Yell celebrates 25 years of world class partnership with RR Donnelley and Pindar Set - 13 April 2006
Yell, the FTSE 100 international directories business, has celebrated with its two key business suppliers, printers RR Donnelley, and pre-press providers Pindar Set in notching up a remarkable quarter century’s partnership.To mark the unprecedented industry milestone, some of the biggest names in the classified directory printing and publishing world gathered for the 25th anniversary of the businesses working together.
As part of celebrations, the presses at RR Donnelley’s plant at Flaxby Moor, North Yorkshire, were specially shut down for ten minutes while Yell chief executive John Condron paid tribute to a partnership that he said had transformed the directory publishing industry.
Addressing an audience comprising executive management from RR Donnelley, Scarborough-based Pindar Set and its parent company Pindar Group, as well as print workers, he said: “I cannot emphasise enough the importance of RR Donnelley and Pindar Set to Yell.
“Together we have developed one of the world’s best production cycles for our directories. That’s only been achievable through the dedication of people such as yourselves. As our partners, you provide us with quality and timeliness.”
John Condron added: “We rely on you and we trust you. Our advertisers and our investors have never been let down.” He then unveiled a special commemorative plaque marking the 25 year relationship.
The partnership between the international directories publisher Yell, global print company RR Donnelley and international pre-press providers Pindar Set
stretches back to a wholly different age of directory publishing.
In the early Eighties, advertiser details were stored on individual file cards in vast filing cabinets and the production process was highly labour intensive with page make-up undertaken using scalpels and wax glue.
The first fruit of the partnership was the Shrewsbury, Hereford & Mid Wales Yellow Pages directory in 1981 - the first UK classified directory produced using computer technology.
Since then, the partnership has pioneered many key developments in the production of classified directories and seen the publication of more than 740 million directories. These have comprised more than 3.1 billion unique pages and 1.2 million tons of paper – the majority of which have come from sustainable forests in Scandinavia.
During the quarter century, directory production has developed from a two colour cold-set process to a four colour heat-set process. From storage of page content on film and manual plate-making processes, production has been transformed by placing digital content on CD and the advent of
direct-to-plate technology.
The speed of the production process itself has been radically enhanced by new technology too. In the early Eighties, the Yellow Pages directory production schedule was 24 weeks from final booking date to completion of directory binding, by 1993 it was 12 weeks and now is industry leading.
Paul Masterton, president RR Donnelley Europe, said: “Since we began our relationship there have been dramatic changes in the ways that people across the world conduct business, as well as remarkable advances in communication technologies.
“We are very proud that throughout the past quarter century Yell,
RR Donnelley and Pindar Set have worked together to respond to these changing needs. Responding to these challenges has built a lasting relationship and has helped to make RR Donnelley a better company.”
At the start of the partnership, Pindar Set was a small pre-press specialist with just 17 people. Since then, it has grown substantially into an international company employing more than 1,000 people across three continents. In the UK, it provides pre-press services for Yellow Pages and its sister business-to-business directory Business Pages; in the US, it works with Yell Group’s US arm Yellow Book USA.
Andrew Pindar, chairman of Pindar Set’s parent company Pindar Group,
said: “Our relationship with Yell has been a long and highly fruitful one. It lies at the heart of the growth and development of Pindar Set and together with RR Donnelley we have built a partnership that is formidable within the world printing and publishing arena.”
A formal celebration dinner was held at Ripley Castle attended by key figures, past and present, from Yell, RR Donnelley and Pindar Set. Amongst the VIPs was Bob O’Neill, senior vice president, directories sales at RR Donnelley, who retired at the end of last month, and Tom Pindar, Pindar Group lifetime president, father of the current chairman and an acknowledged pioneer of using computer technology within directory production.
Key dates in the 25 year partnership
- 1981 Yell, Pindar and RR Donnelley partner to produce the Shrewsbury, Hereford & Mid Wales Yellow Pages directory
1991 Pindar launches its Pagentry automatic pagination system, creating pages in seconds
1992 RR Donnelley installs the world’s largest directory press at its then York facility. The K&B Commander is capable of printing 192 pages in a single pass
1995 Pindar takes responsibility for three artwork studios previously owned by Yellow Pages in Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester
1997 RR Donnelley is the first directory printer in Europe to install a fully automatic computer-to-plate system. This removes the need to process more than 280,000 pages of film per year
1998 Colour is introduced into Yellow Pages directories on a trial basis
1999 RR Donnelley signs an extension contract with Yellow Pages.This is the springboard to move its York plant to a state-of-the-art facility at Flaxby Moor, North Yorkshire
1999 Pindar Set completes its move to a new head office at Newlands House, Scarborough
1999 Advantage – the advert database used by both Pindar and Yellow Pages is launched
2000 The first of four new Uniset presses arrives at Flaxby Moor, capable of printing more than two million full colour pages per hour
2001 RR Donnelley opens its new facility at Flaxby Moor. Covering 260,000 sq ft and employing 350 people, it is the largest dedicated directory print site in the world
2001 Full colour advertising is launched nationally in all UK Yellow Pages directories
2003 Yell Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange
2004 Launch of a new Yellow Pages directory front cover for the first time featuring distinctive iconography aimed at consumers
2004 Yell wins the European Quality Award in the large business category – the only business to do so twice
