NSW Police have warned that theft of mail from residential letterboxes fuels identity theft by international crime gangs, but industry professionals say printed mail is still safer than online. According to the ACCC, only 1.9 percent of identity theft scams reported in 2015 were due to direct mail.

Staff at IPG Connect in Brendale, near Moreton Bay, Queensland, say that a Daeho 116 guillotine installed by Currie Group last year has boosted their productivity - and reduced their back pains. The guillotine has increased the speed of IPG's operations by 60 percent over its old machine.

Printing Industries has announced the recruitment of two additional workplace relations advisers into the team. Both advisers are experienced operators and their recruitment will further strengthen the Association’s ability to service member needs, says CEO Andrew Macaulay.

Carsten Wendler, managing director, takes over the Australian and NZ printing and packaging supply business, renaming it Print & Pack Pty Ltd. This was the name of the original company that Wendler joined in 1996 as the packaging equipment business development manager.

Australia Post's New Year postal rate increase on commercial mailing of an average of 3.7 percent from January 3 next year is the latest in a series of price hikes inflicted on the direct marketing, mailing and printing sectors.

The tender process for printing next financial year's White and Yellow Pages phone directories is underway - but don't expect Australian printers to get much of a look in as printers in Singapore and China gobble up the lion's share of the work.

Happy holidays from Fujifilm Australia

Following the launch of its Domestic and Family Violence Support Policy, Konica Minolta now has a diverse group of employees across Australia trained by experts from the University of NSW (UNSW) to act as ‘go-to’ people for victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

As his first year as CEO of Printing Industries comes to a close, Andrew Macaulay says the association has come a long way since the beginning of 2016, but there is still much to be done. In a letter to members, Macaulay thanked them and the directors for their support and advice.

X-Rite will bring a new certification standard to Australia with the announcement of a PANTONE Certified Printer (PCP) trainer in January 2017. David Stead, X-Rite Sales Manager Australia and New Zealand, said X-Rite had wanted to test the waters in North America before taking the program global.

Heidelberg will open a €50 million ($71 million) development centre at its Wiesloch-Walldorf site in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the company announced last week. Executives say it will be the most advanced printing research facility in the world when it opens in 2018.

In the graphics industry, the idea of making Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) is basically an alien concept. But, from printed matter through to the machinery and systems used to produce print media, EPDs are becoming increasingly important to procurement, writes Laurel Brunner.

IVE Group did better than it promised in its stockmarket launch by turning in a $20.9 million profit for its first year as a publicly listed company. According to Geoff Selig, chairman, the first year's figures are well up on previous results and better than the company's propsectus.

Matthew Bickford-Smith, chairman of PMP, anticipates major cost reductions following the company's proposed merger with IPMG. Bickford-Smith said that over-capacity is a problem in the printing industry, and consolidation is the solution.

Printing lobby group Two Sides has claimed a 70 percent success rate in its campaign against 'greenwashing', following its annual meeting in London. The organisation has so far investigated almost 500 companies, aiming to counter claims that going paperless 'saves trees'.

PrintNZ's membership numbers have held relatively steady in 2016, thanks to an expansion of its membership base into broader sectors of the market. "We have been into those areas a little bit, but we’re trying to broaden our reach," said General Manager Ruth Cobb (pictured).