Finat warns label printers over new EU food regs
The organization has issued guidance on the EU 10/2011 regulation on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, which came into force on 1 January 2013 and replaced Commission Directive 2002/72/EC and national legislation based on that directive. Under the new legislation both direct food contact labels furnished with a plastic layer, as well as plastic labels applied to food packaging, require Declarations of Conformity (DoCs) stating which controlled but authorised substances are present in their make-up. While the ultimate responsibility for checking that the packaging as a whole conforms to EU 10/2011, Finat stressed that label printers would be required to provide DoCs for their labels to enable tests for restricted substance levels and migration behaviour in specific environmental conditions to be carried out. This means that food label printers supplying into the EU will need to secure DoCs from their labelstock and ink suppliers to be able to compile their own DoCs, which must also incorporate conformance information about any curing processes used during label production. “It should be noted that the enactment of these regulations means that printers unable to supply DoCs cannot now be accepted as part of the end user’s supply chain, and may also leave themselves open to the financial repercussions of a product recall,” said Finat. “It is therefore essential for label printers to be proactive in obtaining and supplying the necessary documentation if they are to retain their place as responsible and viable links in the broader professional packaging chain.” According to Finat, the purpose of the regulation is to harmonise the different legislation that has existed previously within individual member states and make it easier for different countries to deal with each other in terms of the shipping of goods. Finat president Kurt Walker said: “Clear communication in the food packaging supply chain has become essential. It is important for food label printers to discuss the intended application – directly on the food or on the outside of the food packaging- with the end customer to ensure the label is produced with the right inks and materials to conform with the food regulation rules for that particular application.”...
read moreFinat warns label printers over new EU food regs
The organization has issued guidance on the EU 10/2011 regulation on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, which came into force on 1 January 2013 and replaced Commission Directive 2002/72/EC and national legislation based on that directive. Under the new legislation both direct food contact labels furnished with a plastic layer, as well as plastic labels applied to food packaging, require Declarations of Conformity (DoCs) stating which controlled but authorised substances are present in their make-up. While the ultimate responsibility for checking that the packaging as a whole conforms to EU 10/2011, Finat stressed that label printers would be required to provide DoCs for their labels to enable tests for restricted substance levels and migration behaviour in specific environmental conditions to be carried out. This means that food label printers supplying into the EU will need to secure DoCs from their labelstock and ink suppliers to be able to compile their own DoCs, which must also incorporate conformance information about any curing processes used during label production. “It should be noted that the enactment of these regulations means that printers unable to supply DoCs cannot now be accepted as part of the end user’s supply chain, and may also leave themselves open to the financial repercussions of a product recall,” said Finat. “It is therefore essential for label printers to be proactive in obtaining and supplying the necessary documentation if they are to retain their place as responsible and viable links in the broader professional packaging chain.” According to Finat, the purpose of the regulation is to harmonise the different legislation that has existed previously within individual member states and make it easier for different countries to deal with each other in terms of the shipping of goods. Finat president Kurt Walker said: “Clear communication in the food packaging supply chain has become essential. It is important for food label printers to discuss the intended application – directly on the food or on the outside of the food packaging- with the end customer to ensure the label is produced with the right inks and materials to conform with the food regulation rules for that particular application.”...
read moreStart up Infinity Finishing goes live
Infinity Finishing has been set up by co-directors Ian Simkins and Mark Winn. Both men have extensive experience of the trade. Simkins was most recently working at Prinovis Liverpool and prior to that was production manager at Andrews Print Finishing; while Winn has worked at a number of major print groups and has been involved with demonstrating and training binding line operators. Simkins said that since the closure of Andrews in 2011, a gap in the market had remained unfilled. “There’s a massive potential market for a finishing company like us. No-one has filled the void left by Andrews, because of the costs and expertise required.” Simkins and Winn, with support from Lloyds bank, have invested £600,000 setting up the new operation. The firm is based in a 600sqm unit on the secure Barwell Business Park in Chessington. Infinity’s target market includes printers based within the M25, along the M3 corridor, and in Kent and Surrey. A 14-station Muller Martini Acoro in “mint condition” was sourced for Infinity from New Zealand by Bindery Machinery Services. “The Acoro has camera recognition on the stations and the cover feeder, and has a split saw so we can produce jobs two-up,” Simkins explained. “We can run it with two types of glue, hot melt and PUR, because we see a lot of demand for shorter run, prestigious brochures that need PUR binding. We’ll be using Henkel glue because we want to go for the best.” Simkins praised all the suppliers who have helped to get the business up and running. “Everybody we’ve approached has been so helpful, it really does mean so much. So many people have come to see us already, it’s very exciting.” He said the firm was expecting to handle run lengths from 500 to hundreds of thousands, with the average likely to be 10,000-15,000. Infinity has taken on six additional staff and hopes to grow as the business take off. It is in the process of setting up its website www.infinityfinishing.co.uk....
