GenesisNews: Best of 2009 Part 1, January to June

Feel the Fabric: See April's Entry

Whilst 2009 might not be a year that many will want to celebrate from a business perspective, there has been some good news during the course of the year. As we near the end of 2009, it is surely a good time to focus on some of those stories that we enjoyed publishing on GenesisNews. This selection is from the first six months of the year:

January 2009: Hosted Rental Service for DigiQuote and JobControl Software

TimeHarvest Limited, the award-winning software development company specialising in digital print, announced a solution to three pressing needs amongst digital printing companies: firstly, to preserve cashflow; secondly, to provide increased data security; and finally, for sales staff to be able to roam whilst still having full access to office based systems. The solution? To make TimeHarvest products available via a Hosted Rental Service. Full story . . .

February 2009: Benson Group Moves into Pharma Labels Sector

Folding carton specialist Benson Group announced details of its first move into the labels sector with the purchase of a Gallus EM340S printing press with a Scantech VisionTrack rewind and inspection machine for its pharmaceutical-focused Medica Packaging business in Crewe, Cheshire. The seven-colour Gallus EM340S UV-Flexographic press, is capable of a wide range of label production formats, including reverse printing, printing on adhesive, edge slit, in-line die cutting, as well as printing onto a wide range of substrates. Full story . . .

March 2009: UK First for Xeikon at Hine Labels

Hine Labels Ltd, Rotherham, Yorkshire, announced details of a decision to upgrade its existing Xeikon label press to a new Xeikon 3000 machine. The installation was the first Xeikon 3000 digital label press in the UK. Xeikon 3000 has been designed as a counterpart to the Xeikon 3300 label press, and contains many of the same features as its “bigger brother”. Full story . . .

March 2009: “ISO 12647 Proficient Printer” Standard for Benson Box

Benson Group, headquartered in Bardon, Leicestershire, announced details of its newly acquired “ISO 12647 Proficient Printer” status, as awarded by colour specialists Mellow Colour, for its Benson Box carton printing operation. Benson Box, Bardon, specialises in the production of folding cartons for the food industry. Work on the colour standard was also underway at the three other Benson Group sites at Gateshead, Newcastle, and Crewe, the group’s 100% pharmaceutical plant. Full story . . .

April 2009: New Ryobi as X1 Growth Continues

X1, the Slough-based print and graphic design company, announced the installation of a new Ryobi 524GX press, as well as the purchase and consolidation of Jackson Print, a Hayes-based printing company, into the business. The incorporation of the order book and staff of Jackson Print took place in February 2009. Full story . . .

April 2009: Reflections Invited you to Feel the Fabric

Reflections, the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, announced the launch of a new fabric-surfaced substrate for printers and graphic designers who are seeking something different and exciting for a special promotional campaign. The substrate combines a card backing and a laminated fabric surface. Full story . . .

May 2009: MGS: Pre-Press Growth in a Recession

Marlowe Graphic Services Ltd (MGS), Leighton Buzzard, the UK’s leading independent pre-press service and maintenance company, recorded significant growth in its business during the early recessionary months fo 2009. Darren Eliot, Managing Director of MGS, said: “We have been delighted with the additional business that has been coming our way in recent months.” Full story . . .

June 2009: Ryobi DI Elected Winner by Kall Kwik Horsham

Kall Kwik Horsham declared its recent purchase of a Ryobi 3404X-DI press to be a real winner following a significant vote in its favour from political party UKIP. A local UK Independence Party (UKIP) representative recently approached the high street based franchise to produce some posters. After a swift and cost effective job was produced, further discussions took place with party leaders, and an agreement was reached for Kall Kwik Horsham to produce the political group’s publicity material for the whole of the UK during the recent local and European elections. An ongoing relationship is now being forged on the back of the performance of the Ryobi press. Full story . . .

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Apex Launches Five Colour Ryobi GE Press

Apex Digital Graphics, the official UK distributor for Ryobi presses, celebrated the official launch of the recently announced Ryobi 525GE B3 landscape format offset press at its November open house event. The event, staged on November 4^th and 5^th at Apex’s Hemel Hempstead HQ,  was staged to celebrate the company’s 20^th Anniversary, and Ryobi’s 35 years of supplying printing equipment to the UK market.

The GE Series was announced as the successor to the HE Series of entry level presses by Ryobi at Drupa 2008. To date the range has included two and four-colour press variants. The announcement of the five-colour version of the machine offers printers a significant space and price saving over the equivalent Ryobi GX Series machine.

With regard to the configuration of the new press, Neil Handforth, Sales and Marketing Director at Apex Digital Graphics, said: “The five-colour configuration of the GX Series is probably our most popular. The GE variant offers considerable automation, but will take some 38% less space than a five-colour GX machine, making it ideal for companies where shop floor space is at a premium.”

