Quad/Graphics Inc. will close three more commercial printing plants — none of which are in Wisconsin — idling 650 employees. The Sussex-based company on Thursday cited “volume declines” for closing the plants in Oklahoma City; Nashville, Tennessee; and Fernley, Nevada. The company attributed the decreased volumes in part to “an already challenging retail environment” that has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company issued the following statement in response to a recent Bloomberg article regarding the potential sale of its Asia Pacific business. “While the Company’s practice is to not comment on speculation or market rumors, RRD clarified today that the Company is not currently engaged in discussions to sell its printing and packaging business in Asia Pacific. As management has previously stated, the Company is focused on its strategy to advance RRD as a leading provider of marketing and business communications and remains focused on executing its long-term strategic priorities - including strengthening its core business, driving revenue performance and improving its balance sheet. As part of this long-term strategy, RRD continuously reviews its business portfolio and periodically explores opportunities to sell portions of its business to increase stockholder value. At this time, RRD continues to actively invest for growth in its Asia Pacific business. In addition, the Company may consider one or more strategic transactions for any of its businesses in the future.”

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), the leading authority in sustainable printing certifications, announced today, announced today that Shutterfly, Inc. has joined the SGP community by certifying its first facility in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Shutterfly, the leading digital retailer and manufacturing platform for photography and personalized products, plans to continue to certify more of its print locations in the near future. “As a leading manufacturer, we are deeply committed to responsible production in all of our facilities, focusing on reducing our overall footprint while helping make our customers’ life’s experiences unforgettable,” said Dwayne Black, Shutterfly Inc. senior vice president and chief operations officer. “I’m extremely proud of our dedicated teams at Fort Mill who are leading the toward progress on our sustainability goals with SGP third party certification.” As the largest of Shutterfly’s manufacturing facilities, Fort Mill was the logical starting place for SGP certification. The company has consistent sustainability practices throughout its fleet and plans to secure further third-party certification with SGP in additional sites.

The commercial printing industry will grow in 2021. Growth will begin during the second quarter, and accelerate through year end. No company, however, should count on the upturn or the shakeout of weak competitors to make everything right. Much will be different in the post-COVID world. And much of the gains ahead will be reserved for companies already thinking about those differences, and how to make them opportunities rather than threats. Those conclusions are based on the COVID-19 Print Business Indicators Survey, conducted every other month by PRINTING United Alliance and NAPCO Research. Nearly 200 commercial printers participate. The diverse group has annual sales ranging from less than $1 million to more than $700 million, and is located across the U.S. and Canada. We measure percent change in sales in two ways. Year-over-year is the first to capture the depth and breadth of the downturn. Among all companies surveyed, sales fell 16.9%, on average, during the first three quarters of 2020 compared with year earlier levels, declining for 81.9% — by at least 20% for more than half and at least 30% for nearly one-third — and increasing for just 17%. One participant speaks for many when he describes what’s happened this year as a “seismic downturn.”

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced the activation of its Touchless World solution to support production and distribution for Apple App Clip Codes. App Clips are a way for iPhone users to quickly access and experience a small part of an app and can be discovered in many ways, including the new App Clip Codes. As a leader in dynamic print for a touchless experience, RRD is leveraging its Touchless World solution set to manufacture the code-embedded, multi-layer decal required for this new feature from Apple. In the production of these visually-distinct decals, RRD integrates digital variable text and graphical print with NFC technology plus full dynamic encoding. This single-source combination of capabilities positions RRD as an optimal decal producer for touchless consumer experiences.

Ricoh unveiled a first look at the RICOH Pro Z75, its highly anticipated B2 sheetfed inkjet system. Recognized as a “game changer”, the state-of-the-art, Ricoh-developed press with future-defining technology is built to help businesses reach new benchmarks for productivity, image quality and operating costs. “The Ricoh B2 inkjet press is phenomenal. It is going to be a game changer for the commercial print market,” said Bob Dahlke, Jr., Principal, VISOgraphic, Inc. “Ricoh’s approach to bringing new innovation to market is to do it right. They don’t care about being first; they care about delivering what our businesses need. I’ve been through this process with them in the past, and I believe it has helped commercial printers more confidently and effectively migrate to digital.”

Highlights: *Continued improvement in profitability in the Packaging Sector and maintained rigorous cost control in the Printing Sector. *Revenues of $655.7 million for the quarter ended October 25, 2020; operating earnings of $81.2 million; and net earnings attributable to shareholders of the Corporation of $51.3 million ($0.59 per share). *Solid financial position with liquidities of $241.0 million and access to unused lines of credit of $432.8 million, for total available liquidities of $673.8 million. *Improved net indebtedness ratio(1) to 1.9x as a result of the decrease in long-term debt of $363.0 million and the increase in adjusted operating earnings before depreciation and amortization(1) during the fiscal year. *Launched new packaging made of 30% post-consumer recycled plastic for the case wrap of AHA® Sparkling Water, a brand of The Coca-Cola Company.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company introduces a comprehensive vaccination distribution toolkit — for healthcare providers, government agencies, retail pharmacies, and large enterprise organizations — aimed at delivering quick-turn marketing, communication, and operational support upon the release of an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine. Immediate production of a vaccine program involves many components, e.g., regulatory compliance, multiple vendor coordination, and speed-to-market challenges. RRD’s vaccination distribution toolkit is designed to provide turnkey support in three key areas: 1) Vaccine awareness – direct mail campaigns, digital communications, employee training materials, content and creative translations 2) Clinician and retailer operational needs – signage and wayfinding, prep kits, temperature labels, POP displays, branded promotions and labels 3) Post-vaccination support – care kits, proof of vaccination, second-dose reminders, tip sheets

Flint Group Packaging Inks has signed up to the HolyGrail 2.0 project that seeks to solve the complexities surrounding the recycling of post-consumer plastic packaging. Project HolyGrail was established in 2017 to speed up the transition to a global circular economy for plastics by improving recycling rates through more effective, high quality sorting of materials. In 2020, the second phase of the project, HolyGrail 2.0, was launched to open it up as a cross-value chain initiative with greater scale and scope. Partners involved in the project are exploring the viability of tagging packaging with unique, machine-readable codes to improve automated detection and sorting within current recycling systems.

Quad/Graphics, Inc. announced that Julie Currie has joined the Company as its new Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer. Currie succeeds Renee Badura, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, who is retiring from Quad after 34 years of service to the Company. Currie brings a wealth of marketing, retail and CPG client services knowledge to Quad, a marketing solutions partner with a unique integrated service platform that helps clients reduce the complexity of working with multiple agency partners, increase content workflow efficiencies, and improve the effectiveness of their overall marketing spend. Currie’s experience leading organizational change and transformation, and her keen understanding of data and analytics, will provide immeasurable value to Quad and its clientele.

Arandell Holdings, Inc. announced that it has finalized an agreement approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware that calls for Saothair Capital Partners to invest in the business, clearing the way for emergence from Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. “Saothair’s investment is a testament to the overall strength of our business model and market position,” said Brad Hoffman, President and CEO of Arandell. “We’re excited to complete the process and move forward as a company, continuing our recent growth into 2021 and beyond.” Under the agreement, an affiliate of Saothair, a private equity firm based in the Philadelphia area, will become the controlling shareholder of the Company’s business and assets.

Atlas Holdings announced that it has completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of LSC Communications, Inc. The transaction concludes a court-supervised sale process, pursuant to Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code. LSC is the largest producer of books in the United States and a leading manufacturer and distributor of magazines, catalogs and office products. With more than 14,000 dedicated associates across more than 50 facilities, the company is organized around four business segments, Magazine, Catalog & Logistics, Books, TOPS Products and its Mexico Print operations, which collectively service the traditional and digital print, printrelated services and office products markets. LSC begins its new chapter with a strong balance sheet, an optimized manufacturing footprint and a more competitive cost structure. As a leaner and more efficient organization, LSC is positioned to continue investing in innovation and sustainable growth with the support of Atlas’ financial strength and sector knowledge.

Following close consultation with exhibitors and partners, the 2021 edition of drupa, the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies, will be cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The next event will take place as scheduled from May 28 – June 7, 2024 in Düsseldorf, Germany. To maintain the momentum until then, the organizers will offer “virtual.drupa”, a four-day digital event from April 20 – 23, 2021 during the time frame drupa was originally scheduled for. “The pandemic has caused great uncertainty among exhibitors and visitors regarding participation in drupa 2021. Travel restrictions and budget pressure have increasingly intensified the situation in the print industry," explained Erhard Wienkamp, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf. “We have made this decision together with our partners who support this step. It was preceded by a detailed process of considering the current conditions and the needs of the industry.”

Sun Chemical has further enhanced its online troubleshooting guide by adding potential solutions to common pressroom challenges in coldset and metal package printing processes. After choosing the printing process, the mobile-friendly website uses both photos and defect terms (dot gain, pinholes, feathering, comets, etc.) to help the press worker, while in the pressroom, identify which technical problem they are facing. They can either read the solution provided by Sun Chemical to resolve their particular challenge using their smartphone or can use a print function tool for a clean review of the problems/solutions on paper—whatever option is most convenient for them. Sun Chemical’s troubleshooting website has translations in Italian, Spanish and Turkish and can be accessed easily from Sun Chemical’s Ink + Pressroom section of its website.

TC Transcontinental announces the appointment of Eric Morisset as Chief Development Officer effective today, December 1, 2020. Based in Montréal, Mr. Morisset will report to François Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer of TC Transcontinental, and will be part of the Executive Management Committee. Since 2018, the role of Corporate Development Officer had been held by Sam Bendavid, who was appointed earlier this year as Senior Vice President, TC Transcontinental Advanced Coatings and Procurement within TC Transcontinental Packaging. Mr. Morisset will be responsible for the Corporation’s M&A strategy and all aspects of acquisitions, divestitures and partnerships, as well as for overseeing company strategy. “We are extremely pleased to welcome Eric Morisset as Chief Development Officer at a time when, with our solid financial situation, we are well positioned to pursue growth opportunities through strategic, targeted acquisitions,” said François Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer of TC Transcontinental. “Passionate about building and growing businesses, Eric is an accomplished senior executive who comes to us with a stellar background and extensive M&A and capital markets experience.”

The trends in packaging printing are obvious: ever-declining run lengths, an increasing number of stock keeping units (SKUs) and more demanding embellishments to attract consumer attention – all of this against the backdrop of extremely short delivery times and sustainability. Special applications and the need for flawless production also add to the complexity. How can folding carton manufacturers manage this in a cost-effective way, even in Covid-19 pandemic times? Seeking an answer to this question, packaging printers in North America are increasingly investing in Heidelberg solutions for cost-effective production. “Since the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020, Packaging and Label Printers in North America have been very resilient against the downturn of the economy due to increased consumer demand for packaged goods in both grocery stores and pharmacies. Many of these printers have even grown during the crisis and are looking to invest or have recently invested in new machines and workflow from Heidelberg,” explains Felix Mueller, President of Heidelberg Americas.

Xerox announced a suite of production print innovations including new presses, technology enhancements for existing printers as well as artificial intelligence and automation features that aid speed and productivity. Xerox unveiled the following innovations: *A Color Accelerator module for Baltoro, expanding inkjet applications and adding ink-saving automation *Addition of fluorescent pink to the Iridesse Production Press, enhancing its metallics, white and clear color palette *Three new printers capable of higher volumes, more media and extended color options in the VersaLink and Versant family *Two Xerox Nuvera print speed upgrades that best competition *AI-enabled media manager software that enables high-quality images with minimal set-up and staff time *Automated workflow updates to seamlessly print embellishments with FreeFlow Core 6.0

Tidewater Direct announced that it has doubled down on its inkjet strategy with the purchase of a Screen 520NX inkjet press, which was installed in September and is currently operational. With an emphasis on uncoated stocks, the new press complements its existing 520HD which has now been in service for over 3 years. Both presses are located in Centreville, Md. and staffed 24 hours per day, and capacity is exclusively and uniquely sold to the trade. Prior to purchasing its first inkjet press, Tidewater saw an opportunity to partner with letter shops that were being asked to provide inkjet printing but did not have substantial volume to justify the investment in inkjet. This model which Tidewater calls an “inkjet revolution”, sought to supply the same wholesale customers that purchase forms and direct mail inserts inkjet printed product, to include rolls of forms, folded personalized letters, self-mailers, and post cards. With the 2nd inkjet press, Tidewater not only increases its capacity which improves flexibility, but the Screen NX adds a new economy and capability for uncoated direct mail letters.

Deluxe announced that demand for its small business incorporation services increased 10 percent in 2020 over 2019. The increase was driven by incorporations of construction, trucking, cleaning services, online sales, consulting, food trucks, landscaping and real estate companies. The acceleration of entrepreneurship coincides with an increase in COVID-19 related unemployment and desire by more people to control their financial future by starting businesses. “Small business owners are starting new ventures and careers in the middle of a pandemic,” said Barry McCarthy, President and CEO of Deluxe. “We think the increased use of Deluxe incorporation services is a leading indicator of small business futures and shows optimism in the small business market going into 2021. These entrepreneurs are risking it all, even at such an uncertain time. Deluxe has proudly supported the incredible pioneering spirit of small business owners for 105 years.”

Digital marketing runs at remarkable speeds. To help customers not only activate their deep data sets but do it exponentially faster, direct mail powerhouse SG360° found a powerful solution in production inkjet. With this technology, SG360° is pushing the envelope of what direct mail — and their business — can do. see more at: https://www.piworld.com/xchange/production-inkjet-printing/sg360-powering-direct-mail-communications-with-digital-print-and-next-generation-inkjet/#ne=d7f0e6e16b0d037f71fc050491da5623&utm_source=today-on-piworld&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2020-11-16

The Kansas City Star will leave its iconic glass building downtown and look for a new home, the newspaper announced Tuesday. The Star will vacate its building at 1601 McGee St. by the end of 2021. As part of the transition, the newspaper will move printing to a third party, beginning in the first quarter of 2021. The changes come after parent company McClatchy, which owns 30 U.S. news organizations, including The Star, The Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. The reorganization, which was approved by a federal judge in early August, allowed the company to renegotiate leases. Publications across McClatchy and the news industry have seen similar print consolidations.

Walsworth announced the full integration of The Ovid Bell Press in Fulton, Mo., into the Walsworth brand. This integration will lead to enhanced printing capabilities and available services across all Walsworth facilities. “This is the right time for the integration of The Ovid Bell Press into Walsworth. More than uniting our name, this move will make it easy to do business across all Walsworth locations. Our customers will benefit from more flexibility and enhanced capabilities and services, and each facility will be focused on the products they do best,” president Don Walsworth said. Operations at the Fulton facility will continue as normal. In coming under the Walsworth brand, this location joins Walsworth’s other facilities in Marceline and Brookfield, Missouri; St. Joseph, Michigan; Ripon, Wisconsin; and a sales and marketing office in Overland Park, Kansas.

HP Inc. and Shutterfly, the world’s leading online retailer of personalized products, today announced a landmark expansion of their strategic relationship to deliver next-level productivity to supply the growing e-commerce market of photo gifts and photo products. Shutterfly is investing in more than 60 new high-performance HP Indigo Digital Presses to drive higher productivity for its range of high-quality, photo-based and personalized products including photo gifts, photo books, school portraits, holiday cards, and home decor. The agreement with Shutterfly, the leading US supplier of HP Indigo digital print, is the largest single customer order to date for the HP Graphics business. Now underway, the rollout includes next-generation, high-productivity B2 sized HP Indigo 100K digital presses, high versatility HP Indigo 12000 digital presses, as well as significant investment in web-fed photo presses to transform photo portrait printing to digital.

Third Quarter 2020 Highlights: * Total revenue increased by 10.4% to $49.9 million, from $45.2 million in the third quarter of 2019. * EBITDA1 was up 49.3% to $8.1 million, an increase of $2.7 million, from $5.4 million in the third quarter of 2019. EBITDA includes a $0.9 million of assistance from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (“CEWS”) program. * Net Earnings increased to $2.7 million (or $0.10 per share), from $1.2 million (or $0.04 per share) in the third quarter of 2019. * Packaging and Specialty Products segment revenue increased by 18.9% to $15.8 million, up from $13.3 million in the third quarter of 2019. * Envelope segment revenue increased by 6.9% to $34.1 million, up from $31.9 million in the third quarter of 2019. * Net cash flows from operating activities increased to $7.2 million, up from $3.7 million in the third quarter of 2019.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company unveiled ConnectOne by RRD™, an end-to-end communications management platform that can help marketers enhance brand continuity, streamline workflows, and accelerate speed-to-market while driving down costs and improving their ROI. ConnectOne delivers a comprehensive suite of technologies for marketing automation, digital asset management, personalization at scale, and data-driven supply chain management. Combined with RRD’s unmatched communications management resources and expertise, ConnectOne delivers a simplified 360-degree view of enterprise communications through a single portal that can help deliver: *Optimized customer experiences that leverage content, data, and multichannel delivery *Streamlined content creation, production, and delivery *Personalized communications at scale across multiple channels *Automated workflows and data-driven processes that lower costs and improve efficiency

The ultra-high-speed, single-pass EFI™Reggiani BOLT digital textile printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has received the InterTech™ Technology Award from PRINTING United Alliance. The InterTech Technology Awards honor technologies predicted to have a major transformational impact on the printing industry. The groundbreaking EFI Reggiani BOLT is the very first textile printer to receive an InterTech Award. Thanks to its cutting-edge printhead concept and high-performance ink delivery system for direct-to-textile printing, the 71 inch- (1.8 meter-) wide EFI Reggiani BOLT is the fastest digital textile printer available, delivering a top throughput speed of 295 feet (90 meters) per minute at a 600 x 600 dots per inch (dpi) resolution. It features high-end imaging in drop sizes from 5 to 30 picoliters, and also provides premium-quality 600 x 4,800 maximum-dpi resolution printing, allowing customers to address their full range of design needs.

