Xeikon executives were joined by Elgin mayor Dave Kaptain, Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Carol Gieske and Economic Development Group director Tony Lucenko for a gala ribbon cutting to inaugurate the facility.

Eighty per cent of the 39,000-sf facility is dedicated to customer support functions, including an innovation centre featuring Xeikon dry toner and UV-IJ printer solutions. The new headquarters will also showcase the company’s software solutions as well as offer warehousing and office space.

“Customer needs continue to evolve and a company must be adaptive and agile to remain competitive,” said Benoit Chatelard, Xeikon CEO. “This new facility was designed and developed with that in mind.”

Xeikon, the digital division of Flint Group, was founded more than 30 years ago. The company provides large-scale solutions to print and packaging suppliers in a variety of consumer and business-to-business markets worldwide.

The new space includes regional fulfillment and sales and support centres, classrooms for employee and customer training, assembly and fabrication shops, a proof-of-concept design area, and engineering labs for customer product and demonstration engagement.

Additionally, Motion Ai capabilities at this facility include conveyor and automation systems builds, robotic and machine vision solutions, expanded pneumatic and machine control solutions, machining, welding, and more comprehensive value-added offerings.

“We wanted to meet the growing demands of our customers and the industry by growing every facet of automation and robotics solutions,” said Aurelio Banda, senior vice-president, Automation Intelligence, Motion, Motion Ai’s parent company. “Our investments allow for future, incremental expansion within our structure up to 30 per cent beyond our current growth plans. This will also allow us to add employees over time.”

The Packaging Innovation Center will be the home of a Fusion C flexographic press, Hudson-Sharp’s Ares 400-SUP stand-up pouch machine, a Meridian Elite laser anilox cleaner, an ELS-MAX inline press and the ION digital printing platform. These machines will be available for demonstrations, as well as for hands-on learning and training opportunities. The centre also features tools and supplies for anilox sleeves, plate-mounting, colour-proofing, plate and print inspection, sleeve-cleaning and plate sleeves and tapes.

“We’re excited to be able to welcome printing and converting customers into our facility to experience our innovations firsthand,” said Rodney Pennings, PCMC’s director of sales–printing, coating and laminating. “Our new Packaging Innovation Center is a vision that we’ve had for several years, and it’s rewarding to see it finally be completed.”

The new 100-ft, fully enclosed photopolymer plate production line will be a parallel operation to the company’s current production line in Morristown, Tenn. The line will feature state-of-the-art technology all integrated within a single control system. Additionally, energy-efficient features within the line will help to reduce MacDermid’s per unit greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are experiencing substantial growth in demand in the European region along with our global business. The new manufacturing line in Wigan is a logical investment to expand our production capacity and bring manufacturing closer to a significant portion of our growing customer base,” stated Matt Bennett, vice-president of EMEA.

The new production line in Wigan is expected to come online in the second half of 2022.

FXC is a partnership between MacDermid and SOMA, and is an expansion of their initial plans to install a SOMA Optima2 printing press at MacDermid’s facility in Atlanta, GA, USA. The FXC will include multiple industry partners providing software, equipment and consumables.

The Flexo Xperience Centre was conceptualized in late 2020 by the leadership, marketing, R&D and sales teams at MacDermid and SOMA. The teams identified a need in the package printing industry for a wide-web flexo printing centre with every aspect of the flexo process, including artwork, prepress, platemaking, print, print finishing and print evaluation.

This global centre will combine hands-on and virtual visits for a “one-stop-shop” for the package printing industry’s entire workflow to experience the latest flexographic printing innovations. Additionally, FXC will foster and host industry training, collaboration, research, experimentation and learning, all designed to ensure package printing excellence. The centre will be open to pre-media suppliers, trade shops, printers, converters, consumer product good companies, industry associations, educational institutions, manufacturers and other players in the package printing market.

“Mediatech has a solid track record and an excellent reputation, offering high-quality products, industry differentiation, and solid client relationships. They have industry-leading brands such as 3M, HP and Orafol, for which it is not easy to get distribution rights. Simon and David (owners of Mediatech) are young, open-minded, successful entrepreneurs looking for the industry’s next big game changer,” said Brad Noel, president, Mediatech Ontario.

