Business - Knowledge

RMC Digital Print has invested in new printing equipment from Robert Horne Group to support its impressive expansion plans.  The company has just purchased and installed a Vutek GS5000r and a Zund G3 cutter in order to meet increased demand for digital printing and to bring previously outsourced work back in-house.

This new equipment builds on RMC’s existing line up of printers – purchased in February 2010 – which comprises a Mimaki, a Roland AJ and a Vutek QS3220 printer.   With the two new additions to its impressive array of equipment, RMC has now invested over £750,000 in digital printing solutions.

Launched in 2010, RMC Digital Print has grown rapidly.  The business currently boasts purpose-built premises measuring 8,000 square metres and is set to move into a 16,000 square metre facility in early 2012 in order to meet the demands for increased capacity.  Throughout this time of rapid expansion, Robert Horne Group, the materials expert, has been on hand to offer sound advice and facilitate the business in acquiring printing equipment that enables RMC to increase output and ultimately improve profits.

Rod Barratt, General Manager, at RMC Digital Print says, “Although the investment made in equipment seems high, it was really a no brainer for us.  Prior to buying the hardware from Robert Horne, we were outsourcing a significant amount of print business and it made perfect sense for us to invest further in our own operations and bring that work in-house."

On selecting the Vutek GS5000r, he adds, "The Vutek printer will certainly give us a competitive edge with its incredible print speed and quality.  We can now comfortably produce 100 square metres per hour, up to 5 metres wide, at production speed.  One of the main benefits is the ability to print double sided and – following this purchase – RMC will be the only company in Europe offering this service.  It will revolutionise the way backlit flexible signs are produced.”

He concludes, “Robert Horne has been brilliant in guiding us through the whole project. The delivery and installation has been seamless.”

It took two weeks to install the new Vutek printer and Zund G3 cutter and RMC’s employees have also benefited from a week of intensive training.  Rod Barratt states, “It’s reassuring to know that Robert Horne is at the end of the phone and able to offer advice at anytime.”

David Filer, Account Manager at Robert Horne comments, “The purchases made have ensured that RMC can do everything in house. The machines have increased efficiency in terms of speed and quality. They offer print resolutions of up to 1080 dpi, colour matching as well as printing direct to substrate. This, combined with advanced Series 2 ink technology, means that curing is instant. It keys to substrates immediately and eliminates the need for lamination.  Labour costs are also reduced, which ultimately boosts the bottom line.  With the increase in productivity and 24 hour production, RMC can now offer same day turnaround which is vital in this fast-paced marketplace.”

With regards to the future, Rod Barratt comments, “Purchasing the Vutek GS5000r means we can now expand our offerings to the sign trade as well as moving into the exhibition and building wrap markets.  The Zund G3 opens up new business opportunities in retail and PoS.  The investment in class-leading equipment means we are now capable of meeting all wide format requirements for print and sign and display.”

“This has been achieved through our strong working relationship with Robert Horne. The quality of the machines, products, service, advice, support, training and aftercare has been superb. Project management from the Robert Horne team has made us feel confident throughout the whole process,” concludes Rod Barratt.

Robert Horne recently launched a new digital solutions brochure, which encompasses its complete wide format digital consumables range, leading by application.  For more information, please visit http://www.roberthorne.co.uk/media/digital-solutions/

For more information on Robert Horne, please visit www.roberthorne.co.uk

For more information on RMC Digital Print, please visit www.rmcdigitalprint.co.uk

Bristol-based Spandex is one of the leading suppliers to professionals in the signmaking and digital printing industries.  Employing over 700 people, the company specialises in the sales, distribution and support of practically all things sign and display-related.

Back in August this year, Gilde Buy Out partners announced the acquisition of the Spandex Group from Gerber Scientific by funds managed by Gilde and Spandex management.  Large Format Review attended the recently-held Open Day to discover more.

According to Leon Watson, Director of Sales and Marketing (Hardware) at Spandex, “It was becoming increasingly apparent that we didn’t really fit into Gerber Scientific’s plans going forward being a sales and distribution business.  Since the buy-out, Gilde has been incredibly helpful and is fully supportive of our growth strategy in terms of acquisitions and product portfolio additions.”

Customer-focused

Leon has been at the company for over 20 years and states that the customer-focused strategy that Spandex was founded on still remains intact.  “It’s very much a relationship-based industry and we need to be a business partner that our customers can truly rely on during these tough times.   We like to think that we are taking the uncertainty out of uncertain times for our customers, across all aspects of our business.”

