Read more
Print businesses in the bushfire ravaged areas of East Gippsland, the NSW South Coast, Kangaroo Island and the Blue Mountains are struggling to get back on their feet, with labour and logistics proving major stumbling blocks. Read more
Print & Pack is now the sole supplier of all Bobst print, packaging, and converting solutions in Australia and New Zealand.
Major Sydney wide-format business VFX Print Group is moving out of its high profile premises in Leichhardt after 25 years, seeking a bigger building with room for robots as the next stage of its growth.
Award winning WA outfit Scott Print is claiming an industry first, achieving ISO colour matching across its offset and digital print technologies.
The Print and Visual Communication Association has launched a bushfire information portal as a one-stop shop for all available help for print businesses impacted by the ongoing bushfires.
Industry suppliers association Visual Connections says it stands ready to assist print businesses impacted by the fires, and will help organise and cover the cost of bridging production to enable jobs to get out.
Printers in bushfire-affected regions are battling a decline in workload as tourists flee stricken areas and local businesses see a major downturn in trade.
Staff at Industrial Printing Co in Lithgow faced a harrowing battle to protect the premises, with red hot embers flying in every direction as a mountainside fire raged just 200m away.
State governments in NSW and SA have already offered assistance for beleagured printers and other small business in bushfire zones, with a host of other assistance packages available.
Trade printer IBS says in light of the bushfire emergency it will plant a tree for every order of 1000 or more business cards it receives.
Every year is a big year in the print industry, and 2019 was bigger than most, as the industry continues to rapidly evolve in the face of ongoing digital disruption, with wins and losses, highs and lows. Print21 has been there every step of the way, to bring you all the news, insight and analysis as it happened.
With bad news travelling faster than good, printers could be forgiven for thinking the end is nigh. The reality, though, is that 2019 saw a huge amount of money invested into print, as printers, technology developers, and suppliers banked on the future success of the $8bn manufacturing industry.
As various sectors of print expanded and contracted, the benefits of buying a rival could not be underestimated, with 2019 seeing a flurry of consolidation in the print industry large and small.
As print goes through the most disruptive period in its 500-year history, there will inevitably be casualties – and 2019 gave us no shortage of the good, the bad and the ugly hitting the skids, with several major names now just history.
Top Ovato executives, including chairman Michael Hannan (l) and CEO Kevin Slaven (r) welcomed customers to tour the expanded NSW printing site, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, and unveiled the company’s latest $20m manroland Lithoman 80-page high-volume web press.
Beacon Print in Whakatāne has signed an agreement to purchase a near new newspaper printing press from United Borneo Press Group of Malaysia, in what it says is a vote of confidence in community newspaper publishing.
Nicole Danger from Chapel Press, the winner of this year’s LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize, has been recognised by the Governor of Victoria at a reception at Government House in Melbourne, convened to celebrate Women in Trades.
Cactus Imaging has added a second Fujifilm Acuity Ultra to its stable, the eight-colour inkjet grand-format machine joining its existing four-colour-plus-white printer which it showed off at an open house event in February.
Stock prices at Melbourne-based online personalised print portal Redbubble are in freefall, collapsing by almost half on revised growth forecasts.
Package printing, commercial printing, and book printing will drive a 65 per cent upswing in digital print over the next decade, according to industry research agency Smithers.
Unsecured creditors of collapsed Sydney print business Reactiv are owed $2m, and have no hope of seeing any of their money.
Western Sydney-based printer Clickprint has gone into voluntary liquidation.
Diversified print and marketing services company GJI Group has acquired school signage producer Signpac, adding it to its growing portfolio of businesses.
Finishing and other equipment from collapsed trade finisher The Bindery is up for auction, with online viewing and bidding now open, on site viewing next Tuesday, and the auction closing next Thursday.
The PVCA has applauded Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s move to cut four government departments, saying it will cut red tape and help small business.
Web-to-print giant Vistaprint has discovered around 800 of its Australian customers were on the online data breach first revealed in an Australia-exclusive by Print21 last week, and at the time thought to not include any local customers.
IVE CEO Matt Aitken was installed as chair of the Real Media Collective board at its AGM in Sydney last night, succeeding Ovato CEO Kevin Slaven, whose two year term came to an end.
Stricken Melbourne signage business Adherettes is continuing to trade while in voluntary liquidation as offers are sought for the company.
