June 28, 2002
Former CPIA head takes over at PIA
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Michael Makin, former head of CPIA, has been named CEO of both the Printing Industries of America and the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. More than 350 hopefuls lobbied for the job, but Makin's seven years experience working for printing associations tipped the scales in his favour. "I'm very honoured and very excited," said Makin. "There will be many challenges, especially in the first 100 days, as we deal with budgets and making sure there's a consistent vision for the two organizations." According to a joint PIA/GATF press release, this appointment is the major final step in the consolidation of the two operations. Makin was appointed CPIA president in 1995 and chief operating officer of PIA in 2001. He assumes his new role on August 1.

Auctions to clear assets of three printing companies
TORONTO—The assets of three bankrupt printing-related companies are going up for sale in July. Century Services is holding a public auction for Fanco Products Canada, a producer of converted paper products, (July 10); Peterborough Paper Converters (July 17); and printer Johnstone Adams (July 31). Among the items for sale at Fanco's Montreal location is a Standard HSC-2500 high-speed collator and bookletmaker and a 1987 Bielomatik paper pad machine, while Peterborough Paper Converters has a Black Clawson contracoater, and two Kidder coating heads and overhead dryers. At Johnstone Adams in Markham, Ont., a 1996 Heidelberg Speedmaster five-colour press and a 1999 Polar 54" cutter are on the block. Warehouse and office equipment will be available at all three auctions. For more information on each auction, contact Century Services at 1-800-898-9917.

June 25, 2002
Somerville Graphics celebrates five years
OAKVILLE, Ont.—Somerville Graphics is holding an open house on Thursday at its Oakville location to celebrate its fifth anniversary. The company recently added a 29" Printmaster to its Heidelberg shop and currently employs nine. Ken Somerville, along with his wife Brenda, started the company with a two-colour Quickmaster press and says the company has grown rapidly. "There is growth, but it's controllable growth," he says. "We don't want to over-extend ourselves and get into trouble like a lot of printers are doing right now."

Graphic Monthly uncovers top 100 printers, introduces print index
MISSISSAUGA, Ont.—Graphic Monthly has released the results of its 2002 Gold List, an annual ranking of the top 100 printers in Canada. Topping the list, which is featured in the upcoming issue, is Quebecor World with $9.5 billion in annual sales. While the top 20 companies continue to hang on to 90% of total sales, collectively, the top 100 printers brought in $19.7 billion in revenue. Another feature to look forward to in this issue, and in subsequent issues, is the new Henderson Index—a print stock index tracking 13 graphic arts companies. The index, the first of its kind in Canada, analyzes the print industry beginning January 2000 and tracks monthly share prices and market capitalization.

June 21, 2002
InstaBook completes second installation
TORONTO—Coach House Books in Toronto, a printing and publishing company, is the second location in Canada to house the InstaBook printing unit. The machine, already operating in Book Express in Cambridge, Ont., produces softcover paperbacks in about five minutes. Coach House specializes in book runs of 500 to 1,500 and now has the ability to print in runs from one to 1,500. InstaBook Canada, the Hamilton, Ont., supplier, is currently in pilot stage with this project and is looking for another location to complete this phase. In addition to the installation, InstaBook has an agreement with the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproduction to provide print fulfillment services for its Early Canadiana Online digital database. As requests come in from the database, they will be produced on InstaBook's machine at its head office facility in Hamilton. Beginning in the fall, books will be produced in one week rather than the current four to six week schedule.

June 18, 2002
CPIA concerned about stamps printed in U.S.
OTTAWA—The CPIA has met with Canada Post to complain that Canadian stamps are being printed at the Ashton-Potter plant in New York State. According to president Pierre Boucher, "This is a matter of principle. Stamps are a heritage document, our flag is on it. Canadian stamps should be printed in Canada." Another contentious issue is that the stamps do not say "Printed in Canada," a line which, according to NAFTA, must appear on all foreign-produced documents meant for resale here. Canada Post, meanwhile, says it awarded the contract to Ashton-Potter some time ago but the company has since reorganized and moved some of its equipment to the U.S. The stamps in question are coil stamps, which no other printer in Canada has the ability to produce. "We do everything possible to print the stamps in Canada but it does not preclude us from going out of the country. There is nothing in the contract [with Ashton-Potter] that requires the stamps be printed in Canada," says Tim McGurrin, spokesperson for Canada Post. CPIA has not contacted Ashton-Potter, according to Boucher, and no one from the printer was available for comment. The issue was brought to the attention of several MPs during CPIA's Government Affairs days and subsequently raised in the House of Commons.

