September 29, 2000
Bank of Canada to redesign bank notes
OTTAWA — Canadian Bank Note Company Limited will begin printing redesigned bank notes this fall. The Bank of Canada plans to issue the new bills in January, but will hold an official launch in November. Hutch Holton, senior vice president of research and technology at Canadian Bank Note, says with all the changes in technology, counterfeiting has become easier and that’s one of the factors that prompted the redesign. The new bills will be printed with additional “printing processes” and will have new security features, says Holton. Traditionally, bank notes are produced with litho-offset technology, a letterpress and Intaglio—a 300-year-old process that gives bills their crispness and the raised ink image. The colours will remain the same, but there will be a new theme, subject, and tactile feature for the visually impaired. Holton says Canadian Bank Note divides the printing of bank notes with BA Bank Note. Canadian Bank Note will begin with the $10 bill.

IBS Integrated expands
TORONTO — Integrated Bindery Services Ltd., which was established last December, has expanded. Vice president Darryl Robinson says the company has added a mini-folder, in-line gluing equipment and a hot-melt padding machine to its 10,000 sq.-ft. facility about two weeks ago. “We do all of the basics, but we’re trying to develop into more specialized areas, which is why we purchased the equipment that we did,” explains Robinson. The company has also hired three new staff. Robinson started the company with his partner, Craig Logan, last year and began production this past March. Both were employees of Cosgrove-Moore Bindery Services, which went bankrupt in June.

September 26, 2000
Transcontinental launches new division
MONTREAL — Transcontinental Group launched a new division mid-September called Transcontinental Interactive Marketing. Nathalie Marceau, e-marketing director of the new division, said this week that “the way it was done before, the direct marketing customers were served by one division and the e-commerce and interactive marketing customers were in another division. So now together it creates more synergy.” The new division will offer services such as database marketing, direct marketing, tele-services like telemarketing, e-care, e-commerce, Web site design, loyalty programs, e-coupons and e-flyers. Marceau said the division is geared to retailers and will be based in Montreal, with offices in Toronto and the U.S. By year’s end, the division is expected to have revenues of Cdn$175 million.

Controversial image makes it onto a stamp
TORONTO — Ashton Potter, a security printer, and Canada Post have stepped up existing security screening measures after a stamp featuring the image of a supposed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supporter was printed. Tim McGurrin, communications manager for Canada Post in Ottawa, says Ashton Potter received the image for the Picture Postage program in early August. “We were definitely unfamiliar with who it was, but at that point we had no reason to question who it was either,” he said. Canada Post was alerted to the image when the National Post contacted them about the stamp. McGurrin says an article in the National Post on Sept. 19 claimed 500 of the stamps were printed and sold at a fundraising event. The image is of a Sri Lankan lawyer named Kumar Ponnambalam. The National Post described Ponnambalam as a “strident political backer” of the Tamil Tigers.

September 22, 2000
Ideal Printing acquires Wood Printing and Graphics
WOODBRIDGE, Ont. — The Ideal Printing Company Limited acquired Wood Printing and Graphics of Toronto in August. Stewart Miller, vice president of Ideal Printing, said this week that “we were looking for the right fit, which would be to grow our sales. We were looking for the kind of company that didn’t have the same client base as us and we were also looking for certain equipment...that would fit our plans.” Details of the deal’s value were not disclosed. Miller said they approached Wood Printing through a prospector last January. Staff and equipment will move into Ideal’s newly-renovated, 20,000 sq.-ft. site at the end of October. Lay-offs were not confirmed. Expected annual revenues, says Miller, are between Cdn$11 million and $12 million.

Quebec court turns down injunction
MONTREAL — Tobacco companies—and their gravure printers—will not get more time to comply with new cigarette packaging requirements. According to Marie-Josee Lapointe, vice president communications for the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council in Ottawa, Quebec Superior Court overturned Imperial Tobacco’s, JTI-Macdonald’s and Rothmans, Benson and Hedges’ request for an injunction. The ruling was announced late Wednesday afternoon. That means that cigarette brands with over 2% market share have until Jan. 1, 2001 to comply and brands with less than 2% market share have until June 30, 2001. The problem with compliance, says Lapointe, is “the number of colours that are required to meet total fidelity to a trademark could require an eight-station or a seven-station press, which doesn’t necessarily leave four colours for the government warnings.” The investment in additional stations is also costly. Lapointe adds that tobacco companies will comply, “but they’re going to decide whether or not they’re going to compromise their trademarks or...if there’s going to be total fidelity to the warnings.” The tobacco companies will address infringement rights when they return to court next spring.

