Quebecor World

CHICAGO—RR Donnelley is consolidating the assets of its Minnesota plants in Eden Prairie and Chanhassen under one roof in order to reduce cycle times and minimize handoffs between facilities. The workflow will be re-engineered in the newly configured footprint at Chanhassen, allowing the printer to better meet customers' transactional marketing communications needs in major metropolitan areas. The Chanhassen facility is expected to be fully integrated and operational early next year.

MONTREAL—Quebecor Inc. was unsuccessful in its bid with the Quebec Superior Court to stop its former printing subsidiary, Quebecor World, from purchasing a press to produce advertising inserts, according to Canadian Press (CP). A U.S. bankruptcy court also gave the green light for the purchase of two other presses, for a total investment of US$50 million.

Grafikom, the sheetfed, digital and specialty printing company that spun off from Quebecor World in November of 2005, has ceased operations and is in receivership, according to the Edmonton Journal. The move leaves more than 500 employees in eight facilities out of work.

ONE OF the characteristics of a difficult economy is the slowdown of consumer confidence, which has a trickle-up effect on the goods and services sector. Less spending equals lower demand, equals lesser manufacturing output. The schizophrenic bounces of the oil market in 2008 is perhaps an extreme example.

SOFTENING SALES. Declining revenues. Cutbacks, layoffs, bankruptcies. Unfortunately, these are the buzz words for 2008—not only for printers, but for most manufacturing segments across the United States.

IF THIS magazine chose to hand out an award for the biggest newsmaker of the year, the 2008 honor would go to Quebecor World (QW), hands down. One might contend that the attention, while merited, is not the type of exposure a company would want: Financing issues, trying to sell an unprofitable venture and muddling through with bankruptcy in two countries. But Quebecor World is a printer for our economic times, the No. 2 in North America at a time when market leaders (Circuit City, AIG, Lehman Bros.) have come crashing down.

BAILOUTS OF financial institutions and pleas for assistance from domestic auto manufacturers have put top executive performance and compensation into the headlines. The excesses that fueled public outrage won’t be found among the earnings of principal officers at the largest publicly held printing companies included in Printing Impressions’ 19th annual executive compensation report.

TORONTO—Grafikom, the sheetfed, digital and specialty printing company that spun off from Quebecor World in November of 2005, has ceased operations and is in receivership, according to the Edmonton Journal. The move leaves more than 500 employees in eight facilities out of work.

MONTREAL—Quebecor World has been awarded substantial new print volume from US Weekly, a celebrity and entertainment title published by Wenner Media. Under the agreement, Quebecor World will print almost 20 percent more volume, giving it a majority of the magazine's share. Most of the increased volume will be produced at its Dallas facility. Earlier this year, Quebecor World notched a multi-year pact with Wenner, becoming the exclusive printer for such titles as Rolling Stone and Men's Journal.

Quebecor World, the Montreal-based magazine, book, catalog, direct mail, directory, magazine and retail insert printer. has experienced a roller coaster of fortunes in 2008—bankruptcy, a new leader, new accounts, lost accounts, done deals gone sour, financing misfires and triumphs, shuttered facilities, lost jobs, and now...a new hope.