The Kansas City Star to move from downtown building, shift printing operations (kansascity.com)

Xerox announced a suite of production print innovations including new presses, technology enhancements for existing printers as well as artificial intelligence and automation features that aid speed and productivity. Xerox unveiled the following innovations: *A Color Accelerator module for Baltoro, expanding inkjet applications and adding ink-saving automation *Addition of fluorescent pink to the Iridesse Production Press, enhancing its metallics, white and clear color palette *Three new printers capable of higher volumes, more media and extended color options in the VersaLink and Versant family *Two Xerox Nuvera print speed upgrades that best competition *AI-enabled media manager software that enables high-quality images with minimal set-up and staff time *Automated workflow updates to seamlessly print embellishments with FreeFlow Core 6.0

HP Inc. and IWCO Direct announced a strategic agreement for the supply of a fleet of HP PageWide Web Presses to drive the market for data-driven marketing communications solutions. The multi-million-dollar investment by IWCO Direct in seven high-volume HP PageWide Web Presses is the cornerstone of a $50 million investment being made by the company to continue to grow their performance marketing business using primarily HP digital printing by 2023. The presses deliver next-level inkjet color quality and speed for a wide range of direct mail applications across a broad range of substrates such as letters, postcards, catalogs, and folded mailers. “The HP technology upgrades our data-driven performance marketing services to maximize the return on marketing investment (ROMI) for our clients, which is critical in today’s climate. Our clients value the effectiveness of direct mail, but want to produce it faster and integrate it with companion channels, so they can reach their recipients more quickly with personalized, relevant messages,” said John Ashe, CEO of IWCO Direct.

To get the facts on the supply chain crisis, PRINTING United Alliance recently launched the Printing Industry Supply Chain Conditions Survey. Nearly 200 companies, including commercial printers, graphic and sign producers, apparel decorators, functional printers, and package printers/converters, have participated to date. Our survey confirms that the crisis is getting worse. For every substrate covered, reports that availability has decreased over the past 60 days far exceed reports of the opposite, with the highest percentages reporting declines in the availability of coated paper (84.8%), uncoated paper (79.2%), vinyl (62.6%), and plastics other than vinyl (55.7%). Moreover, majorities ranging from 96.7% for coated paper to 74.4% for textiles/fabrics and newsprint report prices continue to rise (see Figure 1). details at: https://www.piworld.com/article/survey-sheds-light-supply-chain-crisis-substrates-consumables/