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THE MAGAZINE FOR FORWARD THINKING PRINTING JULY/AUGUST 2019 Explore more… COVER STORY Simon Cooper trades places for Solopress. HEIDELBERG Ryan Miles settles in at Brentford. SUSTAINABILITY Plastic’s less evil twin options. Explore more at printbusiness.co.uk
THE EDITOR’S COMMENT
PRINT BELONGS
THE MAN IN THE HAT, GARETH WARD
has been the editor of Print Business TO A NEW
GENERATION
since its second issue in 2005. Five years
later he took control of the magazine in a
management buyout and fully achieved
his vision to create a unique publication
for printers. There are numerous industry
titles that report the announcements in
the news: the technology, the installations, SOMETIMES IT FEELS AS IF a there
the good or bad financial results of is a generational shift occurring. It is not
the big corporates, people coming and
simply because a good number of people
going, the events and exhibitions, often
concentrating on one aspect. who set up businesses 30 or so years ago
What Print Business does is take all this are retiring and passing the reins of their
information – supplied via press releases, business to their offspring.
announcements at events, word of mouth There is the recognition that print’s Gareth Ward
or good old fashioned journalism – sorts role is changing; that volumes are going at Memjet in
California in
the puffery from the facts, weaves it to go down, but that these pages can carry June.
together and puts it into context for those greater value. And there is the coming to
who run print businesses. terms with the internet. The incoming
At the heart of everything that Print
generation accepts that everything has
Business publishes are the printers. Those
whose businesses are no longer about changed, but knows too that print has a
simply feeding paper into a giant lump of future – it’s just not the same as its past.
highly engineered metal and selling the It is easy to be pessimistic. Consolidation for example. But these are exceptions, not
sheet that comes out the other end. Those is ongoing and high volume print capacity the rule.
who face myriad decisions, some of which is disappearing. This includes the collapse Walstead has been more careful about
point in opposite directions, and need to of the Circle Media group, the announced its acquisitions policy than Circle, but in
know more than how fast it prints, what closure of the biggest gravure plant in announcing results for 2018, chairman
the click charge is or how much it costs. Europe, the closing down or conversion Mark Scanlon remarked: “For the first
They need to know what affects them
of paper mills and paper machines in time in many years, the sector suffered
and how. Just as every print job is bespoke,
every print company is different. There is the developed economies, and the US substantial price increases for paper which
no one-size-fits-all in this industry. government stepping in to stop the merger resulted in print budgets being reduced to
Gareth Ward is out and about all the between the remains of RR Donnelleys’ counter these higher costs. This dynamic
time. He goes to print factories and talks large volume print business and Quad then created print capacity at many of
to printers in their language. He sees first Graphics. our competitors who reacted by reducing
hand the problems they face, the solutions The age of mass circulation magazines, prices to attract new work to fill their
they find, their achievements and their mass circulation catalogues, mass print presses.”
innovation. He also sees failures but there production that demands large format
is little point in highlighting those unless
offset and gravure presses, is over. And the PUBLISHERS AND RETAILERS are
lessons can be learned by others.
People like reading about people, and big players know it. looking for smaller more lucrative audi-
especially those people like themselves. In announcing the plan to close its ences because they do not need print to
That is why Print Business has more case flagship Nuremberg plant, with 4.2 metre reach mass markets. Print is no longer
studies about printers than any other wide gravure presses, Thomas Rabe, the right medium to do this. Conse-
single source. chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, says: quently demand is shrinking and print
Before Print Business, Gareth Ward “The realignment of our printing activities runs decline.
worked on the leading weekly magazine is our answer to the far-reaching changes The paper industry is hard nosed
Printing World for 22 years and was editor in the printing industry. Megatrends like about this. StoraEnso is removing more
for 15. It is this experience, and 360° view
digitalisation and individualisation, as well than 1 million tonnes of coated woodfree
of the industry, that gives him his sixth
sense about printing. His ability to spot as the increasing convergence of gravure capacity from Europe, some 13% of
trends, often years before they become and offset printing, present the printing the current market demand. And in its
apparent in the mainstream, is legendary industry with major challenges. In the statement added that the market position
(search for Publishing In The Digital Age past year, paper price increases also led to had deteriorated even faster than it had
on PrintBusiness.co.uk to see his 1998 restraint on the part of many customers.” anticipated. Attempts to revive bankrupt
prediction of what media consumption Some massive print runs remain: Ikea mills that have produced woodfree coated
would be like in 2010, the year the iPad continues to print its iconic catalogue, papers, Scheufelen for example, have
was launched). though supported by many more smaller failed.
This is Print Business, the magazine
special interest titles; free circulation retail The paper industry in North America
for forward thinking printing.
magazines and newspaper supplements, is following the same course of action …
www.printbusiness.co.uk July/August 2019 3
COMMENT GARETH WARD’S THOUGHTS ON…
… and closing capacity amounting to 13% offer delivery as well as print – thinking
of coated woodfree demand there. And beyond the press.
there are many more closures of machines The Internet of Things is part of the
producing gravure and web offset papers. new solution. All manner of performance
Instead paper groups are investing in data can be collected from machinery and
packaging grades, especially those suited received by press manufacturers where it
to corrugated boxes, and higher quality may be used to analyse the performance
corrugated boxes at that. It might be that of an individual press and help with
history is repeating itself as the headlong maintenance.
rush for packaging results in the over The same data amassed on a vast scale
capacity that strips away margins, just can assess the type of work that is being
as happened with coated wood free and produced if not the jobs or customers,
LWC papers. Or perhaps there will be spotting the trends in demand for different
enough demand from the likes of Amazon, products.
Alibaba and others in e-commerce to In the meantime there is overcapacity
swallow whatever capacity the mills can and however fast the market consolidates,
deliver. it seems that demand is dropping faster.