The added capacity will increase ePac’s overall capacity, providing digital printing, laminating and pouch-making services across more than 20 plants globally.

Virag Patel, ePac’s COO, said, “We’re excited to open in these new markets, and in the case of Los Angeles, add our second plant. Our growing network of manufacturing facilities and assets, including over 40 HP Indigo 20000 digital presses, also enables us to produce much longer run length jobs than what is commonly viewed as the crossover point between digital and analogue printing.”

In June, Spicers will complete the construction of a new facility to serve the Montreal market. The newly built 80,000-sf distribution centre in Anjou, Que., will support the company’s efforts in delivering service to its current customers while extending reach into new markets.

Additionally, Spicers confirms that later this year its All Graphic Supplies division, currently based in Mississauga, Ont., will be integrated into the Spicers Vaughan, Ont., location. In conjunction with this move, an expanded demo/technology centre, equipment service department and resource centre will be constructed. This expansion will prove valuable in the representation of its current offering from suppliers such as Kodak, Actega, Unigraph, Roland, Mimaki and Epson as well as new solutions like HP’s Latex R Printer series and Fujifilm’s offset printing plate portfolio. Spicers was recently appointed as an authorized dealer for both.

The expansion of demo centre capabilities adds to similar initiatives underway in Calgary, Alta., and Edmonton. In Spicers locations in Quebec City, Que., and Vancouver, new onsite ink mixing facilities, supplied exclusively through Huber, have been completed and are available to customers.

Later this year, construction will begin on a new facility in Regina, Sask. It will combine the currently independent operations for Spicers and its Shippers Supply division. The new facility is expected to be fully operational in Q1 2022.

Spicers Canada president Cory Turner said, “These significant investments are further evidence of our deepening commitment to the customers and supply partners we serve. We are proud to be in the position to make these types of commitments and look forward to the meaningful impact they have in enhancing our ability to deliver the reliability that customers can trust.”

Earlier this year it was announced that from July 1, 2021, all Canadian operations including Shippers Supply and All Graphic Supplies would be combined into operations under a single brand – Spicers.

ePac Toronto will be located at 209 Brunel Road, Mississauga, Ontario .

According to George Boustani, managing partner for ePac’s Canadian operation, “We opened ePac Vancouver in December 2019, and realized the same rapid growth we’ve seen in other ePac locations around the world. Our value proposition of five to 15 day turnaround and low minimums resonates well with the Canadian market, and we’re excited to bring our community based focus to Toronto.”

Joining ePac Toronto as General Manager is Hila Frish. Hila brings over 18 years of general management and manufacturing experience to her new position, having held several global assignments with Aran Group, a packaging supplier.

The company, a division of Kyoto-based Screen Graphic Solutions Co., Ltd., has been based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois since 1975, when its principal product was prepress image scanners manufactured for offset printing operations across the country.

A leading manufacturer and provider of digital inkjet printing technology around the world, Screen, as well as its parent company, Screen Graphic Solutions Co., Ltd., has played a key role and pioneering and popularizing the rapid adoption of inkjet within the printing industry.

“We will use our existing facility in Rolling Meadows for warehousing,” said Ken Ingram, president of Screen Americas. “This will allow our new facility, which is coincidentally housed on Innovation Drive, to be used to showcase new technologies, and benchmark and demonstrate new solutions for the markets we serve.”

The HQ’s state-of-the-art Customer Experience Center will provide Screen Americas with a complex for comprehensive demonstrations and training. It will also allow the company to handle future growth due to its planned launch of additional new Print on Demand (POD) technology offerings within the company’s portfolio of label and packaging solutions, as well as its high-speed continuous feed solutions for the commercial print, direct mail, transactional and publishing markets.

To support the company’s growth, Screen’s service and sales teams will be expanded, including the addition of service and product support technicians working with dedicated sales and product manager teams, along with further capital investments in advanced service technology and delivery solutions.

“As we moved through the relocation planning and evaluation process, working in concert with Screen senior management in Kyoto, it became more and more clear that we needed to move all operations to a new, larger, modern, Class ‘A’ space,” added Ingram.

The financial terms of the purchase have not been disclosed.

Among Aldus group companies is Milford Astor Foilmakers, which manufactures foil in Australia and distributes it worldwide.

