News Archive

• New CEO for WRH Global Australia 

  

  Stefan R. Mahler has been appointed the new CEO of WRH Global Australia – distributor of Ferag post-press systems – replacing Daniel Faesser, who’s been named CEO of the company’s Denipro business in Switzerland.

• Avery Dennison opens QLD distribution centre 

  

  Avery Dennison, a global leader in labeling solutions, has opened its new Berrinba Distribution Centre in Brisbane, which it says will significantly improve services to Australian customers, including next-day delivery to Brisbane and Sydney.

• 50+ jobs lost as Hygrade shuts down 

  

  Leading Melbourne cutting forme company Hygrade Group – which has supplied the printing and packaging industry with high quality tooling for over 60 years – has closed its doors and gone into voluntary administration, with at least 50 staff members said to have lost their jobs.

• PIAA fights for printed government documents 

  

  The PIAA has told a federal committee that’s considering phasing out printed parliamentary documents that online publishing is ‘superficially attractive’ but cannot match print in terms of value for money. The Joint Committee on Publications holds a hearing in Canberra tomorrow.

• Production will continue, Anzpac tells suppliers 

  

  Packaging company Anzpac has sent a letter to suppliers assuring them printing will continue at the Smithfield site under a new owner, after parent company TWPH announced on the Malaysian stock exchange that it was ceasing production.

• NSW Supreme Court approves Spicers deal 

  

  The Supreme Court of New South Wales has approved an agreement between two groups of Spicers shareholders that will see the hybrid shareholders take a 68 percent stake in the company and restore the paper merchant’s capital structure.

• Winds of change: Bauer CEO exits 

  

  Bauer Media Group’s Australasian CEO Nick Chan (pictured) has left the company after 14 months in the job and will be replaced by Bauer’s New Zealand CEO Paul Dykzeul.

• Nulab wins big in the US 

  

  Melbourne digital printer Nulab has picked up eight awards – including the top prize for Digital Printing-Novelty books – at the Print Industry of America’s (PIA) Premier Print Awards.

• Measuring energy use of digital presses 

  

  Energy usage calculations for digital presses assume there are standard digital presses and standard print applications, which there clearly aren’t. Laurel Brunner looks at the challenges of measuring the energy efficiency of digital print production systems.

• GJS show on the road from July 11 

  

  GJS Group has announced the dates for its third annual roadshow, which will visit 13 locations around Australia from July to August this year. The tour will kick off in Townsville on July 11 and visit Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, SA, and WA before concluding in Sydney on August 26.

• 69 jobs to go as Anzpac ends operations 

  

  The Malaysian owners of Sydney-based packaging printer Anzpac will cease all printing operations and sell off most of the company’s assets. Tien Wah Press Holdings announced to the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange that it would stop printing at Anzpac’s Smithfield site by September 30.

• SA government sticks with oOh!media 

  

  oOh!media has won a major tender with the South Australian government for 40 large format billboards in and around Adelaide. Noel Cook from oOh!media said the contract would enable the company to continue delivering on its existing billboards, as well as upgrade key locations to digital.

• Sustainability award for Canon Australia 

  

  Canon Australia has been awarded a Gold Partner Award in the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage’s Sustainability Advantage Program, which helps companies reduce costs while improving environmental performance and sustainability. Canon has been a member since 2009.

• Breakthrough in Spicers deadlock 

  

  Separate meetings of Spicers shareholders and its hybrid unitholders have both voted overwhelmingly in favour of a deal to break the long-running dispute that has ‘significantly’ limited Spicers’ commercial and financial activities.

• Bobst struts its gravure stuff in Italy 

  

  Packaging and label equipment manufacturer Bobst has held a two-day open house to show off its latest innovations in gravure printing technology. The event, titled “Extending the scope, new technologies for gravure”, was held from May 11-12 at Bobst Italia, in San Giorgio Monferrato, Italy.

• Cactus adds the ‘Bentley’ of wide format 

  

  Sydney large format specialist Cactus Imaging, acquired last year by ASX-listed oOh!media, says a new Durst 512R printer has transformed its printing operation. “It takes Out Of Home advertising to another level,” says Cactus GM Nigel Spicer.

• Senate supports ‘keeping consumers posted’ 

  

  The Keep Me Posted campaign has won a legislative victory, with the Senate approving a motion calling on the government to ‘bring forward legislation that will give consumers the right to receive communications from companies by post for no extra fee’.

• PIAA lobbies for print training in schools 

  

  Printing Industries has launched a campaign aimed at providing printing industry training to students in NSW secondary schools. PIAA industrial relations manager Paul Mitchell discussed the matter this week with NSW Minister for Education, Rob Stokes.

• Epson launches new POS printer 

  

  Epson Australia has unveiled a new series of point of sale (POS) thermal receipt printers aimed at high volume retail, hospitality and financial institutions. “The TM-T88VI gives businesses the ability to add web and mobile POS services in stages, or run systems alone or in parallel.”

• Fuji Xerox AU linked to $450m Fujifilm scandal 

  

  An independent investigation into accounting irregularities at Fuji Xerox New Zealand has uncovered similar ‘improper practices’ at Fuji Xerox Australia. Parent company Fujifilm Holdings estimates the losses will total $A450 million and at least four executives at Fuji Xerox in Japan are stepping down.