Van Son to launch new ink range into the UK at Fespa
According to the Dutch manufacturer the inks have been developed to match the performance of products from major vendors such as Epson, HP, and Canon, but at prices more comparable with “cheaper” alternatives. A spokesman said: “Because printer cartridges from the original manufacturers are often expensive, demand exists for cheaper third-party options. The Van Son premium wide format inks are a direct copy of OEM inks [in terms of performance].” Formulated with an aqueous pigment base, the inks are available in cartridges from 220ml, 700ml and 775ml with prices ranging from £38 to £141. Where required cartridges are available to buy in 1,000ml containers for bulk orders. The range also includes inks designed for use with Mimaki SS21 and Roland Eco-Sol Max printers. These solvent-based inks are available in 440ml cartridges for £56.31 and 1,000ml containers for bulk orders. Suitable for both the solvent and eco-solvent markets they can be used for outdoor display work without the need for lamination, according to the manufacturer. Visitors to the stand at Fespa will be offered “show only” discounted prices on the new range....
read moreSt Ives commits to Kodak with five-year deal
The fresh five-year deal marks an extension of the group’s previous deal with Kodak, which was for three years. It covers CTP plates and ink for St Ives’ high-speed inkjet presses. Book wing Clays in East Anglia is the biggest single user of Kodak technology within the group, as it runs two digital book production lines using Kodak inkjet technology alongside its substantial conventional print production facilities. The agreement also covers retail print specialist SP’s sites in Redditch and Burnley, and the St Ives Direct operation in Bradford. St Ives group commercial director Ivor Watters said the new contract had followed a thorough review of potential alternative suppliers: “If we find a good supplier we tend to stick with them, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t move – we benchmark commercially,” he explained. “We’ve found Kodak to be very pro-active and very helpful, and we’ve been pleased with the consistency and quality of supply. “They’ve also provided value-for money by helping us to strip out unnecessary costs year-on-year,” Watters added. He said St Ives had been kept informed about Kodak’s Chapter 11 process, and was “comfortable” about the situation and the likely future shape of the supplier. The production workflow systems at Clays and SP have also been updated with bespoke configurations to marry with each site’s precise needs, using a combination of Kodak’s Prinergy workflow, Insite Prepress Portal and Prinergy Rules-Based Automation software. Kodak UK and Nordic sales director Darren Chard said he was delighted with the deal, and highlighted the value of the “tremendous synergy” gained through long-term customer partnerships. “The relationship that we have today has been built over several years to become more than just a day-to-day business relationship,” he said. ” A strong sense of purpose with a focus on attaining mutual success in a dynamic and ever-changing market environment has created tremendous synergy between our two businesses.”...
read moreVan Son to launch new ink range into the UK at Fespa
According to the Dutch manufacturer the inks have been developed to match the performance of products from major vendors such as Epson, HP, and Canon, but at prices more comparable with “cheaper” alternatives. A spokesman said: “Because printer cartridges from the original manufacturers are often expensive, demand exists for cheaper third-party options. The Van Son premium wide format inks are a direct copy of OEM inks [in terms of performance].” Formulated with an aqueous pigment base, the inks are available in cartridges from 220ml, 700ml and 775ml with prices ranging from £38 to £141. Where required cartridges are available to buy in 1,000ml containers for bulk orders. The range also includes inks designed for use with Mimaki SS21 and Roland Eco-Sol Max printers. These solvent-based inks are available in 440ml cartridges for £56.31 and 1,000ml containers for bulk orders. Suitable for both the solvent and eco-solvent markets they can be used for outdoor display work without the need for lamination, according to the manufacturer. Visitors to the stand at Fespa will be offered “show only” discounted prices on the new range....