The new company will be led by Will Oldham, who was managing director between 2012 and 2015, and key members of the existing senior management team.

“I am delighted to be back leading the API’s European Foil business which has been at the forefront of quality graphic stamping foils for many years,” Oldham said in a Feb. 26 statement. “Joining the Aldus Group will give our team the financial strength and support to ensure that we can continue to deliver the highest quality product to our customers across Europe and the world.”

The news also means that more than 100 jobs have been saved, as the second-oldest factory in Livingston, UK – which was going to be shuttered after its previous owners, the U.S.-based Steel Partners, had decided to close all of their UK operations – will now become part of API Foilmakers.

“We are particularly pleased to be restarting the Scottish manufacturing facility [in Livingston] and ensuring the continuing operation of our distribution hubs across Europe, delivering 160 jobs, including more than 100 in Scotland,” Oldham said.

“The vast majority of industry and commerce in Red Deer is on the North Side. We are strategically located in the centre of the area,” said Murias. “We thought through location versus price and weighed it carefully. I believe we made the right choice in our location, which provides easy access, fantastic visibility and is centrally located. This has given us an increase in new customer walk-in traffic. It is a standalone building with our own parking and a large staff parking lot with great access for couriers.”

Prior to franchising with Minuteman Press, Murias was a 23-year veteran of the printing industry, which is unique in many franchise-printing operations where owners are often new to the industry. “I worked for a printing company for 23 years and I knew I didn’t want to work for someone else for the next 20 so I went to a franchise show as I did not have business experience,” he explained. “As a result, it made sense to partner with a franchise as they have a greater success rate than independent business startups.”

Murias explains his business goal is to grow by 15 percent and to have staff trained to be able to take more of the quoting for orders. “The goal is only the first part; you need to have a plan to make the goal a reality,” he said. “It sounds old but marketing door to door is still number one. Mailings, getting involved in your community, golf course, curling club, hockey rinks and social clubs are also important.”

Konica Minolta currently generates more than $18 million annually in the Edmonton area, employing 55 full-time employees, supplying imaging and office technologies to businesses of all sizes in the region. The tech company is rooted in the area through numerous community initiatives and serves as a preferred partner of the Edmonton Oilers and Eskimos.

“We are committed to supporting local economies across Canada and Edmonton is the most recent in a series of large investments we have made to prepare for future growth,” said Chris Dewart, President and CEO, Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada).

“Another strong reason for the revitalization of many of our older locations is to align with our corporate vision of improving how people work,” continued Dewart. “Our innovative Workplace of the Future strategy is as important for us as a business, as it is for our customers.” In late-2016, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Canada relocated its headquarters to a new state-of-the-art facility at the Airport Corporate Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.

To mark the completion of its Edmonton building project, the company held a grand re-opening on November 9, 2017, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included dignitaries, software vendors and customers. The event featured a special keynote from Stew MacDonald, Vice President of the Edmonton Oilers, who addressed the role detailed planning, partnerships and technology plays in today’s fast-changing work environment.

“Today’s celebration brings a focus on the new face of flexo” said Clarke. “Kodak’s differentiated flexo technology is helping our customers to drive growth, break new ground and transform flexographic printing and the packaging industry as a whole.

The Weatherford plant is in its 50th anniversary year. The new flexo plate manufacturing line is a sister operation to Kodak’s existing plate manufacturing facility in Yamanashi, Japan. The $15 million investment represents one of the company’s largest capital investments since 2000.

Kodak explains its Flexcel NX plate sales volume grew 16 percent in 2016 compared to the prior year, a rate four times the projected growth rate of the flexible packaging market itself, according to Smithers Pira.

The new Oklahoma flexo plate line is expected to be in full production by early 2019 and will initially focus on supply of Flexcel NX plates to customers in the Unites States, Canada and Latin America. The expansion of this manufacturing Oklahoma facility follows a range of ongoing Kodak investment in flexographic printing technology worldwide, which includes the recent opening of a Flexo Packaging Technology Center in Shanghai in March 2017.
                                                                                              
At Kodak’s Weatherford ribbon cutting are (left to right): Weatherford, OK, Mayor Mike Brown; Boon Tien Pang, director of operations for flexographic packaging division; Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke; Speaker Pro Tempore of OK House of Reps Harold Wright Jr.; President of Flexographic Packaging Solutions, Chris Payne; Governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin; Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism, Deby Snodgrass; and Kodak Weatherford Plant Manager, Gene Meier.

