Earlier this year, Fujifilm brought together 30-plus printing companies, as well as a handful of media brands including PrintAction, for the official launch of the J Press 750S production inkjet press into the North American market.

Established in 1922, Ingersoll Paper Box Co. Ltd. is a family-owned folding-carton manufacturer based in Ingersoll, Ont., with 85,000 square feet of manufacturing space including 38,000 square feet of warehousing space. The newest addition to its postpress department is a new high-speed Koenig & Bauer-Iberica Optima 106K die-cutter, which went operational in January. The purchase follows IPB’s 2014 installation of a Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 41-inch, seven-colour sheetfed press built for full UV production, described as the first of its kind in North America. PrintAction chats with Sarah Skinner, President of Ingersoll Paper Box who is the company’s fourth-generation leader.

As the executive director of the Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council for the past 28 years, John Mullinder has heard his share of (mis)information about forestry and paper practices in Canada – namely, that the clear cutting used in the industry is the cause of widespread deforestation.

PDI Group has been a fixture of Quebec’s complex printing industry since Phipps Dickson and Integria merged in 2007. After introducing the PDI branding in 2008, the company has grown to encompass pre-media, offset and digital print production, web-to-print, as well as fulfilment, warehousing and direct mail services. Last fall its subsidiary, PDI Large Format Solutions, became the first business in the country to install both the flatbed/roll-fed EFI VUTEk h3 superwide-format LED printer and the new EFI VUTEk 3r+ roll-to-roll LED printer. It also installed an EFI VUTEk FabriVU 340i soft signage printer. PrintAction spoke to Jamie Barbieri, President of PDI Group, to discuss the Quebec landscape.

Since installing Canada’s first Xerox Iridesse production press in June 2018, PrintPro Digital & Offset Printing has been finding success with its new printing capabilities. Developed to digitally print metallic gold or silver dry ink, CMYK and clear dry ink in a single pass, the new press is expected to help the Winnipeg family-owned and -run company enter new markets, such as packaging. PrintAction spoke with Bhadresh Bhatt about PrintPro’s achievements after installing the Iridesse and the opportunities to come.

From its establishment in 1989, flexible packaging manufacturer Alpha Poly has focused its business on its commitment to customer service and quality, plus the use of up-to-date HD technology. A push for strategic investing led Alpha Poly to install a large 8-colour Miraflex AM from Windmöller & Hölscher in 2013.Then in December 2018, Alpha Poly ushered in a new wave of strategic investment with the installation of a Windmöller & Hölscher Miraflex II 10-colour press. PrintAction spoke with Patrick Kerrigan, President of Alpha Poly and successor to the business’ founder, his father Paul, to discuss this newest installation, his thoughts on the industry and the company’s strategic investment plan.

An integral component of the Canadian Printing Awards is the dedication, expertise and keen eye of the esteemed judging panel. PrintAction spoke with Emily Wong, Associate Analyst, Consumer & Digital Marketing at Penguin Random House Canada and judge for the past six years, for her thoughts on the relevancy of print in an increasingly digital world.

Now in its 15th year of operation, Mi5 Print & Digital has grown into one of Canada’s largest privately owned commercial printing operations and has been recognized as one of Canada’s fastest growing companies nine years in a row on the Profit 500.

In October 2018, Canadian Printing Industries Association (CPIA) launched a newly restructured printing industry association in Canada. Proposed by its Board of Directors and ratified by its membership this past March, the CPIA intends to operate under a new membership structure to help unify the industry.

In August 2018, Mississauga, Ont., full-service label manufacturer and print agency PRX Print announced it had installed the Mark Andy Digital One, an investment it says will result in 50-percent growth. PRX Print Owner and Co-founder Debbie Gilbert researched a variety of digital label printing technologies and product offerings, and her search led her to the recently launched Mark Andy Digital One hybrid label press.

In July 2018, Jason Lisi was appointed the new Chair of Ryerson University’s School of Graphic Communications Management (GCM), a leading graphic communications school with 640 full-time students and 30 full- and part-time faculty and staff.

A Neopost Digital company, Quadient will co-locate with Neopost in booth 11759 to highlight its Customer Communications Management solutions.

