The technology giant is working with management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to draw up the job-cuts proposals, according to the reports, which are said to have come from people briefed on the plans.

The speculated cuts are said to include 10,000 to 15,000 staff from HP's enterprise services group, which sells a range of information-technology services and which has been hit by a fall in profits.

The cuts follow the arrival of new chief executive and former eBay boss Meg Whitman in September. Whitman replaced Leo Apotheker, who presided over a 40% fall in the company's share price and who was ousted after shareholders rejected his turnaround plans.

HP's first quarter results for 2012 showed a 7% fall in profits year-on-year, and a 32% fall in earnings per share.

Whitman said of the results: "We are taking the necessary steps to improve execution, increase effectiveness and capitalize on emerging opportunities to reassert HP's technology leadership."

The Northern-Irish print company, formerly Nicholson & Bass, is launching six direct mail campaigns during 2012, targeting the arts and publishing sectors. The company is focusing on reinforcing its status in its existing markets, Scotland and Ireland.

Productivity and sales have increased 30% and 20% respectively since the company invested £1.5m in a 10-colour KBA press, folding machine and Palamides attachment last year and the company plans to invest in a further digital press in Q2 of this year.

The company has expanded its staffing over the past year, adding marketing manager Jan Todd to oversee the latest commercial collateral, as well as operations director, Brian Gillespie.

Gillespie offers 18 years of lean manufacturing practice within the print industry, a technique which the company said has enabled it to "compete in more demanding and price sensitive markets".

All staff are being upskilled to offer a multitude of disciplines within the trade and have been enrolled on Nicholson Bass' three-year Business Improvement Training programme.

Nicholson Bass is also looking to external markets, targeting mainland UK with newly-recruited sales agents and wider reach of current staff.

Jan Todd said: "The recession has been the catalyst for change, but we are now in a much stronger position than we ever were. We are entering a new era with a fresh look as the company turns 75."

Managing director Jonathan McGarry added: "Digital design and the computer age have been blamed for negatively affecting print media; however, I feel it has only made it stronger.

"We have come a long way from our early days using letterpress but it is not the technology that makes us different - it is our people and the investment in skill and care. We adhere to the traditional values, which have been passed from my grandfather's generation, but have a modern ethos that has allowed us to adapt to an ever-changing market."

Nicholson Bass says it is the only Irish printer to win 22 category awards over 21 years, including the Investor in People in 1999.

With petrol and diesel getting more expensive, and very little sign of the merciless price rises slowing down, it means that the cost of transporting goods is on a similarly unstoppable upwards curve — and greater costs potentially mean higher prices for customers.

Or do they? After all, necessity has always been the mother of invention and with margins being squeezed across the board, printers and other companies attached to the trade are having to come up with new ways to cut costs and get greener, too.

And as every business owner worth his or her salt knows, there are benefits to being greener aside from the purely altruistic. Efficiency and a healthy bottom line go hand in hand, and clients are demanding that their printers can make a strong and watertight case when it comes to their green credentials.

But, as Morrissey almost once said, some firms are bigger than others, and what might work for a large-volume magazine printer, that needs to transport many tonnes at a time, might not work for small outfit occupying a small unit on an industrial estate with a single van.

We've taken a closer look at some of the transportation options that could help your business get greener and leaner, and weighed up some of the pros and cons thereof. Of course, no single measure will be a panacea for your goods transportation situation, but they're all options worth exploring. Fasten your seatbelts...

However, Benford UV, a small Buckinghamshire company which supplies ultraviolet dryers to printers, integrated a battery-powered Citroen Berlingo Electrique into its own fleet several years ago. Adopted by the French postal service, it is powered by a 162V cell and only has one forward gear.

"It's used mainly for local stuff — but those sort of journeys are the ones that incur the most expense, so it comes into its own," says Benford UV sales and marketing manager Ron Ryan.

How far the Citroen Berlingo Electrique can go is dependent very much on how it's driven — at 60mph, you'll be lucky to get 30 miles out of it before it needs its constitutional six-hour charge, although at a typical urban cruising speed of 20-30mph, there is much higher yield, around 60 miles, a figure which the team at Benford UV says is about typical for the van.

The Berlingo Electrique has since been discontinued by Citroen — in many ways, it was a bit ahead of its own time — but with battery-powered cars like the Nissan Leaf becoming a more common sight, particularly on urban roads, don't be surprised if the battery-powered van stages a major comeback.