Reach is proposing to close the newest newspaper printing facility in the UK, with two of its print sites set for the chop with the potential loss of 150 jobs. At the end of September Reach, which is the biggest contract newspaper printer in the UK, announced it would review its printing operations due to uncertainty over the levels of future work. It is now proposing to close its Luton and Birmingham sites. Reach Printing Services currently has six sites across the country. The group said that it planned to “balance the production of its national and regional print titles as well as third-party customers across its remaining print network”.

*Revenue was $54.1 million lower than last year. COVID-19 continued to negatively impact our results, primarily across the Promotional Solutions, Cloud Solutions and Checks segments. *The Payments segment delivered strong revenue growth of 15.6% over the same period last year, benefiting from Treasury Management revenue growth of 20.9% in the third quarter driven primarily by December 2019 sales wins. *Net income of $29.4 million was impacted by COVID-19, compared to a net loss of $318.5 million in the third quarter 2019. 2019 results included pre-tax, non-cash asset impairment charges of $391.0 million. The impairment charges related to goodwill, as well as amortizable intangible assets. *Cash flow from operations for the nine months ending September 30, 2020 was $166.8 million and capital expenditures were $42.7 million. Free cash flow, defined as cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures, was $124.1 million, a decrease of $34.2 million as compared to 2019. In addition to COVID-19, free cash flow was impacted by previously disclosed expenditures to support the Company’s business transformation and the ongoing secular decline in checks. These impacts were partially offset by lower income taxes and a legal settlement in the prior year. *At the end of the third quarter, the Company had $1.04 billion of total debt outstanding under its revolving credit facility, compared to $883.5 million at the beginning of 2020. Liquidity was $413.0 million, with cash and cash equivalents totaling $310.4 million at the end of the quarter.

“One of our clients recently referred to us as the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of direct marketing providers,” John A. Wallace Jr., president and CEO of SG360°, says. If the client had declared the company to be direct marketing’s equivalent of the famous Wenger 16999 Swiss Army Knife Giant — a 2-lb., 12˝-long pocket toolbox containing 87 implements and 141 separate functions — he probably wouldn’t have been embarrassed. The comparison may be exaggerated, but not by much. Wallace points out that the “360°” in the company’s name reflects its determination to give customers everything they need to conduct successful direct marketing campaigns under one roof. In this, he contends, SG360° is unique, because its only business is direct marketing through hyper-targeted mailings, in volumes as massive or as minuscule as the customer desires.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced that it has closed on the previously announced sale of its International Mail and Parcel Logistics business to ePost Global LLC. Dan Knotts, RRD’s President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “This sale completes the final step of our previously announced plan to exit our Logistics platform.” Knotts continued, “I want to thank the International Logistics employees for their support of RRD and wish them well as they join ePost Global LLC.”

Results for the three months ended September 30, 2020, included: *Net Sales — Net sales were $679 million in 2020, down 28% from 2019. Sales declined 26% during the quarter, excluding the impact of the January 2020 sale of the Omaha packaging plant, primarily due to the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing print industry volume and pricing pressures. *Net Earnings (Loss) From Continuing Operations — Net earnings from continuing operations increased $50 million from the third quarter of 2019, from a net loss of $47 million in 2019 ($0.94 diluted loss per share from continuing operations) to net earnings of $3 million in 2020 ($0.05 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations). Results for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, included: *Net Sales — Net sales were $2.1 billion in 2020, down 27% in 2019. Sales declined 25% during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, after excluding the impact of the January 2020 sale of the Omaha packaging plant, primarily due to the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing print industry volume and pricing pressures. *Net Loss From Continuing Operations — Net loss from continuing operations improved $42 million from the first nine months of 2019, from a net loss of $63 million in 2019 ($1.26 diluted loss per share from continuing operations) to a net loss of $21 million in 2020 ($0.41 diluted loss per share from continuing operations).

Quad/Graphics, Inc. announced that it has sold its two remaining Book manufacturing facilities in Fairfield, Penn., and Martinsburg, W.Va., to Berryville Graphics, a division of Bertelsmann Printing Group USA, a leader in hard cover, mass market, trade and digest books, components and specialty finishing. The transaction closed on October 31, 2020. Quad will use proceeds from the sale to pay down debt. With this transaction, Quad has completed the full divestiture of its Book manufacturing platform – part of a previously announced strategic decision to optimize its product portfolio. In July, the company sold its only other book manufacturing facility in Versailles, Ky., to CJK Group, Inc.

Quad/Graphics, Inc. announced the launch of its Quad Direct Marketing Exchange™ (QDMX) – a platform that delivers entirely personalized direct marketing campaigns at a fraction of the cost and at greater speed to market. An industry first, QDMX helps marketers mitigate the impact of rising postage costs and navigate ongoing economic uncertainty through a suite of solutions that integrates sophisticated data application, innovative direct mail production and streamlined mailing. “For years there has been a feeling among marketers that there has to be a more efficient and effective way to reach the consumer through the mailbox,” said Scott Harvey, Quad Senior Vice President for Marketing Solutions. “Through our QDMX platform, we provide marketers with an opportunity to re-imagine their direct marketing strategy – leveraging the scale, technology investments and expansive client base of Quad – to deliver even stronger ROI from the direct mail channel.”

During these challenging times, it is imperative for commercial print companies to offer flexibility, media versatility, and superior print quality to their customers. Since the implementation of inkjet, Taylor Corporation has been able to expand its offerings by migrating higher-volume jobs from offset to digital inkjet, mainstream commercial and digital work at a lower cost of ownership, as well as embed a more targeted approach to market segments with product sets. Since the addition of the Canon ProStream to Taylor Corporation’s print workflow, the press’ capabilities have enabled the organization to boost production levels, reduce turnaround times, and increase profit margins across a wide range of applications, including premium and high-volume direct mail, books, catalogs, and magazines.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced that it has closed on the previously announced sale of its DLS Worldwide Logistics business to TFI International Inc. Dan Knotts, RRD’s President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “The sale of DLS Worldwide is an important step forward to optimize our business portfolio and improve balance sheet flexibility. The transaction serves to further enhance our strategic focus as a leading global provider of marketing and business communications.” Knotts continued, “I want to thank the DLS Worldwide employees for their support of RRD and wish them well as they join TFI International.”

Everything that has happened to printing firms as a result of the pandemic is unprecedented. This means everything they have done in response to it has obliged them to improvise. To rethink. To come up with new ways of protecting their employees. To pivot to completely different methods of interacting with customers. In short, to innovate. As we've done the past several years in Printing Impressions, we profiled six companies that remain alive and well in the printing industry. This year, we’re presenting these portraits of Innovators in tribute, not just to the companies themselves, but to every printing business that has survived the trials of 2020 by being innovative. Here is a profile of one of our Best-in-Class Innovators. Does innovation have a distinctive aroma? It does at H&H Graphics. In fact, innovation there smells remarkably like … tacos. That was the olfactory enhancement the Vernon Hills, Ill.-based specialty screen printing business gave to a holiday gift wrap for Taco Bell by infusing the paper with the scents of each of the snack’s principal ingredients. When the wrap was offered on Amazon, reports Michelle Leissner, president and CEO of H&H Graphics, “it sold out in a matter of minutes.”

Our reported revenue and organic constant-currency revenue declined 7% and 10%, respectively, in Q1. The pandemic continues to negatively impact our revenue results, but the year-over-year decline was less severe in Q1 compared to Q4 across all segments Q1 FY2021 GAAP operating income increased $10.6 million year over year to $36.0 million. The negative revenue impact of the pandemic was offset by variable cost controls, advertising efficiency and fixed cost savings. We also had a year-over-year decrease in restructuring charges of $2.3 million. Our GAAP operating income benefited from about $4.0 million of COVID-19-related government incentives, primarily to offset wages for manufacturing and customer service team members in countries where demand decreased but roles were maintained.

*GAAP net sales decreased 15.9%; non-GAAP organic net sales decreased 12.1% *GAAP income from operations was down $55.1 million versus the prior year primarily due to a $56.5 million increase in restructuring and other charges; current quarter included a charge for MEPP withdrawal obligations related to the LSC Communications (“LSC”) bankruptcy *GAAP loss per share from continuing operations of $0.13 included third quarter charges of $0.52 per share for restructuring and other *Operating cash flow, including discontinued operations, increased $40.1 million from prior year period, year-to-date improvement now at $113.0 million *Entered into definitive agreement to sell its Logistics DLS Worldwide business for $225 million, expected to close by year end *Launched plan to redeem $83.3 million of principal outstanding on Senior Notes due March 15, 2021

Financial Results • $106 million of operating cash flow from continuing operations, down $242 million year-over-year and up $72 million from the second quarter • $88 million of free cash flow, down $243 million year-over-year and up $73 million from the second quarter • $1.77 billion of revenue, down 18.9 percent year-over-year or 19.7 percent in constant currency and up $302 million from the second quarter • GAAP earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations of $0.41 per share, down $0.27 yearover-year and up $0.30 from the second quarter, and adjusted EPS of $0.48, down $0.32 yearover-year and up $0.33 from the second quarter

The PRINTING United Digital Experience officially begins on Monday, October 26, with daily programming taking place between 10 am – 2 pm ET through November 12. Registration is free to the entire schedule of daily events at digital.printingunited.com. Attendees can now register and bookmark anticipated sessions, by market segment, and gain access to new product debuts, research, education, case studies, whitepapers, and a complete resource library – all on-demand, anytime, through January 2021. Attendees need only register once to have unlimited access to all content. Over 80 countries are already represented in registration to date. Daily Guides will also be provided each day of the event to highlight the focused topic agenda and new products available from each of the Digital Experience partners. more info at: https://whattheythink.com/news/103034-printing-united-digital-experience-begins-week/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

Tango Press, headquartered in Springdale, AR, opened in 2016 as an all-digital production plant for corrugated packaging and displays. The company has a reputation in the marketplace for providing high-impact packaging and displays that meet customers’ unique needs, timeframe, and price points. “The acquisition of Tango Press is a perfect complement to The BoxMaker and our web-to-print brand, Fantastapack.com. This addition gives us the opportunity to expand our reach and improve product distribution for digitally printed and finished packaging to businesses throughout the United States,” said Richard Brown, President and Co-Owner of The BoxMaker. “As an all-digital production plant, Tango Press’ business model and culture are a natural fit for The BoxMaker and we look forward to the expanded benefits that our combined facilities will deliver to clients.”

Wallaceburg Bookbinding & Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has joined Two Sides North America, the non-profit organization that promotes and encourages the responsible production, use, and sustainability of print, paper, and paper-based packaging. “Albeit on a different scale, I believe printed books still have a place in this digital world. One cannot deny the benefits of using an actual book for learning purposes. Students should have the choice to utilize the best option for their learning needs, goals, and skillset. We advocate for the option of the printed book and feel that partnering with Two Sides is a good fit for our company mission,” said Suzanne Wiersma, Director of Operations, Wallaceburg Bookbinding & Mfg. Co. Ltd.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company introduced Touchless World by RRD™, a comprehensive set of solutions that leverage the power of dynamic, strategically located, scannable smart tags designed for smartphone engagement. According to a recent consumer survey from the Shekel Group, 87% of consumers prefer shopping in stores with touchless or robust self-checkout options during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the virus went global, contactless options were expected to grow by 200% by 2025. RRD’s Touchless World solutions are designed to make consumers feel safe throughout the entire shopping experience, up to and including payments. With Touchless World by RRD, every brand touchpoint can be contactless — and capable of activating powerful data, delivering contextual, personalized messaging.

Worzalla and Bria Bella & Co., a local women’s apparel store, combined efforts to collect socks for families in need during their “Socktember” campaign. During the month of September, associates at both companies solicited donations of socks to help supply this basic need to families ahead of the winter holidays. More than 500 pairs of socks were collected and donated to the Stevens Point Area School District, where District social workers will distribute to children and families who need them. “If I came across a family who needed anything, from socks to toiletries, I would drop these items off to these families to help them stay warm and healthy,” said Peg Bach, recently retired School Social Worker for Stevens Point Area School District who participated in the campaign. “This donation of socks will keep more than 500 pairs of feet warm this winter, thank you to Worzalla and Bria Bella & Co.”

CREEL has completed the acquisition of the offset printing operations in Las Vegas known as Creel Printing from LSC Communications. The acquisition returns control of the offset business to the Creel family who founded it in the 1950s. The new CREEL will operate from the state-of-the-art, 250,000-square-foot Las Vegas facility that previously served as the company’s headquarters. The business has made significant recent investments including a new 55" web press and numerous stitching and inserting lines. The acquisition includes substantially all of the employees in the offset business, including skilled pressmen, plant supervisors, operations staff, and customer service specialists, many of whom have been with the company for over 20 years. CREEL will be managed by industry veterans, and Allan G. Creel will return as its President.

TC Transcontinental Printing, a sector of Transcontinental Inc., is proud to announce that it has invested more than $10 million over the past eight months in its book printing platform in Québec, mainly at its Transcontinental Interglobe plant in the Beauce region. These investments have enabled the plant to improve its manufacturing efficiency to better meet the demand from North American customers and the fast delivery times expected by the market, while reducing its environmental footprint. “These major investments demonstrate our confidence in the future of the North American book market and our desire to build our printing platform in growth verticals like this one,” said Jacques Grégoire, Chief Development Officer, Printing & Media at TC Transcontinental. “The timing is right for these investments with the signing of several contract extensions and new agreements with major educational publishers. They will allow us to remain competitive in the market and take on larger jobs to continually meet the growing demand from our customers.”

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The Philadelphia Inquirer is selling its printing plant, an economic move that will cost an estimated 500 staffers their jobs, the newspaper reported. The newspaper will move production to a New Jersey plant, a union shop owned by Gannett, as it gears up to sell the Schuylkill Printing Plant by year’s end. At present, the Inquirer is in negotiations to unload the 45-acre property, opened in 1992. The buyer and any financial terms were not disclosed. She added many have been with The Philadelphia Inquirer for decades. Almost all of the plant staffers — 500 out of 550 — will be laid off. Two newspapers are published there, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, owned by the same parent company, The Philadelphia Foundation.

Electronics For Imaging, Inc.’s two new printers for the high-end, high productivity soft signage market help display graphics producers reach new heights in productivity and extend their capabilities. The EFI™ COLORS 340 printer announced today prints at up to 9,149 square feet per hour (in a four-color x 4 configuration) while providing unmatched color capabilities for premium-quality soft signage. For even higher-volume production environments, the EFI POWER 340 prints up to 16,835 square feet per hour. Leveraging technology from EFI Reggiani’s 70+ year legacy of best-in-class fabric printing, both new offerings have the ability to print with higher quality on a wider range of materials than other soft signage inkjet devices, with 100% penetration on both sides of the material. The printers offer added versatility and economical ink capabilities with their ability to print either direct to fabric or to transfer paper using the same inkset, eliminating the significant cost and downtime related to switching over inks.

