MBO unveils ‘future proof’ folders
The M60 and M80 machines include modular technology enabling users of both models to interchange alternative units such as for feeding and delivery. This makes any combination of set-up possible and improves flexibility and simplicity, according to UK & Ireland agent Friedheim International. The M60 is suitable for B2 work and has an in-feed width of 62cm while the M80 has B1 capability and an in-feed width of 83cm. Both folders are capable of working at a maximum production speed of up to 230m a minute and both feature touch-screen control. The M80 is available now and costs from £40,000 to £180,000. The M60 is due for availability in 2014 and prices are being finalised. According to MBO, the M80 is the world’s only fully adaptable folder, giving users flexibility to install add-on components after your initial purchase. If a new job comes along the M80 can be reconfigured to meet the new demands....
read moreCWU puts strike on hold as RM talks continue
The union is in dispute with the recently-privatised postal operator on the issues of “pay, pensions and the impact of privatisation on job security [and] terms and conditions”. It announced the one-day walkout on 16 October, days after Royal Mail’s shares began open trading, although it has now agreed to stand down Monday’s strike to allow both parties to focus on reaching an agreement. In return, Royal Mail has agreed to extend the legal validity of the CWU’s current industrial action ballot from 15 November to 20 November, leaving open the possibility for strike action to take place should a deal fail to materialise. Royal Mail and the CWU issued a joint statement yesterday (30 October) in which they commited to “finalising an agreement in the next two weeks”. According to the statement, the agreement will include: Legal protections for employees that extend beyond the current three year offer An improved pay and reward offer A separate pensions agreement An agenda for growth underpinned by a culture of consensual change, timely decision making and industrial stability supported by alternative dispute resolution processes An agreed approach to aligning resourcing to workload with a resolution to any current workload and resourcing issues An overview of the future parcels and letters strategy A joint company/CWU charter shaping the on-going values and principles of the Royal Mail Group An on-going operational programme of work The two parties said that an overall agreement would depend on all the elements outlined above being agreed. No mention was made of the separate and ongoing issue of downstream access mail, which the CWU has threatened repeatedly to boycott. However, A CWU spokeswoman said that a recently-announced ballot for industrial action over the issue of DSA mail would also be postponed while the union and Royal Mail attempted to reach an agreement on the problems of pay, pensions and job security. Meanwhile, Royal Mail share price is currently around 550p, some 67% above its IPO price of 330p, on the back of “irrational exuberance” on the part of would-be investors. While this means that Royal Mail employees who took part in the free share offer have landed a sizeable windfall, they will not be able to sell their shares for three years from the IPO. In addition the implied dividend yield of 6.1% (based on the IPO price of 330p per share) has fallen to 3.6% based on the current, higher share...
read moreNew bookletmaker set to attract more work at council
The Cheshire council, which switched from Ricoh kit to Konica Minolta two months ago up, looked at several booklet systems, before deciding on the Morgana device, according to principal reprographics officer Alan Argent. “It is highly versatile and requires the minimum of adjustment to cope with the wide range of work we produce,” said Argent. “Even though the machine has been in only a few weeks we have managed one urgent request from our local theatre that we could never have coped with in-house before the arrival of this unit. They needed programmes in a last minute rush: we turned the entire job around inside a day.” Halton digital department recently swapped a Ricoh Pro C651 colour machine and a black and white model for three Konica Minoltas – a Bizhub C6000 colour machine and two Bizhub Pro 951 black and white models – to print booklets for internal departments. Argent said the efficiency of the new bookletmaking system may attract commercial work beyond its usual customer base, such as local schools. The Morgana replaced a Watkiss bookletmaker, which was used alongside a two-colour Komori litho press before Halton went digital four years ago. “The System 2000 can produce booklets up to 120 pages, with output of up to 3,000 booklets an hour though our typical runs are in their hundreds,” he said. “We can now offer more on the finishing side so maybe we can attract more work.” The system is fed by the hybrid ACF510 feeder capable of feeding pre-collated sets from a digital print engine, collating litho printed sections, or combining both into a finished book product. The heavy-duty bookletmaking section comes with wire-stitching heads and fore-edge trimmer. Morgana marketing director Ray Hillhouse said: “The needs of this installation show the difference in post-press requirements when making the change from litho to digital. Older-style binding kit just can’t compare with efficient bookletmaking systems made with digital production in mind.”...
