Large Format Review - Business News

SGIA is now accepting entries for its prestigious Golden Image Awards Competition at the 2011 SGIA Expo (New Orleans, October 19-21), which annually recognises the most innovative work in the digital and screen printing marketplace.

"This is a great opportunity for companies to compete against the best in the specialty imaging community and display their work to thousands of Expo attendees," says Johnny Shell, SGIA's vice president of technical services.

Entries will be showcased in the Expo's Golden Image Gallery October 19-20 from 9:30-5:00 pm, and on October 21 from 9:30-noon. Winners will gain international acclaim and every entrant will be considered for "Best in Show" (digital and screen printing categories), the competition's highest honour.

“Marketing Alliance Group was thrilled to be honoured with an SGIA Golden Image award,” says previous Golden Image Award winner Julie Pownall, Director for Retail Services. “I am so glad there is an avenue for screen and digital printers to be recognised for quality work.”

The entry deadline for the Golden Image Awards is October 7, 2011. SGIA printer members receive one free entry, and additional entries are $30 each. Imagers are encouraged to submit their favorite piece of work online to be considered for this esteemed award.

To learn more about the competition, category definitions, judging criteria or entry rules, visit www.SGIA.org 

Avery Dennison today announced the winners of the Avery Dennison Brand Experience Contest, which challenged designers to deliver a unique brand identity for fictional products in five categories, including children's juice, red wine, organic coffee, salad dressing and shampoo. The winners were announced at The Dieline Package Design Conference in Chicago.

Avery Dennison developed the worldwide packaging design contest to support and inspire design professionals. The contest encouraged more than 270 participants from 43 countries to leave behind normal project constraints to create work that showcased their creative skills and vision.

Selected by a panel of internationally-recognised designers, educators and thought leaders in the package design industry, the five winners reflect a global group of professionals from design and advertising firms as well as self-employed design professionals.

Avery Dennison Brand Experience Contest Category Winners:

Coffee Category

• Yve Oosthuizen, Contrast Studio, Capetown, South Africa.

Salad Dressing Category

• Steve Rischmiller, Saltmine Group, Sydney, Australia.

Juice Category

• Stuart Robson, Saltmine Group, Sydney, Australia.

Shampoo Category

• Christopher Loke, Pixology Designs, Orem, Utah, USA.

Wine Category

• Louise Besseling, Tan Branding, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

"In addition to communicating brand stories, we strive to bring more to the table by offering innovative production, design and business development ideas," said Christopher Loke of Pixology Designs, winner in the Shampoo Category. "This contest provided a unique platform for us to explore our creativity, learn about new label and packaging innovations, and receive recognition among our peers and potential clients."

The five winners received their awards at The Dieline Package Design Conference in Chicago on June 22, 2011. As title sponsor of the conference, Avery Dennison displayed the winners' work in the Brand Experience Contest booth. Following the conference, the winners will receive international acclaim on TheDieline.com, the world's number one package design website.

Additionally, Avery Dennison will create a Look Book that will be shared with 2,000 global consumer packaging brand owners. Each winner also will be given a chance to make a difference through a $1,000 donation in their names to an international charity.

"We believe that the combination of compelling design with our innovations and the high quality printing by our converter partners can ignite brands on the shelf and beyond," said Jon Maley, global vice president of marketing for Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials. "Better branding helps grow the industry for everyone."

To view the work of the winners and finalists, visit www.Enhanceyourbrand.com/design-contest.

GMG, a leading developer and supplier of high-end colour management software solutions, announces that Nustream Graphic Inc. has become a GMG reseller, representing GMG products throughout Canada.

Nustream Graphic serves the Canadian graphic arts industry with complete solutions for print-on-demand, CTP, and proofing - along with all printing supplies. Nustream Graphic's goal is a satisfied customer, supported by offering the latest in printing technology while providing guidance and support throughout the process. The company's main focus is helping small- to mid-sized printers identify the solutions that best fit their business environment. It has representation in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and everywhere in-between. The company also has an office in Europe.

"We have been involved in colour management for quite a while and believe GMG's products represent the future of colour management. That's why we, as a national dealer that carries the best products in each prepress area, have decided to offer GMG's entire line of colour management products," explains Steve Daigle, sales & marketing director. "We represent exceptional companies such as Screen in CTP, Xeikon and Agfa. With all this experience in CTP, toner and inkjet digital printing, and traditional offset, we wanted to close the loop with the best solution for colour management and make sure our customers were able to offer the most consistent colour, no matter the device. We carry a lot of different plate technologies, paper and workflows, and try to fit the best system for the individual needs of each customer. So, we decided to go with the best: GMG. We believe they offer the leading colour management solutions."

