Weekend Print Production Notes

Printshop revenue for month of November in the U.S., was a total of $7.38 billion a decline of 8% compared to last year. It was the first November to be below $8 billion since 2003.

Heidelberg, the large German offset press maker, now supported financially by the German government, is looking to get back into the digital printers market according to Business Week magazine. Apparently, it is even considering partnering with Kodak. As you may recall, Heidelberg sold its digital press business to Kodak, after buying it from Kodak a few years earlier. This division includes the DigiMaster b/w systems and the NexPress color systems.


Memjet, the company that has been promising a high speed color inkjet copier, announced it has hired a new executive. Len Lauer, former COO of Qualcomm, will be the new Memjet President and CEO, working out the San Diego office. (Memjet has 2,600patents related to technology developed by Mr. Kia Silverbrook of Australia)

Direct Color Systems Inc. launched the Millenium 700, which can produce a full color plastic name badge in 25 seconds. Purchase price, and cost per card were not announced.

-=Cheers=-

Heidelberg's last quarter’s financials

- Heidelberg, the world’s largest offset press maker, announced its last quarter’s financials:
- operating loss of 110 to 150 million euros ($165-$225 million) predicted for the fiscal year
- 65 million euro loss for quarter
- Received more than 800 million euros in emergency state (Germany) aid
- secured a new 1.4 billion euro credit line backed by German government
- order backlog was down 50%
- has laid off a total of 2,400 employees in last year

-=Cheers=-

Print Production "Weekend Notes" 4/12/09

4-12-09

The following is a quick review of print production news from various trade publications.


Xerox announced it sold an iGen4 production color system at Blue Star, a print shop in Australia. It also sold them a Nuvera 288 b/w system.

PrintShop Mail, a product of Objectif Lune, won award for best variable data software from the European Digital Press Association.

Oce’, at the recent OnDemand show, highlighted multiple engines connected together by the Fiery Central system, instead of a MicroPress.

Kodak announced it has placed a NexPress 2500 production color system and DigiMaster EX150 b/w system at Alcom, a print shop in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. The NexPress 2500 also included a NexGloss unit and a Watkiss booklet maker.

Interesting statistics about German offset press maker, Heidelberg
- In last 20 years, sold over 230,000 presses
- World wide share of press consumable market is only 3%
- CEO, Jurgen Rautert, hopes that in ten years, half of company revenues will come from consumables and service
- Will cut another 2500 employees in 2009 to reduce costs
- Plans on future digital color inkjet press system

EFI, maker of Fiery controllers, announced it would take cost cutting measures due to declining revenues:
- Employee salary reductions of 5%
- Management salary reductions of 10-15%
- CEO Guy Gecht’s salary reduced to $527,000
- President Fred Rosenzweig’s salary reduced to $450,000
- CFO John Ritchie’s salary reduced to $279,000

Print Production Weekend Notes

- German offset press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer (KBA) announced that its orders are down 36.7% due to slow economy. 838 employees will lose their jobs in a cost cutting move.

- German press maker, Heidelberg, announced it will lay off up to 5,000 workers to reduce costs.

- Variable data software maker, XMPie, announced a new option, called “Personaleffect E-Media”, which generates personal URLs. When a direct mail piece is generated, the prospects name is created into a website, that the end user can enter to respond to the offer.

- Former Xerox workers have reached a preliminary settlement against their former employer over benefits they claim they should have received. The U.S. District Court approved a $51 million settlement.

- Xerox announced new options for its 700 Digital Color Press:
- SquareFold Trimmer Module that creases a cover and trims face of booklets. The cover is creased so that the booklet has a square spine.
- FreeFlow Print Server Version 7 (Xerox branded print controller)
- GBC AdvancedPunch