INX International Ink Co. plans to feature a complete line of ink and coating products. On the digital side, INX (booth 10555) will highlight high-performance Triangle brand alternative inks, plus dye-sublimation and Prodigy brand inks for industrial print applications.

Toronto, Ont.-based Crawford Technologies plans to showcase its range of software solutions at booth 9962.

Solimar Systems, a provider of customer communications delivery solutions, has announced the release of Solimar Print Director Enterprise (SPDE) version 9.0, boasting new PDF optimization and secure printing capabilities.

Printware unveiled its new iJetColorFlow workflow this week at Print 19 in Chicago, describing it as a next-generation of workflow that enhances the iJetColor digital envelope press family.

Rochester Software Associates (RSA), a provider of production print workflow software solutions for in-plant, corporate print centres, commercial printers, and PSPs, is demonstrating a new release of QDirect output management software in booth 527 at Print 19 at McCormick Place South in Chicago, Ill.

In a move to help streamline inspection processes, EyeC and Hybrid Software have launched the EyeC Driver, a new application that integrates EyeC’s PDF proofing technology — the EyeC Proofiler Graphic — into Hybrid Software’s CloudFlow.

HP Indigo and Agfa today announced at Labelexpo 2019 a unique variable design security solution for brand protection and security printing. The new solution, HP Indigo Secure Studio Powered by Agfa, is designed to create unique graphic designs with endless variations, the parties say, while also blending with the original design without compromising the look and feel of the original document or product.

Sun Chemical today announced it has signed an exclusive agreement with German printing inks manufacturer Epple Druckfarben to combine their resources to make Epple’s series of sheetfed offset inks for direct food contact, BoFood Organic, available to a global audience.

Pantone has introduced the Pantone Fashion, Home + Interiors Polyester Swatch Book, a collection of 203 colour options in one convenient binder.

Kornit Digital has announced Kornit Konnect, a new Cloud-based, mobile workflow software platform designed to help businesses maximize the productivity of their digital printing solutions, by better delivering data-driven insights and performance metrics.

EyeC has introduced the EyeC Audit Trail Viewer, a new software designed to simplify the preparation and review of audit trailing data that complements inspection solutions, such as the EyeC Proofiler for print sample testing or the EyeC Proofiler Graphic for prepress proofing.

Toronto, Ont.-based Delphax Solutions, a manufacturer of production inkjet equipment, plans to highlight its Elan HD product portfolio with a new high-speed monochrome print platform at booth 8458.

Ricoh invites visitors to booth 7001 to learn how it digs deeper into customers’ premier partner, with onsite experts, technology displays and demonstrations.

Karibu, swissQprint’s first roll-to-roll printer, will make its North American debut at booth 8845.

The Roland DGA booth will showcase 10 new products that have never been seen before at an SGIA event. Among the new introductions will be a high-volume printer addition to the Roland line-up, which will be unveiled for the first time at this show. In addition, Roland DGA will be hosting an awards ceremony by Keypoint Intelligence the first morning of the show, conducting live in-booth vehicle wrap demonstrations daily, and offering attendees the opportunity to create customized souvenirs.

Canon Canada has announced the new imagePROGRAF large-format five-colour 24-inch TA-20 and 36-inch TA-30 printers, developed specifically for small businesses and first-time large-format print users.

Following the global introduction of the Durst P5 350 at FESPA in May 2019, the flatbed/hybrid printer is set to make its North American debut at Printing United 2019.

Bobst recently announced the world premiere of its latest innovation, a hybrid label press, described as a combination of digital and DigiFlexo printing in a single press.

Epson America in August announced the next-generation SureColor F6370 44-inch dye-sublimation printer. Featuring speeds up to 680 square feet/hour, the new dye-sublimation printer is designed to produce high-quality images for promotional products, soft signage and cut-and-sew fabrics.

Mark Andy’s Evolution Series makes its global debut this week at Labelexpo 2019. Described as a scalable, full servo flexo press, the series is available in 13 and 17 inch web widths with production speeds up to 750 fpm.

Roland DG Corporation today announced the launch of the VersaUV LEC2-300 30-inch UV printer/cutter for on-demand production of custom labels and packaging prototypes as well as bespoke POS and signage.

