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PrintWeek.com: World NewsNotice: Undefined variable: temp in C:\www_fileprint\main\code\lastrss.php on line 156 Hobs turns to Watkiss for new division The investment was finalised at Drupa last week (8 May). It follows the installation of two Indigo presses, which created a division focussing on high-quality colour presentation material and documents. According to Hobs director Christie O'Brien, it was for this work that the company approached Watkiss. He said: "Much of the work that we produce for our clients is printed on a minimum of 160 or 170gsm stock, frequently with high paginations, and a conventional booklet maker wouldn't handle this work. "We also produce some very long documents - as much as 15,000 pages. We were looking for better presentation than wire-binding, and the SquareBack finish of the Watkiss PowerSquare provided the perfect solution." The Watkiss PowerSquare 200 is a booklet making system that stitches folds and trims to produce square-spined SquareBack books up to 200 pages thick. It features fully automatic settings for different book size and pagination, including variable stitch leg length for varying book thickness. It is available as offline, nearline and online systems. Tweet[More] HP could cut up to 30,000 jobs The technology giant is working with management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to draw up the job-cuts proposals, according to the reports, which are said to have come from people briefed on the plans. The speculated cuts are said to include 10,000 to 15,000 staff from HP's enterprise services group, which sells a range of information-technology services and which has been hit by a fall in profits. The cuts follow the arrival of new chief executive and former eBay boss Meg Whitman in September. Whitman replaced Leo Apotheker, who presided over a 40% fall in the company's share price and who was ousted after shareholders rejected his turnaround plans. HP's first quarter results for 2012 showed a 7% fall in profits year-on-year, and a 32% fall in earnings per share. Whitman said of the results: "We are taking the necessary steps to improve execution, increase effectiveness and capitalize on emerging opportunities to reassert HP's technology leadership." Tweet [More] Nicholson Bass evolves for 75th anniversary The Northern-Irish print company, formerly Nicholson & Bass, is launching six direct mail campaigns during 2012, targeting the arts and publishing sectors. The company is focusing on reinforcing its status in its existing markets, Scotland and Ireland. Productivity and sales have increased 30% and 20% respectively since the company invested £1.5m in a 10-colour KBA press, folding machine and Palamides attachment last year and the company plans to invest in a further digital press in Q2 of this year. The company has expanded its staffing over the past year, adding marketing manager Jan Todd to oversee the latest commercial collateral, as well as operations director, Brian Gillespie. Gillespie offers 18 years of lean manufacturing practice within the print industry, a technique which the company said has enabled it to "compete in more demanding and price sensitive markets". All staff are being upskilled to offer a multitude of disciplines within the trade and have been enrolled on Nicholson Bass' three-year Business Improvement Training programme. Nicholson Bass is also looking to external markets, targeting mainland UK with newly-recruited sales agents and wider reach of current staff. Jan Todd said: "The recession has been the catalyst for change, but we are now in a much stronger position than we ever were. We are entering a new era with a fresh look as the company turns 75." Managing director Jonathan McGarry added: "Digital design and the computer age have been blamed for negatively affecting print media; however, I feel it has only made it stronger. "We have come a long way from our early days using letterpress but it is not the technology that makes us different - it is our people and the investment in skill and care. We adhere to the traditional values, which have been passed from my grandfather's generation, but have a modern ethos that has allowed us to adapt to an ever-changing market." Nicholson Bass says it is the only Irish printer to win 22 category awards over 21 years, including the Investor in People in 1999. Tweet[More] ODM partners with Mohawk to launch photobook binder The on-demand, automated bindery system, which scores, folds and presses book blocks up to 1.5 inches thick, eliminates the need for hand-operated equipment to produce book blocks for lay-flat photo books. It has been specifically designed for use with the Mohawk Panoramic line of i-Tone photo papers. The machine, which was demonstrated at Drupa and has a list price of US $75,000(£47,444), can produce up to 100 Panoramic photo book blocks per hour and aims to be user-friendly with no makeready. It will be distributed in the UK by Perfect Bindery Solutions and will be ready for delivery from August. The system can handle open book sizes of 675mm x 362.5mm and closed book sizes 337.5mm x 362.5mm. Tweet [More] Can your vehicles pull their weight but pollute less? With petrol and diesel getting more expensive, and very little sign of the merciless price rises slowing down, it means that the cost of transporting goods is on a similarly unstoppable upwards curve — and greater costs potentially mean higher prices for customers. Or do they? After all, necessity