Page 64 - Print 21 magazine Jul-Aug 2021

People in Print
the OVERflow
Aussie Dscoop printers optimistic for post-Covid world
Factory tour for Dscoop: Benn Murphy
Apanel of Australian printers presented to the world at Dscoop to consider the challenges and opportunities
of the post-Covid world on the opening day of the global online HP Indigo users event.
Hosted by Dscoop APJ chair Kelvin Gage, and broadcasting from the Rawson Print Co boardroom in Sydney, the panel comprised printers Andrew Price, managing director of Rawson; Benn Murphy, director of Clarke Murphy Print; Matt Ellis, managing director of Luminar; and Will Currie from HP Indigo supplier to Australia and New Zealand, Currie Group.
All present in the boardroom were optimistic for the future
of their businesses and of
print post-Covid. All of them highlighted the need to be
open to new ideas, and to see and take opportunities. All are running businesses that are evolving rapidly as they seek new opportunities, invest in new technologies, and work hard to get alongside customers.
Gage opened proceedings
by asking the panel to share their experiences and thoughts on the transition. Murphy shared how jobs of multiple components were growing, and said that prior to the pandemic, CMP was experiencing double digital annual growth.
He said CMP was always open
to new ideas, and he highlighted the successful Build a Desk and Fan in the Stand initiatives of Covid as examples.
Matt Ellis at Luminar said, “The core of who we are is helping our customers to innovate. It is all about the customer, and helping them solve the challenges they face.” Gage asked Ellis how he finds out what those challenges are, with Ellis replying that you have to ask the right questions.
Andrew Price said, “A lot of innovation comes from the customers. Printers need to consider what they are asking, what the real need is, whether
it has legs, as we are a capital equipment heavy business.” Price said Rawson holds regular blue sky meetings with customers and that they were transitioning into cardboard packaging.
Will Currie talked about creating efficiencies in print, particularly around materials handling, and said that warehousing was diminishing as the market increasingly turned to print-on-demand.
Price said the Rawson experience was that customers were a mixed bag – he would
be printing runs of 50, 5000,
or 100,000, on both digital and offset according to need. Murphy said CMP could print hybrid, giving an example of a million run scratchie job that was printed
offset, then printed on the HP Indigo 7900. He also said digital enabled same-day turnaround.
CMP is currently printing about 55-60 per cent of its
work offset, with 15 per cent digital and 25 per cent wide format. However, Murphy said digital represented the biggest number of jobs. Price concurred, saying it is printing about 80/20 offset digital, with packaging “booming”. Ellis is printing 85 per cent digital, 15 per cent flexo. He said, “Our HP Indigo 20000 digital print system is giving FMCGs opportunities that simply did not exist before, and they are taking up those opportunities.” Ellis said the idea that digital was just for smaller players was simply not the case. “We have customers with $150m turnovers who are placing new orders for digital every week.”
Getting close to customers was seen as key by the panel. Price raised the issue of the tension between customers’ marketing and procurement departments, where one wants the lowest price, the other wants a real solution. He said, “Print is not the sexiest subject, it is not shiny and new. Ellis said he views himself as the doctor and the customer as the patient, where he addresses their needs. “I am working with three business right now to help create new products with them.”
Gage then asked the panel what they thought of as their biggest challenges going forward. Price said, “We are producing a static media in
a digital world, that’s our challenge. We need to stay up to speed. That is the number one issue.” Price said educating customers was always a challenge, in what printers could achieve for them in providing great solutions to their needs, also in logistics.
Gage wrapped up the event saying, “Educating customers is both a challenge and an opportunity as we come out of Covid. We know what we are talking about.” 21
Dscoop delegates given CMP
Hfactory tour
P Indigo user conference saw participants from around the world given
a virtual tour of Clarke Murphy Print’s factory in Sydney.
Sydney print business Clark Murphy Print featured on Tuesday afternoon of Dscoop, with company director Benn Murphy giving a virtual tour of the factory, which over recent years has diversified from offset into digital, wide format, labels and packaging as well.
Murphy shared how the business had grown from an offset printer to now also produce digital, wide format and labels. He also shared how the company had initiatives such as Build a Desk and Fan in the Stand, which helped it through Covid.
There was a specific Asia Pacific Japan section for the Dscoop conference, which
kicked off around 3pm Sydney/ Melbourne time daily. Sessions then ran through the evening and into the night as the Europeans and Americans came online.
In his opening keynote,
Haim Levit, general manager
HP Indigo, said the week
would show the world’s largest graphic arts community how print businesses have been reinventing themselves through the pandemic, and how obstacles have become opportunities, and said everyone taking part would benefit from sharing ideas, experiences and knowledge. 21
Challenges and opportunities for print post-Covid: (l-r) Will Currie, Matt Ellis, Benn Murphy, Andrew Price and Kelvin Gage
64 Print21 JULY/AUGUST 2021