At the same time, the US$165 million project in Maine aims to maintain Sappi’s position in the graphic paper market, increasing annual production capacity at this mill to almost one million tons per annum. The Paper Machine No. 1 project, which is scheduled to come online in early in 2018, will provide an 180,000 metric ton capacity increase

“This move complements our long term 2020Vision strategy, which seeks opportunities to substantially increase our group EBITDA,” said Steve Binnie, CEO of Sappi Limited.

Sappi is one of the world’s largest producers of diversified woodfibre products, focused on converting wood pulp, paper pulp and paper-based products to direct and indirect customers in over 160 countries. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sappi has more than 13,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and group sales of US$6 billion.

Sappi North America, headquartered in Boston, generates revenue for its parent company through four business units, including high quality Coated Printing Papers, Specialised Cellulose, Release Papers and Specialty Packaging. “Somerset’s existing world class infrastructure together with its talented workforce and access to high quality fiber makes the mill an excellent and obvious choice for this investment,” said Mark Gardner, President and CEO of Sappi North America. “Increasing our flexibility and expanding the paper mill’s capability and capacity will ensure that we continue to make superior products at Somerset for years to come.”

All of the printers are users of Kodak Sonora process-free plates, which hold a range of environmentally progressive benefits, while also being judged on practices like monitoring of energy and water usage, participation in local community sustainability programs and the use of eco-conscious materials and supplies. Sonora plates remove the need for the plate processor, which requires chemicals, water, and energy while generating waste. Kodak predicts that 30 percent of its plate volume will be process-free by 2019.

“It’s an honour to select eight of our customers to receive this prestigious award. Printers around the world continue to see the real benefits that sustainable printing practices deliver to their bottom lines,” said Richard Rindo, Kodak’s General Manager, WW Offset Print, and Vice President, Print Systems Division.

Founded 65 years ago, Informco provides integrated communications solutions – design, print and distribution – to clients across a range of industries. In presenting the award to the company, Kodak explains, that for over 18 years, Informco has integrated active environmental practices into its day-to-day operations – “ISO-certified since 1999, the company has made significant reductions in energy usage, water consumption, and VOC emissions through rigorous monitoring programs.” Kodak also notes Informco was the first printer in Canada to win the Canadian Council of the Ministers of the Environment Pollution Prevention Award in 2002.              

The seven remaining 2016 Sonora Plate Green Leaf Award include: Reynolds and Reynolds (United States), Groupe Estimprim (France), Royalpack (Poland), UVO communication (South Africa), Ohshaika Printing (Japan), Kava Printing (China), and NPE Print Communications (Singapore).

“We are very lucky to have the full support of the local printing industry and industry suppliers for our institution, and our thanks go out to Aleyant for their generosity in donating this software,” said Wayne Collins, who leads the GTEC program and is its only full-time employee.

“Our unique model at this polytechnic institution started by partnering with the BCPIA industry association to seek high-level managers as instructors, who typically teach one class per term,” continued Collins. “This keeps our curriculum current, and what we really deliver is a two-year diploma that trains entry-level managers into the industry. It’s like a two-year job interview.”

Aleyant’s donation includes both the software and student access to the company’s online training videos. “Our students have a lot to accomplish over a 14-week course, and assigning them videos to watch as homework helped boost the course content.”

BCIT’s most recent GTEC Web-to-print course was taught by MET Fine Printers manager Steve Tomljanovic, and students have already been using Aleyant Pressero’s Web-to-print tool and its eDocBuilder variable data tool to create Websites and documents, which are then used to produce their products in a production lab with electrophotographic, inkjet, offset and flexo presses.

In addition to document creation and production, Collins explains he plans to investigate adding curriculum around pricing tables and their connection to MIS, as well as other aspects of advanced Web-to-print solutions to round out the student experience.

“If a group of students just coming into the industry can get the tools, use them that quickly and develop the kinds of products our students produced,” he said, “I am confident they will be well-prepared to join a company upon graduation and get a profitable Web-to-print operation up and running right away.”

