Commercial Printing Industry News Briefs from Printing Impressions’ March 2013 edition, including items on Vertis Communications; EPS-Doublet and Think BIG Solutions; Royal Printing and Modern Printing; Classic Graphics; The John Roberts Co.; the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Valassis Direct Mail; Impressions Plus Printing and Copying; and Eastman Kodak.
Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics chairman, president and CEO, shared his insights on the importance of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to private industry and the U.S. economy at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s hearing on "Solutions to the Crisis Facing the U.S. Postal Service" on February 13. He was the only printer and member of private industry invited to testify.
U.S. printing prices have failed to keep pace with inflation during the past 25 years, the CEO of the country’s second largest printing company told a Senate panel this week.
“During that same time period, the price of postage has continued to increase and as a result the single largest expense of printing is now the postage associated with delivering the final product,” Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & CEO of Quad/Graphics Inc., testified Wednesday during a Senate hearing on the “Crisis Facing the U.S. Postal Service.”
A bankruptcy and company selloff by parent company Vertis Communications will result in the closure of the Medina Vertis printing facility on East Smith Road as of May 1. A total of 52 employees will lose their jobs.
Vertis plants in Dallas, New Jersey and Fort Erie, Ontario will also be closed. According to Canadian news sources, Vertis officials closed the plant there without previous warning or severance pay for the approximately 100 employees.
Commercial Printing Industry News Briefs from Printing Impressions’ February 2013 edition, including items on Colorfx, Quad/Graphics, Impact Color, Toof Commercial Printing, RR Donnelley (RRD), Murray Printing, Vertis and Xeikon NV.
PI's longtime technology editor, Mark Smith, was a visionary who foresaw how the Internet would redefine the publishing and printing worlds. But, at age 51, Mark lost a six-month battle with mouth cancer on Jan. 21. His goal from day one was to lead our online efforts, including building www.PIworld.com from the ground floor and, subsequently, the launch of our daily e-newsletter.
SUSSEX, WI—Quad/Graphics has completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Vertis Holdings for a net purchase price of $170 million. This assumes a purchase price of $267 million less the payment of $97 million for current assets that are in excess of normalized working capital requirements. Quad/Graphics used cash on hand and drew on its revolving credit facility to finance the acquisition.
TORONTO—A printing plant owned by Vertis has been shut down in Fort Erie (Stevensville), Ontario, leaving the staff without jobs or compensation. About 100 members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) Local 425G in the Niagara region have just learned of the closure and are confronting the company’s reported refusal to pay out termination and severance, required under Canadian law.
Quad/Graphics reports that it has completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Vertis Holdings for a net purchase price of $170 million. “We have strengthened our retail ad insert, direct marketing and in-store marketing solutions, and have expanded our support services to include media planning and placement, and marketing services. With more talent and broader solutions, we are better positioned than ever to drive business results for our clients,” said Joel Quadracci.
SUSSEX, WI—Quad/Graphics will close its plant in Dubuque, IA, by early March, leaving more than 200 employees without work, several sources reported. The plant has changed ownership several times since it opened in 1949. Quad/Graphics obtained the facility in 2010.
