Page 23 - Print 21 Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

People in Print
environment he worked with then, but he takes a practical approach with potential investment balanced against real benefits – and he draws a line at the current emphasis on expensive automation.
“Some things are very difficult to automate. I don’t think people realise how extremely complex a printing shop can be.
“Then there’s the cost benefit. You can automate everything in the factory and theoretically spend $50m to get rid of twelve people, but is it worth the money? I could upgrade the Xeikon, or I could hire another person to run another shift. You can automate, but is it worth it?”
While growth is good, he is in
no hurry to expand the business, only too aware of the difficulties of moving to a larger scale. “Big is not always better. I feel the optimum size of operation is around 30 people. Size brings complexity and extra costs.
“With a smaller staff you can have a personal relationship with everyone, but when that number grows you need a good management team, and you no longer have that one-on-one relationship,” he says.
No one-stop shop
The for-trade model suits Kirwan. He can focus on refining his offering, rather than trying to be all things to all people. “Printing is a manufacturing subset whether it’s for fliers, business cards, or cigarette packets. It’s an industry that’s positioned well for specialist trade printers. There’s no such thing as a one-stop shop.
“Foxcil specialises in labels, others in wide format, others in general print, because their print customers don’t have that capacity. If labels represent ten per cent of a printer’s turnover, they don’t have to spend the three-quarters of a million dollars on equipment. I’ve already spent the money so they can appear to their clients to be a one-stop shop, which is good for them.
“Every printer wants to appear to be a one-stop shop but no printer is. They have to partner.”
Plastics hysteria
Kirwan’s enthusiasm for the virtues of plastic as a printing substrate has a long history. Creatabull, formerly Roller Poster, is his short-run
plastic bag manufacturing business, operating from the same premises in Brookvale. Specialising in supplying printed plastic – rolls and bags to the trade, the current kerfuffle over all things plastic has generated enough sound and fury to put development plans for new equipment on hold.
“I was looking at a new technology play but this year has seen such out of control hysteria and misinformation around plastic it’s difficult to make an informed business decision. You’re no longer dealing with the facts; you’re dealing with hysteria.
“Look, people are rightfully concerned about plastic in the ocean. But we live in a first world country where we have properly designed and managed landfill. And we have proper recycling streams. Ninety per cent of the plastic in the ocean comes from ten rivers, and none of these rivers are in the first world. So if we want
to do something about plastic waste, we have to do something to help these people do something about
the ten rivers. Banning a plastic bag in Australia has nothing to do with plastic in our oceans,” he says.
An impassioned Kirwan quotes from research conducted by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany. Based on dozens of reports, as well as the debris collected at 79 sampling sites along 57 rivers, it shows that of the 13 million tonnes of plastic entering the oceans every year, 90 per cent comes from eight rivers in Asia and two in Africa. Two of them, the Yangtze in China and the Ganges in India, deposit 850,000 tonnes between them per year.
“And because this is not understood, we’ve gone from a situation now where you no longer have a low micron plastic bag in supermarkets. People are using and throwing away plastic bags eight times as thick. How is that better for the environment?
“The hysteria has basically halved Creatabull’s business turnover in
a year, because suddenly plastic
has become a dirty word. We do pallet wraps, banners, continuous roll banners, table skirts, and bunting. We use a recycled plastic that is fully recyclable, it’s tough, it's weatherproof – it’s the best product. But people and corporates now are too scared to use plastic because of the backlash by the public who feel they’re doing the right thing.
“People are asking us to print on paper. Which we do, but it’s
an inferior product for these applications. Recycled plastic uses nine thousand per cent less water than recycled paper. Plastic uses three times less energy to recycle.
“Yes we can give you recycled paper; yes you think you’re doing the right thing. I’ve nothing against paper, but everyone has something against plastic, and it’s often based on misinformation.”
“Some things are very difficult to automate. I don’t think people realise how extremely complex a printing shop can be.”
Kirwan is concerned the plastics industry is not doing enough to promote its products, to push back against what he sees as ‘fake news’. He continues to plan for the future, but his plans are on hold waiting for “the hysteria to die down”.
Financial blacklist
The other concern he has is the attitude of the financial industry towards printing. He believes there is a blacklist on any investment loans for printing companies including SMEs and start-ups. He wants the industry to push back against it.
“One of the reasons why you’re not seeing many new players entering the industry is that print is blacklisted by lenders. It’s become a major issue. We use two banks and
I know for a fact they will not lend to a print company. There’s no way I could start Foxcil now. That window has closed.”
Despite, or perhaps because of, his wide experience in the printing industry, the hard working Kirwan believes it continues to provide numerous opportunities. There’s no doubt he’s absolutely committed to the success of his business, or that he will continue to be an impressive presence in the printing industry for many years to come. 21
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