Print veteran Michael Broughton of Perth-based direct mail and marketing company Lasermail leaves the industry and delivers a broadside to Australia Post and its CEO Ahmed Fahour on his way out the door. “We’ve seen a massive decline in services and the whole model is now wrong."

Graph Pak is inviting Australian buyers of the OEM–branded die cutters to get in touch for future support. There are approximately 40 SBL die cutters operating in Australian printing and packaging plants. Now that Tom Ralph has taken up the agency, he wants to get in touch.

Industry doyen to quit in landmark deal with Michael Wu of Ability Press and Moody Abrogatah of Docklands Press that was sealed with a handshake in the Lorimer Street boardroom.

Australia's only manufacturer of printing paper, Japanese-owned Australian Paper, is facing allegations that it refused to pay a $10m debt owed to supplier VicForests. The Gippsland-based Australian Paper, which produces Reflex paper, has posted four consecutive years of losses.

Edge Print, which grew out of the merger of three established printing businesses in north-eastern Victoria, says the future looks bright after some daunting challenges in the first few months of operations. “We faced some major internal changes in bringing three different cultures under the one roof."

Paper merchant K.W.Doggett Fine Paper has launched into the wide format market and will become the largest supplier of Avery Dennison wide format products in Australia. The merchant is also a distributor of Avery Dennison’s self-adhesive sheets range for offset and screen printing markets.

We’re hearing a lot of survival stories lately; if not survival – continuance of existence while adapting to big changes. The tide of business failures in the printing and allied industries appears to be ebbing. But smart, critical thinking is only part of the story.

Australia’s folding boxboard market is under increasing pressure from substrate imports and consolidation looks inevitable, according to the latest Pulp & Paper Edge Intelligence Report from industry bible IndustryEdge.

"Perhaps there are a few old printers about that miss the smell of ink and the chatter of linotypes,” says Rod Walker, owner of the 100-year-old Gnowangerap Star and its museum-like collection of hot metal presses. “My late mother's wish was that it would not be sold off piecemeal,” says Walker.

At Labelepxo 2015, Epson will demonstrate the largest range of digital label printers and presses it has shown to date, and unveil several new products (on booth 9A50 from 29th September – 2nd October at Brussels Expo).

Former Printing Industries Queensland Board member and industry identity, Bruce Petfield, died last weekend at his family home in Brisbane. Mr Petfield was one of the first five owners to buy into Kwik Kopy.

Market survey and FESPA report highlights wide format innovations and utilisation in packaging sector as well as signage industry. This year’s FESPA exhibition in Cologne was the largest ever and showcased the latest technology in wide format technology.

The undisclosed health problems of Heidelberg CEO Gerold Linzbach has forced the press giant to appoint CFO Dirk Kaliebe as a temporary deputy chairman who will take on CEO duties. Linzbach has been on sick leave and his recovery is “likely to be delayed longer than expected."

Ricoh NZ will recycle all of its e-waste - including discarded computers, printers, phones and other electronic equipment - in a nationwide deal with ink and consumables recycler Croxley Recycling. "We’re proactive in the way we seek to handle all of our waste,” said Ricoh's Charley Peace.

Australian packaging giant Amcor has acquired a publicly listed specialty packaging company in India for $US26.4 million ($A35 million) to expand its presence in southern India. “India is a very attractive market for flexible packaging driven by strong economic growth," said Amcor.