has always been the mother of invention and with margins being squeezed across the board, printers and other companies attached to the trade are having to come up with new ways to cut costs and get greener, too. And as every business owner worth his or her salt knows, there are benefits to being greener aside from the purely altruistic. Efficiency and a healthy bottom line go hand in hand, and clients are demanding that their printers can make a strong and watertight case when it comes to their green credentials. But, as Morrissey almost once said, some firms are bigger than others, and what might work for a large-volume magazine printer, that needs to transport many tonnes at a time, might not work for small outfit occupying a small unit on an industrial estate with a single van. We've taken a closer look at some of the transportation options that could help your business get greener and leaner, and weighed up some of the pros and cons thereof. Of course, no single measure will be a panacea for your goods transportation situation, but they're all options worth exploring. Fasten your seatbelts... Tripping the light van-tasticElectrically powered vehicles are one option for the trade, particularly companies that are dealing in smaller volumes of goods in a highly localised area. Electric fuel-cell technology is in its relative infancy and it isn't at a level where printers could conceivably replace their entire petrol or diesel fleet with electrically-powered models, while the savings at the pumps will be offset by increases in your business's electricity bills. However, Benford UV, a small Buckinghamshire company which supplies ultraviolet dryers to printers, integrated a battery-powered Citroen Berlingo Electrique into its own fleet several years ago. Adopted by the French postal service, it is powered by a 162V cell and only has one forward gear. "It's used mainly for local stuff — but those sort of journeys are the ones that incur the most expense, so it comes into its own," says Benford UV sales and marketing manager Ron Ryan. How far the Citroen Berlingo Electrique can go is dependent very much on how it's driven — at 60mph, you'll be lucky to get 30 miles out of it before it needs its constitutional six-hour charge, although at a typical urban cruising speed of 20-30mph, there is much higher yield, around 60 miles, a figure which the team at Benford UV says is about typical for the van. The Berlingo Electrique has since been discontinued by Citroen — in many ways, it was a bit ahead of its own time — but with battery-powered cars like the Nissan Leaf becoming a more common sight, particularly on urban roads, don't be surprised if the battery-powered van stages a major comeback. Pros It's a modern, PR-friendly and relatively clean and quiet way of getting print, gear and materials around on local journeys... just don't take it on to the dual carriageway. Cons No good for long hauls, difficult to come by on the secondhand market, and are they really that green? After all, the electricity that you've topped up overnight has probably come from a non-renewable source anyway. It's easy to get caught short on fill-ups, too. Charging stations are few and far between compared to bog-standard garage forecourts, so, unless routes are well planned, you're more likely to get caught with an empty tank. Hybrid theory It's easier and quicker than you might think, too. Ashwoods, a firm which specialises in retrofitting existing vehicles and selling new, modified Ford Transits with efficient hybrid motors, claims it can get a van fitted with a fuel cell in just three hours. However, by the company's own admission, because of the way the technology works, it may not be the right choice for vehicles that spend most of their time on the motorway. But, as with fully electric vans, the vehicles really shine on short, urban journeys when cars are at their least efficient. Pros Hi-tech, quicker than you might think to install; a winner with clients. Cons Relatively expensive (unless you're in the public sector, that is, where grants are available to convert vehicles), not as green as you'd think on long motorway hauls. Also, it won't be as easy - or indeed, cheap - to fix as a standard, diesel-guzzling van in the event of it throwing a mechanical wobbly. Rubber soul Of course, retrofitting your fleet doesn't have to extend to dropping in dual-fuel engines - you could simply kit your vans out with better tyres. The Campaign for Better Tyres reckons that fleet managers could also cut vehicles' CO2 emissions by up to 10%, reduce rolling noise by almost half, improve wet weather braking and handling, and reduce stopping distance by as much as 18m, simply by switching to a better brand of rubber. From November this year, it'll be easier than ever to tell how your tyres perform, too, with new EU legislation making all tyre vendors display fuel efficiency, noise and safety figures at point of sale. Pros It's easy, relatively cheap when compared to more hi-tech ideas and can deliver surprisingly substantial savings. Cons More efficient tyres will, unfortunately, cost more to buy in the first place. But if they wear better, make fuel go further and make your vans safer, is it a small price to pay? Get a good rep The Toyota Prius, beloved of socially conscious celebs like Leonardo di Caprio and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David might seem greener but, in reality, efficiency-focussed diesel repmobiles like Volkswagen's Passat Bluemotion, Vauxhall's