Large Format Review - Business News

EskoArtwork's CEO, Carsten Knudsen, has officially opened the company’s UK offices, based in Solihull.  Watched by more than 30 EskoArtwork team members and representatives from parent company, Danaher, the ceremony was followed by a presentation from Knudsen. He detailed EskoArtwork’s strategy following its change of ownership in January and spoke of new developments underway in the run up to drupa 2012.

He also highlighted the exciting new training programme designed to enable customers to improve their working knowledge of all EskoArtwork solutions and third party software. These seminars - lasting between one and five days - will cover a host of subjects specifically targeted to meet customer requirements.

Paul Bates, EskoArtwork regional business manager UK and Eire, comments: “Markets and customer requirements change and our customers need to be adaptable to those demands. They use our products day in and day but may not be fully utilising the capabilities or maximising the return on their investment. This training programme is aimed at helping them get the most out of our software.”

 

Fisher Textiles, one of the USA's leading suppliers of fabrics for digital printing, has expanded its operations into Canada with a new distribution centre stocking many of Fisher’s most popular styles.  Benefits to Canadian customers include faster delivery time, decreased shipping costs, same day shipping and the ability to request styles to be stocked.

Fisher already sells to a variety of world class printing businesses in Canada. “We’ve decided to expand our distribution capabilities into Canada to get our material closer to our Canadian customers,” says Scott Fisher, president of Fisher Textiles. Fisher adds, “Having Canadian partners helps us understand the market place and enables us to do a better job servicing the needs of our Canadian customers.”

“We choose to work with a distribution partner to insure our service levels and shipping capabilities would be in line with our customer expectations,” says Larry Fisher Jr., VP of International Sales. “Accord Transportation is a first class distribution business, serving all parts of Canada from its location in Mississauga, Ontario. Accord Transportation will be a great addition for our customers that have just in time requirements. In some cases, it will be practical to ship directly from the states - especially when time is less of a factor. We will be stocking many popular styles in Mississauga. As customer demand dictates, we will add to our product mix.”

In addition to the distribution and logistics expertise provided by Accord Transportation, Fisher Textiles is partnering with TG Graphics, a sales organisation based in Montreal. “TG Graphics sells a variety of products to the printing market. They cover nearly all areas of Canada as part of their existing business. Adding textiles to their mix will compliment their business as well as ours,” says Larry Fisher Jr. “We have been talking with Al Proulx, president of TG Graphics for well over a year about this endeavor. We are excited about this business relationship as we are certain it will benefit both parties and the customer base we wish to serve.”

For more information, visit www.fishertextiles.com.

Pixartprinting, a leading web-to-print company in Europe, has launched a new website devoted to the Portuguese marketplace. Already present in Italy, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, with websites in the native language of each country and dedicated customer service, Pixartprinting is now focusing on with the launch of www.pixartprinting.com.pt.

By taking advantage of this fully-dedicated virtual showcase, Portuguese customers will get to know Pixartprinting and its services, as well as gain an appreciation for the comprehensiveness, quality, and competitive prices offered.

Matteo Rigamonti, CEO of Pixartprinting comments, “An initial analysis of the Portuguese market indicated a solid interest in our e-commerce formula. For this reason, following our opening of the Spanish business 6 months ago which is already giving significant results, we are targeting Portugal, where we believe there is great potential. The dedicated internet site constitutes a fundamental tool for presenting what we have to offer, making it easy for the user to choose a product and facilitating even the payment procedure."

The service offered by www.pixartprinting.com.pt is completed by dedicated customer service with a national telephone number and personnel who speak the local language. “Humanising the e-commerce service with customer service in the native language helps us to improve on the perception of physical distance between the company and the user. This is a fundamental element for overcoming the reluctance of those who have not yet taken the important step of making their first on-line purchase from a foreign producer,"  concludes Rigamonti.

