The £71m turnover book printer has bought the Kodak Prosper high-speed inkjet press from failed group MPG’s King’s Lynn site, and is fitting it with a new Timson T-Fold signature folder. The new setup will be integrated with Clays’ existing Muller Martini binding facilities in a near-line configuration. The line will be in addition to Clay’s existing kit, and should be up and running by the end of the year. The Bungay-based firm’s digital arsenal already includes a Prosper 1000 with Muller Martini binding line, a Timson T-Press and T-Book, and two Kodak Digimaster lines for additional short-run flexibility. It also has two standalone HP Indigo presses for covers and jackets. The latest £1m spend takes the digital investment at Clays over the past five years to more than £10m. Clays managing director Kate McFarlan said publisher demand for the inventory management efficiencies made possible via short-run, on-demand production was increasing. “More capacity on the digital front will be welcome,” she said. “We will have the capacity to produce 20m books a year digitally, alongside our conventional production facilities.” McFarlan said Clays was printing a number of major autumn launches, including the new David Walliams children’s book, and a raft of other bestsellers that are yet to hit the shelves. Clays has also gained significant new work from academic and educational publishers following the demise of MPG. St Ives chief executive Patrick Martell highlighted the group’s continuing investment in its printing activities when he announced its year-end results yesterday....

“We’re moving to a decentralised model. We want to put the customer back at the heart of what we do and devolving power to the branches is the best way to do that,” said Andrew Price, Paperlinx chief executive. Each of the eight branches will be headed by a general manager who, according to Price, “will be totally responsible for that branch and everything goes on within it”. “The people who make the decisions on delivery, pricing, etc will be out in the branches where they will have a better understanding of the customers’ needs. We want to empower the people who are closest to the customer.” Price added that the branches would work within company guidelines, on things like pricing, to ensure that the business doesn’t revert to being in competition with itself. Price added that Paperlinx is currently recruiting the new general managers, who will all report directly to Andy Buxton, managing director of Paperlinx’s Commercial Print division. Last November, the company announced it would centralise account management from its regional offices to its Moulton Park, Northampton head office. The centralised account management team will now be largely disbanded, with staff redistributed across the regional sales offices in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Ipswich, Midlands (Moulton Park), Shoreham, Bristol and London. However, Price said that some key corporate and large group accounts, would continue to be managed by head office. “There should be no job losses as a result of this decision, in fact we’re actually creating new roles – which is probably a first for a while,” added Price. The sales strategy U-turn was partly in response to a Paperlinx customer survey. “What the [survey] feedback told us was that customers want to talk to a decision-maker; they don’t want to talk to someone who then has to talk to head office and get approval,” said Price. “The idea is that we will empower branches to make decisions on the spot. The industry has changed, our customers don’t have weeks to turn around jobs, they have hours and we need to make sure we have a business model that supports that.” The winners of the iPad Minis up for grabs in the survey were Miles Barnett, Park Communications; Dave Mann, Newman Thompson; Pennie Harwin, Octoprint; Adrian Smith, Kolorkraft; David Halton, Embassy Press London; and Ian Whitelegg, Prime Impressions....

“We’re moving to a decentralised model. We want to put the customer back at the heart of what we do and devolving power to the branches is the best way to do that,” said Andrew Price, Paperlinx chief executive. Each of the eight branches will be headed by a general manager who, according to Price, “will be totally responsible for that branch and everything goes on within it”. “The people who make the decisions on delivery, pricing, etc will be out in the branches where they will have a better understanding of the customers’ needs. We want to empower the people who are closest to the customer.” Price added that the branches would work within company guidelines, on things like pricing, to ensure that the business doesn’t revert to being in competition with itself. Price added that Paperlinx is currently recruiting the new general managers, who will all report directly to Andy Buxton, managing director of Paperlinx’s Commercial Print division. Last November, the company announced it would centralise account management from its regional offices to its Moulton Park, Northampton head office. The centralised account management team will now be largely disbanded, with staff redistributed across the regional sales offices in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Ipswich, Midlands (Moulton Park), Shoreham, Bristol and London. However, Price said that some key corporate and large group accounts, would continue to be managed by head office. “There should be no job losses as a result of this decision, in fact we’re actually creating new roles – which is probably a first for a while,” added Price. The sales strategy U-turn was partly in response to a Paperlinx customer survey. “What the [survey] feedback told us was that customers want to talk to a decision-maker; they don’t want to talk to someone who then has to talk to head office and get approval,” said Price. “The idea is that we will empower branches to make decisions on the spot. The industry has changed, our customers don’t have weeks to turn around jobs, they have hours and we need to make sure we have a business model that supports that.” The winners of the iPad Minis up for grabs in the survey were Miles Barnett, Park Communications; Dave Mann, Newman Thompson; Pennie Harwin, Octoprint; Adrian Smith, Kolorkraft; David Halton, Embassy Press London; and Ian Whitelegg, Prime Impressions....

