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The huge floods that swept through Sydney have wiped out the Imagination Graphics printroom, rendering all its print systems – including the new sheetfed B2 inkjet digital KM-1 Accuriopress – out of action. Read more
The suits were unimpressed with packaging giant Amcor achieving a 3.1 per cent increase in its half year EBIT over the same time last year, on sales that slipped by 3.8 per cent in the six months to December, punishing its share price.
Digital textiles printing solutions developer Kornit Digital saw sales shoot up by 39 per cent in 2019, achieving record figures, as the move to digital fabric printing gathers pace.
Avon Graphics is buying the assets and business of troubled laminating outfit Protectaprint, which went into administration at the back end of last year.
High profile print identity Theo Pettaras has sold his Digitalpress business to marcomm services outfit Bridgestone Investments in a strategic move, which will also see it enter wide format production.
Orora is going through a rough patch according to its half-year results, with business lagging in North America. However, there was a bright spot in its Australasia operations, with growth reported in its beverage business in the region.
The battle between print giants Xerox and HP for control of HP has reached new heights, with Xerox upping its offer to HP shareholders by 9 per cent, and saying it will launch a tender offer on 2 March.
An artists' collective is vandalising JC Decaux bus shelter printed posters across the east coast capital cities, pulling them out and replacing them with their own climate-change messages, in an attack on the quarter-of-a-billion-dollar sector.
Australia's containerboard sector is facing an unprecedented crisis of fibre supply, with the ongoing bushfires wiping out huge swathes of trees used for local manufacture of kraftliner, which is used as the outer layers of high-strength corrugated boxes.
Canberra printer Walker Graphics, also trading as Vivid Print Services, has gone into voluntary administration, with a creditors' meeting scheduled for next week.
The world's biggest offset press manufacturer Heidelberg is launching what it says is a new generation of Speedmaster presses, which it calls 'the most intelligent and most automated' to date.
Higher apprentice numbers and a growing awareness of industry career opportunities are just some of the positive outcomes of a pioneering programme led by Visual Connections and Asga, with Aussip in 2019.
Agfa is launching a new addition to its large-format inkjet printer assortment, the Oberon RTR3300 is a dedicated 3.3m high-end roll-to-roll machine.
Print management information system provider Tharstern has added three new features, for direct mail and large format printing, that are available as add-ons to its software platform.
Leading US print lobby group Print Drives America is spending more than $1m on four half-page ads in the Wall St Journal, in an attempt to influence the influencers.
Heidelberg is offering a 30 per cent discount on selected spare parts until the end of February.
Xerox Corporation has seen its revenue for 2019 fall by 6.7 per cent, with another 4 per cent drop flagged for the coming year, but it continues with its hostile bid for HP unabated.
New EFI CEO Jeff Jacobson called on printers to operate in the now with an eye to the future, in his first keynote speech at the annual EFI Connect user conference.
Failed Melbourne trade laminating service ProtectaPrint is continuing to operate, much to the ire of rival outfits, who say its own unsustainable pricing led to its demise in the first place.
Colour Doctor David Crowther of Colour Graphic Services, a certified G7 Expert, has been appointed head of the Idealliance Australasian office, based in Sydney.
Giant print trade show drupa has been on tour in South East Asia, drumming up support for the 2020 show from emerging economies and highlighting the megatrends it sees impacting the industry.
Leading trade supplier Foxcil is to trial a four-day working week for employees, starting next week, in a move overwhelmingly welcomed by staff.
Digital print manufacturer Durst has restructured its industrial textile printing division in a move which has been welcomed by local MD Matt Ashman, who says it will result in benefits for existing customers as well as faster product development.
EFI is launching a new mid-range roll-to-roll printer line that it says helps sign and display graphics customers drive more volume with high-end digital print for endless applications and designs.
Digital increased its share of revenue in the out-of-home industry last year, partly at the expense of print, with outdoor media spend last year recording growth for the tenth year running.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Australian Financial Review was the only newspaper to gain readers in print in 2019, with all other titles seeing the switch away from print to digital continuing unabated.
The rapid growth of digital textile printing will see the drupa launch of Touchpoint Textile, a new special show for digital textile printing applications, in Hall 4 of June’s giant show, complete with micro digital textile factory.
