http://gizmodo.com/this-kiosk-prints-magazines-and-newspapers-as-theyre-p-1245113721
Many
people are
claiming that these new Meganews Magazines autonomous newstands could save
the print industry. That's maybe a bit optimistic, but at the least they'll
help reduce the mountains of wasted paper from unsold magazines since the over-sized vending machine
only prints publications when they're ordered, in just two minutes.
The kiosk has access to a remote server where publishers upload the latest
editions of their periodicals, and using a touchscreen interface customers can
browse more than 200 different magazines, newspapers, or journals. When they
come across an issue they want to buy, a simple credit card transaction results
in a high-quality, freshly printed copy courtesy of a high-speed Ricoh printer
on the inside. And the first machine has officially been installed in
Stockholm, Sweden.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Is the Printing Industry Old School or New-Tech Cool?
http://targetreport.blogspot.com/?utm_source=2013-08+Target+Report&utm_campaign=2013-08+TR&utm_medium=email
Old school buys new
school. In an interesting twist, printing companies continue to buy leading
edge technology companies that may have at first been perceived as threats, but
have evolved into complementary services that satisfy the same market need...
Commercial printers are now fully engaged in the wide format business, exerting pressure on companies that specialized in printing only wide and grand format materials. Pazazz, a printing company in Montreal, Quebec, (and producer of the infamous and viral “Printing’s Alive” videos), acquired Contact Image, also of Montreal. Another commercial printing company, K&M Printing of Schaumberg, Illinois, acquired National GraphX and Imaging. In the past, wide format services could be a real and important differentiator for a commercial printer; wide format now appears to be a “must have” for many in the commercial sector...
As we expected, the print management business continues to experience pressure. In a deal that effectively transforms the former print broker, Workflow One, into a real live printing company, the company was acquired by Standard Register in deal that was primarily an assumption of Workflow One’s long term debt. This is the third month in a row that deals have been announced in the print management business, changing the landscape and growth curve in what has been a very disruptive model for commercial printers. I suspect that there are many commercial printers that are not unhappy to see the declining fortunes of the print management firms and that eagerly look forward to the potential to restore their direct relationships with their corporate clients; in effect disintermediating the intermediators.
Commercial printers are now fully engaged in the wide format business, exerting pressure on companies that specialized in printing only wide and grand format materials. Pazazz, a printing company in Montreal, Quebec, (and producer of the infamous and viral “Printing’s Alive” videos), acquired Contact Image, also of Montreal. Another commercial printing company, K&M Printing of Schaumberg, Illinois, acquired National GraphX and Imaging. In the past, wide format services could be a real and important differentiator for a commercial printer; wide format now appears to be a “must have” for many in the commercial sector...
As we expected, the print management business continues to experience pressure. In a deal that effectively transforms the former print broker, Workflow One, into a real live printing company, the company was acquired by Standard Register in deal that was primarily an assumption of Workflow One’s long term debt. This is the third month in a row that deals have been announced in the print management business, changing the landscape and growth curve in what has been a very disruptive model for commercial printers. I suspect that there are many commercial printers that are not unhappy to see the declining fortunes of the print management firms and that eagerly look forward to the potential to restore their direct relationships with their corporate clients; in effect disintermediating the intermediators.
News Corp. Sells Dow Jones Local Papers
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/208471/news-corp-sells-dow-jones-local-papers.html#axzz2drbtrdTe
Although Dow Jones is best known as the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, the company also published a number of smaller newspapers through its Local Media Group. That's history, as owner News Corp. is selling off these daily and weekly publications.
News Corp., newly spun off from 21st Century Fox under Rupert Murdoch’s management, announced plans to sell 33 publications -- including eight daily newspapers and 15 weekly newspapers -- to Fortress Investment Group, the majority owner of GateHouse Media.
Although Dow Jones is best known as the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, the company also published a number of smaller newspapers through its Local Media Group. That's history, as owner News Corp. is selling off these daily and weekly publications.
News Corp., newly spun off from 21st Century Fox under Rupert Murdoch’s management, announced plans to sell 33 publications -- including eight daily newspapers and 15 weekly newspapers -- to Fortress Investment Group, the majority owner of GateHouse Media.
