Page 30 - Print21 November-December 2021

2021 Review
May
Amazon rocked the local book sector by opening its own on- demand book printing and fulfilment centre, which Amazon says will be used to print books for self- published authors, published through
Buying:
Paul Coniglio acquired Print One X
between $10-15 million, including a minority ownership interest in ePac Holdings and funding for one or more ePac sites.
Irish packaging tycoon Dermot Smurfit led an investor consortium
that acquired the seemingly doomed Whakatāne Mill, keeping it operating and saving 210 jobs. The new owners will pivot the mill away from liquid packaging board, concentrating instead on high- quality folding box board, carrier board and food service board, which are all already manufactured at the mill.
After continued growth in the on- demand personalised fulfillment space, Prima has expanded into the direct-to- garment (DTG) market with the purchase of two Kornit Atlas digital inkjet printers. Prima aims to work with a three-day turnaround on all products manufactured, and it believes having the two Kornit Atlas printers will allow it to meet demands of its clients, both current and new, across all times of the year.
New CEO: James Hannan steps into the Ovato hotseat
press specifically designed for in-mould and wet-glue label printing, and launched a new rotary die cutting unit, at a major global online event. It’s Showtime was presented around the world, with Australia
and New Zealand first
its Kindle Direct
Publishing arm. The new plant is located in Western Sydney.
Almost a year to the day after Melbourne print business Bambra Press went into voluntary administration, John Wanless once again took over the business, as it emerged from its DOCA (deed of company arrangement), following a near unanimous vote from creditors to accept 20c in the dollar.
Print X general manager Paul Coniglio purchased the business from Motor One
to view.
The company used the event – which ran
with a young, diverse group of presenters and managers, reflecting the company’s new modern outlook – to launch its new B1 press, the Speedmaster CX104, which is targeted at commercial printers running two shifts, high volume packaging printers, and special applications printers.
Two Australian print businesses, one in Brisbane and one in Melbourne, became the first local printers to order the press – one
a five-colour with coater, the other a six- colour with coater.
Covid reared its head in Sydney, then Melbourne, in what was to become a four month lockdown. Thankfully printers could keep printing, but with much of retail, sports, tourism, hospitality, events, expos, conferences not happening, markets shrank.
Leading print business Southern Impact boosted its wide format operation, with the acquisition of Peak Digital, the Seaford-based wide format specialist. Under the acquisition, Peak Digital will retain its current brand and will continue to operate and manufacture at its current premises in Seaford.
Global label heavyweight Multi-Color Corporation acquired the ANZ Hexagon label printing businesses, stumping up a reported NZ$410m (A$381m) for the group. MCC gained eight production facilities
and around 500 staff. Printers acquired through the deal include Hally Labels and Label Partners in Australia, with Adhesif Labels, Hally Labels, Kiwi Labels and Rapid Labels in New Zealand.
Returned: John Wanless takes Bambra Press back
Group, rebranded
it as Print X One.
The wholesale print company based in Mt Waverley specialises
in large and grand format digital print. It was bought by Motor One three years ago from founder Stephen Lane, when it acquired his Solar X window tinting business.
Dandenong- based flexo printer
June
Gone: Kevin Slaven, former CEO at print giant Ovato
James Hannan
became the new CEO and managing director of print giant Ovato, as Kevin Slaven headed for the door, with the company
also selling its retail distribution business to Are Media, to enable it to focus on printing. Slaven’s contract had been
Perfection Packaging, won the Diamond Award from the European Flexographic Association in the International Printing Award category. Its Eta Uppercuts Corn Tapas Bag was hailed by the judges as an “exceptional piece of print”, specifically mentioning the excellent overall tonal range, standout ink coverage and highlight reproduction
Ovato’s books, packaging, retail distribution and marketing services sales “performed solidly” over the Jan-March quarter, but heatset catalogues continued to struggle. The company said decreasing volumes as a result of Covid-19 continued to impact heatset catalogue printing and residential distribution.
due to expire in September. He had been CEO since December 2017.
Craig Dunsford was another high profile industry name to exit Ovato. Dunsford
had been with Ovato since the merger with IPMG, when he came over as CEO of Print. He was the general manager at Offset Alpine prior to his role at IPMG.
Then, just a week after it instigated
the purchase of the ANZ Hexagon labels businesses Multi-Color Corp was itself sold by its p/e owners, and will be rolled into a giant new labels and packaging operation. Label printers working for the wine sector raised their glasses in expectations
of bumper orders,
following a record
year on the vines.
Some two million
tonnes of grapes have
been crushed in the
nation’s wineries in
the last 12 months,
representing a 31 per
cent growth over last
year, with conditions
said to have been
near perfect.
Global packaging giant Amcor made a strategic investment in ePac Flexible Packaging, the fast growing global digital flexible packaging business, which
has installed 76
HP Indigo presses. The investment is estimated to range
Almost a year
after News Ltd
closed its Kawana
print centre in
Rockhampton the
plant is back up
and running, under
new owners Today
Group, producing
newspapers once
more. The print
centre houses a
six-tower two folder
Manugraph, and
Muller Martini
inserting equipment, capable of printing 48pp newspapers in one pass in full colour.
The world’s biggest offset press manufacturer Heidelberg launched a new B1 press, showed a new version of its flagship
Also gone from Ovato: former Offset Alpine boss Craig Dunsford
Into DTG: Amnon Judah, Prima
Acquiring: Rod Dawson’s Southern Impact buys Peak Digital
30 Print21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021