International Paper

Commercial printing industry supplier company and personnel news from Printing Impressions’ March 2011 edition.

xpedx now has a network of seven Package Design Centers with the opening of centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and Rochester, NY, and the expansion of existing design centers in metropolitan Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Juarez, Mexico.

How can we change the public perception that print is dying? It will take a united effort, because the campaign against printed products is in full force.

“By providing a clearer understanding of who owns the forests and the challenges these landowners face, ‘Go Paper. Grow Trees.’ is intended to correct misinformation and provide a realistic perspective on the role that paper products play in keeping our forests healthy and growing,” said Teri Shanahan, IP’s vice president, Commercial Printing.

International Paper on Friday announced it is phasing out pre-print operations at its Shreveport manufacturing facility over the next 90 days, resulting in the loss of approximately 20 of the plant's 35 jobs. The plant's coating operations will continue to operate, according to a company news release.

The decision to phase out the pre-print operations was made to match International Paper's supply with the needs of its customers and to take advantage of the efficiencies in its other facilities. The pre-print operation at Shreveport prints packaging for the consumer products industry.

For the most part, coated and uncoated offset papers run reasonably well on toner-based digital systems but, with inkjet, it's a whole different ball game. Inkjet inks have a high water content, and tend to soak into uncoated papers or sit up on coated papers where they may smear.

WatchPrintWork is a customizable video that offers printers a new, free way to sell their digital printing capabilities through a professionally produced on-line video.

Commercial printing industry supplier company and personnel news from Printing Impressions' January 2009 edition.

CINCINNATI—Mary Laschinger has been named president of xpedx, replacing Tom Kadien, and will also serve as senior vice president of xpedx's parent company, International Paper (IP). In addition, Scott Brown becomes national sales representative for Ryobi large-format presses, with responsibility for growing capital equipment sales in the central and southern United States. A 24-year industry veteran, he formerly worked for Heidelberg and Komori.

MEMPHIS, TN—International Paper plans to permanently close three facilities and a paper machine, resulting in the loss of about 1,600 employees. The impacted plants are a paper mill and associated operations in Franklin, VA, as well as containerboard facilities in Pineville, LA, and Albany, OR. A previously idled No. 3 machine at the Valliant, OK, containerboard mill will also be shut down permanently. The shutdowns will reduce the company's North American paper and board capacity by 2.1 million tons.