PaperlinX, the parent company of Canadian distributor Coast Paper, has moved to acquire the assets of Graphic Resources for approximately $85 million. Graphic Resources, the distribution arm of Cascades’ Fine Paper Group Inc, which is a division of parent company Cascades Inc. The parent company also runs Norampac, Boxboard, Tissue and Specialized Product (packaging) divisions.
“We just sold the distribution sector today, but the whole [Fine Paper Group] division is not core to us, so we are looking at ways of getting more profitable,” says Stéphane Mailhot, Director of Corporate Communications, Cascades Inc. “It became such a small group for us. We have two mills now. One of them does coated products in Thunder Bay and one of them, in St. Gerome, does uncoated paper.”
Cascades Resources generated around 10 percent of the parent company’s revenue. This entity distributes graphic arts supplies, consumables and engines (including inkjet and Kodak, formerly Creo CTP, products).
“PaperlinX is the biggest paper distributor in the world, but they were not that big in Canada,” says Mailhot. “They had bought Coast Paper, they bought Kelly Paper and another small distributor in Montreal, but with Cascades Resources they have 15 distribution units [across Canada].”
PaperlinX is in fact larger than both Unisource and xpdex in terms of tonnage per year. Xpedx was at one point reported to have been in negotiations to purchase Cascades Resources.
Both Cascades and Coast have distribution centres in some of the same cities and it is expected then that some rationalization would take place after the deal is finalized. PaperlinX expects to close the deal by the end of the year subject to regulatory approval and other normal closing conditions. Cascades Resources employs approximately 490 people across Canada. Cascades employs nearly 15,600 men and women in 140 flexible production units located in North America, in Europe and in Asia. Coast Paper is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, and is run by President Fred Kramer.
At a Montreal meeting of about 50 representatives from the financial community, Transcontinental senior management, headed by Luc Desjardins, president and CEO, officially launched the company's new business project, Evolution 2010, and announced its financial objectives for the next five years. At the same time, an internal launch for all of Transcontinental's approximately 14,000 employees in Canada, the United States and Mexico took place, and will culminate in a North American tour by Mr. Desjardins in the coming months.
"Overall, we are putting more emphasis on our role as a marketing advisor to our customers, by developing an even greater knowledge of their markets and integrating ourselves into their value chain," said Desjardins. "We will also be improving our content, product and service offering, and technology platform so that we can serve our advertisers, readers and website visitors even better. Furthermore, we will be stressing organic growth, based on innovative and creative initiatives by our people, and continuing to target strategic acquisitions. Plus, we will be
investing even more heavily in long-term development."
The plan, a follow-up to Horizon 2005, will include the following efforts:
reducing costs, recruiting and developing talent, training leaders, performing well financially, reorganizing and developing sales, growing through acquisitions, revising manufacturing strategy, the consolidation and reorganization of book printing operations in Canada and direct marketing operations in the United States, investing in US facilities to serve the direct marketing market, the addition of value-added services to Transcontinental's offer, and building partnerships with customers.
"2006 will be a transition year during which we will be investing significantly in long-term development," said vice president and CFO Daniel Denault. "Starting in 2007, these investments, and the synergies arising from current consolidations and reorganizations, will contribute to our growth and enable us to achieve our target growth objective of an average of 10% a year for the period from 2006-2010."
Press maker Koenig & Bauer AG has posted the first profits of €10.1 million this quarter.
Third-quarter figures for German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG showed a 25.9% increase in group order intake to €1,309.9m (2004: €1,040.1m). Group sales totalled €1,107.3m, 17.2% above the prior-year figure of €944.5m, and the order backlog was 15% higher, at €1,095.6m. As a result KBA has moved back into the black for the first time this year, with a pre-tax profit (EBT) of €10.1m. Its operating profit of €17.3m is a big improvement on the figure of €1.2m for the first six months. Net profit was €5.2m, equivalent to net earnings per share of 32 cents. KBA says its management reaffirmed the projected sales target of €1.5bn for 2005 and a higher pre-tax profit than last year’s €15.9m.
