Page 38 - Print21 Nov-Dec 2019

Commercial Printing
“People didn’t want ten thousand brochures. They said ‘let’s do three or five thousand, and then in a month or two let’s change the artwork and print another lot.’ So we got to print the same job three or four times a year, with different specs in it.”
Since then Imagination Graphics has carved out an enviable reputation in the inner west of Sydney. Buhagiar is a natural, a human dynamo of immense energy and charm. He brought the same culture of business behaviour to print that had served him well in prepress.
“We’re never too cheap. I say to printers, ‘don’t be too cheap and don’t be too greedy’. We’re not cheap. We’re not expensive. It’s a service. There’re a million printers out there that could offer the same product. Print is always going to be around. There’s enough work for everyone.”
He tells of a customer who walked in looking for urgent wedding invitation. “We helped her out. Next week she’s back looking for place settings and menus and again, we helped her. A few weeks later she calls and asks if I’d like to quote
on her corporate work. Turns out she’s CEO of a major business. That was five years ago and she’s still a customer. That’s how it works.”
Proper print co
When long-term collaborator Ian Staas wanted to retire, Buhagiar bought out his share of the business, in the process returning to the ‘lucky building’ in Sydney Street. This brought him stewardship of
A real printer: Emmanuel Buhagiar
with his new Konica Minolta Accurio KM-1 digital inkjet B2 press
a traditional small offset business with two Heidelberg GTOs, a Heidelberg platen, and cylinder, which sit on the far side of a wall from the gleaming new AccurioJet KM-1. The plan is to transition some offset work to the new big inkjet and retire one of the GTOs.
Another increase in volumes came when and offset printer and printing plate customer in Marrickville, Lindwall and Ward, also approached him to take over the business. He was pleased that they trusted him with their customer lists. In both cases he doubled the business within the existing client base. “It was like a breath of fresh air to them, we brought a lot more energy into doing business. I have the best staff in the industry, clever and creative and they’ve been with me a long time.”
Last year he came to believe the timing was right for the next step up into the B2 market. There was
a lot of work, such as posters, that he couldn’t handle with the two bizhubs – 6100 and 1085 – or with
the GTOs. He considered investing in a five or six-colour offset press, which would have required a new factory and new skill sets. He checked out
the other digital offerings in the B2 marketplace, but what he wanted, and what he knew was good four-colour work and the AccurioJet KM-1 was right for that. He travelled to Japan to see the company; went to Victoria to Revolution Press, another AccurioJet KM-1 house, and made his decision.
“I was looking for a point of difference, a way of saying Imagination Graphics is here to stay. I looked at
all the variables. I looked at offset. I looked at a few other models. But I didn’t want all the extra fancy stuff. I just wanted a good four-colour printer, to stick with what we know, and go with it. Now we’re a proper printing company, a real force in the industry.
I love it so much.”Printing has played
a major role in Emmanuel Buhagiar’s life. It’s been a long journey to arrive at perhaps the most satisfying phase as he pilots his own ‘real print’ company’ into the future. 21
The Konica Minolta installation team at Imagination Graphics: (left to right) Troy Kutz, Melbourne IP engineer; Shinichiro Kido, KM-I Japan engineer; John Krillis, national IP service manager; Stephen Griffiths, IP product support specialist; Dave Thompson, Sydney IP engineer; Biorn McGinley, IP product support specialist; Tyler Smith, Sydney IP engineer; and James Rolland, national IP applications specialist.
A fine body of men
Imagination Graphics is the first Accurio KM-1 in NSW, but the third in Australia.
It joins Jossimo Print in Melbourne, which was the first, and Revolution Print
in Ballarat, operating the groundbreaking B2 inkjet engine. Both Victorian presses have each now clocked up over a year’s worth of printing.
The enhanced Konica Minolta service and installation team, with additional support from overseas, are experienced and enthusiastic. They had the new Imagination Graphics engine up and running in record time.
38 Print21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019