News Archives
September 2006

September 28, 2006
Pollard goes retro with new lottery

WINNIPEG—Pollard Banknote has cashed in on a classic cop drama with its new Miami Vice instant lottery tickets. Pollard, which produces a variety of lottery tickets, lottery vending machines and provides lottery management services, has entered into a three-year contract with Universal Studios Consumer Products Group, a subsidiary of Universal Studios, which produced the show between 1984 and 1989. The deal gives Pollard Canadian and US rights to the show. The British Columbia Lottery Corporation and the Kansas Lottery have both launched versions of the game.

Craftsmen awarded for superb efforts
TORONTO—The Toronto chapter of The Graphic Professionals Resource Network, aka the Craftsmen, handed out its annual Gallery of Superb Printing Awards last night at a dinner presentation. Five “Best Of” awards were given out, in the words of chapter vice president Gord Wight, to showcase “craftsmanship and a job well done,” which, he said, “are often lost in the discussion of cost and turnaround.” The event, held at the Columbus Centre in North York, culminated in the Best of Show award, which went to Toronto-based Colour Innovations for its Izod Coffee Table Book. Eighteen shops were also awarded medals in a variety of categories.

September 26, 2006
Print World 2006 announces seminars
TORONTO—The headlining seminar speakers for Print World 2006 have been announced. Bob Rosen, author, industry consultant and founder of Rosen Associates, will lead a seminar called The Eight Habits of Highly Successful Graphic Arts CEOs. The session will give owners and managers a sense of what the industry's most successful companies are doing to ensure growth and profitability. David M. Fellman, president of David Fellman & Associates, will address sales managers and reps in his seminar, How To Become a Super Sales Person, and provide attendees with 10 how-to tips on getting and closing a sale. Prepress operators and managers will learn how to make their departments profitable through Bob Atkinson's session, Making Money on Prepress. Atkinson, a columnist and consultant with 25-years experience, will address issues of efficiency and quality in a plain-English seminar. Print World 2006 runs November 18 - 20 at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.

PLM makes significant investment in upgrades
MARKHAM, ON—A new Heidelberg XL 8-colour double coater UV press, Stahl folders, speed binders and mailing units—that's what PLM Group has bought with $6 million to upgrade its Markham, Ont. facility. In a press release, Dave Stuart, PLM's president and COO, said the new equipment will increase print speed and throughput while "significantly reducing our operating costs." The company provides print, visual, graphics and display services for the financial, pharmaceutical and communication industries.

September 21, 2006
Canada Bank Note sells division to US company
CHICAGO, Ill.—One of the US’s largest commercial printers, RR Donnelley, has entered into an agreement with Ottawa-based Canadian Bank Note to acquire its financial printing operations. The all-cash transaction will close in September for an undisclosed sum, and will include facilities in Toronto and Montreal. The bulk of this printing involves documentation for initial public offerings. “We really want to focus on our security business…that’s what we do best,” said Judy Valz, Canada Bank Note’s director of corporate communications. That business includes passports, bank notes and identification cards. According to Valz, financial printing accounted for less than 5% of the company’s business. Graphic Monthly Canada, which ranks the company thirteenth on its Top 100 Printers in Canada list, reported Canada Bank Note had annual sales of $133 million in 2005. RR Donnelley, on the other hand, posted sales in excess of US$8 billion last year. This transaction will add to its already considerable operations, which span 42 countries with financial, book, magazine, retail and healthcare printing services, among others. “This acquisition gives us a strong and immediate geographic presence in Canada’s fast growing business and financial sectors,” said Jons Besch, a Donnelley senior vice president, in a statement issued Wednesday.

Evans elected as CPIA chairman.
VANCOUVER—This past weekend, the Canadian Printing Industries Association elected Gary Evans to serve a one-year term as chairman. He says his first priority will be increasing membership to help overcome the association’s budget deficit. Evans, who owns The Ideal Print Company in Calgary, says the CPIA has “anywhere from 2.5 to 5% of the printing industry in Canada as members. Our job is to prove our worth and show people that there are tangible benefits that will pay for your membership.” At the same meeting where Evans was elected, it was reported that the association was in the red. In 2005, it ran a deficit of more than $27,000. Association treasurer Jamie Barbieri said in the Annual Financial Report 2005 that declining membership was a key factor in the financial shortfall. To win printers over to the cause, Evans is flaunting member discounts for FedEx, Adobe, Visa and Petro-Canada gasoline.