Insignia Ecoflex and Ford's Mondeo Econetic offer better economy and emissions than their heavy hybrid rivals (those electric cells are particularly weighty pieces of kit). This is thanks to minor tweaks to aerodynamics, weight-saving measures, fuel-efficient tyres and engine mapping, all offering enviable MPGs. The less carbon they produce, the less vehicle excise duty you'll have to pay, too. Pros Cleaner, greener and more efficient transport for your reps. Cheaper to tax and run. What's not to love? Cons Some of your sales force might be unimpressed at the dip in performance compared to standard models. Economy drive The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, which runs a specialist course tailor-made for van and HGV drivers, reckons that changing drivers' behaviour to be more efficiency minded can make at least a 10% reduction in the amount of fuel that your business uses, money that goes straight back on to your bottom line. The thing is, how can you make sure that your fleet drivers are adhering to your measures when they're out on the road? Well, GPS tracking devices can monitor how and where your fleet are driving, so you can be sure that your drivers aren't taking liberties with fuel and wear and tear on your vehicles. But even these are fallible - illegal jammers are surprisingly easy to obtain, and will help drivers cover up what they've been up to. South Wales based magazine printer Stephens & George is one company that keeps an eye on its drivers. "We have a monitoring system in place that allows us to remotely check where our vehicles are 24/7 and how they're being driven," explains Stephens & George spokesman Ben Powell. "Drivers are given regular updates on their personal performance. This also acts as a security measure, and we are able to track how deliveries are progressing." You could even go as far as putting speed limiters on your vehicles, making sure that they don't go over the optimum efficiency zone. Simply setting a limiter to kick in 5mph below the 70mph limit can reduce fuel consumption by 10%. Pros Getting your drivers to take to the road in a more economical way doesn't cost a penny, and can deliver real, tangible savings in fuel spending, not to mention wear and tear on your vehicles. And if getting them to drive more efficiently of their own accord isn't successful, you can always put limiters on your vehicles. Cons Once you've got your drivers up to speed (or not, in this case) on driving economically, it can be tough to get them to stick to the new style, without resorting to draconian measures. After all, when the pressure's on to make that last delivery of the day on time, it can be difficult to keep the revs to a minimum. And, as we all know, bad driving habits can be difficult to shed. Let's work together However, with most printers, outsourcing delivery or using their own fleet is very much a ‘horses for courses' matter, as Stephens & George's Powell explains. "Depending on the requirements of the delivery we will utilise third-party companies to undertake multi-drops. We keep the in-house option for priority deliveries." Pros Using partners and third party logistics companies can help drastically reduce your own fleet, and can take some of the headache of delivering print away. Cons The delivery is taken out of your hands and into those of a third party - can you definitely trust somebody else to make good on your promises to your customers? Confidence in your partners is absolutely essential. Top tips for driving more efficiently
Red lorry, yellow lorry... green lorry? Lorries are inherently not the most aerodynamic of shapes, but the new breed of ‘teardrop' trailers are getting sleeker than ever - less drag, scuttle and shake means that they consume less fuel than their boxy forefathers, and they look much prettier than your bog standard artic, too. Virgin and Kingsmill are just two major Meanwhile, in Sweden and Finland, the haulage industry has been lobbying for the legalisation of whopping 90-tonne lorries - probably a step to far for Britain's bijou B roads. Oscillating parental time off will be a logistics nightmare However, according to a survey from the charity Working Families, 40% of employers have yet to prepare for the change in legislation. This is worrying news, given the additional red tape that the legislation is likely to bring - particularly for small printing firms, which are traditionally male dominated. Raising questions about the wisdom of such parental leave changes while the country is facing a double-dip recession risks drawing criticisms of undermining employees and their families, but that is way off the mark. Small businesses know their success depends utterly on having a happy, motivated workforce. They are not anti-family or opposed to the principle of employees being given time to spend with newborn children; they are just concerned that yet more practical problems are being heaped upon them. Nor is the Forum of Private Business (FPB) opposed to the principle of parental leave being shared equally between the mother and the father. But we are concerned by the idea that business owners should be the ones who have to deal with the administrative burden, such as continually liaising with the other parent's employer to prevent abuse of the system. Parents being able to continuously switch leave back and forth, on an ad hoc basis with little or no notice being provided to the employer, is likely to be an administrative nightmare. Surely, small businesses charged