In another example of private equity firms targeting investments in distressed companies in the printing industry, Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based catalog printing specialist Arandell has reached a potential asset purchase agreement with Saothair Capital Partners, which is located outside of Philadelphia in Radnor, Pa. On Aug. 13, Arandell Holdings announced that the commercial printing company, along with all its subsidiaries, voluntarily filed for business reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The investment in Arandell by a private equity concern is similar to the acquisition of Chicago-based LSC Communications last month by another private equity turnaround specialist: Atlas Holdings, of Greenwich, Conn. That transaction, which will take the publicly-held book, catalog, and magazine printing specialist; logistics provider; and office products supplier private, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Poteet Printing Systems LLC manufactures and sells water-based inks for Flexographic applications to printersd converters across the United States. The company supports the key Paper & Board applications for corrugated post- and pre-print and digital products, as well as targeted water-based paper packaging print demands. Poteet Printing Systems’ main production facilities are located in Charlotte, North Carolina and Fort Worth, Texas; the business has two additional warehouse locations in North Carolina. The company currently employs 60+ people Doug Aldred, President Flint Group Packaging Inks, says, “We warmly welcome the employees of Poteet Printing Systems as they join the Flint Group Packaging Inks community – we are extremely pleased with this addition to our growing Paper & Board business in North America. “The team at Poteet have built a customer focused and responsive organization, dedicated to client success. This culture of teamwork and customer satisfaction fits perfectly with Flint Group Packaging Inks’ vision and strategy. To continue to foster Poteet’s strong customer relationships, we encourage Poteet’s customers to continue to work with their existing contacts within the Poteet organization.”

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company offers a U.S. patented, recyclable mailing solution that helps organizations creatively reach their customers while lowering shipping costs. The Flex Mailer™ is a mailing package that converts items that would normally ship as parcels (i.e., boxes) to United States Postal Service (USPS) automated flats (i.e., large envelopes). Items go into an inner tray that is divided into quadrants for product placement and flexibility. The inner tray fits into a highly flexible outer mailer package, which meets the USPS thickness and flexibility guidelines to qualify as an automated flat — resulting in notable cost savings for companies that can tally into millions of dollars for high-volume distribution while also being environmentally responsible.

Out of an abundance of caution for employees, customers, prospects and partners, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has canceled its planned exhibit at the drupa 2021 tradeshow taking place in Dusseldorf, Germany, next April. “Our company has a long, positive history with drupa, as do I personally, having also run two companies that have been major drupa exhibitors in the past,” said Jeff Jacobson, chairman and CEO, EFI™. “The show has always represented some of the best of what can be accomplished at an in-person event for the global print industry. “But, with the limited amount of knowledge anyone can have right now about what conditions will be for public gatherings early next year, withdrawing from drupa 2021 is an unfortunate albeit prudent decision,” Jacobson added.

LSC Communications, Inc. announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved its previously announced stock and asset purchase agreement, under which an affiliate of Atlas Holdings LLC with the support of certain of LSC’s secured creditors (the “Creditor Group”), will acquire substantially all of the Company’s assets. “With the Court’s approval of the sale, we are able to move forward with this value-maximizing transaction that represents the best path forward for all LSC stakeholders,” said Thomas J. Quinlan III, LSC Communications’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are confident that through this partnership with Atlas, LSC will be uniquely well-positioned to strengthen and grow our market-leading position and provide our customers with the same high standards of quality, reliability and innovation. On behalf of the LSC Board and management team, I would like to sincerely thank all of our employees for their hard work and dedication throughout this process.” The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2020.

TC Transcontinental is proud to have won the Mercure award in the "Innovative Manufacturers – Large Business" category, in recognition of innovation in the Corporation’s Packaging Sector to promote sustainability and a circular economy. The prestigious Mercuriades business competition is held by the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ). The Mercure for "Innovative Manufacturers", presented by Investissement Québec, is awarded to a company that exemplifies strategic vision and capacity for technological innovation to optimize the performance of its products and services. “I’m extremely proud that TC Transcontinental has received this recognition from Québec’s business community,” said François Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer of TC Transcontinental. “We invest millions of dollars annually in research and development in our Packaging Sector to fund innovation and broaden our offering of recyclable, postconsumer recycled content, or compostable plastic packaging products.

TC Transcontinental announced that it is phasing down the printing activities of Transcontinental LGM – Coronet, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in anticipation of the complete closure of the facility on January 31st, 2021. Operations will be transferred gradually over the next few months, mainly to Transcontinental RBW Graphics in Ontario and, to a lesser extent, to Transcontinental Calgary in Alberta, to ensure a smooth transition for customers and maintain a top-quality service. "In order to protect the long-term financial health of our sector, our teams are constantly working to align the capacity and costs of our printing platform with our business volumes," said Brian Reid, President of TC Transcontinental Printing. "With this in mind and in light of a thorough analysis of the situation at our Winnipeg plant, it is with regret that we have to close Transcontinental LGM – Coronet and transfer operations to two of our other plants. We thank our employees who have always demonstrated their professionalism and commitment in serving our loyal customers with dedication."

The 2020 Gold Ink Awards recently took place, with winners being announced earlier this month. We are pleased to announce that Arandell was the recipient of eight awards this year, including the Silver award for our work on the Gudrun Sjoden Spring 2020 catalog. Arandell participates in several print industry competitions each year, including the Graphics Excellence Awards, the Premier Print Awards and of course, the Gold Ink Awards. Along with it being the last competition of the year, the Gold Ink Awards competition is also the most prestigious, as it is put on by Printing Impressions – the print industry’s most well-recognized and influential industry publication.

News Corp announced today that it plans to shift the printing of several of its publications in New York to a different facility in the city, a move which will help cut costs and secure production of print editions of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the New York Post for years to come. Under the change, the publications would be printed at The New York Times’ College Point plant in Queens. This plan would result in the closure of the company’s Bronx Print Plant, where the publications are currently printed. Financial details of the arrangement were not released. The company has notified the leadership of the unions representing the employees at the Bronx Print Plant about the plan, and is entering into a period of negotiation with the unions. While the process is underway, the publications will continue to be produced at the Bronx plant.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its DLS Worldwide Logistics business to TFI International for $225 million in cash, subject to a customary working capital adjustment. The agreement stipulates 10 percent of the purchase price will be held in escrow while the remainder will be paid at closing. The transaction does not include RRD’s International Mail and Parcel Logistics business and is expected to close within the next 60 days pending regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Dan Knotts, RRD’s President and Chief Executive Officer stated, “The sale of our DLS Worldwide business further demonstrates our strategic focus and ongoing commitment to optimize our business portfolio, reduce debt and improve liquidity, all while remaining strongly positioned as an industry leading provider of marketing and business communications. As we move through the final phase of this transaction, we are laser focused on facilitating a smooth transition for our employees while continuing to deliver the exceptional service our DLS Worldwide clients have come to expect from RRD.”

LSC Communications, Inc. announced that the Company has entered into a stock and asset purchase agreement with an affiliate of Atlas Holdings LLC with the support of certain of LSC’s secured creditors. Under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Purchaser will acquire substantially all of the Company’s assets through a combination of cash and a credit bid of obligations under the Company’s secured term loan facility and senior secured notes at the direction of the Creditor Group. The Purchaser will also assume certain liabilities of the Company, including, subject to certain prerequisite conditions being satisfied, obligations related to the Company’s qualified pension plan.

Presented by Printing Impressions, the Gold Ink Awards is the industry’s most prestigious printing competition. The competition is open to all creators and producers of printed materials, and encompasses categories within commercial printing, magazines, books, catalogs, digital printing, and packaging. This year, more than 400 entries were submitted in 43 categories. During the course of two days, several judges who — despite the pandemic — came in to Printing Impressions' offices in downtown Philadelphia to pour over the various entries, deliberating on which submissions would be crowned with Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Pewter designations. For the results go to: https://www.piworld.com/extension/gold-ink-awards/2020/

In celebration of International Literacy Day and the 16th anniversary of the founding of MagLiteracy.org this week, Quad announced today that it has donated $25,000 to MagLiteracy.org to kickstart the creation of a first-of-its-kind national literacy marketplace. The marketplace, a nationwide network of regional literacy banks, will facilitate donations of new, recycled or expired magazines and comic books to local literacy programs – an important tool in combatting poverty. Quad’s cornerstone contribution to MagLiteracy.org will be used to: *Establish a Magazine Literacy Lab in Madison, Wisconsin, which will serve as a training, education and resource center for individuals and groups looking to establish or grow literacy programs in their own communities, replicating MagLiteracy.org’s proven best practices, including how to engage volunteers. *Support operations at MagLiteracy.org’s newly established Ohio Literacy Bank, a warehouse in Columbus for processing large-volume magazine donations (from publishers, newsstand returns, etc.). These donations, which are sorted and boxed by volunteers, are delivered to literacy programs in Columbus and other nearby cities, including parts of Appalachia. The warehouse is the first in a planned nationwide network of regional literacy banks that will supply local literacy programs inside women’s shelters, youth mentoring programs, job training centers, meal programs and food pantries.

A typical sheet of paper or cardboard is neither waterproof, interactive or able to harvest energy, but an innovative new printing technology developed at Purdue University can make it all of the above. The researchers demonstrated the technique by transforming a sheet of notebook paper into a music player, and say it could be scaled up to work with larger printing processes for more mainstream uses. “This is the first time a self-powered paper-based electronic device is demonstrated,” says study author Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering. “We developed a method to render paper repellent to water, oil and dust by coating it with highly fluorinated molecules. This omniphobic coating allows us to print multiple layers of circuits onto paper without getting the ink to smear from one layer to the next one.” With this omniphobic coating as the starting point, the researchers were able to integrate vertical pressure sensors onto the paper. This not only enables it to become an interactive surface for a variety of applications, but also one that can harvest energy from user’s actions through friction as they apply pressure to the device, which can be used to power wireless Bluetooth communication.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) (NYSE: RRD), a leading global provider of marketing and business communications, today released The Pivot Report, which compares pre- and intra-COVID-19 priorities for marketers and their approaches to developing effective campaigns. RRD surveyed 250 U.S. based marketers across a variety of industries in both late 2019 and mid-2020 to conduct a comparative analysis of perception changes driven by COVID-19. These survey results indicate that the global pandemic has significantly impacted marketer attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the importance of data management, and how companies emotionally connect with consumers. To read the full report, go to: https://www.rrd.com/pivot?utm_medium=link&utm_source=press%20release&utm_campaign=091020%20PR%20-%20Pivot%20Report

Worzalla, an employee-owned company specializing in printing high-quality children’s books, movie tie-in books and cookbooks, announced it is hiring for 35 open positions at its facility in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Worzalla cites an increased demand for books during the coronavirus pandemic for the need to hire additional associates. “Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen an increase in demand for books of all categories, especially in the children’s books category for both education and entertainment,” said Richard Letchinger, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Worzalla. “Our customers across the country have been reaching out to us to print a variety of projects, both classics and new titles, to help educate and entertain kids at home.”

CJK Group, Inc. announced that it has acquired content services business Cenveo Publisher Services and Cenveo Learning from Cenveo Worldwide Limited, and will be merging them with its own content business Sheridan Journal Services and hosting platform Sheridan PubFactory to form KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL). The combined entity employs approximately 1,500 people globally with offices in Boston, Mass.; Richmond, Va.; and Waterbury, Vt. in the U.S.; Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Noida in India; and London, UK. KGL will operate under the leadership of Atul Goel, formerly President of Cenveo Publisher Services, and he will report to Chris Kurtzman, CEO of CJK Group. Chris Kurtzman said, “The combination of these two organizations, both of whom have strong reputations and venerable histories, will create an important new entity within CJK Group, positioned for growth while delivering value for customers.”

2020 Third Quarter Results: Revenues decreased by $141.5 million, or 19.4%, from $728.9 million in the third quarter of 2019 to $587.4 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Operating earnings increased by $18.7 million, or 33.0%, from $56.6 million in the third quarter of 2019 to $75.3 million in the third quarter of 2020. In the Packaging Sector, adjusted operating earnings increased by $11.5 million, from $34.1 million in the third quarter of 2019 to $45.6 million in the third quarter of 2020. In the Printing Sector, adjusted operating earnings increased by $7.7 million, or 16.4%, from $46.8 million in the third quarter of 2019 to $54.5 million in the third quarter of 2020. Net earnings attributable to shareholders of the Corporation increased by $44.9 million, from $3.4 million in the third quarter of 2019 to $48.3 million in the third quarter of 2020.

thINK, an independent community of Canon Solutions America production inkjet customers, today announced their success in bringing learning and networking to the thINK community via their virtual event platform that reached a record number of attendees across the world at the 6th annual thINK Ahead conference. “I want to congratulate the thINK Board on creating a one-of-a-kind experience for Canon Solution America inkjet customers and partners. We will all remember today for a variety of reasons but most of all for the reminder that we all need to stay connected,” said Francis A. McMahon, Executive Vice President, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America.

Sun Chemical agreed to name Icaro International, a distributor of woven metallic wire mesh and synthetic mesh for different screen printing applications such as printed electronics, as its distributor for Sun Chemical’s conductive and dielectric inks as well as other electronic materials in Mexico. The three-year agreement allows Sun Chemical to expand its reach to the biosensor, automotive, white goods, and electronic assembly markets across Mexico using a well-respected and widely known partner.

LSC Communications filed a WARN notice with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development on Sept. 1 announcing its intention to begin shuttering its Kendallville book manufacturing facility located on Marion Drive effective Oct. 1, impacting all 307 employees who work there. The Chicago-based printer's operation on Lester Drive in the same roughly-10,000-resident town in northeast Indiana will remain open. "At this time, the company anticipates that all employees will be permanently separated from employment with the company by December 23, 2020," wrote Rebecca Robertson, VP of human resources, in the WARN notice. "In connection with the plant closure, no employees will have bumping rights to displace other employees working for the company," she added. "We appreciate any support or assistance you or your office can provide to help employees affected by the plant closing in finding new positions."

Despite the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy and within the printing industry, Marquis is announcing two significant investments at its Toronto plant. These investments aim to increase the production capacity of monochrome and color books for trade, educational and professional publishing markets. "These investments demonstrate the trust we have in the publishing world. We sincerely believe that the paper book is resilient and will go through future crises and technological developments to remain the refuge of knowledge and imagination. We have dedicated and very professional employees who operate our equipment and the existing management team created the confidence to enable Marquis to continue to invest in the operations of Marquis Toronto," said Serge Loubier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marquis Book Printing. click read more below for details

The auction to acquire the assets of LSC Communications, which had been planned to take place on September 3, has been postponed until September 9. Bids for the company were due August 26, but no filings disclosing what bids have been received have not yet been made public. Although no filing has been made about the bids, a recent disclosure by LSC investment bank Evercore indicates there was quite a bit of initial interest. According to the filing, made by Evercore to get court approval to be paid for its work, the bank said it contacted 163 prospective buyers, signed 60 nondisclosure agreements, and had continuing talks with 21 potential bidders.

Sun Chemical and its parent company, DIC Corporation, have acquired Seller Ink Industria e Comércio de Tintas e Vernizes Ltda., a specialty inks and coatings manufacturer based in São Paulo, Brazil. With over 25 years of experience, Seller Ink has a strong market presence in both the security ink and the metal decorating markets. With the acquisition of the Brazilian-based company, Sun Chemical will increase its specialty inks and coatings offering in Latin America and will obtain a local manufacturing platform for security inks to provide first-class service.

In response to election-year political gridlock on common sense reform for the struggling United States Postal Service, I sent the following letter to roughly 300 U.S. Senators and Representatives this week. This isn’t just a matter for the postal industry — it’s in the best interest of the nation’s overall economy. Dear Senator: Quad was founded by my father in 1971, when he took out a second mortgage on our home and he along with a handful of dedicated partners opened the doors to what today has grown into the nation’s largest long-run printer with nearly 20,000 employees spanning across 20 states. I was two years old when Quad began, so I have quite literally grown up as part of the industry. My father’s vision has transformed many lives through hard work, dedication and smart business. However, that vision would not have happened without the tremendous partnership Quad has forged with the United States Postal Service. Today, Quad mails more than 10 billion pieces of mail each year on behalf of our clients. This accounts for 13% of the overall marketing mail volume in the country. The USPS continues to be a vital partner to the mailing/marketing industry — an industry that is comprised of retailers, marketers, catalogers, directories, direct mailers, magazine and book publishers along with paper manufacturers, timber producers and many others. The industry employs over 7 million people and accounts for $1.6 trillion of economic activity on par with industries such as air travel, automotive and oil and gas. The industry provides family supporting jobs throughout the country and over 90% of the Postal Service’s revenue. Leading Quad at this critical time gives me a sense of urgency in knowing that the future of our industry is at stake if our leaders do not act in our best interest.

Creative Graphics Services (CGS), a U.S. large-format graphics communications specialist, has expanded its print capabilities with the addition of a fleet of new HP Latex R series printers. The new technology is enabling customers to enjoy high-impact graphics on virtually any rigid surface for limitless design possibilities and to fill urgent signage needs. Today, CGS is mobilized to help equip local businesses, communities and hospitals with signage to communicate social distancing, wayfinding and public health awareness as they reopen amid the continued COVID-19 pandemic.

