Printing

InnerWorkings a leading global marketing supply chain company, announced that chief financial officer Joseph M. Busky will participate in the following upcoming investor conferences.

As of Aug. 1 Stevens Brothers Printing has merged with The Printing Co. of Farmington and the three brothers and owners have entered retirement, thus closing one of the most iconic and respected businesses in downtown Park Hills.

The lives of those three brothers, who spent a lifetime in the industry, seem to mirror the vast changes to commercial printing and publication in the past 50 years and give an insight to its future.

Sterlyn, Joe and John Stevens began their careers at the St. Francois County Daily Journal in the late 40s and early 50s.

It was all cheers Monday as leaders and local representatives celebrated the 115th anniversary of Amsterdam Printing.

"The company was started by Abraham Singer in 1898 in the back of his apartment," said president Tim Broadhead.

Singer then moved his one man print shop from his New York City apartment to the Town of Amsterdam and the rest was history.

"Amsterdam Print is one of our top 10 employers in the town," said town of Amsterdam supervisor Thomas DiMezza.

Employing more than 500 people, the business has evolved, as has the product selection.

Printing company executives from across the Mid-Atlantic region converged on Virginia Beach earlier this month to share ideas and explore the opportunities and challenges facing a rapidly evolving graphic communications industry.

The two-day gathering held August 1 to 3 and hosted by Printing and Graphics Association MidAtlantic (PGAMA) brought together printing company owners, senior executives and sales and marketing leaders to hear the latest ideas, best practices and emerging innovations in the industry. Industry leaders traveled from 17 cities across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. to attend the event.

A small printing error is presumably proving very costly for the U.S. government after a currency factory ruined $30 million worth of the next generation of $100 bills.

Originally slated to go into circulation in 2011, the new bills have experienced a variety of setbacks, the latest of which involves a printing mistake known as "mashing," which is caused by applying too much ink to the paper.

The error has forced the Federal Reserve to return tens of millions of notes back to the Washington, D.C., facility and demand its money back. The returned notes will be destroyed.

Printing Industries of America filed petitions last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in an effort to nullify two digital workflow patents that have been the basis for lawsuits against printing companies. The petitions seek an inter partes review by the USPTO of the patents' validity.

The patent owner has aggressively sought licensing fees from dozens of printing companies and has sued many of them for infringement. The patents broadly address methods for receiving customer files, using a computer network to perform various prepress functions, and creating a plate-ready PDF file.

Employees at RR Donnelley in Jefferson City arrived to work as usual Thursday morning, when they were told to attend a mandatory meeting.

"Within minutes two gentlemen walked in and they told us that our company was shutting their doors," one employee said.

Another said the room fell silent.

"We just had a meeting a couple of weeks ago that said some of our lines were going to be at 120-140 percent workload and they came in today and just told us we're done," the other employee said. Both employees requested KRCG 13 conceal their identities.

Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics chairman, president and CEO testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to urge congress to put the U.S. Postal Service on a path to financial stability and long-term sustainability. He was the only printer and member of private industry invited to testify.

Quadracci's goal was to impart the importance of the USPS to private industry and the U.S. economy while emphasizing the urgency for postal reform to reverse a crisis of confidence in the future of mail delivery, Quad/Graphics said.

If Standard Register’s stock price is any indication of future success, president and chief executive officer Joseph P. Morgan, Jr.’s schedule is about to fill up fast.

Top 50 distributor Safeguard Business Systems, a part of Deluxe Corp. located in Dallas, announced Thursday that the company has completed its acquisition of Innovative Print & Media Group Inc.