With 19 years of experience in additive manufacturing technology, Hopkinson is the inventor of High Speed Sintering (HSS) technology, which uses inkjet print heads and infrared heaters to manufacture products layer by layer from polymer powder materials at much higher speeds than other additive manufacturing processes. HSS is of interest to companies looking to use 3D in volume manufacturing.  

In 2016, Hopkinson was scheduled to complete a three-year project to develop supply chain and full-scale production capabilities for novel additive manufacturing technologies for applications in major industrial sectors through three key partners, including Unilever (FMCG), BAE Systems (aerospace) and Cobham Technical Services (space and communications). Xaar’s role in this project focused on optimizing the performance of specialist third-party fluids in combination with its print heads.

The expansion of Xaar’s 3D business is a key part of the company’s 2020 strategic vision. Since joining Xaar, Hopkinson has been building his 3D team and in early 2016 appointed project managers and 3D engineers who are now based at the Xaar 3D Centre. The team in Nottingham will focus on the development of materials and applications with a range of global brand partners.  

In addition, the Xaar 3D team this month been expanded to include an experienced group of engineers working in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Xaar Copenhagen team will provide design and process development expertise to help the company’s partners commercialize HSS equipment.
 
“I am delighted to confirm our investment in the Xaar 3D Centre in Nottingham and our 3D team including the new group in Copenhagen,” said Neil Hopkinson. “As we build our business in 3D it is vital that we have the in-house expertise to support our partners. The addition of the team in Denmark further extends our capability.”

Built on more than 18 acres, the open, Kyosei-inspired interior of building is highlighted by a 5,000-square-foot interactive space that showcases the past, present and future of Canon innovation. From Canon cameras, printers and projectors to medical imaging equipment, copiers and production systems, the showroom will house the newest Canon products for customers and prospective customers. The company’s printing technologies occupy the majority of space in the showroom, including systems like the imagePRESS 10000VP and Oce VarioPRint 6320 Ultra+.

While print-production remains a major pillar of Canon’s business, second only to the company’s historic consumer-imaging sector, the new Canadian headquarters is designed to support its growing interests in both security and medical imaging systems. In 2014, Canon surprised the security industry with its acquisition of Milestone Systems, one of the world’s leading providers of video management software, and then in February 2015 spent approximately $2.8 billion to acquire security-systems giant Axis Communications.

Located at the corner of Mississauga Road and Steeles Avenue West, the new building brings together more than 400 Canon employees who will play a major role in driving the company’s diverse imaging interests across Canada.

The company unveiled its development centre plans in the presence of its new CEO, Rainer Hundsdörfer, and Theresia Bauer, Minister of Science, Research and the Arts for the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Heidelberg is investing some €50 million ($72 million Canadian) in this new innovation hub for an industry that, according to the press maker, has a global annual turnover of around €400 billion.

“This investment represents a new beacon in Baden-Württemberg’s research landscape,” said Bauer. “Building a development center of this size and quality proves that Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG bases its decisions on a long-term strategy and makes the future worth looking forward to.”

Heidelberg explains, despite a difficult economic situation in recent years, the company at no time cut its research budget, focusing instead on developing new, innovative products and services.

“We deliberately chose Baden-Württemberg because it combines an excellent environment with highly qualified experts,” said Hundsdörfer. “A highly modern and future-oriented working environment will be created in Wiesloch-Walldorf, designed to support interdisciplinary and cross-functional development processes.”

The printing industry now requires new applications and control technologies, explained the company in relation to the creation of its new centre, in addition to the ongoing development of traditional offset and digital printing technologies. Heidelberg also points to  printing on three-dimensional objects made from all kinds of materials, enabling the customized printing of glass, wood, plastic, and other materials.

Heidelberg noted, as an indication of its continuing transformation, that there are now more than 250 software specialists working for the company. The company has also started employing chemists, for example, for developing and producing its own environmentally progress inks for new applications.

“The example of Heidelberg is demonstrating that even a large company can reinvent itself,” said Bauer.

Epson will conduct R&D and focus on production engineering at the facility, which, in the future, will roughly triple Epson’s current print head production capacity.

Initially launched in October 2010, sales of PrecisionCore print heads had reached as many as 15 million units worldwide as of June 2016. In the commercial and industrial sectors, Epson expects to see an accelerating shift from traditional analogue printing to inkjet printing solutions in areas such as signage, textiles and product labels.

