South Florida Firms Take Katrina in Stride
Manufacturers and distributors in southern Florida took precautions early Thursday as Katrina made landfall as a hurricane with nearly 80 mph winds last evening between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach.

Earlier on Thursday morning, Harry Duncanson, vice president of Miami-based manufacturer Dynacolor Graphics Inc.®, characterized Katrina as "a big rainstorm" and didn't foresee production delays at his plant. "We know what hurricanes are all about," he said. "The building is very secure. It's been through many storms. The only thing that we might do tonight before we leave is to cover all the equipment with layers of plastic, just in case rain leaks."

Fort Lauderdale-based Suncoast Marketing Inc. lay directly in Katrina's projected path, but Randy Eubanks, account manager, also wasn't concerned. "Our biggest fear is water," he said. "And our facility is high and dry." The distributorship closed early on Thursday and will remain closed today. Employees covered computer equipment and racks in the warehouse with plastic. The company called or emailed customers, most of whom are local, to inform them that it wouldn't ship orders Friday. According to a CNN story, at least three people died in Broward County and more than 1.2 million customers were without power.

Burton Capital Management Buys More Cenveo Shares
Robert G. Burton, chairman, CEO and managing member of Burton Capital Management LLC (BCM), announced that he has acquired additional 214,610 shares of Cenveo Inc., making BCM Cenveo's largest shareholder.

"The total ownership of our group is now 5,686,620 shares, or 11.2%, of Cenveo's common stock," Burton said in an Aug. 25 letter to shareholders. The move comes before the Sept. 14 special meeting of the shareholders. BCM, Goodwood Inc., and others, asked Cenveo to hold the meeting after Cenveo rejected a BCM proposal that would have resulted in the appointment of Burton as the firm's chairman and CEO. Cenveo owns PrintXcel, Discount Labels, Lancer Label, DealerLabel™; and Wisco Envelope.

Kodak Cuts 1,000 Jobs, Operations
Eastman Kodak Co., battling a steep drop in demand for photographic film and paper, is scaling back film manufacturing in China and closing businesses in Rochester, N.Y., and West Virginia, eliminating about 1,000 jobs, according to an AP story. Kodak will consolidate North American color photographic paper manufacturing at factories in Windsor, Colo., and Harrow, England, and shut down an operation in Rochester by the end of October. It also will close a printing-plate factory in Middleway, W.Va., by next March, as it consolidates printing operations after its $980 million buyout of Canada's Creo Inc. It will cut back manufacturing of consumer film products in Xiamen, China. Full story.

Champion Industries Announces Improved 3Q Earnings
Champion Industries Inc. announced net income of $381,000 for the three months ended July 31, an improvement from the same period in 2004, when the figure was $77,000. Net income for the nine months ended July 31 was $547,000 compared to $252,000 for the same period in 2004, the company said.

Deluxe, BankUnited Enter Agreement
Deluxe Financial Services entered into a partnership with BankUnited FSB. In addition to serving as the Coral Gables, Fla.-based bank's check provider, Deluxe will deliver financial solutions and services to the bank's clients, prospects and local communities.

R.R. Donnelley Completes Purchase of AdPlex-Rhodes' Operations
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company completed its previously announced purchase of the Charlestown, Ind., print operations of AdPlex-Rhodes, a provider of advertising and marketing products and services. The Charlestown plant produces high-quality, tabloid-sized retail inserts for retailers. The acquisition agreement was announced on Aug. 8.

IKON Launches EFI Fiery Server
IKON Office Solutions and EFI announced the availability of the S300 Version 2-color server for the IKON CPP(TM) 500. Driven by the EFI Fiery color server, the IKON CPP 500 is ideal for commercial print, light production, corporate reprographic departments, graphics-intensive and print-for-pay environments, IKON said.

Return Your 2006 Buyers' Guide Proof or Listing Form
Manufacturers and suppliers: Print Solutions Magazine is editing its 2006 Buyers' Guide, which will be published in October. If your company was listed last year, you will receive a proof of that listing in the mail. If your firm wasn't listed last year, click here to download a blank form. Fax your completed proof or form to (703) 549-4966 by Sept. 2. Print Solutions' 31,000 readers include distributors of business forms, labels, commercial printing, tags, promotional products and other printing. The Buyers' Guide is your opportunity to let distributors know what you offer. For more information, call Print Solutions at (800) 336-4641.

Tag/Label is Concrete Solution
It's not often you get a warm response to a cold call. But earlier this year, Marc Laucks, CDC, got lucky.

A friend who sells office equipment contacted Laucks, president of Marc Laucks & Co. Inc., a distributorship in York, Pa. He suggested Laucks call on Wagman Metal Products, a supplier of power trowel replacement blades and floating pans for the concrete industry. When Laucks called and was forwarded to the company's marketing manager, he gave his standard spiel about value-added printing and services. Laucks was pleasantly surprised when the marketing manager invited him to visit. Full story.

Have a solution? Click here to be featured in Solution of the Week

TOP TEN

Here are this week's top unusual source requests received by DMIA:

1. Free drink coupons; Lot 1: 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 die-cut star shape, 20#, 2 colors, QTY=10M; Lot 2: 6 1/4 x 3 die cut star shape, 70#, 2/2 colors, consecutive numbering, QTY=30-45M
2. Imprint supplied handheld game; QTY=200-1M
3. Sign for employee office doors; street light concept; red is do not disturb; yellow is interrupt; green is come in; only one color visible at a time; cards in slots signifying each color; card stock; QTY=50
4. Mugs with picture of person beside new car; giveaway item for customer who purchases new car; QTY=100
5. Jacket; fleece inside; water-repellant outside; Brand: Tri-Mountain; QTY=200
6. Disposable car seat covers; used by mechanics; QTY=200
7. Label; applied to apples; FDA-approved ink, adhesive; small in size; QTY=400M
8. Repair order rack; metal; used in automotive industry; QTY=1M
9. Certificate of Origin; car title; 3c; intaglio printed; consecutively numbered; QTY=1M
10. Powdered make-up sample case; sized 13" x 11 1/2" x 3" capacity (closed); vinyl cover; black foam panels inside (each panel will have 25 cut-outs for jars); brass grommet on both front and back cover in outside top corners; 1-color screen imprint; jar dimensions: lid: width=1 3/8", height=7/16"; jar: width=1 1/8', height (with lid on) = 1/12"; QTY=10

If you have a source request—for anything—call the Hotline at (800) 333-2828 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, or use the Source Hotline Database online. For new sales ideas every day, try our 1,000 Sales Ideas Database. Manufacturers, if you produce any of these items and would like to check your listing with the Source Hotline, please email Cheryl Rush.

Sales and Marketing Tip
Testing a New Market
Before entering a new market with an existing or a new product or service, here's how you can analyze the market. Full story.