Men's Health Launches Luxury Print Supplement
The
first issue of the new 100-page Urban Active goes on sale today with the
October edition of Men’s Health.
The title is printed by Wyndeham Heron, which also prints Men’s Health magazine, on 80gsm gloss
text stock with a 250gsm gloss art cover.Urban Active is described as a luxury sports fashion title covering luxury gym and sports streetwear as well as outdoor clothing and luxury accessories. The supplement will feature high-end advertising from brands such as Porsche, Armani and Tommy Hilfiger.
Pivotal Research Group increases Ad Forecast
Citing
a strong second quarter and generally improving economic conditions, Pivotal
Research Group revised its U.S. ad spending forecast to 1.8% growth this year,
up from an April forecast of 1.4% growth.
In
the second quarter, U.S. advertising expenditures were up an estimated 1.7%
over the same period last year, compared with Pivotal's earlier projection of
1.0% growth for the quarter.
Study: Customized Online Ads are Often Ineffective
The research, which appears in the October issue of the American Marketing Association's Journal of Marketing Research used data provided by Havas Digital from Artemis, to address the questions of whether it is always optimal for advertisers to provide more specific advertising content based on consumers' earlier product interests, as well as when increased specificity of information in an ad is effective.
The researchers found that people who saw the personalized product information were on average less likely to buy a product on the day they were shown the ad than the people who were shown the more generic version. Highly-specific ads were generally not more effective than generic messages. This goes against the conventional wisdom that more specificity is always good.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
China's 2013 Goal: Shut 7.4 Million Tonnes P&P Capacity
http://www.infobolsa.es/news/document?key=201309040909517107&source=EXPERTOS&date=20130904
As reported by RISI, China has released a second list for its old pulp and paper (P&P) capacity closure campaign for 2013, raising its goal to 7.42 million tonnes/yr.
The list, publicized earlier this week by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, includes 67 firms from 14 provinces and targets almost 1.21 million tonnes/yr of outdated P&P equipment.
All the machines on the list are required to stop production by the end of this month, and will have to be dismantled by the end of this year.
It is supplementary to a list released in July aiming to wipe out a combined capacity of 6.21 million tonnes/yr around the country.
The goal for this year now totals almost 7.42 million tonnes/yr.
Guizhou province and Ningxia autonomous region, which did not appear on the first list, will retire about 107,400 tonnes/yr and 26,200 tonnes/yr respectively under the auspices of the second one.
The provinces of Hebei, Hunan and Shandong are required to phase out 106,000 tonnes/yr, 58,000 tonnes/yr and 100,000 tonnes/yr under the new list.
The combined closure goals for the three provinces this year will be 1.04 million tonnes/yr for Hebei, 981,000 tonnes/yr for Hunan and 832,900 tonnes/yr for Shandong.
The total capacity to be closed in the three provinces, 2.85 million tonnes/yr, is 38% of the total target of 7.42 million tonnes/yr for the whole country.
The annual capacity closure campaign has been carried out in the country for several years to optimize industrial structures and realize cleaner production.
In 2011, a total of 8.31 million tonnes/yr of outdated P&P capacity was closed.
The closure target for 2012, not yet confirmed, was 9.95 million tonnes/yr.
As reported by RISI, China has released a second list for its old pulp and paper (P&P) capacity closure campaign for 2013, raising its goal to 7.42 million tonnes/yr.
The list, publicized earlier this week by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, includes 67 firms from 14 provinces and targets almost 1.21 million tonnes/yr of outdated P&P equipment.
All the machines on the list are required to stop production by the end of this month, and will have to be dismantled by the end of this year.
It is supplementary to a list released in July aiming to wipe out a combined capacity of 6.21 million tonnes/yr around the country.
The goal for this year now totals almost 7.42 million tonnes/yr.
Guizhou province and Ningxia autonomous region, which did not appear on the first list, will retire about 107,400 tonnes/yr and 26,200 tonnes/yr respectively under the auspices of the second one.
