The wide format printer manufacturer will showcase two additions to its range at its Eindhoven site on 28 and 29 May. Visitors will see the ColorBooster DS double-sided system and get an exclusive preview of the entry-level ColorBooster 250 as well as the latest iteration of the company’s existing ColorBooster XL and finishing systems. The event will be by invitation only because the company expects it to be over-subscribed. A spokesman said: “Hollanders is eager to open its doors to potential new customers who want to learn more about its innovative digital solutions and its turn-key approach to textile printing and finishing. The company said it was focusing on customers that were unfamiliar with the ColorBooster systems or that were considering entering digital textile printing for the first time. Marketing and communications manager Roland Biemans said: “We are now in a period of unprecedented growth at Hollanders, thanks to the new investment path which has enabled us to expand our production options and to introduce two new machines to the market. “We are also increasingly aware of the growing numbers of businesses wanting to move into digital textile printing. This is because it offers a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly production solution with a surprising amount of versatility across different applications. Biemans said that opening the company’s doors was the best way of launching its new products and demonstrating their high quality, cost-effective results....

“We just keep our head down and keep going; that’s our business model. Some of the campaigns we’ve been involved in already this year have been sizeable, and our volumes are more than holding up,” said First 4 managing director David Nestor. “The decision to target direct mail is something that we’ve been toying with for a while though; we’re a young company and I want to be doing this for another 30 years, so its inevitable that fold-stitch-trim volumes may tail off in the future, and that’s why I want to offer more to our client base, such as die-cutting and inline inserting in the stitching department, and direct mail is another area that offers a great synergy and we just went for it,” he added. Following a review of its client base and work mix, he estimated that 99% of what the firm produces goes back to clients to be fulfilled in one way or another, so the firm was well positioned to exploit the DM opportunity and launch First 4 Direct Mail. First 4, which was crowned PrintWeek‘s SME of the Year in 2010 and 2011, installed two Buhrs high-speed mailing lines four weeks ago and will go into full production early next month, with a plan to add two more next year. The refurbished BB600 lines were bought from Grafitec and each line features six inserter stations and are capable of handling DL to C5 envelopes. “We can now offer a complete post-press solution. Basically, the work came off the back of our clients’ presses to be cut, folded, stitched or trimmed and then we would send it back. But now effectively it can leave here in an envelope and go straight to Royal Mail or whoever,” said Nestor. “That’s especially useful for our clients in the South, where it can have a massive impact on their transport costs,” he added. To support the investment, the 90-staff, £3.5m-turnover business is looking to create around a dozen new jobs, rising to a total of about 20 in 12 months. Nestor is also considering adding personalisation to the lines at some stage in the future, depending on client demand, with camera recognition systems for 2D barcodes also high up on the future shopping list. “This investment isn’t about competing with our clients though, we’re doing it because our clients want and need the service, we always think of ourselves as an extension of our clients’ binderies, but now we can also be an extension to their mailing and DM operations,” said Nestor. Fulfilment is just the latest service that First 4 has added to its core offering, with other recent additions being die-cutting, courtesy of a refurbished...