There are marked effects on the The uncertainty over Brexit has not
merchanting side of the paper industry. helped, but it is hard to measure whether
Two of the UK’s major merchants, hesitancy is to do with this or for other
Denmaur and Premier have changed reasons.
hands this year. A major merger is A Smithers Pira report puts the print
underway in Germany. market at around $475 billion today and
Heidelberg concurs. The market is €400
New kid on the block #1. Ryan Miles
THE GENERATIONAL SHIFT is away million it says and has been steady for
steps up as managing director of
from marketing via catalogues to market- some years, reaching €423 billion by 2023.
Heidelberg UK. Find out his plans on
ing on the box. Corrugated packaging, page 26. Within this, however, the share taken
once printed with the refinement of a by digital printing is on the increase.
marker pen, is going upmarket and will Netto, let alone garden centres, DIY sheds According to Pira, digital accounted for
be suitably decorated, if not all over and so on are vast, but each pertains only 13.5% in 2014, 17.4% in 2019 and will
then certainly in panels or through large to a store location closest to the delivery reach a 21.1% share by 2024.
labels. address. What is on offer in one town Pira talks about customised packaging,
Not all high volume commercial print may be different in the next 15km away. driven by increasing urbanisation and,
is disappearing. Door drop leaflets are Data and intelligence are driving what is though it does not say so, the hyper
on the rise, but even here it is less about printed. competition between brands in the mature
saturation carpet bombing as it used to be, Is there scope for a leafletting war economies where opportunities to grow
than the more precise letterbox sniping it between the UK’s supermarkets as in the market are limited and growth is about
has become. Germany? Door drops bear watching taking share from a competitor. On pack
In central Europe retailers remain and will certainly be effective for local promotions, limited editions, added value
wedded to high volumes of leaflets to drive businesses that find it increasingly difficult effects and social interactivity, are ways to
shoppers into their stores with relevant to rise above the digital clutter with do this and all depend on print, possibly
offers delivered to their door. Overall an online presence. Perhaps there’s an digital print.
volumes for the likes of Lidl, Aldi and opportunity for an enterprising printer to Heidelberg’s big trends include web to
PUBLISHING Print Business is published six times a year by Print Business Media Ltd
Haymakers, Swamp Road, Romney Marsh TN29 9SQ | 01580 236456 | general@printbusiness.co.uk
www.printbusiness.co.uk
CONTRIBUTORS Cover picture by Gareth Ward | Printed by Stephens & George | Paper supplied by
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EDITORIAL Editor/Publsiher | Gareth Ward | gareth@printbusiness.co.uk | 01580 236456 | 07866 470124
Press releases should be sent to pressreleases@printbusiness.co.uk
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ADMIN & SALES SUPPORT Publishing Assistant | Sarah Cross | 01580 236456 | sarah@printbusiness.co.uk
MEDIA INFORMATION The Media Pack is available under the Information tab at PrintBusiness.co.uk
4 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.uk
…THE NEW GENERATION OF PRINT COMMENT
for differentiation,” says Heidelberg’s
annual report. But differentiation is what
is needed. The new generation printer will
be less defined by the technology under his
roof, which is why unless personalisation
is needed, the technology used is not an
end in itself. Predictions about the growth
of one technology compared to another
are fraught because in the hands of the
consumer it no longer matters.
THE NEW GENERATION PRINTER
cannot survive in the price led paradigm.
Survival will be about differentiation,
about innovation and about the ability Third generation at Ryedale: James
to forge deeper relationships with clients Buffoni has a keen interest in
that themselves need to focus on their sustainability on page 45.
own core activities and are already happy
to outsource design and marketing to they are going to have to pay for something
agencies. above the commoditisation level. There
A few years ago this led to the print are countless news sites, but subscriptions
service provider or the marketing services for those that deliver real insight are on the
provider. Many printers took on the increase.
mantle, but few were able to go through This is why Print Business is shifting
with it. The fixation with the printing to a subscription led model. If you have
New kid on the block #2. Martyn
process, the need to fill the press, always got this far, hopefully you will appreciate
Train has joined Duplo as its new
managing director, just in time to miss got in the way. Sales executives recruited the value and difference we bring and will
out on this issue. Brief on page 58. on the basis of £500,000 of sales, could not be happy to pay a sum less than an hour’s
switch to a consultative approach where service time, less than a customer lunch,
time and expertise are the variable factors or less than a subscription to publications
print growth, with an annual rate of 5.1% that should be paid for and press time is of the value of the Financial Times or the
to 2023. These printers are most able to secondary. Economist.
automate and drive to be the most efficient The new generation printer understands
possible. The sector is already worth $23 this. There may be little advantage in THIS NEW GENERATION under-
billion in sales it says. owning a press. It adds no value. What stands also that they cannot achieve
Automation is delivering productivity it delivers in terms of products is more everything alone. Help, via partnerships
gains to all types of printer. Print quality, important. Increasingly those products with customers and suppliers and outside
so dependent on the skills of a press will be enhanced with varnish, foils bodies, are part of this new generation
minder, is now in the hands of the process. or other effects. This plays to the very approach. It will not happen overnight,
Makeready becomes predictable and important tactile nature of print. and may not happen at all if printers
creates space for more jobs on press. “The There is a further trend underway, a continue to think that slashing prices is
high level of investment in state of the art consequence of the internet’s ubiquity. the way to win customers and the best
equipment leaves less and less potential People are beginning to understand that strategy for the future of their business.
NEWS The Monday morning News ezine is a popular collection of a handful of the week’s news, always going
beyond the press release and often exclusive. GDPR by the letter and spirit. Sign up at printbusiness.co.uk/Register
SUBSCRIPTIONS Print Business is currently free to qualifying UK printers. Subscriptions for those who would
like to contribute to securing the future of Print Business are available under the Information menu at bit.ly/2IlJxSS
EVENTS Print Business is the organiser of Forward Thinking Printing, round tables and more. Gareth Ward is in
demand for hosting, chairing and generally being an accomplished ringmaster. Apply for details on 01580 236456.