The new 525GE will come complete with low pile delivery – another space saving feature. The press can also be fitted with a swing-away numbering unit (NP option) – the first time that this option has been made available for a five-colour Ryobi press. The NP option can also be retrofitted. As standard the machine will be shipped with Ryobi’s PCS-JX printing control system, incorporating an LCD touch-screen display and on-board PC for efficient networking.

“This new GE machine gives us more options,” added Neil Handforth. “We have had situations in the past where prospects were keen to invest in a five-colour B3format machine, but available space meant that the GX was not suitable for them. The GE, with its very compact design, will help us to resolve such issues.”

Combining function and style in an attractive new design the Ryobi 520GE Series includes many features for reducing make-ready times. These include semi-automatic plate changing as standard, as well as automated cleaning for ink rollers and blankets, and Ink Volume Setter software for the efficient transfer of ink profile information from the pre-press department. The PCS-JX incorporates Ryobi Program Inking to automatically supply ink to the ink rollers to match the image from the very start of printing.

Apex Digital Graphics Limited

Apex Digital Graphics Limited is a specialist in the supply and service of pre-press and press equipment. Apex is the official UK distributor of Ryobi presses, the Screen Micra 55 metal plate system, the ECRM range of polyester platemaking units, and a range of B2-format computer-to-plate products. The company offer national service coverage, and a one-stop shop for print consumables featuring next day delivery.

Apex Digital Graphics can be contacted on 01442 235 236 or via the www.apexdigital.co.uk web site.

STOP PRESS:

December 4th edition of PrintWeek magazine includes a Product of the Week review of the Ryobi 525GE. Click here for this detailed and independent review.

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Free MicroMotion Samples at mediaPro 09

Z-Card Samples at mediaPro09

Reflections, the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, has enjoyed the free circulation of samples of its MicroMotion finish to all mediaPro 09 exhibition visitors.

The exhibition, which took place on November 4 and 5, was attended by Reflections customer Z-CARD^®, and samples of a promotional Z-CARD^® were provided within the exhibition catalogue bag handed out to all visitors to the event. The exceptionally creative promotional Z-CARD^® samples enjoy MicroMotion highlights on both the front and back covers to give them an exclusive feel and look.

The following day, November 6, another MicroMotion promotion was incorporated by Reflections on a special-edition front cover of PrintWeek magazine.

Luke Hastings, Joint Managing Director of Reflections, said: “MicroMotion gives a unique and exciting appearance to print, and has particular benefits for promotional items. We were delighted to find out that Z-CARD^® used their promotional products at this show, as it really is a great advert for MicroMotion. This was duly supported by the use of the same finishing technique on our PrintWeek cover which was published on the very next day!”

MicroMotion, a finish exclusively available from Reflections, is able to add an air of uniqueness, and indeed security, to a print project. The speciality varnish is available in a number of stock patterns, but bespoke variants can also be created.

If you didn’t attend mediaPro 09 but would still like to get your free MicroMotion sample, please e-mail lukehastings@reflections.co.uk requesting one to be despatched immediately!

About Reflections

Reflections the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, with three production centres in London, Essex and Kent. The services provided by Reflections to the print trade include: laminating, overall UV varnishing, spot UV, foil blocking, die-cutting and creasing along with many other more specialised effects.

The wide range of speciality finishes available from Reflections is exampled by MicroMotion, a unique screen printing process that provides colour shifts and subtle sparkling of the image when the final print is angled by the viewer. Suitable for application to virtually any stock, MicroMotion is just one of the patented special finishes available from Reflections.

The company provides the highest level of quality alongside a fast and reliable service to meet the needs of today’s modern print environment.

For further views of Reflections visit the recently revised www.reflections.co.uk web site, or call 0208 305 6333.

For further information on Z-CARD^® visit www.zcard.com or call Lander Davidson (Head of Sales) on 0207 801 3789

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Commendations All Round for Benson Group

Benson Group, the UK’s leading privately owned carton printer, has been recognised again at both of this year’s major industry awards ceremonies. The company was commended at both the PrintWeek and the more recent UK Packaging Awards, hosted by Packaging News, to illustrate again the consistency of performance at the company.

At the UK Packaging Awards, Benson Group, last year’s winner of the Packaging Company of the Year award, was highly commended in recognition of the printed carton supplier’s sustained good performance. “Both in customer satisfaction and financially, Benson’s success is thoroughly deserved,” said one judge.

October’s PrintWeek 2009 Awards focused on Benson Group’s consistency, as this was the third time in four years that the company had been commended in the Company of the Year category. The awards brochure cited unparalleled success at the company since 2002, and recognised the business as the largest independent carton manufacturer in the UK.