Pros It's a modern, PR-friendly and relatively clean and quiet way of getting print, gear and materials around on local journeys... just don't take it on to the dual carriageway.

Cons No good for long hauls, difficult to come by on the secondhand market, and are they really that green? After all, the electricity that you've topped up overnight has probably come from a non-renewable source anyway. It's easy to get caught short on fill-ups, too. Charging stations are few and far between compared to bog-standard garage forecourts, so, unless routes are well planned, you're more likely to get caught with an empty tank.

It's easier and quicker than you might think, too. Ashwoods, a firm which specialises in retrofitting existing vehicles and selling new, modified Ford Transits with efficient hybrid motors, claims it can get a van fitted with a fuel cell in just three hours.

However, by the company's own admission, because of the way the technology works, it may not be the right choice for vehicles that spend most of their time on the motorway. But, as with fully electric vans, the vehicles really shine on short, urban journeys when cars are at their least efficient.

Pros Hi-tech, quicker than you might think to install; a winner with clients.

Cons Relatively expensive (unless you're in the public sector, that is, where grants are available to convert vehicles), not as green as you'd think on long motorway hauls. Also, it won't be as easy - or indeed, cheap - to fix as a standard, diesel-guzzling van in the event of it throwing a mechanical wobbly.

Rubber soul Of course, retrofitting your fleet doesn't have to extend to dropping in dual-fuel engines - you could simply kit your vans out with better tyres. The Campaign for Better Tyres reckons that fleet managers could also cut vehicles' CO₂ emissions by up to 10%, reduce rolling noise by almost half, improve wet weather braking and handling, and reduce stopping distance by as much as 18m, simply by switching to a better brand of rubber. From November this year, it'll be easier than ever to tell how your tyres perform, too, with new EU legislation making all tyre vendors display fuel efficiency, noise and safety figures at point of sale.

Pros It's easy, relatively cheap when compared to more hi-tech ideas and can deliver surprisingly substantial savings.

Cons More efficient tyres will, unfortunately, cost more to buy in the first place. But if they wear better, make fuel go further and make your vans safer, is it a small price to pay?

Get a good rep
Sales forces need transport too, and making sure that your on-road team are keeping overheads to a minimum and are doing the most mileage for your buck is more important than ever.

The Toyota Prius, beloved of socially conscious celebs like Leonardo di Caprio and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David might seem greener but, in reality, efficiency-focussed diesel repmobiles like Volkswagen's Passat Bluemotion, Vauxhall's Insignia Ecoflex and Ford's Mondeo Econetic offer better economy and emissions than their heavy hybrid rivals (those electric cells are particularly weighty pieces of kit). This is thanks to minor tweaks to aerodynamics, weight-saving measures, fuel-efficient tyres and engine mapping, all offering enviable MPGs.

The less carbon they produce, the less vehicle excise duty you'll have to pay, too.

Pros Cleaner, greener and more efficient transport for your reps. Cheaper to tax and run. What's not to love?

Cons Some of your sales force might be unimpressed at the dip in performance compared to standard models.

Economy drive
One of the easiest ways to achieve more efficient deliveries is to get your drivers taking to the road in a more fuel-conscious way.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, which runs a specialist course tailor-made for van and HGV drivers, reckons that changing drivers' behaviour to be more efficiency minded can make at least a 10% reduction in the amount of fuel that your business uses, money that goes straight back on to your bottom line.

The thing is, how can you make sure that your fleet drivers are adhering to your measures when they're out on the road? Well, GPS tracking devices can monitor how and where your fleet are driving, so you can be sure that your drivers aren't taking liberties with fuel and wear and tear on your vehicles. But even these are fallible - illegal jammers are surprisingly easy to obtain, and will help drivers cover up what they've been up to.

South Wales based magazine printer Stephens & George is one company that keeps an eye on its drivers.

"We have a monitoring system in place that allows us to remotely check where our vehicles are 24/7 and how they're being driven," explains Stephens & George spokesman Ben Powell. "Drivers are given regular updates on their personal performance. This also acts as a security measure, and we are able to track how deliveries are progressing."

You could even go as far as putting speed limiters on your vehicles, making sure that they don't go over the optimum efficiency zone. Simply setting a limiter to kick in 5mph below the 70mph limit can reduce fuel consumption by 10%.

