2014 was a big year for the printing industry in Australia and New Zealand, filled with moment and movement. Printing volumes held up even as the number of off-set printing establishments fell. Rumours of the death of print proved highly exaggerated… again.
Here are some of the highlights of 2014.
January 2014:
CMYKhub picks up Snap Queensland hub deal
Snap Franchising has named national trade specialist CMYKhub as official manufacturing partner in Queensland. CMYKhub stepped up following the closure of Snap's Queensland hub in December last year, with the appointment announced at the opening of a brand new dedicated digital site supported by Snap Gold Partner of eight years, Konica Minolta.
https://print21.com.au/cmykhub-2/69108
Anitech “on track” after CEO Pratt walks away
Barely a year into his role as CEO Stephen Pratt walks away from the Anitech top job. The sudden departure throws the reins to Pratt's management team and acting CEO Henrik Thorup, who vouches it is 'business as usual' for Anitech. Pratt's brief but turbulent stint saw job cuts and branch closures across the country, in a complete company operations overhaul. A successor has yet to be named.
https://print21.com.au/anitech-on-track-after-ceo-pratt-walks-away/68106
New Look for Printing Industries president
High-profile industry leader and CEO of Look Print, David Leach steps up to the bar as the new president of Printing Industries Association of Australia. A firm change-agent and long-time community advocate, Leach tells Print21 he looks forward to the challenge of creating a dynamic vision for the future and shaking things up a bit for 2014.
https://print21.com.au/new-look-for-printing-industries-president/68879
February 2014:
Australia Post's 'Trojan Horse' has bolted, says PIAA
Printing Industries has come out swinging as the ACCC rubber-stamps Australia Post's 17% price rise on mail, from 60 cents to 70 cents, raising concerns for CEO Bill Healey. Healey warns the potential consequences for the printing industry, labeling the move a "Trojan Horse" to sneak through further hikes on bulk mail rates which Australia Post does not have to refer to the ACCC.
https://print21.com.au/australia-posts-trojan-horse-has-bolted-says-piaa/69910
EFI aims for further growth as local market revives
New hires reflect increasingly buoyant customer response, making Frank Melozzi’s Australian trip a breeze. Coming off the back of a stunning global result, EFI’s Australian business is gearing up for more business in the Australian market. After posting a record US$728 million revenue in 2013, the digital technology provider is hiring new personnel in Melbourne.
https://print21.com.au/efi-aims-for-further-growth-as-local-market-revives/70023
Aussie printers buy up local Signwave rights
Two local print owners have gone all in and bought up the Australian master franchise rights to international graphics group Signwave. Dean Rowland and Leo Baker get into the driver’s seat, determined grow the business’s local footprint and provide better support for franchisees.
https://print21.com.au/aussie-printers-buy-up-local-signwave-rights/69813
1st Komori HUV ink trials held in Sydney
Komori is conducting extensive trials of its new HUV offset ink before entering the battle with the two other Japanese ink suppliers, Toyo Ink and T&K Toka to supply the rapidly growing local market. The first printer to trial the new ink in Australia is Rawson Graphics, the dynamic commercial printer that merged ArtVue into its operations last year.
https://print21.com.au/1st-komori-huv-ink-trials-held-in-sydney/69798
March 2014:
$700 million merger of Blue Star & IPMG is set to create a mega printing business
Australia’s largest printing company will emerge from the marriage between the printing operations of the Hannan and Selig family businesses. The two companies with facilities all along the east coast are set to merge by the end of May.
https://print21.com.au/700-million-merger-of-blue-star-ipmg-to-create-mega-printer/70993
Ipex 2014 Farewell - Celebrating the London show at Print21 ANZ party
Andrew Price and Andy Vels Jensen, the well-known Aussie PaperlinX UK management duo, were among the guests at the Print21 Australian & New Zealand party near the end of the London show.