KBA claims that the higher prices for raw materials and energy were balanced by a larger volume of shipments, healthier profit margins on goods shipped, and the cost savings achieved by restructuring web press production plants and negotiating more flexible working hours.
Inventories swelled in preparation for a substantial increase in turnover in the fourth quarter. Cash flows from operating activities also swelled, to €76.5m (2004: -€10.3m). This was mainly due to higher earnings, a smaller volume of accounts receivable and higher advance payments. The free cash flow improved to €58.2m (2004: -€45.9m). Funds rose by €12.1m to €58.2m.
KBA also says that international demand for printing presses have stabilized at a high level, and the weakening of the euro has substantially enhanced the competitiveness of German exporters in dollar-denominated markets. Nonetheless, the pricing pressures that have emerged over the past five years remain an ongoing issue. Some of the few globally active manufacturers expanded capacity during the upturn and have since increased this further through efficiency gains or new investment. These have now been joined in the marketplace by new competitors from emerging economies like China and India, who are using price to boost sales of technologically less sophisticated products.
KBA claims it has responded with cost-cutting measures, the acquisition of profitable niche specialists, expansion into less volatile markets like packaging and security printing, and an extensive upgrade of its product range.
Google has changed the name of its book indexing program to Google Book Search. Jen Grant, Product Marketing Manager for Google said the change is to correct misconceptions about the program.
"One factor was all the comments we got about how excited people were that Goolge Print would help them print out their documents, or web pages they visit--which of course it won't"
Grant was quick to acknowledge that the name change probably will not change publishers' attitude towards the program. Google Book Search recently resumed scanning of copyrighted works, despite two lawsuits filed by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.
After serveral weeks of discussion with the principals from Grafikom, Quebecor World has announced the management buyout for six of its Canadian commercial sheetfed facilities. Quebecor initially put these plants up for sale in August after their second quarter report. The purchase price for the transaction is $53 million, subject to certain adjustments.
Grafikom is led by a senior management team with extensive experience in the printing industry. Mr. Aivars Beikmanis, former President of the Quebecor World Specialty Group in Canada, will serve as Grafikom’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“This acquisition represents an exciting opportunity to continue offering responsive and innovative print management solutions to our clients through on-going investment in infrastructure and technology,” said Mr. Beikmanis. “We are committed to ensuring a seamless transition for our clients and employees alike.”
Grafikom and Quebecor World have agreed to extend their current working relationship whereby Quebecor World will continue to provide full web and in-line capability to Grafikom clients. For its part, Grafikom will continue to offer sheetfed and specialty printing to Quebecor World clients.
With annual revenue over $100 million, Grafikom will rank as one of the largest commercial, digital and specialty printing networks in Canada. The operations include: MIL, Graphica, Printpak, Calgary, Jasper and Carlsbad.
Quebecor World is the largest printer in Canada with a coast-to-coast network of more than 20 printing and related facilities. Quebecor World’s Canadian operations have annual sales of more than $US 900 million and specialize in the printing of magazines, catalogs, retail inserts, books, directories and direct mail. Quebecor World’s global revenues in 2004 were $US 6.6 billion.
Mike Mugavero, KBA VP Sales; Dave Bird, VP Sales & Marketing-Annan & Bird; John Bird, Executive VP of Annan & Bird; and Rob McGillis, KBA Sales Manager Canada.
Sheetfed offset press manufacturer KBA North America has announced that Annan & Bird Lithographers, a Canadian large format printer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, has agreed to purchase a fully-automated KBA Rapida 205 81-inch six-color sheetfed press with aqueous coater and UV interdeck dryers, the world¹s largest sheetfed press.
This will be the first site in Canada with the KBA Rapida 205. The press is due to be installed later this year. The announcement was made at Graphics Canada.
"Annan & Bird Lithographers has made a name for itself as the pre-eminent large format printer in Canada with a host of high-level accounts in North America," says Michael Mugavero, KBA¹s vice president sales. "The company continues to seek to stay ahead of its competitors and differentiate itself. The purchase of our new KBA Rapida 205 81-inch sheetfed press will certainly maintain this goal. Plus, the new Rapida 205 with all of its automation will provide the company with higher levels of efficiency and quality."
