CEO change at Vista

Robert Keane is to step down from his role of CEO at online printing business Vista (previously Vistaprint).

Four years after returning to the role to lead a turnaround of the business, company founder Keane announced that former Amazon and McKinsey exec Florian Baumgartner would become Vista CEO on 1 February. Baumgartner has been with the firm since 2019, heading up its operations outside North America.

Keane will retain his roles as both CEO and Chair of Vista’s parent company, Cimpress.

Böttcher expands senior management

Andreas Ruhland, former Managing Director of ALSO Germany, has been appointed to the board of online reseller Böttcher, effective 1 February. His responsibilities will include strategic purchasing and expanding the company’s product range.

Ruhland has more than 20 years of experience in areas such as purchasing, sales, e-commerce, marketing, logistics and product management – at Tech Data Belkin and Völkl Sports, for instance, prior to joining ALSO Germany.

KMP mourns loss of Heinz Sieg Heinz Sieg, the founder of aftermarket imaging supplies manufacturer KMP, died in January.

Born in 1942, Sieg underwent commercial training and completed a degree in business administration after leaving school. From 1971, he worked in various positions for the German Federation of Trade Unions before becoming head of the Graf Bismarck vocational centre in Gelsenkirchen at the age of 33. Subsequently, in 1982, Sieg took over the management of the Regentrop & Bernhard production company in Wuppertal.

Six years later, in 1988, he founded KMP, which today comprises eight companies throughout Europe and China. In 1999, Sieg’s son Jan-Michael joined the business and has been CEO ever since.

We believe hybrid is here to stay and will influence location, size and format of offices. This change will require flexibility and an employeecentric environment, turning the office from a space to a personalised place filled with a wide variety of formats servicing individual work, collaboration and community

$36.3 billion

Third-party seller fees generated by Amazon in Q4 2022 – a year-on-year increase of 24%

A diversified Canon

Print giant Canon continues to diversify away from its core business areas.

In 2022, almost a quarter of its total revenue of around $30 billion came from adjacent categories such as medical equipment and security cameras.

€15 million

Expected 2023 sales from Bureau Vallée’s store network in Spain

Newell reduces SKU count

Newell Brands ended 2022 with a portfolio of approximately 28,000 SKUs. This compares to 36,000 in 2021 and more than 100,000 in 2018. Further cuts are expected in 2023.

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Vendors celebrate 100 years

The Alliance Rubber Company turns 100 on 7 March 2023. Founded in 1923 by William H Spencer, the Ohio-based firm – which employs around 150 people – is now the only domestic rubber band manufacturer in the US. Meanwhile, French supplier CEP Office Solutions is also celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The CEP name was first used in 1923, with the initials standing for Cornes, Engrais et Plastiques (Horns, Fertiliser and Plastics), in reference to the company’s origins as a maker of knife handles. Today, its Office Solutions unit sells into almost 40 countries.

At its national sales meeting at the end of January, Kimberly-Clark Professional (KCP) concluded its 2023 City of Hope fundraising campaign by presenting a cheque for $30,100 to the cancer research organisation. This is the fifth year in a row that KCP has held a City of Hope fundraiser at its annual sales convention, raising more than $220,000 in that time.

Heat pumps could halve paper drying energy requirements, says CEPI

Following recent collaboration with the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) has said paper manufacturing energy requirements could be halved. It could also be key in decarbonising the energy-intensive sector.

A working group comprising members of the paper and heat pump industries calculated potential energy savings in paper drying of more than 50%, and a joint CEPI-EHPA report detailing how heat pumps may be integrated into mills has been published. A recent development is that