IN THIS ISSUE... Things I Hear Made In Japan Poll: Talking to Printers What's Hot for 2007? Quick Hits Amazon using Indigos Reader's Digest Being Sold "Lights" and "Milds" up in Smoke Folding Carton Closure   Printers' Confidence Waning Latest NAPL Printer Panel's Index Promoting Print The U.S.-based Print Council has a tool for you. Recent Sitings Unisource Annual Reports Awards Suppliers: KBA, Mondrian-Hall, Sun Chemical and more... Resources FREE NAPL Podcasts Events Get out and learn...

Made In Japan

In early December I was invited, along with 14 other North American journalists and industry analysts, to visit the headquarters of Canon in Tokyo and tour production facilities in Suzhou, China and Toride, Japan. Canon is on the offensive in pursuit of a piece of the growing digital colour print-on-demand market and is opening its doors to show off what it has in store.
This trip to Japan and China emphasized the company's commitment to research, testing and efficient quality production. Canon's Chairman and CEO, Fujio Mitarai, told the group that Canon acknowledges that it must develop top-quality products and meet all market demands for specifications. "Most importantly, you must have quality," emphasized Mitarai.

Fujio Mitarai, Chairman and CEO
Canon, Inc.

For those who have been paying attention, Canon first introduced its newest digital colour production platform, the imagePRESS, just over a year ago at its Canon Expo events. The company then made a big slash at IPEX in the UK last spring, followed by a blitz at the ON DEMAND Expo in Philadelphia, and this fall Canon had a hyped-up presence at Graph Expo in Chicago. Canada has yet to experience the full thrust of the marketing push.
The imagePRESS products, the C1 (14 ppm) and the C7000VP (70 ppm) leverage new toner, paper feed, and built-in colour consistency and repeatability monitoring among other features. The high-speed press's ability to run at top speed regardless of substrate weight will be a differentiator in the market.
Canon's launch into production colour has been slow but methodical. From the top down, the company is making sure the quality of its products will stand up. Established players in this space (HP Indigo, Kodak NexPress, Xeikon and Xerox) have a strong head start, but Canon is going to be aggressive, already establishing strategic partners in prepress workflow and postpress. It's looking to gain a 20% market share in this fast-growing category by 2010.
Canon is a focused company with attention to detail at the core of its processes. The slight taste of Japanese culture I was exposed to—from the food to the well-kept gardens—demonstrated a strong affection for the organic. Canon's success has been a story of steady organic growth, building on a heritage of photography leading towards modern digital imaging. Continuing research in colour science and commitments to exacting research and development warrant keeping an eye on Canon's progress in the graphic arts market.

BEST OF THE SEASON
See you in the New Year,
Doug Picklyk
Editor, Canadian Printer

Poll

Last time we asked you, our readers: where do you work?

Quick hits:

Amazon.com using Indigos for Colour
HP has announced that Amazon.com has selected HP Indigo presses for its books-on-demand business. Multiple digital presses have been installed at Amazon fulfillment centers to print full-colour books and colour covers for black-and-white books. "This collaboration with HP will enable us to significantly increase the number of available titles our customers can purchase," said Greg Greeley, vice president of books at Amazon.com.

Reader's Digest Being Sold
An investment group has agreed to buy Reader's Digest Association for about US$2.4 billion. Founded in 1922, Reader's Digest is global and has built its business on direct marketing endeavors. Based in Pleasantville, N.Y., the company reported nearly US$2.4 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year.

"Lights" and "Milds" up in Smoke
At the request of the Competition Bureau, three major cigarette manufacturers in Canada (Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Rothmans Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp.) have agreed to remove the descriptors "light" and "mild" from their cigarette packaging. The changes will begin by the end of the year and will be complete by the end of July, 2007. In total, 79 brands of cigarettes will be affected along with 18 varieties of fine-cut tobacco. "Through this action Canada joins other countries where cigarettes are no longer described as "light" or "mild"," said Sheridan Scott, the Commissioner of Competition. "Light, mild, and similar descriptors are no longer used in the European Union or in Australia."

Folding Carton Closure
Citing difficult market conditions in North America, Cascades Boxboard Group will shut down operations at a Montreal folding carton converting plant by the end of Q1 2007. The company will distribute the workload and equipment among other plants in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and the U.S. Approximately 118 employees will be affected.

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Printers' Confidence Waning
According to the latest report from NAPL's Printing Business Index, the trade association suggests print activity is slowing as the year comes to an end. An index reading of 58.7 for October is down from the 59.4 recorded in September. “Commercial print sales are moderating and the economy is definitely on a slower growth path,” said Andrew Paparozzi, NAPL vice president and chief economist. “Granted, compared where the industry has been in recent years, sales are still quite healthy, but a continuing deceleration in sales growth is likely and printers need to take this into consideration as they plan for 2007.” http://www.napl.org

