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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Over the past few years, document and office-supply companies like Staples, FedEx Kinko’s and The UPS Store have followed each other further into printing and changed the competitive landscape for small-sized printers in Canada. Now, Grand & Toy will begin running design and print centres to “assist small businesses with their graphic design and printing needs, enabling them to create powerful business identities at competitive rates.”
Darren Plumbe, a long-time printing industry executive who bounced around through the M&A moves of Coast Paper, Cascades Resources and PaperlinX, takes on the title of general manager, Imaging, Grand & Toy. About the new initiative, he said, "Business owners have enough to worry about without having to scramble to a dozen different suppliers for their various needs. These new services will allow us to turn Grand & Toy's stores into one-stop business centres for all daily operational requirements."
Like the moves by UPS and FedEx, the printing centre announcement also comes with a courier partnership, namely DHL, whose can now drop off packages at any Grand & Toy store. DHL's overnight, ground and international delivery services are available, and Grand & Toy account holders are given preferred rates. Founded in 1882, Grand & Toy offers more than 10,000 products and has over 40 retail locations across Canada.
Fujifilm announced plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Tilburg, The Netherlands, based on an investment of $154.5 million to construct a new CTP plate line. Just a few years ago, Fujifilm made a $150 million investment for a new plate line at its Greenwood, South Carolina, facility. Construction on the new line, which will focus on Brillia HD process-less thermal plates and the new Brillia HD chemistry-free violet plate, is set to begin in 2008 – operation in 2010. This new line is expected to be approximately 204,000 square feet in size.
Tilburg is one of Fujifilm's five plate-making facilities worldwide – encompassing eight plate lines – and produces plates for markets in the UK, Europe and South Africa. In the past 10 years, Fujifilm will have spent close to $500 million in new capacity for plate production in Japan, China, Greenwood and now Tillburg. Fujifilm Canada claims its plate volume has grown 44 percent in Canada over the past four years, while headquarters moves toward its publicly stated goal to control 40 percent of the world’s plate marketshare.
Meanwhile in Canada, Mark Noden (left) has been named senior director of technical services, Graphic Systems, for Mississauga-based Fujifilm Canada. Noden has more than 20 years of graphic communication industry experience in various roles like field engineer, technical training, colour and workflow management and service management. He has spent time working with inkjet-focused companies Epson Canada and Mondrian-Hall. Most recently with Mondrian-Hall, Noden served as the national service manager of 35 technical staff.
Fujifilm Canada also appointed Wayne Laflamme as account manager for Eastern region, following the recent retirement announcement of Dave Smith, who will be retiring once the hand-off of the territory to Wayne is complete. Over his own 20 year career, Laflamme has worked for companies like HP and Presstek.
K-North Inc, the dealer for Komori presses in Ontario and Western Canada, has sold three of Komori’s new LSX press, which was released in July 2007. The Lithrone S series LSX29 is the largest half-size press that Komori offers, accepting 24 x 29-1/2 inch sheet, and includes a suction tape feeder, skeleton transfers, hi-speed start function and fully automatic console driven makeready.
The first LSX29 was sold to RP Graphics of Mississauga in a 6-colour configuration. Premier Impressions based in Grimsby, Ontario, recently purchased a 5-colour LSX model to replace two other half-size presses. Premier Impressions has locations in Manitoba and Ontario. Ellis Paper Box, which focuses on producing folding cartons, purchased a new 7-colour LSX press. Ellis Paper Box has locations in Pickering, Mississauga, Guelph and Brantford.
Punch Graphix, parent company of Xeikon and basysPrint, introduced the Xeikon 8000 electrophotographic printer at its recent press event in Lier, Belgium. The new web-fed press can print 230 A4 pages per minute to a volume of 8.5 million per month, according to the company. The company also announced that its new 1,200 dpi heads may now be retrofitted into existing 6000 presses.
Punch Graphix’ CEO Wim Deblauwe comments: “The launch of this first-rate engine represents a major step forward for Xeikon. With the Xeikon 8000, Punch Graphix has the leading edge in digital printing and demonstrates that we have continued to evolve in order to address user needs and anticipate future market demands.”
“With the Xeikon 8000 we target the well-established commercial print market as well as the direct marketing and fast-growing transactional printing markets. The commercial power of transactional documents is vastly increasing since personalized full-colour documents lead to faster and greater response,” adds Frank Deschuytere, chief technology officer of Punch Graphix.
Punch Graphix also revealed its newest offering from its basysPrint division: the UV-Setter 400 and 800 series CTP systems. Like all its predecessor models, the new UV-Setters operate with conventional UV-sensitive plates, both negative and positive. Manual versions are available, as well as optional semi-automatic systems with automatic plate transport to the processor. The multi-cassette version holds up to 500 plates in five different formats.