In its long-awaited reorganisation proposals, filed yesterday after Kodak had crossed a major hurdle by finding a solution to its UK pension plan deficit, the company outlined its future strategy. Kodak also filed financial projections showing that it expects to achieve sales of $2.6bn (£1.7bn) and EBITDA of $200m next year, rising year-on-year to $3.2bn turnover and $500m EBITDA by the end of 2017. If approved by the courts and its creditors, the future Kodak business will be based around commercial imaging and organised into two segments: Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Film (GECF) which includes the graphic arts operations encompassing plates, CTP, workflow and digital controllers, along with entertainment imaging and commercial film. The second business unit will be Digital Printing & Enterprise (DP&E) made up of the inkjet and electrophotographic digital printing operations, flexo packaging, functional printing and enterprise-level professional services. Kodak’s stated plans include “achieving worldwide packaging leadership by 2016” in the $250bn global packaging market via its Flexcel platemaking system, which uses SquareSpot, and by introducing new digital printing solutions for packaging that use Stream technology. It also expects to grow the market penetration of its Prosper inkjet press by expanding OEM arrangements and moving into new markets. Kodak plans to start manufacturing Prosper presses in Asia “to accelerate cost reductions and better serve growth markets”. The company aims to develop a significant business in functional printing, such as touch screens, fuel cells and smart packaging materials using SquareSpot know-how for deposition technology. In the statement, Kodak said that new products for direct printing applications in functional and packaging printing had been in development for the past three years, and were “ready for market introduction in 2014”. If all goes to plan the proposals could be rubber-stamped by mid-June, with Kodak likely to emerge from Chapter 11 in the third quarter of the year. The likely return to Kodak’s general unsecured creditors, owed $2.7bn, is still unspecified but is described as being “better than liquidation” which would involve a zero payout. These creditors would receive a share of 40m shares to be issued in the new Kodak business. Existing shareholders will be wiped out. The small print of the filing reveals that in order to proceed with the sale of its Personalised Imaging business Kodak has also agreed a Fujifilm claim, made pre-Chapter 11, for $70m relating to a cross-licensing deal. Kodak is yet to specify the make-up of its post-Chapter 11 senior management team, so it is not yet known whether chief executive Antonio Perez will remain with the business. He described the emergence plan as “clear evidence of the outstanding dedication and innovative spirit of the people of Kodak in serving customers worldwide and...

Eight lots will cover most of the council’s printing requirements for the three-year deal, which is advertised on Tenders Electronic Daily. Lot two on general printing, for example, includes ad-hoc and planned printing such as magazines, pads, leaflets and the printing of up to 10,000 envelopes. “Devon County Council does not have in-house print services and this print framework contract was put in place four years ago,” said senior procurement and contracts officer Becky Meaton. “All printing requirements will go through this contract. Work will be mini-competed through the Devon eBiz electronic market place, where the successful print suppliers will bid for the work.” The 36-month contract period is from 1 August 2013 with the option to extend for up to a year. Material will be for Devon County Council, Teignbridge District Council and Mid Devon Council. The current contract has been in place for four years and expires on 31st July 2013. Suppliers can bid for one or more lots. The deadline for tender submissions is 10 May 2013 and they must be submitted on www.devontenders.gov.uk or...

The Hatfield-based company has ordered a HP Indigo 10000 for delivery in the autumn. The £1.3m spend on the Indigo comes on top of a £1m investment programme over the past 18 months. This has seen the company add to its printing firepower with a HP Indigo 5600 and four-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster SX52, as well as bolstering its finishing facilities with a Horizon BQ470 PUR binder, a Heidelberg TH56 folder and Polar 115X Plus guillotine with paper handling setup. An Autobond Mini76 TPMHS thermal laminator with magnet attaching facility was installed just last week. The firm, which provides a wide range of commercial print and finishing services in-house as well as a web-to-print facility, also runs a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL75. “Having B2 is going to open up lots of opportunities and give us an edge,” said managing director Jon Lancaster. “The Indigo is the fastest at 4,600sph in enhanced productivity mode, the sheet size is good, the duplexing ability is good, the print quality is high and it also does special colours such as white.” The £3m turnover, 25-staff company needs to build an extension to house the new digital press, which will be installed in September or October. “We want it in for the run-up to Christmas, and we can perhaps help other printers with trade work too,” Lancaster added. The firm’s unusual move into creating its own mirrored substrate, achieved by laminating a special film onto plain board, came as a result of a customer request. It took three months to develop. “A customer had a call for it, and we went and bought some of the mirror stock that’s commercially available, but the cost of it meant we could only really do the sample quantities on our digital press,” Lancaster explained. “By making our own mirror board we can be competitive on longer runs using digital and we can compete with UV litho. We’ve already produced 130,000 DVD sleeves, all with white ink, and I’m happy there are no scratching or static problems with it.” Lancaster is now planning to offer the board, which is available in silver or gold foil finish, to other printers via the company’s e-commerce site at www.printedeasy.com. He also intends to put it through HP’s accreditation process. “I could make 40,000-50,000 SRA3 sheets a day, if I needed to, and I’ve created a ‘how to’ guide with all the information people need to print on it successfully,” he added....