Page 27 - Food&Drink Magazine May-June 2020

able to split that 2000 into multiple SKUs. It’s a completely different story. Now brand owners small and large can conduct market trials for a new product quickly and at relatively low cost, or create seasonal packaging, limited edition and personalised packaging. And all of this can be scaled up for mainstream production.”
READING IT RIGHT
Back to Read’s unfolding story. In the packaging market flexible formats were reaching lift-off, and so too was the artisan food industry, driving demand for stand-up pouches and centre seal bags, produced in short runs with a quick turnaround.
Read moved fast. He trialled converting flexible pouches in-house, investing in pouch making equipment and using the HP Indigo WS6800 press to print the film.
“I was clear I didn’t want to be only a printer,” Read says. “To address this new market – short
run pouches and bags – we needed to offer an end-to end solution to create our point of difference.”
Once the process was mastered, he was ready to invest, and once again turned to trusted technology. In 2019, Read Labels & Packaging took delivery of a new HP Indigo 20000 press – the second press of its kind in Australia at the time – stepping up significantly the quality of the printed rewind and the capacity.
Around the same time, the company moved into new premises in the Melbourne industrial suburb of Ravenhall, a purpose-built, light and spacious facility to house the new equipment and with plenty of room for expansion. It’s the latter point that’s most telling, because from this it’s clear Read sees huge scope for growth off the back of digital print, which is borne out by the growing number of small brands turning to his company for marketing help.
“We offer the full marketing package in a collaborative partnership,” Read says. “We help brands ramp up the R&D side of their product development, to create a range of variants in any given product line with impactful packaging to match.”
“It’s usually risk-takers, true entrepreneurs that seek us out, and we find a like-minded kinship in the pursuit of a packaging solution that will give their brands an edge. It requires a lot of trust on their side, and we have to be light on
Self-styled digital pioneer: Ross Read with the press behind the impactful pouches he produces.
our feet to find a solution that challenges the norms and delivers the result,” Read says.
“If you’re smart about the way you use digital print, it can take yourbrandplaces.” ✷
Read Labels & Packaging: readlabel.com.au
This article was sponsored by HP. HP invites you to learn more through its ebook and webinar series. hp.com/ go/indigo
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