Please Note: Due to the Memorial Day Holiday, ATC & JSE Paper and Print Supply Chain News Will Not Publish Tomorrow Or Monday.

We will resume publication of the news on Tuesday May 28th.

Holmen To Build Wind Farm

Holmen to build wind farm
Together with investment fund Eurofideme 2, the Swedish pulp and paper company Holmen has decided to build a wind farm in the municipality of Norrtälje in a jointly-owned company. The annual production is an estimated 165 GWh and the wind farm is planned to commence operation in autumn 2014. Eurofideme 2, a renewable energy infrastructure fund of Mirova, has acquired half the shares in the company that Holmen founded to run wind power production on its own land in the municipality of Norrtälje near Hallsta Paper Mill. The decision now marks the start of installation of 17 wind turbines with an installed power capacity of a total 51 MW and an expected annual production of 165 GWh. An environmental permit has already been obtained. According to the plan, the turbines will be taken into operation in autumn 2014. “This project will exploit Holmen’s excellent opportunities to produce wind power on its own land,” says Holmen’s President and CEO Magnus Hall. “It is also an important element in our focus on renewable energy, set to increase our self-sufficiency in electricity.”

Brown Printing & Clear Lake Press Alliance

Brown Printing Company and Clear Lake Press Announce Strategic Alliance:
A strategic alliance between two well-known Waseca, MN printing companies was announced today. Brown Printing Company, the third largest magazine and catalog printer in the nation, and Clear Lake Press, a supplier of magazine, catalog and direct mail components for twenty five years, have agreed to commence a strategic alliance, pooling their respective strengths and resources in order to better serve their customers and prospects with a more comprehensive suite of printing solutions. Dan Nitz, President of Clear Lake Press, stated, “This alliance is important for both companies. Brown and Clear Lake Press will become stronger in their respective niches by working together and will be able to serve existing and prospective customers more efficiently.” Mike Amundson, CEO of Brown Printing added, “The ability for Brown Printing to continually improve and expand its array of print and marketing solutions is critical to our continued success in the very competitive markets we serve. Entering into an alliance with Clear Lake Press will allow us to better serve our customers and make it easier and more cost efficient for them to do business with us.” To facilitate expected alliance synergies, Dan Nitz will join Brown Printing in June as the Executive Vice President of Manufacturing and Distribution. Chris Waldron, current Director of Operations for Clear Lake Press, will assume Nitz’s leadership responsibilities at Clear Lake Press.

Hess Print Plan For Sale to Bang Prtg

Hess Print Solutions Announces Plan for Sale to Bang Printing: Hess Print Solutions and its subsidiaries, a provider of accountable print performance solutions and other value-added services for catalogs, books, publications and educational printed products announced today that HPS has entered into an agreement to sell substantially all of its assets to an affiliate of Bang Printing. The decision to sell to Bang Printing followed an extensive process of reviewing various strategic opportunities for HPS that was aimed at ensuring it will remain a viable long-term business partner for customers, vendors and employees. This sale will allow HPS and Bang Printing to combine their existing capabilities and provide customers with a more diversified suite of products and services. “The strategic decision to pursue a financial restructuring through a sale will allow us to proactively and quickly improve our financial position and ensure we have the resources to meet the needs of our clients, suppliers, employees and other business partners going forward," said Jerry Haywood, interim CEO of HPS. Bang Printing has over 100 years of experience in the book and commercial printing industry. Bang Printing, which has its corporate offices in Brainerd, MN, offers complete printing, binding and fulfillment services at a competitive price. Bang Printing has facilities in both Minnesota and California.

ABM BIN Numbers-Print Down, Digital Up

No Surprises: ABM BIN Numbers Show Print Declines, Digital Gains:  According to American Business Media’s latest Business Information Network report for full-year 2012, the b-to-b media and information industry is growing. From 2011 to 2012 b-to-b media revenue increased 3.4 percent from $24.66 billion to $25.49 billion. While there was a positive gain, the percentage increase after inflation was actually a growth of 1.3 percent. Additionally, the industry is still far from where it was five years ago—total 2008 b-to-b media revenue was $28.7 billion (adjusted for inflation in 2012 dollars). Driving the year-over-year growth for 2012 was tradeshows, which commanded 46 percent of b-to-b revenue—a number that has held steady since 2008. Print has seen the largest decline, both year-over-year and since 2008. Between 2011 and 2012 print advertising revenue decreased by 4.8 percent to $7.5 billion, down from $7.8 billion in 2011, but up from $7.2 billion in 2010. In 2008 print advertising revenue commanded about 37 percent of all b-to-b revenue, down to about 29 percent in 2012. But digital is a growing slice of the b-to-b revenue pie. In 2008, digital accounted for about 11 percent of total revenue and climbed to 16 percent in 2012. Similarly, data or business information grew from 6 percent in 2008 to 9 percent in 2012. “Looking at the revenue stream growth form 2011 to 2012, not including an adjustment for inflation, digital advertising grew the fastest at 15.9 percent,” the report says. “Data grew 7.3 percent, events grew 4.4 percent and print advertising fell 4.8 percent (with) a negative growth rate.”

