Distributor News

The Stearns-Benton Employment and Training Council has received a $604,500 state grant to help some Quad/Graphics employees in the wake of the company's decision to close operations in St. Cloud, Minn.

The grant, administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development through its rapid response fund, is an effort to help place and retrain 150 of the 280 people affected. Quad/Graphics announced in June that it would close its 237,000-square-foot facility at 660 Mayhew Lake Road NE in late August.

Half of the grant money is dedicated to retraining expenses.

A man was killed in an accident at the NewPage mill in Rumford, Maine Monday afternoon, according to mill spokesman Tony Lyons. As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, the Rumford Police Department remained on scene, while the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified about the fatality. The man's identity had not been released.

Lyons said the accident happened inside the mill around 2:30 p.m. "There was an accident that resulted in the fatality of a contracted employee," Lyons said. "We have a number of contractors that come inside of the mill as part of their job."

What kind of difference would it make for your company to get every one of your employees excited about solving problems, making recommendations, expressing their new ideas, and taking care of your customers?

Every company today needs employees who are enthusiastic and who bring the very best of themselves to work. Companies need this not just from top performers but from every employee, every day, in order just to be competitive and survive, let alone thrive. The single element that distinguishes one company from another more than anything else is its people and the effort they exert.

Lancer Label, Omaha, Neb., recently announced the hiring of Mark Grunder as the company's new operations manager. Grunder brings a wealth of printing and packaging experience to the table and will play an instrumental role in helping Lancer Label continue to provide valuable label offerings to distributors.

For the foreseeable future, Eastman Kodak Co. won't be able to charge different prices for some services depending on whether the customers use Kodak-made inks or a rival's.

A federal judge ordered that a six-month preliminary injunction issued against Kodak in March continue until either the lawsuit the injunction is part of comes to an end or until that preliminary injunction gets reversed on appeal.

Ohio's Collins Inkjet Corp. sued Kodak in September 2013, claiming that Kodak was unfairly trying to elbow it out of the Versamark ink business.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Ramsey, N.J., announced it has joined Two Sides North America, a non-profit organization that promotes the responsible production, use and sustainability of print and paper. Konica Minolta's vice president of strategic business development, Kay Du Fernandez, will also serve on Two Sides' Sustainability Committee.

GPA, Chicago, recently announced the addition of Mirri and MirriNor boards to its collection of specialty substrates for offset presses. These substrates have a metallic film surface engineered for superior printability, which adds dimension and value to printed pieces.

RR Donnelley & Sons Company, Chicago, issued the following statement concerning the filing for bankruptcy on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014 by RR Donnelley Argentina S.A. (RRDA), a subsidiary of RR Donnelley & Sons Company, with the Argentine Court.

The humble business card still hasn't been killed off by digital alternatives. Being handed a piece of dead tree with contact details printed on it in ink arguably increasingly stands out in an age when digital data is so cheap and mutable.

But paper inevitably presents a barrier to accessing and utilizing the data thereon—hence alternatives such as QR code business cards, and business card scanning systems like CardMunch.

Well, here's a third alternative in the making: SwivelCard is a paper business card that—by way of a spot of patented printing and some clever perforations—also includes a USB stick interface.

The Ashwaubenon School District, in the midst of efforts to solve a problem of PCB contaminants on its school athletic fields, has received assurances from Georgia-Pacific that the paper recycling giant was not to blame.

The company's comment, which also includes an offer to provide technical assistance in the abatement efforts, was the only public comment received so far, midway through the district's 30-day public comment period.

The district solicited public comments as part of efforts to meet state and federal requirements for developing a remediation plan.