That was the year that was - 2012
As Print21 wraps up for Christmas, let’s look back at some of the key industry moments that shaped 2012. Printers and suppliers came face to face with their destiny in this drupa year – win, lose or draw. Amazing how many times the same names cropped up, sometimes on the upside, other times not so good.
Some didn’t make it through but businesses such as Heidelberg, Kodak, GEON, SEMA, manroland and PaperlinX – to name but a few – survived market pressures and internal turmoil to fight another year. It’s been a tough time but the latest figures, released earlier this month suggest the industry is once again growing.
For all of our readers, partners and supporters, on behalf of the Print21 team, I wish you a very merry Christmas, and look forward to joining you in an exciting and prosperous PacPrint year of 2013. See you back online with the first news bulletin in three weeks time – January 10, 2013.
Leon Spencer,
Online Editor.
January
Benny’s Back! – drupa Snooper World Exclusive!
Andy McCourt kicks a stunner in his 2nd drupa Snooper column with news on Benny Landa. The Indigo founder will launch new nanographic digital printing technologies at drupa – exactly 100 days away from today.
Kodak Australia dodges bankruptcy bullet
Kodak’s Australian operations have escaped any immediate ill effects stemming from the company’s decision to file for bankruptcy in the US this week.
One of Australia’s largest print providers, IPMG, has announced it will close its sheet fed printing business, Craft, citing the industry’s aggressive sheet fed competition and narrowing margins as the core reason for the closure.
February
British industrialist rescues manroland sheetfed factory
A privately owned British engineering group has emerged as the buyer of manroland AG’s Offenbach sheetfed operations in the printer manufacturer’s ongoing insolvency proceedings, heralding the first non-German ownership of a manroland AG business.
Canon squeezes out last Océ shareholders
Canon has finally concluded its buyout of Netherlands-based print machinery manufacturer, Océ, almost two years after it first made a takeover bid.
Andrew Price makes his move on PaperlinX
Former print management supremo of Stream Solutions, drives for a seat on the board of the ailing paper merchant in a move that likely heralds a major corporate makeover.
Cameras out of the picture for Kodak
The company that gave the world the tagline, ‘Kodak moment,’ will this year farewell its dedicated capture device business, which includes its entire range of digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.
March
OPUS acquisition gets the green light
The final hurdle for McPherson’s Printing Group’s acquisition of OPUS Group has been well and truly cleared, with the company’s shareholders voting ‘overwhelmingly’ in favour of the deal.
Creditors chase Lamb Print for payment
Industry suppliers are calling for a full and transparent review of Lamb Print’s merger with Vanguard Press and subsequent distribution of funds after Monday’s creditors meeting.
Amcor gets green light for Aperio purchase
Amcor has received unconditional approval from Australian competition watchdog to go ahead with its acquisition of the Aperio Group in a move that will see the packaging company substantially increase its market share of the packaging business in the region.
April
New local partnership for Heidelberg and Ricoh
The long-awaited local partnership between Ricoh Australia and Heidelberg Australia has finally come to fruition with both companies this week formally inking an agreement that will see them move in line with their global counterparts.
Australia Post loses first round to ban to Digital Post
Salmat and Computershare have fended off Australia Post’s court injunction application to prevent the Digital Post Australia joint venture from using the name until trial next month.
New Spicers brand swallows Dalton and iMedia
Two of Australia’s most prominent graphic arts industry brands are set to disappear from the local landscape with Dalton Paper and iMedia to be rolled into a soon-to-be rebranded Spicers company by June this year.
RMIT dumps print training – printing industry outrage
RMIT University will close the book on its International Centre of Graphic Technology (ICGT) centre in 18 months as falling apprenticeship numbers force its hand. The Printing Industries Association of Australia said it was “shocked and dismayed.
May
Drupa kick-off – automatic for the printing press from manroland websystems
From the first press conference of drupa comes news likely to transform how printing is done in Australia. Reaffirming manroland web system´s technology leadership, Peter Kuisle, director of the resurgent web press manufacturer, confirmed that at least one of the two huge web presses destined for Australia will be fitted with the latest in automated control, the autoprint system.
Memjet acquires Silverbrook staff under agreement
The $600 million lawsuit filed against Silverbrook Research has quietly been resolved as US-based Memjet assumes direct ownership of Memjet printing technology. The IP control agreement will see around 300 Australian print researchers shift from the employ of Silverbrook to Memjet.
Time is running out for Sands Print
Administrators are confident the beleaguered 150-year-old print group will be liquidated and sold within the next few weeks. Lawler Draper Dillon is negotiating with three preferred offers out of seven that were considered to be serious to buy the printer.
Drupa Snooper – A tale of two drupas
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us…” Andy McCourt feels that Charles Dickens´ opening words from A Tale of Two Cities might well apply to drupa 2012.
June
Fairfax to end the age of broadsheet
Fairfax Media is set to end the age of broadsheet in Australia, with this week’s announcement it will downsize its two leading broadsheet daily newspapers to a new ‘compact’ format and sell off its two largest newspaper print facilities in Chullora and Tullamarine.
Creditors give SEMA management buyout the nod
Australia Post, Fuji Xerox and other major creditors have given the nod to a SEMA management buyout led by industry consultant, John Stewart, which was decided upon this week following a creditors’ meeting.
PaperlinX fire sale for profit return
PaperlinX will sell off three of its largest international paper businesses in a bid to shed its poorly performing divisions and give the company the liquidity it requires to complete its ongoing restructure and return to profit.
July
Australia Post muscles in on transactional mail
Australia Post has upped its stake in the transactional mail market with the purchase of two Océ ColourStream 3700 Twin high-speed digital presses, in a move that will see the country’s mail monopoly business go head to head for market dominance with the industry’s biggest players, Salmat, SEMA and Computershare.
Marchant walks as PaperlinX sells off global assets
PaperlinX chief, Toby Marchant, has announced he will part ways with the struggling company by the end of July, as it begins an extensive sell-off of its Eastern European and South African businesses.
Goprint sheds commercial printing operation
Queensland government printer, Goprint, will be dramatically scaled back, with the loss-making business set to lose around 40 staff and see its printing operation reduced solely to the production of ‘reserved services.’
Schreier bows out for new Heidelberg CEO
Bernhard Schreier, Heidelberg CEO, will leave the company by the end of the year, with his supervisory board-nominated replacement, Dr. Gerold Linzbach, to take the reigns from September this year.
August
Vic printing industry action group ‘betrayed’ by RMIT
Two weeks to meet $1million demand by the college for equipment and learning assessment material in order for the industry to keep apprentice training alive.
Price takes his position inside the tent
PaperlinX shareholder activist and board agitator, Andrew Price, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the company, after a long battle over its leadership that saw Price attempt to oust chairman, Harry Boon.
One year on Blue Star NZ bondholders will lose the lot
Investors in the New Zealand bonds (NZDX) of the troubled printing group are unlikely to see any return on their $105 million when the company is sold.
Salmat exits essential mail with $375 million BPO sale to Fujifilm
Tokyo-based Fujifilm Holdings has purchased Salmat’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) division for (AU) $375 million, in a move that sees Australia’s biggest essential mail player exit the sector.
September
Joan Grace to head new Australian printing industry training organisation
Printing Industries is moving to buy a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) to establish a training facility for apprentice printers, with PrintNZ chief, Joan Grace, crossing the Tasman to head-up the new venture.
‘We believe in print’ – Bauer pays $500 million for ACP
The Bauer Media Group, one of Europe’s largest magazine companies, has closed a deal to purchase ACP Magazines from the private equity-owned Nine Entertainment Co. (NEC) for $500 million, the German company’s owner saying, ‘we believe in print.’
Bye-bye Boon – Price wins PaperlinX leadership struggle
PaperlinX chairman, Harry Boon, will leave the company on 28 September, along with his supporters, non-executive directors Lyndsey Cattermole and Anthony Clarke, in a boardroom coup that sees shareholder lobbyist, Andrew Price, win his battle against the company’s leadership.
GEON to cut labour costs for a sustainable future
GEON is trying to slice its labour costs, with the company this week entering talks with employees with the aim of minimising its outgoing staffing expenses while retaining workers.
October
Heidelberg’s Andy Vels Jensen goes home
Andy Vels Jensen, Heidelberg Australia & New Zealand (HAN) managing director, will head back to his native Denmark for good, following his departure from the company at the end of the month.
Fairfax should ‘come clean’ over print closures – AMWU
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) is demanding that Fairfax chief, Greg Hywood, ‘come clean on the real motivations’ behind the company’s massive job cuts and print production closures, after he told shareholders that the printed editions of its metro daily newspapers could remain profitable for up to another 15 years
APN News & Media is taking stock of its New Zealand print assets following market speculation it had found a buyer for the business.
Heidelberg closes Australian showroom to cut costs
Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand will close its Notting Hill press showroom in Melbourne in an effort to cut back on its local operation costs.
November
Geoff Selig regains Blue Star Print Australia
Geoff Selig, former CEO of Blue Star and current owner of Sydney-based CaxtonWeb has bought Blue Star Print Australia. After having the company on the block for months, Champ Private Equity finally sold the Australian part of the business to the former NSW Liberal Party president.
PMP to cut jobs in $64m cost-saving drive
PMP is moving to lay-off workers as it enters the second phase of its national transformation strategy, which will see its press fleet shrink along with its staff numbers in a bid to save more than $64 million over the next two years.
PIAA takes on CLB with Intech training acquisition
The Printing Industries Association of Australia is moving to outflank its newest training rival, CLB Training & Development, following the acquisition of registered training organisation (RTO), Intech Australia – a move that has CLB claiming the association has ‘lost its independent voice’.
Barbagallo leaves Muller Martini in global restructure
Livio Barbagallo, Muller Martini Australia’s managing director, will leave the company at the end of the year as it undergoes structural changes that see its Australian operations fall under a newly formed Asia Pacific Region division.
December
GASAA clears final hurdle in PIAA amalgamation
The last hurdle in the long-awaited amalgamation of the Graphic Arts Services Association of Australia (GASAA) and the Printing Industries Association of Australia (Printing Industries) has been cleared, with GASAA members voting unanimously in favour of the merger.
Fuji Xerox sells 40% stake in Digital Post Australia
Computershare is taking charge of Digital Post Australia after acquiring Fuji Xerox Document Management Solution’s 40 per cent stake in the online essential mail platform.
Ron Patterson goes from Printing Industries Association in Victoria
High-profile industry identity is a casualty of the new national structure of the leading print industry association. Patterson, formerly the Victorian state manager under the old organisation, was GM for Sales and Marketing under the revamped national structure.
Kodak sells patent portfolio for $525 million
Kodak is finally selling off the digital imaging patent portfolio it has been trying to move for close to a year, after reaching a US$525 million deal agreement with a consortium of investors.