read moreSt Ives commits to Kodak with five-year deal
The fresh five-year deal marks an extension of the group’s previous deal with Kodak, which was for three years. It covers CTP plates and ink for St Ives’ high-speed inkjet presses. Book wing Clays in East Anglia is the biggest single user of Kodak technology within the group, as it runs two digital book production lines using Kodak inkjet technology alongside its substantial conventional print production facilities. The agreement also covers retail print specialist SP’s sites in Redditch and Burnley, and the St Ives Direct operation in Bradford. St Ives group commercial director Ivor Watters said the new contract had followed a thorough review of potential alternative suppliers: “If we find a good supplier we tend to stick with them, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t move – we benchmark commercially,” he explained. “We’ve found Kodak to be very pro-active and very helpful, and we’ve been pleased with the consistency and quality of supply. “They’ve also provided value-for money by helping us to strip out unnecessary costs year-on-year,” Watters added. He said St Ives had been kept informed about Kodak’s Chapter 11 process, and was “comfortable” about the situation and the likely future shape of the supplier. The production workflow systems at Clays and SP have also been updated with bespoke configurations to marry with each site’s precise needs, using a combination of Kodak’s Prinergy workflow, Insite Prepress Portal and Prinergy Rules-Based Automation software. Kodak UK and Nordic sales director Darren Chard said he was delighted with the deal, and highlighted the value of the “tremendous synergy” gained through long-term customer partnerships. “The relationship that we have today has been built over several years to become more than just a day-to-day business relationship,” he said. ” A strong sense of purpose with a focus on attaining mutual success in a dynamic and ever-changing market environment has created tremendous synergy between our two businesses.”...
read morePrinting.com pre-tax profits fall by almost 29%
Operating profits before exceptional items fell from £1.3m to £1.1m, while sales from its UK and Eire operations contracted from £13.8m to £12.6m, which the company said reflected a competitive marketplace and increased online competition. Sales across France and Belgium showed marginal increases although its Dutch operations contracted by 5.3% to £6.1m. Chief executive Tony Rafferty said that costs related to the development of its crowd-sourced graphic design initiative, TemplateCloud and its white label offering for the graphic arts sector, W3P, had impacted on overall profit on the year. “The results hide the fact that we have evolved TemplateCloud and W3P to really significant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings internationalising them into eight languages. That has required development, operational and marketing costs,” he explained. Referring to Printing.com’s print franchise network and online services Flyerzone, Drukland and BrandDemand, Rafferty said that these would remain central to the group and in the short term would continue to be the main source of earnings. “The European market has been very challenging and that has pulled back some of the momentum we had in the previous year, so yes the earnings have tightened, but the underlying cash generation in the group remains strong. We have no debt in the group,” he added. Moving forward Rafferty said there was a refocusing of emphasis within the group, with three distinct revenue streams coming from its franchise and online channels, W3P.com, and TemplateCloud.com. He said the company had reached the point where the new SaaS initiatives had moved from development to deployment and that the outlook for new international partners was “encouraging”. “We expect to attract a lot of digital and commercial printers to use the W3P platform. What we are offering is a game changer for web-to-print,” he added. “Our number one focus for the year is to gain momentum with our SaaS initiatives. That is going to incur cost so we doubt our earnings will significantly move forward this year but once they are firmly embedded the profits will begin to take care of themselves.” As part of the “repositioning” and refocusing of the group’s operations Printing.com is to change its holding company name to Grafenia to “reflect the broad graphic nature of the group’s activity” and to avoid confusion and misunderstanding when marketing the TemplateCloud and W3P offerings. All brands including the Printing.com franchise, will remain the same. “We are more than just a printing company. We are a software development house that offers slick, clever and innovative services and our name change reflects that,” said Rafferty. The name will be rubber-stamped at the company’s next AGM....
