Business - Appointments

Inca Digital has appointed Dr John Mills as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.

Dr Mills has extensive experience of developing and commercialising advanced industrial technologies, specifically in the fields of inkjet and plastic electronics. Holding a PhD in Physics, his senior roles have included Director of Development with Domino Printing Sciences, Vice President and COO at Plastic Logic and, for the last four and a half years, CEO of DataLase.

Dr Mills is looking forward to making a contribution at Inca.  He comments, “Inca Digital is a world-class company at the forefront of digital printing technology and I am very excited about working with such an experienced team to take the company to even greater success. Inca changed how the industry produced wide-format print and we have the potential to develop ‘game-changing’ digital print solutions that provide considerable production value and efficiency to new markets.”

Commenting on the appointment, Nigel Puttergill, Inca Chairman, said, “It’s a great pleasure to welcome John to Inca. He brings considerable strategic, operational and commercial expertise to the company and he will be instrumental in guiding and growing the business.”

Bill Baxter will remain on the Inca Board along with the other serving officers: Yoshinari Otani, Chief Operating Officer; Stephen Tunnicliffe Wilson, Director of R&D; Dominique Marciniak, Finance Director and Nigel Puttergill, Chairman.

GMG UK has appointed two new members of staff. Will Hearn becomes Sales Executive responsible for the Southern Region, and Dominic Mannion joins as Technical Engineer based in GMG’s regional office in Leeds.

Will began working within the graphics supplies sector over 20 years ago, selling consumables and graphic arts equipment to printers, designers, advertising agencies and pre-press companies, followed by a senior sales and technical role with a leading UK supplier. For the last four years he has been Sales Director for EC2i Limited, a leading catalogue pre-press services organisation, where he worked closely with high street retail brands and became involved with the production and marketing of B2C, as well as B2B promotional media.

Toby Burnett, managing director of GMG UK, comments, “Will joins GMG with a wealth of experience in repro and print and his appointment will enable us to continue to expand our customer base in the UK. His experience with brand owners and creative organisations will broaden GMG Color into new areas of the industry.”

Dominic has worked in the industry in both a production and technical support capacity since 1988, initially as a specialist flexo film planner before moving into digital prepress. For the past seven years he has provided field service engineering support for Presstek encompassing CTP, workflow and Fogra-standard proofing systems. His expertise spans installation, training, maintenance, troubleshooting and remote diagnostics.

Toby Burnett adds, “Dominic’s introduction to the technical team in the North will galvanise our ability to provide clients with support. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the processes involved in flexo, and the technology being adopted by packaging companies, and has lots of experience of working with industry-standard workflows.”

Hollanders Printing Systems has appointed Kees van der Looij as Commercial Director of the company, responsible for developing sales throughout Europe and internationally. Previously with Zünd, and with an in-depth knowledge of the wide-format digital printing market, his expertise will drive increased presence of ColorBooster textile solutions throughout the display, sign-making and décor sectors.

Van der Looij’s appointment follows the recent restructuring of Hollanders to enable it to expand its production and marketing facilities to meet the demands generated by the world-wide increase of interest in wide-format digital textile printing. The new long-term financial strategy now in place will enable the existing highly productive ColorBooster XL to be complemented by additional products covering differing market sectors, augmenting the company’s industry presence and simplifying the transition to textile production now sought by many print service providers.

Roland Biemans, Sales and Marketing Manager at Hollanders Printing Systems, states. “Kees joins the company at an exciting time as we are now anticipating steady growth that will enable us to bring our ColorBooster solutions to a wider market area. The addition this year of new products to our portfolio will broaden our customer base and give more businesses the opportunity to benefit from a truly productive turnkey textile production solution, so additional sales support is essential.”

“My time at Zünd has given me valuable long-term experience about the wide-format digital printing sector and the potential of new machine technologies, with textile production now making a significant impact in all the markets where decorated fabrics play a role,” adds van der Looij. “I’m looking forward to working with the team at Hollanders. The company’s solutions are designed and manufactured to the highest standards, backed up with full support from a company that thoroughly understands user requirements.”

The recent investment in Hollanders has seen the addition of two entrepreneurs who have joined the specialist manufacturer in active roles. Wout van der Wijk and Guy Zwart bring with them deep-founded experience of business management and additional wide-format experience, and their practical involvement in the company plays an important part in its forward development and growth.

Hollanders ColorBooster solutions are developed and manufactured in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and incorporate all the hardware and software elements required for the production of high quality digital textile printing. With the emphasis on sustainable, versatile output, the systems are complemented by the company’s Competence Center that comprises a collaboration with specialist partners in pre-press, colour management, finishing and materials.