CONTENT Content is copyright © Print Business Ltd 2005-2019. All rights reserved.
ARCHIVE Previous issues are available for a modest fee. See the Archive page under
the Information tab at PrintBusiness.co.uk for downloadable and searchable PDFs.
TERMS Apply for terms & conditions to general@printbusiness.co.uk
www.printbusiness.co.uk July/August 2019 5
INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
Glasgow pair combine to
form Scottish super group
TWO OF SCOTLAND’S as managing director and J
largest printers are merging Thomson Colour under Kevin
to create a £30 million print Creechan.
business and one of Koenig & “The whole thing makes a lot
Bauer’s largest customers in of sense,” Creechan says. ”We
Europe. Stephen and Bell & Bain complement
In a deal funded through Docherty each other in so many ways.”
Close Brothers Asset Finance, and Karen There is no pressure for
Bell & Bain is buying J Thomson Baillie. change to save costs or to make
Colour Printers after its chair- changes. That work will begin
man Nick Thomson approached after Scotland returns from its
Stephen Docherty in January. print division who, Docherty Muller Martini stitching and holidays next month. To date
He jumped at the opportunity. says, has been instrumental in binding equipment. “We will few people have been involved
The two companies have putting together the deal to buy be the best equipped printer in in discussions, so teams will
always been close, often putting J Thomson Colour and allowing Scotland with one of everything meet and work out the best way
out work to each other, whether Nick Thomson to step down as it is possible to have,” Docherty forwards.
print or finishing. And ardent its chairman. says. The investment in the two
Celtic supporter Docherty Both companies are well It will soon have more. He Rapidas has worked for the
worked at J Thomson Colour invested, both with Koenig & says that another large format business Creechan runs, but “as
under its founder Hamish Bauer machines: Bell & Bain eight-colour perfector is coming a standalone business we would
Thomson. He has always has two large format perfecting to the business, though orders have found it very difficult to
dreamed about returning, he presses, JTC with a ten-colour have not yet been placed. “We grow” he says. “Our turnover
says. and a six-colour Rapida 106, want to get to £40 million turno- has been fairly static for a few
“We are bursting at the seams the latter with LED UV drying ver within three years’ time.” years, in order to grow the busi-
with work,” says Docherty. He and just over two years old. Both The combined business will ness we would have had to bring
took full control of the Glasgow businesses have strong balance have 300 staff spread across five somebody in, or this would have
book printer earlier this year sheets with money in the bank. sites. Both have been passion- to happen.
and it has previously acquired Bell & Bain also has a Ricoh ate about recruiting apprentices “Over the last three or four
commercial printer 21 Colour. Pro VC60000 inkjet web press and developing staff. They will months, I have been trying to
It was here he met Roger for books and journals with retain separate identities and find a negative to this deal,”
Aust, managing director of JTC’s digital set up based current management teams, says Creechan. “I haven’t found
Close Brothers Asset Finance’s around HP Indigo. Both use Bell & Bain with Karen Bailie one yet.”
US government It argues that the deal would
vest too much control over
bring benefits to publishers by
allowing the printer to achieve
to challenge magazine and book publish- greater efficiencies and so lower
merger ers in the hands of a single
company, leading to price rises.
costs; that many other compa-
nies are able to print these jobs
THE AMERICAN Depart- “If this deal were allowed to and because barriers to entry
ment of Justice has stepped in proceed, Quad would dominate are low, others can expand their
to block the proposed merger the markets for magazine, cata- market presence with ease and
between two of the largest logue and book printing services that the real competition is not
Dean Stayne welcomes
printers in the US. and be able to raise prices and between printers, but between
return of CP Bourg.
QuadGraphics agreed terms reduce quality at the expense print and digital as channels for
with LSC Communications, of publishers, retailers, and, advertising messages. manufacturer CP Bourg having
previously the volume print- ultimately, American consum- lost it to Engelmann & Buckham
ing arm of RR Donnelley &
Sons, in October to form an
ers,” says Makan Delrahim,
assistant attorney general in the
TCS wins back CP five years ago.
But now the sales, service and
$8 billion company. The deal Justice Department’s anti trust Bourg distribution are back the the
was expected to be completed division. Nottingham company that had
around now, but that was before However, Quad is contest- TERRY COOPER SERVICES looked after the business for ten
the DoJ issued writs under anti ing this view arguing that a has regained the agency for years before losing the contract
trust legislation. single strong company would Belgian finishing equipment in 2014. “We have continued to
6 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.uk
We print
your world
For over 200 years we have combined inks
and substrates enabling creation of a
boundless variety of printed products.
Because printing is our world.
koenig-bauer.com
INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
Japanese snap up Premier
as first European merchant
JAPAN PULP & PAPER, one Ball & Doggett where there are tion Papers in the UK and other ucts and a first class level of
of Japan’s largest paper groups, shared suppliers in common and countries in Europe selling to service to customers across the
has bought Premier Paper where each has benchmarked greetings cards and magazine UK. This in turn will ensure
through the acquisition of all itself against the other. publishers. that Premier Paper continues
the sharers of holding company “There is very little if any It is expected that these busi- to prosper, providing a secure
RADMS Paper. conflict with any of our suppli- nesses will remain separate. future for the company and all
The Birmingham headquar- ers,” he says. “And we share Dave Allen, managing director employees.”
tered paper merchant becomes suppliers with other JPP compa- of Premier Paper, says: “For The support that JPP can
part of a $5 billion group with nies. This is such a good fit. The some time the board of directors provide will accelerate develop-
interests across the world in logic is there to start working has been searching for a partner ment plans that Premier has for
sectors allied to producing closely with their management that can help the company build growth.