Epson’s Hirooka Office works closely with its production sites worldwide. The investment in the new factory is part of Epson’s plans to further reinforce its R&D and production platform through the 2020 fiscal year.

Epson’s inkjet-based printing solutions business leverages original Micro Piezo inkjet technology for home, office, commercial, and industrial markets. The new factory will handle the front-end manufacturing process for PrecisionCore print heads, high-capacity ink tank printers, and commercial and industrial printers.

Denis Cormier, an expert in 3D print technologies, is Director of RIT’s AMPrint Center and the Earl W. Brinkman Professor in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. A professor of industrial engineering, Cormier’s research focus is in printed electronics, specifically the synthesis of printable nano-inks, the development or enhancement of printing processes, and the design of novel printed electronic devices.

Cormier was the original principal investigator for the Center and brought together university partners from Clarkson University and SUNY New Paltz with corporate partners that include Xerox, GE Research, Corning, Kodak and MakerBot, to design novel devices and develop next generation polymer, metal and composite technologies.

The centre will serve as both a research and teaching facility for the university’s students as well as its corporate partners. Researchers will have access to functional 3D printing and fusing equipment, direct-write printing equipment, analogue printing and surface metrology technologies. Also included will be wet-chemistry infrastructure necessary to synthesize printable nano-materials.

Michelle Cometa of RIT produced an online article about the opening of the new facility, which included the partipation of New York’s Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Mimaki USA, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutters, today celebrated the opening of its new Toronto Branch, the company’s first in Canada and seventh in North America. A grand opening event was held on October 11, 2016.

The highlight of a Kagami Biraki ceremony culminates with the lid of a sake barrel being broken open by a wooden mallet and the sake is served to everyone present. Mimaki explains the ceremony represents an opening to harmony and good fortune.

Located at the intersection of Jane Street and Highway 7 in Toronto, Mimaki’s new Canadian location includes a technology centre, Mimaki’s seventh such centre in North America, for running demonstrations of its wide-format imaging technologies.

Lucas Crossley, Canada Sales Manager for Mimaki, will lead the new Canadian location, which will include trained sales, support and service staff to help support its dealers across the country. The 11,000-square-foot technology centre will also hold Dealer Technician Certification courses in addition to applications training for clients.

Agfa explained these product lines have been facing a weaker market demand, primarily in Europe, for several years.

“This decision is part of our global streamlining plan to reduce our manufacturing capacity and to improve the cost structure of our printing plate business,” said Stefaan Vanhooren, President of Agfa Graphics. “This is necessary to remain the leading company in an extremely competitive prepress business amid global economic uncertainty.”

Agfa has informed all employees about its intention to close the Vallese facility, impacting 120 employee positions.

Agfa explained these product lines have been facing a weaker market demand, primarily in Europe, for several years.

“This decision is part of our global streamlining plan to reduce our manufacturing capacity and to improve the cost structure of our printing plate business,” said Stefaan Vanhooren, President of Agfa Graphics. “This is necessary to remain the leading company in an extremely competitive prepress business amid global economic uncertainty.”

Agfa has informed all employees about its intention to close the Vallese facility, impacting 120 employee positions.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Laschinger was then on her way to New York to present Veritiv’s quarterly financial results. Veritiv recently broke into the Fortune 500 club and its Canadian operation, explained Laschinger, now represents about seven percent of the company’s total annual revenues.

“Bringing together Veritiv’s Toronto area team in this new, state-of-the art facility in Mississauga is an important strategic investment for our company, and it aligns with one of our business goals to integrate our operations and strengthen collaboration throughout our organization,” said Laschinger. “Canada is an important market for Veritiv, and we are delighted to renew our commitment to this city and accelerate our growth across the country.”

Jason Alderman, Regional Vice President for Veritiv, who leads the Canadian operation, welcomed a range of special guests to a small stage protected from the blazing sun by a tent. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie also spoke at the official groundbreaking ceremony, applauding Veritiv’s project and noting Mississauga has become Canada’s sixth largest city with a population of close to 800,000 and home to some 8,300 businesses.