read moreNew bookletmaker set to attract more work at council
The Cheshire council, which switched from Ricoh kit to Konica Minolta two months ago up, looked at several booklet systems, before deciding on the Morgana device, according to principal reprographics officer Alan Argent. “It is highly versatile and requires the minimum of adjustment to cope with the wide range of work we produce,” said Argent. “Even though the machine has been in only a few weeks we have managed one urgent request from our local theatre that we could never have coped with in-house before the arrival of this unit. They needed programmes in a last minute rush: we turned the entire job around inside a day.” Halton digital department recently swapped a Ricoh Pro C651 colour machine and a black and white model for three Konica Minoltas – a Bizhub C6000 colour machine and two Bizhub Pro 951 black and white models – to print booklets for internal departments. Argent said the efficiency of the new bookletmaking system may attract commercial work beyond its usual customer base, such as local schools. The Morgana replaced a Watkiss bookletmaker, which was used alongside a two-colour Komori litho press before Halton went digital four years ago. “The System 2000 can produce booklets up to 120 pages, with output of up to 3,000 booklets an hour though our typical runs are in their hundreds,” he said. “We can now offer more on the finishing side so maybe we can attract more work.” The system is fed by the hybrid ACF510 feeder capable of feeding pre-collated sets from a digital print engine, collating litho printed sections, or combining both into a finished book product. The heavy-duty bookletmaking section comes with wire-stitching heads and fore-edge trimmer. Morgana marketing director Ray Hillhouse said: “The needs of this installation show the difference in post-press requirements when making the change from litho to digital. Older-style binding kit just can’t compare with efficient bookletmaking systems made with digital production in mind.”...
read morePolestar web offset plans ‘on track’
The group has lodged a planning submission with Sheffield City Council to extend its existing Sheffield gravure facility by more than 20,000sqm. The new unit formed part of the existing planning application in 2004, which included the potential to extend the site in phases. The phase two expansion involves a new building adjoined to the existing factory. Polestar’s representatives have lodged a planning amendment that states: “The original applications conceived of a scenario where Polestar would expand their operation on this site. The expansion is now required. This will meet requirements for expanded production space as well as providing covered loading space.” The initial installation involves two Goss International 96pp Sunday 5000 presses, which will be the first in the UK. Last month Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert told PrintWeek that he anticipated the group’s plans would be confirmed by the end of October. This week he said that the plans were “on track”. “Consultations with staff and unions continue. We have no need to announce location until necessary… in case we have to amend location due to planning permission and contracts, etc.” Hibbert stated. Polestar is known to be pitching for a bigger share of a tranche of IPC Media weekly and monthly magazines currently up for review. The print contract, believed to be worth more than £10m, includes titles from the publisher’s Southbank, Inspire and Connect portfolios. The work is currently split between Polestar and Wyndeham, with both companies battling to retain, or gain, from the fresh tender. Other potential suppliers such as Prinovis are also expected to pitch. The current contracts expire next year and a decision is expected by early 2014. It will be the first major UK contract to be negotiated under Guy Gleysteen, senior vice president for production, at IPC’s US parent Time Inc/Time Warner. Gleysteen took over former manufacturing director Jasper Scott’s responsibilities in April....
read morePolestar web offset plans ‘on track’
The group has lodged a planning submission with Sheffield City Council to extend its existing Sheffield gravure facility by more than 20,000sqm. The new unit formed part of the existing planning application in 2004, which included the potential to extend the site in phases. The phase two expansion involves a new building adjoined to the existing factory. Polestar’s representatives have lodged a planning amendment that states: “The original applications conceived of a scenario where Polestar would expand their operation on this site. The expansion is now required. This will meet requirements for expanded production space as well as providing covered loading space.” The initial installation involves two Goss International 96pp Sunday 5000 presses, which will be the first in the UK. Last month Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert told PrintWeek that he anticipated the group’s plans would be confirmed by the end of October. This week he said that the plans were “on track”. “Consultations with staff and unions continue. We have no need to announce location until necessary… in case we have to amend location due to planning permission and contracts, etc.” Hibbert stated. Polestar is known to be pitching for a bigger share of a tranche of IPC Media weekly and monthly magazines currently up for review. The print contract, believed to be worth more than £10m, includes titles from the publisher’s Southbank, Inspire and Connect portfolios. The work is currently split between Polestar and Wyndeham, with both companies battling to retain, or gain, from the fresh tender. Other potential suppliers such as Prinovis are also expected to pitch. The current contracts expire next year and a decision is expected by early 2014. It will be the first major UK contract to be negotiated under Guy Gleysteen, senior vice president for production, at IPC’s US parent Time Inc/Time Warner. Gleysteen took over former manufacturing director Jasper Scott’s responsibilities in April....
