March 2016 - Page 3 of 25

The Postal Service Immortalizes Legendary Jazz Vocalist Sarah Vaughan

The U.S. Postal Service today dedicated a Forever Stamp honoring Sarah Vaughan, one of America’s greatest singers. The ceremony was held in her hometown at the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall at Newark Symphony Hall. pr16_013 The stamp is the seventh in the Postal Service’s Music Icons series, which includes Lydia Mendoza, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley. Vaughan fans are asked to share this news using the hashtags #Musicicons and #SarahVaughanForever.

New London Communications CEO Eric Rountree Buys Company from Equity Firm

Eric Rountree has announced the completion of a buyout of New London Communications (“New London”) from private equity firm Valesco Industries. Management will continue to be led by Eric Rountree, remaining at the helm as CEO. When asked about Eric Rountree’s vision for the future of New London, he expressed concern about the state of the printing industry. “It’s time for printing companies to evolve. New London is instilling a culture of curiosity about our client’s businesses into our daily activities and within all of our client interactions. We focus first on client goals and then we seek solutions to achieve their goals. We concentrate our efforts on how we can impact our client’s success using a consultative approach. These efforts keep us nimble and on the forefront of industry innovation.”

College Receives $200K Grant to Create Program that Combats Counterfeit Printing and Packaging

Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) has secured a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new certificate program focused on anti-counterfeit printing and packaging technology. CPCC will use the NSF Advanced Technological Education grant to support a number of project activities, including course development and adaptation leading to a new technician certificate program offered at the two-year college, as well as a continuing education course for incumbent workers, faculty professional development and cultivation of business and industry partnerships. The project will be led by Zachery Blackburn, instructor and chair of CPCC’s Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology program.

Ilim Group to Invest over USD 2 Billion into Production Facilities

lim Group today announced its new Business Plan to 2020, which includes investments of over USD 2 billion into existing production facilities and other operations in Russia. Investments will focus on increasing the Group’s production capacity by over 500,000 tpy. The overall investment program will cover all three of the Group’s production facilities in Bratsk, Koryazhma and Ust-Ilimsk. The business plan envisages a series of measures aimed at modernization, increasing the efficiency and quality of production, minimizing the impact on the environment and increasing production levels. The mills will be developed further alongside an increase in production of the Group’s own harvesting volumes as well as expanded cooperation with third-party wood suppliers.

COFECE Authorizes Strategic Alliance between Grupo Gondi, WestRock in Mexico

Grupo Gondi and WestRock have been authorized by COFECE to implement the agreement which will allow them to combine their operations in Mexico to form a strategic alliance, creating the leading packaging company in the country. The parties expect to close the transaction in early April. After the closing, Grupo Gondi will have 13 plants, including three WestRock corrugated packaging facilities in Mexico.

Graphic Packaging to Acquire Metro Packaging & Imaging

Graphic Packaging Holding Company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Graphic Packaging International, Inc., has agreed to acquire the converting assets of Wayne, NJ-based Metro Packaging & Imaging, Inc., a printed folding carton producer primarily servicing the food and away-from-home end markets through sheetfed and web press capabilities. “Metro Packaging is strategically situated near key northeast customers and supports our vertically-integrated model,” Michael Doss, Graphic Packaging’s president and CEO, said. “We look forward to welcoming Armand deTorres, president and CEO of Metro Packaging, and his outstanding leadership team to Graphic Packaging.” The acquisition is subject to standard closing requirements and is expected to be completed later this week.

KBA-Flexotecnica Delivers Second EvoXD Press to Signature Flexible Packaging

This spring, KBA-Flexotecnica is set to deliver its second EvoXD 10-color press at Signature Flexible Packaging, Inc., a leading Southern California manufacturer of sophisticated flexible packaging since 1954.The additional press has become necessary, says Adrian Backer, Signature’s president, due to the firm’s extraordinary growth and much-needed extra capacity.

FSC Has Reached 30,000 Chain of Custody Certificates!

FSC reached 30,000 certificates in the supply chain – an impressive milestone that couldn’t have been achieved without the support of all our members and stakeholders. “We are incredibly proud of this landmark achievement, and all the hard work that has gone into transforming FSC into a globally recognized, and used, market tool over the past 22 years,” commented Director General, Kim Carstensen. FSC has the highest number of chain of custody certificates of any forest certification scheme. The number of certificates is a clear way to measure FSC’s market growth, and impact on the market. However, behind that number there are roughly 50,000 independent companies and organizations that buy, manufacture, trade or sell FSC-certified material and products.

Report from PRIMEX (Part 1): The Haptic Power of Print & David Remnick on Long Form

March 30, 2016
Midland Paper Clips
Misc

Leo F. Buscaglia (1924 -1998) was a teacher at the University of Southern California in the late 1960s when one of his students committed suicide. This so greatly affected Professor Buscaglia that, in his pursuit for meaning of the sad event, he formed a non-credit class titled Love 1A. As you might expect, there were no grades for Love 1A, because how could you possibly fail someone in this class on that subject? He became a cheerleader for Life, and he was most closely associated with the topic of love and human relationships, emphasizing the value of positive human touch, especially hugs. He once said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

New Adobe Study Uncovers Creativity Gap in Government

March 30, 2016
Midland Paper Clips
Misc

According to a survey released today by Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE), 73 percent of public sector creative professionals believe that creativity is undervalued in government and that government is limiting their creative capabilities. In the ongoing struggle for government to recruit the best talent, the private sector is increasingly more attractive for creative professionals, causing a creativity gap between the public and private sectors. The Creativity in Public Sector Survey assessed the opinions and perspectives of public sector creative employees across a variety of topics, including workplace environment, private sector competition and mobile investment. Conducted by Edelman Intelligence, it polled 175 public sector employees at the local/municipal, state/provincial and federal levels in the U.S. and Canada working in creative communications, design and program management.