Pros Getting your drivers to take to the road in a more economical way doesn't cost a penny, and can deliver real, tangible savings in fuel spending, not to mention wear and tear on your vehicles. And if getting them to drive more efficiently of their own accord isn't successful, you can always put limiters on your vehicles.

Cons Once you've got your drivers up to speed (or not, in this case) on driving economically, it can be tough to get them to stick to the new style, without resorting to draconian measures. After all, when the pressure's on to make that last delivery of the day on time, it can be difficult to keep the revs to a minimum. And, as we all know, bad driving habits can be difficult to shed.

However, with most printers, outsourcing delivery or using their own fleet is very much a ‘horses for courses' matter, as Stephens & George's Powell explains. "Depending on the requirements of the delivery we will utilise third-party companies to undertake multi-drops. We keep the in-house option for priority deliveries."

Pros Using partners and third party logistics companies can help drastically reduce your own fleet, and can take some of the headache of delivering print away.

Cons The delivery is taken out of your hands and into those of a third party - can you definitely trust somebody else to make good on your promises to your customers? Confidence in your partners is absolutely essential.

Top tips for driving more efficiently

• Plan journeys in advance, and steer well clear of notoriously congested areas and routes. Keep an ear peeled for traffic updates on the radio, or for updates from HQ.
• Avoid cold starts, and drive away as soon as you can after the engine starts.
• Keep the throttle smooth and steady, avoiding harsh, rev-heavy acceleration and lead-footed braking wherever you can.
• Slow down. You'd be amazed at what shaving 5mph off your average speed can achieve.
• If your van doesn't enjoy the benefit of new-fangled ‘stop start' technology, think about shutting the engine off altogether if you're stationery in traffic, and it doesn't look like moving in a hurry (providing, that is, it's safe to do so).
• Shed some unnecessary pounds. While it's important to make best use of your van's space and getting the most value out of journeys, don't overload, and make sure stuff like roof racks are removed when they're not being used. We'd probably stop short of advising that you suggest your drivers start dieting, to avoid offending their doubtless delicate sensibilities.
• Make sure that your tyres are pumped up to the correct pressure. Any more or less and you'll be wasting fuel.
• Keep your vans well maintained and regularly serviced - this will ensure that they're running at tip-top efficiency.
• Hands off the air-conditioning - it's a massive drain on a van's economy, even if it ensures that your drivers aren't working up a sweat on those hot summer days.

However, according to a survey from the charity Working Families, 40% of employers have yet to prepare for the change in legislation. This is worrying news, given the additional red tape that the legislation is likely to bring - particularly for small printing firms, which are traditionally male dominated.

Raising questions about the wisdom of such parental leave changes while the country is facing a double-dip recession risks drawing criticisms of undermining employees and their families, but that is way off the mark.

Small businesses know their success depends utterly on having a happy, motivated workforce. They are not anti-family or opposed to the principle of employees being given time to spend with newborn children; they are just concerned that yet more practical problems are being heaped upon them.

Nor is the Forum of Private Business (FPB) opposed to the principle of parental leave being shared equally between the mother and the father.

But we are concerned by the idea that business owners should be the ones who have to deal with the administrative burden, such as continually liaising with the other parent's employer to prevent abuse of the system.

Parents being able to continuously switch leave back and forth, on an ad hoc basis with little or no notice being provided to the employer, is likely to be an administrative nightmare.

Surely, small businesses charged with driving economic recovery and creating employment should be offered better support to help them adapt to these changes, and to prevent a law designed to benefit workers instead becoming a barrier to job creation.

The FPB believes that, in parallel to introducing family-friendly policies, the government should assist with the leg work required to implement them, perhaps by creating an agency - or empowering an existing one - to deal with the associated administration and help put in place contingency plans.

Existing maternity laws provide leave for fixed periods, and recruiting a replacement for 12 months or so is often a viable option. However, with recent legislation giving the same benefits to temporary workers as permanent staff and undermining the attractiveness of the flexible labour market, recruiting stand-in employees at short notice for just weeks or months at a time will be incredibly difficult and costly, especially for skilled roles.

It will also be impractical, as agency workers often take a while to bed in to their roles and are unlikely to be able to fill in for the absent parent during a period of just a few weeks.

Flexible working can work for all parties, but entrepreneurs should not be compelled to provide it if it would be disastrous for their businesses.

In the present economic climate, the government should be making it easier for people to gain employment, not placing ever more obstacles in the way of job creation.

