The annual awards recognise high quality service and performance among its various suppliers, which are evaluated on a quarterly basis on customer feedback, change management, service levels, account support and continuous improvement. Printing bespoke cheques and internal banking documents and booklets for Santander, Runcorn-based Tall Security Print was one of seven to receive the award for 2013. Santander director of logistics Julian Myers said: “Tall Security Print has performed particularly well during the past 12 months and demonstrated impressive levels of service delivery that has added value to our business.” Group sales and marketing director of the Tall Group, Peter Andrew, said: “The award recognises our ability to meet the precise requirements of customers within the financial services sector.”...

Convened and chaired by Labour MP Debbie Abrahams in April this year, the all-party panel of MPs heard from a range of business groups and bodies, representing different industries, that gave evidence on the impact of poor payment practice. The latest BACS data shows that at the end of 2012 SMEs were owed over £36.4bn in late payments and Abrahams said one of the major issues highlighted by the evidence given during the inquiry was one of leadership. She added: “Until top CEOs, and their executive board members, make a decision to act ethically in business, and treat our small and medium sized businesses fairly, this problem will persist. “The public has grown tired of hearing about huge, greed driven, pay packets, pay-offs for failure and tax evasion; but allowing a culture of late payment to persist unchallenged is another board-level decision that directly effects ordinary, hardworking, people across the country.” Among the recommendations to government published in Abrahams’ report, is the introduction of a Retentions Monies Bill where contractually agreed monies would be retained in an independent trust until all obligations were met, at which time the payment will be made. Other recommendations include that large businesses managing supply chains should publish performance data on their payment history, SMEs should be given free, high quality financial management advice on avoiding late payments and that the Institute of Credit Management should amend the Prompt Payment Code to reflect the issues highlighted by the inquiry. Abrahams said: “I am also grateful to my colleagues from across the political spectrum for their participation on the Inquiry panel and demonstrating that, although we may have different political views, we can work together to find a solution to this persistent problem.” Mike Cherry, national policy chairman, of the Federation of Small Businesses, which helped inform the inquiry said: “We have said for some time that the Government and local authorities should include terms in contracts for prompt payment to be passed down the supply chain. “This report provides a good starting point to open up the discussion on what can be done to make sure small firms are paid promptly for the work they have done.” Forum of Private Business chief executive, Phil Orford, added: “The government needs to give serious consideration to refusing any public sector contract to big businesses who don’t pay suppliers in an acceptable time frame. Or indeed only work with those companies who’ve signed the Prompt Payment Code. “With more than £300bn of capital spending announced in the recent spending review, this would have maximum effect at no cost to the government, but really help in the battle against poor payment practices so widespread in the UK economy...

The annual awards recognise high quality service and performance among its various suppliers, which are evaluated on a quarterly basis on customer feedback, change management, service levels, account support and continuous improvement. Printing bespoke cheques and internal banking documents and booklets for Santander, Runcorn-based Tall Security Print was one of seven to receive the award for 2013. Santander director of logistics Julian Myers said: “Tall Security Print has performed particularly well during the past 12 months and demonstrated impressive levels of service delivery that has added value to our business.” Group sales and marketing director of the Tall Group, Peter Andrew, said: “The award recognises our ability to meet the precise requirements of customers within the financial services sector.”...

The company signed off the largest chunk of its reequip, a new Xerox iGen 150, two weeks ago. The new press, which is now running live jobs, is operating alongside the company’s brace of iGen4s. “The 150 is a great bit of kit. We did look at other machines, but with load balancing it made sense to complement the iGen4s,” said Inc Direct chief executive Noel Warner. The iGen 150 features Xerox’s Matte Dry Ink (MDI) and the larger 660mm sheet size. Both iGen4s have also been upgraded to run MDI, and one of the machines has also been reconfigured to run the same larger sheet size of the 150. According to Warner, the company was keen to add the larger sheet size to its second iGen4, but there was no room. The iGen 150 replaced the firm’s iGen3. “The iGen3, which we had worked to death, had come to the end of its useful life. So, it was a case of either investing or sticking with two iGen4s. But the volume that’s being driven though the business, predominantly though our ‘web2media’ platform, meant that even two iGen4s running 24-7 wouldn’t be able to keep up,” said Warner. Warner added that as well as the extra capacity, the larger sheet size of the 150 represented a massive bonus, as it meant that they could get 50% more A5 jobs, which represent a fair portion of their work mix, on each sheet. “It also means that we can go to market with a 6pp A4, whereas before the maximum was 4pp,” he said. “MDI is another great asset. We work with a lot of big brands, like Bentley and Estee Lauder, and with the older iGen toner technology we used to get that slight sheen, with MDI you get a flatter colour that emulates litho. I think now we can also go head-to-head with Indigo output.” This latest spend completes a three-year investment plan at the Enfield-based business, which was PrintWeek’s 2012 Cross-media Company of the Year. As well as upgrading its colour portfolio, the strategy also included the continued development of web2media, the acquisition of a majority shareholding in London-based creative agency Wand and various upgrades to its mono fleet of Xerox engines. According to Warner, summer DM volumes are holding up well. “Our approach seems to work; we talk to clients about strategic solutions, how we can help grow their business and engage better with their customers. We don’t offer commodity DM, we focus on adding value though CRM solutions that span all media, whether that be through DM, online social media, etc. That really seems to be working,” he said. “It sometimes means we take clients out...

The company signed off the largest chunk of its reequip, a new Xerox iGen 150, two weeks ago. The new press, which is now running live jobs, is operating alongside the company’s brace of iGen4s. “The 150 is a great bit of kit. We did look at other machines, but with load balancing it made sense to complement the iGen4s,” said Inc Direct chief executive Noel Warner. The iGen 150 features Xerox’s Matte Dry Ink (MDI) and the larger 660mm sheet size. Both iGen4s have also been upgraded to run MDI, and one of the machines has also been reconfigured to run the same larger sheet size of the 150. According to Warner, the company was keen to add the larger sheet size to its second iGen4, but there was no room. The iGen 150 replaced the firm’s iGen3. “The iGen3, which we had worked to death, had come to the end of its useful life. So, it was a case of either investing or sticking with two iGen4s. But the volume that’s being driven though the business, predominantly though our ‘web2media’ platform, meant that even two iGen4s running 24-7 wouldn’t be able to keep up,” said Warner. Warner added that as well as the extra capacity, the larger sheet size of the 150 represented a massive bonus, as it meant that they could get 50% more A5 jobs, which represent a fair portion of their work mix, on each sheet. “It also means that we can go to market with a 6pp A4, whereas before the maximum was 4pp,” he said. “MDI is another great asset. We work with a lot of big brands, like Bentley and Estee Lauder, and with the older iGen toner technology we used to get that slight sheen, with MDI you get a flatter colour that emulates litho. I think now we can also go head-to-head with Indigo output.” This latest spend completes a three-year investment plan at the Enfield-based business, which was PrintWeek’s 2012 Cross-media Company of the Year. As well as upgrading its colour portfolio, the strategy also included the continued development of web2media, the acquisition of a majority shareholding in London-based creative agency Wand and various upgrades to its mono fleet of Xerox engines. According to Warner, summer DM volumes are holding up well. “Our approach seems to work; we talk to clients about strategic solutions, how we can help grow their business and engage better with their customers. We don’t offer commodity DM, we focus on adding value though CRM solutions that span all media, whether that be through DM, online social media, etc. That really seems to be working,” he said. “It sometimes means we take clients out...