September 19, 2000
Canadian Printing Industries Association update
OTTAWA — The CPIA announced the new chairman for the association’s Government Affairs Committee and the association's new chairman of the board. Jeff Ekstein, president of Willow Printing Group in Concord, Ont., will be officially elected chairman at the CPIA convention in Quebec City this weekend. Ekstein will also sit on the national Board of the Association. Don Gain, president of Harmony Printing Ltd. in Toronto, will officially become the next chairman of the board. Also of note, the CPIA has made available the Canadian-Area Ratio Studies, which allow print shops to compare expenses and sales to other firms of like-size and geographic location.

Friesens Corporation is a finalist
WINNIPEG — One of the Manitoba finalists for the Prairies Entrepreneur of the Year Program is book printer Friesens Corporation of Altona. All finalists, which were announced last week, will compete with those from Alberta and Saskatchewan for the Prairies Program. The winner will then advance to the national level for the title of National Entrepreneur of the Year. Finally, the winner from that round will go on to Monaco for the Global Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

Ryerson Polytechnic launches campaign
TORONTO — The School of Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson Polytechnic University officially launched its campaign last week to raise money to build a new centre for the program. Already, $7.5 million has been raised. The new centre will be a 30,000 sq.-ft. structure housing labs, classrooms, offices and a student lounge.

September 15, 2000
Investigation into death at Dolphin Direct complete
TORONTO — An investigation into the death of a press operator at Dolphin Direct is over. Victoria Kondo, counsel with the Legal Services Branch, said yesterday “that there will be no prosecution under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.” In Sept., 1999, George Weare was cleaning and greasing a five-colour Mitsubishi sheetfed press when he became wedged in the machine. He died at the scene of multiple injuries. Kondo said “the test we have to use here at Legal in looking at something is, is there a reasonable prospect of conviction and if the opinion is that there isn’t a reasonable prospect of conviction then charges aren’t laid.” She added that disclosing anymore information would “get into matters of prosecutorial discretion and the way in which we review the evidence, which I’m not going to comment on.” Belinda Sutton, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Labour, said that up to 20 orders were issued at the time of the death. These orders included machines had to be stopped when cleaning and precautions had to be taken to prevent starting the press while it’s being cleaned.

Dickson Litho’s president defends its honour
MONTREAL — Gaetano Di Trapani, president of Dickson Lithography Ltd., said yesterday that an article published in The Globe and Mail Saturday Aug. 26 was based on “non-existent fact and if you read that article closely, you’ll see that there is no fact in anything.” The article alleged that advertising firms which won contracts from Public Works Canada subcontracted the work to Dickson Litho—the printing company that employs the federal Public Works minister’s son, Vincenzo Gagliano. “We have an internal policy that because he’s the son of the minister to keep him away from anything that’s government related—we know how sensitive these things can be,” said Di Trapani. “He’s basically in charge of business development for us here and he works on pharmaceutical companies.” According to Di Trapani, the company has no direct ties to the government and doesn’t bid on its work. He did say he thought the article was politically motivated.

September 12, 2000
Morris Studios and Partners Imaging just shacking up
TORONTO — As of two days ago, Partners Imaging moved into Morris Studios’ location in Don Mills. Don Albin, president of Morris Studios, said yesterday that “it was something everyone agreed would be mutually beneficial to both companies.” Partners Imaging, a prepress house, moved about 60 staff and all of its equipment into Morris’ 60,000 sq.-ft. location. Morris Studios focuses on creative work such as copy writing, photography and layout. Both companies are owned by St. Joseph Corporation. Morris was established 14 years ago and Partners about six years ago. While the companies have not merged, Albin doesn’t rule that out. “We’ve only moved in together—at this point,” he says. “No question, at some point it will become one company.”

Re-discovering Archimedes
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A group of scientists at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the Xerox Digital Imaging Technology Center and Johns Hopkins University are working together to uncover the mathematical treatises of Archimedes, the Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer. The original text was written on parchment or dried sheep skin in the year 1000. In the 12th century, says Kirsten Lavin, spokesperson for The Walters Art Gallery in Maryland where the text is being held, a monk scraped off the treatise and turned it into a prayerbook. Roger Easton, an associate professor at RIT, says they’re using multi-spectral imaging and capturing images of each page in different wavelengths. The images are then loaded into a computer which identifies different pixels. There are 177 pages at roughly 5.5”x8.5” in size. Lavin says the process is expected to take another two years.