Adds John Bird, vice president of Annan & Bird Lithographers, "Throughout our history, Annan & Bird has been recognized as an industry leader in print quality and dependability. In keeping with this reputation, the new KBA 205 will once again allow us to raise our level of print quality and service well beyond industry standards."
The KBA Rapida 205 81-inch six-color press has a maximum sheet size of 59.5 x 81-inches running at a speed of 9,000 sph and can run paper and board stock ranging from 50 lb to 64 pt. Plus, this is the first press of this size to offer a wide range of automated technology, such as a fully-automatic plate changer, automatic blanket and impression cylinder washing systems, inline anilox coating system and drying options such as IR, UV, or hybrid. KBA has added its own Qualitronic inline sheet inspection system, KBA¹s Densitronic quality control system, and inline perforating and slitting to the press. An automatic camera register control system provides an extremely efficient system for fast color registration on a press of this size. The press is also equipped with an automatic CCD register camera.
Koch Forest Products has announced its intentions to buy Georgia-Pacific Corp for an estimated total enterprise value of $21 billion ($48 per share).
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Georgia-Pacific and Koch and has an equity value of $13.2 billion. The price to Georgia-Pacific shareholders represents a premium of 39 percent based on the closing price of Georgia-Pacific common stock on November 11.
Koch Forest Products says it expects to launch a cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of Georgia-Pacific common stock no later than Nov. 18, followed by a second step cash-out merger at the offer price. The closing of the tender offer is expected to be completed promptly, subject to customary closing conditions, including antitrust clearances in various countries.
The transaction is not conditioned on financing. Debt financing has been secured by Koch through Citigroup.
Koch has confirmed that Georgia-Pacific will be operated as a privately held, wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries. Georgia-Pacific will continue to do business worldwide under the Georgia-Pacific name and continue to operate its businesses from its Atlanta headquarters as an independently managed company.
Included in the transaction are all assets of Georgia-Pacific, including its North America and international consumer products segments, as well as its building products, packaging, and paper and bleached board segments.
Koch acquired Georgia-Pacific's non-integrated market and fluff pulp operations at New Augusta, Miss., and Brunswick, Ga., in May 2004. Since the purchase, Koch has invested in these businesses, which have been operating as Koch Cellulose. Upon completion of this transaction, these operations will be reintegrated with Georgia-Pacific businesses.
Commercial printer PLM Group, Markham, ON, reports Q3 sales dropped $2.1 million to $27.1 million, compared to the prior year, as a result of pricing pressures and difficult market conditions. Gross margin was $7.7 million (28.6%), compared to $8.4 million (28.6%) a year ago. Sales for the first nine months of 2005 were $84.5 million compared to $84.2 million in the prior year, gross profit and margin were unchanged at $25.0 million (29.6% margin).
"PLM's results to date this year are disappointing, particularly considering our track record of profitability coming into the period, but understandable given the state of the printing industry," says Barry Pike, PLM's chairman and CEO.
Pike says he expects printing markets to remain intensely competitive for the remainder of 2005, making it difficult, short term, to achieve normal levels of growth and profitability. "While we are being very aggressive in pursuing new value-added assignments, and we're carefully controlling our expenses, market conditions will continue to negatively affect profitability in the fourth quarter."
Responding to the challenge of how to integrate workflow from internet submission right to print, Avanti Computer Systems today announced it has developed a JDF-based interface into Creo PREPS software, Kodak's digital imposition tool, for NEBS Canada.
"We get hundredss of orders per month across the internet and were looking to reduce, and hopefully eliminate, the need to re-enter the information provided to us across the internet and simply make its way through the print shop without any human intervention" says Karianne Robillard of NEBS Canada.
NEBS is a provider of stationery, business forms, digital colour and promotional items to large number of small businesses in Canada. Their shop floor includes a full complement of Direct-to-Plate equipment and the workflow to support it.