September 19, 2006
Canadian Printing Industries Association releases 2005 finances
VANCOUVER—Last week’s CPIA conference produced a new board of directors and its financial report for 2005. While it was reported that the association shed more than $15,000 in expenses from 2004, it wasn’t enough to end 2005 in the black. A drop in revenue totaling more than $56,000 resulted in an overall deficit of $27,901 for the year. This is, however, an improvement over the previous fiscal year when the deficit came to $40,827.

In the 2005 report, treasurer Jamie Barbieri cited declining membership dues, the bankruptcy of the Quebec FARA (formally affiliated regional association) and the “slow start of the sector council,” which was to share some of the CPIA’s expenses after its creation last year, as reasons for this year’s net loss.

A new board of directors was also elected at the CPIA’s annual general meeting. Positions were filled as follows: 

Chairman – Gary Evans, The Ideal Printing Company, Calgary, Alberta
Vice Chairman – Sean Murray, Advocate Printing and Publishing, Pictou, Nova Scotia
Secretary Treasurer – Jamie Barbieri, Integria, Saint-Larent, Quebec
Immediate Past Chairman – Ward Griffin, The Lowe Martin Group, Ottawa, Ontario
Government Affairs Chairman – TBD
Director at Large – Curwin Friesen, Friesens Corp., Altona, Manitoba

Hall buys Heritage
TRAIL, B.C.—Hall Printing has expanded its print operations into Nelson, British Columbia, by acquiring Heritage Printing. Hall, which also has facilities in Castlegar, British Columbia, operates as a copy shop with large format capabilities thanks to the Kodak 1200i they installed last year. The small commercial printer also produces indoor signs, and will now offer outdoor sign products thanks to a Nelson sign maker with whom Heritage has an affiliation.

Ingrid Hope, Hall’s president and owner, says while Heritage wasn’t a profitable business, it had customers from Nelson’s city and regional governments that she wanted. She has dispatched her son, Mackenzie, to oversee the Nelson shop and its single employee under its new Hall banner. Hope would not comment on how much she paid for the Nelson shop.

September 14, 2006
Transcontinental revenues drop
One of Canada’s top commercial printers reports little financial growth for the third quarter of 2006. Transcontinental reported on its Q3 finances today, revealing the impact that the strong Canadian dollar and “softness in the corporation’s commercial printing segment” have had on its bottom line. For the three-month period ending July 31, the company posted overall consolidated revenues of $511.8 million, a drop of 3% or $18 million from the same period last year. Net income for the quarter totaled $24.7 million, down from $27.5 million in 2005. The company’s print operations saw a drop in revenues compared to last year as well. Despite internal growth in its newspaper group (which prints the daily Metro newspaper in Mexico City and The New York Times in Ontario and upstate New York), adverse market conditions pushed revenue down to $399.2 million this quarter, compared to $420 million this time last year. “Our results for the quarter are in line with our expectations for the year,” says Luc Desjardins, the company’s president and chief executive officer, in a press release. Desjardins says the company plans to balance the scales with restructuring and new technology investments. 

Sector council website goes online
The six-month-old Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council has launched its website, www.cpisc-csic.ca. The site, which went live on September 6, has information on the council, its board and staff, and national industry news. It also broadcasts a bi-weekly e-zine on the industry’s human resource concerns.

The CPISC was founded in April, 2006 in conjunction with Human Resources and Social Development Canada and its Sectoral Partnerships Initiative.

