June 3, 2011
CHICAGO—The RR Donnelley printing empire is taking a hit with a pair of closure notifications at plants in South Bend, IN, and Eldrige, IA, which will ultimately lead to roughly 386 lost jobs.
RR Donnelley
June 2, 2011
R.R. Donnelley & Sons is closing the doors of Bowne & Co., much to the surprise of South Bend (IN) leaders. The company, which purchased Bowne in November 2010, said it will permanently close the facility beginning about July 24. The (WARN) letter stated it would take about two weeks from that date before the entire work force of 107 people is terminated.
“After careful analysis of business and competitive conditions affecting our customers requirements and needs, we determined that to remain a leader in the highly competitive printing and related services industry, this was our only option
June 2, 2011
Chicago-based RR Donnelley announced today it is closing its Eldridge, Iowa, plant, displacing 280 workers, said Ted Harms, state rapid response coordinator for Iowa Workforce Development. Harms said the company announced it will close the Eldridge plant July 31. RR Donnelley acquired the former Von Hoffmann in January 2007. It was part of a $412.5 million deal with Visant Corp. The facility originally was Bawden Printing.
“The company’s announcement shows a high degree of corporate responsibility,” Harms said, adding that there have been companies that have just chained their doors without informing employees or the state.
June 1, 2011
Commercial printing industry news briefs, including items on Consolidated Graphics, RR Donnelley, Valassis, Grafix Systems, Southwest Offset, Mercury Print Productions, Rider Dickerson, Fort Orange Press and Printcrafters Group.
June 1, 2011
Commercial printer equipment installations and other news from Printing Impressions’ June 2011 edition, featuring items on Original Impressions and Astro-Dynamic Print and Graphic Services.
May 26, 2011
180. That’s the number of employees R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. is expected to bring to St. Charles (IL) during phase one of its new printing facility at 609 S. Kirk Road. The 513,973 square-foot building will be used for printing and binding.
According the Chris Aiston, St. Charles’ economic development director, R.R. Donnelley’s move-in will bring four, state-of-the-art printing presses during the first phase, which is expected to create about 180 new jobs in St. Charles. Phase one will encompass about half the building.
As for future phases, Aiston said the company hasn’t revealed specific plans.
May 25, 2011
The impending shut down of the book printing and bindery facility on Ahnaip St. (Menasha, WI)‚ will end a historic chapter in this community. It was learned late last week that R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. will close the building at 460 Ahnaip St. by July.
R.R. Donnelley acquired the plant when it purchased Banta Corp. of Menasha in 2007. The Ahnaip St. plant was Banta’s first major production facility. It was part of an expansion at the Doty Island operation dating back to 1911.
The decision to close its book printing and bindery facility came as a surprise to one worker
May 20, 2011
CHICAGO—RR Donnelley (RRD) has taken an equity position in Solicore. Headquartered in Lakeland, FL, Solicore is a leader in embedded power solutions, providing patented products to manufacturers of smart cards, RFID devices, medical products and electronic sensors.
May 19, 2011
In addition to Donnelley taking an equity position in Solicore, the companies’ joint development agreement will leverage Donnelley’s proprietary imaging technologies and Solicore’s patented embedded power solutions to deliver products using a combination of gravure, offset, flexographic and digital printing.
May 17, 2011
The cost to protect against a default by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. jumped to the highest level since September 2009 after Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings cut the company’s debt grade to junk. R.R. Donnelley contracts have soared 98.6 basis points since it said on May 4 that it will buy back $1 billion of shares and consider acquisitions. Moody’s, S&P and Fitch put the company on review for a downgrade to junk, citing the buybacks and resulting increase in debt.
“R.R. Donnelley participates in an industry with very poor supply/demand balance,” Bill Wolfe, a Moody’s