Roland DGA’s new TrueVIS Value-Up Program offers owners of Roland TrueVIS VG series wide-format printer/cutters the opportunity to upgrade the print durability guarantees, capabilities and cutting power of their existing inkjets.

​UPM Raflatac says it is the first label material producer to bring a new wood-based polypropylene film material into the market.

Visitors to Muller Martini’s booth 10543 can see live demonstrations of finishing technologies designed to reduce workflow bottlenecks.

MPI Print Inc. of Toronto, Ont., describes itself as the largest trade printer in Canada. Since 1999, it has grown into two plants and almost 100,000 square feet.

Heidelberg North America will showcase its solutions for the commercial, packaging, and label markets at booth 10143. Aimed at empowering commercial and folding carton customers to expand into new areas of business, Heidelberg will premiere its new Digimatrix 60 FC die-cutter and hot-foiler as well as the Diana Go 85 folder gluer – both aimed at short-run and digital packaging solutions – at the show.

MGI and Konica Minolta have announced that the inaugural Printing United Exposition in Dallas, Texas, will be the exclusive venue for the international debut of the new JETvarnish 3D One digital embellishment press (Booth #9536). The MGI JETvarnish 3D One is described as a major new advancement in bringing digital special effects to the mainstream of the commercial printing, finishing and packaging industries.

Sakurai, a provider of sheetfed screen printing technology, will introduce the LQM 105 in-line hot foil stamper to the North American market in booth 1420 at Printing United 19 in Dallas.

The latest Kongsberg digital cutting and creasing innovation from Esko is designed to help corrugated converters cut, crease and perforate jobs without the need to change tools, boosting finishing productivity by up to 50 percent.

At FESPA 2019, Intec introduced the new ColorCut FB8000PRO auto sheet-feeding flatbed cutter.

With the goal of providing sign and display producers with more flexibility, efficiency and accuracy in operations, Esko will present two new hardware solutions at FESPA 2019: the new motorized roll feeder for soft signage applications and the Kongsberg C Edge, the upgradable digital cutting table released earlier this year. The latest version of its integrated software range Esko Software Platform 18.1 will also be on show.

Xante says it is making the preparation and printing of mail jobs “more powerful, simpler and much more economical” with iQueue 13, its flagship Adobe PostScript PDF workflow software.

Scodix has announced the commercial launch of the Scodix Ultra 101 and the Scodix Ultra 202 digital enhancement presses.

Rollem describes the Champion SS as the industry’s “top choice” to kiss-cut labels and pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) materials. Able of slitting liner stocks with “100-percent accuracy” at speeds up to 26,000 sph, the system boasts a simple setup that doesn’t require skilled labour.

At Hunkeler Innovationdays 2019, Hunkeler Systems AG will present three new developments: the cutting modules SSM-570, the HDDS 20 as well as the compact suction system HKU 2000-N.