September 12, 2006
Trust fund doles out cash to students
OTTAWA—With a new school year now underway, the Canadian Printing Industries Scholarship Trust Fund has granted $65,000 in scholarships to students of post-secondary printing programs. Forty-four students from Ontario, British Columbia and the U.S. (each a Canadian citizen now attending a Canadian college or university) have received a $1,250 bursary for tuition. And two additional students, Jamie Mace from Nobel, Ont., and Jackie Lauzon of Burnaby, B.C., have received $5,000 Prestige Scholarships from the CPISTF. Mace is starting classes at Ryerson University in Toronto and Lauzon is enrolled at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Burnaby.

The CPISTF began in 1971 as a way to attract students to the print industry. It makes money available to full-time students entering a two-, three- or four-year program. The fund relies on donations from individuals and companies in the industry.

New gear and new accounts for Dollco
OTTAWA—Dollco says it has increased its production capacity by 50% with the installation of a 4-unit MAN Roland Rotoman press. The 16-page web press will get its first big workout in September when the shop begins printing 250,000 copies of the bi-monthly Canadian Geographic magazine, an account previously held by Quebecor World. Dollco will also soon print the new Canadian Health magazine at 60,000 copies per issue.

Dollco has paired its new Rotoman with a chopper folder to produce 4-, 8- and 16-page signatures as well as special folds.

September 7, 2006
New school for prospective printers
BURNABY, B.C.— The British Columbia Institute of Technology welcomed students to its new two-year graphic communications technology program this week. It is the first post-secondary printing program in the province since Vancouver Community College suspended its program in 2003. 

The BCIT program is housed in a networked, 16,000-square-foot facility that will be officially opened on September 13 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The facility is equipped with a 4-colour press, 2-colour press, folder and cutter from Heidelberg, a saddlestitcher and perfect binder from Müller Martini, a Xerox DocuColor 12 and wide-format output device from Fuji. All the equipment was donated. 

The program’s 11-member ad hoc advisory board was formed with the guidance of the British Columbia Printing and Imaging Association, which appointed an education task force to help design the program. Aside from the support of the BCPIA, 25 industry donors have given the program $2.2 million. This has allowed the school to give each student a $1,200 bursary. 

Laura Davie, associate dean of the digital arts department, says the program was designed to complement that of Ryerson University in Toronto. BCIT students may apply their two-year diploma towards Ryerson’s four-year degree program.

September 7, 2006
2006 Benny winners announced
SEWICKLEY, PA—This year’s Bennys—the top prize at the Premier Print Awards—have been announced. Of 5,505 entries from around the world, four Canadian shops have been judged the best in their categories, winning a total of 10 awards between them.

British Columbia shops performed well. Hemlock Printers from Burnaby, B.C., took home three prizes for Lenswork Magazine (issues 61, 62, 63 and 64), its Annual Report Campaign, and the Unknown Tuscany Photography Book. Vancouver’s Metropolitan Fine Printers won three Bennys as well for its entries Woodward's Folder, Commonweath A/R, and Paradise Redefined. 

Toronto’s CJ Graphics won two Bennys for its 50th Wedding Anniversary, and Toronto Film Studio Stationery projects. Colour Innovations, also of Toronto, took two statuettes for the Applied Arts "Ink" Insert, and the Izod Coffee Table Book. 

One hundred five Bennys were awarded overall. The Premier Print Awards is an annual competition that recognizes creative and technical excellence in printing, and is organized by Printing Industries of America.

Sept. 5, 2006
Stanley Manufacturing buys Johnstone Metal Printers
TORONTO—Johnstone Metal Printers, one of Canada’s oldest trade and promotional print shop has been acquired by Stanley Manufacturing of Toronto. Stanley produces decals, metal and plastic name plates, anodizing and other services from a 30,000-sq.-ft. plant in Toronto. Johnstone’s staff and equipment will move to the Stanley facility this week, and carry on business under the Stanley name. Johnstone was established in 1965.

Number of print shops decline
OTTAWA—The number of printing establishments shrunk in 2005, according to recent figures from Stats Canada. More than 100 printing firms, most of them with fewer than 100 employees, disappeared in 2005 bringing the total down to 4,514 print shops from 4,621 in 2004. Among five categories identified by Stats Canada— screen printing, quick printing, business forms, digital printing and other—only digital print shops grew in number in 2005 to 228 from 185 in 2004.

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