read moreStart up Infinity Finishing goes live
Infinity Finishing has been set up by co-directors Ian Simkins and Mark Winn. Both men have extensive experience of the trade. Simkins was most recently working at Prinovis Liverpool and prior to that was production manager at Andrews Print Finishing; while Winn has worked at a number of major print groups and has been involved with demonstrating and training binding line operators. Simkins said that since the closure of Andrews in 2011, a gap in the market had remained unfilled. “There’s a massive potential market for a finishing company like us. No-one has filled the void left by Andrews, because of the costs and expertise required.” Simkins and Winn, with support from Lloyds bank, have invested £600,000 setting up the new operation. The firm is based in a 600sqm unit on the secure Barwell Business Park in Chessington. Infinity’s target market includes printers based within the M25, along the M3 corridor, and in Kent and Surrey. A 14-station Muller Martini Acoro in “mint condition” was sourced for Infinity from New Zealand by Bindery Machinery Services. “The Acoro has camera recognition on the stations and the cover feeder, and has a split saw so we can produce jobs two-up,” Simkins explained. “We can run it with two types of glue, hot melt and PUR, because we see a lot of demand for shorter run, prestigious brochures that need PUR binding. We’ll be using Henkel glue because we want to go for the best.” Simkins praised all the suppliers who have helped to get the business up and running. “Everybody we’ve approached has been so helpful, it really does mean so much. So many people have come to see us already, it’s very exciting.” He said the firm was expecting to handle run lengths from 500 to hundreds of thousands, with the average likely to be 10,000-15,000. Infinity has taken on six additional staff and hopes to grow as the business take off. It is in the process of setting up its website www.infinityfinishing.co.uk....
read moreStart-up Infinity Finishing goes live
Infinity Finishing has been set up by co-directors Ian Simkins and Mark Winn. Both men have extensive experience of the trade. Simkins was most recently working at Prinovis Liverpool and prior to that was production manager at Andrews Print Finishing; while Winn has worked at a number of major print groups and has been involved with demonstrating and training binding line operators. Simkins said that since the closure of Andrews in 2011, a gap in the market had remained unfilled. “There’s a massive potential market for a finishing company like us. No-one has filled the void left by Andrews, because of the costs and expertise required.” Simkins and Winn, with support from Lloyds bank, have invested £600,000 setting up the new operation. The firm is based in 600sqm unit on the secure Barwell Business Park in Chessington. Infinity’s target market includes printers based within the M25, along the M3 corridor, and in Kent and Surrey. A 14-station Muller Martini Acoro in “mint condition” was sourced for Infinity from New Zealand by Bindery Machinery Services. “The Acoro has camera recognition on the stations and the cover feeder, and has a split saw so we can produce jobs two-up,” Simkins explained. “We can run it with two types of glue, hot melt and PUR, because we see a lot of demand for shorter run, prestigious brochures that need PUR binding. We’ll be using Henkel glue because we want to go for the best.” Simkins praised all the suppliers who have helped to get the business up and running. “Everybody we’ve approached has been so helpful, it really does mean so much. So many people have come to see us already, it’s very exciting.” He said the firm was expecting to handle run lengths from 500 to hundreds of thousands, with the average likely to be 10,000-15,000. Infinity has taken on six additional staff and hopes to grow as the business take off....
read moreEmployee absence down in paper and printing
In paper and printing the average level of employee absence fell from 5.6 days per year in 2012 to 4.9 days in 2013. This marks the second annual fall in absence levels since 2011, when the average number of days lost per employee rose to 6.8 from 6.3 in 2010. The downward trend in printing and paper is in contrast to the performance of the manufacturing and production sector as a whole, which has seen average employee absence increase from 5.7 in 2011 to 6.0 in 2012 and 2013. However, manufacturing still has the lowest absence levels of the four sectors included in the CIPD survey. Of the other three, public services has the highest absence rate at 8.7 days, followed by non-profit organisations with 8.1 days and private sector services with 7.2 days. The CIPD noted that, on average, absence levels had increased by nearly one day per employee to 7.6 days, returning to levels previously observed in 2011 and 2010. Short-term absences of up to seven days accounted for two-thirds of working time lost to absence in 2013, while long-term absences of four weeks or more were responsible for a fifth. However, there were significant variations between sectors and in manufacturing and production, short-term absences contributed to 76% of the total versus just 13% for long-term. The CIPD estimates that the annual median cost of absence per employee in 2013 was £595. For a full copy of the report, visit the CIPD website....
read moreStart-up Infinity Finishing goes live
Infinity Finishing has been set up by co-directors Ian Simkins and Mark Winn. Both men have extensive experience of the trade. Simkins was most recently working at Prinovis Liverpool and prior to that was production manager at Andrews Print Finishing; while Winn has worked at a number of major print groups and has been involved with demonstrating and training binding line operators. Simkins said that since the closure of Andrews in 2011, a gap in the market had remained unfilled. “There’s a massive potential market for a finishing company like us. No-one has filled the void left by Andrews, because of the costs and expertise required.” Simkins and Winn, with support from Lloyds bank, have invested £600,000 setting up the new operation. The firm is based in 600sqm unit on the secure Barwell Business Park in Chessington. Infinity’s target market includes printers based within the M25, along the M3 corridor, and in Kent and Surrey. A 14-station Muller Martini Acoro in “mint condition” was sourced for Infinity from New Zealand by Bindery Machinery Services. “The Acoro has camera recognition on the stations and the cover feeder, and has a split saw so we can produce jobs two-up,” Simkins explained. “We can run it with two types of glue, hot melt and PUR, because we see a lot of demand for shorter run, prestigious brochures that need PUR binding. We’ll be using Henkel glue because we want to go for the best.” Simkins praised all the suppliers who have helped to get the business up and running. “Everybody we’ve approached has been so helpful, it really does mean so much. So many people have come to see us already, it’s very exciting.” He said the firm was expecting to handle run lengths from 500 to hundreds of thousands, with the average likely to be 10,000-15,000. Infinity has taken on six additional staff and hopes to grow as the business take off....