Capacity issues at the two largest printing companies are among the factors creating havoc for authors and publishers. This spring, when the pandemic forced bookstores across the country to close and authors to cancel their tours, many editors and publishers made a gamble. They postponed the publication of dozens of titles, betting that things would be back to normal by the fall. Now, with September approaching, things are far from normal. Books that were bumped from spring and early summer are landing all at once, colliding with long-planned fall releases and making this one of the most crowded fall publishing seasons ever. And now publishers are confronting a new hurdle: how to print all those books. read more at: https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/books/printing-companies-backlog-book-publishing.amp.html

Royle Printing is pleased to announce Pam Rostagno has joined the Royle team as Director of Operations. Rostagno brings a broad depth of knowledge and experience from her various operations leadership positions she held at Quad. Beginning her career in their Corporate Trainee program, Rostagno spent time as a customer service representative before moving into a leadership position in that department. She advanced in her career, serving as the Plant Director at the Quad Lomira, Wis., facility and Quad Martinsburg, W.V., facility. In 2013, Rostagno accepted the position of Director of Operations at the Quad In-Store Division, where she championed the rapid growth of that business unit. Rostagno has been heavily involved in employee development, process improvement & cost analysis, strategic planning & direction, customer service, quality & production controls, LEAN/6S applications, leadership and mentoring/coaching.

LSC Communications has been granted another extension of the deadlines set for the proposed sale of its assets. The court overseeing the printing giant’s bankruptcy proceedings approved a one-week delay in moving the deadline from when bids are due, from August 19 to August 26. In approving the extension for bids to be filed, the court moved other deadlines back by about one week. The date of the auction has been switched to September 3 from August 25, and the deadline for objecting to any sale is now September 4, rather than August 25. A hearing to consider the proposed sale is now set for September 11.

R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced that its Board of Directors has approved an amendment of the Company’s stockholder rights plan (the “Rights Plan”) to extend the final expiration date under the Rights Plan to August 28, 2021. The Rights Plan had been scheduled to expire on August 28, 2020. The Board approved the one-year extension of the Rights Plan based on its determination that circumstances continue to warrant RRD maintaining the protections afforded by the Rights Plan. The Board noted that, given the Company’s depressed stock price and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s business and on financial markets, there is heightened potential for one or more persons or groups to gain undue influence over or control of RRD through open market accumulation or other tactics. The Rights Plan does not prevent any action the Board determines to be in the best interest of the Company and its stockholders.

Just on the heels of closing its Walton, Ky., printing plant the end of July, Arandell Holdings announced that the printing company, along with all its subsidiaries, voluntarily filed for business reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Aug. 13. According to the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based catalog printing specialist — which serves U.S. retailers and online merchandisers — Arandell has sufficient liquidity to continue operating its business. “Given fundamental changes in the industry resulting from COVID-19 and other factors, company management is taking proactive and aggressive steps to improve the organization’s overall business framework, while continuing to pursue new business opportunities,” Brad Hoffman, Arandell’s chairman, president, and CEO, said in a prepared statement.

Royle Printing is pleased to announce Stacie Pike has joined the team as an Inside Sales Representative. Pike spent the majority of her printing career at nearby Arandell Corporation, where for the last 18 years she dedicated her time collaboratively developing sales support efforts to drive expansion and growth of the catalog business. During her time there, Pike supported the sales team as a Sales Support Specialist. In 2011 she was promoted to Sales Administration Manager, serving as an integral part of the sales and marketing team where drove process improvement and client engagement.

Lancaster, Pa.-based Intellicor Communications purchased the assets of the former Cadmus operations in Lancaster, Pa., and in Hurlock, Md., from Cenveo Worldwide on Aug. 8 — effectively marking the final chapter for the storied Cadmus Communications name in the printing industry. In May, Stamford, Conn.-based Cenveo — which appears to be focusing less on commercial printing and more on its label printing and envelope manufacturing businesses — had shuttered the over-century-old Cadmus printing facility, located on Byrdhill Road in Richmond, Va., impacting 184 workers.

INX International Ink has increased the price of all solvent inks and coatings for its North America customers, effective September 1. The company’s management made this decision despite efforts to absorb costs. The expense to manufacture solvents, especially alcohols used in the production of critical sanitizers and medical initiatives to fight the virus, has risen sharply this year. ‘We regret needing to take this action, but it is something that is beyond our control,’ said Ron Deegan, INX International’s senior vice president of sales for North America. ‘We have worked very hard to secure our supply of solvents, even as the increased demand has put unprecedented pressure on the global solvent supply.

The Virtual Inkjet Summit, taking place August 17, 18, 20, and 25, is a conference dedicated to the latest developments in inkjet printing. The targeted event program covers the latest technology offerings, navigating and addressing segment challenges, current economics, and strategies for critical decision-making criteria when it comes to production inkjet printing investments. The deadline to register is August 12 and can be done online at www.ijsummit.com/attend. The Virtual Inkjet Summit goes beyond simply broadcasting content sessions online. The 2020 event offers attendees: *Free educational programming with simple sign-up. *Expert analysis. From emerging trends to next-generation technology that is transforming the commercial, in-plant, transactional, and publishing industries. *User case studies. Users and solution providers will share stories about technology integration in sessions. *Access to the Solutions Showcase & Meeting Zone.

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) has chosen to streamline and optimize the journal production workflow for its flagship publication, The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH), by partnering with Sheridan to handle all of its production and online hosting services. Sheridan’s unique offering integrates the production and online hosting stages, eliminating the traditional hand-off between the composition vendor and a third party online hosting platform to further accelerate the publishing process. The comprehensive 5-year agreement, starting in 2021, includes copyediting, composition, author billing, online hosting, printing, subscriber services, reprints, and content sales. With all services consolidated under one company, with one contract, and one relationship, ASTMH is joining a growing number of association and society publishers who are simplifying supplier management, extricating themselves from coordinating multiple vendors, eliminating the delays associated with vendor hand-offs, and containing costs with Sheridan.

Results for the three months ended June 30, 2020, included: *Net Sales (excluding discontinued operations) — Net sales were $585 million in 2020, down 38% from 2019. Sales declined 36% during the quarter, excluding the impact of the January 2020 sale of the Omaha packaging plant primarily due to the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing print industry volume and pricing pressures. *Net Loss From Continuing Operations — Excluding the results from discontinued operations, net loss from continuing operations was $15 million in 2020 compared to net loss from continuing operations of $3 million in 2019. Results for the six months ended June 30, 2020, included: *Net Sales (excluding discontinued operations) — Net sales were $1.4 billion in 2020 as compared to $1.9 billion in 2019, down 26%. Sales declined 25% during the six months ended June 30, 2020, after excluding the impact of the January 2020 sale of the Omaha packaging plant primarily due to the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing print industry volume and pricing pressures. *Net Loss From Continuing Operations — Excluding the results from discontinued operations, net loss from continuing operations was $24 million in 2020 as compared to net loss from continuing operations of $16 million in 2019.

HP Inc. announced its inkjet production printing solution, PageWide Web Press, has reached a milestone of 500 billion printed pages, as the print platform continues to expand its page capacity driven by global HP print service providers (PSPs). “PSPs operating HP PageWide Web Presses are finding new success and opportunities for more sophisticated and profitable digital print applications, as well as transferring more pages from offset to digital inkjet technology,” said Carles Farre, vice president and general manager, HP PageWide Press. “They have more than doubled the number of pages they print on HP PageWide Presses since drupa 2016 for a growth rate that is nearly twice that of the market. More than half of these customers have printed over 1 billion pages on their devices.” HP PageWide Web Press is an inkjet leader, reaching a share of more than 30% of the 8.8 billion page capacity added in high-volume color inkjet page capacity in the first quarter of 2020.1

*Revenue was $83.6 million lower than last year. COVID-19 negatively impacted our results in the quarter, primarily across our Promotional Solutions, Cloud Solutions and Check segments. *The Payments segment delivered strong revenue growth of 12.6% over the same period last year, benefiting from Treasury Management revenue growth of 20.5% in the second quarter driven primarily by previously announced and continuing business wins. *Net income decreased $17.7 million, driven primarily by the challenging business environment resulting from COVID-19, previously disclosed investments in the Company’s business transformation and a pretax asset impairment charge of $4.9 million related to management's ongoing rationalization of the Company's real estate footprint.

Financial Highlights: *Net sales of $532 million compared to $869 million in the second quarter of 2019 *Organic net sales decrease of 29.1% from the second quarter of 2019 *GAAP net loss of $63 million, or $1.86 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $25 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2019 *Cash balance of $97 million as of June 30, 2020, providing sufficient liquidity to continue to fund ongoing operations *No drawings under our debtor-in-possession ("DIP") credit facility

One of the iconic names in the printing industry was laid to rest July 27 with the closure of The Hennegan Co., located just outside Cincinnati in Florence, Ky. The shutdown officially marked the end of the award-winning, marquee printing operation that traced its roots all the way back to 1886, and to the revered Hennegan family name in printing that went along with it. Hennegan's 210,000-sq.-ft. facility, built in 1996, housed six-, eight-, and 12-color sheetfed offset presses; full-size, six- and eight-unit web offset presses; HP and Xerox digital presses; and complete binding, mailing, fulfillment, and warehousing capabilities.

Second quarter key messages: *GAAP net sales decreased 23.0%; non-GAAP organic net sales decreased 17.1%; June net sales performance was the strongest month in the quarter as local economies began to reopen *GAAP (loss) income from operations was down $36.8 million versus the prior year; non-GAAP adjusted income from operations decreased $14.1 million; additional cost-out actions implemented throughout the quarter *Operating cash flow in the quarter increased $22.5 million from the prior year period driven by working capital improvements; year-to-date improvement now at $72.9 million; capital expenditures were down $18.6 million in the quarter

*$34 million of operating cash flow from continuing operations, down $242 million year-over-year, and $15 million of free cash flow, down $245 million year-over-year *$1.47 billion of revenue, a decrease of 35.3 percent year-over-year or 34.6 percent in constant currency *GAAP earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations of $0.11 per share, down $0.49 year-over-year, and adjusted EPS of $0.15, down $0.64 year-over-year

Taylor Corp. acquired its first production inkjet press in 2009, and it has been a proponent of the technology ever since. But, given that the company — ranked sixth on the 2019 Printing Impressions 400 list of the industry’s leading print service providers — consists of 80 subsidiaries operating in 25 states and nine countries, any technology naturally would need time to make its influence felt throughout an organization of such vast size. Inkjet technology gained a higher profile within the Taylor family when a business unit of one of its companies recently became the first printing site in the world to install an AccurioJet KM-1e sheetfed color production inkjet press from Konica Minolta. The press, an enhanced version of Konica Minolta’s successful AccurioJet KM-1 platform, is expected to broaden the range of what the business unit and its parent company can produce, achieving new levels of quality and cost efficiency for both. The B2+ format, LED-UV AccurioJet KM-1e went into full operation at FolderWorks, a division of Navitor, at Navitor’s North Mankato, Minn., headquarters in March.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced that it has unified its Content and Creative Services (CCS) and Global Outsourcing (GO) capabilities to expand and streamline offerings for clients. By aligning these capabilities, the Company will be able to better address client needs through a single, centralized global resource platform for creative communications, managed services, transaction processing, and intelligent digital solutions. “Now, more than ever, companies are in need of compelling content creation, coupled with technology-enabled solutions for their creative communications that empower content production at scale,” said Kiran Shankar, President, RRD GO CreativeTM. “We created this new integrated platform in response to an ongoing need articulated by our clients and that we are seeing in the broader market — that is, to provide a seamless high-velocity content services offering, supported by a best-in-class tech stack.”

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has set up a dedicated business unit for the industrial development, manufacture, and sale of printed and organic electronics. The company has also started production at its Wiesloch-Walldorf site, investing some five million euros in a complete production line for printed sensors. Sensors developed at InnovationLab (iL) in Heidelberg for use in dental technology are set to be printed first. These innovative printed sensors make it possible, for the first time ever, to digitally record the distribution of masticatory pressure during occlusion, that is to say when the upper and lower jaws come together. 3D visualization on a tablet and data archiving enable malocclusions to be identified and subsequently corrected. Looking further ahead, Heidelberg is to use state-of-the-art printing technology at its high-tech campus to produce sensors for other digital applications – in particular in healthcare and logistics, and also in the retail and automotive sectors.

Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of the new Canon ProStream 1800 continuous feed inkjet printer, the newest model in Canon’s ProStream 1000 series. With increased speeds of up to 436 ft/min, the new printer boasts one of the highest resolutions and print quality of any digital printing press at that speed, making it the ideal solution for commercial printers who want to achieve ultimate performance. Supporting customers’ passion for print, the new ProStream 1800 has been designed to push the boundaries of commercial print to meet changing customer demands. Combining new inkjet innovations with proven offset printing techniques, the press strikes a unique balance between high productivity, superior print quality, flexibility, and media versatility.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company introduced a holistic supply chain solution for the production, kitting, and fulfillment of point-of-care and at-home diagnostic test kits. The solution builds upon RRD’s significant experience, processes and systems to address the increased need for end-to-end test kit production. To address this evolving and critical demand, RRD created a diagnostic test kit offering — an end-to-end supply chain solution that integrates and accelerates all stages of test kit production from ideation, development and production to fulfillment and supply chain management. The process also incorporates creative design, packaging and label production, and scalable execution on a global footprint. Given RRD’s existing supply chain solutions and regulatory-compliant facilities, the new solution addresses common industry challenges such as compliance, cost, and speed to market.

Worzalla, an employee-owned company specializing in printing high-quality children’s books, movie tie-in books and coffee table books, announced that two associates had been elected to its Board of Directors. Mary Przybylski was elected to a three-year term and Megan Meyer was elected to a 1-year term. Przybylski joined Worzalla in 1992 and currently works as a Lead Customer Service Representative. Throughout her career at Worzalla, she has held numerous roles with the Finishing, Prep, and Customer Service departments. She had just finished serving a 1-year term on the Board of Directors after previously serving as an interim board member. Meyer joined Worzalla in 2016 and also holds the role Lead Customer Service Representative. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 2009, Meyer worked with Sentry Insurance in various roles in commercial claims. Since joining Worzalla, Meyer has been promoted rapidly through different customer service roles and now takes lead managing several customer accounts.

Kansas City, MO-based Richardson Communications Group, a leading printer in the Midwest for nearly a century, has been acquired by Kingston Printing, Eudora, KS, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary as a premier, independent commercial printer. Graphic Arts Advisors, LLC (GAA), Mountain Lakes, NJ, a strategic financial advisory and consulting firm devoted exclusively to all sectors of the graphic communications industry, represented Richardson in the transaction. GAA Director Michael Wurst served as lead advisor on the engagement, with Mark Hahn, GAA Senior Managing Director, providing support. John Hyde, Esq., GAA Managing Director, is advising Richardson on the post-sale wind-down and creditor settlement negotiations. Combining Richardson’s customer relationships and capabilities with Kingston’s operations creates a full-service, robust company offering clients a broad spectrum of printing and marketing services. With similarities in terms of 2019 sales volume ($5.2 million for Richardson and $6 million for Kingston) and number of employees (Richardson with 35 and Kingston with 36), the two firms had different areas of specialty and equipment.

W+D North America Inc. announces the installation of a “solo tending” 410 Easy Enveloper with MSP in Freedom, PA. The W+D 410 Easy Enveloper offers a reduced manpower solution for running direct mail and transaction letter mail sizes up to 500 envelopes per minute while simultaneously reducing paper waste with its “drier chain run out” capability. The 410 Easy Enveloper’s built-in “Expert On-Line Help” service offers immediate troubleshooting without the need for outside technical support/service visits. According to Doug Wright, Chief Operating Officer of MSP, “the 410 Easy Enveloper has allowed us to optimize our internal web printing process with faster ‘time-to-mailbox’ solutions as we can literally go from web printing to envelope converting to inserting without losing a beat.

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has chosen to streamline and optimize its journal production workflow by partnering exclusively with Sheridan for all stages between accepted manuscripts and online hosting. Sheridan’s unique offering integrates production and online hosting, eliminating the traditional hand-off between the composition vendor and a third party online hosting platform to further accelerate the publishing process. The new 5-year agreement between AMS and Sheridan, beginning in 2021, adds automated XML composition, web-based author proofing, and a fully integrated online hosting platform to the long-standing production and print services provided by Sheridan.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company introduced a retail solution that streamlines the process of creating in-store promotional materials, while reducing production time and labor costs. Through its work for 52 of the National Retail Federation’s top 100 retailers, RRD found that many retailers still rely on manual processes for creating their visual merchandising materials for floor displays, aisle end caps, window signage, and more. This entails everything from creating the design of materials and converting files from one format to another, to proofing and editing – tasks which are all time and labor intensive. To solve these challenges, which are particularly acute in today’s environment, RRD developed Variable Content Automation for Retail. This new offering enables companies to create tailored-to-location marketing kits while cutting the project cycle from as many as 15 steps down to as few as four.