with driving economic recovery and creating employment should be offered better support to help them adapt to these changes, and to prevent a law designed to benefit workers instead becoming a barrier to job creation. The FPB believes that, in parallel to introducing family-friendly policies, the government should assist with the leg work required to implement them, perhaps by creating an agency - or empowering an existing one - to deal with the associated administration and help put in place contingency plans. Existing maternity laws provide leave for fixed periods, and recruiting a replacement for 12 months or so is often a viable option. However, with recent legislation giving the same benefits to temporary workers as permanent staff and undermining the attractiveness of the flexible labour market, recruiting stand-in employees at short notice for just weeks or months at a time will be incredibly difficult and costly, especially for skilled roles. It will also be impractical, as agency workers often take a while to bed in to their roles and are unlikely to be able to fill in for the absent parent during a period of just a few weeks. Flexible working can work for all parties, but entrepreneurs should not be compelled to provide it if it would be disastrous for their businesses. In the present economic climate, the government should be making it easier for people to gain employment, not placing ever more obstacles in the way of job creation. Memjet partnerships may boost Waterfall The manufacturer's Waterfall printheads, which are capable of printing 14 A1 pages a minute at 1,600dpi, powered devices from both Canon/Océ and Fuji Xerox at the show. The Océ machine, codenamed Project Velocity, featured a 1,066mm maximum print width and the six-roll media input technology from the ColorWave 650. This allows automatic switching between different rolls and media widths, providing a total capacity of 1,200m without interruption, and can handle stocks of 65-175gsm. The unnamed Fuji Xerox machine featured the same print width as the Océ device and could be seen churning out graphics on a range of coated and uncoated media at 150mm/sec. A sample booklet revealed that Fuji Xerox has been using the device to print on backlit film, polyester, canvas, mesh and lightstop, in similar stock weights to the Océ machine. However, one inkjet manufacturer questioned the cost of running the machines, given Fuji Xerox's estimate of the average life of Memjet's printheads as 10,000m of print. A spokesman for Fuji Xerox said that he expected the total cost per page, including spare parts replacement and consumables, to be "very competitive", although no information has been given on pricing for the machine, the printheads or the ink. Infotrends senior consultant Barney Cox warned that, with so little price information to go on, it was too early to tell how successful the devices would be. "The interest from visitors in these technology demonstrations shows there is an unmet need for high-speed and low-cost wide-format output," he said. "That they were both based on Memjet technology shows that it has potential," he added. "[But] to talk about taking it into the mainstream before there are firm details of the upfront and ongoing costs and available products is premature." Tweet[More] Anton adds variable to XL 106 with Kodak S5 order The multi-million pound installation, which will take place this summer, follows Anton's investment in six Prosper S5s and two NexPress 3900s in October 2011. The S5 printheads will be integrated with Anton's new Heidelberg XL 106 10-colour perfector, allowing the group to print high-quality litho and variable data in one run. Anton manufacturing director Gary Knight said: "We're mounting two rows of four printheads on a custom bar on top of the reel of the Cutstar sheeter. "This will enable us to print full-page variable letters at up to 18,000 B1 sheets an hour and with the S5 you're hard pushed to see the difference between the variable black text and the pre-printed black text." Anton chief executive John Knight added that his company was excited to be expanding hybrid printing. "It is game-changing - waste savings are 20% on any one job. Speeds to market are mammoth - it cuts out all other processes," he said. In addition to time and labour savings, Gary Knight said that printing the litho and variable inline also eliminated waste, as clients often don't know how big a final mailing list will be when they order the pre-printed letter stock. "They might order 150,000 letters when they send the file for the pre-printed element, then, when the list comes through with the variable data, it's only got 120,000 names on it," he said. "Because we can now print the whole job inline in the same timeframe we can save material waste by having the client give us the data at the same time as the rest of the job." Meanwhile, Anton's new NexPresses will include a fifth imaging unit and the latest neon, metallic and pearlescent inks, and will replace an older 2100 Plus and a 2500 Total. After they are installed Anton will have eight NexPresses in total, including four 3900s. Gary Knight said that the next stage would be to add the same S5 configuration to the firm's second XL 106 - a 12-colour due to be installed in December. Tweet[More] Late payments to UK SMEs top £35bn The Bacs survey, carried out in December, found that while the overall number of SMEs experiencing late payments was 76,000 less than six months previously, down to 785,000, the average