Held in Geneva, a key feature of the conference will be tours of Kodak’s new European Demo Centre and Workflow Lab. “It’s a really great place where all Kodak devices can be seen, so delegates can experience all the facilities that Kodak is offering,” said Karsten Müller, president of the GUA and key account manager at MSP Druck and Medien. The event, now in its eighth year, will also feature hands-on demos, seminars and networking opportunities. New this year will be the dedication of one of GUA’s four presentation tracks to innovative inkjet and hybrid printing solutions. “This year the majority of new products and services on show will be in these areas,” said Müller. “One of the key speakers will be Bild Ost and Axel Springer’s Tobias Kuhn, who will explain how inkjet heads can be used to print newspapers at full speed. We’ll also be learning about how offset presses can be used for personalisation.” Other topics will include: opportunities in packaging, true market data intelligence, simplifying colour management, streamlining automation and managing complex production in a digital world. Müller explained that switching from a two-day format back to 2010’s three-day schedule, reflected the international nature of the conference, allowing more time for talks and demos to be given in different languages. Reporting that around 150 to 250 Kodak users typically attend the conference, he added: “The key thing is that there are no salespeople at GUA. It’s much more about networking and getting together to find out how things work and how to do them better.” Attending GUA costs €395 per delegate if booked before mid-August, after which it’s €520. This price includes evening events and food but not accommodation or travel....

Held in Geneva, a key feature of the conference will be tours of Kodak’s new European Demo Centre and Workflow Lab. “It’s a really great place where all Kodak devices can be seen, so delegates can experience all the facilities that Kodak is offering,” said Karsten Müller, president of the GUA and key account manager at MSP Druck and Medien. The event, now in its eighth year, will also feature hands-on demos, seminars and networking opportunities. New this year will be the dedication of one of GUA’s four presentation tracks to innovative inkjet and hybrid printing solutions. “This year the majority of new products and services on show will be in these areas,” said Müller. “One of the key speakers will be Bild Ost and Axel Springer’s Tobias Kuhn, who will explain how inkjet heads can be used to print newspapers at full speed. We’ll also be learning about how offset presses can be used for personalisation.” Other topics will include: opportunities in packaging, true market data intelligence, simplifying colour management, streamlining automation and managing complex production in a digital world. Müller explained that switching from a two-day format back to 2010’s three-day schedule, reflected the international nature of the conference, allowing more time for talks and demos to be given in different languages. Reporting that around 150 to 250 Kodak users typically attend the conference, he added: “The key thing is that there are no salespeople at GUA. It’s much more about networking and getting together to find out how things work and how to do them better.” Attending GUA costs €395 per delegate if booked before mid-August, after which it’s €520. This price includes evening events and food but not accommodation or travel....

Businesses that use catalogues as sales and marketing tools say they are directly responsible for 30% of sales, according to Channel Vision – Version 2.0, a report published by design, marketing and print specialist Catalogues 4 Business (C4B). For those employing e-commerce as well, a further 29% of sales were driven by the catalogue through their website. C4B surveyed more than 100 UK organisations, both B2B and B2C, from a wide range of sectors and industries to assemble the study. According to the report, 33% of respondents also said that sales through their catalogue for the past year are up on the previous year. C4B managing director Ian Simpson said: “It’s great to see so many companies’ sales figures increase from catalogues, they are an incredibly powerful marketing tool. Like most marketing activities, there must be a strategy in place to ensure that both sales and marketing are working together to maximise the output.” However, only 34% of respondents said that they used a catalogue as a sales channel. Of the companies that don’t use a catalogue, 53% said a catalogue wasn’t appropriate for their business. The report suggests that this shows that more work must be done to encourage the take-up of catalogues. The report also highlighted the growing importance of digital marketing and social media, with 26% of businesses adding it to their marketing activities over the past year. The report found that companies which sell via a catalogue are far more likely to have a website with e-commerce, which in turn makes them more likely to deploy SEO and pay per click. Simpson said: “Within today’s digital era, people get fixated with the online world and forget that having something physical is a novelty and sometimes even preferred. Catalogues are one of the best ways to drive online traffic. It’s about integrating offline and online tactics.” The report also found that while B2B businesses might be expected to favour sites such as Linkedin for promoting their services, YouTube also featured highly among their preferences, with 46% saying it was relevant, compared with just 24% of B2C companies....

Jamie Taylor and Dominik Czerwinke of Begbies Traynor’s Southend office were appointed joint administrators on 9 July. Wren was founded in 1972 and specialised in food and cosmetics packaging. A statement from the administrators said: “Auctioneers and valuers have been engaged to find a buyer for the business and/or assets of the company and there has been significant interest so far”. According to the company’s website, the Southend-based company had in-house CAD facilities, an undisclosed number of litho presses, including a six-colour B1 press, two coating lines, a B2 die-cutter and two folder-gluers. Clients have included Boots, Costa, Morrisons, Parker, Stanley and WH Smith. Neither Taylor or Czerwinke were available for additional comment at the time of writing....

The new FB7600, which was installed at the end of April, will enable the Suffolk-based company, which produces POS and display work for retailers and their suppliers, to offer faster turnaround times and keep more work in-house. Chris Hall, group business development director of parent Fencor Group, said: “We are looking to grow Easypack by 50%, which includes our display, co-packing and folding boxboard divisions. The HP digital press is central to us achieving this goal. Overall, we’re looking to increase turnover by circa £3m.” He added that the machine had been very busy since its installation and that the company intended to up production further. “The machine has been full-on on one shift since start-up and we are looking to ramp up to two shifts in the run-up to Christmas,” he said. The FB7600 can print at up to 500sqm per hour, which Easypack said will enable it to respond quicker to orders, and it has the ability to print on very thin substrates as well as those up to 25mm. Hall said: “To remain competitive, it is crucial to speed up the route to market. We wanted to offer quicker turnaround times while maintaining high quality and the FB7600 is ideal for this.” Easypack opted to have a multi-sheet loader supplied with the press, which enables the simultaneous printing of up to four sheets, in order to maximise productivity. Another big selling point of the press was its ability to produce short runs. “We see the market moving more and more towards shorter runs so we wanted to keep ahead of the game and be able to offer them in an efficient manner – in terms of both cost and time,” said Hall. “At Easypack we also know that markets continuously change and chose the FB7600 accordingly – it is a platform that can be built upon and it can be updated as and when which is great for moving targets.” The FB7600 has also extended the range of substrates that Easypack is able to handle. Until its installation, the company worked primarily with paper, corrugated board and folding boxboard to produce applications such as POS displays, dump bins and pre-filled displays, but it is now looking to offer new substrates to customers including vinyl. Easypack also operates a 2.4m Canon Océ Arizona 550 GT, which is used for short runs and samples, and a 2.2m Sias screen press as well as Komori and Heidelberg conventional presses at its 6,000sqm facility in Mildenhall, Suffolk. Easypack, which has 50 permanent staff and a turnover of around £7m, forms part of £17.5m-turnover Fencor Group, which also comprises Manor Packaging in Peterborough and ACH Corrugated in Ely....