The provinces of Hebei, Hunan and Shandong are required to phase out 106,000 tonnes/yr, 58,000 tonnes/yr and 100,000 tonnes/yr under the new list.
The combined closure goals for the three provinces this year will be 1.04 million tonnes/yr for Hebei, 981,000 tonnes/yr for Hunan and 832,900 tonnes/yr for Shandong.
The total capacity to be closed in the three provinces, 2.85 million tonnes/yr, is 38% of the total target of 7.42 million tonnes/yr for the whole country.
The annual capacity closure campaign has been carried out in the country for several years to optimize industrial structures and realize cleaner production.
In 2011, a total of 8.31 million tonnes/yr of outdated P&P capacity was closed.
The closure target for 2012, not yet confirmed, was 9.95 million tonnes/yr.
Quad Wins Multiple Gold Ink Awards
Quad/Graphics
Inc. announced that its Commercial & Specialty and Direct Marketing groups
have earned multiple awards in Printing Impressions
magazine’s annual Gold Ink Awards, one of the industry’s most prestigious
annual print competitions.
Quad’s winning entries, which included two Gold, one Silver, three Bronze and
seven Pewter awards, will be recognized at the Gold Ink Awards & Hall of
Fame banquet September 9 in Chicago.
Kodak Emerges from Bankruptcy as Tech. Co.
Today, Antonio M.
Perez, Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, announced the company’s
emergence from Chapter 11 as a reorganized company, following completion of the
final steps in the restructuring process.
“We have emerged as a technology company serving imaging for business markets – including packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services,” said Perez. “We have been revitalized by our transformation and restructured to become a formidable competitor – leaner, with a strong capital structure, a healthy balance sheet, and the industry’s best technology.”
Kodak completed the final steps in its Chapter 11 restructuring, including the spin-off of its Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses to Kodak Pension Plan, a longstanding pension plan of Kodak’s U.K. subsidiary. The company also successfully closed on its agreement for $695 million in term exit financing, paid off its DIP lenders and second lien noteholders in full and completed its rights offerings, receiving approximately $406 million of new equity investments from participating unsecured creditors.
“We have emerged as a technology company serving imaging for business markets – including packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services,” said Perez. “We have been revitalized by our transformation and restructured to become a formidable competitor – leaner, with a strong capital structure, a healthy balance sheet, and the industry’s best technology.”
Kodak completed the final steps in its Chapter 11 restructuring, including the spin-off of its Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses to Kodak Pension Plan, a longstanding pension plan of Kodak’s U.K. subsidiary. The company also successfully closed on its agreement for $695 million in term exit financing, paid off its DIP lenders and second lien noteholders in full and completed its rights offerings, receiving approximately $406 million of new equity investments from participating unsecured creditors.
DMA Hires New Top Lobbyist
The
Direct Marketing Association has hired a new top lobbyist. Peggy Renken Hudson
will serve as senior vp of government affairs, replacing Jerry Cerasale, who
plans to retire at the end of the year.
Between
now and the year, Hudson will be working with Cerasale, who is capping off
20-years with the DMA.
There's
plenty to do as the industry fights off increasing calls for new regulations to
control the data collection practices of data brokers. The DMA is also part of
the Digital Advertising Alliance, which is embroiled in the ongoing Do Not
Track debate over consumer privacy.
California Poised to Get Do Not Track Law
The
chances of a consumer privacy bill coming out of Congress any time soon are
slim, but that hasn't stopped California, which continues to forge new ground
when it comes to consumer privacy legislation.
At
the end of August, the California Senate and Assembly passed an amendment
(AB370) to the California Online Privacy Protection Act that will require
commercial websites and services that collect personal data to disclose how
they respond to Do Not Track signals from Web browsers.It was introduced by California Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi and sponsored by Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has been making a name for herself by aggressively pursuing consumer privacy enforcement actions. Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign the amendment.
Hearst Offers iPad Sub Deal
For a limited time,
Hearst is offering a $10 iTunes credit with the purchase of a one-year
iPad-version subscription to its magazines.