Phil McMullin, Spandex’s UK country manager interjects, “In fact we have more than 200 customers that have remained loyal to Spandex for over 20 years.  We really listen to our customers and deliver what they need.  We believe our success is built on the classic ‘power of three’: knowledgeable staff, readily available product - delivered in a timely manner - and technical support as and when needed.”

Products readily available

At its UK headquarters, Spandex has a 3000m2 warehouse facility.  This houses over 25,000 products from industry-leading brands and at present serves more than 31,000 customers in 17 different countries.  It makes over 1 million next-day deliveries a year with a 99.4% successful delivery rate.  Leon says, “In effect, our warehouse has become our customers’ shelves.  They do not have the space or resources to store vast quantities of stock so we do it for them.”

Phil McMullin adds, “We’ve really focused on service levels.  We view our distribution business as being like a finely tuned F1 car.  It’s an impressive model, but there is always a way to fine-tune it to better serve our customers. In the back of our minds are the questions: what else can we do better?  What else can we offer?”

Over the years Spandex has invested a significant amount of money in an automated shuffle storage system that enables the company to offer a vast array of short metreage media across a huge range of products.

Knowledgeable staff

Since the buy-out, Spandex has renewed vigour and is focusing its energies on developing an even stronger product portfolio.  It also devotes incredible resources into training its staff.  Every employee taken on in the business has to have a thorough understanding of the products Spandex supplies and the applications they support.  No one is placed in a customer facing role until they’ve completed 3-6 months of in-depth training, depending on their role in the business.

Leon comments, “We aim to be a teaching and learning organisation.  Education is key to our success.  Our sales teams must be knowledgeable, reliable, consistent and able to advise our customers of the best solutions for specific applications.”

Interestingly, the company employs double the number of field service engineers than equipment sales personnel.

The future

The company appears to have the right backing and the business model in place.  To cope with the downturn in business that the global recession has inevitably brought, the company has had to make changes.  However, rather than decrease stock levels to help cash-flow, the company has actually increased them and whilst there have been cost-cutting measures, none of these have been at customer-touch points.

Spandex’ expansion plans for the future include the provision of more products and more services to more geographical regions.  Leon Watson summarises, “As a privately owned business, we now have more capital to invest in new products and we have the financial backing in place to expand geographically.  With regards to the future, do not rule anything out!”

For more information, please visit www.spandex.com

Two Sides' Autumn Seminar reaffirms the popularity of print as an essential medium for media planners with leading media players citing print as being "the new cool" and having a unique appeal compared to digital media.

Held at Stationers' Hall in London on 7 November, the Autumn Seminar entitled: "Why print has a key role to play in the integrated future of marketing" included influential brand owners and media decision makers.

Leading figures from the print and paper industries and other members of Two Sides listened to speakers talk about their own experiences of how important print is and their individual perceptions of its future success alongside digital counterparts.

The speakers included:

• Philip Smith, Head of Content Solutions at Haymarket Brand Republic Group, who hosted the discussion;
• Joe Clift, Brand and Customer Marketing Director, Specialist Brands & Group Marketing Operations for Lloyds Banking Group;
• Kate Scally, Head of Consumer Brand Strategy at A&N Media;
• John Willacy, Media Director at Mike Colling & Co;
• Phil Sweeney, Acquisition Marketing Manager, Which?
• Julia Hutchinson, Chief Operating Officer, Association of Publishing Agencies.

The speakers provoked lively debate and also responded to questions from the audience regarding the significance that print still holds in the media planning agenda. They cited success stories within their own companies where print had played an essential role in the progression of an advertising or media strategy.

Director of Two Sides, Martyn Eustace, welcomed the debate which will enable suppliers of print media to have an insight into how media planners truly feel about the future role of print. He said: "It was excellent and reassuring to hear from the speakers that print is still very much part of the media landscape, both economically and environmentally, and allows brand owners and media planners to achieve amazing ROI for their hard pressed advertising budgets."

European research findings revealed

Two Sides also used the seminar as an opportunity to reveal the findings of its European survey that showed that paper is still the favoured medium of all age groups for reading and safe-keeping of documents.

Perhaps the most surprising outcome of the survey was the finding that the younger generation, the so-called digital natives, overwhelmingly prefer print on paper to reading from screens.

The research was conducted by IPSOS in association with Two Sides' sister organisation, Print Power. 4,500 European consumers were contacted.

