Chemical Dump Lands Printer in Hot Water
AURORA, CO—A printer here and a Denver man who purchased a semi-trailer from him have been indicted for allegedly violating Colorado’s hazardous waste disposal laws, according to the Denver Post. Maurice Rockney Weiss, who operated Accupress Printing, and Richard Wilmer have been accused of ditching the hazardous materials via a roll-off Dumpster.
Weiss reportedly began storing the waste produced by his print shop in a cargo trailer around 1999, without obtaining necessary permits from the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment, according to the indictment. In 2006, Wilmer bought the trailer from Weiss, and moved it to his home in Denver.
Wilmer apparently received the trailer filled with the print shop’s waste, but contends he was told by Weiss that the trailer only contained a small amount. Most of the hazardous materials were marked as such, the indictment reads. Wilmer was warned against storing the chemicals on his property, but his solution was to move the materials indoors to a structure on his property. They were eventually dumped on Wilmer’s property by means of the Dumpster, according to the indictment.
The Post reported that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigators visited Wilmer’s property and discovered the hazmats, which were found to be flammable, ignitable, combustible and toxic. The EPA then cleaned up the mess.
Heidelberg's Dunn Talks GRAPH EXPO, Digital Future
Printing Impressions Editor-in-Chief Mark Michelson recently spoke with Jim Dunn, president of Heidelberg Americas, to discuss topics ranging from Heidelberg's future trade show participation to its role as the distributor of a digital press offering, to the current state of sheetfed offset press sales and the ability of printers to secure capital equipment financing.
PI: We understand that Marcel Kiessling, former president of Heidelberg Americas, has taken a new assignment in Germany. Has this impacted or broadened any of your job responsibilities?
DUNN: Marcel has returned to Germany to take a position on the Management Board of the group in which he will head up our Services Division. This change is very significant in that it formalizes all we have been working on for the past six years; achieving and maintaining that highest level of equipment performance is not only a function of design, engineering and manufacturing, but equally dependent on training, maintenance, consumable selection, workflow and performance monitoring.
As for more myself, I have the oversight responsibility for the Canadian and Mexican markets in addition to the U.S. business. Both of these countries have substantial differences to the U.S. market, but we are fortunate to have experienced and stable organizations in both markets led by Richard Armstrong in Canada and Harald Weimer in Mexico.
PI: Heidelberg USA made headlines recently when the company confirmed it was not planning to exhibit at this year's GRAPH EXPO show in Chicago, but is planning to participate in GRAPH EXPO 2011. What prompted this difficult decision?
DUNN: In reality, this decision was not taken recently. As I'm speaking with you, I am looking at an internal document from April 2005 in which we had concluded that our future participation in trade shows (around the world) would change. It would be focused on two actions: 1) we would focus on the four year rotation of the major trade shows: drupa, PRINT, Ipex and IGAS and 2) we would concentrate our efforts towards enhancing our existing Technology Centers to becoming the center for learning and development of equipment, system and processes.
We had decided to delay deploying this approach until after PRINT 09 and have communicated this plan to the Graphic Arts Show Company. Having said this, we are re-evaluating participation in the annual GRAPH EXPO show and may participate every other year. However, we would envision that our GRAPH EXPO presents would be more focused on systems and services rather than just equipment. But, we have quite some time before GRAPH EXPO 11 to make a final decision.
PI: Heidelberg will, however, take a large stand at Ipex in England this May. Among the products to be shown there are the Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor press with a new coating unit and UV printing capabilities. Do you still see Anicolor technology as a viable alternative for short-run digital printing?
DUNN: Absolutely! We have seen great success with the Anicolor print systems around the world, and we see this platform more as a complement to digital rather than an alternative. The digital printing engines clearly fit the bill for variable printing and ultra-short-run static (under 200 sheets) jobs. However, we also see that many high-end digital devices (+95 ppm) are running non-variable, medium-run jobs. This is an expensive and inefficient method, where the Anicolor technology is a gold mine.
PI: There have been ongoing rumors that Heidelberg plans to get back into the digital press arena, either through acquisition or through some form of distribution agreement. Although I realize you cannot comment directly on rumors or any ongoing discussions that may be taking place, would this make good business sense for both Heidelberg and its customer base?
DUNN: We believe it does. As I said before, there is a strong market demand for print platforms suitable for variable and ultra-short-run jobs. There are many good systems on the market, both in the high- and mid-range production segments. Therefore, I do not see Heidelberg developing another new platform.
Most likely, we will look for existing platforms which we can bring to the market in a way that is enhanced by our Prinect workflow systems, color management systems, and integrated into our commercial and packaging postpress systems. It's a tall order, but we see strong demand for this type of integration.