Located just off the 401 at Hurontario (125 Madill Boulevard), in the growing business area of Courtney Park, now home to some of Canada’s largest industrial facilities, the new Veritiv building is scheduled to be complete by around April 2017 with move-in planned for shortly after.

“This new facility will enable Veritiv to expand our service capabilities for Canadian customers and increase the company’s operational efficiencies by consolidating our three existing facilities in the Greater Toronto Area,” said Alderman. “The City of Mississauga also offers many strategic advantages to our operations, our customers, and our employees.”

The new Veritiv facility, which is to house around 350 employees, will include approximately 410,000 square feet of warehouse space and another 42,000 square feet of office space. In Canada, Veritiv employs approximately 950 people and has a fleet of around 115 tractor-trailer units, and a network of 17 warehouses. Alderman explains there are no plans to close facilities outside of the three GTA locations being consolidated in Mississauga, because the other locations are a critical part of Veritiv’s national reach.

Veritiv Corporation, headquartered in Atlanta, has approximately 180 distribution centres throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and employs approximately 8,800 people.

“Our motto is that if we can do it green, we will do it green,” says Tillburg site Director, Peter Struik. “With that objective in mind we have come to an agreement with our energy supplier Eneco to provide us with 100 percent renewable energy. They share our commitment to green energy, and with their help and expertise we have been able to make this vision a reality.”

The facility had been partially powered by wind since 2011 when Fujifilm began working in partnership with Dutch energy supplier Eneco. The wind turbines that drive the plant’s manufacturing capability are located on-site and in nearby Zeeland. The 100 gigawatt hours of energy these two sites generate for the Fujifilm facility is enough to power 30,000 homes.

“Fujifilm is showing commendable courage and leadership in having taken this bold step,” said Eneco board member, Marc van der Linden. “They are setting an excellent example to their industry and to other businesses in the surrounding area. Like Eneco, Fujifilm is a forward-thinking company which recognizes that economy and ecology have to go hand in hand.”

Fujifilm and Eneco are now investigating the possibility of producing bio-mass steam on the Fujifilm site.

The 11,000-square-foot investment by Sun Chemical holds what the company describes as state-of-the-art equipment and analytical support for studying migration, adhesion, permeability, and other performance-related coating phenomena.

The lab will use systems like SEM microscopy, atomic force microscopy, IR surface mapping, and surface energy measurement, among other techniques, to advance the fundamental understanding of key coatings performance attributes.

A variety of equipment has been added to the new lab, including: gas transmission rate analyzers, glass bottle testing instrumentation, and coatings spraying equipment to develop new and improved water, solvent, and energy curable primers, inks, and coatings. A lab laminator will be added in 2017 to help study the interaction between ink, substrate, primers, overprint varnishes and laminating adhesives.   

“The new Carlstadt coatings lab represents a major investment in our coatings business,” said Russell Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer, Sun Chemical. “This enhanced capability will help us expand our product range offerings into an evolving packaging market that includes laminating adhesives, glass decoration, and printed electronics.

“The integration of coatings technology with ink, polymer, and functional materials development within the same technical organization and facility transcends product lines and geographical barriers,” continued Schwartz. “It will also help expand Sun Chemical’s Advanced Materials portfolio into industrial coatings applications.”

Sun Chemical holds the capability to develop and test water, solvent, and energy curable coatings, including primers, overprints and materials in order to provide enhanced functionality, such as barrier properties. “While many companies rely on commercially available polymers, Sun Chemical differentiates itself by developing proprietary polymers targeted for our specific industry and products,” said Bob O’Boyle, Product Manager, Coatings, Sun Chemical. “We’re also focusing on smart coatings for sensor-enabled application equipment.”

The Globe’s editorial and business departments will move to a new office complex less than a mile from the publisher’s founding location on Newspaper Row, where the paper operated from its inception in 1872 until moving to Dorchester in 1958.

In mid-2015, the Globe announced it had purchased a building in a Taunton industrial park for just over US$20 million that would serve as its newspaper printing plant starting in early 2017. The move to a new printing plant was well underway before the sale of its Dorchester sale.

The new 328,000-square-foot printing plant, according to an article in the Globe, will also print the Boston Herald, The New York Times, and other newspapers that hire the new operation to do their production.