The world’s biggest press manufacturer Heidelberg has a new chairman of its supervisory board, Dr Martin Sonnenschein, who comes from a background of digital transformation.
Print on demand was in full flow at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium as Velflex printed the AFL 2020 draft shirt names and numbers live at the event as the picks were chosen, in less than 60 seconds.
Used finishing equipment dealer BMS, which bought most of the equipment at collapsed trade finisher The Bindery, says it received assurances some of its money would be used for redundancy pay.
Central Coast trade label house Guru Labels has acquired tag and label supplier TyTags from the Sweeney family.
Spicers is buying rival merchant Direct Paper, as part of its strategy to move into new areas, with the deal giving it an increased presence in packaging papers and boards. The O’Neill brothers, Dale and Todd, will be taking senior roles in the business and are keen to be a part of the success into the future.
Sydney’s Imagination Graphics has celebrated the installation of Kimmy, its Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1 B2 inkjet press – the first in New South Wales.
The battle for control of HP is in full flow, with a war of words between the HP and Xerox boards as they attempt to coalesce HP shareholders to their respective sides, but what does it mean for local printers?
The man behind the Xerox bid to buy HP, and the same man who blocked the Fujifilm bid to buy Fuji Xerox and then effectively sacked the Xerox board, is 83-year-old billionaire Carl Icahn – one of the kings of corporate raiders.
Gary Starkweather, the man who invented the laser printer, which then linked into the emerging desktop computers and enabled desktop publishing, wreaking havoc on the print industry, has passed away aged 81.
Kiwi printers have until midnight tonight to take advantage of the early bird offer for the Pride in Print awards.
Melbourne-based integrated print and marketing services business Intertype has won Best in Show at the annual Fuji Xerox Pixi awards, beating out competition from all over South East Asia, China, Australia and New Zealand.
Printers looking to extend into the fast-growing flexible pouch production can now enter the market with the Screen Truepress Jet L350UV+LM (low-migration ink) label press, which is now able to be used for food safe short-run stand-up pouches.
The HP board has given the latest overture from Xerox short shrift, again saying the hostile bid undervalues the business, and in a blunt letter saying there is no basis for further discussions.
Xerox Corp is going flat out with its hostile takeover bid of HP, securing US$24bn in funding from three banks, and telling the HP board it has the cash to back its intentions.
EFI has attracted veteran print technology executive and former Xaar CEO Dr Douglas Edwards as its new chief technology officer (CTO). The move brings Edwards back to work with CEO Jeff Jacobson – Edwards was vice president R&D at KPG when Jacobson was CEO, with the duo both taking up senior roles at Kodak.
The Print & Visual Communications Association has provided a detailed list of contacts for printers in all the affected regions of the country to seek assistance in various forms from various government departments.
Digital wide format solutions provider Roland DG is waiving call-out fees and labour charges to review and inspect Roland equipment damaged as a direct result of the fires, or the resulting power outages.
Russell Cavenagh, general manager of Mutoh Australia, has opened the doors of his company's showroom and resources to offer a free trade printing service to affected businesses while they get back on their feet.
Wide format industry supplier Jetmark is stepping in to help sign shops affected by the bushfires, with a free $250 voucher available to the first 100 printers that respond.
Mimaki Australia has launched a range of special offers and assistance to help businesses impacted by the recent bushfires across the country.
In the ANZ print trade media landscape it was Print21 that powered forward, with its commitment to quality content and its unrivalled editorial industry engagement and experience setting it apart from the rest, as the magazine and associated platforms grew throughout the year.
Three big trade shows caught the attention of ANZ printers this year – PrintEx, Fespa, and Labelexpo – and they had a common theme: the blurring of boundaries of different print thanks to digitisation. Print21 was at all three.
Byzantine, brazen, or plain brilliant: some print businesses and individuals went to great lengths in their attempts to grow their businesses, keep them afloat, or just increase their margins – unfortunately usually at the expense of the rest of the industry and the taxpayer.
2019 saw local print innovation recognised on the world stage with printer Momento Pro, supplier Currie Group, and suburban outfit Style Communications graphic designer Indy Griffths all shining a beacon for local print by winning major awards overseas.
With all the checks and balances of the modern era, one thing remains clear: if humans are involved, stuff-ups will occur, which is why one of the buzzwords of this year and the next will be reducing human touchpoints. The 2019 print industry showed why.