PI: As the U.S. economy slowly crawls out of recession, have you seen any market improvement in sheetfed offset press sales? And, for those printers that may be considering a new press purchase, is difficulty in securing the needed financing still a problem for them?
DUNN: It's a split story—one for the commercial print market and one for the packaging market. The commercial market remains sluggish as print shipments have not yet begun to improve. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, commercial print remains at approximately 77 percent of the level of 2006. Securing financing is challenging for three reasons: 1) the banks have the "red flag" up on the printing industry, 2) used equipment values are very depressed and 3) many print shops are upside down on their existing equipment loans. Having said that, we have seen a number of very strong establishments take advantage of this situation by leveraging their stronger financial positions to leap frog the market and invest in new, peak performance presses. In doing so, they have a huge competitive advantage.
The packaging market is somewhat the exact opposite. The packaging market is growing in many sectors, and is also being "rediscovered" by the marketing and brand management professionals as a great return on marketing spend. The success of our entire XL platform, from 29˝ to 64˝ in the packaging sector gives us a solid view of the strength of this segment. We are particularly pleased with the success of our VLF (very large format) presses, which have recorded 30 orders since its introduction at drupa 08. In just 18 months, we have gone from a non-participant in this format, to becoming a market leader.
Printer, Pitney Bowes Clash Over Postage
BYRON, MN—A dispute over an alleged unpaid postage bill is finding its way into the court system. Schmidt Printing claims it does not owe more than $2.1 million in postage to Pitney Bowes. The printer filed its complaint after receiving a letter from Pitney Bowes President Robert DeVincenzo requesting payment, according to the Rochester Post-Bulletin.
The letter, dated Feb. 5, says that Pitney Bowes International Services, which collects postage on behalf of Royal Mail—Great Britain's postal service—is owed $2,118,909. Attorneys for Schmidt Printing acknowledged marketing materials were printed by Schmidt for Response Direct Publishing (RDP) and then mailed to residents of the U.K., but contend RDP paid the Royal Mail postage for the mailing, the newspaper reported.
The matter was complicated by RDP filing for bankruptcy in the U.K.
NewPage Buying Domtar Coated Groundwood
MIAMISBURG, OH—NewPage Corp. has reached an agreement with Domtar Corp. of Montreal to purchase Domtar's coated groundwood paper product lines and book of business. The purchase follows Domtar's decision to exit this business and close its Columbus, MS, paper mill.
The agreement covers the coated groundwood paper book of business, the Choctaw, Saturn and Jupiter brands, and the coated groundwood product inventory remaining after the Columbus mill closes. The transaction is expected to be completed in April.
Domtar reported that the paper mill has an annual production capacity of 238,000 tons of coated groundwood and 70,000 metric tons of thermo-mechanical pulp. The facility currently has 219 employees. Operations are expected to cease by the end of April 2010.
NYU Bestows Shea with Prism Award
NEW YORK—New York University named David J. Shea, chairman and CEO of Bowne & Co., the winner of the 2010 Prism Award. The honor is presented annually in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic communications media industry.
Sponsored by the NYU Master of Arts in Graphic Communications Management and Technology program, within the Division of Media Industry Studies and Design, at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the 2010 Prism Award will be presented to Shea during the 24th annual Prism Award luncheon on Wednesday, June 10, in New York City.
Previous recipients include: Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, executive vice president, HP’s Imaging and Printing Group; Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines; Antonio Perez, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak; Anne Mulcahy, chairman of Xerox Corp.; Janet Robinson, president of The New York Times; and past CEOs of RR Donnelley, Sun Chemical and The Washington Post.
Content Critical Debuts After Acquiring Assets
CARLSTADT, NJ—Content Critical, a new technology-enabled document outsourcing company, announced it has acquired certain assets of two New York-area companies—Global Document Solutions and Astoria Graphics—and is assuming immediate responsibility for servicing their customers.
"To our customers, we pledge there will be a seamless transition and no interruption in the projects now in process," said Fred Van Alstyne, president and CEO, Content Critical. "We are excited to be offering expanded state-of-the-art services to businesses across the country."
Content Critical has a pair of financial backers—private equity firm FTV Capital and Keltic Financial. The new company has more than 200 employees.
Should You Rebuild or Replace?
A couple of summers ago, while we were preparing for our family vacation, I went down in our basement to gather some items for the trip. While walking past the utility closet, I stepped on a water soaked area of our carpet and immediately thought to myself; Do I want to open the door to find out where this water is coming from? Then reality set in quickly. Do I actually have a choice?
