David Currie marked a significant milestone in the digital march of the commercial printing industry with the announcement of the 10th installation of the groundbreaking HP Indigo 10000 press.

News Corp has announced 19 redundancies at its Port Melbourne printing press in the wake of the axing of the company’s free commuter newspaper mX. One of the sacked printers described the decision as “another nail in the coffin for manufacturing in Australia.”

Japanese electronics giant Brother Industries has bought UK printer Domino Printing Sciences in a deal worth £1 billion ($A2 billion). Domino will continue to operate as a stand-alone division in the combined business under the terms of the sale.

Queensland’s rebranded Chameleon Group is pushing ahead with a growth strategy and has two more businesses in its immediate sights. “We’re looking at a couple more businesses in the north of Queensland but I can’t say any more about that at this time," said GM Chris Krieger.

Next year in Düsseldorf in May, drupa 2016 will present the iconic printing trade show with the theme … 'Touch the Future.' In the first of a series of expert articles, here is a view of the industry from Düsseldorf by Gareth Ward.

NZ flexible packaging specialist Gravure has bought Sydney-based Australian Packaging as it continues an ambitious expansion plan. “The acquisition will provide an opportunity to cross-sell on both sides of the Tasman, said Greg Chapman, MD GPL.

Claiming an ‘industry first’ with his GM laser diecutting system, Nick Lowe, owner of Guru Labels, has launched a portal for printers promoting the ‘end of tooling costs.’ The pioneering converter has installed a Xeikon 3030 digital press backed up by the first GM (Grafisk Maskinfabrik) in the country.

Printing Industries has teamed up with PMP Distribution to launch a new low-cost letterbox marketing and distribution service for its members. Letterbox Marketing Plus will provide preferential pricing and access to 14,000+ local walkers in more than 30,000 neighbourhoods around the country.

The ISO has adopted X-Rite’s Color Exchange Format version 3 (CxF3) as the new industry standard for colour data exchange. "This standard provides the graphic arts industry with an accurate, efficient way to communicate colour information across any supply chain.”

PaperlinX has confirmed the sale of its Irish business as the company continues its long road out of Europe. The Irish operation has been bought by former director Enda Brophy and will be renamed GPM Sign & Display and GPM Commercial Print, according to UK reports.

Printer and publisher PMP says its resilient catalogue business was the key factor in a financial turnaround that has allowed the company to pay down $30 million of debt over the past year. PMP has also announced its intention to pay dividends to investors for the first time in three years.

A large Australian contingent has joined 1600 exhibitors at this year’s biggest-ever ProPak Asia event in Thailand. More than 4500 machines from across the world are on display. Australian companies with stands include Accupak, Fibre King, Oryx Automation, Heat & Control, HMPS, Maselli Asia Pacific, Metz, Floveyor, HBM Plastics, Hot Melt Packaging, Select Packaging, TNA Australia and others.

Following the loss of IPEX to London after hosting the premiere trade show for decades, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in the UK is launching The Print Show to bring the printing industry back to the midlands.

Printing and marketing company ive Group has cancelled its proposed ASX float that could have been the biggest stock play in the printing industry. "Given underlying market conditions, shareholders of ive Group decided to postpone their proposed IPO transaction," said brokers.