Printer Jam: Serious Supply Issues Disrupt the Book Industry’s Fall Season (nytimes.com)

HP Inc. announced the delivery of the 100th HP Indigo 100K Digital Press marking a milestone as customers continue to thrive on the breakthrough press. Adding to their existing fleet of 5 HP Page Wide and Indigo products, award winning print service provider Solopress, continues in their digital transformation this month, with the installation of the HP Indigo 100K Digital press. Simon Cooper, MD of Solopress, comments, “We’re really pleased to see the market turn a corner and orders start to increase after a very tough period. During the last few years we’ve spent time as a business making changes which deliver more value to our customers. And in of support of that goal, we recently added the HP Indigo 100K to our fleet, which alongside the introduction of HP Siteflow, complements our existing automation capabilities.”

As package printers are well aware, the packaging segment of the printing industry is one of consistent growth. Meanwhile, many commercial printers that have either found their growth at a plateau, or even on a decline, have caught onto this trend and are looking into adding packaging services to their repertoires. According to Kevin Karstedt, CEO of Karstedt Partners, the folding carton market is a good place to start for commercial printers because it relies mostly on sheetfed offset printing. But before a printer can go ahead and start printing packaging jobs on an offset press, Karstedt says it’s important for them to assess whether their current equipment is up to the challenge. “If a commercial printer only has a four-color press, they’re going to be challenged for producing packaging, unless they can produce work that is CMYK oriented, and there are no special or corporate colors,” Karstedt says. “Some older sheetfed presses also don’t handle paperboard very well, so they’re not going to be able to produce folding cartons.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Edwards Brothers Malloy announced that it plans to consolidate all offset printing operations into its Ann Arbor, Mich., location by the end of 2018. As a result, it will be closing its offset printing facility located in Lillington, N.C., which will impact the job positions of approximately 100 workers employed there over the next nine-month period. “This was a very difficult decision,” said John Edwards, Edwards Brothers Malloy president and CEO, in a prepared statement. “We continue to see shrinking demand for offset printing and double-digit growth in digital printing. We want to increase our digital footprint and be sure we’re well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities and new markets.” The phased shutdown of the Lillington offset printing facility is planned to begin in April and should be completed by the end of the year, according to the company. Edwards added that the move will lead to “some” job growth in Michigan and that Lillington employees are encouraged to apply for work at its Ann Arbor location. Click Read More below for additional information.