In June, Mountain Dew released the Dewnited States Collection, a limited-edition bottle series representing all 50 American states, inspired by home-state pride. The effort follows the trend of beverage companies looking to build brand loyalty through personalized, region-specific connections, rather than widespread national and international campaigns. Each collectible bottle features artwork unique to the state it represents. “The animated, playful designs include one for California that includes images of surfboards and redwood trees. New York’s shows the Brooklyn Bridge and the Illinois bottle includes an illustration of Chicago’s public art sculpture known as the Bean,” AdAge reports in its article, Mtn Dew made 50 bottle designs, one for each state. The ambitious campaign was supported by more than 450 unique creative assets, including 50 separate 15-second videos, in-store displays, social media ads, augmented/virtual reality experiences and more, customized for each state, as well as a national television ad from parent company PepsiCo. Mountain Dew also offered consumers a US$100 prepaid gift card to those who collected all 50 limited-edition bottles.Agencies on the campaign include BBDO New York, which handled the TV and digital creative; and Motive, which oversaw label design and static creative, AdAge reports.However as the beverage brand rolled out the campaign, consumers soon spotted a geography error in the creative assets — Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was incorrectly coloured in the same green and white pattern as the state of Wisconsin in a map of the United States. Unfortunately, the illustration had already begun appearing in the national commercial spot and in the introduction of each state-specific ad. About a month into the campaign, the error was called out publicly by the Upper Peninsula’s official Twitter handle, urging Mountain Dew to “fix this.” The Upper Peninsula tweeted, “@MountainDew do you want to gain a bunch of fans? I triple dog dare you to come out with an Upper Peninsula edition for your #DEWnited [campaign].”“We saw that and immediately thought, ‘We have to fix this.’ We dishonoured the people of this place,” Nicole Portwood, VP Marketing for Mountain Dew, said in an interview with Adweek. Mountain Dew responded swiftly and tweeted back, asking Yoopers (residents of the Upper Peninsula) to send in design ideas for a limited-edition bottle: “Hey, Upper Peninsula: we hear you, and we’re sorry for misplacing you on our #DEWnited map. Give us a chance to right our wrong. Help us fill this special-edition label by telling us all of the things you love about the Upper Peninsula (note to self: located in MICHIGAN).”The brand was flooded with thousands of comments and suggestions about how the label should look, Portwood told Adweek, and soon there were several drafts for a bottle design.“As luck would have it, the man who ran the Upper Peninsula handle, Bugsy Sailor, also has a background in graphic design and helped them arrive at a final iteration. Mountain Dew then worked with its bottlers in the region to print the labels and ultimately produce 906 bottles. Portwood estimates the whole process, from concept to finished product, took about a month,” writes Erik Oster in the Adweek article, How Mountain Dew turned a geography error into a source of love for the brand. Because the labels weren’t commercialized, Mountain Dew was able to expedite the creation and production of the specially-created bottles, and used them as giveaway prizes at the Upper Peninsula State Fair within weeks of the Twitter exchange.“Behind brands are groups of people. We are fallible, we bring heart and energy to our work and if you have the right type of [moral] compass, I believe that shows to our fans,” continued Portwood, in her interview with Adweek. “It’s hard to put in an ROI model, but if you couple that kind of true north-guided behaviour with other table-stakes marketing fundamentals, I believe it has an amplification effect that shows its value well-beyond sales goals and things like that.”In addition to delivering top-notch products and services, a business must create strong brand identity and positive customers experiences that resonate with audiences. In this case, Mountain Dew addressed the error promptly – turning “oops into opportunity,” as creative agency Motive puts it – and ultimately created an opportunity to build deeper bonds with existing consumers and expand its consumer base within the Upper Peninsula community. This column was originally published in the October 2019 issue of PrintAction, now available online.

Ten brands are joining forces with environmental not-for-profit Canopy in its new initiative that aims to minimize the impacts of the global packaging supply chain on forests, species and climate.

In June of this year, Health Canada released amendments to the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations. These changes take effect on October 17, 2019, and cannabis products in the Canadian market will have one year after this date to comply. Below are key updates that those involved in cannabis packaging in Canada should consider when preparing for compliance.

The world is surrounded by colour: From the animals and plants in nature, to the products we interact with everyday. Colour is a major qualifying component for various industries all over the world, and as a result, these colours are a very important part of our society. That is why it is so vital we understand how they are perceived, since colour perception is not an exact science, but an experience that happens on an individual level. An item’s perceived colour can drastically change depending on the individual’s vision and the surrounding light. This process of measuring colour by eye will often lead to costly errors and disputes. So how do we minimize this room for error? We have to look to colour measurement tools that remove the subjective nature of reading colour by eye.

Hearst Magazines, one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, recently announced a new product designed to help its advertisers reach potential customers through targeted print advertising. Created by Hearst Data Studio, MagMatch will use first-party data to track readers’ online behaviour to understand what products they are interested in. It will then work with the brands of those products to deliver customized ads to the same readers through the print magazine.

Ask any small business owner and they will tell you it’s much more costly to acquire a new customer than to retain and grow a current customer. However, many companies still place a huge emphasis on obtaining new customers through sales, marketing and advertising, yet pay little attention to their actual customer retention strategies. Businesses promote the sale, make the sale and then leave their customer behind, blowing in the wind.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) committed in its latest annual progress report to continue advancing sustainability through forest-focused collaborations by maximizing its efforts in standards, conservation, education, and community.

Domtar has released its 2019 Sustainability Report, detailing the progress the company has made on emissions and waste reduction, and other environmental initiatives.

