Page 20 - Print21 July-Aug 2018 Magazine

Digital print
Revolution fires up Australia’s second KM-1 digital press
High-energy Ballarat printing company, Revolution, has thrown away the rulebook by installing a high-end, high- capacity B2 inkjet press
in the Victorian regional centre. Fired-up printing partners and co-owners Leon Wilson and John Schreenan say they are hugely impressed with
the productive power of the latest Konica Minolta digital technology. After settling the press into its new air-conditioned home, the throughput is driving a massive growth
in volumes.
Below: Under the hood of the KM-1: Leon Wilson (L) and John Schreenan.
Revolution’s owners are rightly dismissive of the notion that regional printers should be conservative in their
technology choices, pointing
to their early digital entry, a benchmark web-to-print strategy and national delivery footprint
as ample justification for the new press. Traditional is not what the blokes at Revolution do: they’ve even decorated the new press in company livery to inject more excitement around the installation.
As far as Wilson is concerned, it’s all about changing the conversation and the perception of printing as a stick-in-the-mud trade, especially in the regions. ‘Revo’, the über company mascot designed by a local artist, is everywhere: on walls, on marketing collateral, and especially in the mindset of the two directors. He epitomises the freewheeling culture of Revolution and its determination not to be typecast
as just another printer.
Not like the others
“We don’t want to be the same as everyone else, to do the same thing printers have been doing forever. We’re a technology company with a lot of energy and attitude. Our culture is more important than the technology we buy,” says Wilson.
Culture and attitude are two words used a lot at Revolution. They go a
long way to defining the drive and enthusiasm that has powered an impressive 50 percent growth in revenue over the past year. With 70 percent coming over the web, the local market still accounts for almost half of the
total. The previous 12 months saw the partners expand the business with two acquisitions: one in Echuca, Victoria; the other in Goulburn, NSW.
The AccurioJet KM-1 is destined to become the main production engine, relieving the load on Revolution’s two Fuji Xerox machines while complementing the capacity of the Shinohara offset press out the back. Bedding in a new printIQ production system, Revolution is set to reap the rewards of daring to believe in itself. The next tranche of investments
will go to upgrading Horizon digital finishing equipment to keep pace with the escalating numbers of jobs.
“I’m thriving on the energy. The past two years have been without a break, but we’re on a mission here,” says Wilson.
Part of that mission is to continue to differentiate Revolution from the rest: not only in technology investments such as the AccurioJet KM-1, but also in continuously refining the company’s software, both in-house and online. The two owners are justifiably proud
of their online presence, attributing much of the company’s success to their web-to-print operation.
Web-to-print the hard way
“People buy a software package out of a box and they think, problem solved. That’s why ninety percent of them stay on the shelf, because they don’t have somebody vested in the
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