Leading supplier Australian Visual Solutions (AVS) has been forced to relocate to a larger factory in Hobart to cope with its expanding sign writing supplies business. “This is a great step forward for the Tasmanian market,” said Cameron Sutherland, MD.

Outdoor advertising company APN Outdoor says the thriving out of home market has produced an unexpected 50 per cent jump in profits from last year. In a market update, the company, which listed last year on the ASX, said it expected to end the year with profits of more than $68 million.

One of the highlight topics at drupa 2016 will be packaging production. According to current forecasts, the packaging market will increase to 975 billion euros by 2018, and a special show at drupa called Packaging Touchpoint will reflect the market's relevance.

One of the biggest threats to the spread of digital printing methods is concern for the print’s recyclability. In part this is due to scaremongering by vested interests, but printed matter must be deinked if it is to be recycled and some digital printing methods produce prints that are hard to deink.

Businesses around the country have responded to Future Print’s Transition Seminars, with healthy attendances and positive feedback from sessions already held in Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania.

Analogue printing – litho, flexo and gravure ­– accounts for 97% of global production in volumes but only 86.1% in terms of value. However, the digital sector’s higher margin on the small volumes it produces is predicted to reduce slightly as it takes a larger slice of the pie.

Print franchise group Snap has named Peter Russell as its new chairman to replace Alan Good, who retired from the board at the 2015 AGM. “Alan has set up the board and the company to be able to capitalise on opportunities that continue to exist for all stakeholders," said CEO Steve Edwards.

Roland DG unveiled a new SOLJET inkjet printer aimed at the increasingly crowded wide-format market. “Today’s sign market is typified by intense competition due to the spread of wide-format inkjet printers and increasing demand for quick delivery," said Gino Farina, Roland DG Australia.

Konica Minolta launched a new wide format printer series that features ‘breakthrough' colour print technology. “The KIP 800 Colour Series can capture subtle tints and hues with unsurpassed colour stability and image fidelity for an entire print run."

A record crowd of printers is expected at this year’s Queensland Printing Industry Craftsmanship Awards (PICAs) in Brisbane on Friday night, with registrations up 20 percent on last year.

A new HP Indigo 10000 fed by a Tharstern MIS and an Agfa Apogee workflow is transforming the well-known Sydney printer’s operation but David Shoppee, Chief Operating Office, is careful to point out that “offset is by no means dead.”

Norwegian paper giant Norske Skog says challenging export markets in Australasia and a fall in local demand for newsprint contributed to a third-quarter net loss of almost $A123 million. Demand for newsprint in Australasia dropped by 10% in the first eight months of the year.

Ricoh will bring a range of new products and services for print providers to drupa 2016, the world's largest printing trade fair, in Germany next year. "It’s encouraging to see that print is enjoying a revival,” said Benoit Chatelard, Ricoh Europe.

NIPPACON, the annual conference of the Network of In-house Print Professionals Australasia (NIPPA), kicks off today on the Sunshine Coast. This year’s theme is Embracing Change - “which is happening at an unprecedented pace.”

Coritex Australia has appointed Malcolm Cumming as its new sales manager to drive the recent launch of a new range of print media products aimed at the Australian market.

Paper merchant PaperlinX will change its name to Spicers and continue to diversify into signage, display and packaging in an attempt to claw its way back from a European adventure that turned into one of Australia’s biggest corporate disasters.