amount owed to each business was up £6,000 to £45,000. The results revealed that the manufacturing industries, under which printers were categorised in the survey, fared worse with an average amount owed of £48,000. A combined outstanding amount of £12.3bn was owed to SMEs in the manufacturing industries, the figures reveal. Further breakdown of the figures show a significant 73% of manufacturing SMEs had experienced late payments compared to 42% of small businesses in the retail, distribution and service sectors. British Association for Print and Communication chairman Sidney Bobb said printers must have a payment policy so their customers could understand exactly what the terms were. "It is easy to criticise them for not being stringent enough when they take the business on but printers, in particular, are concerned that if they push too hard they will lose their customers," he claimed. "There is not a lot they can do if these big firms decide they want to extend. But actually more often than not what is happening is that buyers aren't even telling them when they are going to be paid." Bobb said the situation was creating "terrible" cashflow problems exacerbated by the banks setting out far more stringent lending criteria. "It means printers, among other businesses, have no money to invest for growth because they simply have none spare after they've paid rent and wages," he added. Bobb said even if the economy improved, the situation could stay the same because companies would not want to change their new payment agreements. The research follows figures revealed in the BPIF's quarterly Printing Outlook survey of trading trends which showed 72% of respondents had agreed to longer payment terms from their customers in order to retain or secure business. Additional questions added in to the report, published last month, asked how widespread late payment and extended payment terms had become in the print industry. It showed of the 72% who had accepted longer terms, 25% of extensions were for terms up to 60 days, 70% for up to 90 days and 6% up to 120 days In general 29% of respondents were affected by an increase in late payments in the 12 months to April 2012. Tweet[More] RPM regrows business with short-run packaging "Our niche is about 20,000 pieces or less," RPM founder and president Joe Cavey told PrintWeek. "We'll do 5,000 and we can do 10,000 on a six-color 20" mid-size Komori press, so it's very cost effective on the print end. And it's also very cost effective on the die end because I work with the die-cutter on our current Heidelberg. It may not run as quick as other presses but it does a beautiful job." RPM, which also does work in books, pamphlets, brochures and direct mail, now has about 50 new customers since getting into short-run packaging a year ago. Cavey said that traditionally most of his company's business has been in the mid-Atlantic region, ranging from Pennsylvania to Virginia, but added: "Now with the short-run carton business I have clients as far away as California." RPM has made the transition into packaging without a major investment in new equipment. "I've always run a Komori press and from experience I know that Komori are made with oversize impression cylinders," Cavey said, adding that another way he's attracting new packaging clients is with alternative substrates. "Many of the largest carton manufacturers, because they're not offset printers and because they've never been asked to think outside the box, have no idea there are other substrates you can make cartons out of." RPM, which does about $5 million in business annually, down from a peak of $9 million, also has a Canon 1318 for digital work, but Cavey said he's currently discouraging packaging clients from digital. "There's a lot of thicker substrates that digital can't run," he said. "Heidelberg does have a new press that can run on (thicker substrates), but it's got to be $800,000 and I don't know a lot of small commercial printers that can afford that." The bulk of RPM's new packaging clients are smaller cosmetic software firms, pharmaceuticals and candy-makers looking to create a splash on the retail shelves, but may only need 1,000 or 5,000 packages — as well as warehousing and fulfillment. Like many commercial printers, RPM did make a move into digital, bringing in a Xerox iGen printer, only to the have the client it was purchased for, a large financial company, install its own iGens months later as it brought that printing work in-house. Now with a leaner, if not meaner, operation that includes 28 employees, Cavey wants to take advantage of the fact there's little US competition in the short-run carton business. He's on the verge of launching a new website, BYOB (Build Your Own Box) to help smaller businesses cost-effectively design their own packaging. "It's been a nightmare for the printing industry for these last few years, but this is something different and exciting," Cavey said [More]FedEx survey points to power of signage for small business The "What's Your Sign" survey, done for FedEx by Ketchum Global Research & Analytics and ORC International, found more than 75% of Americans have visited a store for the first time based solely on its signage and that nearly 70% have made purchases solely because a sign caught their eye. The survey also found that 68% of US consumers believe a store's signage is reflective of the quality of its products or services, and that more than half are less willing to enter a store with misspelled or poorly-made