Bloomberg Folding Law Division
Bloomberg LP is
folding Bloomberg Law into its Bloomberg Bureau of National Affairs unit and is
expected to lay off an undisclosed number of journalists as part of
“rebranding.” BBNA was built around Bloomberg’s acquisition of the Bureau
of National Affairs in 2011 for $990M, the largest purchase in its
history. The company says that many of the 250 journalists at Bloomberg
Law will be offered jobs at Arlington, Va.-based BBNA, a provider of legal and
regulatory news and information. Bloomberg Law was seen as a way to get
away from the desktop terminal business and make some inroads into the legal
research field dominated by Thomson Reuters’ Westlaw and Reed Elsevier’s
Lexis/Nexis.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Western U.S. Pulp Mills Now Seeing Lower Costs
http://www.paperage.com/2013news/09_03_2013wood_costs_western_usa_wri.html
Wood costs account for between 50-55 percent of the production costs for pulp mills in the US. Historically these costs have often been substantially lower in the Southern states than in the Northwest — the two major pulp-producing regions of the country. However, this has been changing with the most dramatic regional price movements in North America happening in the US Northwest, where prices for softwood chips, the major fiber source for the region’s pulp mills, have fallen for five consecutive quarters, says Hakan Ekstrom of Wood Resources International (WRI).
Wood costs account for between 50-55 percent of the production costs for pulp mills in the US. Historically these costs have often been substantially lower in the Southern states than in the Northwest — the two major pulp-producing regions of the country. However, this has been changing with the most dramatic regional price movements in North America happening in the US Northwest, where prices for softwood chips, the major fiber source for the region’s pulp mills, have fallen for five consecutive quarters, says Hakan Ekstrom of Wood Resources International (WRI).
During much of the past seven years, wood costs
have been substantially higher for pulp mills in Western US than they have for
pulp mills in the Southern states. However, sharply falling wood chip prices in
the West during 2012 and 2013 have improved the competitiveness of the region’s
pulp mills.
Domtar Nearing Start of Biomass Power Plant
http://www.paperage.com/2013news/09_03_2013domtar_rothschild_mill_biomass.html
At the newest power plant in Wisconsin, fuel will come from close to home.
Unlike coal, which is brought in by train from Wyoming and Appalachia, biomass will be culled from the sawmills and forests of northern Wisconsin.
Most of the waste wood that will supply the $268 million We Energies and Domtar power plant will come from within 75 miles of Rothschild, said Jim Freiberg of Domtar.
The plant, which will provide electricity for We Energies and steam for Domtar's paper mill, will burn wood waste from sawmills and pulp mills as well as leftover wood removed from the forest floor after logging operations.
Unlike coal, which is brought in by train from Wyoming and Appalachia, biomass will be culled from the sawmills and forests of northern Wisconsin.
Most of the waste wood that will supply the $268 million We Energies and Domtar power plant will come from within 75 miles of Rothschild, said Jim Freiberg of Domtar.
The plant, which will provide electricity for We Energies and steam for Domtar's paper mill, will burn wood waste from sawmills and pulp mills as well as leftover wood removed from the forest floor after logging operations.
Stora Begins Job Cuts at Kvarnsveden Mill
Stora
Enso is starting negotiations with employee representatives this week regarding
plans to take out 75 positions at its Kvarnsveden mill in central Sweden. Of
these, 25 would be blue-collar jobs.
The
plan will see the factory's headcount go down to some 500 employees. How this
might affect production will be discussed during the negotiations, mill manager
Mikko Jokio said.
This
is part of Stora Enso's plans to streamline operations and cut costs by some
Euro 200 million ($264 million), announced in June. As a result, the company
may slash up to 2,500 jobs in total. Negotiations have started at several of
its mills in Finland and Sweden, and also in Belgium and Germany.
Stora
Enso halted production on the 270,000 tonne/yr newsprint machine PM 11 at the
Kvarnsveden mill in May for market related-reasons. It was later decided the
machine would remain down for good. In connection tot his, the company made 27
people redundant, while an undisclosed number of workers left the plant through
early retirement and other arrangements, Jokio said.
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