[photo shows Kees van der Looij]

Zünd Plotting Systems (UK) Limited has appointed Nathan Chapman to the newly created role of Operations Manager, based at Zünd UK’s demonstration suite, sales and service centre in St Albans.  He joins Zünd UK from Esko Artwork where he was Service and Support Manager for UK and Ireland.

With a career spanning 25 years, Nathan brings valuable experience in both hardware and software to Zünd UK.  He will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations and for strengthening customer service and support.

On Nathan's appointment, Peter Giddings, managing director of Zünd UK says, “[Nathan's] knowledge and understanding of the UK packaging industry is outstanding and his experience as a Senior Service Manager is unsurpassed.  Nathan will be a strong asset to our team and will help us to provide the unrivalled levels of customer support and service Zünd UK is known for as we continue to grow.”

Nathan adds, “I am looking forward to working with Zünd UK’s customers and providing first-class customer service and solutions.  Zünd UK has a great reputation for superior engineering and brilliant customer care.  I am looking forward to getting to know everyone and to the new opportunities ahead.”

For more information on the Zünd product range, please visit www.zund.co.uk.

East Sussex-based digital print company Elephant Print and Display is delighted to announce that Mark Crook has joined the company in the role of Director.

Mark has worked in the printing and graphic industry for over thirty years and brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge to the creative and pre-press departments.

Commenting on the new appointment, Elephant Print and Display Director Jason Gadd, stated, “I'm so pleased that Mark has chosen to join the business and he has already allowed Elephant to move into other areas, he is even able to provide cover for our Indigo press which is a huge bonus.”

In addition, Mark’s background and experience will enable the company to diversify into new areas of communication such as heavyweight graphic design, audio visual presentations and online interactive media. Talking about his new job, Mark said, “I've known everyone at Elephant since they started and I'm really excited about helping the company grow.”

During his print industry career, Mark has worked for Erreys printers Group in Heathfield, Mint Design Associates in Brighton and has also freelanced under his own company name Hippo.

Mark is also one of the organisers for the Meadowlands Music Festival which is held over three days in May at Glynde, near Lewes in Sussex. As a result of Mark’s appointment Elephant are now a sponsor for this event.

Explaining Elephant’s involvement in the festival, Director Jason Gadd said, “Meadowlands is a great event and Elephant are able to provide some really original promotional materials as well as important safety signs for the site. Our participation means the company is associated with a well respected festival, which has become an important part of the local creative community.”

Elephant Print and Display’s most recent successful projects have included a large digital print run for a catering facilities group along with an employee seminar presentation for the same company. As a result, Elephant has converted one of their storage rooms at their site into a dedicated production studio which provides additional workspace and allows their team to work on these larger projects.

Elephant has also recently completed work on a large project for a corporate retail outlet, which involved the production of 160 2.3m banners, all of which were then delivered to 132 different outlets throughout the UK. Director Jason Gadd revealed that the colour matching was crucial for this work, and this was achieved with the spot-colour replacement facility using Wasatch RIP technology. The job was subsequently delivered before deadline with consistent colour throughout the run.

Formed in 2002 by Directors Jason Gadd and Jamie Benson, both former pre-press operators, Elephant Print and Display has a staff of 6 people and operates as a digital only printing company based in two converted barn units in scenic surroundings near Lewes in East Sussex.

Elephant Print and Display operates with an Indigo 3050 press and HP designjet large format printers, with most print finishing handled in-house together with bookletmaking, perfect binding and wiro-binding alongside both large and small format laminating facilities.

Since its formation, Elephant Print and Display has gradually moved from producing large format work and repro services (such as drum scanning, retouching etc.) into short-run digital print, initially with a Xerox DocuColor press and then onto HP Indigo. As part of its business philosophy, Elephant uses environmental responsibility as a factor in procurement, energy usage and waste minimisation, and where possible advises its client to choose environmentally friendly products such as FSC certified papers.

Elephant Print and Display services a mainly business orientated customer base, built up of design and marketing agencies, local authorities, other print companies and freelance graphic designers.

For more information on Elephant Print and Display and their services, visit, www.elephantprint.co.uk or Tel: 01273 401 209

Loparex, a supplier of specialty release liners, has appointed Ruud Wigman as European Sales and Marketing Director.  He succeeds Jussi Pukkila who is set to retire after 25 years with the company

Ruud brings 20 years of product management, marketing, and global sales management experience within key converting markets, including graphics, labels, and other industrial segments.

Most recently, Ruud served as Sales and Marketing Manager for Innovia Films, with responsibility for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Ruud will be based in Apeldoorn and will report to Theo Wilting, Managing Director, Loparex BV. Wilting adds, ‘We look forward to Ruud’s leadership of our European sales and marketing operations as we continue to expand our commercial reach and product innovation throughout Europe and with our global accounts.’

For more information, please visit www.loparex.com.