An article by Beth Healy in 2015 explains the Globe’s printing operation — including press operators, mailers, and drivers — includes roughly 1,000 people, which accounted for slightly more than half of all of the company’s employees.

New York Times Co. sold the Boston Globe in 2013 to Red Sox owner John W. Henry for US$70 million. Times Co. purchased the Boston Globe in 1993 from the Taylor family for US$1.1 billion.

Konica Minolta Canada explains – based on its parent company’s core ecological sustainability tenant – one of the new building’s key features is a white reflective roof membrane, which reflects sunlight from the roof area and reduces the heat-island effect produced by conventional roofing materials.

The building will also feature native and drought-tolerant plants that depend only on rainwater to flourish once planted. Konica Minolta explains this eliminates the need for landscape irrigation, uses less fertilizer and requires fewer pesticides. The new headquarters will also include electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot for those employees and visitors who drive electric or hybrid automobiles.

“We have designed the new building to reflect where Konica Minolta is headed as we continue to shape the future of our industry,” said Chris Dewart, President and CEO, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Canada. “We have been steadily transforming our business from a hardware vendor to a strong player in information technology, information management and now the industrial print space. Our new headquarters will be tightly aligned with the needs of key stakeholders and showcase our strategic growth initiatives.”

The grant was among 29 grants totaling $35.3 million statewide announced in early February by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The program, administered by the Dormitory Authority, funds renovation or construction of critical academic facilities and high-tech projects at universities across New York State.

RIT will use the grant for construction inside the fourth floor of Institute Hall, which will be home for the new centre, a research facility developing next-generation 3D print materials and applications. Several leaders within the Canadian printing industry have studied at RIT’s well-known printing-research facilities.

“Our new AMPrint center will help RIT serve as a focal point for applied teaching, research and development in additive manufacturing applications by bringing together expertise from a regional ‘eco-system’ of organizations from academia, government and corporations,” said RIT President Bill Destler.

Denis Cormier, an expert in 3D print technologies, is Director of RIT’s AMPrint Center and the Earl W. Brinkman Professor in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. A professor of industrial engineering, Cormier’s research focus is in printed electronics, specifically the synthesis of printable nano-inks, the development or enhancement of printing processes, and the design of novel printed electronic devices.

Cormier was the original principal investigator for the Center and brought together university partners from Clarkson University and SUNY New Paltz with corporate partners that include Xerox, GE Research, Corning, Kodak and MakerBot, to design novel devices and develop next generation polymer, metal and composite technologies.

The centre will serve as both a research and teaching facility for the university’s students as well as its corporate partners, and housed in a 3,200-square-foot space in RIT’s Institute Hall. Researchers will have access to functional 3D printing and fusing equipment, direct-write printing equipment, analogue printing and surface metrology technologies. Also included will be wet-chemistry infrastructure necessary to synthesize printable nano-materials.

This consolidation includes closing its Hamilton, Ont., plant by July 2016, which has around 180 employees. PaperWorks earlier said it plans to add 150 employees across all areas of prepress and production at the Kitchener facility over the next year.

“Because the Hamilton facility is only 75 kilometers away from the Kitchener manufacturing plant, it made sense from a production and asset utilization perspective to consolidate production under one roof,” said Kevin Kwilinski, president and CEO of PaperWorks. “The Kitchener plant is more modern and has newer equipment, which translates into more efficient output.”

In June 2015, PaperWorks agreed to acquire CanAmPac of Napanee. The acquisition included coated recycled board (CRB) producer Strathcona Paper, folding carton manufacturer Boehmer Box and LYFT Visual graphic services. Strathcona Paper is described as the largest producer of CRB in Canada, while Boehmer Box produces offset-litho printed folding cartons for North American food packaging applications.

As a result of the CanAmPac acquisition, PaperWorks’ projected manufacturing output for the combined companies is approximately 400,000 tons of 100 percent recycled paperboard, annually.

In August, PaperWorks then announced a planned investment of more $11 million over the next year to expand the capabilities of the 340,000-square-foot Boehmer Box facility, which produces folding cartons for products like dry and frozen food, beverage, pharmaceutical, household goods, personal care and institutional foodservice.

The Hamilton plant has been producing folding cartons for many decades and was part of the Rosmar Packaging Corp. acquisition that PaperWorks made in 2011.