PRINTING United Alliance, the largest and most comprehensive member-based printing and graphic arts association in the United States, today announces that the call for entries has opened for the annual Product of the Year Awards competition. The competition includes more than 85 categories spanning the printing industry and judging this year will take place over a new virtual event format. The deadline to submit entries online is September 8, 2020. This year, the coveted program features a streamlined entry site along with a new virtual gallery for displaying entries, which will be available at: poy.printingunited.com. The program is open to inkjet output devices as well as non-output products that are currently available for sale. Winning companies achieve worldwide recognition and the ability to market their product as a winner of this prominent contest during PRINTING United Month this October, further highlighting the transition of the previously scheduled show in Atlanta, now taking place digitally over four power-packed weeks of industry engagement.

We recognize it’s a crazy time but with everything happening in the world today, we wanted to make sure you are aware of the two upcoming USPS postal promotions. If you still haven’t read our blog post sharing the full scope of this year’s postal promotions, we highly encourage you to do so here: https://arandell.com/news-events/2020-postal-promotions-calendar-approved-by-usps/ . 2020 Mobile Shopping Postal Promotion (Registration: June 15 — December 31, 2020 | Effective: August 1 — December 31, 2020 | 2% of eligible postage); 2020 Informed Delivery Postal Promotion (Registration: July 15 — November 30, 2020 | Effective: September 1 — November 30, 2020 | 2% of eligible postage)

Xerox announced the Xerox Adaptive CMYK+ Kit for Xerox Versant®, the print market’s first adaptive technology kit that adds seven specialty colors to an existing production press, enabling instant digital print enhancements. The kit transforms a four-color Xerox Versant® 180 Press into an 11-color Beyond CMYK press capable of creating a million color hues and shades by adding gold, silver, white, clear and fluorescent colors of yellow, magenta and cyan. Digital enhancement of print is projected to be a $25 billion market¹, but access to that opportunity usually requires a capital investment in a new press with the ability to print Beyond CMYK. The Xerox Adaptive CMYK+ Kit for Versant gives print providers the ability to simply swap out toners to print colors and enhancements that increase profitability and deliver higher margins without needing a new press.

During the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, many printing companies scrambled successfully to be designated as essential businesses. For the future of many of these businesses, this was a life or death move — a valiant effort to protect both the business and the jobs therein. As the crisis has developed over the past few months, numerous companies have proven how truly essential they are to the communities they serve, providing capabilities, expertise, and a lifeline for other businesses. Here are a few ways PSPs are supporting their local communities — both during this crisis and well beyond. 1. Finding the Way - Addressing the need for social distancing, and to apply order to what, before the crisis, was a free-form shopping experience, many PSPs with wide-format printing capabilities are producing floor graphics urging social distancing, specifying “one way” in retail aisles, and signifying spacing in check-out or register queues. 2. Creating Functional Barriers - One of the ways the world of retail shopping has changed due to the COVID-19 crisis is the creation of barriers between customer and cashier.

CJK Group, Inc., announced today that it has completed an agreement with Quad/Graphics, Inc. to acquire the assets associated with its Versailles, Kentucky, book manufacturing facility. The 1,000,000 sq. ft. facility specializes in the production of softcover and hardcover books as well as a variety of other publication types, featuring state-of-the art prepress technology, a fleet of inkjet and web offset presses, all paired with robust bindery and finishing capabilities, distribution, and mailing services. CJK Group will acquire the equipment and assume the customer contracts at the facility. The new entity will operate under the name Sheridan Kentucky and will align under the Sheridan division of the CJK Group. This is an exciting acquisition for CJK Group―one which significantly expands its capacities and capabilities. The facility serves many high profile publishing houses in the areas of educational textbooks, trade books, children’s books, and scientific/technical books.

Recent Actions: *Quad completed the sale of its Versailles, Ky., book manufacturing plant, to CJK Group, Inc., which serves book, magazine, catalog, and journal publishers. This initiative was the first step in the previously announced strategic decision to divest the Company’s book business to optimize its product portfolio. Quad expects to use the proceeds from the sale to reduce debt. *The Company obtained an amendment to its existing April 28, 2014, senior secured credit facility that widens the leverage ratio by an estimated 0.75x to 1.0x turn through the third quarter of 2021. As a part of this agreement, Quad maintains the ability to complete certain acquisitions during the relief period and has agreed to reduce the revolver capacity, which was previously expanded to support a subsequently terminated acquisition, from $800 million to $500 million. The agreement’s maturity remains January 2024, and Quad’s next nearest debt maturity is the 7% senior unsecured notes due May 2022. *Quad recently strengthened its leadership team at its integrated marketing agency, Periscope, with the addition of new President, Cari Bucci-Hulings. Bucci-Hulings is an industry expert who has driven highly successful product development and business growth platforms, and most recently served as President of MARC USA, one of the largest independent agencies in the country. *The Company also continues to scale Accelerated Insights, its proprietary virtual testing platform, to help clients in multiple industry verticals predict which combination of format, offer, message and imagery will be most effective in print. The unparalleled testing methodology drives improved response at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional testing. Quad recently brought aboard senior-level data analytics and business insights talent to expand the solution beyond direct mail and catalogs to packaging and other retail uses.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company introduced an integrated, comprehensive solution in response to COVID-19 for universities and colleges that ensures a safe, in-person return to school for students, faculty, and staff. To ease concerns and contribute to the health and safety of both students and staff, RRD has mobilized its expert resources to offer institutions of higher education a custom-built care package of solutions composed of: *Touchless communications – connecting digital interactions (e.g., payments, registrations, and ticketing) with labels and/or physical signage via Near-Field Communication (NFC) and/or QR-Code (QRC) technologies to accommodate demand for contactless engagement *Custom program support – from integrated email and direct mail campaigns to multichannel billing and payment systems *Signage and wayfinding – production and distribution of high-quality signage and customized graphics for all campus facilities and spaces *Wellness and safety materials – industry-standard safety materials (e.g., face shields, thermastrips, and customized experience kits) for students, visitors, and staff.

Sun Chemical and its parent company, DIC Corporation, have completed the purchase of 100 percent of the shares of Sensient Imaging Technologies and certain other assets related to the production of inks. The strategic investment in Sensient Imaging Technologies, a supplier of digital inks, will allow Sun Chemical and DIC to expand its inkjet ink capabilities and expertise using complementary technologies that will further strengthen the highest standards of services and solutions to its customers and distributor partners. The acquisition also underscores Sun Chemical’s ongoing commitment to sustainability by expanding its offering of inkjet inks for textile and dye sublimation printing – technologies known for their improved sustainability profile. Inkjet is a strategic segment for Sun Chemical and DIC, and the investment in Sensient Imaging Technologies demonstrates Sun Chemical and DIC’s commitment in the digital segment.

Infused with new capital from an unconventional parent company and energized by an expanding client base, Minneapolis-based Periscope is fortifying its executive team in pursuit of double-digit growth. The integrated marketing agency today announced that Cari Bucci-Hulings will join as president, effective July 6, in addition to other recent high-profile hires. Bucci-Hulings most recently served as president of MARC USA, one of the largest independent agencies in the country. In the role, Bucci-Hulings will be responsible for accelerating Periscope’s mission to do things people love and growing the business into new offerings and markets. She will report to Eric Ashworth, vice president of Agency Solutions for Quad, the creative engineering company that acquired Periscope in 2019.

High-graphic, efficient digital inkjet corrugated printing on EFI™ Nozomi C18000 ultra-high-speed single-pass inkjet printers continues to reach new benchmarks for packaging providers, including the achievement of another important certification addressing key recyclability needs. Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has received an additional validation from the Western Michigan University (WMU) Recycling, Paper and Coating Pilot Plant – a leading certification organization for corrugated recycling – that further verifies the recycling and repulpability of boards printed with white EFI Nozomi UV LED inks. The WMU Pilot Plant provided an OCC (old corrugated containers) certification to EFI Nozomi white inks, extending the solid, research-driven evidence that Nozomi inkjet-printed corrugated boards can safely, efficiently and effectively enter recycling streams. This new certification follows the WMU Pilot Plant’s initial OCC certification provided for the EFI Nozomi C18000 printer’s CMYK four-color process ink set.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company introduced The_Loft@RRD, a new innovation platform that connects companies with people, technologies and strategies to accelerate their digital transformation and achieve innovation at scale. Investment in transformational technologies is growing at a 17.5% compound annual growth rate and is expected to reach $7.4 trillion between 2020 and 2023, according to IDC. Yet this investment does not always translate into strategic improvements. In 2018, Gartner found that while 66% of CIOs believed they were transforming their businesses, only 10% actually were doing so, based on their descriptions of the digital initiatives in place. To close this gap and help enterprises execute on their goals, The_Loft @RRD is an “Innovation-as-a-Service” platform physically located in RRD’s Chennai center.

TC Transcontinental is proud to be named once again as one of Canada’s 50 best corporate citizens, placed in 10th position in the renowned Corporate Knights’ 2020 Best 50 Ranking. According to Corporate Knights, TC Transcontinental ranks among the Top 10, overall thanks namely to its high clean revenue score, strong gender diversity at the board and executive levels, its solid safety record, as well as its strong energy and water productivity. “We are very proud to be in Corporate Knights’ prestigious Top Ten ranking for the second year in a row” said François Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer of TC Transcontinental. “This announcement comes at a time where the pandemic that hits our world reminds us more than ever, of the importance for all stakeholders across the value chain to act together to carry out responsible business strategies. Our Corporation continues to be deeply committed in demonstrating how our business practices can have a positive economic, social and environmental impact on both people and planet for generations to come."

Worzalla has announced the completion of its modernization and expansion plan. In October 2019, Worzalla had declared it would be investing $12.5 million in new machinery and capital improvements to the company’s headquarters in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. “In Worzalla’s long history, we have always adapted and evolved to be leaders in our industry and deliver for our customers,” said Jim Fetherston, President and CEO at Worzalla. “We’re proud to celebrate this milestone and the completion of the modernization and expansion plan as we look ahead to the next 125 years.” Worzalla honored the occasion with a small virtual ribbon cutting ceremony featuring partners and customers from across the book printing industry.

Printing and packaging businesses seeking growth by offering pick-and-pack fulfillment have an important new, automated offering from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. Newly launched EFI™ MarketDirect Fulfillment software is designed for easy implementation. The new inventory management product is part of the MarketDirect suite of web-to-print, eCommerce and cross media solutions. Equipped with intuitive and flexible administration tools, the new fulfillment offering creates a seamless order-to-fulfillment workflow that businesses can use to expand service offerings, create efficiency in warehouse operations, and drive even greater customer loyalty. The new software offering delivers out-of-the-box functionality for existing MarketDirect StoreFront web-to-print/eCommerce users, with a structure designed to reduce the time and complexities needed to start and manage print fulfillment operations. MarketDirect Fulfillment also leverages the latest in web eCommerce technology to provide a brilliantly simple and powerful administrative dashboard to manage both clients and orders.

PRINTING United, originally scheduled to take place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on October 21-23, 2020, will now move to a powerful online experience this fall due to constraints surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The health and safety of all attending and involved with the show remains paramount. The decision to terminate the in-person expo comes after extensive conversations, up-to-the-minute surveys, and projections that the team has been navigating since the onset of the pandemic. Details regarding the new online event experience are forthcoming. PRINTING United has met continuously with experts from the Georgia World Congress Center, the city of Atlanta, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security specializing in mass gatherings, and local authorities on guidance and recommendations on best practices as related to all aspects of the event.

You’ve got a catalog marketing strategy in place that runs like a well-oiled machine. You provide your print partner with the creative, you get your in-home date, your website sees that uptick in web traffic, and you see that spike in sales that’s always so satisfying. As a catalog printer that’s been in business for nearly a century, we can tell you that this is how many long-time catalogers have run their programs. It’s not a bad thing, as consistency, repetition and reinforcement are what creates a brand. However, that isn’t to say there isn’t room to improve – especially when you’re looking to stand out better in the mailbox. If you’re not ready to make those types of changes, there are other options that are easier and free-er. Here are a few ways to improve your catalog marketing strategy that are quick, easy and painless: click read more below

Industry digital inkjet leader Scott Schinlever has re-joined Electronics For Imaging, Inc. in a new role as chief operating officer for EFI’s global inkjet business. Schinlever, who starts in his new position today, has been charged with further expanding EFI’s market-leading industrial inkjet portfolio, while facilitating the analog-to-digital transformation throughout the industry for EFI’s current and future customers. Schinlever will be responsible for all equipment, ink, and service solutions throughout the vast EFI™ portfolio in Display Graphics, Textiles, Packaging and Building Materials. Schinlever, who most recently was president and COO of Automation Solutions for Tolland, Connecticut-based Gerber Technology, had a long career managing the marketing, growth and development of EFI VUTEk® printers and other EFI inkjet technologies. He joined the digital print industry in the late 1990s, working with the Xerox® Office Systems Group. In 2001, he took on a marketing position at the pioneering superwide-format printer manufacturer VUTEk, a company EFI acquired in 2005. Schinlever continued to rise through the ranks at EFI following that acquisition, becoming senior vice president and general manager for EFI Inkjet Solutions – the company’s largest business unit – before joining Gerber Technology in 2018.

Charles "Charlie" Whitaker, a 30-year paper industry veteran who joined Taylor Corporation in 2012 and most recently served there as executive VP, has been named CEO of the North Mankato, Minn.-based international printing conglomerate. He replaces company founder Glen Taylor, who remains as chairman and owner of the privately held, multibillion-dollar company. “Charlie was a trusted supplier and friend to Taylor for many years,” Glen Taylor said in a news release. “We were excited when he joined the Taylor team and his energy, experience, and enthusiasm made an immediate difference for our company. His recent leadership through our business transformation and his guidance through the global pandemic has proven that Charlie is ready for this top leadership role.”

Ronpak has joined Two Sides North America, the non-profit organization that promotes and encourages the responsible production, use, and sustainability of print, paper and paper-based packaging. “Ronpak is pleased to join Two Sides North America and we welcome the opportunity to help promote the sustainability of print, paper, and paper-based packaging. We look forward to working with Two Sides and its members to expand awareness of the benefits of paper for the packaging industry and the world at large,” said Mary Beth Vitale, Director, Client Services, Ronpak.

Color Ink, based in Sussex, Wis., is a family business that has never stopped evolving. From its original roots as an advertising agency in the 1970s, to the decision in the 1980s to branch into commercial printing, to the full-service visual marketing services company it is today, Color Ink embodies the concept of convergence in action. “The company was started in 1975 by my grandfather, Jim,” Austin Meissner, sales and sourcing manager for the shop, says. “He decided to start his own ad agency, but because he was brokering out so much print, he decided to get into commercial printing in 1984. In the late ’80s, the company had become successful enough to move into a dedicated space in Hartland, Wis., before outgrowing that and then eventually moving into its current location, with two buildings and 105,000 sq. ft. of space. But just as Color Ink evolved from an ad agency to a commercial printer, it also embraced new technologies and the shifts in the market as time has progressed. Today, Austin Meissner reveals, they see themselves not as being a commercial printer as much as a boutique printer — heavily involved in a wide mix of projects that include everything from event space, pop-up retail locations, and even interactive elements with light and sound.

Following the June 12 decision by the Coopérative nationale de l’information indépendante (CN2i) to permanently stop publishing its newspapers during the week, TC Transcontinental announces the definitive closure of the printing plants Transcontinental de la Capitale (Québec City) and Transcontinental Qualimax (Gatineau), both located in the province of Québec. These plants were primarily dedicated to printing CN2i’s daily newspapers, formerly owned by Groupe Capitales Médias. These closures unfortunately result in the loss of approximately 30 jobs per plant. TC Transcontinental had maintained these plants in operation at the request of CN2i, publisher of Le Soleil, Le Droit, Le Nouvelliste, Le Quotidien-Le Progrès, La Tribune and La Voix de l'Est, because of their market proximity. Following CN2i's decision at the end of March, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to cease the publication of its paper editions during the week, TC Transcontinental temporarily closed the abovementioned plants. The business from these plants’ customers, including the Saturday editions of CN2i dailies, was then transferred to Transcontinental Transmag in Montréal, where the company recently invested in highly efficient, state-of-the-art printing presses, and where that business will remain.

Maverick Concepts, a creative design and fabrication business serving top retailers and major consumer packaged goods companies, has completed new investments to drive new opportunities. The Garland, Texas-based company purchased two advanced print technology solutions from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. – an EFI™ VUTEk® FabriVU® 340i dye-sublimation printer and EFI Midmarket Print Suite MIS/ERP workflow software. The new printer – Maverick’s second EFI VUTEk FabriVU 340i model – delivers high efficiency on premium soft-signage textile graphics, with speeds up to 5,381 square feet per hour. The 133-inch wide printer is also the only production-level solution in its class that offers direct-to-fabric production and in-line sublimation without the need for a separate calendar/heat press. As a result, Maverick Concepts’ direct-to-textile prints are immediately ready for finishing and shipping after printing. VUTEk FabriVU printers – which are also available in 70- and 205-inch widths – use aqueous dye-sublimation inks and give Maverick Concepts more firepower to provide its brand clients outstanding quality with a 2,400 dots per inch (dpi) maximum resolution.

