PrintXcel Facility Making Progress Following Shooting
An operations team at manufacturer PrintXcel's Visalia, Calif., printing facility led an around-the-clock cleanup stemming from an incident Dec. 9 that resulted in two deaths and fire damage. A former employee at the facility shot a worker to death and started fires in the building by igniting solvent and paper, then killed himself, according to published reports.
The gunman, John Gardner, 45, of Visalia, was fired from the plant four years ago and was thought to have moved out of the state, according to published reports. The victim, Jose Manriquez, 31, lived in Visalia and was a father of a baby boy born Nov. 27. Approximately half of the company's 89 employees were on site at the time of the incident.
The fire was limited to the executive-office area of the plant, and only a few dozen orders were affected, said Woody Davis, senior vice president and company spokesperson for Mail-Well, PrintXcel's parent company. Suppliers restocked paper that needed to be replaced due to spoilage caused by smoke and water damage, he said. Within a few hours after the incident, Mail-Well secured professional counseling and support for its employees. Officials also issued a statement expressing their sympathies to employees and their families.
Printegra to Acquire Service Continuous Forms
Peachtree City, Ga.-based manufacturer Printegra Corp. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Glassboro, N.J., manufacturer Service Continuous Forms (SCF) effective Dec. 15. While most of SCF's manufacturing operations will be moved to Printegra's facility in Montgomeryville, Pa., the company's customer service, estimating and prepress departments will continue to operate in Glassboro for the foreseeable future, according to Printegra.
In business for more than 30 years, SCF is a wholesale manufacturer of short run business products that serves distributors on the East Coast. Printegra, which operates 10 manufacturing facilities and customer service centers nationwide, produces checks, forms, pressure seal products, integrated cards and labels, custom labels, corporate ID products, and print shop products for the independent channel.
Moore Wallace Closes Plant, Buys PPS
More than 30 workers lost jobs after Mississauga, Ontario-based manufacturer Moore Wallace announced its Winnipeg printing plant would close Dec. 12. Company officials flew in from Toronto Dec. 3 to deliver the news to staff members, according to a press release from the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The shutdown affects 27 union members and a handful of office staff. The plant has been in Winnipeg for more than 80 years, at one time employing 150 people.
Last month, Chicago-based commercial printer R.R. Donnelly announced it would purchase Moore Wallace. The combined company will have approximately 50,000 employees and more than $8 billion in annual revenues. Staff members in Winnipeg were told Moore Wallace was closing the plant as a result of the acquisition.
Additionally, Moore Wallace entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Payment Processing Solutions Inc., Nashville, Tenn., for $92.5 million in cash and common shares. The purchase price includes the repayment of outstanding PPS debt. Founded in 1961, PPS is a processor of customer statements and primarily serves the mortgage lender industry. PPS will become a wholly owned, indirectly held subsidiary of Moore Wallace.
Heidelberg Announces Realignment
Printing equipment supplier Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, based in Heidelberg, Germany, announced Nov. 26 it would streamline and divest its activities in research, development and production of web offset presses. The move includes a scaled-down management board and reduction of the company's workforce by up to 1,000 employees worldwide. Heidelberg is negotiating with potential partners for its Web Systems business, and the company will announce plans to adapt capacities and refocus the activities of its Digital division by the end of its current fiscal year (March 31, 2004).
Additionally, Heidelberg's Postpress division will become a separate entity, focusing entirely on the requirements of the postpress equipment market. The company estimates a one-time cost of approximately $483.7 million for the realignment.
IKON Shares Soar on $1.5 Billion GE Deal
Shares of office products provider IKON Office Solutions Inc., Valley Forge, Pa., surged 26 percent on Dec. 11 after a unit of General Electric Co. agreed to buy a piece of IKON's equipment leasing business for $1.5 billion. The agreement calls for IKON to transfer about $1.9 billion worth of assets to GE Vendor Financial Services, including a $1.8 billion leasing portfolio, the companies said. GE Vendor Financial holds about $26 billion in assets. IKON said the deal represents a transition out of the leasing business in the United States and Canada. IKON also agreed to transfer its Macon, Ga.-based IOS Capital facilities, systems and approximately 400 employees to GE under the agreement, which carries an initial term of five years.