While the turnout for the event was not up to the levels of previous Print21 Ipex barbeques, around 40 industry types turned up to celebrate the survival of the show.
https://print21.com.au/ipex-2014-farewell-celebrating-the-london-show-at-print21-anz-party/70945
Kodak pulls the pin on Heidelberg plate deal
Kodak runs the play, ending its five-year Heidelberg plate deal to go direct. Local Kodak top brass Steve Venn reveals he made the call to cut ties with Heidelberg as a distributor to nail down a competitive edge for the business. The move is predicted to kick off a fierce price war among rival suppliers.
https://print21.com.au/kodak-pulls-the-pin-on-heidelberg-plate-deal/70714
April 2014
Heidelberg points finger at Kodak
Heidelberg bites back as Kodak walks away from its five-year exclusive plate partnership in Australia and New Zealand. Heidelberg was sent its marching orders in January, but claims the split has been on the cards for some time and points the finger at Kodak "product issues" losing business for the German offset press manufacturer.
https://print21.com.au/heidelberg-points-finger-at-kodak/70752
David Fuller calls in the undertakers
It's official! Focus Press is now in liquidation. Corporate liquidators, Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants, are winding up the company and preparing to dispose of the remaining assets, including the Matraville, South Strathfield and Illawarra sites. The fate of the Canberra site is still unknown.
https://print21.com.au/david-fuller-calls-in-the-undertakers/72008
Kia Silverbrook dumps name as business gets thrashed
The Silverbrook name vanishes from the annals of the industry as famed Australian inventor makes a last-ditch switch when research company collapses. Silverbrook Research, birthplace of the revolutionary Memjet technology, made a name-change to the innocuous Worldwide Specialty Property Services on the same day that administrators were appointed to finally lay the troubled business to rest.
https://print21.com.au/kia-silverbrook-dumps-name-as-business-gets-thrashed/71812
May 2014:
CMYKhub powers up with new eight-colour perfector
Trade print specialist CMYKhub picks up another Ryobi 920 eight-colour LED-UV perfector, its second in just under a year. The state-of-the-art new press supes up the trade network’s Queensland manufacturing plant, more than doubling its capacity to deliver on tighter-than-ever deadlines.
https://print21.com.au/cmykhub-powers-up-with-new-eight-colour-perfector/73002
Anitech proves a drag on results of equity investor HGL
Tough prices, decreased activity from customers and the difficulty in maintaining product differentiation all contributed to a dismal financial performance for wide-format supplier Anitech.
https://print21.com.au/anitech-proves-a-drag-on-results-of-equity-investor-hgl/73075
Mark Shergill to save 50 Focus jobs
Focus Print Group is up and running under hands-on owner Mark Shergill, who says he hopes the business will create as many as 50 jobs. Shergill says he wants to save as much of the old Focus Press company as he can and that his focus right now is on working with customers.
https://print21.com.au/mark-shergill-declares-goal-to-save-50-focus-jobs/72193
June 2014:
Blue Star and IPMG merger is called off
A step too far for industry consolidation as the Selig and Hannan families pull back from the brink of creating Australia’s largest printing company. Too many uncertainties and the potential costs of rationalising up to seven sites with all the disruption that entails in redundancies and transferring of equipment weighed against the benefits of the proposed $700 million merger.
https://print21.com.au/blue-star-and-ipmg-merger-is-called-off/73726
Heidelberg buys out Gallus and secures Swiss shareholder
Gallus owner Ferdinand Rüesch cashes in its remaining shares in the Swiss label and folding carton suppier for an anchor stake with Heidelberg. In a landmark trade-off, Heidelberg picks up 100% ownership of Gallus while the share swap deal leaves Ferdinand Rüesch as its single largest shareholder, controlling 9% of the German press giant.
https://print21.com.au/heidelberg-buys-out-gallus-to-secure-swiss-shareholder/73708
STI Lilyfield in the bag for Blue Star
The t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted on the Blue Star buy-out of Sydney’s iconic Lilyfield business from German STI Group. The official handover is now set for June 30, as Blue Star gets serious about boosting its wide format and point-of-purchase (POP) offering with further investment in new equipment and process tipped for the coming months.
https://print21.com.au/sti-lilyfield-a-done-deal-for-blue-star/73798
July 2014:
HK printer buys $51 million Opus debt for $20 million
Fire sale of CBA debt ‘provides financial stability’ following Opus $35 million loss after tax for the six months ended 31 December 2013. 1010 Printing Group has emerged as the effective owner of the heavily leveraged Opus Group by paying the Commonwealth Bank $20 million in due debt and standing in as the troubled company’s senior debt provider for the remaining $31 million that falls due in 2016.
https://print21.com.au/hong-kong-printer-buys-51-million-opus-debt-from-cba-for-20-million/75165
Currie Group turns 65 years – meet the man at the helm
In running a business, as in sailing a boat, only so much can be learned from books; the rest relies on sense, instinct and experience. Mostly it is a measure of character. It is 45 years since David Currie stepped aboard his family’s business, 65 years since his father, Bill Currie, first set up as a printing engineer in Melbourne, and 21 years since Bill passed away.
