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Solutions November 2005
INDUSTRY
NEWS
Workflow
Management to Acquire Relizon
Workflow
Management Inc., Greenwich, Conn.,
the parent company of WorkflowOne,
announced that it will acquire
the Relizon Company, Dayton, Ohio.
The terms of the agreement weren’t
disclosed. The transaction is
subject to satisfaction of customary
closing conditions.
After
the acquisition, WorkflowOne and
Relizon will operate as a more
than $1 billion company in the
document management solution market.
Workflow said that more than 5,000
employees and 25,000 combined
clients from the two companies
will benefit from a broader portfolio
of products and services. The
combined entity will offer greater
buying power in print, promotional
products and related services,
a deeper expertise in analytics,
creative services marketing, fulfillment,
commercial print and promotional
products, and manufacturing, warehousing
and distribution services.
Relizon
has been a portfolio company of
The Carlyle Group, a private equity
firm, since August 2000. Workflow
Management recently announced
a re-branding of its portfolio
companies to WorkflowOne.
Forms
Plus Acquires Deemers, Changes
Name
Forms
Plus Inc. acquired Deemers, a
Luzerne County, Pa.-based office
supplies company. The company
will now be known as One Point
Inc. and will offer office supplies,
printing and furniture. One Point
will occupy a new 40,000-square-foot
corporate headquarters and showroom
in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The facility will replace Forms
Plus headquarters at 101 Poplar
St., Scranton, Pa. All Deemers
and Forms Plus employees will
continue working at the new location,
the company said. Centurion Business
Forms, Allentown, Pa., which was
acquired by Forms Plus, also will
be known as One Point. Reading,
Pa.-based Commercial Design and
Furnishing, previously owned by
Deemers, will operate under the
One Point name as well.
RFID
Tags, Inlays Become More Affordable
Three
major manufacturers recently reduced
prices of RFID tags and inlays,
making the technology more affordable.
This likely will increase its
adoption among manufacturers and
distributors.
Alien
Technology Corp., Morgan Hill,
Calif., announced Sept. 13 that
its EPC Class 1 RFID labels are
priced at 12.9 cents—a 44
percent decrease in the price
of 96-bit RFID labels from the
company in the past 12 months.
Users can purchase the label for
12.9 cents for orders of one million
or more.
On
Sept. 22, UPM Rafsec USA, Fletcher,
N.C., announced that its UHF Gen
1 and Gen 2 inlays will cost less
than 10 cents with a minimum delivery
of 50,000 pieces. An inlay is
a major subcomponent of a RFID
label, making up 50 percent of
a label’s price. RSI ID
Technologies, Chula Vista, Calif.,
also announced the same day that
it’s offering finished,
fully validated Gen 2 RFID labels
for less than 15 cents per label
for volume orders. By December
2006, it will offer a pricing
of less than 10 cents per label
for customers that make a 12-24
month commitment for Gen 2 label
orders.
The
primary issue that has barred
the widespread adoption of RFID
is the cost of the tags. “Over
time companies find out better
ways to make products, and the
prices come down,” said
Wes Maughan, president of Pointil
Systems Inc., Portland, Ore.
Another
reason is that “people are
getting caught up in how RFID
works, rather than what it does,”
Maughan says. Distributors, however,
have a distinct advantage. “They
can differentiate themselves from
others because they understand
how labels work,” he said.
With that knowledge, it’s
easy for them to understand how
RFID works and its applications.
MeadWestvaco
Division Secures Funding for RFID
Development
Vue
Technology, formerly Intelligent
Systems, a division of MeadWestvaco’s
New Ventures Group, announced
that venture capital firms Partech
International and Canaan Partners
have acquired the company to further
its item-level RFID solution development.
The company’s RFID solution
streamlines inventory management
for retailers and manufacturers,
reducing the financial impact
of shrink and out-of-stock merchandise,
it said. Vue Technology, Aliso
Viejo, Calif., also will be able
to extend its sales and distribution
capabilities.
Georgia-Pacific
to Slash 1,100 Jobs
Georgia-Pacific
Corp., Atlanta, launched a restructuring
program that will idle four tissue
paper machines with 140,000 tons
of combined capacity and cut 850
North American and 250 European
jobs, among other changes. The
initiatives will allow it to reduce
ongoing costs during the next
two years by $100 million annually.
Most of the North American job
cuts will be in Green Bay, Wis.
The company will reorganize its
operations in France and make
more investments to increase efficiencies
in Great Britain and the Nordic
countries.
Corporate
Express Acquires Office Products
Firms
Corporate
Express Inc., Broomfield, Colo.,
said that it has acquired the
Peerless/Perdue office products
companies located in Little Rock
and Pine Bluff, Ark. Corporate
Express is a supplier of office
and computer products and services
with 2004 sales of approximately
$4.5 billion in North America.