read morePrinting.com pre-tax profits fall by almost 29%
Operating profits before exceptional items fell from £1.3m to £1.1m, while sales from its UK and Eire operations contracted from £13.8m to £12.6m, which the company said reflected a competitive marketplace and increased online competition. Sales across France and Belgium showed marginal increases although its Dutch operations contracted by 5.3% to £6.1m. Chief executive Tony Rafferty said that costs related to the development of its crowd-sourced graphic design initiative, TemplateCloud and its white label offering for the graphic arts sector, W3P, had impacted on overall profit on the year. “The results hide the fact that we have evolved TemplateCloud and W3P to really significant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings internationalising them into eight languages. That has required development, operational and marketing costs,” he explained. Referring to Printing.com’s print franchise network and online services Flyerzone, Drukland and BrandDemand, Rafferty said that these would remain central to the group and in the short term would continue to be the main source of earnings. “The European market has been very challenging and that has pulled back some of the momentum we had in the previous year, so yes the earnings have tightened, but the underlying cash generation in the group remains strong. We have no debt in the group,” he added. Moving forward Rafferty said there was a refocusing of emphasis within the group, with three distinct revenue streams coming from its franchise and online channels, W3P.com, and TemplateCloud.com. He said the company had reached the point where the new SaaS initiatives had moved from development to deployment and that the outlook for new international partners was “encouraging”. “We expect to attract a lot of digital and commercial printers to use the W3P platform. What we are offering is a game changer for web-to-print,” he added. “Our number one focus for the year is to gain momentum with our SaaS initiatives. That is going to incur cost so we doubt our earnings will significantly move forward this year but once they are firmly embedded the profits will begin to take care of themselves.” As part of the “repositioning” and refocusing of the group’s operations Printing.com is to change its holding company name to Grafenia to “reflect the broad graphic nature of the group’s activity” and to avoid confusion and misunderstanding when marketing the TemplateCloud and W3P offerings. All brands including the Printing.com franchise, will remain the same. “We are more than just a printing company. We are a software development house that offers slick, clever and innovative services and our name change reflects that,” said Rafferty. The name will be rubber-stamped at the company’s next AGM....
read moreMPG future still unclear
PrintWeek understands that chief executive Tony Chard is still hopeful of organising some sort of rescue deal for the stricken book printer. However, any deal would require the support of key stakeholders, including MPG’s banks and suppliers, as well as customers and employees. Paper suppliers will be particularly crucial to any possible deal. The hiatus at the business has now entered its third week. Employees left in limbo by the current situation have expressed frustration on printweek.com’s online forum, as have customers who have been left in the lurch. One author told PrintWeek: “I got a quote in March and sent in my deposit, but they were never in touch about it after that. All of a sudden on 20 May the order was put on the system. I’ve no idea if my books have been printed or not.” A supplier to the group said he was yet to hear any concrete proposals. “We haven’t heard a thing and it’s getting to the stage where we will have to act. The biggest enemy of any deal of this nature is delay,” he said. The group had been expected to go into administration last week, but to the best of PrintWeek’s knowledge this has not yet happened. A notice of intention to appoint an administrator was filed at the High Court by the directors of MPG Printgroup on 6 June. This provides the business with a breathing space and protection from other actions, such as winding up petitions by creditors, for ten working days....