European Consumer Pulp Inventories Fall

Consumer pulp inventories fall in April, consumption down as well: Consumption of pulp in Europe slid in April while consumer pulp inventories edged lower, according to the latest figures from UTIPULP. European consumer pulp inventories were down 0.9% month on month in April to 630,620 tonnes, while consumption fell by 3.8% to 971,427 tonnes.

Newsstand Drops 11 % In Q1

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/newsstand-drops-11-percent-q1-while-bookazines-see-gains#.UZ42dLXVB8E

On the second day of the MPA’s 10th annual Independent Magazine Media Conference (IMAG), industry publishers got a peek at first-quarter numbers for the newsstand, which showed a mix of declines and gains. In a mid-morning session Gil Brechtel, president and CEO of the Magazine Information Network, or MagNet, offered a picture of the current climate during his “Realities at Retail” session. On the whole, the newsstand continues to see significant drops, but he said that trends surrounding bookazines and special issues continue to fair well—proving that readers are still willing to buy print on the newsstand. “We just released our first quarter, 2013 numbers and the pain continues,” Brechtel said. “During the first quarter sales were down 11 percent in dollars and 14.5 percent in units sold. This is the largest quarterly sales decline we’ve ever seen when you compare period-to-period and year-over-year numbers.” The top 50 titles and titles ranked lower than 1,000 in retail sales dollars represented about 97 percent of the sales losses—around $96 million. Titles ranked 51-1,000, however, collectively performed fairly well and represent over 50 percent of the magazine business. 

US Comm Revises Printing Shipments

US Commerce Department Revises Last Two Years of Printing Shipments Up Slightly (Dr. Joe):
The US Commerce Department issued its annual update of manufacturing shipments data last Friday. The bottom line is that they increased each of the last two years by about $1 billion, but the increases were not enough to increase annual shipments after inflation. The revision process is constant. Every year, five historical years are revised, with the greatest changes to the most recent three years and the first three months of the current year. Last year, the reported data showed a new seasonality, with May becoming a more prominent month. This was quite a surprise for us, as March had become the most important month of the year. Years prior, the big retail printing season related to Christmas and holiday sales, had been the most important printing season, but it gradually diminished by 2008. This left March to be a big month, probably driven by projects started with new corporate projects in January. Last year’s revisions revised shipments down, even those of the beginning of the year, and the Commerce Department reported a big May, so much so that it became the best month of the year. This is still hard for us to understand, but from looking at the historical data it could just be that May sales have just declined at a lesser rate in recent years. It’s not May sales have been increasing, it’s that they’re just down slightly less than other months.

Coated Prices On The Rise In France

http://www.euwid-paper.com/news/singlenews/Artikel/coated-fine-paper-prices-on-the-rise-in-france.html

While producers of uncoated woodfree papers are reporting growing downward pressure on prices, coated fine papers have become more expensive in April and May. Stressing absolute necessity, manufacturers of coated woodfree paper have being calling for price increases in France, and have been successful in many cases. There were different price trends seen for sheets and reels in May, with coated reel papers seeing a somewhat lower price hike than coated sheets, EUWID sources say. Given high pulp prices and other cost factors, manufacturers are under a lot of pressure to raise their sales prices. However, a few producers consider it just as important to have enough orders to maintain satisfactory capacity utilisation rates. Some paper makers are accusing their competitors of having made too many compromises on price increases in order to keep their machines running. The general market condition in France is still shaped by a shrinking demand and overcapacity. In April, shipments of coated woodfree sheets were down by a high single-digit percentage against the same month last year, while the decline for coated woodfree reels was well into the double-digit range, it is learnt.

Businessweek's Offer To Millennials

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/businessweek-offers-12-free-issues-to-deadbeat-millennials_b83173

Bloomberg Businessweek is taking a creative approach to nabbing new readers: It’s calling them out for being deadbeats. The magazine has launched a minisite BBWgetsyouahead.com to get people interested. BBW jokes aside, the site offers digital gift cards, good for 12 free issues of Businessweek, that people can send to Millennials who are underemployed or unemployed and still living with the moms and pops. There are 42 different gift cards, each with a humorous tagline like “Even Snooki has a job.” The cards and the site are part of a larger ad campaign titled “Bloomberg Businessweek Gets You Ahead.” Free Businessweek is nice, but it probably won’t help any of those 18 to 34 year olds actually get a job or their own place. But hey, they might as well have a good magazine to peruse while deepening the dent in the living room couch.

