Page 68 - Print 21 Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

BPaugseinteasgs
Tate Hone
Avon calling
Avon Graphics is one of the most dynamic businesses in the industry, its traditional embellishment activity bolstered by a wide format trade service, and it is about to launch new products onto the market. Its managing director Tate Hone tells Print21 editor Wayne Robinson what the business is doing.
For any company at the top of its game, and as the largest player in its field, growth cannot be taken for granted. In fact, many market leaders have suffered in
the last decade – when you are the biggest, you have the most to lose. For Avon Graphics, its strategy has been to diversify, leveraging its deep knowledge of print and print businesses to service them with new solutions.
Avon operates across the eastern seaboard, with plants in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Founded by Trevor Hone and now run by his son Tate, the company became the go-to
solution for many print businesses looking to use Avon’s embellishing expertise and capabilities in foil stamping and embossing, coatings, glitter and verko, and security options including holograms.
Four years ago, Avon decided to enter the world of wide format, setting up a a trade service to enable print businesses to provide wide format print to their customers without having to buy the equipment and hire the staff. It is fair to say this has been a success – starting with one flatbed Mimaki, Avon is now the world’s biggest Mimaki flatbed user, with eight of its flatbeds pumping out work: five
in Melbourne, two in Brisbane and one in Sydney.
It also has roll-fed printers, and has just installed a new 3.2m wide HP 3200 Latex roll-fed system.
Expansion continues apace – Avon is just about to start building a brand new office space on its site, with existing offices to be converted into extra wide format space.
Expansion, though, isn’t to do more of the same: these days, the Hones have a clear view that growth and expansion can come from
new applications, with diversity a key part of the strategy. The new printers that are coming in will be set up to print textiles with water based inks; textiles by all accounts is going to be an area of significant growth, as the societal trend to personalisation is met by digital print technology, which can meet that trend perfectly.
Avon is also aware that it has
to keep moving forward in order
to offer value to the trade. Tate Hone says, “Avon has always
sought to offer the trade real added value solutions that excite their customers, and has also sought to stay ahead of the pack. These days, when a lot of printers are putting in their own entry level wide format printers, Avon is providing the means for them to provide their customers with print jobs that are not just standard posters. Avon is moving into more specialised work, and into bigger runs.”
Having five Mimaki flatbed printers in its Melbourne site means that Avon can print the same job
on multiple machines for speed
68 Print21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018