read moreGraphic Packaging to close former Contego Gillingham site
The site was part of Contego Cartons, formerly Nampak Cartons, which was bought by US food packaging group GPI in January. As well as the Gillingham site, the £91m deal included Contego sites in Leeds, Hoogerheide in the Netherlands and Portlaoise in Ireland, all of which are understood to be unaffected by the closure of Gillingham. Unite has demanded an “urgent meeting’ with the company, which launched a 45-day consultation at Gillingam last Wednesday (5 June) where the union said it will urge the US owners to “to look at all possibilities for re-location and the best possible deal for the workforce”. According to the union the company is proposing to close the facility on 30 September. “This is a very difficult time for the workforce and they have a right to be angry that they face redundancy. Unite will be demanding the company does everything possible to support the workers affected,” said Unite national officer Ian Tonks “At a time when unemployment is high and good jobs are hard to find, employers should be going out of their way to find the best deal possible for workers who have given years of loyalty.” In an statement, Graphic Packaging International said that it had been reviewing its European manufacturing operations since the acquisition of Contego Cartons and AR Carton and while it praised the quality of the work produced at GPI Gillingham it said that the site did not fit in with its future requirements. It added that it is currently consulting with the Unite and the Graphic Packaging Employee Information and Consultation Committee on the proposed closure. In the statement, the company said: “These are always difficult decisions, but it is a necessary step in the company’s continuous efforts to effectively align and optimize its supply chain footprint. We do realise the impact of this decision on our team members; their families and their communities and we remain committed to providing assistance under our policies to help mitigate the impact of this decision where possible.” The company added that work produced at Gillingham would most likely transfer to Leeds, however it said that business would continue as normal until then. Graphic Packaging is a global packaging group with sales of $4.3bn and it employs 15,000 staff around the world, including locations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the US....
read moreMPG future still unclear
PrintWeek understands that chief executive Tony Chard is still hopeful of organising some sort of rescue deal for the stricken book printer. However, any deal would require the support of key stakeholders, including MPG’s banks and suppliers, as well as customers and employees. Paper suppliers will be particularly crucial to any possible deal. The hiatus at the business has now entered its third week. Employees left in limbo by the current situation have expressed frustration on printweek.com’s online forum, as have customers who have been left in the lurch. One author told PrintWeek: “I got a quote in March and sent in my deposit, but they were never in touch about it after that. All of a sudden on 20 May the order was put on the system. I’ve no idea if my books have been printed or not.” A supplier to the group said he was yet to hear any concrete proposals. “We haven’t heard a thing and it’s getting to the stage where we will have to act. The biggest enemy of any deal of this nature is delay,” he said. The group had been expected to go into administration last week, but to the best of PrintWeek’s knowledge this has not yet happened. A notice of intention to appoint an administrator was filed at the High Court by the directors of MPG Printgroup on 6 June. This provides the business with a breathing space and protection from other actions, such as winding up petitions by creditors, for ten working days....
read moreGraphic Packaging to close former Contego Gillingham site
The site was part of Contego Cartons, formerly Nampak Cartons, which was bought by US food packaging group GPI in January. As well as the Gillingham site, the £91m deal included Contego sites in Leeds, Hoogerheide in the Netherlands and Portlaoise in Ireland, all of which are understood to be unaffected by the closure of Gillingham. Unite has demanded an “urgent meeting’ with the company, which launched a 45-day consultation at Gillingam last Wednesday (5 June) where the union said it will urge the US owners to “to look at all possibilities for re-location and the best possible deal for the workforce”. According to the union the company is proposing to close the facility on 30 September. “This is a very difficult time for the workforce and they have a right to be angry that they face redundancy. Unite will be demanding the company does everything possible to support the workers affected,” said Unite national officer Ian Tonks “At a time when unemployment is high and good jobs are hard to find, employers should be going out of their way to find the best deal possible for workers who have given years of loyalty.” In an statement, Graphic Packaging International said that it had been reviewing its European manufacturing operations since the acquisition of Contego Cartons and AR Carton and while it praised the quality of the work produced at GPI Gillingham it said that the site did not fit in with its future requirements. It added that it is currently consulting with the Unite and the Graphic Packaging Employee Information and Consultation Committee on the proposed closure. In the statement, the company said: “These are always difficult decisions, but it is a necessary step in the company’s continuous efforts to effectively align and optimize its supply chain footprint. We do realise the impact of this decision on our team members; their families and their communities and we remain committed to providing assistance under our policies to help mitigate the impact of this decision where possible.” The company added that work produced at Gillingham would most likely transfer to Leeds, however it said that business would continue as normal until then. Graphic Packaging is a global packaging group with sales of $4.3bn and it employs 15,000 staff around the world, including locations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the US....
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