read moreEmployee absence down in paper and printing
In paper and printing the average level of employee absence fell from 5.6 days per year in 2012 to 4.9 days in 2013. This marks the second annual fall in absence levels since 2011, when the average number of days lost per employee rose to 6.8 from 6.3 in 2010. The downward trend in printing and paper is in contrast to the performance of the manufacturing and production sector as a whole, which has seen average employee absence increase from 5.7 in 2011 to 6.0 in 2012 and 2013. However, manufacturing still has the lowest absence levels of the four sectors included in the CIPD survey. Of the other three, public services has the highest absence rate at 8.7 days, followed by non-profit organisations with 8.1 days and private sector services with 7.2 days. The CIPD noted that, on average, absence levels had increased by nearly one day per employee to 7.6 days, returning to levels previously observed in 2011 and 2010. Short-term absences of up to seven days accounted for two-thirds of working time lost to absence in 2013, while long-term absences of four weeks or more were responsible for a fifth. However, there were significant variations between sectors and in manufacturing and production, short-term absences contributed to 76% of the total versus just 13% for long-term. The CIPD estimates that the annual median cost of absence per employee in 2013 was £595. For a full copy of the report, visit the CIPD website....
read moreFrankfurt Book Fair: ‘Print will always be important’
In his first major public appearance since the £2.4bn merger of Penguin and Random House in July, chief executive Markus Dohle said that print would always be an important part of the publisher’s business. Dohle said: “Our basic strategic assumption is that print will always be important, always—not in 50 years or 100 years—always. And our digital business is of course [growing]. “That is a very simple, but very important assumption. We are basically saying that even 100 years from now, the print business will be a big chunk of our business. It may be 70% percent. Today it’s 80% print and 20% digital. “The buzz here at the fair is 95% digital and 5% print. But I think there is a clear misunderstanding. 80% is actually print today, and in our two biggest markets, North America and the U.K. the growth rates of digital are sort of flattening out a bit.” Dohle went on to explain that in the US and UK, digital sales had started to plateau at around 25% share. “I think it’s quite surprising. But we’ve always believed in print and we feel more encouraged and inspired as ever to invest in print because it will matter always,” he added. “So, we strongly believe that print will always be a big chunk of our business and it doesn’t really matter whether we end up at 50% in the new world balance, at 60% percent, at 40% or whatever. “That means that we will continue to invest in our print business heavily. We are not running away. We call it our zig-zag strategy. While many publishers run away from print, we continue to invest in print: While everybody goes zig, we go zag.” Dohle said that all publishers were making “important strategic calls” in a “rapidly changing market environment” and that those decisions would create new competitive advantages going forward. “We want to create competitive advantages in print and in digital,” he added. Publishers Weekly has published a full transcript of Dohle’s comments here....
read moreFrankfurt Book Fair: ‘Print will always be important’
In his first major public appearance since the £2.4bn merger of Penguin and Random House in July, chief executive Markus Dohle said that print would always be an important part of the publisher’s business. Dohle said: “Our basic strategic assumption is that print will always be important, always—not in 50 years or 100 years—always. And our digital business is of course [growing]. “That is a very simple, but very important assumption. We are basically saying that even 100 years from now, the print business will be a big chunk of our business. It may be 70% percent. Today it’s 80% print and 20% digital. “The buzz here at the fair is 95% digital and 5% print. But I think there is a clear misunderstanding. 80% is actually print today, and in our two biggest markets, North America and the U.K. the growth rates of digital are sort of flattening out a bit.” Dohle went on to explain that in the US and UK, digital sales had started to plateau at around 25% share. “I think it’s quite surprising. But we’ve always believed in print and we feel more encouraged and inspired as ever to invest in print because it will matter always,” he added. “So, we strongly believe that print will always be a big chunk of our business and it doesn’t really matter whether we end up at 50% in the new world balance, at 60% percent, at 40% or whatever. “That means that we will continue to invest in our print business heavily. We are not running away. We call it our zig-zag strategy. While many publishers run away from print, we continue to invest in print: While everybody goes zig, we go zag.” Dohle said that all publishers were making “important strategic calls” in a “rapidly changing market environment” and that those decisions would create new competitive advantages going forward. “We want to create competitive advantages in print and in digital,” he added. Publishers Weekly has published a full transcript of Dohle’s comments here....
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