Heron Printing, a printing company based in Edmonton, Alta., recently announced the acquisition of its first HP Indigo 7900. The fully configured seven-colour HP Indigo 7900 is equipped with a range of capabilities, such as raised/textured print, One Shot printing on synthetics, and specialty inks white, silver, clear, fluorescents, invisible and Pantone spot colours.

Renée Yardley serves as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Sustana Group, a producer of sustainable, recycled fibres and paper products, and parent company of Rolland and Sustana Fiber. She has more than two decades of experience in global organizations, including Tembec, CCM and General Motors, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and MBA from McGill University, and a MA in General Management from Harvard University. In this Q&A, Yardley shares her perspectives on supply-chain-wide sustainability.

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.

swissQprint’s current range of UV inkjet inks are now Greenguard and Greenguard Gold certified, widening the scope for users, with printed products that are safe for use in critical environments such as schools and hospitals. The company explains this is a potential competitive advantage for digital print providers in addition to added versatility of the Swiss precision printers.

APP Canada will expand its Paperline portfolio of products with Paperline Gold, a premium grade paper with 98 percent brightness, in early 2020.

To help printers who are considering changing their plates to process free, Kodak has developed the Sonora Plate Savings Estimator, a new online tool that allows printers to calculate their estimated savings if they were to switch from a traditionally processed plate to Kodak Sonora Process Free Plates.

The Corrugating Machinery Division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America (MHIA) has launched its new Remote Assistance Augmented Reality Program as the latest enhancement to its customer service support.

Kernow North America describes its latest product, the KernowJet MetaliK Window Perf, as a unique decoration film designed to enhance the visibility of communications on glass.

At Printing United in Dallas, Color-Logic will introduce Touch7 Photo ECG, an Extended Color Gamut (ECG) tool designed to simplify the use of extended colour gamut in wide-format and digital presses.

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.

Mimaki USA, a manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutters, in October announced the next-generation TX300P-1800 MkII printer designed to double the opportunities for business growth with dual-media and dual-ink support.

Bobst in October 2019 announced the launch of the Bobst Vision CI flexo press designed to deliver efficient performance for all production lengths on a wide range of substrates. Described as being fast to setup and change over, the press is available as an initially 8-colour press and aims to provide consistent and repeatable printing quality with solvent-based and water-based ink printing.

Roland DGA, a provider of large-format inkjet printers, printer/cutters, and other advanced digital devices, has announced the launch of its new IU-1000F, a UV-LED flatbed printer engineered for high-volume production.

Printing United 2019 marked the North American debut of the Xeikon CX500 and its Wall Deco Discovery solution.

Last week at Printing United in Dallas, Texas, Epson introduced five new products – three new SureColor F-Series dye-sublimation printers (including a model with fluorescent ink and Epson’s first 24-inch desktop model) and two new SureColor S-Series solvent printers with a bulk ink system.

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.

Esko, a global supplier of integrated hardware and software solutions for display, signage and packaging customers, has extended its Kongsberg digital cutting table range with the Kongsberg X Edge, a fully upgradeable table design offering a combination of productivity, flexibility and reliability.

Whether the goal is to find new customers, drive more sales or announce an event, a well-timed piece of direct mail (DM), sent to the right audience at the right time, is one of the best ways to get results. But how do you create a piece that maximizes those results? Start with these three rules.

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.

Change is on the horizon — an adage that holds truer today than most sayings. Last month PrintAction attended the inaugural Printing United tradeshow in Dallas, Texas, and within a few hours of walking the show floor, there are an undeniable observation: OEMs and printers alike are embracing convergence, the concept of researching and strategically entering market segments outside of their traditional core offerings.

According to one Gallup poll, 50 percent of employees leave their job because of their bosses. However other studies have shown that employees can leave for a number of other reasons, such as opportunity, better pay, or more responsibility.

It’s undeniable that the print industry is in a state of constant transformation, so how can today’s printing companies best navigate these turbulent times? We ask print executives from across Canada about their business practices and how they stay successful.  

The paper industry is dead. Or at least that’s what consumers are led to believe. As the world digitized, the news was filled with projected declines in paper consumption and subsequent revenue. Not only that, as more North Americans believe climate change is real, the pulp and paper industry has become a target of energy consumption, sustainability and deforestation concerns.

You know the saying: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know that matters. When it comes to life in business, who you know plays a vital role in the resources, growth and connections you can generate. And how do you get to know people? Through a skill called networking.

Canadian printing companies are being recognized for their focus on sustainability. Canopy’s fifth annual Blueline Ranking reveals that four of the top five ranked printers actively supporting the development of next generation solutions, such as agricultural residue and wheat straw papers in North America, are Canadian printers: The Printing House (TPH), Hemlock Printers, Mitchell Press and TC Transcontinental Printing.

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.

I was the only guy not in a suit. It’s 1986, and after picking up a bunch of executives at the airport, here we were all clustered around a press console of an almost-new Miller TP 104 five-colour press. The Miller, a 41-inch double perfector, had barely reached its first birthday. Pandick Inc. was the buyer and one of a close group of financial printers headquartered in New York City. Bowne & Co., Charles P. Young, Sorg Inc., Merrill Corp, and R.R. Donnelley were the other members of a prestigious and lucrative club — the voice of Wall Street. In Bowne’s case, a rich history going back to 1775.

Five years have passed since the dramatic announcement between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Ryobi Limited to form a unique partnership and combine their offset press resources under a new name: RMGT. Let’s look back at how this came about, and what the future holds for the steadily shrinking offset segment.

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.