The wall-sized digital information display was unveiled recently at the UN headquarters in New York. MpicoSys, Pervasive Displays and E Inks developed the technology using 231 e-Ink displays. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon officially unveiled the “eWall” during a general assembly of the UN last week. The wall was part of a renovation of a lounge by the Office of Metropolitan Architecture. It provides delegates with scheduling, news and other information, conveyed by high-resolution large-scale images or pictures that fade seamlessly into an unobtrusive wall when the system is turned off. “The eWall is an intricate combination of architectural, display and network engineering that stands about 6m wide with 231 tiled 7.4″ displays,” said a spokesman for the three companies. “These are arranged in a grid of 33 displays across by seven displays high. “With an overall resolution of 26,400×3,360 pixels the eWall is the largest E Ink-based ePaper display in the world. Yet it consumes little power to operate.” It uses E Ink’s Pearl film, Pervasive Displays display modules and MpicoSys’ electronics and control software. MpicoSys chief executive Peter Slikkerveer said: “We handled the electronics, software and mechanics and see this as the start of a new generation of e-paper products for information signage. The technology is similar to that used for Amazon and Kindle ebooks. “It’s a reflective black-and-white display: we didn’t want it to be too obtrusive but gently pervasive. It is the most paper-like technology and can be seen in ambient light.” Pervasive Displays’ founder Scott Soong said: “This delivers information without disturbing architectural harmony. With zero power to display the information, it is good for green buildings.” E Ink Holdings’ head of signage business Harit Doshi said: “The eWall is an example of E Ink enabling designers to deliver information where they never thought possible.” E Ink Holdings was founded 21 years ago by Taiwan paper-making and printing group YFY. Dutch company MpicoSys creates low-power, mini electronic systems. Pervasive Displays provides ultra-low-power, e-paper displays and reference designs....

Managing director Andy Spreag said: “Visitors will be able to see print and finishing in the same place. On the first day people will be able to bring their own files and put an Agfa Anapurna through is paces. “This will be the first time people in the UK will see the Mimaki JFX-500 industrial UV flatbed printer partnered with Zund cutting and finishing technology. It will also be a first for the Mimaki SUV printer and to see Agfa kit teamed up with Zund machines.” He added: “A unique element is the showcase of i-Sub Digital’s exclusive range of Digi-Foil products. Digi-Foil allows users of the Mimaki UJF range of UV printers to produce foiled effects identical to traditional hot and cold foiling processes, but as one-offs.” Spreag said the addition of foiled effects to mock-ups and proofs printed with the Mimaki UJF range would “increase the commercial opportunity” for printers. “Previously, being unable to apply traditional foils to mock-ups, proofs and short-run production jobs without incurring the cost and time penalties of having dies made and time on the presses has been a frustration across all print sectors. Not any more,” he added. Open days on 9-10 October at Agfa’s Leeds headquarters will centre around live demos of the Anapurna M2050 flatbed UV printer featuring six colours and white ink. The day will include automated finishing of print produced on the Anapurna on the Zund cutting system. A second set of open days, in Crewe, Cheshire on 16-17 October, will involve six “demo hubs”: a Mimaki JFX-500 industrial UV flatbed printing partnered with Zund cutting and finishing; Mimaki textile printing; New Mimaki SUV and latex printers; Mimaki solvent printers; Mimaki desktop UV decor printers; and Mimaki cutting solutions. The final open days, at Zund in St Albans, Herts, on dates to be confirmed in November, will flag up the latest Zund cutting and finishing systems. “You might have printers with the capacity to produce many hundreds of metres of print every hour, but without the ability to finish the print ready for delivery, whatever print capacity you have at your disposal is never going to be fully utilised,” said Spreag. Hampshire Flag Company recently installed a Zund G3 XL3200, said managing director Graham Wilkinson: “We have calculated that we would need to employ three more members of staff to cut textiles to replace the Zund machine when it is operating at maximum output.” Spreag said: “The open days have been designed to provide a clear insight into the opportunities for growth in the emerging markets that are being serviced by the latest developments in wide-format digital print equipment.” Contact I-Sub on 01536 415511...