"Changes in the paper industry are dynamic and customers put their trust in us to establish an inventory program that is both environmentally progressive and economical," said Mike Collinge, president and CEO at Webcom in announcing the company's new environmental paper procurement policy.
Those responsible for paper procurement at Webcom have been tasked to seek out suppliers who meet environmental requirements for both cover and text stock. At the same time, the entire sales team received training to better inform the customer on eco-friendly choices.
The company says that within four months of its upgrade program, interest in environmental alternatives has more than doubled. The company worked with Vancouver-based Markets Initiative in developing its paper purchasing strategy. It also consulted with U.S.-based Green Press Initiative in developing the supply chain.
Webcom says that during the last six months of 2007, 17 percent of the paper selected by customers to print books, catalogs and directories came from Webcom's Legacy line. It aims to increase that amount to 45 percent within the next five years. Currently half of its inventory of paper carries its Legacy name, denoting high environmental integrity.
The Scarborough-based company was founded in 1975 and has more than 300 employees. The company began its environmental initiatives in 2001.
Pantone, after being acquired by X-Rite, has released a first wave of new products onto the design/photography marketplace. Named the ColorMunki, the devices are designed to be entry-level colour management devices and are available in three flavours.
The US$499 devices have three features: the ability to calibrate the user’s monitor to reflect standards, to capture the colour of any object spectrally, and to calibrate the user’s printer for accurate output. A software feature of the package allows users to look for colour combinations which fit with a certain checked colour. This, according to Pantone, allows users who aren’t trained in colour theory to create good-looking designs. Colour palette information generated from ColorMunki can then be exported to popular design software, including InDesign, Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator.
For printers, the ColorMunki can be seen as an effort to educate designers on capabilities of conventional presses as the software will automatically remove colours that are not reproducible using process colours and suggest close approximates.
The U.S. Postal Service has announced its pilot "Mail Back" program, to help consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers may use free envelopes found in 1,500 post offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players without having to pay for postage. There is no limit to the number of envelopes customers may take.
Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, an American company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover bested 19 other companies for the USPS contract.
The pilot is set for 10 areas across the U.S., including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego, but could become a national program this fall if the pilot program proves successful.
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The Globe and Mail and La Presse have garnered praise by being accepted into the International Newspaper Color Quality Club. They are part of 50 winning entries from a pool of 198 newspapers from around the world. The Globe had also been a finalist in the 2006-2008 contest.
Both printed by Transcontinental, the papers are among the 50 best-printed newspapers in the world. An international jury of experts met in February in Phoenix, Arizona, to select not only the best results worldwide, but also the most successful regional results from North America and Asia. The competition is organized by IFRA, the worldwide research and service organization for the news publishing industry and is awarded every two years.
“Our newspaper-printing outsourcing model, which combines state-of-the-art technologies and a participatory work organization, allows publishers to entrust the physical production of their products to the experts and focus their resources on their main activity, which is to produce high-quality content, make the most of this content, and continue to develop their brands,” said François Olivier, president and chief executive officer of Transcontinental. “This latest international honour shows that our outsourcing model delivers what publishers want and that it’s a win-win situation for everyone. I would like to thank our teams of dedicated employees who are the primary reason for our success.”
In other Transcontinental news, the company announced a 17 percent increase in earnings in its first financial quarter over the previous year, with a four percent boost in revenues.
“We are reaping the benefits of our major restructuring projects and investments of recent years,” said Olivier. “Especially promising is the fact that we have almost reached our goal of five percent organic growth in revenues, and we have continued to invest in developing our printing, publishing and digital media activities.”
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) has released a position paper regarding the exclusive recognition of FSC-certified materials in the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Paper Scorecard. WWF released the scorecard in late 2007, designed to facilitate transparency on environmental performance in the paper industry.
WWF’s position paper on forest certification states that, “there is today a proliferation of certification schemes around the world. However, these vary widely in their standards, consistency, transparency, means of verification and in the degree to which governance is open to different stakeholders.”
The paper goes on to claim that after reviewing various certification schemes through its Forest Certification Assessment Guide (FCAG),
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification best meets its key requirements. Thus, while WWF acknowledges that several schemes may contribute to improve forest management, the organization will continue to focus its active efforts on improving the FSC system, on adapting FSC certification to different scales and national contexts, and on promoting the FSC logo as an internationally recognized hallmark of responsible forest management.