The water trail had appeared to lead to the base of the furnace. My first hope was that it was only the ejector pump had overflowed, but after further evaluation, I determined it was internal. I realized the system was 10 years old, but it had given us very little trouble prior to that day.
We all know these sorts of things always happen at the most inopportune time. We were two days from leaving on a family vacation and now had to figure out who to call and what the repairs would entail.
The repairman arrived and had given us a couple of options that he could try to eliminate the issues. Due to the time constraint and the urgency, we took the lesser of two evils. He did what he needed and off he went.
Ten days later, we arrived back at home to find that the quick fix was not the answer and had to have a technician return to our home. Now we were faced with the decision once again. Do we pay for an attempt to repair the unit or just make the investment and replace it with a new model?
The life expectancy of UV drying systems varies for many reasons. How often the system was actually used? How well was the equipment maintained and serviced? As well as the conditions surrounding the machine. One of the most important contributing factors to remember is the age of the equipment. Many of the earlier designs are now outdated. Older units are hindered by excess power consumption and heat.
Modern engineering allow newer systems to run much cooler. The module and reflector development along with air flow enhancements have made great improvements to the units. This innovative technology has increased output energy almost 25% over antiquated systems. This translates to extended longevity and reliability of the systems. Furthermore, lower operating temperatures correlate directly to less deterioration of the printing press, in addition to increasing the stability and control of the substrates.
Keep in mind the option of lower energy consumption that is now available with the newer designed power supplies. Many of these new electronic ballast power supplies have been installed and running around the world for some time now and customers are experiencing good results. They allow better control and offer manufacturers the capability to lower the stand-by power consumption. The question that remains is the stability and overall life expectancy of the new style system vs. the bullet proof, conventional ballasts.
If you’re questioning the performance of your UV equipment, many of the manufacturers offer audits. You could just need a tune up on your existing equipment. Maybe the possibility of retrofitting new cassettes to your current system is an option. Remember that you do have alternatives to a complete replacement. This could be worth looking into from a financial perspective, as well as save you valuable production time in the long run.
We, however, made the decision to completely replace the furnace and the air conditioning unit with a new high efficiency model. For the immediate results, our electric bills were lower over the following summer months but the maintenance and total operating cost savings will have to be qualified over time.
Living the Life, and Nightmare, of Reilly
Erik CagleDoes anyone out there know Jim Reilly? He's just another face in the printing industry crowd. His life story stands out, however, as the ultimate nightmare.
By all rights, this Upper Chichester, PA, man should be plotting out his retirement and considering taking up residence in a warmer climate. Instead, he's wondering how to put the pieces back together of a life that is too far along to start over, yet too young to throw away.
The wheels started to come off for Reilly, 59, about four years ago. In 2006, his youngest son, Andrew, died in an automobile accident while returning to Millersville (PA) University. Two years later, Reilly's wife, April, passed away. Unbelievably, it keeps getting worse for this man.
Back in mid-January of this year, Reilly was laid off from the printing company where he made his living. The coup de grace came on March 8...Reilly was cooking dinner, roughly 7 p.m., when a fire broke out in his home. The blaze gutted his two-story abode, destroying virtually all of his family's possessions, according to the Delaware County Times. No one was hurt, which is about the only break Reilly has caught in a long time.
Losing the family home has magnified Reilly's burdens. He needs to keep his developmentally delayed son, Shaun, on a routine. That includes having Shaun, who cannot talk, driven to a day program where he can work. Reilly must dress his son and help him down stairs.
Reilly's daughter is having a difficult time dealing with the adversity, but relies on her boyfriend as a "calming influence," the paper reported.
As for Reilly, he has very little. He needed to replace the contents of his wallet. And he was still in the process of sifting through the debris of his home to find important papers. Maybe if he is lucky, Reilly might find a picture or memento to remind him of April and Andrew.
It's pretty damn clear by this point that Jim Reilly is anything but lucky.
He is not going to be one of those people who throws in the towel, though. "I'm starting to get things back in order," Reilly told the newspaper.
His faith has helped. The United Methodist Church Reilly attends in Elam, PA, is accepting donations on his behalf. Checks or gift cards would help most. If you want to contribute, send gifts to James Reilly Family Fund, c/o Elam United Methodist Church, 1073 Smithbridge Rd., Glen Mills, PA, 19342.
I do not know if Reilly has found another job, or if he hopes to stay in the printing industry. If a Delaware Valley printer is interested in helping this man afford new housing accommodations by offering him a job, drop me a line and I will put you in touch.