PROMOTING PRINT

The Print Council, the industry-sponsored group formed to promote printed materials, is offering printers free print-ready downloads of its 24-page brochure called "Why Print? The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper." Being pitched as a new sales and marketing tool that demonstrates the effectiveness of print, the publication includes original research and statistical support from experts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "Printers need to make sure print continues to get the lion's share of the media mix, as new alternative media attempt to grab a bigger portion," says Jerry Williamson of Williamson Printing, who is also co-chairman of The Print Council. "'Why Print?' helps them convince media buyers of print's persuasive powers."
PDF files of "Why Print?" can be downloaded at http://www.theprintcouncil.org/whyPrint.htm

Recent Sightings:

Unisource Rewards Annual Reports
The winning entries from the third annual National Unisource Annual Report Awards (NUARS) have been traveling across the country, making 10 stops from coast to coast. In total there were 18 awards presented this year for annual reports and corporate brochures, with 15 printers recognized for their work.
The Best of Show—Annual Report went to a job printed by Teldon Print Media in Vancouver, for a series of books printed for the Vancouver International Airport Authority. Other award-winning printers included: Annan and Sons (Toronto), BL Litho (Montreal), Blanchette Press (Richmond, BC), Bowne (Toronto), CJ Graphics (Toronto), Flash Reproductions (Toronto), grafikom MIL (Toronto), Hemlock Printers (Burnaby, BC), K2 Impression (Vanier, QC), The Lowe Martin Group (Ottawa), Rita (Montreal), Somerset Graphics (Mississauga, ON), Transcontinental Litho Acme (Montreal) and Transcontinental O'Keefe (Toronto). View the winning entries at http://www.unisourcedesign.ca/en/gagnants_nuars.html

The NUARS tour made its stop in Toronto on November 30 at The Carlu. Attendees from the creative and production communities gathered to admire the work and snack on delicious food.

Paper mills and graphic arts suppliers were at the event displaying their latest. Bob Weller of Transcontinental O'Keefe—Toronto, was speaking with Allan Taylor of Domtar about FSC-certified papers.

Flash Reproductions of Toronto printed two award-winning pieces at the third annual NUARS. Pictured with their awards (clockwise from top): Rich Pauptit, David Gallant, Carl Pauptit and Richard Sooklal.

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CANADIAN PRINTER ONLINE Read our latest editions and search past issues! Click on the cover to test drive our digital editions. http://www.cdnprinter.rogers.dgtlpub.com/

Supplier News :

• Ralf Sammeck (44), president and CEO of KBA North America's sheetfed since October 2002, will be replacing Andreas Mössner as executive vice president for global sales at KBA's sheetfed division in Radebeul (Dresden) beginning August 1, 2007. Mössner is stepping aside to take over as managing director at KBA's Austrian subsidiary, KBA-Mödling.


• KBA reported a boost of 4% in orders taken for the first nine months of the year, sales climbed 8.9% from €1,107.3m to €1,205.5m. Net profit, at €22.4m, was more than five times the prior-year level of €4m.



• Mondrian Canada, Inc. (part of US-based private investment firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc.) has merged with Treck.Hall Ltd. to form Mondrian-Hall, Inc., among the largest distributors of large format inkjet and digital imaging supplies and equipment in Canada.


• Sun Chemical will raise prices on packaging, commercial and screen inks sold in North America, effective January 1, 2007. Prices on packaging inks will rise 4% to 6%, while prices on commercial and screen inks will go up 8%.


• Flint Group's North American packaging and sheetfed divisions will increase prices on all packaging and commercial inks effective February 1, 2007.


• The Gallus Group, Swiss-based manufacturer of narrow web presses and a partner with Heidelberg, has acquired German-based BHS Druck- und Veredelungstechnik GmbH to expand its folding carton range through mid and wide web printing presses and flatbed die cutters.


• MEGTEC Systems Inc., suppliers of web press accessories, have acquired the web guidance system and silicone coater product lines from QuadTech Inc., a subsidiary of Quad/Graphics.


• Domino Printing Sciences has acquired Easyprint A/S based in Karlslunde, Denmark, a company specializing in the design, manufacture and distribution of thermal transfer overcoding equipment.


• Effective January 1, newspaper post-press equipment manufacturer GMA (Graphic Management Associates, Inc.) will change its name to Müller Martini Mailroom Systems, Inc . GMA has been affiliated with Müller Martini since 1992.


• Heidelberg is now offering the Speedmaster XL 105 in a UV version and as a double-coating press.


• EFI has announced commercial availability of its VUTEk BioVu inks, an environmentally-friendly solvent ink made with renewable resources (derived from corn).


• Dynagram, the Quebec-based developer of imposition solutions, have released INposition 7.0, an imposition tool for QuarkXPress users.


• Adobe Systems have introduced a beta version of Photoshop CS3 for trials. The beta is available as a Universal Binary for the Macintosh and also for Windows XP and Windows Vista platforms. The software can be downloaded at: http://labs.adobe.com


• Adobe Reader 8 is now available as a free download at http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader/


• Heidelberg and KBA announced a joint initiative to standardize UV and hybrid applications to enhance the reliability, safety and predictability of the associated consumables.

Canadian Printer E-News

Keep up to date on the big picture of the printing industry in Canada with a voice you can trust in Canadian Printer magazine. The national business publication for printers since 1892, Canadian Printer is recognized for leadership on business issues and editorial integrity.
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