The six-day event is set to take place on 1, 2, 3 and 8, 9, 10 of October at Apex’s Hemel Hempstead showroom. The first two days’ debates will focus on efficient finishing and winning business with a digital press, while debates on 3 and 8 October will target colour stabilisation across digital and litho printing. The final two debates will explore market opportunities for high volume inkjet and increasing profits through postpress and mailroom efficiency. Each debate will be chaired by a panel made up of an independent specialist, a supplier’s technical representative and a printer that has used the technology. The debates are in addition to a seminar programme scheduled on each morning of the event. More than 23 brands will be displayed at the event and participants include Kodak, Lake Image Systems, Roland DG, Shuttleworth, VPress, Antalis, Cyanx and Meler. Finishing equipment specialist Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) will debut Horizon’s new entry-level BQ280 perfect binder, which supercedes its best-selling BQ270 automated single clamp perfect binder. Meanwhile KAS Paper systems will give demonstrations on the Mailmaster 465HS envelope inserter, Mailwrap polywrapper and Creasematic range of creasers. Antalis will provide its Cocoon, Digigreen and Coala range of papers for print demonstrations, while Roland DG will showcase its wide format digital printer/cutters, the VersaCAMM VS-540 and SOLJET PRO4 XR-640. For more information visit www.printefficiently.com....

The business, set up more than 40 years ago, bought a Xerox C75 and a Xerox DocuColor 7002 to beef up its small-format offering . One the large-format side, the company is buying a Canon iPF 9000 as part of the investment. LT Print is also looking at buying an Oce ColorWave 650 and a flatbed press. The company also runs five Heidelberg presses including a five-colour Speedmaster 74. “We will bring all our operations under one roof and allow both the design and print department and the digital team to work closer together,” said sales director Jon Aindow. “We have doubled our digital printing capacity but customers will still be able to drop-in for ad-hoc printing queries and to place orders. “We used to outsource digital work but hope to bring it all in house and hope this equipment will add £500,000 of business in posters, banners and exhibition graphics. Printing is constantly evolving and it has been essential for us to keep pace with new developments in technology.” LT Print has more than 40 staff and a turnover of almost £3m from work for education, health, commercial, hospitality and leisure sectors. Clients Claridge’s and the Savoy hotels, Coors Brewery, Bank of Scotland, Liverpool Football Club, Forum Housing Association and a several NHS Trusts....

The business, set up more than 40 years ago, bought a Xerox C75 and a Xerox DocuColor 7002 to beef up its small-format offering . One the large-format side, the company is buying a Canon iPF 9000 as part of the investment. LT Print is also looking at buying an Oce ColorWave 650 and a flatbed press. The company also runs five Heidelberg presses including a five-colour Speedmaster 74. “We will bring all our operations under one roof and allow both the design and print department and the digital team to work closer together,” said sales director Jon Aindow. “We have doubled our digital printing capacity but customers will still be able to drop-in for ad-hoc printing queries and to place orders. “We used to outsource digital work but hope to bring it all in house and hope this equipment will add £500,000 of business in posters, banners and exhibition graphics. Printing is constantly evolving and it has been essential for us to keep pace with new developments in technology.” LT Print has more than 40 staff and a turnover of almost £3m from work for education, health, commercial, hospitality and leisure sectors. Clients Claridge’s and the Savoy hotels, Coors Brewery, Bank of Scotland, Liverpool Football Club, Forum Housing Association and a several NHS Trusts....

Direct Mail firm GI Solutions said the current proposal risks big price hikes for businesses that use PAF, such as for bulk mailing and address searches for online customer form filling. Royal Mail’s business customers currently pay for a PAF License. Under the proposed new system of charging, which is currently under consultation, businesses will instead be charged 1-8 pence every time an address is checked against PAF. The potential extra costs are huge, especially for bulk mailers, warned GI Solution’s deputy managing director Patrick Headley. “We currently pay £16,000 a year for our licence, but if a company is charged 1p a record, 10m mailings would cost £100,000. This is a huge increase. This is not the way to go about promoting mail and encouraging people to use the service. “I was speaking to a big retail customer recently and he said it will just encourage them to swap mail for email. The industry is up in arms and this will result in pandemonium. If this goes ahead it will be devastating to the industry and I can see companies going out of business. I hope Royal Mail sees sense.” He added that often a letter was checked against PAF up to five times for it to qualify for some of Royal Mail’s discount services. For a mailing house that mailed 2.5m letters a month it could see monthly costs rise from between £24,000 to £200,000. These would be passed on to the customer. The DMA supports the theory that PAF licensing needs to be simplified to increase the number of business users, but believes that Royal Mail should implement the changes without increasing costs for its business customers. The organisation is due to make a submission to Royal Mail’s consultation to highlight its concerns. British Association for Print and Communication chairman Sidney Bobb said: “They are having to sell Royal Mail as a profitable organisation, but exactly the same happened with the utilities, which many think damaged the services. There has been a tremendous growth in providers of product distribution, so TNT will take advantage of this if they can.” BPIF chief executive Kathy Woodward said: “Anything that makes mailing less attractive is harmful to the industry. But coming up to privatisation I would expect them to demonstrate a growth scenario rather than do anything that negatively impacts their distribution volumes.” However a Royal Mail spokesman said: “The proposals aim to incentivise take up, encourage greater use of PAF and enable it to better meet the current and future needs of users and solutions developers in today’s marketplace. “Royal Mail has recognised that a simpler approach to licensing PAF is required to meet current and future needs....

Packaging students have to design a new, “constructively striking” carton for the popcorn supplier’s microwave range. The pack must bring “both excitement and intrigue to family home movie nights” and must increase shelf presence for the product. The container will need to hold between three to six sachets of popcorn, incorporating a selection of the three available flavours. Students have to consider the ‘home cinema’ feel popcorn brings to enjoying films, said the companies. Competition entrants must be part- or full-time students at a college, college of art or university in the UK or overseas, and must register online at www.bensongroup.co.uk by 1 November 2013. Along with a £250 cash prize the overall winner will be offered a week of work experience in the design studio at Benson Group’s Bardon, Leicestershire headquarters and production facility. Marketing manager Nikki Clark said: “This represents a tremendous opportunity for students to showcase their abilities and talents to a huge audience, enhance their CV and kick start a career in packaging design. “With cartonboard as the predominant material, designers can incorporate plastic window film if desired, and their new and exciting design could offer consumers a way to transform the carton into a sharing pack. Of course size constraints, with a maximum footprint of 160 x 160mm and height of 200mm, must be taken into consideration as well.” Judging will be conducted by Clark as well as Helena Blincow, brand manager at Butterkist, and Dean Parkin, packaging development team leader at Butterkist. Butterkist brand manager Helena Blincow said: “We are looking to today’s design students to bring something different to the world of popcorn.” For competition entry information click...