First edition of a regular series of Print Power magazines launched

The first of a regular series of Print Power magazine was also launched at the seminar. The first issue, which was launched in April 2011, was sent to key brand owners and media decision makers and received great reviews. Each issue is aimed at showing unique ways in which brands can communicate with customers, using examples of all the different print media channels, and three issues a year are now planned.

Our latest 'Spotlight on...' feature focuses on Hollywood Monster - winner in the ‘Best Wide Format Printing Company’ category at the Sign & Digital UK 2011 awards.

West Midlands-based Hollywood Monster has been making waves since its inception as Hollywood Signs in 1991.  Founded by Tim Andrews and his father, the creation of the company fulfilled their dream of setting up their own business and provided a vehicle for Tim to promote his creative flair.

In 2009, Tim identified another gap in the West-Midlands market and created Monster Digital to supply digital print to the signage and display industries.  With the subsequent amalgamation and relocation of both businesses – now known as Hollywood Monster – to larger premises later that year, the company really upped the ante.

Hollywood Monster’s vision is to become the number one graphic and signage business within the UK through excellence and dedication to its clients and employees.  Specifically, the company aims to build on its success and reputation by delivering comprehensive corporate identity branding services across the UK to the construction, retail, development, exhibition and events industries.

It currently employs 70 people who primarily work from the company’s 30,000 sqft factory in Tyseley on the edge of Birmingham.  With an annual turnover of £6million, the company is rapidly gaining recognition and was pronounced winner in the ‘Best Wide Format Printing Company’ category at the Sign & Digital UK 2011 awards held earlier this year.

Hollywood Monster’s team of skilled craftsmen includes graphic designers, draftsmen, structural engineers, model makers, traditional signwriters, welders, painters, civil engineers, decorators and carpenters.  The business operates 24/7 and as a result of its success has this year alone increased its workforce by 40% and continues to expand with a view to becoming a £10million business by 2015.

Tim Andrews, Managing Director of Hollywood Monster, comments, “A key factor in our success is the level of commitment and dedication from our employees. Our staff retention figures speak for themselves - with many of our staff originating from the early days. Our business is built on five core values - Service, Quality, Creativity, Integrity and Passion. Although we are a family business with ambitious targets, our business is built on trust and we will continue to grow whilst maintaining this ethos.”

In order to remain at the top of the game, the company has heavily invested in a vast array of digital printing and finishing equipment to enable it to meet its customers’ requirements.  Its most recent purchases include the Vutek QS3200 and Vutek GS3200 UV flatbed printers which allow the creation of output up to 3.2m wide.  Ideal for POS, the GS3200 in particular enables Hollywood Monster to offer higher precision graphics as well as the ability to print white ink.

Hollywood Monster’s premises also house the latest NUR Expedio 5000 and the NUR Revolution (both now HP) UV roll to roll printers that can print up to 5m wide.  These, combined with the new Zund G3 digital cutter, allow for greater efficiencies within the business and higher outputs overall.

This veritable arsenal of wide and superwide format printing equipment ensures that Hollywood Monster can meet the demands for enormous high quality banners and advertising hoardings at high profile sites.  Earlier this year, Hollywood Monster won the huge Olympic site contract to produce the UK’s largest ever digitally-printed banner at Westfield Stratford City mall – opposite the new Olympic Stadium – measuring some 350m by 14m.  The company also produced 85 hoardings for the site, 40 vinyl glass wraps and 45 fabric hoardings.  A creative team worked for 20 days to produce the vast banner at Hollywood Monster’s HQ and an installation team of 20 positioned it at the Westfield Stratford site.

According to Simon McKenzie, Sales Director at Hollywood Monster, “It was a huge coup for us as Westfield Stratford is the retail development of the moment.  It is part of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration project in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games and of course it’s one we’re really excited to be involved in.”

Other interesting projects the company has worked on include large format digital print for events across the UK for top artists including Rihanna, Justin Bieber, N-Dubz and Diversity.  The company was also heavily involved with the latest film premiere, Water for Elephants, starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. Hollywood Monster printed and installed all the staging elements including backdrops, floor graphics, banners, posters and press backdrops.

As well as focusing on the retail and entertainment industry, Hollywood Monster has secured contract extensions over the last ten years with some of the construction industry’s biggest names - including Morgan Sindall and Carillion - to meet all their signage and graphics needs throughout the UK.  The company has been integral in the rebranding of these companies following various acquisitions within the industry.