"We are pleased to be working with Nustream Graphic. Their team is well represented and has the broad expertise required to apply colour management in a variety of end-user environments.," comments Jim Summers, GMG president. "Their experience in digital, web and offset printing, along with prepress and colour management complements the GMG product line very well. Their ability to touch all these prepress areas in a one-stop shop, with automated software solutions for any prepress environment is impressive. It is also comforting that their customer support team is available to help any print provider, no matter the technology."

Canon and Océ announced today plans to combine both companies' printing operations in Japan. The move follows the completion on 9 March 2010 of the public offer by Canon Inc. for Océ outstanding common shares, which was launched with the aim of creating the overall No. 1 presence in the printing industry.

By combining their Japanese businesses, Canon and Océ will be better placed to generate sales, particularly in the wide format and production printing segments. The combined sales organisations will make both companies' products and services available to a broader customer base, serving to reinforce the Canon-Océ market position in Japan. Moreover, employees will have greater opportunities as a result of the strengthened combined business.

Procedural aspects

Since this combination comprises a related party transaction, it is being executed at arm's length. The transaction is fully in line with Canon's stated intention to adhere to prevailing Dutch corporate governance standards. The transaction has been approved by the Océ Board of Executive Directors and the independent members of the Océ Supervisory Board. This decision took the interests of all stakeholders into account.

In this context, ING Corporate Finance has rendered a fairness opinion confirming that, from a financial perspective, the price is fair to Océ and its shareholders.

* Euro amount is provided solely for the convenience of readers and is translated from yen at the rate of JPY 115 = EUR 1, the exchange rate of 22 June 2011.

Judges for the prestigious BPIF Excellence Awards have voted Northamptonshire-based Eclipse Colour as 'Company of the Year' for 2011 in the £5m+ turnover category.

Simon Moore collected the accolade on behalf of Eclipse Colour at the glitzy awards ceremony in London's revamped Café de Paris.  Eclipse Colour was the the only commercial printer to have been shortlisted in two categories - both 'Company of the year' and 'Lean Manufacturing'.

"It was a real privilege to be named the company of the year by an organisation like the BPIF and reflects what a great year we had in 2010," said managing director Simon Moore.  "It will certainly give the whole team a real boost and will highlight to our customers that they really are dealing with an award-winning company."

He added, "I'd like to thank the BPIF for not only a fantastic evening but for the support they have given us through 'Vision in Print' in the process of continual business improvement."

A panel of label industry experts has reviewed the nominations for the 2011 Label Industry Global Awards and is pleased to announce the winner of the R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award as Helmut Schreiner, Executive Manager and Owner of the Schreiner Group. The judging panel convened during the recent FINAT Congress in Sicily and selected Schreiner from a number of high-calibre nominations. The award is sponsored by Avery Dennison.

The Schreiner Group is a global provider of functional labels with a turnover of €110m and more than 720 employees from his factories in Europe and the USA. Under Helmut Schreiner’s charismatic leadership, the group has become a world-leading innovator within the label industry, developing new technologies and applications in areas that include electro-luminescent labels, printronics, RFID and anti-counterfeit technologies.

The judging panel felt that his inexhaustible passion for his company, his pioneering innovation, his input into industry associations and into the training and development of his employees, made him an outstanding nomination and worthy winner in 2011.

During the same meeting, the judges also selected the winners of the three other awards, who will be announced at the award ceremony and gala dinner during the first evening (28 September) of Labelexpo Europe 2011.

The number of entries for the Label Industry Global Awards was the highest in its seven-year history, confirming their status as the highest accolades in the label industry.

The 2011 finalists are:

Label Industry Award for New Innovation (in alphabetical order)

• Color-Logic
• Durst
• EskoArtwork
• Nilpeter
• Pantec
• Primera
• Roland DG

Label Industry Award for Continuous Innovation - sponsored by Labels & Labeling, NarroWebTech and Label & Narrow Web (in alphabetical order)

• Flexcon
• Mark Andy
• Martin Automatic
• MPS
• Novelprint
• Prati
• Tailored Solutions

European Converter of the Year Award - sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web

A shortlist will not be published for this award, but the winner will be announced at the same time as the other awards.

Judges for this year’s awards, under the chairmanship of Mike Fairley were Andrea Vimercati, President of FINAT, Art Yerecic, Chairman of the Board, TLMI, Andy Thomas, Editor of Labels & Labeling, Tony White, Editor of NarroWebTech, Jack Kenny, Editor of Label & Narrow Web and John Penhallow, Label Consultant.