Newfoundland Capital to exit printing industry
DARTMOUTH, NS—Newfoundland Capital Corp. is getting out of the printing industry. According to a prospectus released earlier this month, the company doesn't plan to hold any shares in the recently-incorporated Optipress Inc., once an IPO is completed. According to the prospectus, Optipress is expected to have $68 million in annual revenue—$20 million from publishing and $48 million from printing. It is being positioned as one of the region's largest printing and publishing concerns with a 26% market share of the regional printing market. Growth is expected to come largely from New England, where a sales and prepress office have already been opened. Sales from the U.S. jumped by about $1.8 million in the first four months of this year and the company has received orders for $5 million for 2002. An IPO is expected in a few weeks.

June 14, 2002
Rhino announces capital expansion
RICHMOND, B.C.—Rhino Print Solutions is investing in a $3-million capital expansion program that owner David Allan projects will raise the shop's annual revenue from its current $5 million to about $10 million. The shop is acquiring a thermal CTP system with Prinergy Connect Workflow and a six-colour, 40" Speedmaster from Heidelberg. Allan says the new equipment will help the company expand its business in B.C. and particularly in the U.S. West Coast, where the company plans to hire new sales staff within the next six to nine months. "We were limited by the size of the press equipment we had. This should open a ton of doors for us," says Allan. This is a rebirth of sorts for Rhino which was in bankruptcy last year when Allan, a 22-year veteran of the industry, bought it. The shop specializes in high-quality marketing and advertising products, and short-run publications and catalogues. It changed its name earlier this year from Rhino Graphics, and last fall acquired WYSIWYG Prepress Graphics.

Transcontinental expands in U.S.
MONTREAL—In a bid to increase its U.S. presence and capture a larger chunk of the growing direct marketing industry, Transcontinental is consolidating its interactive marketing operations into larger premises and adding new equipment. Three plants in Philadelphia, Penn., Spectra Graphics, Solutions and Spectra Mail, will move into a new, 220,000 sq. ft. location within a former U.S. Navy complex where the Apollo astronauts once trained. Two new eight-colour Quantum 1500CP web presses from Sanden Machine are being installed this summer and the plant is expected to be operational by August. The plant will house direct marketing printing, finishing, data processing, personalization, postal processing, bindery and lettershop functions

June 11, 2002
New printing company formed in Atlantic Canada
HLIFAX—Newfoundland Capital Corp. and Cameron Publications have announced plans to sell their printing and publishing assets to a newly formed public company to be named Optipress Inc. Few details about the deal are available, but an IPO is expected to take place within the next three to four weeks, after which Optipress is expected to be 100% publicly owned. The companies involved are NCC's Robinson-Blackmore and Print Atlantic, and Cameron's McNab Print, a sheetfed, coldset- and heatset-web shop. They have combined revenue of $68 million. Derek Hiscock, former president of Robinson-Blackmore in St. John's, Nfld, will head up Optipress. Representatives from the two companies were not available for interviews, but stay tuned to PrintCan for further developments.

Transcon President says Canada has an edge
TORONTO—The president and COO of Transcontinental says Canada's relatively small population gives it an advantage as the printing industry faces a future of ever-shorter runs. Speaking last week at Magazines University, the annual magazine industry conference, Luc Desjardins said Canadians are better at making money with shorter runs because our population size has forced us to be more innovative. He said magazine split-runs are now feasible at about 25,000 copies, compared to 100,000 copies a few years ago. Desjardins said Transcontinental is also working on a new online customer service system that will give publishers a direct connection to their jobs as they move through the plant. Desjardins confirmed he is still looking for a new president for Transcontinental Printing, to replace Wayne Newson, who left at the end of last year.

June 07, 2002
Graphic Monthly snags top prize
MISSISSAUGA, Ont.—At the risk of blowing our own horn, Graphic Monthly, Printcan's paper sister, took home two writing prizes from Wednesday night's Kenneth R. Wilson award ceremony. Presented by The Canadian Business Press, the awards recognize editorial and design excellence in business and trade publications. Graphic Monthly dominated the Best Technology Feature category with contributing writer Brenda Sanderson scoring the gold for "Minding the Shop" and associate editor Lana Castleman taking home the silver for "Front End Challenge", both from the August 2001 issue. Congratulations.

High-security financial printer expands operations
RICHMOND HILL, Ont.—Computershare Document Services, a division of Computershare Trust Company of Canada (Computershare Canada), opened a 32,000 sq. ft. printing facility earlier this week. The $3.5-million plant currently employs 40 and handles the design, printing and mailing for Computershare Canada, including the printing of personalized financial documents for mutual fund companies and the Canadian securities industry. The plant has the capacity to print five million documents per month.