Most recently, the business was appointed as preferred supplier to Barratt Developments, which includes Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes and Ward Homes. This new two-year agreement will see Hollywood Monster producing sales and marketing signage across the whole of the UK for one of the nation’s largest house-builders.

On these impressive and successful projects, Tim Andrews says, “Thanks to the continuous investment in high tech equipment and investment and training of our staff, we are in a strong position to manage and implement projects of all sizes.  Hollywood Monster has gained a reputation for delivering great quality output, within budget and on-time.”

With regards to the future, Hollywood Monster has a number of plans up its sleeves.  Tim Andrews reveals, “In order to grow and maintain our competitive edge, we will be looking at new markets and technologies.  In particular, we will be focusing on LED and are actively looking to find suitable businesses to partner with.”

He summarises, “As with all businesses, it is important to continuously evaluate business processes to eradicate inefficiencies.  This ensures we maintain profitable growth – whilst continuing to expand into the retail and POS market – and will help us to achieve our business objectives for the long term.  Most importantly, we will be maintaining and building those relationships with our loyal, long-standing clients that have supported us over the years to ensure we continue to provide them with the very best in terms of product and service.”

For more information on Hollywood Monster, please visit www.hollywoodmonster.co.uk

Enfocus’ popular series of educational webinars relaunches this month with 31 new webinars on Switch and PitStop, called “Learn with Enfocus”.

Each of the customer-driven, ‘’how to” sessions will run several times for 1-3 days, to reach 130,000+ Enfocus Switch and PitStop users in different time zones around the world.

Sessions will then be archived, but many topics will be held “live” on an ongoing basis, both to reflect any product or industry changes, and to allow interaction with new attendees.

The schedule is below.  Links to registration as well as educational videos from Enfocus’ extensive library can be found at http://www.enfocus.com/learn

• November 14, 2011 - 5 Reasons to upgrade to PitStop 10
• November 14 and November 15, 2011 - Repurpose your PDF files for tablet devices with PitStop
• November 15 and November 17, 2011 - How to handle color in PitStop
• November 17  and November 18, 2011 - Make a workable Switch flow
• November 18 and November 21, 2011- Switch basic use cases
• November 21 and November 22, 2011- Most used PitStop Pro's Global Changes uncovered
• November 22 and November 23, 2011 - How to handle fonts in PitStop
• November 23, November 24, and November 25, 2011 - Enfocus' product synergy
• November 24, 2011 - How to use the SwitchClient and metadata fields
• November 25, 2011 - Most-used Switch tools uncovered

“Learn with Enfocus” webinars are hosted, and presented by, Enfocus product and application specialists. All have proven track records in leading meaningful educational sessions that attendees overwhelmingly agree are significantly helpful and immediately employable in their day-to-day work.

For more information, contact marketing@enfocus.com

Marcus Timson, Director of FM Brooks and co-founder of the EcoPrint Europe Live 2012 event, explains why it is imperative that print businesses move towards sustainable business models.

"Print’s got a dirty image, but then so did the car industry. The car industry is undergoing a major eco-revolution, so why can’t we?

It was Albert Einstein who said, “It is the definition of insanity doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.”  He is absolutely right about the definition of insanity.  If you do as you have always done, then you will certainly get what you have always got.

This statement bears particular resonance at present.  There are no longer any guarantees that our economies will grow. The seemingly endless post-war economic growth cycle has very much levelled off.  Economic systems are not facilitating growth.  Those living in mature economies are now – for the first time – facing the possibility that their standard of living will not improve.  In fact, they may well have a lower standard of living than the previous generation.

The global protests at the injustice of the financial systems are another indicator of the desire for a root and branch change. The financial markets are still very fragile across the developed world, and whatever happens, the false economies of the past no longer work.

And print, like any manufacturing industry, is in the firing line. Print businesses need to change and marry their operations with sustainability.  Failure to do so could mean disappearing margins, increased toxic waste, failure to align with customer demands, breaking the law by non-compliance, constriction of revenues and very little profit generation. Frankly, it doesn’t make for good business.

I think sustainability equals common sense. The principle of creating a business that is focused on sustainable growth is hard to disagree with. The global financial breakdown and the companies and institutions that no longer exist provide a great example of a non-sustainable model. Many of the banks were trading with money that didn’t exist and were taking unreasonable risk, without any concern for the resulting fallout. This is both arrogant and insane. The politicians failed us again and once more we are on the brink of yet another recession.