Eastman Kodak is stepping up its comeback campaign with the launches of significant new products, including an inkjet press it describes as a potentially game-changing solution for commercial and publication print. The newest star of the lineup is the Kodak PROSPER ULTRA 520, a rollfed inkjet press that Randy Vandagriff, senior vice president, print, called “virtually indistinguishable” from offset lithography in print quality. He said closing the gap with the ULTRA 520 will hasten the migration of work from offset to digital, including jobs requiring heavy ink coverage.

As the popularity of digitally native brands diving headfirst into the world of print continues to grow, we’ve started to notice a common trend: What the heck is the difference between CMYK and RGB? Most people familiar with graphic design or print would be able to tell you that CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, while RBG stands for the three primary colors in Red, Green and Blue. Yes, some people will argue the “K” in CMYK stands for Key color, but that’s an entirely separate blog. Keep on reading!

Arandell Corp. President and CEO Bradley Hoffman issued the following statement regarding the decision to close the company’s Kentucky facility as a result of business disruption resulting from the economic impacts of COVID-19: This week, we made the difficult decision to close our Kentucky facility as a result of the economic disruption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, Arandell had been on pace for a strong year and Arandell Kentucky was playing a key role in that growth and success. Unfortunately, the pandemic has had a significant impact on our customers – many of whom have experienced closures, supply chain disruptions and complications from stay-at-home orders. These challenges have affected our production schedules which has led to this week’s difficult decision. Arandell will be consolidating production to its facility in Wisconsin, which will best position the company to continue to meet customer needs while positioning us for long-term success. Our Kentucky facility will ramp down production in the coming weeks, closing operations by July 31, 2020.

In the aftermath of last year’s failed merger of two major publication printers, Quad/Graphics and LSC Communications—a deal that was abandoned after it was challenged by the Department of Justice on anti-trust grounds—both companies were vocal in their opinion that the DOJ’s stance was based on an outdated perception of the printing industry. While each was undoubtedly the other’s largest competitor in magazine, catalog and retail insert printing, Quad and LSC argued that the real competition was in digital media—clients opting to disseminate their publications and marketing materials online rather than in print—and that these same clients would’ve stood to benefit from the increased efficiencies generated by the merger. The DOJ disagreed, arguing that Quad and LSC’s printing and distribution resources constituted the “only realistic options” for many publishers and that eliminating competition between the two would “likely increase the price and reduce the availability of products from popular magazines to grade school textbooks.”

Revenues decreased by $142.3 million, or 18.5%, from $767.4 million in the second quarter of 2019 to $625.1 million in the corresponding period of 2020. This decrease is largely due to the impact of the disposal of our paper packaging operations ($70.8 million), which were sold at the end of the first quarter of 2020, and a decrease in volume in the Printing Sector, mostly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. The sale of the specialty media assets and event planning activities also contributed to this decrease. The organic decline in the Packaging Sector of $7.0 million, or 1.7%, is mainly due to the decrease in raw material costs. Operating earnings increased by $1.0 million, or 2.3%, from $43.1 million in the second quarter of 2019 to $44.1 in the second quarter of 2020 following a decrease in restructuring and other costs. Adjusted operating earnings decreased by $15.1 million, or 18.1 %, from $83.6 million in the second quarter of 2019 to $68.5 million in the second quarter of 2020. This decrease is mostly attributable to lower revenues in the Printing Sector. In addition to cost reduction measures related to COVID-19, the operational efficiency initiatives introduced early in the fiscal year helped to mitigate this decline. The Printing Sector's adjusted operating earnings margin decreased from 16.6% in the second quarter of 2019 to 14.9% in the second quarter of 2020. Net earnings attributable to shareholders of the Corporation increased by $3.4 million, or 15.2%, from $22.3 million in the second quarter of 2019 to $25.7 million in the second quarter of 2020. This increase is mainly attributable to the stability of operating earnings combined with the decrease in net financial expenses resulting from a reduction in net indebtedness during the year.

What's a Bellytip? Essentially, a combination of a bellyband and a tip adhered to the front cover of a magazine with two strips of glue. The smaller tip appears to be a bellyband but doesn't actually wrap around the book. What are the benefits of a Bellytip? 1. The two strips of glue allow the piece to mail without the need for a polybag. 2. Allows the opportunity to save costs on manufacturing. 3. Helps reduce your carbon footprint. 4. It's interactive for consumers and is a great way for advertisers to stand out on the front cover.

Royle Printing’s newest installation, a Manroland ROTOMAN S will be operational by the end of June. The press is located at the printer’s newest 120,000 sq. ft. facility on Success Way. The investment utilizes leading Manroland technology and enhances Royle’s diverse manufacturing platform. The press will create ideal conditions for record production times for high-volume jobs with very efficient make-ready numbers. The ROTOMAN S is particularly efficient for the catalog and publication markets; capable of producing digest, standard up-right and tabloid formats. More information on the press can be found on Manroland’s website. Royle has positioned itself for the future by making significant investments in technology, equipment and their most critical resource, people. Today, Royle undoubtedly has one of the more modern, diverse and financially healthy production platforms in print. Royle’s passion is to provide high-quality graphic and distribution solutions to publishing and catalog markets.

Sun Chemical will increase the prices of its solvent-based inks and coatings in North America, effective July 1, 2020. Due to the significant increase in the demand for alcohols and solvents for use in sanitizers and pharmaceutical initiatives, the prices of these materials have increased substantially. In order to secure the needed components for the production of solvent-based inks and coatings, Sun Chemical has experienced raw material cost escalation during the second quarter of 2020. These increases are expected to remain in place and possibly accelerate throughout the remainder of the year.

Sun Chemical and its parent company, DIC Corporation, have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Sensient Imaging Technologies and certain other assets related to the production of inks. The transaction is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2020. The strategic investment in Sensient Imaging Technologies, a supplier of digital inks, will allow Sun Chemical and DIC to expand its inkjet ink capabilities and expertise using complementary technologies that will further strengthen the highest standards of services and solutions to its customers and distributor partners. Inkjet is a strategic segment for Sun Chemical and DIC, and the investment in Sensient Imaging Technologies will demonstrate Sun Chemical and DIC’s commitment in the digital segment.

Shutterfly Inc. announced its efforts to bring joy and much-needed resources to communities across America through its Shutterfly For Good platform. “Our business is built on connecting people and creating more from life’s moments; and in these challenging times, that is more important than ever,” said Jim Hilt, Shutterfly president. “It’s been incredible to see how communities around the globe are coming together to lift one another up. At Shutterfly, we believe we have a responsibility to help amplify these efforts and shine a light on the good in the world, today and every day. We’re very happy to have a platform to do that through Shutterfly For Good. click read more below for details

Allen Press, Inc. is the recipient of five awards from the Printing & Imaging Association’s (PIA) Premier Print Awards Competition. With over 2,000 entries, the PIA Premier Print Awards is the most prestigious international print competition in the world. “These awards are the result of our team’s steadfast commitment to the highest standard of print quality,” said Allen Press CEO Randy Radosevich. “We are honored to be recognized by PIA and will continue to enhance our capabilities and technology to better serve our customers.” Of the winning submissions, three entries won Certificates of Merit and two won Awards of Recognition. Click Read More below for additional information.

A recently purchased EFI™ VUTEk® 5r LED roll-to-roll printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is driving new business opportunities at Italian digital printing company New Decor System. The printer – the Rome-based company’s fourth 5-metre inkjet device – will be used to expand New Decor System’s range of high-quality large format prints as the company works to grow local and national demand. New Decor System is one of Italy’s leading suppliers of digitally printed wideformat signage and graphics, including out-of-home advertising, backlit panels, banners, vehicle wraps and soft signage. The company’s CEO, Angelo Modica, has New Decor System in its 30 years of business, thanks to continuous investments in the most advanced technologies. With a range of machines that includes numerous small-format plotters and three-large format machines, New Decor System is able to guarantee deliveries in 24 hours throughout Italy. Click Read More below for additional information.

Rise Interactive made search marketing history with the first-ever perfect score for its entry at the 2018 Search Engine Land Awards. The awards, which recognize top performers in the SEO and SEM communities, were announced earlier this month at the SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle. Rise Interactive won Best Retail Search Marketing Initiative and was also named Agency of the Year in the Large Agency SEM category. “It is such an honor for Rise to be recognized by Search Engine Land as SEM Agency of the Year,” said Jon Morris, Founder and CEO of Rise Interactive. “This acknowledgement affirms that Rise is delivering truly cutting-edge search strategies that drive business outcomes for our clients. Search will continue to be a channel that we invest heavily in to innovate and differentiate our service offering and solutions.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Ava Middleton learns more about digital printing after tour at Allen Press. School’s out for the summer which normally means vacations, swimming, and hanging out with friends… well, not for these super kids. Ava Middleton, Rider Middleton, and Katherine Cheung have dipped their young toes into the publishing world by writing, designing and publishing their first magazine, proving that kids can certainly conquer what they put their minds to. Mills Farm Magazine Kids’ Edition was launched due in part to an anonymous donation to fund the magazine’s print production. After choosing Allen Press as its printing partner, local Sales Executive, Kathy Lafferty, organized a pressroom tour for Ava, Rider, and her parents, Theresa and Wes Middleton, to see how the magazine was printed and to learn more about magazine publishing and production. Click Read More below for additional information.

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. announced that Aahs Signs in greater Los Angeles has purchased an EFI™ VUTEk® LX3 Pro superwide-format printer with an EFI Fiery® proServer Premium digital front end (DFE). The company plans to leverage the versatility, throughput and speed of the hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll printing device to expand its already thriving online novelty gift-production business and to meet growing demand for specialty large-format printing in the décor market. “About three years ago we started creating and selling products online, through Amazon and eBay. The business is doing well, but with our previous capacity, we couldn’t keep up with demand. With the new VUTEk, I’ll be able to fulfill the growing demand for our products and grow that business,” said Gurmeet Sawhney, president and CEO of Aahs Signs. Click Read More below for additional information.

Japs Olson of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, is reaping the benefits of its newly installed Speedmaster XL 106-6+LYY-P-6+L from Heidelberg. With the XL 106 LPL (Print, Coat, Perfect, Print, Coat) configuration, Japs Olson has seen increased efficiency and faster makeready times thanks to its ability to coat both sides of a job in a single pass at maximum speeds. Replacing the older Speedmaster SM 102 at Japs Olson, the Speedmaster XL 106 has already made a huge impact in increased productivity only 2 months after installation. With maximum production speeds of up to 15,000 sheets per hour, the peak performance press can handle a wide range of substrates from 27 lb. offset to 32 pt. board. “Our customers require high quality products with lots of colors,” said Bob Murphy, Chairman and CEO of Japs Olson. “The XL 106 is exciting because it’s a 12-color press and allows us to print on both sides. Our customers are now receiving their beloved colorful pieces with industry-leading quality at an incredible speed.” Click Read More below for additional information.

On June 6, 2018, Color Ink's facility in Sussex, Wis., transformed into every child's dream ... a chocolate factory. Well not quite, but there was a bubbling chocolate fountain, cupcakes and candy galore, and Willy Wonka himself. To celebrate its newly installed MGI JETvarnish 3D, Color Ink hosted an open house for 350 customers, prospects, and of course friends and family. The event had a "Golden Ticket" theme and showcased Color Ink's wide range of capabilities. In late 2017, Color Ink purchased the JETvarnish 3D, Todd Meissner, president or Color Ink, explains. When the device was purchased, it was clear an open house would be necessary to showcase its capabilities to customers and prospects. Click Read More below for additional information.

KECAI is a newly established trade shop, who provides high-level processed flexo plates for advanced packaging printing, not limited to printing applications of labels, flexible packaging, folding carton and paper cups. Mr. Guan Heng, the Director of KECAI, has been looking for solutions, which shall deliver not only high quality printing but also which are sustainable. The nyloflex® Xpress Thermal Processing System is very convincing with its focus on innovations such as: •An intelligent configuration of the nyloflex® Xpress Thermal Processor that allows few components which leads to less maintenance, less downtime and lower operating costs •Specially developed nyloflex® Thermal Printing Plates in combination with the unique heating system that ensures high plate and print quality •Engineered fabric of the nyloflex® Developer Rolls is designed to be highly efficient and environmentally friendly. Click Read More below for additional information.

In completing Phase 3, Sun Chemical registered approximately 200 chemical substances with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). These registrations emcompass all chemical substances manufactured or imported by the Performance Pigments division in excess of 1000kg per year. “After more than 10 years of extensive testing and risk evaluations, our broad portfolio of colorants and preparations have proven themselves safe for consumers and the environment,” said Gary Andrzejewski, Corporate Vice President Environmental Affairs. “Sun Chemical will continue to lead in product stewardship for the global pigments industry and institute processes to ensure compliance with future REACH requirements.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Two long-standing industry peer groups, PrintAmerica and The Peer Group, announced that they have merged. PrintAmerica focuses on strategic renewal and growth of its members by providing opportunities for learning, sharing and collaborating. Members of PrintAmerica include Aradius Group (Omaha, Neb.), Best Press (Addison, Texas), Cohber (Rochester, N.Y.), Corporate Communications Group (Upper Marlboro, Md.), DCG One (Seattle, Wash.), The DOT Corporation (Irvine, Calif.), Garlich (Fenton, Mo.), GLS/Next Precision Marketing (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Graphic Visual Solutions (Greensboro, N.C.), Heeter (Canonsburg, Pa.), Standard Press (Atlanta, Ga.), The Standard Group (Reading, Pa.), Suttle-Straus (Waunakee, Wis.), and Trabon Group (Kansas City, Mo.). Click Read More below for additional information.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Dallas estimated the project would generate more than $1.8 million in net revenue over the course of 10 years. It also explained the proposed incentives in detail: The economic incentives proposal from Dallas includes $1.3 million in property tax abatements for up to 10 years for Vistaprint Manufacturing Texas and project developer Becknell Industrial Operating Partnership. Becknell would develop the land and lease it to Vistaprint for 10 years, with an option for the company to buy the plot outright. The city's economic development incentives package also includes up to $300,000 in Chapter 380 economic development grants to assist Vistaprint with workforce training programs for Dallas workers. On June 13, The Dallas Morning News reported that the Dallas City Council voted in favor of the incentives to prompt Vistaprint to build its facility in the area. Click Read More below for additional information.

Sun Chemical will increase the prices of all ultraviolet (UV) and electron beam (EB) inks in Europe by 4-6 percent, effective July 1, 2018. As announced previously, governmental initiatives and regulations geared toward environmental protection have caused many suppliers of photoinitiators to either cease or reduce production for limited periods of time. Additionally, as outlined by the European Printing Ink Association, photoinitiator supply has also been impacted by major incidents, including a factory fire, unforeseeable events, low stocks, unplanned maintenance and production outages. In addition to the photoinitiators, increases in key oligomers and monomers have impacted pricing for all energy cure systems. Click Read More below for additional information.

As the first company in packaging industry, DS Smith had opted for the revolutionary digital pre-printing technology for medium and large-scale productions in one of their British locations. Now, the company celebrated the commissioning of the second HP T1100S digital pre-printing machine in their site in Fulda, Germany, opening up entirely new possibilities of brand activation and brand protection for their customers. Together with about 180 guests of leading brands, DS Smith celebrated the official commissioning of the digital pre-printing machine at their site in Fulda. In presentations, workshops and during the official commissioning, the new possibilities this revolutionary printing technology provides for the producers of branded articles and for industry were in the centre of attention. Click Read More below for additional information.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) made significant progress with the Group’s targeted digital transformation in financial year 2017/2018 (April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018). By the beginning of June, several customers had already opted for the new subscription model that offers Heidelberg products and services as part of a usage-based all-in contract running over several years. The total of over 30 contracts being targeted for the new financial year 2018/2019 looks set to generate business worth some €150 million over the standard five-year term of these models. However, as the number of contracts concluded is just starting to pick up, this will only be reflected in the company’s figures to any significant extent from financial year 2019/2020 onward, when it will also help stabilize Group sales. In addition, the series production of digital presses for packaging and label printing (Primefire and Labelfire), which also started in financial year 2017/2018, will have an increasingly positive impact on sales. Click Read More below for additional information.

Company Reaches Agreement with Brigade Capital Management In Support of its Plan of Reorganization - Cenveo, Inc. announced that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved its amended disclosure statement, paving the way for the Company to commence solicitation of votes for approval of its amended plan of reorganization and emerge from Chapter 11 this summer.