read moreInsignia fast tracks innovative food labelling with new funding
“This is great news and comes at a good time for us,” said business development manager Jonny Macneal. “We had been grant funded up to this point, but this funding now puts us in the position to be able to commercialise the technology and continue growing our customer base and continue with the trials we have in the pipeline.” The technology works by using intelligent pigments, developed by Insignia, which are turned into a plastic pellet ‘master batch’ that is then co-extruded in a triple-layer plastic film. The film is then incorporated into a label and applied to conventional modified-atmosphere packaging. The label is ‘charged’ when the CO2 is added and the pack is sealed. When the pack is opened and the CO2 escapes, a gas diffusion reaction begins and the colour starts to change over a pre-determined period, indicating to the consumer when the product is still safe to eat or needs to be discarded. In principle, it would also work if the product had a faulty or broken seal, prior to purchase. The company is currently working with an unnamed Scottish label manufacturer to develop the technology applications for initial trial products, with a view to develop products on a manufacturing scale in the near future. According to Insignia, an estimated 18m tonnes of edible food is sent to landfill every year. It believes its indicator label technology could help to reduce this. This latest round of funding was led by Equity Gap, in partnership with Scottish Investment Bank, Highland Venture Capital, the University of Strathclyde and a number of private investors. The company was formed last summer following the merger of Dundee-based intelligent ink developer Insignia Pack and Novas Technologies, which was a ‘spin-out’ company from a plastics proof-of-concept project at the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, led by Dr Graham Skinner. The company has already secured trials with one (possibly two) UK supermarket groups and three in the US. The first trials are due to be on supermarket shelves in Q1 2014. The trials will be focused on supermarket own-label products. “We would like to think that if trials went well, we’re in the position to scale up to full production very quickly and work with the retailers, and their supply chains, to get a commercial product on the shelves as soon as possible,” said Macneal. Insignia has seven staff, three of whom hold PhDs in chemistry, working on the existing products and developing new applications and products. The company is initially targeting food production and processing applications, but is already planning to expand into the healthcare, cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors. It’s first commercial product, utilising a similar CO2 label technology, is already being used by a Californian company to monitor the freshness of soft fruit during transit by detecting CO2 levels. Insignia chief executive David Kilshaw said: “This investment provides the necessary funding to drive the development programme being carried out by our technical team, both with regards to the existing technologies, as well as future research projects.”...
read moreTech-ni-fold wins Platinum International Invention of the Year Award
The competition shortlisted the 30 most impressive of those inventions awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal during the show, presenting those meeting certain standards with a double gold, platinum or diamond award. Other categories included ‘British Invention of the Year’, ‘International Innovation of the Year’, ‘Environment’ and ‘Design’. Five other companies were awarded a platinum trophy, reported managing director of Tech-ni-fold Graham Harris, with five taking home diamond awards. “Though it’s not part of the official criteria those diamond awards are typically reserved for doctors and scientists, people behind lifesaving and enhancing technologies. And in fact the platinum awards are usually bestowed upon companies who create solutions on a wider consumer scale,” said Harris, citing a fellow platinum award-winner Alexander Bushel and his water collection and purification technology. Harris added: “To be spoken about in the same sentence as these people is a real honour.” The reason given by the judges for the CreaseStream Mini series’ win, was not only the innovativeness of the technology but its commercial success. Harris said: “It’s not just about the fact we invented something, it’s what we have done with it and how far we have gotten with it. We have proven we can take it through all of the design stages to bring it to market – only a handful of companies could demonstrate that. There were some fantastic products, but you could see they were going to struggle to get financial backing.” He added: “I think the judges were impressed with how we had evolved our technology to develop a range of machines based on a simple rubber o-ring concept that had already served us so well to crease materials and combat the threat of cracking in the offset market. It helped that we could demonstrate the three Mini machines, two of which required no electrical input, and could feed digitally printed sheets without using vacuum pumps, avoiding the problem of marking the sheets during transportation.” Alongside delivering technical demos of the CreaseStream Mini and hosting a Christmas card challenge where visitors competed to crease as many cards in 60 seconds as possible, Tech-ni-fold also demonstrated new packaging and instant-play video card tutorials at the show. The cards are being rolled out to replace in-person installation where the customer is happy with this cost-saving alternative....