I am suggesting that for sustainability to be successful it must be economically robust and grounded in reality. An economic model that is grounded in reality needs to be allied with a clear understanding of what success looks like and where the business is heading.  Each print company will need a vision, a plan and must then take action.

Things won’t just get better by themselves. Many businesses wait for things to improve and for economic confidence to return before being positive and proactive. They key is doing something!  It’s obvious that a vital ingredient of growth is action. By restricting decisions and limiting actions, growth is suffocated.

But what exactly is sustainability?  Sustainability is creating an enduring model that lasts for generations - a model that sustains and endures.

Firstly, a business must be economically sustainable.  Nothing is sustainable if it isn’t profitable. The social and environmental benefits of any action cannot be realised if the commercial success of the business doesn’t have the most important billing. I get frustrated with people who believe that sustainability is about saving the planet and hugging trees. The environmental and social benefits arrive as a result of good business practice. The commitment to responsible, good business will have an outcome that is beneficial to the environment and to society as a whole.

The Cradle to Cradle book by McDonough and Braungert is a great source of inspiration for anyone who wants to make sense of sustainability. Written by a German chemist (Braungert) and an American architect (McDonough) it tackles what the essence of sustainability has to be. It challenges the notion of the trend for recycling as just being ‘less bad’ as opposed to ‘good’. They claim that recycling could place a respectable sheen on a bad process. They successfully distil what the business of sustainability has to be in order for our community to continue to thrive into the future, for countless generations.  The essence of Cradle to Cradle is as follows:

1. Design and make a product with the right materials in the first place
2. Reduce the amount of that material, and then
3. Reuse those materials
4. And lastly, recycle materials when they can no longer be reused.

The concept for Cradle to Cradle is quite simply about designing a product correctly in the first place. It’s about designers understanding what materials and processes they need to integrate into a product at its inception. If the vision, design, process, structure and materials are right at the beginning of the manufacturing process then our entire system will be more ‘cradle to cradle’ and less ‘cradle to grave’.

The cradle to grave process was established during the industrial revolution when the power of mass manufacturing and consumption was driven at the expense of the social and environmental concerns of the planet and community. The human race’s industrial brute power could and would beat the law of nature. And now it is broken.

The authors of Cradle to Cradle point out that it probably wasn’t intentional to create a system like this. More a case of rabid economic growth, powered by awesome industrialisation, without realising the damage that was being caused by these actions.  The focus was on the creation of wealth for the owners of industry.  In the modern world, those paradigms have shifted and a more balanced approach is coming to the fore.  I think this is being given further impetus with the relative fragility of the financial markets and the general distrust of the finance sector.

So let’s take a look at one of the major institutions of the industrial world, the US car industry. Henry T Ford - a man with innovation running through his veins - was able to mass manufacture motor cars (making them affordable to the general public) at his River Rouge plant in Detroit.  An engineering revolution and a consumer revolution, all in one.  This approach to manufacturing was very positive for Ford and the people who worked for him - Ford was generous with his employees - but the process wasn’t necessarily good for the environment. In fact it was very bad.

Fast forward three generations and focus on the work done by Bill Ford, Ford’s current CEO, and Henry’s great-grandson. If we take a look at the River Rouge plant now, we see one of the most sustainable manufacturing plants on the planet, featuring the world’s largest living roof.  Ford is now in the top 25 US most sustainable companies. Bill Ford understands that in order to manufacture a healthy product, it must not detract from the social and environmental conditions that it inhabits. In fact it must contribute, through a cradle to cradle approach. The bottom line is that this sustainable approach is good for business. And Ford is making good, healthy money, by the way.  Ford is the number 1 US car maker and the only one that was strong enough not to need a government bail-out during the banking crisis. Bill Ford's commitment to sustainable business and innovation has generated successful results. That should be inspiring for any business.

The examples of manufacturing businesses that have adopted sustainability and making significant performance advances are not flukes or unique cases. The US Top 25 lists household name companies who are now demanding that their supply chains align with their pledges for sustainability. These top brands won’t want to buy toxic print.  It is therefore crucial that the print industry gains inspiration from the experiences of other industries. We need to look outside of ourselves and apply some logic to our businesses and some vision into the future.  To reiterate Einstein, it is the definition of insanity to do the same things over and over again and expect different results.

There will always be a market for cheap. But that road is getting dirtier and dirtier and more risky too.

So can print go through a successful eco-revolution?

I think we are well on our way..."

For more information on EcoPrint 2012, please visit www.ecoprintshow.com