Quebecor World

CHICAGO—In what could be the beginning of a serious struggle for control of their customers' access, four of the top commercial printing conglomerates in the U.S. have joined forces in an effort that could leave the new crop of dotcom print facilitators on the outside looking in. R.R. Donnelley & Sons, based here, along with Banta Corp., Quad/Graphics and Quebecor World, have announced that they are "working together to create supply-chain efficiencies for industry participants worldwide by establishing standards and leveraging enabling technologies." According to a joint statement, "by building a foundation for industry standards, the four companies will enable customers who frequently work

MONTREAL—Continuing to sharpen its focus as it grows, Quebecor World has spun off its premedia operations into a separate subsidiary, and is shedding its CD-ROM production facilities. The company has created Que-Net Media, a wholly owned subsidiary that will bring together the full range of digital and premedia assets within Quebecor World "to bring greater focus to providing a more comprehensive range of solutions to the customer base," company officials say. Chris Rudge, president of Quebecor World's Canadian operations, will become president of Que-Net Media. Officials say the subsidiary will expand upon Quebecor World's existing network of premedia centers to establish a global

From six individual companies (and eight original plants) to a unified, centralized and highly successful operation (it's No. 1 in personalized products and high-security, promotional games), Quebecor World Direct has emerged from the acquisition aftermath with a market-driven focus, new state-of-the-art "Mega Facility" and innovations that include a next-generation Internet sweepstakes device. BY CHERYL A. ADAMS Like the old Smith Barney line: We build our business one client at a time," says Mike Graham, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Quebecor World Direct (QWD). One client at a time, QWD has "quietly" become a giant, a global leader, in direct mail

BUFFALO, NY—As the industry watches Quebecor World realign its operations, the process has become almost like a sweepstakes, with many plants around the country hoping to become the conglomerate's next "mega-facility." The most recent winner is the plant here, which will be expanded to produce mass-market paperback books, including AAA tour books, as well as newspaper inserts and coupon books. The 850,000-square-foot Buffalo facility is ISO 9002 certified and currently employs approximately 900 workers. Officials say the expansion will create more than 400 new jobs in the area. "This major expansion is part of Quebecor World's strategy to consolidate operations into larger and more specialized

BY CHERYL A. ADAMS There are two sides to every story. And, likewise, the pros and cons, the pluses and minuses, the advantages and drawbacks. Whatever you call them, where there is one, there is the other. Good and bad have coexisted since the beginning of time. And so it is with the story of in-line and off-line finishing: There are advantages and drawbacks to using each technology and trade offs—speed vs. specialty finishing, high-volume price break vs. value-added extras—that ultimately go with the business...the business of web press finishing, either in- or off-line. But the finishing business is good these days—booming, in

MONTREAL—As Quebecor recreates itself into Quebecor World following the acquisition of World Color, the company finds itself growing in some sectors and pruning itself in others. On one hand, a plant in Illinois is undergoing rapid expansion; on the other hand, a plant in St. Paul, MN, is shutting down. Quebecor World Direct, the direct mail division of the company, is in the midst of creating a Midwest mega-facility in Effingham, IL, (the site of the former Quebecor Petty plant) that officials say will provide a comprehensive offering of direct response products and services in one location. The site will also include a lettershop and

MONTREAL—The first stage of "restructuring," as Quebecor integrates its operations with the former World Color operation, is complete. But the process is far from over, and it will cost Quebecor more than the company first projected. Quebecor officials say prepress operations in Denver and Orlando, and World Color plants in Lake Mary, FL, and Orlando, have already been consolidated, while the redeployment of equipment from its San Jose, CA, plant is currently under way. Officials say that other so far unspecified facilities have been identified for integration over the next 18 months. "The synergies between the Quebecor Printing and World Color operations are significantly better than

I am writing this on January 1, 2000, and there's trouble brewing in the old print shop. Yep, Joe Davis, chairman and CEO of Consolidated Graphics, announced in a press release that he "believes lower-than-expected sales volume is attributable to general industry conditions." Davis believes this statement because Andrew Paparozzi, chief economist for the National Association of Printing Leadership (NAPL), published a report that said, for the first time in 15 years, real print sales (RPS) is lagging behind gross domestic product (GDP) growth. According to Paparozzi, printing industry sales growth will slow to 3 percent to 3.5 percent from the 4 percent to 5

Chicago—Pressroom personnel and suppliers from across the United States, and as far away as Germany and Switzerland, gathered here recently at the 25th annual R&E Council Pressroom Conference to hear the latest news about technologies affecting the pressroom. Hosted by the Research & Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry, this 25th in the series of annual meetings focused on improving productivity in the pressroom. Among the technical topics discussed at the meeting were soft proofing, closed-loop color control, and coating and curing. In addition, a significant portion of the meeting was devoted to personnel recruitment, retention and management issues, and to

BY CHRISTOPHER CORNELL Each little drop in the bucket doesn't amount to much, but after a while it can turn into a torrent; that's the metaphor that applies to the graphic arts industry in 1999. Each individual merger and acquisition during the course of the year didn't affect the industry that much, but, in the aggregate, 1999 will likely be remembered as the year in which the number of companies in it noticeably shrunk. The biggest news story of the year was one just about everybody saw coming. Just after mid-year, following weeks of industry speculation, Quebecor Printing and World Color Press signed a