Toronto-based Avanti says NEBS approached it looking for a more streamlined way of efficiently producing particular types of variable print jobs of customer-provided information that came to them across the internet. Avanti provides a mechanism to extend that automated workflow to the internet and right through to the printing presses and digital printers, all of which accept information from the PREPS(TM) product.
"The advantages of a JDF-compliant workflow are clear: any time you can automate steps in the process, you'll have faster turnaround of jobs and eliminate the chance of transcription errors, both of which increase profitability and increase customer satisfaction" said Patrick Bolan, Avanti's president and chief executive officer.
GMG Americas, a Germany-based company specializing in high-end color management and proofing solutions, has announced that Unisource Canada, Inc will distribute its products exclusively in Canada. The two companies launched their new partnership during Graphics Canada.
GMG Americas and Unisource have successfully worked together installing GMG ColorProof proofing solutions at a number of commercial printers, packaging companies, and publishing offices in Canada. This new agreement extends the relationship further. GMG products will be distributed throughout Unisource’s entire network of 19 facilities in Canada.
“Unisource has great breadth of presence spanning the entire Canadian paper and graphic arts markets,” explains Jim Summers, GMG Americas president. “Although this in itself is impressive, their extensive sales and technical expertise made our decision easy. They have great customer relationships and know how to successfully install, integrate, and support our systems at printers and publishers.”
On November 10, 2005 Heidelberg Canada will officially open the Print Media Academy (PMA) located at their Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. This educational offering is planned to be unveiled during Graphics Canada 2005 this week.
“The Print Media Academy is an unprecedented array of cutting edge graphic arts equipment, interactive tools and print management software, brought together under one umbrella to deliver unparalleled education to all of Heidelberg Canada’s customers,” describes Harold Hoff, Heidelberg Canada’s Director of Customer Support in a statement. “The Print Media Academy will allow students to be educated in all aspects of the printing business, from hands-on press training to classes on how to cost estimate print production in a competitive market.”
“Print Media Academy classes are conducted by PMA Certified Instructors and the courses are designed for maximum learning,” said Craig Parker of Heidelberg Canada, Business Services. Examples of the PMA course offerings include: Heidelberg’s Prinect suite of products (Prinect PrintReady, Prinect Signa Station, Prinect MetaDimension, Prinect Prinance, etc.), Colour Management and Printmaster/Speedmaster Press Schools. Heidelberg says these courses are aimed at improving efficiencies in an ever increasing competitive market.
The Heidelberg Canada PMA will also form part of the global Print Media Academy network, which serves as the backbone for internal training and employee development to both Heidelberg’s Canadian and worldwide employees. Being a member of the PMA network will enable Heidelberg Canada global sharing of best practices.
Microsoft and the British Library today announced a strategic partnership to digitize 25 million pages of content from the BL's collections in 2006, with a long term commitment to digitize still more in the future.
Microsoft and the British Library will work together to digitize around 100,000 out-of-copyright books and deliver search results for this content through the new MSN Book Search service which will help people find precisely what they're looking for on the web. MSN Search will launch an initial public beta offering next year.
Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, said, "This partnership helps us fulfill our vision of promoting ready access to our collection for everyone who wants to use it. This is great news for research and scholarship and will give unparalleled access to our vast collections to people all over the world: they will be available to anyone, anywhere and at anytime."
"Our partnership with the British Library is not only about digitization and preservation, but also about delivering a great experience for people accessing this amazing collection through British Library and MSN Web sites,” said Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in a statement.
Microsoft is already working with the British Library to help build the digital infrastructure for the National Digital Library providing software tools, advice and technical support to the Library’s experts. The National Digital Library is a cornerstone of the British Library strategy launched in June this year (www.bl.uk/about/strategy.html). The Digital Object Management (DOM) system, will enable the long-term storage, preservation and access to digital items such as e-journals, e-books and CD-ROMs acquired by the Library through legal deposit. The system will use open standards, allowing the Library to adapt to future shifts in storage, preservation and access technologies.
Adobe has announced that its InDesign software is being embraced worldwide by systems integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs) and their customers for newspaper publishing.
