January - Kodak's US parent company entered bankruptcy protection in January as the company accelerated the process of repositioning itself as a printing and packaging manufacturer. Then UK marketing manager Pat Holloway told Print Monthly that it was business as usual for a UK business that was performing well. Former vice-president Jeff Hayzlett also gave us his analysis in his only UK interview to the trade press. Heidelberg announced plans to axe 2,000, mostly German, jobs as part of its Focus 2012 programme to strip out ￡150m of costs and reach its ambitious target of ￡125m pre-tax profits in 2013/14.
The year began with Unite's Steve Sibbald describing 86 proposed redundancies at Wyndeham Heron as a 'bit of a shock' but said the union understood it was down to over capacity. Despite a Federation of Small Businesses survey revealing confidence in the economy was weak, the BAPC chairman declared his members were enjoying a good start to the year.
February – The world was turned on its head in early February when a British company bought a stricken German manufacturer. UK industrialist Tony Langley bought the sheetfed arm of manroland and eyed up a deal for its GB outlet, a deal completed later in the year. The press giant had entered administration in late 2011. The grim news for manufacturers and suppliers continued with Heidelberg and Paperlinx, parent company of merchant's Robert Horne, Howard Smith Paper and PaperCo revealing losses. The decision to award the contract for printing tickets for the Olympics to an American firm was criticised as a 'kick in the teeth.'
March – Komori chairman, Yoshiharu Komori used the announcement of his firm's tie-up with Konica Minolta to claim that the industry stands at a 'great turning point'. St Ive's showed they were at the forefront of that, spearheading print companies becoming marketing services providers with half-year pre-tax profits of over ￡11m.
April – Print Monthly launched its flagship online broadcast news channel this month with Kodak's EMEA managing director stating that the new Kodak would be predominately a business-to-business company. The Royal Mail defended their decision to introduce new pricing structures which some believed could be the death knell for some businesses saying there was little evidence prices were harming print.
May – Indigo inventor, Benny Landa stunned the printing world with a comeback at drupa with a technology he said would reinvent the printing press. He immediately set about signing nanography partnerships with Heidelberg, manroland and Komori. Canon's David Preskett discussed the firm's latest Insight report which revealed that buyers felt their print-service-providers were not explaining what services they could offer. To catch up on all the latest drupa technologies, then check the channel on the Print7tv website. HP also announced at the end of the month it was to cut 27,000 jobs following a slump.
June – IPEX was rocked by the news that HP would not be exhibiting at the ExCel in 2014, despite this event director Trevor Crawford said the sales cycle was way ahead. Heidelberg's chief financial officer defended its full year results which showed a net loss of ￡186.5m. BGP printed the commemorative programme for the Queen's jubilee. Research from Vpress and the BPIF revealed that web-to-print's full potential was not being realised. Digital print technology firm Lumejet, won almost ￡2m in investment for its exciting new technology.
July – Mark Scanlon, chairman of Wyndeham group owners Walstead Investments slammed his competitors as 'totally suppine' as he announced losses of ￡19.5m for the full year to December 2011. He was calling for more consolidation in the web offset sector, a wish that was to be granted months later. The month also saw further upheaval at Paperlinx with the sale of its US businesses and the resignation of chief executive Toby Marchant. The Printing Charity announced plans to spend ￡1m as it targeted quadrupling the amount of people it helps to 2,000 by the year 2017. Tony Langley claimed that other manufacturers were languishing under 'hopelessly disproportionate costs' as he said that manroland was trading within expectations.
August – Heidelberg followed HP and AGFA in announcing it would not be at IPEX 2014, event marketing manager Nick-Craig Waller said it came as a bit of a shock. The Olympics rounded off a glorious British summer and Royal Mail honoured every gold-medal winning British Olympian with their own stamp. The BAPC chairman was less than impressed about its supposed effects on British printing. A consortium of ex-KallKwik and Prontaprint franchisees announced they were forming a trade body, the UK Design and Print Network. Printing was handed a confidence boost with the news that Scottish entrepreneur John Boyle had upped his stake in Gemini Digital as the firm invested ￡3m.
September – The world's first sustainable event for printing, EcoPrint, took place in Berlin, organisers said they were happy but were after more visitors for the second edition, which will be co-located with WAN-IFRA. Another exhibition first was Informa's CrossMediaLive which aimed to open up the multi-channel opportunities for printers. At the event Informa also announced plans to spend ￡1m flying in key buyers to IPEX 2014 to encourage sales opportunities for exhibitors. Kodak's UK marketing manager and print industry veteran, Pat Holloway announced his early retirement. Must attend industry event, the BAPC conference also took place this month.
October – Frenzied speculation about drupa moving to a three-year cycle swept the industry this month. As predicted here, the exhibition remained on the original cycle with a reduced time-frame of eleven days, Christmas came early for many! Random House and Penguin sought to shore up their traditional business before an assault on the e-book markets when they announced a merger worth ￡2.6bn creating the world's largest publishing company. EcoPrint organisers FM Brooks confirmed that new exhibition on the industrial printing, InPrint Live sector would take place in Hannover in April 2014.
November – The consolodation of the web offset sector accelerated with Polestar's purchase of BGP in a complicated deal. Landa confirmed they were on target for shipping the first presses in late 2013. Great news for printing this month with research showing that traditional forms of communication were preferred to new media. More bad news on the job front with 200 jobs under threat at Paperlinx, and it was announced that more than 40 jobs were under threat at Flint Group's Scottish subsidiary, Day International.
December – Kodak announced that it had secured $830m in exciting financing, replacing a deal agreed in November to come out of bankruptcy protection. The company said 2012 had seen it 'made significant progress in its goal to emerge as a profitable, sustainable company in 2013'. Reception of the chancellors budget was lukewarm to say the least. Stuart Mason, managing director of The Ink Shop warned 'years of pain' lie ahead due to the poor state of the economy.
Finally, a positive note to end the year and proof that print will survive and thrive. Most people prefer to receive a printed Christmas card, rather than an electronic version.