including in paper. It has 3,900 teams. on our current success and As well as diversifying into
staff compared to the 480 “The company is very inter- achieve our full development display materials, it is planning
working for Premier. national in outlook and there is potential. expansion in the London area
“We had been looking for a shared culture of openness and “Our strategy of diversify- with larger warehouse facilities
someone to work with,” says doing business in an honourable ing into parallel market sectors, and a larger fleet of delivery
marketing director Dave Jones. way.” such as display and packaging, vehicles to provide a better
“Then we were approached six As well as merchanting while maintaining our position service in the region.
months ago.” operations in Australia and in the core coated and uncoated This is carefully planned
It was not entirely out of the sales offices throughput South sector, will continue. We believe and as with other aspects of
blue. There had been contact East Asia, JPP in 2015 acquired that being part of JPP will help Premier’s strategy carefully
between the two companies over Gould Paper, one of the largest us achieve our business growth costed and controlled. Like the
the years and Premier has links US merchants. It has Gould objectives and continue to management team, that ethos
with JPP’s Australian merchant Paper Sales and Gould Publica- provide a wide choice of prod- will not change.
provide spares and look after
people if they wanted,” says
to handle run of one work for
Precision Printing.
opportunity for commercial
printers,” says Santi Morera,
Print-Leeds
TCS director Dean Stayne. The software was later spun general manager and global scoops Marston
“And we have engineers trained
on most of the equipment.”
off into a separate business,
OneFlow Systems, in order to
head at HP’s Graphics Solu-
tions Business. “OneFlow
deal
The company is best known market the technology to other Systems complements our A YEAR AFTER MOVING
for its perfect binders used in digital printers. And it became industry leading workflow auto- into new premises and complet-
digital printing either inline one of the first third-party mation solutions and will help ing installation of a second
with the press or as offline application for HP’s PrintOS us continue to drive digital print seven-colour B1 Speedmaster,
systems. The flagship is the suite of cloud applications three momentum for customers.” Print-Leeds has become exclu-
BB3202 PUR-C which can be years ago. sive supplier of wet labels to
connected to sheet feeder and
the Bourg Preparation Module
OneFlow Systems is now to
be acquired by HP. It consid-
Tharstern signs Marston’s Brewery.
The Leeds business has signed
for either perfect binding or ers the software to be a strategic pledge a sole supplier contract for
saddle stitching. The binder can plank in a workflow strategy
also be used as a standalone unit for Indigo and a PageWide web MIS PROVIDER Tharst- Rod Fisher
accepting manually fed blocks. presses. OneFlow has also been ern has signed the Time to says
The BB3102 is the simpler entry key to the Piazza applications Change pledge, committing to move was
level version. that is intended to enable auto- help change the stigma around instrumental.
mated decision making and zero mental health and to support-
HP buys single inventory strategies for book
publishers.
ing staff that fall ill in this way.
“We are proud to be signing the
copy workflow “The demand for simple, pledge so we can let our employ-
developer scalable, on demand printing
continues to grow with publish-
ees know that we are dedicated
to supporting them through any
HP IS BUYING ONEFLOW, ers and brands, and the addition mental health issues they may
the single-copy workflow appli- of OneFlow Systems under- be experiencing,” says manag-
cation that was first developed scores a massive productivity ing director Keith McMurtrie.
8 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.uk
FINISHINGSTARTSHERE
ALWAYS
FIRST
TO FINISH
AUTOMATION AT
YOUR FINGERTIPS
ifsl.uk.com
invest@ifsl.uk.com
020 8997 8053
INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
Micropress updates
perfector, increases storage
MICROPRESS IS replacing Inpress Control and Autoplate additional stock ahead of the
a Heidelberg XL105 with the XL we know the press will bril- supposed Brexit date and this
latest XL106-8P with push to liantly keep colour consistent has restricted movement around
stop technology and extending and improve our makeready the plant. “We have outgrown
paper storage capacity in a £4 times,” he says. the building we have now,” says
million investment. The Southwold business Cross. “We moved here in 2012
The new press will cut looked at the potential for a with lots of space, but we have
makeready times in half, capacity by making this feasi- CutStar but eventually decided gradually filled the produc-
says production director ble to print on the larger sheet. against it. “It would involve a tion space with lots of paper
James Cross. He opted for the Faster set up is helped by fitting change in paper handling, so storage.”
15,000sph version rather than Inpress Control to the perfector. stuck with what we know,” he If paper storage is tight, there
the higher speed 18,000sph “We were the first company in says. But there is a new ware- is adequate capacity for plates
press as the issue is less about the UK to use Inpress Control house being built to provide and finishing says Cross. And
long runs than about changeo- so we have long recognised the additional space for paper it has not yet decided whether
ver times. benefits of this online colour and storage and so avoid having to to fit solar panels to the roof
The impact may ease the register control system. With stack pallets in the press hall. of the new building before it is
strain on the company’s B2 the latest generation version The company had ordered completed in February.
three years which will involved them at meetings of the Scottish This is the company that is
producing labels for the likes of Newspaper Publishers Asso- bidding to buy EFI in a $1.7
Marston’s Pedigree, Hobgoblin, ciation. This was an ideal fit for billion deal under its new
Wainwright, McEwans brands them. They have titles around CEO Bill Muir. While there
and is worth £2 million a year. ten miles away from us, which is no mention of EFI in the
“This wouldn’t have been makes this a nice fit. announcement, it says that
possible before we invested £5m “We have been printing, Jacobson “will collaborate with
in new premises and a state of folding and distributing the the firm’s investment team
the art Heidelberg seven-colour papers. All that goes to SPP. We and executive partners to help
press,” says managing director certainly need the production evaluate potential investment
Rod Fisher. “Marston’s is a long capacity at the moment, making opportunities for Siris as well as
standing client and we are really the deal a good fit all round,” he help oversee the operations of
pleased to be appointed its sole explains. its portfolio companies”.
wet glue label supplier.” Having David George: commercial The executive partners are
print booming.
