Helsinki

Raimo Pollari, VP Pilot Plant, KCL introduces the full service paper research facility in Helsinki, a unique environment that ranges from wood chips to finished printed product all under one roof. The facility chose Kodak VL2000 Printing System and the Kodak Prosper S10 Imprinting System as the inkjet devices used to develop and test new paper.

HARTFORD, CT—Stora Enso North America has been indicted by a federal grand jury here for allegedly participating in a price-fixing conspiracy to drive up the cost of paper used for magazines and catalogs. According to the Associated Press, the Wisconsin Rapids, WI-based manufacturer is accused of conspiring to inflate prices between August 2002 and June 2003. The indictment claims Stora Enso agreed to the plan in a meeting with an unidentified competitor. In a release from its global headquarters in Helsinki, parent company Stora Enso Oyj denied any wrongdoing and said it would enter a plea of not guilty at the arraignment. The company

Flint Ink, XSYS Print Merge ANN ARBOR, MI—Flint Ink and XSYS Print Solutions of Stuttgart, Germany, have agreed to merge. The combination creates a global ink supplier with revenues of roughly $2.6 billion and with about 8,000 employees. Pending regulatory approval, the deal is slated to be finalized around September 30. XSYS was created by the 2004 merger of BASF Printing Systems and ANI Printing Inks. Finnish Paper Lockout Ends HELSINKI, FINLAND—Finland's major paper manufacturers and unions representing more than one million forest industry workers finally reached a labor agreement after being urged to return to the negotiating table by Finland Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. The

Commercial printers convert paper for customers for many types of jobs: books, pamphlets, newspapers, business forms, catalogs, lists, leaflets, magazines, posters, bibles, hymnals, greeting cards, programs, calendars, albums. There are thousands of printers throughout the world, from Helsinki to Auckland, from Vladivostok to Capetown, from Beirut to Hong Kong. No two print jobs are identical, no two print shops are the same, and the needs of no two print customers are exact counterparts. The basic economic problem of printers is pricing their conversion service for hundreds of different jobs using technology that is shifting—even as we write. Price is what customers will