PEFC’s public position paper claims, “WWF is one of the original supporters of FSC and this tactic of WWF to recognize other systems but not to give them points calls the entire scorecard into question.” The organization calls on WWF to bring other certification schemes into discussion on how to improve the guide, and to use “thresholds which credible certifications can meet rather than going for the ‘best or bust’ approach.” It claims that 10 percent of the world’s forest is certified, and only one third of that is to FSC.
In a 2005 update of its certification evaluations in Europe (of FSC and PEFC only), WWF concluded, “PEFC demonstrated inconsistency, was more difficult to measure due to lack of transparency, and, in most cases, was inferior to FSC. WWF can therefore only recommend FSC to consumers, forest owners, governments, companies, financial institutions and other concerned stakeholders as delivering on credible forest certification.”
“FSC is the system that best meets WWF´s criteria for credible certification,” said Duncan Pollard, head of the WWF European Forest Programme, at the time.
“Despite positive improvements within several certification schemes in the last few years, the results of the tests show that the different PEFC schemes are highly inconsistent in quality and comprehensiveness and that PEFC as a system cannot guarantee well-managed forests. This makes it impossible for WWF to recommend PEFC,” added Per Rosenberg, director of the WWF Global Forest and Trade Network.
WWF also acknowledged that both schemes still needed work.
The federal government has invested more than $1.4 million toward Edmonton-based NorQuest College's Centre for Excellence in Print Media Communications to support innovation and development in Western Canada's print industry. The announcement was made March 7 by the Honourable Rona Ambrose, president of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Western Economic Diversification.
"Today's investment supports increased value-added production and encourages the adoption and continued integration of new technologies by Western Canada's print industry," said Minister Ambrose. "Projects like this create a more diversified western economy that has strong, competitive and innovative businesses and communities."
The Centre will provide a venue for testing and implementing new print technologies, according to the government’s announcement. It will enable small businesses to expand their knowledge and expertise, and to create industry opportunities. The Centre will provide information seminars on new technologies, workshops on business process improvements, lab time for one-on-one or small group consultations to test technologies, identification of other relevant training, assistance in developing a plan for the integration of new technology, and support throughout the integration period. Three target markets have been identified: print business owners, print industry employees and new entrants to the print industry.
"The Centre for Excellence in Print Media Communications will enable industry employers to access technological training and education necessary to improve their business," explains NorQuest College president and CEO, Dr. Wayne Shillington. "The other benefit is that our students are workforce ready, equipped with leading-edge skills relevant to the needs of industry employers."
NorQuest College's other four Centres are Intercultural Communications, Continuing Care Education, Assistive Technologies and Learner Supports, and Aboriginal Education.
As a preview of their offerings in the upcoming drupa show and a roadmap to its products for the next two years, HP announced several new technologies and products for the graphic arts at its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel this week.
In what the company calls its most extensive graphic arts push to date, the offerings spans from high-speed production inkjet to workflow. "Today's announcements further cement HP's leadership in the graphic arts market, accelerate the analogue-to-digital conversion and propel digital technology as a mainstream product offering," said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Graphics and Imaging Business, HP. "These new technologies and products will change the digital printing industry in terms of value, volume and environmental footprint."
On the inkjet front, the company will be introducing a 30-inch product for printing of transpromo materials and even newspapers It will also introduce a new latex printing technology for more environmentally friendly printing with permanence of up to three years unlaminated. The 30-inch inkjet web press, available in the second half of 2009, will print at 400 feet-per-minute.
HP will also expand its Indigo line with three new presses and offer “enhancements” to its Indigo 5500, which include a UV coater and the ability to print on thicker stock. The new Indigo models, the HP Indigo 7000, HP Indigo W7200 and HP Indigo WS6000 digital presses, are essentially upgrades to its current lineup and offer more speed.
Finally, HP announced that its SmartStream prepress workflow will be expanding to include more market segments, including commercial printing, direct marketing, publications printing, photo merchandise and labels and packaging. Its SmartStrem Production server technology, which comes in two varieties, will be powered by Creo.
The Ghent PDF workgroup has released a set of best practices and specifications which aims to improve printing in the typical office environment.
“The V1 Specifications for Office Document Printing are an important step toward making the workflow between creation of Office documents and their output in production printing easier and more predictable," says Dave Prouty of HP, co-chair of the Office Document Printing Subcommittee.
The group has released a simple to use, end-user oriented, Office Document Printing/PDF Creation Guideline document, as well as the recommended settings files for Microsoft Office and PDF creation tools. They are available at www.gwg.org.
The group had to deal with issues such as colour handling, font usage, different PDF creation methods and tools, and the use of live transparency in Microsoft Office applications.
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