two machines provides the
necessary back up that is needed local newspapers it has printed
Jacobson joins not employees of Siris, but
provide their experience, advice
for security of supply. and published for more than 50 EFI shareholder and assistance to the Siris team
That, says Fisher, has led years. and to direct strategic and iden-
to growing inquiries for pres- Scottish Provincial Press has JEFF JACOBSON, MOST tify operational improvements
sure sensitive labels and to taken on the three titles, print- recently seen as chief execu- following an acquisition.
the company’s next planned ing and publishing these from 1 tive of Xerox, has joined private The statement from Siris
investment. It has been inves- July. W Peters has been owner equity business Siris as an exec- explains that Jacobson will be
tigating the digital print market of the Turriff Advertiser, the utive partner. involved in “identifying mean-
for labels and has already had a oldest of the three since 1933 ingful investment opportunities
long look at the Labelfire inkjet and the company has been the in industrial printing, packag-
press from Gallus. last independent family owner ing and adjacent ecosystems”.
printer publisher in Scotland This suggests that Siris is ready
Newspapers “if not the UK” says managing
director David George.
to make further acquisitions,
either separate from or as part
sold for “Like all newspaper publish- of EFI.
commercial ers we have been aware of
declining figures. This has
Jacobson had been chief
executive of Kodak Polychrome
drive been coming to a point over the
Jacobson will at further
Graphics before becoming chief
W PETERS & SONS HAS last four or five years. We have operating offset of Kodak’s
acquisition opportunities.
parted company with the three known the guys at SPP, meeting Graphic Communications
10 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.ukHello...
Satin
the coated choice
Largest range in the UK
Largest stocks held in the UK
www.ebbpaper.co.ukINFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
No alternative to going
digital says Heidelberg
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND customers on five year deals that Amazon of print: everything a in new technologies, the ramp
contract revenue will account are worth €1 million a year. printer needs will be available up in the area of digital print-
for 10% of Heidelberg’s sales It aims to sign more than via the platform. ing can be expected to be more
within the medium term, three times this number in the The Prinect production conservative than originally
covering both service and current financial year. management tools will be avail- planned”, Hundsdörfer says.
consumables and press sales, And the subscription model able on a per use basis and the The company is therefore
according to CEO Rainer is being expanded to software Heidelberg Assistant is already predicting a result of the year to
Hundsdörfer. The new business and applications, typified by its being used by 1,000 customers March 2020 that is in line with
models will account for a sales acquisition of Crispy Mountain, to monitor the status of their the result in the last financial
volume of at least €250 million developer of the Keyline MIS production and any job. Printers year. But this is only reinforcing
in the medium to long term, the which is already a cloud based will be able to select the package the importance of the digital
company says in its 2019 annual application with a per month or mix of contract and purchase strategy.
report. revenue stream. that best suits their needs. “There is no alternative to
This is part of the strategy for The approach becomes a Before then Heidelberg needs the ‘Heidelberg goes digital!’
turning a sell and fix model for foundation stone for the HeiOS to continue the transformation strategy. We will continue to
selling presses and then looking approach to creating a complete he was brought in to implement. see the fruits of our strate-
after them into one based on environment for all printers to There are obstacles to prevent gic activities. Unfortunately,
annuity revenues and on shared find all manner of software and the smooth execution of the current economic develop-
rewards from growth achieved. applications where provided plans: slowing economies and ments are dampening our
The early success of the by independent developers uncertainties caused by Brexit growth dynamic, even though
subscription model offers a or by Heidelberg. Whether and deeper trade wars. the market potential for digiti-
pointer to the potential of this Heidelberg’s Saphira brand Printers are cautious about sation in the printing industry
approach. By the close of the consumables or those from investment, leading to longer and for digital packaging
financial year, Heidelberg had alternative suppliers. Hunds- buying cycles “making compa- printing remains high,” says
signed up “approximately 30” dörfer wants this to become the nies more reluctant to invest Hundsdörfer.
Group. This led to the CEO, from the likes of Enfocus and
The Glastonbury Free Press has published its last edition,
president and chairman role at Callas software. until the Glastonbury Festival 2020. The paper is printed on
Presstek before joining Xerox The GWG work has resulted a 65-year-old Heidelberg Cylinder that belongs to the event
in 2012. in a specification that is avail- organisers. It operated by Adrian Manning, who first took to
able for workflow specialists ink and type in 1978, when the festival was very much smaller
Ghent to tackle to use to take a further stride
towards standardised quality
than it is today.
large format control, ensuring consistency in
colour handling digital files and from
there to management of output
THE GHENT WORKGROUP quality.
has kicked off the beta test phase There is a huge range of vari-
of a new specification designed ables in wide format display
to enable sign and display print- printing creating greater chal-
ers with large format inkjet to lenges for the developers of the
offer a preflighting service. specification, David van Driess-
This will improve the integrity che, executive director of GWG
of digital files through to print as and CTO at Four Pees, says:
a step towards full automation in “The sign and display market
this part of the print market. At segment covers everything
Fespa this year there was a strong from banners, over car wraps to
focus on colour management billboards.
with a steady flow of visitors “Each of these products has
through a colour management its own technical requirements
education area. The documenta- and capturing all of them in one
tion for the specification is fully specification was no easy task.
© Frankie Ward
available with preflight profiles After some research, it became
12 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.ukM
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E: contact@antalis.co.uk | T: 01530 517350INFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
ASL to accelerate growth
after MBO
MARK GARIUS AND PAUL Geerings Digital in November. says: “Private equity is alive to Mark and Paul several years ago,
Derry have led a management Each has added a slew of custom- the opportunities for buy and we continued to track the busi-
buyout of equipment supplier ers. It now provide services build platforms in managed ness and are delighted to now
ASL backed by Primary Capital to 5,000 customers across the services including printing partner with them.