“Whilst it is always nice to win awards, we do also appreciate being commended for our overall success and professionalism,” said Mark Kerridge, Managing Director of Benson Group. “The consistency that we have shown over the years at the major awards events is, we believe, second to none. To be commended three years in four in the award that recognises the best print company in the country is a tremendous accolade for a packaging company. Even just to make the final of this award, as we have done for six consecutive years, brackets you with the print industry’s elite: the top few companies of 10,000 or so potential winners.

“Having won the Packaging Company of the Year in 2008 we have again shown great consistency in being highly commended this year. These awards are for the whole of the team that we have assembled here at Benson Group, and everybody involved with the company should feel a sense of pride in these achievements.”

About Benson Group

Benson Group, the Packaging Company of the Year for 2008, is the UK’s leading privately owned printed carton supplier, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Benson Group achieves annual sales in excess of £93 million. Food manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company’s two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. These two sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. Since 2000, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £25 million. The company recently announced details of the acquisition of various trading assets of Glasgow-based packaging company Cameron Linn.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavör, Samworth Brothers, and leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit the www.bensongroup.co.uk web site.

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100 Million for Benson’s Two Year Old Heidelberg

Counter showing the 100 million mark just past!

Benson Group, the UK’s leading privately owned carton printer, has announced details of a landmark performance from its first Heidelberg XL 105, with the press passing the 100 million sheet count after just 25 months of production.

To put this figure into perspective, a recently replaced CD102 from Benson’s Bardon plant had produced a very efficient 245 million sheets in 15 years. That equates to just over 16 million sheets per year – an amount produced by the XL 105 in just four months.

“We are delighted with the stunning productivity and reliability of the XL 105, and are looking forward to similar excellence from our recently installed second machine,” said Mark Kerridge, Managing Director of Benson Broup.

“These numbers just emphasise the advances made in offset press technology in recent years, particularly with regard to makeready. In the competitive world of packaging, we need such advances in order to remain at the forefront of our sector, and to ensure that we can handle the ever growing demands in terms of both quality and turnaround times required by our customers.”

This latest news follows the recent installation of the second Heidelberg XL 105 at Benson Group’s flagship Bardon, Leicestershire, site.

About Benson Group

Benson Group, the Packaging Company of the Year for 2008, is the UK’s leading privately owned printed carton supplier, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Benson Group achieves annual sales in excess of £93 million. Food manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company’s two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. These two sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. Since 2000, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £25 million. The company recently announced details of the acquisition of various trading assets of Glasgow-based packaging company Cameron Linn.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavör, Samworth Brothers, and leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit the www.bensongroup.co.uk web site.

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Software Suppliers Lend Helping Hand at Erskine

Two specialist software companies are helping ensure Erskine Print, run by the veterans’ charity Erskine, put its stamp on the commercial printing market.

Erskine, which runs five care homes across Scotland, is a leading employer of ex-Service men and women with supported employment, not only across the care sector, but its four commercial businesses which includes Erskine Print.

TimeHarvest Ltd, based in Oxford, has donated DigiQuote-Lite quoting software which will assist Erskine Print in quoting and production and help to deliver cost-effective pricing for its customer and client base.

Geoff Stephens, Managing Director of TimeHarvest Ltd, recently visited the Erskine Print factory to provide a day of software training to Alan Crawley, Erskine Print manager and his staff.

Following on from his visit, FileMaker International, the leader in easy-to-use database software and a supplier to TimeHarvest Ltd, also donated two copies of FileMaker Pro database software and accompanying licences after hearing about the work of Erskine from Geoff.

Alan Crawley, Erskine Print manager, said: “We are obviously delighted to receive such generous donations of estimating software from TimeHarvest and FileMaker, particularly in the current economic climate. It’s very gratifying that the work we do in offering meaningful employment and training to disabled and able bodied ex-Service people has been recognized in such a manner. The easy-to-use software will help us to sharpen our commercial edge in an industry where producing accurate quotations in very short time lines is vital.”

Geoff Stephens, added: “Getting professional, accurate quotes out on time is as vital to Erskine Print as it is to any commercial company. It’s our pleasure to support our veterans in this way.”

Tony Speakman, FileMaker’s Regional Manager in Northern Europe commented:“When we heard about the great work that Erskine Print are doing we were more than happy to help where we could and provide software. The team does a great job and we were hugely impressed with their efforts in helping ex-service people into the workplace. It’s an extremely worthy cause and we hope that our donation can help to make them even more productive and successful.”

For further details about Erskine Print visit www.erskine.org.uk.