Read PrintWeek's Briefing on this subject here

The Bacs survey, carried out in December, found that while the overall number of SMEs experiencing late payments was 76,000 less than six months previously, down to 785,000, the average amount owed to each business was up £6,000 to £45,000.

The results revealed that the manufacturing industries, under which printers were categorised in the survey, fared worse with an average amount owed of £48,000. A combined outstanding amount of £12.3bn was owed to SMEs in the manufacturing industries, the figures reveal.

Further breakdown of the figures show a significant 73% of manufacturing SMEs had experienced late payments compared to 42% of small businesses in the retail, distribution and service sectors.

British Association for Print and Communication chairman Sidney Bobb said printers must have a payment policy so their customers could understand exactly what the terms were.

"It is easy to criticise them for not being stringent enough when they take the business on but printers, in particular, are concerned that if they push too hard they will lose their customers," he claimed.

"There is not a lot they can do if these big firms decide they want to extend. But actually more often than not what is happening is that buyers aren't even telling them when they are going to be paid."

Bobb said the situation was creating "terrible" cashflow problems exacerbated by the banks setting out far more stringent lending criteria.

"It means printers, among other businesses, have no money to invest for growth because they simply have none spare after they've paid rent and wages," he added.

Bobb said even if the economy improved, the situation could stay the same because companies would not want to change their new payment agreements.

The research follows figures revealed in the BPIF's quarterly Printing Outlook survey of trading trends which showed 72% of respondents had agreed to longer payment terms from their customers in order to retain or secure business.

Additional questions added in to the report, published last month, asked how widespread late payment and extended payment terms had become in the print industry.

It showed of the 72% who had accepted longer terms, 25% of extensions were for terms up to 60 days, 70% for up to 90 days and 6% up to 120 days

In general 29% of respondents were affected by an increase in late payments in the 12 months to April 2012.

The ‘White and Recycled' campaign will target printers, designers and corporate audiences with direct mail sent throughout May and June.

Three premium mailers will be accompanied by tailored emails, promoting Cocoon's high levels of whiteness, print quality and environmental neutrality.

A dedicated website has been created for the campaign with information about the Cocoon range, production process and advantages of paper recycling.

It also features an environmental calculator, demonstrating the difference in carbon emissions, water, energy and wood used by Cocoon 100% recycled papers compared to virgin fibres.

Cocoon comprises coated and uncoated papers available in weights from 80-400gsm. It is manufactured from FSC- and European Ecolabel-certified recycled de-inked pulp produced at Arjowiggins' Greenfield S.A.S. mill in France.

The campaign spans across Europe, with Antalis McNaughton stepping up as the exclusive UK provider of Cocoon papers to distribute 8,000 mailers nationwide.

Arjowiggins' operational marketing manager Angela DeVorchik said: "With this new campaign, we hope to showcase the high quality results that Cocoon 100% recycled papers can deliver, as well as the range's commitment to environmental integrity. End-users can make their own environmental commitment without sacrificing on a high-quality, bright-white print finish."

The reactor's existence was recently publicised by the Democrat and Chronicle, after an employee mentioned it to a reporter from the local newspaper.

According to the report, the reactor was housed in a two-foot-thick, concrete-walled bunker beneath the basement of Building 82 in the Kodak Park research complex.

While the relevant Federal regulators and Kodak research scientists who worked in the facility were aware of its existence, city officials and residents were in the dark.

A Kodak company spokesman told the Democrat and Chronicle that he could find no record of any public announcement about the facility and that he was unsure if the company had ever notified local police, fire or hazardous-material officers.

One good reason for the high-level of secrecy around the reactor, which was used for research purposes, was the fact that it contained 1.5kg of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium.

According to nuclear non-proliferation experts, for an industrial manufacturer to be in possession of even a small quantity of this highly-controlled radioactive substance is almost unheard of.

"It's such an odd situation because private companies just don't have this material," said Miles Pomper, senior research associate at Washington's Centre for Nonproliferation Studies.

The reactor was a californium neutron flux multiplier or CFX, so-called because it contained small plates of highly enriched uranium that multiplied the neutron flow from a tiny californium-252 radioactive core.

According to a former Kodak reseach scientist, the resulting neutron beam was used to check chemicals and other materials for impurities and for tests related to neutron radiography.

Kodak's CFX reactor was built in 1978, at which time no other American industrial firm had anything like it, and dismantled in 2007 after the company decided that it was no longer required. "There were alternative and less expensive means to obtain the analytical results," said the spokesman.