Partners. country, and increasing it is and related services. We are “Their knowledge of the
The company has been moving into production print. delighted that, having demon- industry is unparalleled in the
expanding through acquisi- ASL supplies printers from strated a strong track record UK, and we are excited to work
tion under managing director Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Canon, in growth through making and with them and their colleagues
Garius, who says: “This is an Kyocera, Xerox, Riso and Intec successfully integrating acqui- to enable the company to accel-
important and significant mile- in the commercial print arena. sitions, ASL now has a new erate its acquisition strategy and
stone for ASL that will enable us It employs 158 from nine loca- financial backer to support its become the pre-eminent inde-
to continue to grow our business tions with a head office in continued success.” pendent managed office services
both organically and acquisi- Peterborough. ASL was formed in 1991 with provider.”
tively in the market. Having The deal has allowed Mobeus Garius and Derry joining the The challenge now is to
acquired ten businesses in the Equity Partners to bow out business in 2009. It has always accelerate the pace of growth
last ten years, we look forward after nine years supporting the remained supplier agnostic through spreading into new
to the new opportunities that buy and build strategy. This allowing it to make fair recom- areas and expanding in the
the investment will bring as has latterly seen the company mendations to customers. relatively under developed
we continue to drive better expand beyond office equipment For Primary, partner Alec office services sector. Thus the
business performance for our into IT, software, communica- Parkinson says: “ASL is a leading acquisitions will continue as will
customers.” tions and now production print. operator in a highly fragmented creation of additional comple-
The most recent of these was Mobeus director Ed Wass marketplace. Having first met mentary services.
clear we would have to introduce
two key variables – viewing
KM announces It will also register a
preprinted reel, allowing a
distance and scaling factor – to new label press company to lay down a white on
derive one specification. film using flexo or screen print-
“We could have created KONICA MINOLTA HAS ing and then to overprint on the
different specifications for each announced its third label press. AL230. The press will run both
product type in sign and display, The new Accurio Label 230 250mm and 330mm reels as well
but that would have been very retains the 1200dpi toner tone as other web widths, rather than
complex to create and maintain, based imaging system though having to decide at the point of
instead we incorporated the of Route 1 Print, says: “The with a speed increase to 23.4m/ investment.
concepts of viewing distance current XL106 has been instru- minute making it “faster than The press is built on a chassis
and scaling factor and end up mental in what we’re trying to comparable toner machines”. from Danish company Grafisk
with one set of rules for the achieve here, which is offering The press will receive its Maskinfabrik and assembled
whole market segment.” low cost, high quality and fast public launch at Labelexpo in Europe as the AL190 has
turnaround print to our custom- in Brussels in September. By been. The outward appearance
Heidelberg ers. So, we’re really excited
to be having the second press
then Konica Minoltas will have
thousands of hours’ operating
is therefore the same. This and
the earlier version have 350
beats Landa installed.” time under its belt as shipments installations worldwide in label
The press will be commis- of the new press have already printers, commercial print and
BLUETREE HAS TAKEN sioned ahead of the company’s begun. None has yet been inplant organisations.
delivery of an eight-unit Speed- peak period which starts in shipped in the UK. “The AccurioLabel 230’s
master XL106 LE UV press, September, so will be in place to The AL230 also expands robust and simple to operate/
ahead of the arrival of a Landa help the company cope with the KM’s ability to handle heat sensi- maintain concept makes for the
S10P. extra demand. tive materials and will now print perfect entry level digital label
The Speedmaster will be The Landa is on course for on most coated and uncoated press, with productivity and
fitted with CutStar as are the delivery after the summer. The papers, polypropylene and PET print quality performance to
three long perfectors already company delayed the installa- substrates at full press speed. match and exceed presses over
in place in the Rotherham tion waiting for the full S10P to This is 47% faster than the three times the cost,” says Jon
factory, two B1 presses and an be available rather than upgrade current AL190 which it supplants Pritchard, leader of the KM
XL75-10P. Mark Young, head the press on site. as the flagship in the range. UK’s print business unit.
14 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.ukME
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Xerox joins battle with
Canon in sheetfed inkjet
XEROX HAS ANNOUNCED Xerox’s own W-series piezo ability to continuously advance the need or presence of addi-
that it is open for orders on a printheads. This is the first the platform at a faster clip.” tional drying systems. Colour
new sheetfed inkjet press able to Xerox inkjet press to offer The press has the option of control is maintained by arti-
print high quality commercial 1200x1200dpi resolution and feeding paper on the long edge, ficial intelligence monitoring
work as well as transactional and the first to use its own piezo which opens the opportunity of colour quality and nozzle
direct mail documents. print head. to print a four page sheet with performance. A diagnostic page
The Baltoro will replace the “We engineered the Baltoro some relatively minor adjust- is printed every 250 sheets.
Brenva in its portfolio, which HF by leveraging the best of ments to the transport system, Since the introduction of the
also includes the Rialto small our iGen and High Fusion inkjet but there are no announcements Iridesse cut sheet press, Xerox
format web press and the three technologies,” says Tracey of any such project. has reported a drop in sales of
models of the Trivor family Koziol, senior vice president Currently the focus is firmly the iGen range of machines.
topped by the Trivor 2400 HF of Global Offerings at Xerox. on establishing Baltoro as a The option of what amounts to a
using high fusion inks to print in “The result is a breakthrough better option than the Canon press that is twice as productive
offset quality on standard offset platform that expands into i300 inkjet press. It runs faster, as the iGen 150 will add to pres-
papers. This ink technology has the commercial print environ- needs no primer and is half the sure on the toner technology.
been ported to a cut sheet press ment and supports high quality footprint says Xerox. The inks Like all Xerox inkjet presses,
that shares transport and quality production with economics Xerox says will adhere to coated this continues the trend of
control mechanisms with the similar to offset printing. and silk coated papers as well as naming machines after moun-
iGen range. “Designing and manufactur- uncoated without application of tains. Baltoro is a mountain and
Baltoro will print at 1200dpi ing the Baltoro HF from frame a priming coat. glacier in the Karakorum range
at 150 sheets a minute, using to the engine gives us a greater There is no information about in northern Pakistan.