signs. On average, the survey of 1,000 Americans, also found that a small business should have two or three signs around its storefront. In a PrintWeek interview, FedEx Office Marketing VP Randy Scarborough suggested the survey results, though interesting weren't necessarily surprising to the company, adding: "We've been in the sign and banner and graphic business for some time. What's new is the significant investment we've made in our infrastructure to serve small business customers." FedEx Office recently installed large-format and grand-format printing equipment, including Agfa Graphics' Jeti 3020 Titan inkjet printers and Zund G3 M-2500 digital table cutters. "We do strategically place this new equipment through our network and we also have a series of post-production centers," Scarborough said. "Most of the new large format equipment is in the post-production centers. But because we leverage the network, a job request for a sign could be submitted in one city and the need for the sign is actually across the country." There is some indication that US small businesses are boosting their marketing spends, including signage, Scarborough said, adding: "We are very optimistic about the small business segment and overall we are seeing business continuing to be strong just as the commitment we make to small business owners continues to be strong." [More]Presstek posts profit and points to drupa enthusiasm The Greenwich, CT-headquartered company said service-related revenues for the quarter were flat, but consumable sales, including new equipment, fell by 15% compared to same period last year to $17.6 million due to the slow economy, especially in Europe, and reduced sales of the company's legacy product lines. During a conference call with analysts to discuss the results, Presstek CEO Stanley Freimuth focused largely on the interest in the company's new 75DI digital offset press, noting that last month Presstek sold its first unit to a large North American packaging printer. "The segment that we are most appealing to right now is the folding carton packaging segment," he said. "And what's happening in that segment — and in all packaging actually — is that run lengths are getting shorter and there are more versions of the package being demanded by the marketers behind the brand." Freimuth explained that most large packaging producers are geared up for multi-million run lengths. "When they have to do shorter run lengths, they find it very uneconomical to do it on the flexographic equipment that they have" he said. "We have a six minute turnaround on the 75Di, so in six minutes you can run a whole different version of the package with different graphics and different data on it, up to 20,000 pieces. Many of these prospective customers have never bought an offset, but they like the workflow and the fact they can do this from a digital interface, so they are huge advantages as we see this demand for shorter runs." Freimuth added that interest at drupa for the 75DI was very strong, adding the company had almost 200 demonstrations during the two-week show, including "a lot of packaging companies who had not otherwise planned to visit us. In general the activity level for us was way greater than we had anticipated." [More]Arjowiggins launches Cocoon direct mail campaign The ‘White and Recycled' campaign will target printers, designers and corporate audiences with direct mail sent throughout May and June. Three premium mailers will be accompanied by tailored emails, promoting Cocoon's high levels of whiteness, print quality and environmental neutrality. A dedicated website has been created for the campaign with information about the Cocoon range, production process and advantages of paper recycling. It also features an environmental calculator, demonstrating the difference in carbon emissions, water, energy and wood used by Cocoon 100% recycled papers compared to virgin fibres. Cocoon comprises coated and uncoated papers available in weights from 80-400gsm. It is manufactured from FSC- and European Ecolabel-certified recycled de-inked pulp produced at Arjowiggins' Greenfield S.A.S. mill in France. The campaign spans across Europe, with Antalis McNaughton stepping up as the exclusive UK provider of Cocoon papers to distribute 8,000 mailers nationwide. Arjowiggins' operational marketing manager Angela DeVorchik said: "With this new campaign, we hope to showcase the high quality results that Cocoon 100% recycled papers can deliver, as well as the range's commitment to environmental integrity. End-users can make their own environmental commitment without sacrificing on a high-quality, bright-white print finish." Tweet[More] Kodak Park was home to 'secret' nuclear reactor The reactor's existence was recently publicised by the Democrat and Chronicle, after an employee mentioned it to a reporter from the local newspaper. According to the report, the reactor was housed in a two-foot-thick, concrete-walled bunker beneath the basement of Building 82 in the Kodak Park research complex. While the relevant Federal regulators and Kodak research scientists who worked in the facility were aware of its existence, city officials and residents were in the dark. A Kodak company spokesman told the Democrat and Chronicle that he could find no record of any public announcement about the facility and that he was unsure if the company had ever notified local police, fire or hazardous-material officers. One good reason for the high-level of secrecy around the reactor, which was used for