News Archive

• Cut sheet colour prices stabilise 

  

  A tentative degree of stability is emerging in the cutthroat world of cut sheet digital colour as prices hover around five cents per SRA3 sheet. The phenomenal drop in rates over the past 20 years has seen colour digital prices fall from nearly $1 per sheet.

• $1.3m alleged scam hits outdoor advertiser   

  

  Queensland Police are investigating an allegedly fraudulent charity group called Walking Wounded that received $1 million in free advertising from outdoor advertiser oOh!media.

• PIAA slams ACTU plan for wage reform 

  

  Printing Industries says a proposal by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to lift wages and reform industrial relations is a bid to expose Australian small business to ‘the law of the jungle.’

• HT&E rejects oOh!media bid for Adshel 

  

  Here, There & Everywhere (HT&E) – formerly APN News & Media – rejected an offer from oOh!media to buy its Adshel outdoor advertising business saying it did not represent value for shareholders. There’s speculation an improved second bid could be on the way.

• Visual Impact: Sell-out show for exhibitors 

  

  Organiser Visual Connections has been forced to turn away a handful of exhibitors after a sell-out of display space at next week’s Visual Impact show in Brisbane. The show will run from Thursday 19 April to Saturday 21 April, at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

• Visual Impact: Epson’s new DTG printer 

  

  Epson will launch its SureColor F2160 direct-to-garment printer next week at Visual Impact Brisbane 2018. The new machine is capable of making full colour prints on a range of items including t-shirts, sweatshirts, polo shirts and tote bags.

• State of Indigo NSW vs Qld – it’s anyone’s game 

  

  Week four in the Currie Group’s print series competition saw The Blues get out in front of The Maroons over the Easter Weekend in what’s become an incredibly close contest.

• Guru adds 2nd Xeikon & Rotra finishing 

  

  Custom label specialist Guru Labels has ordered a second Xeikon digital roll to roll press and a Rotra Engineering finishing line to keep up with a surge in demand at its NSW Central Coast facility.

• Sydney label printer for sale ‘below value’ 

  

  The owner of a label printing business in Sydney’s western suburbs has been forced to sell up because of health issues. The machinery list includes: a five-colour UV letterpress label press; two slitting machines and other equipment.

• HP printer blasts off into space 

  

  Astronauts on the International Space Station are printing out letters, photos and training materials on a new custom-built zero gravity HP Envy ISS Printer launched into space last week aboard the SpaceX 14 rocket.

• Hally Labels to launch 5-day service 

  

  Hally Labels – owned by New Zealand-based Hexagon Holdings – has moved into a new purpose-built facility in Sydney as it prepares to launch its Hally Express five-day turnaround service onto the Australian market. The five-day model was introduced in NZ in 2016. 

• Rare gems in collectable camera auction 

  

  Bidding is underway on Perth camera collector Ashley Heuchan’s ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of collectable cameras that includes a rare 1940 Leica that was probably destined for the German military or Luftwaffe.

• Ricoh rolls out Neon Pink toner 

  

  Ricoh Australia’s new Neon Pink Toner for the the Pro C7100X series digital printer is designed to enhance creative possibilities for a range of print applications, from posters and invitations to ticketing and advertising.

• Starleaton Zünd S3 cutter at Visual Impact 

  

  Starleaton will feature a super fast Zünd S3 flatbed cutter on its stand at next week’s Visual Impact Brisbane 2018, along with machines from Epson, OKI ColorPainter and Flexa.

• $30 million injection for NSW skills training 

  

  The NSW Government will invest $30 million in a skills training initiative designed to benefit small to medium enterprises (SMEs). NSW businesses with fewer than 200 staff members will be able to access free courses in financial and digital literacy.

• Siegwerk raises red flag on packaging inks 

  

  German ink producer Siegwerk underlined its ‘commitment to product safety’ by expanding an Ink Safety Portal database to address global consumer concerns about food safety. “More scrutiny has been placed on how products they consume are packaged.”

• Digital divide adds new fuel for paper bill fee ban 

  

  The ‘digital divide’ in Australia has stopped narrowing, according to research from the Bureau of Statistics. The Keep Me Posted campaign has cited the study as further evidence of the need for a ban on companies charging additional fees for paper bills.

• Starleaton’s catalogue is an industry tool 

  

  Hundreds of media types can be printed on today’s digital wide format printers and the challenge is to find what works with which printer and application. Starleaton’s new 2017-18 catalogue goes beyond a mere listing and is a useful industry tool.

• UVgel racks up environmental certifications 

  

  Océ’s UVgel ink technology, as used in the Colorado 1640 wide-format printer, has scored Greenguard Gold certification, giving it a seventh environmental and safety seal of approval for indoor applications. The Greenguard tick is the latest in a series of stringent global safety considerations.

• World-first packaging press arrives in Europe 

  

  The first commercial HP PageWide C500 digital corrugated packaging press is being installed in Austria. The C500 is HP’s most advanced press for digital corrugated applications, and uses food-safe, water-based inks. The press will be installed this week at Smurfit Kappa’s plant in Interwell.