Arctic Snow Crispy Mountain under the umbrella of HeiOS.
The deal will accelerate
comes to Kent will be HeiOS Crispy Mountain’s development
DENMAUR PAPER MEDIA
foundation path, enabling it to tap into
Heidelberg’s software expertise
is adding an ultra white matt HEIDELBERG IS CREATING and to recruit further program-
coated paper, Arctic Snow, to a cloud based ecosystem for mers of its own.
its portfolio as a paper suited to print, linking its online portal They will be directed to creat-
both litho and digital printing. for ordering consumables, its ing versions for niche verticals.
“We are continuing to reporting technology and its A books version will be followed
expand our portfolio with excit- subscription services, now by packaging and labels, tying
ing products that enable our expanded to include Prinect in with Heidelberg’s strategic
customers to differentiate and and MIS. directions.
win business. Arctic Snow is an This will be developed into Keyline already has exten-
exceptionally white paper, and the HeiOS as a fully configured sive connectivity to third-party
it will prove more than a match system for print by the opening applications through its API.
to some of the established high of Drupa in a year’s time. The approach will be expanded
white brands that sit in prestige A foundation stone comes to plug in any number of
area of commercial print,” says through the acquisition of independent third-party appli-
director Andy Buxton. Crispy Mountain, the devel- cations “to give print shops
“Arctic Snow provides the oper of the Keyline MIS which easier access to comprehensive
versatility that other grades reached the UK last year and services at the lowest possible
simply don’t. It’s stocked for is based on open interfaces and administrative burden”, accord-
both litho and digital applica- cloud computing. ing to Heidelberg.
tions, but we can also provide The development of the More ambitiously it wants to
reels on very quick lead times HeiOS may entice others soft- extend the HeiOS to encompass
for web offset and CutStar ware developers either to sell printers that do not currently
printing.” out to Heidelberg or else to use Heidelberg’s digital, litho or
Arctic Snow comes with FSC ing through the World Land make their applications through label printing technology as an
certification and can be further Trust. The merchant is making what Heidelberg hopes will be Amazon for print, according to
certified through carbon balanc- swatches available. print’s app store. This comes CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer.
16 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.ukINFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
JV for packaging names
Robert Stabler as MD
ROBERT STABLER, ex Xerox Durst SPC 130 in its portfo- upon the R&D resources that
and ex HP Indigo, has been lio. Both are single pass inkjet are already in place, but will
named managing director of the machines for corrugated sheets. need a management team to
Koenig & Bauer Durst, its joint These will be sold through the lead the business in order to
venture in inkjet packaging. global network of both part- make the most of the oppor-
He takes up his new role on ners. The headquarters of the tunity. This is acknowledged
1 August having spent seven new business will be in Würz- by K&B chief executive Claus
months as a consultant after burg which is marginally easier Bolza-Schünemann.
leaving Xerox at the end of last to reach than the Durst head “This is the start of some-
year, following British colleague office in Brixen, at least for the thing very special in the printing
Andrew Copley out of the door. UK based Stabler. Robert Stabler takes over and packaging industry. We are
The immediate task is focused “I am really excited to take on joint venture. incredibly excited by the oppor-
on completing the Varijet 106 this new challenge in the folding tunities ahead of us and we are
hybrid carton press in time to carton and corrugated pack- tions. Durst with its expertise confident being able to form
demonstrate this at Drupa. aging markets,” says Stabler. in digital imaging, production a superb team led by Robert
Stabler is already familiar with “Both are ripe for digital trans- systems, inks and software Stabler,” he says. And Christof
the concept and the machine. In formation with run lengths integration, Koenig & Bauer Gamper, CEO of Durst, adds:
its first form this was to use an declining in both segments and with all its mechanical knowl- “The team we’ll create for the
inkjet array supplied by Xerox. brands crying out for very good, edge, high duty cycle process, joint venture will supply the
At the last Drupa, this arrange- cost effective, short-run and engineering, paper transport necessary solutions in markets
ment was shown by both KBA, versioning solutions. capabilities plus, of course, the where digital production lines
as it then was, and Xerox. “We will add all the compe- great go-to-market expertise of offer huge opportunities for the
The new business will also tencies of Durst and Koenig & both teams.” folding carton and corrugated
have the Corrujet 170 and the Bauer to leverage the best solu- Stabler will be able to call fibreboard industries.”
Smile please! as three years in charge of the
business.
Friedheim ers enough time to see the kit.
We’re trying to give an honest
photo printers And with the completion of succeeds with representation of the capa-
merge the deal for Shutterfly, Apollo
will buy rival Snapfish, but
Zechini bilities of the machines and not
simply rush bodies through the
THE TWO GIANTS OF the contingent on the first deal being FRIEDHEIM International door.”
online photo printing world completed in Q4. Both deals will has declared its open house for Those that have come to
are to be merged under single complete at the same time. Zechini book making equip- Hemel Hempstead represent
ownership. But this is not a case Snapfish is a subsidiary of ment a success. specialist binders, digital print-
of Snapfish acquiring Shutterfly, District Photo which bought The aim has been to demon- ers and photobook producers.
nor the latter buying the former. what was an HP facility in 2015. strate a full case bound book All are chasing a fast growing
Both are being bought by Apollo It is also the owner of Harrier production line to printers sector of the market in short run
Global Management to create LLC the UK’s largest photo and trade binders by appoint- hard cover book production,
what will be comfortably the products printer in Newton ment only. This allows time whether for printed books or
largest player in online photo Abbott, Devon. Under the terms for production staff as well as straightforward notebooks.
product printing. of the deal, Snapfish is valued at directors to get to grips with the In 2018 hard cover book
Under the terms of the $300 million. District Photo will Italian made machinery without production increased to the
deal Shutterfly’s shareholders continues as a fulfilment partner time pressure – or a rival peering point it is now a £2.5 billion
receive $51 each equating to to Snapfish according to District over a shoulder. sector.