research purposes, was the fact that it contained 1.5kg of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium. According to nuclear non-proliferation experts, for an industrial manufacturer to be in possession of even a small quantity of this highly-controlled radioactive substance is almost unheard of. "It's such an odd situation because private companies just don't have this material," said Miles Pomper, senior research associate at Washington's Centre for Nonproliferation Studies. The reactor was a californium neutron flux multiplier or CFX, so-called because it contained small plates of highly enriched uranium that multiplied the neutron flow from a tiny californium-252 radioactive core. According to a former Kodak reseach scientist, the resulting neutron beam was used to check chemicals and other materials for impurities and for tests related to neutron radiography. Kodak's CFX reactor was built in 1978, at which time no other American industrial firm had anything like it, and dismantled in 2007 after the company decided that it was no longer required. "There were alternative and less expensive means to obtain the analytical results," said the spokesman. Since then the chamber that used to house the reactor has been cleaned and deemed fit for reuse, although it remains empty. Tweet[More] Drupa orders bring strong Q1 start for Heidelberg Bestsellers included the new "flagship press" - the B1 format Speedmaster XL 106 - and the Speedmaster SX platform, which sold almost 500 units. The company, which is due to publish its 2011/12 end-of-year results on 14 June, took orders at Drupa from over 80 countries and recorded significant growth in Asian markets such as Japan and China. Top orders came from Germany and China followed by the US, Middle East, UK and Japan. Chief executive Bernhard Schreier said developments in the U.S. and Japan were cause for optimism. "Many print shops have used Drupa to thoroughly renew their machine park so as to be able to meet the requirements of the market," he said. Schreier said the level of incoming orders during the show indicated that confidence within the industry was returning. "The investment backlog is continuing to unwind in many parts of the world. Heidelberg's expectations of Drupa had been more than satisfied, he added. "The volume of orders at the show is equivalent to around half of the production of printing units over the past financial year. "The fact that we have remained true to our development projects over recent years, some of which have not been easy, has been rewarded. We can now also look to the future with optimism." [More]Alltrade Printers in twin Speedmaster XL 106 buy The first B1 18,000sph Speedmaster, with five colours plus coating unit system, will be installed at the Birmingham factory in July. The second press's configuration has yet to be confirmed as Alltrade may opt for a ten-colour machine; it will be installed before March 2013, following completion of Alltrade's 11,000 sqft extension in November. The machines join a press room exclusively supplied by Heidelberg and the second machine will replace Alltrade's Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102. The company will retain the machine for seasonal work until the extension is completed, bringing the factory to a total 42,000 sqft ready for future expansion. Alltrade is the largest supplier of retail calendars in the UK and targets niche markets at the high quality end of the industry, setting itself apart by doing jobs "that no-one else can do". It offers an array of inhouse finishing options, including binding, laminating, shrink-wrapping and labelling, but said it has invested in the new presses to increase printing capacity. Alltrade financial director Dilu Mukadam said: "We finish twice as much as we print. There is the potential to balance this but not the capacity. We want to offer the complete job in-house." Mukadam added that clients now seek high quality and quicker turnarounds, adding that seasonal jobs are ordered later each year. "By investing in more machines, particularly these with short makeready times, we are adjusting the time scale so we can cope with the demand. We have to change with the times - my motto is, change or be changed," she said. Alltrade has been through between 30 and 40 Heidelberg machines across the plant since it opened in 1983 and believes the latest additions could increase turnover by 50% next year. Tweet[More] KBA posts Q1 results, hails Drupa orders The group published its first quarter report as Drupa was drawing to a close and while he was unwilling to give specific figures - as financing had yet to be finalised in many cases - chief executive Claus Bolza-Schünemann was upbeat about KBA's performance. "We have signed a lot of contracts with both existing and new customers," he said. "But it will be weeks, or even months, before all the financing has been clarified, customer prepayments have been received and we and other exhibitors can assess our true performance at Drupa 2012." Operating profit for the quarter to 31 March 2012 improved from a €1.8m (£1.4m) loss in the prior year to a €2m profit, while the pre-tax result swung from a €3.9m deficit to a €200,000 profit. Group sales also improved, rising 4% from €253.3m to €263.5m thanks to a near 28% spike in web and special press sales, which increased from €127.3m to €162.6m, although sheetfed press sales fell around 20%, from €126m to €100.9m. KBA blamed the drop in sheetfed press sales on "a fourth-quarter dip