The latest issue of the nation's number one industry magazine Print21 is currently being mailed, with print business owners and managers about to receive a bumper issue to end the year.
Foxcil, a leading trade print supplier of labels and flexibles, has been quietly surprising small remote schools across Australia with Foxcil Care Packages.
The first Kodak Ultrastream high speed wide web inkjet press has been sold even before it has officially been launched, to a US print business.
Kornit Digital has a raft of ready-made solutions for print business owners looking to diversify out of the razor thin margins in commercial print into the high margin world of digital textile printing.
Environmental campaigner Laurel Brunner says national newspaper USA Today's move to digital-only will have an adverse impact on print, journalism, and the environment.
All the latest jobs in print are on the Print21 website, hit the button top right on the menu bar.
The world's biggest offset press manufacturer Heidelberg has been ranked in the 25 most innovative companies in Germany, which the company says shows the printing industry is not part of the old economy.
Victorian printer Galaxy Print and Design has invested in a new Cron CTP system from Currie Group, as part of its move to bring offset back inhouse.
A successful entry into the Asian market for the rapidly growing HP Indigo packaging printer is a forerunner for an attack on the local flexible packaging sector.
Currie Group has won a global WorldStar 2020 Award for its industry-first #rhinosdownunder printed execution that featured on the PKN Packaging News magazine cover in March last year.
The Penrith Museum of Printing has started an ambitious task to raise money to save the printing culture for the future, beginning with producing 3D-printed copies of the original Gutenberg press to raise funds.
The man behind the Xerox bid to take over HP, Carl Icahn, has penned an open letter to HP shareholders imploring them to ask the HP board to accede to the bid.
With the turn of the decade almost upon us, Pantone has unveiled the 2020 Colour of the Year – 19-4052 Classic Blue – which it says reflects a desire for a stable foundation to a new era.
Hunter-based business Genr8 Printing is achieving new revenue streams with its installation of a Roland DG VersaUV LEF-300 custom inkjet printer, which is enabling it to print onto a variety of substrates.
Brad Tyler from Sydney’s Pegasus Print Group won $20,000 on popular afternoon TV quiz show Millionaire Hot Seat, spending the winnings on a new swimming pool.
Neopost (soon to be Quadient) and HP have teamed up to show off the new HP Stitch range of dye sublimation printers at open house events in Sydney and Melbourne.
Some 2,750 visitors from 60 countries took part in the leading exhibition of print technology for industrial manufacturing, InPrint Munich, viewing a range of emerging print applications.
Sydney print finishing business Mega Tabs has been fined for its tardiness in recompensing migrant workers which it underpaid for two years.
Ludlow cabinets with brass type were among the standout performers at an online auction for equipment from the Melbourne Museum of Print, with the on-site auction to take place tomorrow at its Footscray premises.
Print shone in the Outdoor Media Association’s (OMA) 2019 Creative Collection competition for quarter three, with two pieces employing print among the four winners.
Packaging giant Orora is trialling new 100 per cent fibre cartons for Pink Lady apples as the groundswell against plastic gathers pace, in good news for the paper and board printing industry.
Melbourne signage operator Di Sign has dropped its winding up order against controversial signage business Skope, with Skope paying the outstanding invoice.
The classic Ingede Method 11 deinking test is proving unsuitable for new printing methods, but failing the test means paper intended for recycling gets sent to landfill or incinerated, writes Laurel Brunner.
Epson's new 24” dye sub SureColor F560 has won a Good Design Award, as have the new 12-colour SC-P7560 and SC-P9560 roll-to-roll printers.
The Penrith Print Museum is calling on generous lovers of print history to consider investing at the Melbourne Museum of Print auction, for the future of the Museum.
Irwin Racing’s Team 18 has partnered with Ball & Doggett for the supply of Avery Dennison films to wrap its Supercars.
Detmold Packaging, Biopak, Panasonic, Chep, and Amgen were among the companies recognised for leading the way in sustainable packaging design and innovation, at the annual Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation Awards in Melbourne.
Melbourne trade laminating business Protectaprint is in administration, as mounting troubles and an ATO wind-up order send the business over the edge.
Michael Hannan will take over the chair’s role at Ovato, following the resignations of incumbent Matthew Bickford-Smith, and non-executive director Terry Sinclair.
Venerable Hobart printing house Monotone Art Printers has invested in a suite of new productivity-boosting Horizon finishing equipment from Currie Group.