Documenting The Value Of Paper

Documenting the Value of Paper (Digital Nirvana):The American Forest & Paper Association recently released a report entitle “Documenting the Value of Paper.” As more and more once-printed items move into the digital space, the future of printed materials remains in question. This report addresses that question by offering five distinct ways that paper enriches lives which will likely not diminish in the future. It got me thinking, maybe there is still a market for paper, and therefore and market for print, what do you think? Five Dimensions presented by AF&PA (and some interesting highlights from the report): Paper informs as a learning tool. Studies show that elementary aged students actually perform better at reading comprehension when reading from paper-based books compared to e-books. Students find it easier and more helpful to employ “active” reading habits (skimming, reading subtitles first, highlighting, underlining, annotating, etc.) in paper-based books. Paper reaches customers. Direct mail is still cited as the communication channel with the highest ROI for customer contact and retention in B2C marketing, followed by email. A Nielson survey found that respondent’s top three preferences for receiving advertising were paper-based – direct mail, newspapers, and in-store printed displays. Consumers who receive a printed catalog in the mail are more likely to shop online than those who do not receive the catalog. More and more people are “opting out” of email marketing lists. Paper is a permanent record for milestones in life. Paper is still used for official documents (birth certificates, graduation diplomas, titles to cars, etc.) Paper also preserves many of life’s meaningful personal moments – think family photos, baby books, childhood artwork, handwritten letters, greeting cards, etc.Paper is a secure form of documentation and communication. Information stored on paper is easily accessible over a long period of time and does not need to be continuously migrated to newer technologies. Paper is a sustainable choice. The paper industry supports sustainable forestry practices and is increasing its recovery of paper and use of recycled fiber. Recent lifecycle assessment studies show that environmental impact of paper and electronic text and communication are relatively similar.

85% Of Execs Find Social Media Important

Forrester: 85% of execs find social media important: Cambridge, Mass.—Eighty five percent of business decision-makers said at least one social media channel is very important or important when making technology purchase decisions, according to a new study by Forrester Research. The report, “How B2B Marketers Use Social Now,” was based on an online survey of 7,369 business decision-makers, conducted in the fourth quarter. When asked, “How important are the following sources when researching and evaluating technologies and services to purchase?” the top response was support forums or discussion forums (63%), followed by virtual events or virtual trade shows (47%); online videos (46%); LinkedIn (40%); blogs (36%); professional social networking sites, not including LinkedIn or Twitter (35%); Twitter (19%); and Facebook (19%).

FT Debuts Spanish Service

FT debuts Spanish-language service in Latin America: The Financial Times has launched a new service in Latin America through FT Syndication that provides top FT news and analysis translated into Spanish. The service will include two articles each weekday, including an opinion piece written by an FT columnist and a news story from the world news, global economy or companies section. Media organizations using the service are offered a variety of branding options, such as use of the FT logo, the right to republish a regular FT-branded page and the use of the FT brand in promotional materials.

Brick & Mortar Booksellers Gain Traffic

http://nreionline.com/retail/brick-and-mortar-booksellers-gained-shopper-traffic-first-three-months-2013

Brick-and-Mortar Booksellers Gained Shopper Traffic in First Three Months of 2013. Placed Insights, a Seattle-based ratings service for consumer behavior, has released its findings for consumer traffic patterns in the first quarter 2013 and the results may come as somewhat of a surprise. In spite of the intense competition from digital book sellers, bricks-and-mortar bookstores were among the top gaining categories in shopper traffic in the first three months of the year, behind financial planning shops and bars. Bookstores as a group experienced a 27 percent increase in shopper visits during the period and moved up six spots in Placed Insights’ ranking, to number 46. Barnes & Noble in particular moved up eight spots on the list of the most visited stores in the U.S., to number 17.

LexisNexis Buys Pubs from Thompson

LexisNexis buys Sheshunoff, A.S. Pratt from Thompson Media Group:LexisNexis Legal & Professional announced today that, together with Reed Elsevier Properties, it has acquired the publishing brands and businesses of Sheshunoff and A.S. Pratt from Thompson Media Group.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Known for its “how-to” guides for compliance professionals, the Sheshunoff portfolio includes more than 100 publications aimed at the financial services industry, with a strong focus on federally regulated banking and credit union lending activities. A.S. Pratt provides analytical content for the banking and commercial practice areas; its portfolio includes 40 titles covering legal and regulatory issues, including the Banking Law Journal, Brady on Bank Checks and Pratt's Letter. Both the Sheshunoff and A.S. Pratt titles will continue to be offered in print. LexisNexis intends to also offer them through digital channels, including as eBooks and online.

New Inspection Solution For Paper

New inspection solution for paper  

Isra Vision – a provider of leading-edge optical inspection systems – is presenting its new solution in automated surface inspection for the paper industry: Paper Master. The key objective of Paper Master is to make manufacturing more productive and cost effective. Paper Master offers the advantages of Web Inspection (WIS) and Web Break Monitoring (WBM). Alternatively WIS and WBM can be installed as one unified, integrated system to determine where and how a defect occurred even faster with only one mouse click. Based on the new outstanding Paper Master, irregularities of the surface can be detected faster and easier than before – a decrease of quality defects of up to 70% can be reached. Paper Master - Web Inspection System (WIS) inspects the whole width of the sheet on the paper machine in order to provide excellent photographic images of each defect.