The group recently consolidated its Leeds and Bradford direct mail facilities at Bradford. Around 70-75 jobs out of a total of 265 at the facility are potentially at risk. Chief executive Patrick Martell said: “We intend to carry on printing at Bradford but we don’t believe there is enough volume in enclosing to do it profitably. “We are in discussions that may or may not lead to job losses.” The group didn’t move all of the enclosing machines originally located at Leeds when it consolidated the two sites. Martell said that while overall volumes for direct mail were declining, the medium remained attractive. “We don’t think it’s going to disappear altogether, there’s just less of it. There’s a good market for added-value direct mail such as multi-channel campaigns that drive online interaction.” The Bradford facility typically operates seven days. The print side includes web, sheetfed and digital print kit. It runs two 32pp short-grain Manroland Lithoman web presses with inline finishing, a B1 Komori SP40 double-decker sheetfed perfecting press, a Roland 700 and two HP Indigo digital presses. It has produced campaigns for major brands including Google, Vodafone, RBS and Ford. As well as direct mail, the site also produces commercial print such as brochures and catalogues. The £330m turnover group is approaching its financial year-end. The consultation process could take up to 45 days....

The launch event at Bohemia Brighton was attended by local councillors, media representatives and over 150 key businesses from the region. During the event the group said it was shortly due to unveil a new Gemini operation in London. Gemini Group owner John Boyle said the change at Brighton was a key strategic move to “overtly identify” the print operation as part of the Gemini Group. Buying print locally, he added, was good for the economy and reduced transport and fuel emissions. The 15-staff litho and digital printing and fulfilment business has a turnover of around £2m. The company has ISO 14001, FSC and PEFC accreditations and uses only vegetable-based inks with chemical-free processes. The operation was set up around 25 years ago. Local councillor Geoffrey Bowden, who attended the London College of Printing and qualified in print management in his younger days, said the company was one of the most successful in Brighton. The Gemini Group, which employs more than 140 staff, comprises Gemini Press and Gemini Digital in Shoreham-by-Sea, Gemini Brighton and Gemini West in Bristol. Gemini London will be unveiled in the coming weeks....

The group recently consolidated its Leeds and Bradford direct mail facilities at Bradford. Around 70-75 jobs out of a total of 265 at the facility are potentially at risk. Chief executive Patrick Martell said: “We intend to carry on printing at Bradford but we don’t believe there is enough volume in enclosing to do it profitably. “We are in discussions that may or may not lead to job losses.” The group didn’t move all of the enclosing machines originally located at Leeds when it consolidated the two sites. Martell said that while overall volumes for direct mail were declining, the medium remained attractive. “We don’t think it’s going to disappear altogether, there’s just less of it. There’s a good market for added-value direct mail such as multi-channel campaigns that drive online interaction.” The Bradford facility typically operates seven days. The print side includes web, sheetfed and digital print kit. It runs two 32pp short-grain Manroland Lithoman web presses with inline finishing, a B1 Komori SP40 double-decker sheetfed perfecting press, a Roland 700 and two HP Indigo digital presses. It has produced campaigns for major brands including Google, Vodafone, RBS and Ford. As well as direct mail, the site also produces commercial print such as brochures and catalogues. The £330m turnover group is approaching its financial year-end. The consultation process could take up to 45 days....

The UK-based company behind the Lumejet S200 has secured funds from the Technology Strategy Board’s Smart programme to help develop its new application, LumeBar. “It is very gratifying to win the maximum award against such stiff competition,” said LumeJet founder Trevor Elworthy of the award, which supports SMEs with high-growth potential. The award highlighted the current interest in photonics, which was recently identified as a key enabling technology for business by the EU, said Elworthy. “LumeBar is at R&D stage and it will be at least two to three years before it appears as an upgrade path to the S200,” he said. Elworthy explained that the new device would output around 3,000 pages an hour but declined to put a price on the tchnology. He added that the LumeBar was “radically different” technology and would be aimed at the top end markets for high-quality photo-book production in runs of up to 10,000. LumeBar uses LumeJet’s photonic printhead technology, created for high-speed industrial printing of high-quality documents such as photo books, inline labelling and packaging and plastic electronics. Rather than a moving print head, as in the current LumeJet S200, LumeBar comprises several thousand individually addressable micron-sized LED emitters to provide a ‘page-wide’ digital print bar that exposes directly onto designated areas of photo-sensitive media. Each LumeBar will be custom-built, tailored for wavelength and spot size, and e specifically designed for fast throughput and higher output. It follows news four weeks ago that Altaimage was the world’s first site to beta test the LumeJet S200 ultra-high-resolution printer at its London Docklands base. Commercial availability of the device is due later this year and it will cost around £145,000....

The move by the Co-operative Group affects over 4,000 retail outlets and follows the introduction earlier this month of opaque screens on its magazine shelves as an interim measure until publishers introduce their own sealed bags. Affected titles include Loaded, Front, Nuts and Zoo. The latter three are printed by Polestar. The Sport newspaper has already agreed to cover up its editions sold through Co-op stores from the designated deadline. Co-operative Group chief executive for retail Steve Murrells, said the move was a result of growing concerns from customers and members about the exposure to children of explicit sexual images in Co-op stores. “Whilst we have tried to mitigate the likelihood of young children seeing the images with a number of measures in-store, the most effective way of doing this is for these magazines to be put in individual, sealed modesty bags,” he explained. BPIF chief executive Kathy Woodward said that the move should not come as a surprise to either publishers or printers. “This has been gaining traction for a while and especially more recently with David Cameron’s new measures on porn. It will be interesting to see how other retailers follow this.” Woodward said that it was vital for printers to have close working relationships with publishers so that a solution could be worked out quickly without printers having to shoulder the costs of extra packaging. “These printers of course have the capability to fulfil this need easily but it absolutely cannot always be their responsibility to absorb the added cost of something like this. “If they have a long term contract with a publisher and suddenly that has to change it simply can’t keep biting into the printer profit margin because all that is actually doing is eroding the sustainability of our industry. If the client is demanding it then it needs to be passed down the chain and there must be some kind of agreement between the publisher and distributor on this.” Responding to the announcement Women and Equalities minister Jo Swinson said: “Exposing children to lewd pictures that portray women as sex objects is not appropriate. “That’s why The Co-operative’s decision to implement the Bailey review recommendation for publications with overtly sexual images on the cover to be displayed and sold in modesty bags is very welcome. “Adults should be left to make their own decisions about what legal sexual images they look at, but the place for these is not next to the sweets at children’s eye-level. I hope other retailers will follow the Co-operative’s lead.”...