Page 69 - Print 21 Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

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New Avon businesses Jondo and Aluma
The successful experience of diversifying into the wide format operation has now led Avon into establishing new business operations, with two new business streams just starting: Jondo and Aluma.
Jondo is a canvas printing business which will supply the big retail outlets. It is already established in the US and in other countries, and Avon will become the Australian supplier. It has installed the complete set-up from the US.
Its new Aluma business, though, is a self-developed solution, which effectively prints a raised foil with no embossing and uses no dies. Tate Hone says, “It will take on digital foiling and make it cost effective. It is for short, medium, and long runs. It can lay down different colours at the same time.”
Avon has built the necessary equipment itself, and merchant Spicers will supply the consumables. Hone says, “We print a polymer and apply the foil to it. A major advantage over digital foiling is that Aluma can produce fine detail and small text with no breaking up.”
The raised foiling solution can be added to a press, with the UV enabling the polymer to take
to the stock, and the foil then taking to the polymer. Hone says, “It can be used on any sized press, and on both coated and uncoated stocks, which digital foiling systems cannot do. It is cost effective, flexible and a great solution to many applications, for instance greeting cards where the embossing can take out half of the inside real estate.”
Melbourne will have the first system up and running, with Sydney having its own in a couple of months time. Hone says, “It will be a real boon in certain applications. It comes with no limitations, it is cost effective, and it's high impact.”
of turnaround, Hone says. “The colour quality and consistency is
so good that it is impossible to tell any difference between print from the different machines. This also works across all our sites, and we have some national accounts who appreciate our ability to produce the same work in different locations.”
“The market is getting stronger for us, interestingly the pushback against plastic has been part of that. Everything we do is recyclable: the foil stamp, the embossing, the
Greeting cards, too, form a decent part of the Avon Graphics business, with demand undimmed by the arrival of the internet
and smartphone.
The Hones have also been developing their trade die and flexo platemaking business, supplying the flexible packaging and label printing fraternity.
The family have developed the business to be a one stop shop
for embellishing, with foiling, embossing, and coating all produced in-house.
Tate Hone says, “We have always understood the need for Avon to
be trade oriented, and to form partnerships with our customers. We seek to understand their needs and those of their customers, and to work with them on developing solutions that will deliver the result the client wants.”
Avon now has some 65 staff working in Melbourne, with another 40 in Sydney and a dozen in Brisbane.
When it bought Rotoflex Coatings in Sydney earlier this year it kept all the staff on.
Since the effects of the GFC smashed through the printing industry a decade ago, the whole industry and the businesses within it have had to recalibrate. Avon Graphics is a great example of how a family owned business at the top of its game can have a good look
at the evolving landscape, create a firm strategic plan – in its case, to diversify into growth areas where it can use its knowledge – and then execute that plan successfully. 21
UV coating.” – Tate Hone
Avon’s embellishing business, meanwhile, is also growing well, with the company just investing
in a new foil stamping machine and a new large format laminating system. The Avon factory floor has a dozen foil stamping systems and a battery of Heidelberg platens for die cutting and embossing. Tate Hone says, “The market is getting stronger for us, interestingly the pushback against plastic has been part of that. Everything we do
is recyclable: the foil stamp, the embossing, the UV coating.”
Hone also points to the arrival of European supermarket chains in Australia as being good for
the embellishment world. “They have a desire to create a high end perception for themselves, and part of the way they are doing that is through enhancing their packaging,” he says.
Main: Wide format: With eight Mimaki flatbeds, and roll-to-roll printers, Avon has an enviable wide format fleet.
Above: Old for new: Avon has a battery of Heidelberg platens in daily use.
Foiling: Avon Graphics is Australia’s biggest trade foiling supplier.
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