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StudioRIP Announces New Activity in North America

Norman Reedman, President, Newtec Systems Inc

StudioRIP, the UK-based independent software RIP provider, has announced details regarding the its newly formed relationship with Newtec Systems Inc, based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. The company is to act as a distributor for the StudioRIP software in both Canada and USA, with a view to the creation of StudioRIP North America, which will trade as a division of Newtec Systems.

First product sales have already been recorded, with one StudioRIP full workflow solution being sold to a Toronto-based print shop, and another package being sold to the Canadian subsidiary of PaperlinX Ltd. The later customer is expected to become a full StudioRIP OEM partner in the near future, according to Newtec Systems President, Norman Reedman.

Newtec Systems Inc has worked closely with Paperlinx International over the last six months and has successfully concluded a private label agreement where Paperlinx will incorporate both RealVue 3D and StudioRip Workflow Edition into their line or pre-media products worldwide.

This North American success comes as a direct result of StudioRIP’s recent appearance at the PRINT 09 show in Chicago. Andy Hemmings, Sales Director for StudioRIP, said: “The show represented the ideal opportunity for StudioRIP to create relationships with potential partner companies, and our meeting with the team from Newtec Systems was certainly the most successful. We have met with Norman and his team again since the show, and we have been able to agree on a plan for distribution in both Canada and the United States. Newtec Systems have an experienced pre-press team, and we are looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

Technical training for the personnel who will man the fledging StudioRIP North America operation is already underway, and the Newtec Systems team are currently identifying suitable partners within the North American market. “We are seeking to appoint a number of experienced re-sellers in order to cover this large territory,” said Norman Reedman. “It is important for us to find the right partners. We certainly are not going to just appoint everybody who shows a mere interest. We will need partners who understand the business, are going to be proactive in the market, and can recognise the huge potential in the StudioRIP product.

“PaperlinX will be an important OEM for the product, and we are also in discussion with a number of other major resellers who may want to take a similar OEM status,” he added. “We certainly expect to have achieved some significant results in North America by the time the Graphics of the Americas Expo show [Miami, Florida] comes around in February.”

About StudioRIP

StudioRIP is a software RIP compatible with PostScript Level 3 and PDF 1.7, and is designed for high performance imaging tasks, making it suitable for interfacing to a wide range of computer-to-plate systems, imagesetters, inkjet and laser printers.

Pre-press experts who would like to examine and test the performance and features of StudioRIP can download a free “demo” system of Version 3.0 by visiting the www.studiorip.co.uk web site.

One of the most exciting and unique features of the product is that it can be configured around a user’s needs, with the optional inclusion of post-RIP imposition, in-RIP trapping, ink duct control software, second order stochastic screening (hybrid AM screening included as standard), TIFF output, multiple print engine output, and digital proofing output. StudioRIP Client software can provide for remote operation of all RIP functions from any PC or Mac workstation.

StudioRIP 3.0 also includes a flexographic option, which is capable of providing 37.5 degree angles, flexo dot, dot gain, and dispro compensations. The software also provides a seamless option for flexographic plate production.

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TimeHarvest: Invoice in Just One Click!

TimeHarvest, the award-winning MIS system for digital print companies, has responded to the current postal difficulties by adding a new e-invoicing facility to its popular JobControl product.

With just one click users are able to send an invoice as an e-mail with a branded PDF attached. At the same time a copy of the invoice is archived in a “Sent Invoices” mailbox. Invoices can also carry a user-defined promotional message via another feature recently added to the JobControl system.

New users will benefit from this feature immediately, whilst existing hosted customers can have the feature added free of charge on request. The new facility is also available to non-hosted clients for a small charge.

Geoff Stephens, Managing Director of TimeHarvest, said: “In these challenging times I firmly believe that small businesses need to help look after each other. The idea for adding this simple feature to our software was born purely out of recent events with the postal workers. Small businesses need to get their invoices to customers on time, often in order to meet payment system deadlines. Just a couple of days delay caused by a postal strike can often mean having to wait a whole month longer for payment. By generating an instant PDF and e-mailing it through to the client our customers will be able to avoid any such delay.”

The TimeHarvest JobControl software – the MIS package developed for the busy digital printer – provides the tools to produce all necessary job documentation from job ticket through to invoice. The product features the “Day Board” where users can see exactly where each job is in the print production process, and can also see what work has yet to be completed.

TimeHarvest was founded in 2003 by digital print veteran Geoff Stephens for the express purpose of developing affordable, easy-to-use software aimed squarely at users of modern digital presses. The company operates from the UK but has clients throughout Europe, North America and South Africa.

For further information visit the www.timeharvest.com web site or contact the company direct at TimeHarvest Ltd, Mill Corner, Littleworth Village, Oxford, OX33 1TR, telephone 01865 989111.

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