September 8, 2000
Canadian Bank Note scores another foreign contract
OTTAWA — Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd. finalized a contract in July with the island of Grenada to print three year’s worth of passports and install a passport issuing system, said Michael Southwell, senior vice president of sales and marketing. The announcement was made this week. Southwell said yesterday that the company is now in the process of designing the passports. “The Issuing system personalizes the books rather than the old method of filling them all in by hand,” says Southwell of the new passports. Details about the bidding process and the value of the contract were not revealed. The system will be up and running by early 2001.

Quebecor creates a presence in Brazil
MONTREAL — Quebecor World Inc. announced yesterday that it has sealed a contract with Brazilian-based Editora Abril S.A. to print magazines. The contract is worth US$170 million. Tony Ross, spokesperson for Quebecor World, said the two companies have had a close working relationship for several years. “We do printing for them in our facility in Chile,” says Ross. “We’ve also assisted them in their Sao Paolo plant in dealing with manufacturing problems.” As part of the contract, Quebecor World will lease a 173,000 sq.-ft. new plant in Recife, Brazil and hire 200 staff. Magazine pages will be transmitted from Sao Paolo to Recife. The plant will be operational by early 2001 and will involve a US$16.5 million investment in equipment. Editora Abril publishes 240 consumer magazines.

September 05, 2000
Tri-Graphic fined $60,000
OTTAWA — Tri-Graphic Printing (Ottawa) Ltd. plead guilty to a charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $60,000 on Aug. 31 in Provincial Court. Grainne McGrath, crown counsel with the Ministry of the Attorney General, Legal Services Branch of the Ministry of Labour, said a worker was injured Jan. 12, 1999 while operating a three-knife trimmer. The Ministry of Labour’s investigation revealed that the safety guard had been removed and, according to a press release, had been removed so the operator could work closer to the machine and save time. McGrath says the operator received cuts to his arm and required eight staples, but returned to work four days later.

Canadian Bank Note wins Jamaican contract
OTTAWA — Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd. has won a contract to print passports and install a Passport Issuing and Border Management System for Jamaica. Marketing analyst for CBN, Alberto Garcia Vargas, said the company received the news of its successful bid in mid-August. The company is currently finalizing the design of the passport and will have the system installed and running by early 2001. Vargas said that passports in Jamaica are currently printed with fields which are filled out by hand. “What they’re getting now,” he adds, “is a much more secure book.” Details about the contract’s worth were not disclosed.

September 1, 2000
Nortec Colour Graphics closes its doors
MARKHAM, Ont. — Nortec Colour Graphics announced bankruptcy and closed its doors on Monday. David Jones, former president and one of the company’s three founders, said yesterday that Nortec presented a financial re-organization proposal to its creditors on Monday, but they “unfortunately and unexpectedly...decided to turn [it] down.” The company, which was established in April 1999 and began operating that October, is now under the control of a trustee. Nortec had been experiencing “financial pressure,” said Jones, due to late equipment deliveries, inadequate consumables and usual start-up glitches. Grenville Printing & Management Services in Toronto, which had made an offer to buy Nortec in June, has bought some of Nortec’s equipment and is in the process of rehiring about 20 of the 40 staff. Bill Burke, president of Grenville, said the staff and equipment will form a new division called Grenville Nortec and will service the entertainment industry.

Finnish company makes offer for Canadian mill
MIRAMICHI, N.B. — Finnish-based UPM-Kymmene Corp. announced its bid to buy Repap Enterprises’ coated groundwood mill just this week. The deal is worth Cdn$160 million. Olavi Kauppila, vice president investor relations at UPM-Kymmene, said yesterday from his office in Helsinki that the acquisition will not be official until a shareholders’ meeting in mid-October. He added that the mill is a good fit for his company’s portfolio—UPM-Kymmene is Europe’s largest producer of coated groundwood or magazine paper. The mill in Miramichi has two paper-making machines and a capacity of over 450,000 tonnes. Kauppila explained the mill was attractive because it “will improve our presence in North America.” The Repap offer comes after UPM-Kymmene lost its bid for U.S.-based Champion to International Paper earlier this year.