Highlights •Revenues increased by $36.0 million, or 7.2%, from $498.7 million to $534.7 million. •Operating earnings increased by $31.2 million, or 46.0%, from $67.8 million to $99.0 million. •Net earnings increased by $22.5 million, or 48.5%, from $46.4 million to $68.9 million. •Acquired Multifilm Packaging Corporation, a flexible packaging supplier located in Elgin, Illinois. •Sold 33 publications, including 32 local newspapers, of which those sold on June 6, 2018, and the Métro Montréal daily newspaper, as well as their related web properties.Click Read More below for additional information.

Greater specificity and national differences in labelling information on healthcare products across Europe, combined with a growth in precision medicines, are changing customer expectations about how packaging is made. In response, global packaging leader Amcor is continuing to invest to meet customers’ needs across Europe. Amcor’s latest digital printing press is now online at its Cramlington, U.K., site and is the company’s third major investment in new presses across its European operations since 2016. This new press joins two UV-Flexo presses already in operation at Amcor’s sites in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, and Alzira, Spain, as well as other existing digital printing capabilities. Using the trio of presses, Amcor is manufacturing packages for healthcare-product companies, large and small; offering greater flexibility and achieving lower costs, even in shorter runs. Click Read More below for additional information.

Transcontinental Inc.’s Media Sector, TC Media, announces the sale of three more of its local newspapers, as well as their related web properties, to Groupe Lexis Média inc., a company of which Mr. Frédéric Couture is President. In total, 26 employees of the various publications and 1 employee from TC Media’s Production team are transferred to Groupe Lexis Média inc. TC Transcontinental also concluded a multi-year agreement for the printing and distribution of all of these titles. The publications sold to Groupe Lexis Média inc. are: L’Avantage votre journal (Rimouski), L’Avantage Gaspésien (Matane) and L’Avant-Poste (Amqui). Click Read More below for additional information.

With over 140 years in the printing business, Johnson & Quin has proven that innovation is key to staying ahead of the competition. And yet, while new technologies can add capabilities and open new markets, the progressive direct mail services provider also knows the value of trusted partnerships. As such, Johnson & Quin is looking forward to both growing its partnership with SCREEN Americas and adding new solutions with the early summer installation of the new Truepress Jet520NX inkjet press, its second high-speed solution from the long-time graphic arts equipment manufacturer in just 3 years. Click Read More below for additional information.

Cenveo, Inc. announced that it has reached an agreement with its major stakeholders to clear the path for approval of the Company's first amended plan of reorganization, which will enable the Company to emerge from Chapter 11 this summer. The Plan of Reorganization has the support of over 70% of the Senior Secured Noteholders, the holders of certain funds and accounts under management that collectively own or control a percentage of the Company's senior secured first-in, last-out notes, who also hold a percentage of the first lien notes, second lien notes, and senior unsecured notes, as well as the support of the Unsecured Creditors Committee whose members consist of trade creditors, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, certain unions, and the indenture trustee for the unsecured noteholders. A hearing before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is scheduled for June 7, 2018 for the Company to seek approval of its first amended disclosure statement and to establish the voting procedures for the Plan of Reorganization. The terms of the Plan of Reorganization will enable the Company to exit Chapter 11 with a highly deleveraged balance sheet, which will allow the Company to focus on its operations and grow its businesses. Click Read More below for additional information.

With an expanding market and the “best business in years,” Lithographic Industries, a privately-owned, third generation packaging printer located in Broadview, IL, chose to invest in its business by adding a new KBA-Iberica Optima 106 die cutter after thoroughly investigating what was competitively offered in the marketplace. The firm, which is known for its high-quality blister card printing in combination gang runs, has always remained a bit under the radar in its one-story facility on a quiet street in this suburb of Chicago. But its customers have long recognized the firm’s fine heritage as the oldest combination blister card manufacturer in the U.S. since 1961, its superb quality, and its service-oriented philosophy. For nearly six months, the KBA-Iberica Optima 106 has proven its ruggedness, efficiency, and high speed as an integral part of the firm’s production, providing Lithographic Industries with a competitive edge as the demand for blister packs has posted a sharp rise. It is paired with the firm’s unique 11-color Koenig & Bauer Rapida 41-inch sheetfed offset press, the only one of its type in the U.S., offering two sided printing for nine-over-two combination blister card and insert card printing. Click Read More below for additional information.

The future success of every printing company lies in its ability to delight customers. Ripon Printers responded by promoting former Director of Customer Care, Julie Newhouse, to company president. She brings nearly 30-years experience in the graphic arts industry, including management roles in prepress, manufacturing, sales, and customer support. Prior to joining Ripon Printers in March 2016, Newhouse worked for two years at Service Litho-Print, Inc. as an estimator and then as estimator-customer support manager. She also previously spent 23 years at Independent Printing Company where she worked her way up from composition coordinator to vice president of manufacturing, and then general manager–custom products value stream. Click Read More below for additional information.

HP Inc. and Siemens expanded their longstanding collaboration to enable even more advanced functionality across a broader set of Siemens PLM software to change the way users can design and manufacture with HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology. Siemens’ NX and Solid Edge Software deliver support for Full-Color 3D Printing Capabilities through HP Multi Jet Fusion. With the latest releases, Siemens, a leader in digital innovation software, and HP, the global industry leader in 3D printing, will enable users of Siemens’ NX™ software and Solid Edge® software to design and produce full color 3D-printed parts. HP’s Jet Fusion 3D 300/500 series is the industry’s first 3D printing solution for the production of engineering-grade, functional parts in full color, black or white – with voxel-level control – in a fraction of the time of other solutions. Click Read More below for additional information.

It is with heavy hearts we announce that Edwards Brothers Malloy will be closing our doors as of June 15. As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for our employees as we work through the process of shutting down our facilities while finishing projects for our customers with work in-house. We do, however, want to take this moment to thank you for your support and business through the years. Our employees and customers have been the cornerstone of our 125-year history. We wish you all the best going forward. John Edwards and Bill Upton

To create the covers, ELLE selected 50,000 names from their subscriber list, using demographics and other audience data to target those most likely to be Kim Kardashian West fans and ensure the greatest impact. Once the list of subscribers was narrowed to 50,000, the team at ELLE had Kim Kardashian West come in and hand-write each letter of the alphabet, allowing them to create a custom font. Kardashian West also provided several personal sayings - things she would actually say in person. The personalized print cover was created using variable data printing (VDP), which ELLE partnered with HP and printer Quad/Graphics to execute. George Forge, executive director of digital print for Quad/Graphics, says the company has decades of experience producing this type of work. Click Read More below for additional information.

Allen Press, Inc. is excited to announce the purchase of a Muller Martini Tempo 22 Saddle Stitcher. The Tempo 22 is among the world’s fastest saddle stitchers, producing up to 22,000 booklets per hour. The acquisition further cements Allen Press’ position as the most advanced and versatile printing company in Kansas and Missouri. Customers will benefit greatly from this technological marvel which will deliver faster turnaround times, top quality and greater efficiencies on the production of all 8 ½ x 11 range saddle stitched materials. Click Read More below for additional information.

We sometimes tend to forget the sustainable advantages that paper has compared to other materials. The fact that it’s chemical free, biodegradable, has low CO2 emissions and is of sustainable origin are almost taken for granted. With the increasing attention on plastic waste and the scary images of plastic islands floating in our oceans, paper’s being perceived more positively than ever before. Janosch Schenk, Technical Customer Service Engineer, Alfeld Mill reveals just why: “Although there is no recognised certification system for green printing, we can identify trends and standard practices in the different industry segments. The reality from the paper perspective is that green printing doesn’t really bring any new difficulties to the table. We don’t need to adjust our processes because independent certifications already exist for paper that demand certification requirements. For us, green printing is a new name for something we already do.” Here are ways green printing’s already being put into practice: Click Read More below for additional information.

Allen Press, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Colleen Gregoire as Marketing Strategist. Colleen brings over 20 years of experience in print and digital marketing, graphic design, direct mail and program development. In her new role, Gregoire will focus on helping Lawrence businesses develop innovative and results-driven marketing strategies. Colleen will be a valuable resource to the local business community and will help grow Allen Press’s in-house marketing agency. Click Read More below for additional information.

Arandell Corp., the trusted leader in premier catalog printing and omni-channel solutions, announced today that V. Clark Vialle has joined the New Business Development Sales Team to enhance the Northeastern/Greater Boston market. Vialle is Arandell’s newest sales executive to join this month, strengthening its sales force to meet the needs of the company’s continued growth plan. In this position, Vialle will be responsible for new client acquisition and client consultation in areas of marketing strategy, quality and color improvements, paper, print production and postal optimization. Vialle will report to Stephen Sanfelippo, Arandell’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Click Read More below for additional information.

Allen Press, Inc. and The Pitch magazine are pleased to announce a new printing relationship. The Pitch will be printed in Lawrence, Kansas by Allen Press beginning with the June 2018 issue. “As local owners ourselves, we’re really pleased to connect with Allen Press to be our exclusive magazine printing partner,” said Stephanie Carey. Carey and her husband Adam, both natives of Kansas City, purchased The Pitch late last year and restored the alternative publication to local ownership again for the first time in nearly twenty years. “We knew of Allen Press by its reputation for high-quality work in the Kansas City area and the region,” said Adam Carey, chief operating officer for The Pitch. “They share our commitment to the Lawrence and Kansas City communities and we think they’re an ideal fit,” he added. Click Read More below for additional information.

Earlier this month, SG360° announced its first outside board of directors member since It was acquired by private equity firm ICV Partners - Patrick R. Donahoe, former Postmaster General of the United States and CEO of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). “He is really going to help us think differently,” said Schneider. “This is just the first step in a much longer-term strategy to bring a broad array of postal optimization strategies to our customers. We already help clients differentiate themselves in the look, feel, design and impact of their mail pieces. We can now leverage our scale to better drive postal efficiencies.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Due to a potential shortage of photoinitiators as reported earlier this week by the European Printing Ink Association (EuPIA), Sun Chemical customers that receive energy curable inks could experience product delivery delays in the future. Governmental initiatives and regulations geared toward environmental protection have led to many suppliers of photoinitiators to either cease or reduce production for limited periods of time. Additionally, the declaration of a force majeure at a variety of manufacturing plants has led to unplanned maintenance and production outages. Click Read More below for additional information.

Currently, there is a specific global raw material shortage affecting UV curing inks. This impacts supply of a UV photoinitiator commonly known as “TPO.” While supply of TPO comes from several different manufacturers, a key chemical feedstock used in the manufacture of TPO (and other similar photoinitiators) comes from one main upstream source in China. The manufacturing of this feedstock has been temporarily halted while inspections are undertaken due to an unrelated incident in the same industrial zone. This incident comes within the wider context of similar unplanned shut downs of UV raw material capacity in China and a tighter regulatory environment in Europe limiting alternative options. This supply disruption means that the feedstock cannot be produced at present and supplies are now at critically low levels globally, which has impacted the availability and production of TPO itself. We anticipate the situation will be resolved in a matter of weeks but are taking actions to cover our supply in the meantime. Please note that this is an industry-wide shortage affecting all UV ink manufacturers. Click Read More below for additional information.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company followed up on the recent creation of their Marketing Solutions group by adding Maureen Powers to the team as the new President of RRD’s Response Marketing Solutions (RMS) team starting on May 21st. Powers comes from Discover Financial Services where she served in a variety of senior leadership positions, most recently as head of their Rewards program. Powers holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Scholl of Management. She will be based in RRD’s headquarters in Chicago, IL and reports to Doug Ryan. Powers will succeed Dan Thornton, who announced his retirement after 22 years of successful leadership on the RRD team. Click Read More below for additional information.

Deluxe Corporation announced that it recently acquired 100 percent of privately held LogoMix, a Boston-based provider of logo design and other small business branding and marketing services. Founded in 2006, LogoMix enables businesses and individuals to create and purchase custom marketing products for use online and offline. On LogoMaker.com, users can create a custom logo in minutes and, in one click, print their logo on business cards, signs, pens and other offline marketing products. LogoMix’s other marketing services include websites, business email, domains and Google Apps for Work. Click Read More below for additional information.

The company that invented the copier, laser printing and print-on-demand is announcing another first in the world of print – a high speed, six station color press that combines four-color printing with up to two specialty dry inks in one printing pass. The Xerox Iridesse™ Production Press is the only digital press that can print metallic gold or silver dry ink, CMYK and clear dry ink in a single pass, giving print providers an immediate competitive edge in the growing digital print enhancement market. “Iridesse can do things no other digital production press can do, but it’s what it can do for our customers that’s most important,” said Ragni Mehta, vice president and general manager, Cut Sheet Business, Xerox. “We created the press to produce these special effects and digital enhancements cost effectively and in a simplified workflow so our customers can seize the market opportunity and grow their businesses.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Arandell Corp. announced that James Ford has joined the New Business Development Sales Team. In this position, Ford will be responsible for new client acquisition and client consultation in areas of marketing strategy, quality and color improvements, paper, print production and postal optimization. Ford will report to Stephen Sanfelippo, Arandell’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Jim is a highly reputable sales leader in the print industry with experience in effectively managing customer needs across multiple print facilities,” said Sanfelippo. “He will be instrumental in helping us introduce accounts to the expanded capabilities enabled by our new Kentucky facility and strategic partnerships. I am confident that his passion and abilities will help move Arandell to the next level of success.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Palmer Printing has been the last printer on Printer’s Row since 2007, when Rider Dickerson moved to a different location. But it too has recently made the decision to relocate - a move that President Ed Rossini and his father and former owner Ciro Rossini felt was the next logical step for the company. In December 2017, Ciro Rossini, who owns the building where Palmer Printing is housed, decided to sell it to Chicago residential developer CMK. According to Ed Rossini, the company is in the process of looking for a new location with plans to move this year. In the past 10 years, Ed Rossini says that the Printer’s Row area has evolved into a vibrant, energetic neighborhood with the addition of universities, restaurants, bars and shops. Click Read More below for additional information.

LSC Communications announced a multi-year agreement with Workman Publishing that renews and expands the companies’ relationship. In addition to renewing its printing, warehousing, fulfillment and distribution services, LSC will provide Workman with end-to-end Order-to-Cash (“OTC”) services. LSC’s OTC platform includes customer service, order and credit management, invoicing, cash application, and dispute resolution, as well as sales and inventory analysis reporting. Workman will also join LSC’s digital content management platform Harvest, which provides publishers with opportunities to increase ebook sales through online marketplace monitoring, sales analysis & keyword generation. The relationship between Workman and LSC goes back more than forty years. Since 1973, LSC (originally through Banta/RR Donnelley) has been Workman’s largest print vendor, responding with tremendous creativity to Workman’s needs for unusual formats and display ideas. In 1978 it also became Workman’s warehousing and distribution partner. Click Read More below for additional information.

First quarter net sales were $929 million, up $108 million, or 13.2%, from the first quarter of 2017. After adjusting for acquisitions, changes in foreign exchange rates, pass-through paper sales, and the adoption of new revenue recognition standards, organic net sales decreased 1.7% from the first quarter of 2017 which represents an improvement in the Company’s organic net sales trend. This improvement was driven by sales performance in the Print segment, especially within the book reporting unit, that was more than offset by the impact of customer inventory reductions in the Office Products segment. GAAP Net Income: First quarter 2018 net loss was $11 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2017. The first quarter 2018 net loss included after-tax charges of $7 million and first quarter 2017 net income included after-tax charges of $5 million, both of which are excluded from the presentation of non-GAAP net income. Click Read More below for additional information.

Quad/Graphics Inc. announced that it has signed a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract with U.S. Bank to manage credit card acquisition programs for hundreds of its small and mid-size regional banks. The volume for the U.S. Bank programs is significant: more than 70 million data-driven mailpieces annually. Quad, which began production on the programs earlier this year, is using its state-of-the-art direct mail platform for producing the mailpieces that are hyper-personalized with data elements highly relevant to each individual recipient to increase engagement and inspire action. In addition, Quad will engage its delivery optimization services to lower postage costs, reduce mail handling and cycle times, and offer more predictable, in-home arrival intelligence. Click Read More below for additional information.

LSC Communications and Trend Offset Printing announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Trend to acquire LSC’s retail offset printing facilities. Newspaper inserts, which are traditionally used by retailers to advertise promotional offers, are the main product produced on LSC’s retail offset assets. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the second quarter. Anthony Lienau, Chairman of the Board of Trend Offset, commented, “This acquisition will further Trend’s commitment to the retail sector of our business. Trend Offset is dedicated to providing all clients with great customer service, superior quality and increasing speed to market across all of our plants and platforms. We look forward to providing a smooth transition for customers and employees alike.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Net sales in the quarter were $1.71 billion, up $48.9 million or 2.9% from the first quarter of 2017. On an organic basis, consolidated net sales increased 1.3% driven by higher volumes in both segments as well as higher fuel surcharges in Business Services, partially offset by price pressure in Business Services. From a products and services perspective, Packaging, Logistics, Direct Mail and Business Process Outsourcing accounted for most of the increase while Commercial Print was down due to ongoing secular pressure and lower specialty card sales. Gross profit in the first quarter of 2018 was $294.7 million or 17.3% of net sales versus $326.8 million or 19.7% of net sales in the prior year quarter. The favorable impact of volume growth and cost reduction initiatives was more than offset by inflationary increases, primarily in paper and costs of transportation, unfavorable changes in foreign exchange rates, operational inefficiencies due to volume reductions from two clients and modest price pressure. Click Read More below for additional information.

