Page 36 - Print21 Jan-Feb 2020

Technology
Durst Oceania
opens for business
Digital print solutions developer Durst has opened a new direct subsidiary to serve Australia, New Zealand, and the Oceania region with its wide format, labels, packaging, and textile digital inkjet systems. Wayne Robinson reports.
Durst Oceania welcomed the trade to its new base in Tullamarine, where managing director Matt Ashman and Durst
Group CEO Christof Gamper hosted printers and suppliers, and officially opened the business.
Speaking to guests at the launch, Ashman said, “We are delighted to open Durst Oceania. Our customers are doing great work, and we wanted to give you all the highest possible levels of support.
“Our success is directly related
to your success, so we want to contribute to your success as much
as we can. Thanks to Durst for their investment and commitment to print and in this part of the world. We’re here, and we are here to stay.”
Gamper, who had flown in for the event, said, “We see a lot of potential for digital printing in this region, in wide format, labels, packaging and textiles. Durst has a commitment
to excellence and innovation, and that chimes with print businesses in Australia and New Zealand, who we know have the same commitment. We also find that Durst as a family- owned business resonates with local printers – they know we have the same values. We look forward to serving the market and working with printers here.”
Durst develops digital inkjet printing solutions for wide format printing, label printing, and textile printing, and positions itself as a developer of high-quality, highly- engineered self developed solutions. It is also in partnerships – at drupa it will have the results of its joint venture with offset giant KBA
for digital carton printing – and develops its own software: it has some 70 staff, ten per cent of
its total employees, working on software development.
Durst was previously supplied in ANZ by local agent PES. The new Durst Oceania is the latest in 22 direct subsidiaries that it operates around the world.
It has seen increasing success
in recent years, where it pitches itself as the little big company:
it competes against the biggest names in the industry – although it is not so little, with 750 staff and a sales revenue in excess of a billion dollars. It invests around 12 per cent of its growing revenues directly in R+D. The 80-year-old business is family-owned and based in Brixen in northern
Italy, near the border with
Austria and Switzerland.
Installations in Australia recently have seen wide format print systems go into well known companies such as Mezographics and Vivad, while its label press went into Label Image in WA. Durst won a Print21 Hot Pick at PrintEx for its flagship large- format printer, the P5 250 HS.
Ashman said, “There are a lot of smart people in the
Excellence and innovation: Local MD Matt Ashman (right) and CEO Christof Gamper welcome printers to the opening of Durst Oceania
“There are a lot of smart people in the ANZ print industry. Opening a direct subsidiary here is a good opportunity for Durst and for its customers to capitalise on its technological leadership.” – Matt Ashman, managing director, Durst Oceania
Durst in digital carton printing with Koenig & Bauer
Durst and Koenig & Bauer have created a joint venture business for the development and marketing of single-pass digital printing systems for the folding carton and corrugated fibreboard industry.
First fruits of the new joint venture will be seen at drupa in June. Initially, the joint venture portfolio will comprise the Koenig & Bauer CorruJet 170, which has Fujifilm Samba printheads printing four colour 1200x1200dpi, as well as the Durst SPC 130, a six-colour 800dpi 1.3m wide 120 metres an hour system shown at the last drupa. Both are digital carton printing systems. There will also be
continued development of the VariJet 106. Matt Ashman said, “The coming together
of the expertise and knowledge of the two businesses is great news for the carton packaging sector. Digital packaging
printing is set to boom, and the unrivalled engineering expertise of the new venture will enable print packaging businesses to exploit the rapidly growing digital market to maximum intent.”
Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO of Koenig & Bauer, said, “The packaging industry is looking for new, more efficient production opportunities and Koenig & Bauer Durst will supply the necessary digital solution.”
36 Print21 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020