Adobe claims large newspapers adopting systems based on its software include DTI customers La Nacion in Argentina, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and Star Tribune in Minneapolis/St. Paul, as well as the Guardian in the United Kingdom. Dose, a niche daily in Toronto, and a Harris & Baseview customer, is also planning to convert its workflow to Adobe InCopy CS2 and InDesign CS2 software.
"There has been a significant shift in the market toward Adobe based solutions," said Briggs Kilborne, president at Harris & Baseview. "Customers want the flexibility of Adobe InDesign, Adobe InCopy, and the Adobe Creative Suite integrated into best of breed workflow systems like IQue and Jazbox."
"In the past, newspapers had to choose between productivity in managing their information with more than one person working on a page or story at the same time, or go for a design-lead approach with a system built around a single-user desktop publishing application," said Alyson Williams, marketing director at DTI. "With publishing systems based on Adobe InCopy and InDesign, DTI has been able to give customers database assets and a stunning array of creative and copy-editing tools in a single, integrated system that saves hours each day in overall production workflow."
RR Donnelley & Sons Company, provider of financial printing and compliance solutions, has launched EZBlue a soft-proofing system to help speed up the proofing process.
The final decision to commit a document "to print" requires a confidence level more difficult to satisfy using conventional proofing formats. Prior to the introduction of EZBlue, R. R. Donnelley said its clients evaluated "blueline" proofs, or physical mock-ups of the final printed product. With EZBlue, the company says the final prepress check occurs on a computer screen and mirrors the document's exact content, color, trim size, imposition and page alignment. EZBlue proofs can be distributed to locations worldwide electronically.
"EZBlue is created from the same digital file that we use to go to press, guaranteeing that what you see in the digital document is what you'll see in the printed book," said Tom Juhase, president of RR Donnelley Global Capital Markets. "Our clients' need for speed is crucial and EZBlue takes a fraction of the traditional process’ time."
EZBlue features a page-turning feature that provides a realistic way to review individual pages as well as multilevel zoom, flexible navigation, and multiple print options. For extra user convenience, EZBlue is a self-contained player requiring no additional programs, plug-ins or upgrades. It can be used to distribute document proofs to any size workgroup for access from any location worldwide.
RR Donnelley has four Canadian offices: in Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.
Holmes Printing of Medicine Hat, Alberta, has just installed a Kodak (Creo) Trendsetter 3230 Quantum CTP device through Cascades Resources, complete with Prinergy Evo Workflow. They have also upgraded their proofing system with the Integris Proof Controller.
Picture Left to right Ron Holmes, Joan Lawrence, Dana Brown (Creo), Elinor Landsiedel, Randy Drefs.
Cenveo Inc., has announced its financials for the third quarter: a loss of US$64 million. As a result, it is considering the sale of its Canadian operations.
"We have ... decided to evaluate the sale of our Canadian operations," said Robert G. Burton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cenveo in a press release.
For the third quarter, the company incurred a net loss of US$64.1 million, or $1.28 per share compared to net income of US$2.5 million, or $0.05 per share, in the third quarter of 2004.
"Looking back at Cenveo's results for the first nine months of the year, it is clear that the financial results of the Company are completely unacceptable," said Burton. "Turning our performance around, and doing so quickly and effectively, is my number one mandate."
"Our longstanding success in Canada combined with current market conditions, presents a unique opportunity that may help us to realize the substantial value of our Canadian assets. Although, there can be no assurance that we will be able to complete such a sale on acceptable terms, we believe that a successful transaction would enable us to de-leverage the balance sheet and provide an opportunity to redeploy capital that will generate additional growth opportunities domestically."
Fuji Photo Film has announced plans to build a second plate production line at the company's Tilburg, the Netherlands, plate manufacturing facility. The plate line, which signals an investment of nearly $48 million, is the largest investment for offset plates in Europe since the original construction of the factory in 1991.
