Here's a recent banner we printed for our friends at Atlantic Custom Marine in Cape May New Jersey. #wideformat http://t.co/yvVChdwqHh
Pixartprinting becomes a member of the Italian Stock Exchange’s ELITE
Italian web-to-print provider Pixartprinting has been chosen by the Borsa Italiana (Italian Stock Exchange) to become part of ELITE, an initiative founded last year and designed to drive unlisted SMEs to pursue a path of entrepreneurial growth that is aimed at capital market access.
ELITE provides a platform of integrated services providing companies with access to industry expertise and answers to financial and organisational issues in order to be able to meet the challenges of international markets.
Pixartprinting’s president Matteo Rigamonti says: “The companies that have been chosen for the ELITE project are selected directly by the Borsa Italiana. We are very honoured to be part of this exclusive group of companies that have distinguished themselves as having these specific attributes, where the most important factor is strong growth orientation.”
Caldera reports strong business growth
Wide format RIP software solutions provider Caldera is preparing to make strategic investments building on a period that has seen the company's turnover increase by 90% since 2008. Due to recent diversification into complementary markets such as workflow and digital signage, the company’s turnover for 2012 was over €7m. Caldera's strong growth has also seen its personnel numbers grow by 109% from 22 staff in 2008 to 57 in 2012.
Going forward, Caldera says it plans to prioritise the service area of its business to promote further growth and will invest around €1m in expanding its headquarters by 800sqm to create a new training centre. The expansion will see the company recruit a further 30 people within the next three years.
Parallel to its business expansion plans, Caldera will also pursue a program of product development including print-and-cut workflow, business management, digital signage and web-to-print software. This broadened focus reflects the transition of print from analogue to digital processes and the growth of the industrial printing sector. Glass, ceramic and textile printing are becoming increasingly important markets, and Caldera will look to grow its presence in these areas with strategic partnerships.
Canon’s forward-thinking journey to help PSPs become more profitable works
Canon UK has delivered a successful series of open days at its new customer-centric experience called Horizons. The Horizons experience has been designed as a distinctive move away from the traditional, more 'vanilla' showroom experience to take customers on a forward-thinking journey that addresses each of their individual business challenges, while at the same identifying future opportunities for growth and expansion into new markets.
The company is clearly delivering on its statement earlier this year to adopt a continuous assessment of the ways in which it communicates with its customers and as such, supported by independent market research commissioned by Canon, Horizons is a proof of concept facility that has been carefully designed to provide its customers with fresh perspective and insight into their business, benchmarking where it currently stands against where it could potentially be in the future.
Canon UK says it is working to help Print Service Providers (PSPs) enhance and market their current service offerings, in addition to helping them to identify new revenue streams that they may not have previously considered – and it seems to be working if the response from the delegates is anything to go by.
According to delegate Nigel Harvey, operations manager, Document Solutions at Sodexo, the Horizons event was a very different experience to the usual customer days. “Every visitor was accommodated for,” he says. “The seminars were very flexible and interactive and we could jump in with questions at any point. This made it more personal and productive, and enabled us to extract from the day exactly what we wanted. Canon raised lines of discussion and new ways of thinking that was outside the box, and demonstrated how - as a partner - it could help grow our business through new revenues streams."
The customer days gave UK-based PSP's access to Canon and Océ's combined portfolio of professional print products and solutions, with further inspiration provided through customer success stories and the extensive marketing opportunities that are available to customers through Canon's Essential Business Builder Programme (EBBP). As part of the experience, customers also saw live demonstrations of key digital products from across the Canon and Océ ranges and the innovative applications that they can produce.
Graphic Arts customer Gary Livermore, director at Print Warehouse, enjoyed the seminars, which covered a wide range of subjects from digital photo production to web-to-print. “The potential of the former was a real eye-opener, while the W2P session cemented some of beliefs I already had, inspiring me to improve on our current service offering. It was absolutely worthwhile attending and I am looking forward to any Canon events in the future," he says.
John Price, print manager, Document Solutions at Wigan Council, adds: "I found the day very useful. Beyond the impressive breadth of the company's portfolio of technologies and solutions, Canon really illustrated the value of print and its integral role within the communications mix. There is still great value in the touch and feel of a printed document - it just needs to be utilised in the right way alongside other channels of communication. We discussed the most effective ways to do this, including integrating print with online via cross media. I left the experience with plenty of food for thought."
Mark Lawn, European and UK marketing director, Canon Europe, says: “Canon has developed Horizons to provide customers with an experience that is progressive and that is tailor-made to the specific needs of PSPs - to serve the fast-evolving demands of their customers across the communications landscape. Horizons exists to inspire customers and to help them realise the vast potential that exists for them to grow their business. They have clearly seen how Canon is perfectly positioned to help them grow their business over the long-term."
EFI acquires printLEADER MIS
EFI has acquired the assets of MIS vendor printLEADER and plans to integrate the system into its PrintSmith Vision product line. EFI will also continue to support the existing printLEADER client base, which consists of more than 800 commercial and in-plant printing operations across North America.
John Fleming, founder/president of printLEADER, says: “Our customers need to remain extremely competitive in today’s 24x7 world. After 25 years the timing is right to join EFI, a leader in our market that produces outstanding software solutions, so we can offer our loyal customers a more robust and feature rich-suite of software products and high-value, web to print storefront solutions.”
Just Falafel hires LightBrigade Media to drive UK expansion
Just Falafel, the fastest growing falafel chain in the world, has appointed LightBrigade Media to help steer its entry into the UK market. LightBrigade Media is a brand creative, PR and events agency with in-house production encompassing exhibitions, display graphics, litho and digital printing.
The 2012 Business Innovator of the Year in the annual Gulf Capital SME Awards, Just Falafel opened its first store in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 2007 and now has over 650 franchise agreements in place to open stores in 15 different countries and now aims to open 200 fast food restaurants in the UK over the next five years.
Covent Garden based LightBrigade has been appointed strategic and creative lead, with a brief covering brand communications, store design, packaging and events, alongside PR. LightBrigade’s Matt Walker and Anthony Sydes will lead the delivery of a refreshed identity to be rolled-out globally following its introduction to the UK.
The company is already installing new graphics, menu boards and other assets into the first few restaurants with more still to come. With three new stores already opened in last few weeks, LightBrigade has a further 12 stores on its books for the remainder of this year.