As in all the other countries where it operates, Pixartprinting guarantees short lead times in Portugal as well - from 48 hours to 7 days, depending on the client's request when placing the order - although production continues to be centralised in Italy. This choice is a by-product of economies of scale on large production volumes that allows the company to offer extremely competitive prices while guaranteeing high quality, thanks to the use of cutting-edge printing systems. 

Birmingham-based Hollywood Monster has been awarded a top accreditation demonstrating its commitment to health and safety.  The graphics solutions experts recently received accreditation from SAFEcontractor, a programme which recognises very high standards of health and safety practise amongst UK contractors.  The company’s application for SAFEcontractor accreditation was driven by the need for a uniform standard across the business.

Managing director Tim Andrews comments,“Working with high profile clients including Westfield shopping centres, Birmingham City FC, The Mailbox, and with a huge amount of work being carried out in the build up to the 2012 Olympics, it is vital that we take the safety and support of our workforce seriously."

“A huge amount of our work is carried out in the retail, leisure and property sectors, and the accreditation is becoming a criterion that businesses actively look for when awarding contracts. We take our obligations to staff and clients very seriously, and in achieving SAFEcontractor status, our clients have peace of mind, knowing that the care we take of our practices and staff is as high as the standard of the work that they have come to expect,” he added.

SAFEcontractor accreditation is expected to enhance the company’s ability to attract new contracts and its commitment to safety will be viewed positively by its insurers when the company liability policy is up for renewal.

SAFEcontractor is applicable to most sectors although it is particularly relevant to food manufacture, property, facilities management, retail and leisure sectors, all of which are big users of contract services.

John Kinge, Head of Risk at SAFEcontractor said, "Major organisations can no longer run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies".

"More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that Hollywood Monster  has done. The firm’s high standard has set an example, which hopefully will be followed by other companies within the sector".

Under the SAFEcontractor system, businesses undergo a vetting process, which examines health and safety procedures and their track record for safe practice. Those companies meeting the high standard are included on a database, which is accessible to registered users only via a website, www.safecontractor.com

Employer-organisations who sign up to the scheme can access the database, enabling them to vet potential contractors before they even set foot on site. These employers agree that, as users of the scheme, they will engage only those who have received accreditation.

Josero's website has been revised to reflect its strategic expansion into the printer market.  Its website - www.josero.com - now incorporates the full range of products including the Sun Neo Flatbed printer, the Redjet 3.2m printer, many refurbished superwide printers, the full range of Triangle inks, a big selection of printheads and a large variety of spare parts

The site now contains more graphics and imagery of the products available.  Potential customers can now view online what they want to purchase -be it a superwide printer or a damper.  All the products are stocked at Josero’s head office in Cambridge.

Josero’s core offering of technical expertise and sales support is also reflected on the site. The team at Josero pride themselves on their technical knowledge and experience and are always on hand to offer advice and support to their customers and potential customers.  This is demonstrated in the case study section, which demonstrates the customer service that Josero is able to offer.

The site is easy to navigate - for example, customers can search for Triangle inks and spare parts by selecting under speceific printer types.

The new communication section now includes a list of exhibitions that Josero plans to attend, articles published across a range of media and some of the adverts it has run in the trade press.

For more information, please visiti www.josero.com

Roland DG (UK) today announces the launch of its new online forum, www.rolandforum.co.uk The forum is designed as a meeting place to post questions, share ideas and exchange information.  It is intended to appeal most to Roland customers, dealers and partners, but is open to all to browse, register and post.

Gillian Montanaro, Head of Marketing for Roland DG UK comments:

“Following on from our recent website launch, this is the next stage of online development for Roland DG.  Alongside our Twitter, Flickr and YouTube sites, the Roland forum now provides a place for customers to talk to and help each other, plus share ideas and experiences. Our research has indicated that there is no UK forum where customers can go and find answers to their questions exclusively about Roland devices.”

The forum is designed to appeal to the whole spectrum of Roland customers from sign-making, to commercial print, promotional/gift, labelling, packaging and 3D modelling.  It also spans the entire range of Roland DG products.