Xerox Corp.

Workers Say No to Union MONTREAL—An independent arbitrator has ruled there is no need to hold a re-run election for union representation at Quebecor World’s Covington, TN, facility, as requested by the Teamsters. The decision upholds a secret ballot election in which those employees opted against union representation. As part of the decision, it was ruled that Quebecor World’s conduct did not adhere to the neutrality provisions of the May 2005 Neutrality Agreement signed by the printer and Teamsters. CGX Finishes Nies/Artcraft Deal HOUSTON—Consolidated Graphics has completed the acquisition of St. Louis-based Nies/Artcraft Companies, which includes Nies/Artcraft Printing, Valcour Printing and Impression Label. Terms of the deal

MIAMI BEACH, FL—After watching attendance at its conference dwindle since the booming days of the ’90s, Xplor International teamed up with the successful Graphics of the Americas (GOA) exhibition and conference this year, putting on a joint event held here last month. The partnership seems to have been a wise move, as it freed Xplor from the task of organizing a trade show, allowing it to concentrate on its educational mission. More than 250 sessions were available, covering PDF, JDF, XML, digital prepress, design, variable data and more. GOA, in turn, got a host of new attendees, as well as a larger base of

If you needed additional affirmation concerning the importance of digital printing for the industry, the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) has proclaimed 2006 as “The Year of Digital Print.” The association is planning a full year of activities, events, publications and educational efforts to encourage printers to explore digital printing, expand their current levels of involvement, or embrace the full potential of digital printing for their companies. For firms that have already begun the trek down the digital path, the need to finish this digitally produced work has become even more important than in the past. According to “The Market for Print Finishing Technologies,”

User groups are far more likely to be a source for news than the subject of it. That wasn’t the case in 2005, and continuing into this year, largely due to the ripple effect of recent consolidation within the industry vendor community. Advances in technology are also contributing to the transformation of user groups. Much of this activity has been on the digital printing side of the industry, so user groups for products in that segment will be addressed here. An expanded version of this story—including updates on a broader spectrum of industry groups—will be published on www.piworld.com. When Hewlett-Packard announced last

Raising the Bar for Print Buying As adoption of digital printing has spread and evolved in the marketplace, it has become a catalyst for changes that extend beyond the way ink (toner) is put on paper. What people buy has been impacted by the short run, on-demand and variable data printing capabilities enabled by the technology. How people buy is also changing as digital printing provides impetus for the development of Web-to-print solutions. The printing industry saw its share of dotcom startups promising to revolutionize the way business is done, but the concept gained limited traction. Digital printing was one area where e-commerce/e-procurement did

Sheridan Shutters Capital City BERLIN, VT—Capital City Press' operations here are being discontinued by its parent company, The Sheridan Group, resulting in the loss of approximately 150 jobs. The printing of scientific, technical and medical journals, along with book printing, will be consolidated into other locations within the company. Much of the work will be handled by The Sheridan Press in Hanover, PA. Capital City employs 200 workers, and 45 of them—which comprise the Publications Services division—will reportedly be offered employment by Dartmouth Journal Services, another company in The Sheridan Group chain. FedEx Kinko's Opens Center DALLAS—FedEx Kinko's has taken the wraps off of its World

Digital Printing Set to Heat Up Miami Event MIAMI BEACH, FL—"The event of the Future" is how Graphics of the Americas and Xplor International are billing their combined conference and exhibit, collectively set to run from February 1-5 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Along with Xplor's Global Document Exchange conference, featuring its traditional electronic document curricula, the event will host six additional educational programs of varying lengths (1-4 days). Included will be the PDF for Print Production Print Forum and Tutorials, XML for Print Production Forum and Tutorials, Digital Technologies to Grow Your Bottom Line seminar, Creative Suite Power Tour, Photoshop for Photographers Tour seminar

Hi, it's me, just checking back in to see whether you had the opportunity to read my first column in the November issue of Printing Impressions. Did you have a chance to try out the direct mail program I outlined, designed to reduce the number of expensive and often ineffective cold calls your sales professionals are making? If so, let me hear from you. Sharing your successes may encourage others to take advantage of similar approaches and will be a tremendous help to the industry at large as we all work to find our way in the digital world. Is print dead? This question has

Heidelberg Puts Accent on Education KENNESAW, GA—The calendar said December, but the menu at Heidelberg's recent "Brats & Dots" customer event gave it the feel of an Oktoberfest, minus the beer. This open house at the company's Print Media Demonstration Center (PMDC) was followed by two days of classes for printers in its Print Media Academy and a briefing for industry editors. On the first day, printers were able to witness live demonstrations of Heidelberg's prepress, press, direct imaging and postpress solution in the 33,000-square-foot PMDC facility. The clear stars of the show were its new 40˝ Speedmaster XL 105 sheetfed press platform and

Drawing a contingent of more than 60 journalists from 30 countries, IPEX 2006 Inward Mission offered a glimpse into the upcoming international trade show of the same name. Held recently in Birmingham, UK, on the grounds of the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), the press event was a precursor to IPEX 2006, running from April 4-11. Owned by Picon, IPEX has evolved from the Great Exhibition of 1851 and is now one of the largest and most anticipated exhibitions on the international printing industry calendar. Picon reports 575 exhibitors committed to this year’s show, and expects a visitor base of 74,000 attendees. The show’s ownership feels the