With an expansion of the existing plate line earlier this year, the Tilburg plate manufacturing plant started production of Fujifilm's Brillia LP-NV violet photopolymer CTP plate in order to supply both thermal and photopolymer CTP plates to the European market. In order to match the rapidly increasing demand for both plate technologies, Fujifilm has decided to construct a new second plate line. Tilburg's second plate line is being built alongside the existing line, and will be dedicated to the production of offset CTP plates.
Fuji says the new facility mirrors the growth in use of CTP plates within the European market and is in response to the outstanding success that Fujifilm has had with its Brillia CTP plate range since its launch in 1998.
Construction of the new plate line in Tilburg has already begun and should be fully operational in October 2006.
Tensor Group, Inc. has installed its first heatset press in Canada at Prolific Web, located in Winnipeg, Canada.
Prolific Web recently purchased an additional four Tensor T-1400 units to add onto their existing pressline, converting their 2-highs into 4-high towers. The units are equipped with Tensor remote motorization and a full helical gear train allowing the units to run at 40,000 impressions per hour.
Prolific Web started in 1975 and now has 43,000 square feet of plant and office space in Winnipeg, Red Deer, and Calgary.
Jack Haren, Walter Duignan, Kevin Richard, and Laura Shore
Mohawk Fine Papers has announced several new appointments and promotions within the company.
Jack F. Haren, Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer has also been appointed to Mohawk’s board of directors. Haren joined the company in 1999 as Vice President, Finance. Haren is a certified public accountant and had 24 years of experience with Union Camp Corporation prior to joining Mohawk.
Walter A. Duignan has been appointed to Mohawk’s board of directors. Currently Executive Vice President & Vice Chairman, Duignan first joined Mohawk in 1995 and has over 40 years of experience in the paper industry.
Kevin P. Richard has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer. Richard also joined Mohawk in 1995 as Manager, Engineering and Maintenance. Richard had 13 years of experience with International Paper Company prior to joining Mohawk.
Laura J. Shore has been promoted to Senior Vice President Communications. Shore joined Mohawk's marketing communications department in 1984. Within five years, Shore was named manager of that department. Since then, Shore has spearheaded the development and management of every facet of Mohawk's brand including the evolution of Mohawk's identity system and all external design and communications.
Ricoh Corporation has introduced the Ricoh 480W, a wide format multifunction machine.
The 480W comes with a document server that electronically stores originals for on-demand reprinting. The embedded scan option provides direct scan capabilities to email or folder from the copier as well as utility software to expand remote system management.
The 480W also has the following features:
- New document server for storing images for instant on demand re-printing - Multiple security levels including encryption and erasable data HDD - A maximum of four rolls of paper or two paper rolls and two trays for up to 18"x 24" - Easy paper handling and paper roll replacement - Optional embedded scanner for scanning directly to global email addresses or folders on the network as well as TWAIN Scanning, Ricoh's Web Image Monitor, Desktop Binder Lite and Smart Device Monitor utilities
Time Inc. has signed contacts for its publications with Quebecor World and Quad/Graphics worth more than US$1.6 billion.
Quebecor World Inc. will print 15 titles, including Time, Sports Illustrated, People, Entertainment Weekly, Time For Kids as well as bi-monthly title Fortune and other monthly titles including Money, Southern Living, Cooking Light, Coastal Living, Southern Accents and Progressive Farmer.
Quebecor says the work will be produced in several Quebecor World print facilities including Merced, California; Lebanon, Ohio; Dallas, Texas and Clarksville, Tennessee. The agreement expands on a more than 30-year relationship between the Time Inc. and Quebecor World. This deal is worth more than US$500 million
Time Inc. has also announced a US$1.1 billion contract renewal with Wisconsin-based Quad/Graphics. Quad/Graphics will print 22 magazines. The two firms have a relationship of more than 20 years. This contract renewal continues this relationship until 2013. Quad/Graphics' will print Time, Sports Illustrated, SI for Kids, People, Teen People, Entertainment Weekly, Fortune Small Business, Business 2.0, Cottage Living, Parenting, Baby Talk, Health, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Travel + Leisure Family, Sunset, Field & Stream, Golf, Popular Science, Outdoor Life, Ski and Skiing.
