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.”...

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....

Spaces on the course are limited to 12 and the day is aimed at helping delegates better understand various paper grade characteristics and their applications. “Our Paper Appreciation Course is unique in that it focuses on the benefits that paper and its attributes bring to the end-uses,” said NAPM director Tim Bowler. “So whilst we discuss the many elements of paper production, at each stage we describe what that part of the process does for the paper, for example, formation, opacity, thickness, stiffness, and so on. We teach papermaking from the consumers’ angle.” Held this year at James Cropper’s Burneside Mill in Kendal, Cumbria, the day will involve practical demos to illustrate paper’s versatility, an explanation of the principles of papermaking, discussion of environmental issues, and an introduction to paper price estimating. The morning’s talks will be led by John Watson, managing director of safer-cutting company Martor UK and former director of Frogmore Paper Mill. The talks will be followed by an afternoon tour of the James Cropper’s mill and paper machines. “This is a great opportunity to visit one of the few remaining printings and writings mills left in the UK,” said Bowler. The day costs £170 plus VAT for NAPM members and £180 plus VAT for non-members. This includes refreshments, lunch and course notes....

Spaces on the course are limited to 12 and the day is aimed at helping delegates better understand various paper grade characteristics and their applications. “Our Paper Appreciation Course is unique in that it focuses on the benefits that paper and its attributes bring to the end-uses,” said NAPM director Tim Bowler. “So whilst we discuss the many elements of paper production, at each stage we describe what that part of the process does for the paper, for example, formation, opacity, thickness, stiffness, and so on. We teach papermaking from the consumers’ angle.” Held this year at James Cropper’s Burneside Mill in Kendal, Cumbria, the day will involve practical demos to illustrate paper’s versatility, an explanation of the principles of papermaking, discussion of environmental issues, and an introduction to paper price estimating. The morning’s talks will be led by John Watson, managing director of safer-cutting company Martor UK and former director of Frogmore Paper Mill. The talks will be followed by an afternoon tour of the James Cropper’s mill and paper machines. “This is a great opportunity to visit one of the few remaining printings and writings mills left in the UK,” said Bowler. The day costs £170 plus VAT for NAPM members and £180 plus VAT for non-members. This includes refreshments, lunch and course notes....

The commercial printer in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, struck lucky in the draw run by Antalis and Konica Minolta to promote digital print. Kestrel Printing managing director John Galley said: “This is a tremendous opportunity to expand our digital service and attract new business, especially with our new online ordering website going live. “We already have a C6000 and the new one will double our capacity. If we have any downtime the other machine will kick in but we hope to run them side by side. The kit runs at 35 SRA3 sheets a minute.” Kestrel Printing launched in 1970 to serve local and national businesses needing letterheads, compliment slips and business cards, brochures, booklets, folders and posters. Antalis and Konica Minolta joined forces this January to launch the Digital Future prize draw, with a total prize fund of digital related products worth over £100,000. “Both companies recognised that in a challenging market, where overall print volumes are in decline, commercial printers needed support to grow and develop their businesses,” said a spokesman. A total of 57 companies from across the UK won prizes in the draw. They included Conquest Litho in Kent, which took away a Roland VersaStudio BN20″ solvent printer; G&H Sheet Fed in Greater Manchester and DST Output (London) in Essex, which each won a Macbook Pro 13-inch; and Axminster Printing Co in Devon and AB Print Group in West Yorkshire, which won Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard....