News Archive

• Warning on ACM Panels – McCourt’s ReVerb 

  

  “From the instant I saw the first news footage of the Grenfell Tower inferno here in the UK, I could see the building had been clad in ACM panels and wondered if they were the correct grade,” says Print21 magazine editor Andy McCourt in his latest ReVerb column.

• Australian Paper price hike on the way 

  

  Australian Paper will increase prices on selected uncoated woodfree copy and printing papers by three to five percent effective July. Andrew Menck, general manager sales at Australian Paper, said the price rises were necessary to offset costs.

• Holgate gets Printing Industries tick of approval 

  

  Printing Industries is pleased with the appointment of Christine Holgate as CEO of Australia Post and looks forward to improved relations between Australia Post and the industry, says Andrew Macaulay, CEO PIAA, who hopes that Australia Post will negotiate on its planning and direction.

• Avant closes after 300 million postcards 

  

  Avant Card, Australia’s first free postcard advertising company, will close its doors at the end of July 2017 after distributing more than 300 million postcards over 25 years. The very last card to be issued will be #20850, titled: “Elvis has left the building.”

• Winds of change – Andreas Rau heads home 

  

  Andreas Rau, national product manager of Melbourne-based Fujifilm subsidiary DS Chemport, has resigned after more than three decades in the graphic arts and printing industry, both in Australia and abroad. Rau and his family are returning to Germany.

• Sarah Kennedy is graduate of the year 

  

  Sarah Kennedy of Brisbane printer Colorcorp has won the Graduate of the Year Award at the 2017 LIA-Heidelberg Graduate of the Year Awards & PIAA QLD Early Stage Apprenticeship Awards night held at South Bank in Brisbane.

• Whittaker paid $1m to exit Fuji Xerox: report 

  

  Neil Whittaker, the former high-profile MD of Fuji Xerox NZ and Fuji Xerox Australia, was paid more than $A1 million to leave his job after parent Fujifilm uncovered ‘accounting irregularities’ at its Australasian subsidiaries that had overstated revenues by $450 million.

• ‘Site rationalisations’ for Ball & Doggett 

  

  Paper merchants BJ Ball and K.W. Doggett have revealed their newly merged business will be known as Ball & Doggett from 1 August. Details of the expected ‘synergies’ and ‘site rationalisations’ arising from the deal have yet to be announced.

• $3 million pay cut for female AusPost CEO 

  

  Australia Post’s new CEO, former Blackmores chief Christine Holgate (pictured), will earn millions less than outgoing boss Ahmed Fahour, who resigned earlier this year after his $5.6 million salary was revealed by a Senate committee.

• Job losses in Spicers restructure 

  

  Paper merchant Spicers is cutting “less than 15” back-office jobs as part of the restructuring of its Australian business following the settlement of a long-running dispute with its former PaperlinX hybrid shareholders.

• Bobst roadshow rolls into Melbourne 

  

  Swiss flexographic and gravure titan Bobst and its partners have reached out to Australian decision makers at a roadshow event in Melbourne. Held on Tuesday June 27th at the Langham Hotel, Southbank, the Bobst and Partners Roadshow aimed to connect with current and potential clients.

• Mezographic ‘amazed’ by new Truepress flatbed 

  

  Melbourne’s Mezographic is the latest sign and display house to install Screen GP’s Truepress Jet W3200UV-HS flatbed UV printer. “The machine has performed above expectations,” says owner Frank Mezo. “The quality is quite amazing.”

• Textile printing’s waste problem: Brunner 

  

  The textile printing business is set to explode, thanks to digital printing technologies, but sustainability consultant Laurel Brunner says the boom in printed fabrics could aggravate the industry’s waste problem.

• Media Super Business Development Managers 

  

  It’s tough to keep up with frequent changes in superannuation legislation. Busy printers can struggle to find time to work out their super obligations to employees and to the business. With the financial year coming to an end, now’s the time to contact your Media Super BDM for a super health check.

• Region’s first HP Indigo 8000 at Peacock Bros 

  

  Printer and supplier Peacock Bros has dramatically increased its digital label capacity with the purchase of the first HP Indigo 8000 press in the Asia-Pacific and Japan, which has been installed at its plant in Glendenning in Sydney’s west.

• Gold Coast printer switches to Konica Minolta 

  

  Gold Coast printing house GC Digiprint has invested in its first Konica Minolta press, the toner-based AccurioPress C2070, which was launched in March this year. Owner Dave Thorley chose the new machine after shopping around for a replacement for his previous press.

• NZ govt. rules out debate over Fuji Xerox 

  

  Speaker of the House David Carter has turned down a request for a parliamentary debate over the Fuji Xerox NZ accounting scandal because of ‘an ongoing investigation’ into the matter.

• OKI brings white toner to the desktop 

  

  OKI has launched the first compact A3 printer with white toner, joining its existing A4 offering with the same capability. The new OKI Pro8432WT A3 white toner printer can print at up to 35 ppm, at 1200×600 dpi. It is compatible with single-step and low-temperature transfer media.

• ‘A solid role for print in Parliament’: PIAA 

  

  Printing Industries has told a parliamentary committee that the federal government should tread carefully in contemplating replacing printed official documents with online publishing. “Be careful what you wish for,” says the PIAA’s Mary Jo Fisher.

• Register for Print Dynamics auction 

  

  The entire machinery and equipment line-up from collapsed Melbourne sheetfed printer and mailing house Print Dynamics goes on sale next week in a global online auction. The Mount Waverley-based company closed its doors and ceased trading in April after 17 years in business.