character who have been outstanding in promoting Canada, particularly in their field of endeavour.
Pecaut and Gagliano were named for their contribution in Luminato, an annual cultural festival held in Toronto since 2003. In its inaugural year, more then 1,500 artists presented their work and more than one million people attended the festival. The festival is held each June and multidisciplinary celebration of theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music, film, visual arts, design and more.
The awards will be handed out on Monday at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Previous recipients include CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski (1996), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour (2005) and RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (2006).
Gandinnovations of Mississauga has announced the formation of a new European branch to sell its wide-format inkjet printers. Called Gandinnovations Iberia, the branch is based on the acquisition of grand-format printer assets of New Solution, formerly Gandinnovations’ distributor in the region.
Eloi Ferreira, managing director of New Solution, will become president of the new company. His experience with textiles will help the company launch its new Jeti Aquajet machine, a wide-format dye sublimation printer.
"It's a natural evolution for our businesses to merge," said Eloi Ferreira, president of Gandinnovations Iberia. "We have always shared the same business ethics and philosophy, focusing on client satisfaction achieved through superior products, hands-on customer service, training and development. This combination gives us a great opportunity to deliver the most innovative products in the industry to with the full power of Gandinnovations behind us."
Gandinnovations also recently appointed Terry Vandewarker as chief operating officer of the company. Vandewarker has 20 years of operational experience and has worked with companies such as Encad (where he was president and CEO) and Eastman Kodak.
Dick Williams, founder of the Hudson, New Hampshire-based Presstek, has passed away this week at the age of 73. Williams served as CEO and was Chairman between 1998 and 2004. He has been with the company since 1987.
“Dick’s contributions to Presstek and the industry are invaluable, he was the technical visionary of Presstek and the father of DI printing,” said Presstek board member Dr. Lawrence Howard. “But Dick was also a friend, we worked closely in the early years of Presstek and together on the board. The entire Presstek family will always hold him and his accomplishments in highest regard, we all will miss him.”
In September 2003 Williams was honoured with the Rochester Institute of Technology Cary Award. The Cary Award is presented to notable individuals who have distinguished themselves in the development or application of digital technology in graphic communications.
Toronto-based Warren’s Waterless Printing has purchased a new Canon imagePRESS C7000VP, the first high-end production class device from the manufacturer.
The machine, launched in June 2007 after several delays, attempts to capture the quality of offset print though a sophisticated twin fusing system aimed at adapting itself to different media.
Warren’s is noted in the industry for its commitment to waterless printing, using Mitsubishi offset presses. The company also prints much of its work in high-end stochastic screens. Additionally, the company has been the recipient of multiple Environmental Printing Awards.
William (Bill) Croakwell of Scarborough-based Printer’s Parts has passed away at 62 years of age after 28 years in sales for the company. After developing cancer late in his teenaged years, William began as an apprentice under his father Herbert, who owned a Agincourt Litho. He later started William Coakwell Printing in Newmarket before joining the Printer’s Parts family where he found enjoyment in the sales side of print machinery, which allowed him to deal more with people.
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PA50 PEOPLE'S CHOICE
AL TEATHER PASSES AWAY
COAST PAPER ENTERS FLEXOGRAPHY
CPISC ANNOUNCES PRESS OPERATOR COMPETITION
WIKIPEDIA GETS PRINT EDITION
BOBST BUYS FISCHER & KRECKE
OBJECTIF LUNE PARTNERS WITH PITNEY BOWES
HP LAUNCHES INDIGO PRINT COMPETITION
MICHAEL MAKIN ON YOUTUBE
“FATHER OF DI” PASSES