CMYKhub powers up with a HP Indigo 10000
Trent Nankervis installs Australia’s fourth HP Indigo 10000 press to boost capacity in short-run, high-value print to meet the expectations of its print industry customers.
The premier ‘for trade’ supplier made over $2 million investments in the Melbourne facility following a survey of its reseller customers that identified a market for such items as high-quality digitally printed short-run A4 landscape perfect bound and saddle-stitched booklets as well as A2 size jobs such as point-of-sale posters.
https://print21.com.au/cmykhub-powers-up-its-digital-line-with-a-hp-indigo-10000/74201
August 2014:
Five new Heidelberg presses stoke offset revival
‘A return to the industry status quo,’ is how Richard Timson describes the surge in offset press investment over the past two years.
Top of the range offset presses going in to commercial and packaging printers will boost productivity in a sector that cannot be serviced by digital technology, according to the managing director of Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand.
https://print21.com.au/five-new-heidelberg-presses-stokes-offset-revival/75738
Family firm offers $200K for Media Options against debts of $3.3m
The remarkable acceptance of a bid by Sureprint, owned by related parties, for the failed Sydney business, in the face of a competing bid, has caused outrage from creditors and the other bidder alike.
Sureprint is run by Amrit Chandra, the sister-in-law of former owner of Media’ Options owner, Bhaskar Datta. Together with another family-controlled business, Sydney Print Hub, it has been operating the Media Options business under licence from the administrator, Veritas Advisory, since it went into administration owing creditors $3,325,500.
https://print21.com.au/family-firm-offers-200k-for-media-options-against-debts-of-3-3m/75810
Age has not wearied them – LIA 50th Anniversary
In 1974 Warwick Roden and Kevin Thomas were two junior members of the inaugural committee of the LIA when it grew from the genesis of the Lithographic Club, founded in 1965, in Sydney. They were both speakers at the 50th Anniversary dinner in Silverwater.
https://print21.com.au/age-has-not-wearied-them-lia-50th-anniversary/75796
September 2014:
Two-speed PrintPost – same service costs more
Nine days for magazines to travel from Melbourne to Sydney – is this the future of Australia Post’s two-tier system for publication post?
How many days does it take for a magazine to be delivered under the new PrintPost regular delivery service? Well, for the September issue of Print21 it can take more than seven working days to travel between the two capital cities.
https://print21.com.au/two-speed-printpost-same-service-but-costs-more/77062
Perfectly Bound ties up loose ends of TLC Print Finishing
It’s hardly a perfect solution for Samantha Rogers but the owner of long established Sydney print business, Perfectly Bound, Michael Smith has come to the rescue of some of the creditors of the failed Sydney print finishing business by buying the remaining equipment and business assets.
https://print21.com.au/perfectly-bound-ties-up-loose-ends-of-tlc-print-finishing/76463
Media Option creditors knock back $200K offer
Rejection of a phoenix-like resurrection opens the way for a CMYKhub offer to buy the failed Sydney printer but there’s no word from the administrator. The ongoing saga of failed Sydney print business Media Options took another twist last week when a panel of creditors voted to reject the offer from the family-connected Sureprint. Run by Amrit Chandra, the sister-in-law of former owner of Media’ Options owner, Bhaskar Datta, the company had put forward a bid to take over the business leaving behind over $3 million in bad debts.
https://print21.com.au/media-option-creditors-knock-back-200k-offer/76306
October 2014:
Australia’s biggest digital printer – On Demand – goes into liquidation
Bruce Peddlesden pleads ill health as Michael Wu, Ability Press, leads a team of On Demand senior management in operating the Port Melbourne-based business under a service agreement. A new company, Production Print (Aust) is running the business under an agreement with On Demand but whether it continues will be subject to the decision of Bent & Cougle, the liquidator.
https://print21.com.au/australias-biggest-digital-printer-on-demand-in-liquidation/77987
Australian Paper restarts anti-dumping action.
