Stora Completes Negotiations to Close PMs

http://www.storaenso.com/

Stora Enso has finalized discussions with employee representatives regarding job cuts at its Hylte mill in southern Sweden in relation to the permanent closure of two newsprint machines at the factory.

Stora Enso stopped production at the site's 205,000 tonne/yr newsprint PM 2 for market-related reasons on May 16, and after discussions with unions the closure later became permanent. The firm halted the 180,000 tonne/yr newsprint PM 1 on December 27 last year. Layoff negotiations related to the closure of PM 1 were finalized in March, and those relating to PM 2 in June.

After the closure of PMs 1 and 2, the factory will change from a six- to a five-shift system, as it no longer needs to run all year around, according to Henrik Axelsson, communications officer at the factory. This will reduce production slightly, as the factory will not operate during major holidays.
The Hylte mill now has a capacity of some 480,000 tonnes/yr of newsprint on two machines.

Court Rules Out EPA Delay

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-07-12/epa-delay-on-greenhouse-gas-rules-for-biofuels-tossed-by-court

A decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to delay for three years making rules to curb carbon dioxide emissions from biofuels was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. 
The EPA failed to spell out what the delay, known as the deferral rule, would accomplish, according to a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel.
The EPA’s position was backed by the American Forest and Paper Association, which intervened in the case in support of the agency’s postponement of regulation.
“The court’s ruling creates great uncertainty about the permitting requirements for biomass energy and underscores the need for EPA to finalize its rulemaking on the treatment of biogenic emissions,” Donna Harman, chief executive officer of the Washington-base trade group, said in an e-mailed statement.

Time to Modernize Direct Mail Measurement

http://www.dmnews.com/its-time-to-modernize-direct-mail-measurement-for-a-digital-world/article/303078/

With so much attention being paid to new digital channels and the emergence of RTB, it's easy to overlook advertisers' sustained reliance on direct mail, which last year accounted for more than $51 Billion across catalog and non-catalog spending. A primary reason for brands' continued fondness for direct mail is that it has traditionally outperformed most (if not all) other channels and advertisers' know that consumers are increasingly wary of online display ads, which are often perceived as intrusive and annoying, whereas many find direct mail to be more convenient and easier to digest (or ignore) on their own terms.

However, while direct mail's resilience during the digital marketing era is worthy of attention, it remains a blind spot for many marketers looking to understand the impact of all marketing efforts. This is particularly true as it relates to their ability to quantify the impact direct mailing has on conversions, both online and in-store, and how much conversion credit it deserves relative to other marketing touchpoints. With the push towards data-driven marketing decisions, personalized media, granular audience targeting, and real-time budget optimization this lack of understanding limits advertisers' ability to identify the right mix of marketing levers—messages, media, and channels—and often leads to overvaluing, or overspending, on other channels.

Continuous-Feed Inkjet Production Market

http://whattheythink.com/articles/64457-continuous-feed-inkjet-production-market2013/

Now in its fifth full-year since its introduction, the continuous-feed inkjet printer market shows no signs of maturity. There are few other markets in either the printer segment or consumer electronic segments that continue to show growth after five years. This doesn’t mean that the path forward is lined with rose petals; the challenge of where to continue to find enough pages to fill these highly productive printers is not an easy challenge.

Transaction printing remains the largest application of all pages printed on these devices. While actual pages will double through the forecast period, I.T. Strategies is projecting that by 2017, nearly all toner-based mono continuous-feed pages remaining will have been replaced by continuous-feed inkjet printers. This means that future page volume growth will become more dependent upon a combination of both offset page replacement and new application page volumes.

House Returns to Postal Reform

http://postandparcel.info/56896/news/regulation/us-house-committee-to-consider-postal-reform-proposals/

The issue of postal reform is set to return to the US House of Representatives tomorrow, as the Oversight and Government Reform Committee examines proposals for legislation to rescue the Postal Service. 

The hearing under Chairman Darrell Issa has been scheduled following the release of legislative proposals from both the House Republicans and the House Democrats. 
The proposals seek ways to pull the US Postal Service back from the major losses it has been generating since 2006. 
Last year USPS recorded a $15.9bn annual loss, although $11bn of this was defaulted payments that were not made. This year USPS is expecting to lose about $7.5bn, while the federal agency’s debt remains at the legal maximum of $15bn. 
USPS needs to cut its operating expenses by more than $20bn to return to a balanced situation, but needs Congressional action to achieve half of this, according to executives.
The US Congress failed to reach agreement on postal reforms last year, with the House of Representatives proving the key hurdle to legislation being passed.

U.S. Ad Expenditures Flat

http://printinthemix.com/Fastfacts/Show/747

Total U.S. advertising expenditures the first quarter of 2013 declined 0.1 percent from a year ago and finished the period at $30.2 billion, according to the latest data from Kantar Media, a provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Ad spending during the fourth quarter of 2012 rose 2 percent versus the year ago period.   

"It has been a lackluster start for 2013, with flat year-over-year results due in part to strong 2012 growth caused by political and Olympic ad spending,” said Jon Swallen, Chief Research Officer at Kantar Media North America. “Data from the early second quarter are mixed, suggesting marketers are still being cautious and conservative with ad budgets. However, there are some bright spots, including healthy growth for Hispanic media and Outdoor.”