Since then the chamber that used to house the reactor has been cleaned and deemed fit for reuse, although it remains empty.

Bestsellers included the new "flagship press" - the B1 format Speedmaster XL 106 - and the Speedmaster SX platform, which sold almost 500 units.

The company, which is due to publish its 2011/12 end-of-year results on 14 June, took orders at Drupa from over 80 countries and recorded significant growth in Asian markets such as Japan and China. Top orders came from Germany and China followed by the US, Middle East, UK and Japan.

Chief executive Bernhard Schreier said developments in the U.S. and Japan were cause for optimism. "Many print shops have used Drupa to thoroughly renew their machine park so as to be able to meet the requirements of the market," he said.

Schreier said the level of incoming orders during the show indicated that confidence within the industry was returning. "The investment backlog is continuing to unwind in many parts of the world.

Heidelberg's expectations of Drupa had been more than satisfied, he added. "The volume of orders at the show is equivalent to around half of the production of printing units over the past financial year.

"The fact that we have remained true to our development projects over recent years, some of which have not been easy, has been rewarded. We can now also look to the future with optimism."

The group published its first quarter report as Drupa was drawing to a close and while he was unwilling to give specific figures - as financing had yet to be finalised in many cases - chief executive Claus Bolza-Schünemann was upbeat about KBA's performance.

"We have signed a lot of contracts with both existing and new customers," he said. "But it will be weeks, or even months, before all the financing has been clarified, customer prepayments have been received and we and other exhibitors can assess our true performance at Drupa 2012."

Operating profit for the quarter to 31 March 2012 improved from a €1.8m (£1.4m) loss in the prior year to a €2m profit, while the pre-tax result swung from a €3.9m deficit to a €200,000 profit.

Group sales also improved, rising 4% from €253.3m to €263.5m thanks to a near 28% spike in web and special press sales, which increased from €127.3m to €162.6m, although sheetfed press sales fell around 20%, from €126m to €100.9m.

KBA blamed the drop in sheetfed press sales on "a fourth-quarter dip in demand" as well as a number of late orders that had not yet worked through to the bottom line. However, it highlighted an 8% rise in sheetfed press orders to €152.9m

This was partly attributed to a pre-Drupa event at KBA's Radebeul facility in March, which was attended by more than 1,000 print professionals and helped to overcome the traditional reluctance to invest in the quarter preceding print's biggest trade show.

However, the pattern of mixed returns continued as - in the absence of the major contracts that had resulted in the record prior-year figure - incoming orders for web and special presses plummeted 71% from €290.6m to €83.7m.

This left KBA's overall order intake down 45%, from €432.1m to €236.6m, although its order backlog increased 29% to €798.8m, which the press manufacturer said was at odds with the industry trend.

Meanwhile, the group's headcount fell from 6,404 on 31 March 2011 to 6,294 in 2012, with this figure expected to further reduce, ultimately falling below 6,000 following the conclusion of various cost cutting initiatives.

Set to take place on 13-14 November 2013 in Cologne, Germany, the two-day event will focus on developments within the industrial sector catalysed by 3D printing and digital inkjet production.

The organisers claim InPrint will analyse the opportunities presented by industrial print applications spanning issues such as additive manufacturing, or decorative surface imaging.

Marcus Timson, director of FM Brooks, said: "For future print technologies and technical print, whether inkjet or screen, there is currently no dedicated event and community that connects technological innovators with strategic industrial decision makers and pioneering print entrepreneurs. This gap will now be filled with the launch of InPrint 2012."

FM Brooks has involved print technology manufacturers, print businesses and consultants in the development of InPrint 2013, details of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.

According to Rob Haak, founder of dotrix and now general manager of inkjet consultancy Spikix, which was a member of the InPrint development group, there is a "huge transformation" taking place within the manufacturing sector.

"The role that inkjet can play within this new shift is significant, leading to innovative inkjet applications and further ink and fluid developments to address the end-user requirements for these exciting opportunities in the industrial printing markets," he added.

Last year, FM Brooks, which is headed up by former Fespa Event directors Frazer Chesterman and Marcus Timson, unveiled EcoPrint Live 2012.

The show, which will take place in Berlin from 26-27 September 2012, will place an emphasis on sustainability through "efficiency, the reduction of waste, implementation of effective process management and a committed, dynamic sales and marketing campaign".

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