read moreTech-ni-fold wins Platinum International Invention of the Year Award
The competition shortlisted the 30 most impressive of those inventions awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal during the show, presenting those meeting certain standards with a double gold, platinum or diamond award. Other categories included ‘British Invention of the Year’, ‘International Innovation of the Year’, ‘Environment’ and ‘Design’. Five other companies were awarded a platinum trophy, reported managing director of Tech-ni-fold Graham Harris, with five taking home diamond awards. “Though it’s not part of the official criteria those diamond awards are typically reserved for doctors and scientists, people behind lifesaving and enhancing technologies. And in fact the platinum awards are usually bestowed upon companies who create solutions on a wider consumer scale,” said Harris, citing a fellow platinum award-winner Alexander Bushel and his water collection and purification technology. Harris added: “To be spoken about in the same sentence as these people is a real honour.” The reason given by the judges for the CreaseStream Mini series’ win, was not only the innovativeness of the technology but its commercial success. Harris said: “It’s not just about the fact we invented something, it’s what we have done with it and how far we have gotten with it. We have proven we can take it through all of the design stages to bring it to market – only a handful of companies could demonstrate that. There were some fantastic products, but you could see they were going to struggle to get financial backing.” He added: “I think the judges were impressed with how we had evolved our technology to develop a range of machines based on a simple rubber o-ring concept that had already served us so well to crease materials and combat the threat of cracking in the offset market. It helped that we could demonstrate the three Mini machines, two of which required no electrical input, and could feed digitally printed sheets without using vacuum pumps, avoiding the problem of marking the sheets during transportation.” Alongside delivering technical demos of the CreaseStream Mini and hosting a Christmas card challenge where visitors competed to crease as many cards in 60 seconds as possible, Tech-ni-fold also demonstrated new packaging and instant-play video card tutorials at the show. The cards are being rolled out to replace in-person installation where the customer is happy with this cost-saving alternative....
read moreInsignia fast tracks innovative food labelling with new funding
“This is great news and comes at a good time for us,” said business development manager Jonny Macneal. “We had been grant funded up to this point, but this funding now puts us in the position to be able to commercialise the technology and continue growing our customer base and continue with the trials we have in the pipeline.” The technology works by using intelligent pigments, developed by Insignia, which are turned into a plastic pellet ‘master batch’ that is then co-extruded in a triple-layer plastic film. The film is then incorporated into a label and applied to conventional modified-atmosphere packaging. The label is ‘charged’ when the CO2 is added and the pack is sealed. When the pack is opened and the CO2 escapes, a gas diffusion reaction begins and the colour starts to change over a pre-determined period, indicating to the consumer when the product is still safe to eat or needs to be discarded. In principle, it would also work if the product had a faulty or broken seal, prior to purchase. The company is currently working with an unnamed Scottish label manufacturer to develop the technology applications for initial trial products, with a view to develop products on a manufacturing scale in the near future. According to Insignia, an estimated 18m tonnes of edible food is sent to landfill every year. It believes its indicator label technology could help to reduce this. This latest round of funding was led by Equity Gap, in partnership with Scottish Investment Bank, Highland Venture Capital, the University of Strathclyde and a number of private investors. The company was formed last summer following the merger of Dundee-based intelligent ink developer Insignia Pack and Novas Technologies, which was a ‘spin-out’ company from a plastics proof-of-concept project at the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, led by Dr Graham Skinner. The company has already secured trials with one (possibly two) UK supermarket groups and three in the US. The first trials are due to be on supermarket shelves in Q1 2014. The trials will be focused on supermarket own-label products. “We would like to think that if trials went well, we’re in the position to scale up to full production very quickly and work with the retailers, and their supply chains, to get a commercial product on the shelves as soon as possible,” said Macneal. Insignia has seven staff, three of whom hold PhDs in chemistry, working on the existing products and developing new applications and products. The company is initially targeting food production and processing applications, but is already planning to expand into the healthcare, cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors. It’s first commercial product, utilising a similar CO2 label technology, is already being used by a Californian company to monitor the freshness of soft fruit during transit by detecting CO2 levels. Insignia chief executive David Kilshaw said: “This investment provides the necessary funding to drive the development programme being carried out by our technical team, both with regards to the existing technologies, as well as future research projects.”...
read more