Net sales for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, were $968 million, representing a 3.1% decrease as compared to 2017. Organic sales declined 5.1% due to ongoing print industry volume and pricing pressures after excluding acquisitions (2.0% impact), pass-through paper sales (-0.2% impact) and foreign exchange (0.2% impact), and is consistent with previous guidance. The Company incurred a net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.07 per share, for the three months ended March 31, 2018, which included a special $22 million non-cash employee stock ownership plan contribution as part of the benefit of tax reform. Net cash provided by operating activities was $2 million for the first quarter 2018, compared to $63 million in the first quarter of 2017, and Free Cash Flow decreased $62 million to a negative $22 million. These variances were primarily due to expected timing differences in 2018 versus 2017 for cash generated from working capital, which will be weighted more towards the fourth quarter. Click Read More below for additional information.

LSC Communications and R.R. Donnelley & Son’s Company announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for LSC Communications to acquire the Print Logistics component of RRD’s Logistics business. RRD’s Print Logistics capabilities include a range of logistics services and technologies to optimize the print distribution and mail supply chain, including solutions that drive postal discounts. The acquisition is expected to close in Q3 2018. President of LSC Logistics, George Zengo, commented, “As we continue to strengthen LSC’s logistics solution offering, the combination of RRD’s Print Logistics with our recent acquisitions of Fairrington and The Clark Group greatly expands our national footprint. This gives LSC the natural synergies and scale to improve service and add more value to our current client base, as well as extends our reach deeper into a variety of other industries.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Allen Press, Inc. is the recipient of 19 awards from the Printing & Imaging Association of MidAmerica’s 2018 Graphic Excellence Competition (GraphEx). The 19 awards are the most of any company competing in the 2018 GraphEx competition. Of the winning submissions, 9 entries were Best of Category with the 2018 Alaska by Rail Calendar winning a Best of Kansas City Bronze Award and Orchids winning a Division III Silver Award. Click Read More below for additional information.

“The new Versafire EP delivers extremely stable production at a constantly high speed,” sums up Marcus Unterleider, Managing Director of the Unterleider Medien Gruppe. The company, based in Rödermark, has been testing the new high-performance digital printing system from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) for several weeks. The Versafire EP is based on the tried-and-tested platform of the Versafire CP and has been systematically enhanced for the needs of customers in the graphics industry. Like the recently introduced Versafire EV (press released from 20 March 2018), the Versafire EP has been developed for flexible production and maximum performance. Both machine models from Heidelberg feature the Prinect Digital Frontend (DFE) and an intuitive user interface that simplifies prepress work. Click Read More below for additional information.

HITRUST CSF (Common Certified Framework) certified status demonstrates that Quad/Graphics’ HealthVision™ Solution and the HiCO Environment have met key regulations and industry-defined requirements and are appropriately managing risk. This achievement places Quad/Graphics in an elite group of organizations worldwide that have earned this certification. By including federal and state regulations, standards and frameworks, and incorporating a risk-based approach, the HITRUST CSF helps organizations address these challenges through a comprehensive and flexible framework of prescriptive and scalable security controls. Click Read More below for additional information.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the Company reported record first quarter revenue of $239.9 million, up 5% compared to first quarter 2017 revenue of $228.7 million. GAAP net loss was $3.6 million compared to GAAP net income of $4.8 million for the same period in 2017 or $(0.08) per diluted share compared to $0.10 per diluted share for the same period in 2017. Non-GAAP net income was $17.2 million, down 33% compared to non-GAAP net income of $25.8 million for the same period in 2017 or $0.38 per diluted share, down 31% compared to $0.55 per diluted share for the same period in 2017. Cash flow from operating activities was $6.3 million compared to $14.9 million during the same period in 2017. Click Read More below for additional information.

VIVO Colour Solutions, Flint Group’s Paper & Board division is proud to be the first ink supplier to offer a cutting edge end to end integrated press room digital colour management service. Adding to this platform, Flint Group announces the launch of VIVO ColourPortal and VIVO ColourCloud. VIVO ColourPortal provides a fast, structured, and professional communication interface between the customer and Flint Group’s Global Colour Centre (GCC). The GCC delivers a centralised colour service supporting a comprehensive range of colour related requests. Services range from individual colour matching and DigiSwatch creation, to group wide, multi-site, colour mapping and private colour cloud management projects. VIVO ColourPortal is how 21st century customers communicate with colour experts. Click Read More below for additional information.

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), the leading authority in sustainable printing certifications for print manufacturers, announced today Heeter has achieved SGP certification. Heeter is a service leader among single-source providers of complex print, direct mail, fulfillment and digital marketing to the casino, healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail and education industries. They focus on delivering marketing communications reliably and securely. Heeter offers innovative print solutions, advanced technology, and cost-effective distribution methods to a multitude of diverse clients. Click Read More below for additional information.

Transcontinental Inc.’s Media Sector, TC Media, announced the sale of 30 publications, including 21 weeklies in the Montréal area, the Métro Montréal weekday newspaper, as well as 8 publications in the Québec City area to a Canadian corporation of which Mr. Michael Raffoul, a Montréal-based businessman, is President. The transaction includes all web properties related to the titles sold as well as the Québec Hebdo website. In total, 119 employees of the various publications and 20 employees from TC Media’s Production team are transferred to the acquirer. TC Transcontinental also concluded a multi-year agreement for the printing of all of these titles, as well as for the distribution, with the exception of Métro Montréal, which is already under contract with Mr. Raffoul’s print media distribution company. In addition to the Métro Montréal newspaper, the Montréal-area publications included in this transaction are: Ambiance/Rendez Vous, L’Avenir de l’Est, Cités Nouvelles, Courrier Ahuntsic, Courrier Bordeaux-Cartierville, Corriere Italiano, L’Express d’Outremont – L’Express Mont-Royal, Le Flambeau Mercier-Anjou, Le Guide Montréal-Nord, Le Magazine de l’Île-des-Soeurs, L’Informateur de Rivière-des-Prairies, Journal de Rosemont, Messager Lachine & Dorval, Le Messager LaSalle, Le Messager Verdun, Nouvelles Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Les Nouvelles Saint-Laurent News, Le Plateau, Progrès Saint-Léonard, Villeray–Parc-Ex Petite Patrie and La Voix Pop. For the Québec City area: L’Actuel, L’Appel, L’Autre Voix, Beauport Express, Charlesbourg Express, Le Jacques-Cartier, Journal Habitation and Le Québec Express, as well as the Québec Hebdo website. Click Read More below for additional information.

“We welcome Spectrum Printing & Graphics to the growing Two Sides network and look forward to working with them to promote the unique sustainable features of print and paper. Our membership now includes several commercial printers from family-owned businesses to large operations – they have been instrumental in educating their stakeholders about the great environmental story of print,” said Two Sides North America President, Phil Riebel. "Getting the facts straight about the positive story that the paper and printing industries have related to the environment and the economy is very important to us – it has been misunderstood for years. We are excited to help Two Sides convey an accurate message to the marketplace, our customers, employees and vendors," says Andrew Berman, President, Spectrum Printing & Graphics.

LSC Communications has embarked on a new strategic relationship with international academic publisher Taylor & Francis Group, a division of Informa plc, to provide print, fulfillment and distribution services. According to Dave McCree, President of Book Sales at LSC Communications, “We are very excited about the opportunity to work with Taylor & Francis. LSC has been diligently focused on creating a scalable, customizable and fully integrated supply chain model for publishers that brings efficiencies to the next level, and we will continue to innovate new ways to support Taylor & Francis and our other global publishing clients.” Click Read More below for additional information.

First Quarter 2018 Highlights • Revenue increased 0.8% year-over-year, driven by Small Business Services growth of 2.7% which includes the results of several small tuck-in acquisitions. Financial Services revenue was flat compared to the prior year. • Gross margin was 61.6% of revenue, compared to 63.2% in the first quarter of 2017. The impact of product and service mix and increased delivery and material costs this year, as well as acquisitions, was only partially offset by previous price increases and continued improvements in manufacturing productivity. • Operating income increased 3.2% year-over-year. Adjusted operating income, which excludes restructuring, integration and transaction costs, as well as asset impairment charges, in both periods, increased 0.9% year-over-year primarily from price increases and continued cost reduction initiatives, partially offset by the continuing decline in check and forms usage. Click Read More below for additional information.

Luxury packaging printer JohnsByrne has installed the Eagle Systems Cold Foil system to better serve their client base and increase their ability to innovate. Founded in 1959, the organization remains a family-owned operation, with founder, John B. Gustafson’s four sons: Corey, Jack, Mike and Pate, running the business as President, COO and Executive Vice Presidents, respectively. “We are a very client-centric, customer-focused operation,” said Corey Gustafson. “We look at the marketplace, and look for ways to provide solutions to problems our customers are having, and new ways to enhance their current product lines. We try to be very proactive about getting in front of our clients’ needs and the available technology, and the Eagle Systems Cold Foil system proved to be a great compliment to our offering; it was the right fit, at the right time.” He noted that while they have, and continue to offer, hot stamping technologies, there were some applications where that process wasn’t a perfect fit. They could find a way to get it done, but Cold Foil, said Corey Gustafson, “gives us a great deal of flexibility, now, and nuance to our offerings. We can provide different solutions to the same problem, to find the one that best suits the project, product and customer. It’s a different tool in our belt.” Click Read More below for additional information.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced the release of its SuperDoc web statement enhancement. This technology transforms static business statements into interactive dynamic customer communications. Developed by RRD’s Business Communications Solutions (BCS) unit, the SuperDoc enhancement acts as a secure website add-on that embeds customer-facing PDF statements, bills, policies, letters, and other transactional communications with entirely new dimensions of interactivity and activated content. This latest offering from RRD is designed to help organizations across a variety of industries increase their eAdoption rate. The SuperDoc enhancement provides consumers with a variety of widgets that grant a higher level of interactivity than paper statements, such as: • Compare balances month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, and year-to-year • Search transactions by date, vendor, amount paid, and more • Use payoff and financing calculators • Access local data like weather history, property values, and more • Model future bills • Learn about upgrade details and special offers. Click Read More below for additional information.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced new financial reporting segments to align with recent changes to its global operating structure. Effective with the first quarter of 2018, RRD will report its results under two new segments: Marketing Solutions, a preeminent provider of multichannel marketing activation programs, and Business Services, a premier global provider of business communications services. RRD Marketing Solutions leverages an integrated portfolio of data analytics, creative services and multichannel execution to deliver comprehensive, end-to-end solutions that drive marketing ROI. RRD’s key capabilities include: • Data Management • Advanced Analytics • Creative Services • Online Channels • Offline Response • Onsite Services. RRD Business Services provides customized solutions at scale to help clients inform, service and transact with their customers with reduced complexity and increased efficiency. RRD’s key capabilities include: • Commercial Print Services • Customized Customer Communications • Product and Brand Communications • Business Process Services. Click Read More below for additional information.

Komori America recently completed the installation of a six-color Lithrone GX40 (GLX640) at Nosco, a full-service packaging solutions provider serving a roster of household brands in a variety of industries. Headquartered in Gurnee, IL, Nosco is a subsidiary of Holden Industries, Inc., which is a 100 percent employee-owned company. Nosco became familiar with the advanced technology and reliability Komori presses deliver when the company acquired two companies that were already operating Komori presses. Understanding value, total cost of ownership and product lifecycle management are important to Nosco when investing in conventional print technology. Through its recent company acquisitions, Nosco gained an enlightened first-hand experience with Komori’s low maintenance, minimal downtime and productivity performance, leading to the selection of the GLX640 over competitive machines being considered. “We have aggressive growth targets and with this press we are able to meet them,” said Russ Haraf, president of Nosco. “We looked at several options, even some used options. We chose a new Komori Lithrone GX40 because Komori’s value proposition is aligned with an industry where the product lifecycle is changing rapidly." Click Read More below for additional information.

Arandell Corp. announced that Stephen Sanfelippo has joined the Executive Management team as the company’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He will oversee the development, implementation and execution of Arandell’s sales growth strategies, product and service offerings, and new business opportunities. “Steve is a terrific addition to the company, bringing extensive multi-plant industry experience as an accomplished catalog and retail sales executive,” said Bradley J. Hoffman, president and chief executive officer of Arandell Corporation. “He is uniquely qualified to help us introduce our customers to the expanded capabilities enabled by our new Kentucky facility and our strategic partnership with Continental Web Press.” Click Read More below for additional information.

With increasing demands for colour equity across ever wider geographies and packaging substrates, it is essential that every provider from brand owner specifier, to print and packaging supplier, contribute to establish a consistent and robust colour communication workflow. Flint Group’s Paper & Board business has entered into an exciting new partnership with X-Rite, the global leader in colour science and technology to deliver a colour solution that leverages the X-Rite eXact and NetProfiler to reliably meet the colour management needs of each stakeholder in the package print value and supply chain. Click Read More below for additional information.

Inkjet isn’t like other printing processes, and trying to sell it on anything other than its own terms is a recipe for failure with it. Three inkjet adopters who have learned to sell inkjet the right way freely shared the lessons they’ve learned in a heavily attended panel discussion that kicked off the second day of the 2018 Inkjet Summit. Under the moderation of Barb Pellow (Pellow & Partners), the trio emphasized that properly educating and motivating the sales force is what primarily drives success in a market where the old norms of selling - particularly selling on price - aren’t meaningful in the value proposition that inkjet presents to customers. They also noted that if a printing company wants its customers to get excited about inkjet, the service provider must communicate its own passion for the process in every pitch it makes. Click Read More below for additional information.

What print technology is enjoying double-digit growth while it enables mass customization and changes the entire print business model? Asked at the opening session of the 2018 Inkjet Summit, the question had what may have seemed to be an obvious answer. But keynote speaker and conference chair Marco Boer (I.T. Strategies) wanted the event’s hand-picked audience to be completely clear about why the rise of production inkjet has been so remarkable and what its growth portends for the industry over the next few years. According to Boer, inkjet is coming into its own at a time when the commercial print segment is undergoing a profound structural change because of worsening labor shortages, a “precipitous drop” in revenues and profits, and what are probably permanent changes in the way people consume and buy print. The good news, he said, is that inkjet can help to remedy all of these ills with its automated productivity and its broadly acceptable print quality. Click Read More below for additional information.

Allen Press, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Art Vargas as an Account Manager. Vargas brings expertise in direct mail, premedia, digital and offset printing, customer service and account management. With his vast experience in direct mail project management, Art will be a valuable resource to our clients, advising them through best production processes and continuing to position Allen Press as a premium direct mail provider. Click Read More below for additional information.

When Tonya Kowa-Morelli took over the reigns at Huston Patterson, her family’s privately owned package printing business in August 2013, the industry as a whole was still rebounding from economic and digital challenges. But in those past four years, she has re-shaped and re-invigorated the company to compete effectively and efficiently posting double-digit sales and demonstrating that the next generation within the family has the leadership chops to continue its fast-paced growth. Kowa-Morelli, the third generation to operate the business, was named president of the firm after serving in various sales, marketing and leadership roles for nine years. In her first year as president, her sales team notched a 30% increase while reducing spoilage and seeing increased efficiency in the pressroom. Under her guidance both Illinois facilities---Huston Patterson in Decatur and Sigma Graphics in Ottawa---continue to add the latest technology to benefit their clients. This month under her watchful eyes, Kowa-Morelli signed a contract for a new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 164 64-inch eight-color press with coating to be installed later this year at its 110,000 sq ft Decatur facility. Click Read More below for additional information.

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has announced that Flexpress has purchased an EFI™ Pro 16h LED hybrid flatbed/roll inkjet printer from authorized EFI distributor Konica Minolta® Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. With its new acquisition, the Dallas-based digital printing company can broaden its local and national customer base by offering a much greater range of high-quality signage and graphics work. “We had wanted a wide-format device for a while, partly to broaden our customer base and the services we offer,” said WP Ward, founder of Flexpress. “We also received feedback from our clients that they had wide-format work and would give to us if we had the right device.” In the signage market, the printer gives Flexpress the added ability to capture some of the opportunities that come with being in the rapidly expanding Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) metropolitan area. Click Read More below for additional information.