Packaging solutions have delivered greater value over the past five years, indicates a new research study by research and consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Labels. We see them every day on routine items we depend on to get through life.

Canon Canada has been awarded LEED Gold for New Construction and Major Renovations 2009 certification for its corporate headquarters in Brampton, Ont.

Standing outside my local coffee shop, I’m staring at a row of trash bins, each emblazoned with signs. One reads garbage, another, recycle, while a third says paper. Just as millions of people, I struggle to figure out which bin or bins my lunch packaging should go into. Even more annoying, some of my trash is made up of a combination of materials.

Augmented reality’s ability to create impactful experiences has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with the world around us. Author and keynote speaker Bernard Marr describes AR as a technology where digital information – such as audio, graphics and animation – is superimposed onto the real-world environment.

Inside the offices of Schnellpressenfabrik AG, Heidelberg frustration not seen since the firm’s founding in 1850, filled the hallways of power. A new crop of young executives grew impatient with their boss, Herbert Sternberg. The year was 1961. Heidelberg Druckmaschinen, as the company would soon be renamed, had never entered the offset field. Sternberg was stubborn and believed the future would always be letterpress. After all, Heidelberg was sitting on top in this key sector.

Today’s packaging does more than protect a product, it is a vessel designed to convey a brand’s unique story. Every customer who purchases a product sees its packaging, thus creating an opportunity for businesses to establish a perfectly controlled interaction. The right strategy will generate engagement by crafting an informational, yet emotional, story.

Epochal comedian George Carlin once discussed how the English language had expanded to create pointless new vocabulary. Carlin recounted how during the First World War, many servicemen suffered from shell-shock. During the second Great War, this morphed into battle fatigue. Finally after the first Gulf war, a newly penned description was wrestled out of dictionaries and we now refer to it as PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. The argument was why bother? Shell-shock provided a clear straight-forward description of mental suffering afflicting many who fought wars or experienced horrific events — and it’s a whole lot shorter. Who needs yet another acronym? Sometimes you need to step back and keep it simple.

Decades ago our company represented Brandtjen & Kluge stampers and embossing presses in Canada. The Kluge platen press, based on patents dating back to 1860, has managed to outlast everyone, including original inventors George Gordon and Chandler & Price. During the 1960s as letterpress quickly disappeared from printing plants, Kluge, who made its name in 1919 with an automatic platen feeder device, refused to go quietly and embarked on a road of re-engineering the iconic Gordon platen and re-emerged in the specialty segment long utilized but starving for a better and easier way of production — hot foil stamping and embossing.

In the sleepy Ohio town of Niles, brothers Alfred and Charles Harris owned a small jewellery store. The year was 1890 and after several blunders, including an ill-fated attempt inventing an automatic nail-feeder, both swore off any more financial fiascos. The 1972 book The Harris Story tells us what happened next. It seems Charles couldn’t help himself when he got to talking to the next-door neighbour — the owner of the Niles Independent newspaper. Mr. Smith boasted he had just purchased a new state-of-the-art cylinder printing press that was still fed by a boy.

Sharing stories is one of the most – if not the most – innate forms of communication; the retelling of experiences and narratives as a means of inspiring thought-provoking perspectives, teaching life lessons and connecting people.

2018 wrapped up great for industrial markets — process, discrete and hybrids. While growth will be strong in pockets, my personal advice for companies would be to prepare for an overall soft 2019. This is primarily driven by factors such as geopolitical uncertainty, market volatility, widening skill gaps, and dynamic shifts in demand models.

“Humans build culture – and, by extension, brands – primarily through telling stories. That’s how we make sense of the world and of ourselves: Storytelling. It’s innate. And since the dawn of capitalism, we’ve been telling stories to sell ourselves and our brands too,” said Peter Grossman of Quora in an August 2018 interview with Forbes.

Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 bestseller Outliers garnered worldwide attention, posing the argument that successful people needed more than brains, ambition, hustle and hard work to reach the top. Gladwell reasoned they also needed luck. Using various examples such as Bill Gates’ access to a university computer or the Beatles 10,000+ hours of practice, Gladwell postulated that luck combined with serendipity played a key role in one’s success.