The first Print21 magazine of the year is out and arriving on desks this week, with the bumper issue packed with compelling engaging content for the nation's print business owners and managers.
Roland DG has started to schedule service runs to fire-affected regions across Australia. The runs will occur throughout this month.
Two Epson large-format products, the SureColor SC-P7500 and the SureColor SC-P9500 series, have been named iF Design Award 2020 winners by iF International Forum Design.
The team at Soar Print is supporting the Waste-Not Kitchen by printing their soup packaging for free.
Currie Group has a new special offer for print businesses looking to implement HP Indigo digital print technology, offering a bundled deal with a reconditioned HP Indigo 7r, and free Horizon creaser folder or perfecting binding system.
Mimaki has introduced a new hybrid digital textile printer, the Tx300P-1800 MkII. It enables both direct-to-textile and transfer printing, with interchangeable platens and three different ink combinations – providing flexibility in a single system.
The Australian Financial Review was the only newspaper to gain readers in print in 2019, with all other titles seeing the switch away from print to digital continuing unabated.
A 9 per cent decline in revenue from its Australian businesses dragged the second quarter results form News Corp down, with its Australian mastheads seeing a 6 per cent slump in income.
The industry’s media hub Print21 is growing, appointing a deputy editor, Ian Ackerman, to join the senior editorial team of editor Wayne Robinson, editor-at-large Patrick Howard, and publisher Lindy Hughson.
Digital wide format solutions supplier Roland DG Australia has announced the dates around the country for its rip software training course, VersaWorks: Beyond the Basics.
The third PKN Packaging News Women in Packaging Breakfast Forum, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Packaging, will take place on 2 April in Melbourne.
Several industry events in China, including Sign China 2020, have been postponed due to the outbreak of coronavirus in the country. The event was to be held from 24 – 26 February at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Head Above Water 24-hour Swimathon is returning to Sydney’s Northern Beaches, after raising more than $80,000 for mental health programmes at the inaugural 2019 event.
Digital nano print business Landa has a new active chairman, whose first job will be to find a new CEO, and then drive sales for the print pioneer.
Fespa’s popular vehicle wrapping competition will return to this year’s global show, which is being held in Madrid at the end of March, with the winner entitled to be crowned global king of wrapping.
The drupa Cube forum for 2020 will include 40 sessions, including keynotes from star designer James Sommerville and digital transformation influencer Michael Gale.
Registrations are now open for Visual Impact Gold Coast 2020. The event will be held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre from 30 April to 2 May.
Mimaki is offering zero interest repayments on a range of printers including roll-to-roll, flatbed, and tabletop UV, available through Spicers.
OKI Data Australia has appointed Tony Grima as managing director for Australia and New Zealand, moving him up from sales director.
Mimaki is set to become the exclusive distributor for the OKI Data range of wide format printers, with an international sales agreement to come into effect on 1 April.
Orafol has taken on a new national strategic relationship manager, with Daniela Mastroieni stepping into the role.
Epson Australia is set to debut its first industrial direct-to-garment (DTG) printer, the SureColor F3060, in Melbourne next month.
The battle for control of HP has ratcheted up several notches, with Xerox buying a small stake in the company, then nominating 11 of its own people for the HP board.
Wide format print systems manufacturers are making a serious effort to get their inks certified as environmentally friendly, especially important as the printers that once produced posters are now also producing interior decor.
Fujifilm has won a place on the CDP Climate Change A List, the highest level of acknowledgement for companies making efforts to combat climate change.
Entries are now open for the 2020 Printing Industry Creativity Awards, which will culminate at the National Print Awards in July and incorporate a number of new categories.
The Australian Sign & Graphics Association (ASGA) and Fespa Australia have launched a conference for sign and display professionals, with the inaugural event to coincide with Visual Impact on the Gold Coast.
Melbourne print community The Papyrus Club is throwing its doors open as the venerable 60-year-old club seeks to welcome new members.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Irwin Racing’s Team 18 has partnered with Ball & Doggett for the supply of Avery Dennison films to wrap its Supercars.
Melbourne trade laminating business Protectaprint is in administration, as mounting troubles and an ATO wind-up order send the business over the edge.