New CEO, Kunihiko Kashima, looks for a reversal of proof to make anti-dumping cases easier to prosecute. According to an interview in industry bible, Pulp & Paper Edge, he maintains that re-evaluating Chinese pricing levels for copy paper suggests a ‘new application will this time be successful.’
https://print21.com.au/australian-paper-restarts-anti-dumping-action/77519
Yoshiharu Komori bows out as his company posts impressive profits
Going against the gloom in the results of other offset press manufacturers, Japanese-based Komori has come good with an increase of 32% in sales value to end its financial year with a profit of US $132 million. The bounce back into the black after six years of red ink is a significant valediction of the tenure of Komori san, who retired as President of the eponymous press manufacturer in June. He remains as Chairman and CEO.
https://print21.com.au/yoshiharu-komori-bows-out-as-his-company-posts-impressive-profits/77452
Memjet tears up Rapid’s inkjet agreement
Australian pioneering developer cut off from developing and manufacturing Memjet-powered narrow-web inkjet label presses in a shock, seemingly arbitrary, business manoeuvre by US private equity owners.
Memjet, the US company that in 2012 acquired the patent portfolio of Sydney-based Silverbrook Research relating to MEMS-based inkjet digital printing, has terminated its OEM partner agreement with Australia’s Rapid Packaging Services. The agreement has three more years to run until 2017
https://print21.com.au/memjet-tears-up-rapids-inkjet-agreement/77895
November 2014:
Starleaton keeps Rapid customers printing
The ongoing stoush between Australian label press manufacturer, Rapid, and Memjet, the US-owned corporation selling the micro-inkjet printheads, has resulted in local printers running perilously short of supplies.
https://print21.com.au/starleaton-keeps-rapid-customers-printing/78935
PMP prepares for heat-set takeovers & megers
Region’s largest printer is back in the black as a result of concentrating on doing what it does best – printing and distributing retail catalogues. Declaring a return to profit and signalling the company will be debt-free by 2017, a remarkably rejuvenated PMP is not only preparing to give money back to its shareholders after next year in dividends and/or share buybacks but it’s building a war chest for the upcoming consolidation battles it expects to see take place in the high-end heat-set web market.
https://print21.com.au/pmp-prepares-for-heat-set-takeovers-megers/78779
Michael Wu wins the battle for OnDemand
Ability Press and Miracle Bookbinding owner buys On Demand business from liquidators through Production Print (Australia), the company that was running the operation under license since Bruce Peddlesden gave it away due to ill health. He is the majority shareholder and sole director of the new company, which will trade as OnDemand. Other shareholder in the new company are former managers at On Demand; Con Maniatis, Tim Farrell and Andrew Elia.
https://print21.com.au/michael-wu-wins-the-battle-for-ondemand/78494
December 2014:
Two years behind schedule but Benny Landa is confident of selling Nanographic presses at drupa 2016 – exclusive interview with Andy McCourt.
Paper price rises in response to falling Aussie $
From a high of more than parity with the US dollar to its current 82 cents the falling. Australian currency is pumping price rises into many parts of the economy and paper is no exception.
Most papers imported into Australia and New Zealand, even those from Asia, are priced in US dollars. Prices from the mill gate are at historically low levels, which give the paper manufacturers no wriggle room when Australian merchants come asking for relief because of a weaker local currency. The inevitable result is paper price rises to printers.
https://print21.com.au/paper-price-rises-response-to-falling-aussie/79257
Allclear gets Brisbane’s 2nd HP Indigo 10000
A new generation is setting its own expectations about how printing businesses are put together and what is the right technology mix to grow the market. Collaboration and synergy are the key words in the strategy for the partners of Allclear printing in the Brisbane suburb of Yeronga. The three working partners – Anthony De Stefani, Jason Milligan and Damian Bresnehen – are developing a printing business, now called Allclear Print and Signs, which is expanding well beyond the original offset business bought ten years ago.
https://print21.com.au/allclear-gets-brisbanes-2nd-hp-indigo-10000/79267