Printing industry in Poland and Europe

St. Thomas Printing, a family-owned commercial printing business, recently purchased a new Polar 66 cutter at the Graphics Canada show. The company was established in 1990 and has since been servicing the London, St. Thomas and Talbotville area. With the new cutter is Mark Groeneweg of St. Thomas Printing

Former film giant Eastman Kodak has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a story in the New York Times today. Citigroup is reportedly providing Kodak $950 million in financing to allow the company to continue operating through the bankruptcy. Kodak is looking to sell off its 1,100 digital patents in the meantime. “Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation,” said Antonio Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, in a news release on the company's website. “At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003. Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company.”

Bloomberg is reporting today that industrial conglomerate Possehl & Co. based in Lübeck, Germany has bought Manroland's web press unit in Augsburg, but investors are still being sought for operations in Offenbach and Plauen. The latter sites will initially be taken over by management, insolvency administrator Werner Schneider told Bloomberg.

A press release issued yesterday explains troubled press manufacturer Manroland is very close to being sold. "Negotiations are in the final stages for the sale of Manroland AG as part of the company's insolvency proceedings," reads the release from its insolvency administrator.

The Jan. 16, 2012 edition of Marketing magazine presents interesting data on ad spending for this year, particularly for print media. The Marketing 2012 Outlook Survey Readership Study consulted 120 industry professionals for their thoughts, including biggest business concerns (one was world financial collapse) and plans for social media marketing this year (72 percent expect to increase time and resources devoted to it).

Webcom is doubling its inkjet capacity with an $8 million investment, it announced today. The latest investment is an HP T350 Colour Inkjet Web Press to complement the HP T300 installed just over a year ago. PrintCAN was on hand during a Webcom open house at that time to see the first HP addition for the printer's BookFWD program.

October was a strong month for exports, rising 4.7 per cent from October 2010 to $86.8 million, a rebound from a weaker September that saw an 18% drop in exports from a year previous. However, 2011 exports up until October total around $754 million, down from about $802 million during the same time period in 2010. Meanwhile, imports fell somewhat from September, while the trade balance fell further into the negative. All countries October 2011 October 2010 % Change Total exports ($M) 86.8 82.9 +4.7 Total imports ($M) 113.5 120.5 -6.2 Trade balance (YTD) -284.8 -274.5 -3.7

Canada Post's unionized rural and suburban mail carriers (RSMC) are now working without a contract, according to the postal union's spokeswoman. Aalya Ahmad said about 7,000 carriers who deliver to boxes in communities outside major cities (e.g. Kanata and Orleans in the Ottawa area) had an eight-year contract that expired on Jan. 1 of this year.

It's always interesting to get a perspective on our industry from third parties. In this instance, The Economist weighs in on the situation at Kodak, outlining some of the missteps that have led the company to considering bankruptcy protection, including its slow reaction to digital photo technology. As a counterpoint, the magazine also turns its eye on Fujifilm, which, according to the writers, managed the digital transformation with more success. Click here to read the story.

A European non-profit organization dedicated to debunking myths about print has expanded to the U.S. Two Sides, which started in Europe in 2008, has launched a U.S. website that is "packed with resources related to the sustainability of print and paper."

THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED: Paper merchant PaperlinX Canada has announced that all operations in Canada will operate under the Spicers name, with the three operating companies in Toronto — Spicers, Coast Paper and Roll-O-Vert – merged into a single business unit within its current distribution centre in Vaughan, Ontario. Previously, PaperlinX had operated in Canada under multiple brands including Spicers, Coast Paper, Roll-O-Vert and UpLinX Pre-media solutions. Those brand names (aside from Spicers) will be no longer, said Cory Turner, president of PaperlinX Canada.

Graphic Monthly Canada magazine is reaching out to owners, presidents and chief executives in the printing industry to gauge the state of the industry in several areas. The survey will yield valuable information for the entire industry. All individual responses will be kept strictly confidential, but aggregate results will be presented in an upcoming issue of Graphic Monthly Canada. The survey only takes nine minutes to complete. To take the survey, click here.

Eastman Kodak is reportedly on the brink of filing for bankruptcy protection. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the public company is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in lieu of selling off its 1,100 digital patents.

A press release from Manroland's insolvency administrator said the prospects of someone buying the struggling company are improving. Below is a full text of the release, followed by a link to a PrintWeek.com story on the situation.

There was a dip in July when shipments fell to $549 million, however since then the numbers have been stable. October's shipments are below last October's showing of about $691 million. The year-to-date numbers are also down from 2010. Shipments (in millions) October 2011 October 2010 % change October $661.8 $690.7 -4.4 Year-to-date (billions) $6.34b $6.63b -4.6