in demand" as well as a number of late orders that had not yet worked through to the bottom line. However, it highlighted an 8% rise in sheetfed press orders to €152.9m This was partly attributed to a pre-Drupa event at KBA's Radebeul facility in March, which was attended by more than 1,000 print professionals and helped to overcome the traditional reluctance to invest in the quarter preceding print's biggest trade show. However, the pattern of mixed returns continued as - in the absence of the major contracts that had resulted in the record prior-year figure - incoming orders for web and special presses plummeted 71% from €290.6m to €83.7m. This left KBA's overall order intake down 45%, from €432.1m to €236.6m, although its order backlog increased 29% to €798.8m, which the press manufacturer said was at odds with the industry trend. Meanwhile, the group's headcount fell from 6,404 on 31 March 2011 to 6,294 in 2012, with this figure expected to further reduce, ultimately falling below 6,000 following the conclusion of various cost cutting initiatives. Tweet[More] Eclipse adds Speedmaster XL 106 to its short run collection The 15,000sph machine with Inpress Control automated colour and register control will be installed at the company's Kettering site in January 2013. Managing director Simon Moore said the machine, which features semi-automatic plate changing to reduce makeready time, has been added to the company's line-up to deal effectively with short-run work. "Since the introduction of our second web the average run on our sheetfed presses has dropped from 40,000 to 18,000 sheets," said Moore. "So we aren't hung up about speed, but we need a press that makes ready very fast." Eclipse's involvement in retail campaigns has also contributed to the fall in its average sheetfed run lengths, with demand for quicker turnaround becoming more common. The fifth and tenth units on the new 10-colour will primarily be used to apply a seal, thereby enabling jobs to be finished sooner. Moore said: "There has been a huge change in time-to-market in the past 12 months. The working schedules are a lot leaner and this machine will enable us to get between jobs quicker." The machine will be joining the company's two Speedmaster SM 102 12- and 10-colour long perfectors and two Goss web presses. One Goss press has been assigned long-run jobs while the new XL 106 will join the second web press to handle high volumes of short-run work. Eclipse expects to reach £23m turnover this year, with its recent acquisition of a 10% stake in fellow DM printer 4DM driving sales across the industry, and hopes that the XL 106 will increase that figure by 15% next year. Eclipse's Moore added: "It is not all about increasing turnover. It is not the speed of the machine, but the fact that we can produce more work with shorter makeready times. We are working smarter to be more cost-effective." Tweet[More] Berforts expands with dual Elan 500 spend Berforts has opted for the machines, which are powered by Memjet printheads, to bridge the gap between high performance cut-sheet and web print capabilities. The Elan 500 digital printing presses, the first of their kind in the UK, can print at a resolution of up to 1,600dpi and up to 500 colour A4 pages per minute. The sheetfed machine, which can handle substrates up to 350gsm (or 250gsm duplex), can print on sheet sizes up to a maximum 450mm x 640mm SRA2 format. Stephen Hubbard, general manager of European operations at Delphax, who oversaw the deal said: "The system's capabilities have been shaped by our market research, including extensive customer input, on the production and competitive pressures faced by commercial and book printers today. "The result is innovation that not only sets a new speed benchmark for inkjet technology in a sheet-fed configuration, but will also allow Delphax to market these systems at substantially lower prices than the competition." Berforts' new investments come on the back of a merger with Information Press to create a £10m business. Through that deal, Information Press managing director Roger Shepherd became group chairman, while Berforts managing director Gerald White became group managing director. "This is a true merger, with a share swap," said White at the time. "Information Press are in B1 litho and we are in digital, so it's a great fit." FM Brooks announces 'industrial printing' show Set to take place on 13-14 November 2013 in Cologne, Germany, the two-day event will focus on developments within the industrial sector catalysed by 3D printing and digital inkjet production. The organisers claim InPrint will analyse the opportunities presented by industrial print applications spanning issues such as additive manufacturing, or decorative surface imaging. Marcus Timson, director of FM Brooks, said: "For future print technologies and technical print, whether inkjet or screen, there is currently no dedicated event and community that connects technological innovators with strategic industrial decision makers and pioneering print entrepreneurs. This gap will now be filled with the launch of InPrint 2012." FM Brooks has involved print technology manufacturers, print businesses and consultants in the development of InPrint 2013, details of which will be revealed in the coming weeks. According to Rob Haak, founder of dotrix and now general manager of inkjet consultancy Spikix, which was a member of the InPrint development group, there is a "huge transformation" taking place within the manufacturing sector. |