$2.7 billion. The company has Photo CEO Neil Cohen. Friedheim had welcomed And the Zechini equip-
been on the block for a while Both are major customers for 15 companies in the first ten ment is priced to enable new
having created a strategic review HP Indigo. Shutterfly ordered days of the event with a similar entrants to take advantage or
committee at the start of this 25 B2 Indigos at Drupa and later number already lined up before for larger binders to run short
year. The first change will be the followed up with another order the doors closed on 19 July. run jobs without tying up
recruitment of Ryan O’Hara as for the Indigo 12000, ousting Stuart Bamford, national sales heavier production machinery.
president and CEO from. Xerox as preferred supplier manager for postpress, says: A complete line represents an
Outgoing CEO Christopher in what HP Indigo called “its “We’ve made sure that we can investment of £110,000, says a
North returns to London after biggest ever competitive win”. give as many of our custom- Friedheim spokesperson.
18 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.ukImpremia IS29 inkjet digital printing system
Overturning digital conventions
Quality. Reliability. Stability.
l Komori UV technology enables printing on the same
materials as offset.
l No special papers or pre-coating required.
l Sheet thickness range: 0.06-0.6mm simplex, 0.06-0.45mm duplex.
l Image quality to match offset.
l Digitaloffset colour simulation software system.
l UV inks cure instantly, enabling immediate finishing.
l Same high front-to-back register accuracy as offset.
M o re f ro m:
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Komori UK Limited, Victoria Road, Seacroft, Leeds LS14 2LAINFORMATION/TECHNOLOGY
The march of the internet
is slowing say reports
A TRIO OF REPORTS has for 33% of ad spend and 38% and 45% believe they spend the advertising industry under
questioned the seemingly of the consumers’ time with too much time with electronic the title Rebranding Advertis-
unstoppable rise of the inter- media. devices. It says 70% believe in ing. It aims to demonstrate the
net, with even Mary Meeker’s And overall time spent online the importance of being able to positive impact that advertis-
Internet Trends report raising continues to climb and access switch off. ing across all channels has. The
questions. to the internet reaches 78% And the same cohort likes headline findings declare that
This has charted trends for Europeans. In the UK this print: 69% find print works best advertising adds some sparkle
and developments across the is higher still with everyone in for books, 61% prefer reading into people’s lives, twice as many
online world for more than two this country having some kind printed magazines and 54% as those that find it a distraction,
decades, pointing to discrepan- of online access. prefer newspapers in this way. with 10% only finding that they
cies in how advertisers continue But this is giving rise to The UK preferences are slightly are overwhelmed by offline
to support print when increasing concerns about the mental lower than this, but are still advertising compared to 15%
amounts of time are spent with health impact of this continual weighted towards ink on paper. who claim to be overwhelmed
online media. access leading to campaigns As this is Two Sides, there are by online advertising.
In 2010 this meant that print to reduce online usage and statistics to show how consum- Television adverts are the most
swallowed 27% of advertis- promoting time away from ers also want transactional and welcome (52%), out of home is
ing dollars, but only 8% of social media in particular. And functional communications to the favoured channel for 22% and
the consumers’ time. By 2018 Meeker points to the growing be available in print. And that only 11% say that digital is their
print’s share of the overall number of apps that measure consumers continue to be misled favourite style of advertising.
advertising spend had dropped how people divide up their time. over the environmental impact It amounts to a point where
to 7%, still more than the 3% of A survey from Two Sides of paper and misinformed there is greater awareness about
time that consumers spend with about reading habits for Euro- about the rate of recycling the digital world, that it is not in
newspapers and magazines. peans puts further meat on this. across Europe. And only one in itself a panacea for all and that
In contrast advertising on It found that 48% expressing three are aware of certification there is real value on the more
mobile devices was unrecord- concern about the impact of schemes like FSC. mature ways of communicating,
able in 2010 and now accounts electronic devices on health The third report comes from print included.
Mercian looks moment a lot of theses people
simply do not understand what
ahead as it is available.”
celebrates 50th The company is working with
a hotel chain in the Maldives to
year supply a label which dissolves in
MERCIAN LABELS IS looking water to allow the glass bottle to
forward positively to a second 50 be reused with a new label, he
Mercian
years’ trading as it celebrates its explains.
celebrated with
golden jubilee with a ceremony In the same vein of innova-
Lord Stafford.
involving all staff and VIP tion led change, Mercian Gold
guests including Lord Stafford. has been introduced to bring
“Labels will always been together the embellishments
needed in some form or other,” that are possible on a label
says sales director Hugo Gell. from varnishes, embossing and
And that form has already nothing goes to landfill, that the conversations, and we have foils and materials to create the
changed towards digital where production avoids the use of to keep doing that until people impact that the customer is
Mercian is one of Xeikon’s key solvents, label stock is recycled understand what is avail- looking for.
UK customers. It is currently or from certified forests and that able and what is possible,” he “It’s about taking the digital
looking for a further Xeikon the digitally printed labels are says. Raw materials manufac- capabilities and mixing them up
operator. completely de-inkable. turers will also be invited to to produce unique effects. It is
The next shift, according to Now the company is plan- participate. one of the advantages of digital
Gell, will be towards sustain- ning a seminar on the subject “We should all be consider- printing that you can create
ability. The company has this to engage designers and brands ing something a little different these effects, varying them for
year launched Mercia Zero, owners to the benefits of because more of the same isn’t each label if necessary,” says
an initiative to guarantee that working sustainably. “It sparks going to last forever. At the Gell. n
20 July/August 2019 www.printbusiness.co.ukYou can also read