Time Inc. cited Quad/Graphics' advanced manufacturing platform and capabilities, as well as its commitment to technological innovation, as primary reasons for awarding the new and renewed work to Quad/Graphics.
Le Journal de Montréal, the largest circulation newspaper in Quebec, has signed to install three COLORMAN web offset presses from MAN Roland in a new $110 million production facility that is scheduled to begin operation in the spring of 2007.
Le Journal says increasing the color capacity of the largest-circulation French-language daily in the Americas is the prime purpose of the purchase. Currently the Journal can print 48 pages out of 128 in color on its four nine-unit Goss presses. The three COLORMAN systems will bring all 128 pages up to full color. The company says that more color and higher print quality will give Le Journal de Montréal a competitive edge over competing media, according to the newspaper. "Color is the key to attracting and keeping readers," Denis Tetrault, Vice President of Production at the Journal says. "And advertisers demand it. Right now, we have to refuse some color ads because 48 pages of color are not enough. The COLORMAN presses are going to make color viable for all of our advertisers."
The new facility will be built in Saint-Janvier-de-Mirabel and is scheduled to be fully operational by April 2007.
Le Journal de Montréal is part of Sun Media Corporation, which is owned by Quebecor Media, a division of Quebecor Inc. Quebecor Media in partnership with Quebecor World, another Quebecor Inc. company, are building a new facility in the Toronto area to print the Toronto Sun, the London Free Press and 24 Hours. This new facility will also be equipped with MAN Roland COLORMAN presses. Sun Media Corporation is Canada's largest national chain of tabloids and community newspapers.
KBA North America has announced that KBR Graphics Ltd., a print supplier covering the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, has signed an agreement to become KBA's new eastern Canadian dealership. The agreement calls for KBR to distribute KBA Performa, 74 Karat, and Genius 52 UV presses.
"For over 25 years, we've grown to become one of the leading suppliers of printing equipment in Canada because we've brought our customers the best possible solutions for their printing needs, offering quality equipment with the best results at a reasonable investment," says Karl Belafi Jr., vice president of KBR Graphics Ltd. "Signing to become KBA's dealer in the eastern Canadian market continues our promise to our customers. It is a big step for us and we're proud to be associated with such a fine manufacturer."
Founded by Karl Belafi Sr. in 1977, KBR Graphics Ltd. is a family-run full-service provider of printing equipment for Eastern Canada. Headquartered in Montreal, the 15-employee firm serves small- to large-size printing companies as well as in-plant printing departments for large multinational corporations, provincial, and federal governments.
Google Print, a project in which printed works are scanned into Google's database for searching, will resume processing books on November 1, despite complaints from the publishing community.
"We believe that our product is legal, that the courts will vindicate this position, and that the industry will come to embrace Google Print's considerable benefits," said David Drummond, General Counsel and VP of Corporate Development.
The scanning of books under copyright was paused in August as controversy rose about Google's legal position in the matters. Google called a truce on the matter, saying it will halt the scanning of books until November so that publisher can get to know the Google Print service. Google has likened its service to the rise of the VCR in the 1980s in that it gives consumers a new convienence and also provides corporations with a new distribution channel.
The Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild of America have both launched lawsuits against Google, which calls its process of copying books for indexing unlawful. Although Google has a mechanism for publishers to exclude their products, it is an opt-out system, whereas publishers demand an opt-in system instead.
Skyway Digital in St. Catharines has just installed a new Hydraulic/Programmable Duplo Cutter from ABDick/Presstek Company. Skyway Digital have been serving St. Catharines and Niagara region since 1981. In the photo from left: Joe Lynch, Mike Lynch Sr. and George Henry from Presstek.
Responding to the challenge of how to integrate workflow from internet submission right to print, Avanti Computer Systems today announced it has developed a JDF-based interface into Creo PREPS software, Kodak's digital imposition tool, for NEBS Canada.
Adobe has announced that its InDesign software is being embraced worldwide by systems integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs) and their customers for newspaper publishing. 
