Hurricane Updates
MeadWestvaco Corp. said its facilities in Texas and Louisiana resumed production after a temporary shutdown of approximately 10 days due to Hurricane Rita. These facilities include the company's specialty chemicals plant in DeRidder, La., the paperboard mill in Evadale, Texas, and the extrusion coating facility in Silsbee, Texas. The company expects third quarter earnings to be affected negatively because of the production downtime and related hurricane costs.

Boise Cascade employees have donated $103, 500 to the American Red Cross and $18,000 to the Salvation Army to help victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They also invented ways to help the communities devastated by the storms:

• Students in DeRidder, La., had not heard of Little Birch Elementary in Nampa, Idaho, until Derrick Legg, a containerboard customer service representative, and his wife, Corla, organized a drive at the Nampa school to replenish the Louisiana town's school supplies. The Leggs enlisted their church members as well as students and parents, gathering 3,000 pounds of materials. Boise Cascade transportation delivered the supplies delivered last week to classrooms that had been empty for more than a month. "I hope these small thoughts from the West can help," Legg said.
  
  
• Two Boise mill towns worked together to outfit 300 displaced students in DeRidder with winter clothing. The local school district asked the Boise paper mill in International Falls, Minn., if it could do something for children in the DeRidder area. Boise Public Affairs Managers Bob Anderson and Dick Myers helped initiate a campaign to raise $15,000 to buy winter school uniforms for the students. The Falls High School student council in International Falls took the lead on collecting donations, and Boise's paper mill donated $500 in matching funds.
  
  
• Employees in Boise Wood Products' Inland Region raised $7,272, which was doubled by the company, in just four days. At the lumber operation in La Grande, Ore., the mill shut down early for lunch so that Ron Hedden and Terry Curtiss could conduct meetings to explain the fundraising effort. At the particleboard plant in nearby Island City, Jan Roulet and Dan Locken met one-on-one with co-workers. In Elgin, the company placed donation forms on bulletin boards and lunchroom tables. In Kettle Falls, Wash., the company solicited donations at an employees' picnic.
  
  
• In the Gulf Coast area, the company donated plywood to build walls, makeshift shower stalls, and sleeping areas at dozens of shelters. Boise Paper has donated pallets of paper to Gulf Coast schools and relief agencies.
  
  
• Employees companywide collected toilet paper, paper towels, cups, plates, and diapers and other living necessities.
  
  
• Employees at the company's Louisiana and Alabama operations collected and distributed goods, prepared meals, and manned at least 15 shelters. Some have taken in stranded families or driven them to safety with relatives in other areas. Others have focused on helping their own co-workers whose homes were damaged or lost. According to Larry Ueckert, general manager, Boise Wood Products Southern Region, "Our employees have been actively involved in doing whatever they can to ease the suffering of these people, whose lives have literally been turned upside down."

FormStore Announces New Products, Investments
FormStore® Incorporated will announce several new ID cards and investments in digital printing at the Print Solutions Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., from Oct. 18-20.

These include the PeelCard® integrated ID card and PerfCard® perforate ID card product lines. Both are available in single and dual side laminate constructions on coated and uncoated papers. The Laser 20™ is a 20 mil, affixed membership ID card that's fully compatible in specific continuous form laser printers. It's ideal for large direct mail applications where a thicker card is required, the company said.

FormStore is supporting its Printactics® web-to-print software by adding state-of-the-art digital equipment worth $1.2 million. It's also adding an air-conditioned, 16,000-square-foot building to support the equipment. Printactics allows distributors to offer an online digital print management solution for full color and black-and-white static and variable print.

Wisconsin Secures Federal Aid for Georgia-Pacific Workers
The state of Wisconsin has secured up to $15 million in federal funds to help eligible workers being laid off by Georgia-Pacific Corp. as part of the company's workforce reductions, according to an Oct. 10 story in The Business Journal.

Georgia-Pacific is cutting 850 North American and 250 European jobs, among other changes. Most of the North American job cuts will be in Green Bay, Wis. The federal funds are used to provide training, income support, tuition, books and transportation for eligible displaced workers, who also can apply for unemployment insurance benefits upon layoff.

IKON Launches Enterprise Management Software
IKON Office Solutions launched IKON TRAC Solution(SM) web-based enterprise management solution. The software offers online ordering of copy services, tracking and pricing; mail management from receipt through delivery; and directory search capabilities. Customers also can add features such as fleet asset management, visitor management, facilities management and equipment service requests.

Next Week...
We will be reporting from Print Solutions 2005 Conference & Expo, Orlando, Fla., Oct. 18-20. Watch for a special edition of the E-Weekly with the latest from the conference and expo.

An Eye-Opening Presentation
When CIBA Vision, a company that develops and manufactures contact lenses and other optical and ophthalmic products, prepared the product launch of its O2OPTIX™ line of breathable contact lenses, it needed a promotional folder as innovative as the thin, aerated contact lenses themselves.

Atlanta-based CIBA Vision's business requires heavy outlay in research and development so successful new product launches are critical for the company (a part of the Novartis pharmaceutical empire) to ensure return on investments. Spartanburg, S.C.-based Copac Inc. had long targeted CIBA as a potential client. After working successfully with CIBA Vision on a smaller project, the custom packaging and printing firm won the chance to develop and produce the promotional folders for the O2OPTIX™ product launch in early 2004. Full story.

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TOP TEN

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

1. Hospital form; 11x17; white #70 offset; print both sides; second side different image; black ink; five hole drill; die cut portion of form (1/2" top margin - 8 1/2" across); folded to 8 1/2 x 11; QTY=2M
2. Plastic bag; 6 mil thick; 20 x 22; holds x-ray negatives; rigid plastic handle: 4" gusset; QTY=500
3. Tool belt-style apron; silkscreened; QTY=500
4. College class schedule; 32-48 pages; 6 1/2 x 10 1/2; saddle stitched; 4 pages are 55# No. 4 WOS; other pages are 35# 70 high bright; full color cover; 1/1 text; QTY=60M
5. Drum label; blank; polypropylene; permanent adhesive; 14 x 7 1/2; carrier width is 14.125; QTY=1MM+
6. Signs; used in farm fields to identify crops; corrugated plastic; QTY=500
7. Workout clothing for women
8. Blank static cling decal; 12 3/4" x 17 3/4"; QTY=13M
9. Foam; die cut; holds packaged products in place; QTY=100
10. Engraved aluminum bars used with screw and post bindings; QTY=100

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.

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