The new issue of Print 21 magazine is a perfect example of the results that can be achieved with high quality paper, according to Tony Bertrand, national sales & marketing manager for BJ Ball.

“When you do your research, you find that Epson RIPS printers for offices like ours are very hard to beat,” says Jim Dryburgh from H&R Block in Mudgee, central west NSW. “The life of the ink, the sheer volume they print and at such a low cost makes the decision a no-brainer."

Blue Star Group, a division of ASX listed IVE Group, has acquired North Sydney-based digital printer and retail display business Display Bay – the fifth major deal by Blue Star this year. Display Bay will be integrated into the Blue Star Display facility at South Granville in the new year.

Many believe the consolidation of the printing industry is, by and large, a good thing. It strengthens printing companies and ensures their sustainable future. But not everyone agrees. James Cryer for one argues for diversity and against the current “takeover mania.”

Out-of-home advertisers APN Outdoor and oOh!media have signed a $1.6 billion “merger of equals” deal that will see with APN Outdoor shareholders taking 55 per cent of the newly merged group. Long-term APN Outdoor CEO Richard Herring and oOh!media CFO Peter McClelland will be forced out under the plan.

Digital printer immij has installed an SBL folder gluer to cope with an increasing of demand for short-run packaging. “Immij identified the SBL TS 800 as the perfect solution to a growing amount of out-sourced short-run packaging, says Tom Ralph (pictured), MD of supplier Graph-Pak.

Innovative uses of digital print for packaging were highlighted at the Standout workshop in Sydney presented by partners HP and Schawk Australia, including a Japanese water bottling firm's idea to partner with a local news agency to print snippets of the daily and local news on the bottles.

Air ambulance paramedic Peter Davidson - who helped save the lives of eight sailors in the tragic 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race - has been named as one of several keynote speakers at PacPrint 2017 in Melbourne.

The last remaining press in the closure sale of iconic Perth printer Pilpel Print - a 2011 HP Indigo 3550 in outstanding condition - has been reduced by $10,000 for a quick sale.

Improving the green credentials of the graphics business can take many forms. Most motivations for doing so are economic rather than philanthropic, however the future of the printing and publishing industries depends on both social and economic improvements, writes Laurel Brunner.

Printing Industries board members Ron Patterson and Chris Segaert will join Peter Lane as the Association's representatives on the board of PacPrint 2017. Both Patterson and Segaert have been involved with previous PacPrint exhibitions.

Bill Shorten has announced the Labor Party will block Scott Morrison's plan to relax parallel import restrictions, which would scupper the local book printing industry. The Opposition Leader, together with MPs Tony Burke and Mark Dreyfus, announced the move at Ligare Printing in Sydney today.

The final issue of Print21 for 2016 has rolled off the presses at Sydney's Hero Print, and it's chock full of all the info you need over this holiday season. The November/December 2016 issue is available today on our website and will be distributed in print next week.

Local label convertors are being primed to embrace Heidelberg’s Gallus inkjet as industry identity, James Rodden, and Michael Ring, vice president, Gallus, tour the region.

Kwik Kopy has signed on to sponsor the 6th and 7th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards as the official print partner of the event, and will print the AACTA judges’ handbooks, winner envelopes, certificates, letterheads, posters and business cards for the next two years.

Pantone has taken inspiration from nature to reveal its 2017 Colour of the Year: PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery. The yellow-green shade replaces 2016′s twin colours of the year, PANTONE 15-3919 Serenity and PANTONE 13-1520 Rose Quartz, and was chosen to symbolise hope and renewal.