Features

Ya?ar G?venen is the new president of Fespa. Here he sets out his stall in his own words.

Mark Bradley,
MD, Digital Imaging Services 
http://www.digital-is.co.uk

What’s having the greatest impact on your business at the moment?

DIS was founded in 1997 as a wide-format digital graphics company with no direct links to the traditional print areas of screen and litho.

Kevin Bray of K J Bray and Associates is the new environmental consultant to the Fespa UK Association. Here he asks if you should be delving deeper into rules and regulations governing the kit you discard.

It has become clear to me over the past few years that there are many in our industry who, perhaps through oversight, and hopefully only through oversight, do not comply with all so-called ‘Producer Responsibility’ legislation. From the outside, many of these regulations can seem somewhat esoteric and arcane, so non-compliance is often not entirely deliberate, but happens because it is easier to see them as someone else’s problem or responsibility. But it’s not.

As a wide-format PSP that runs a W2P service, the Simpson Group is well placed to offer advice on how to successfully integrate the offering. The group’s online print manager Rachel Tait explains.

Raccoon, in Kent, has been going since 1992 and has become synonymous with vehicle wrapping. But it is branching out. A few years ago it introduced Promohire - a promotional vehicle hire service. Now it’s launched www.bigprintfast.com for creatives and trade work. So why has such a specialist print company decided to diversify and is it yet paying off? I asked founder and MD Richard Clark.
By Lesley Simpson

Las Barrow keeps his poker face when asked what he thinks makes him a managerial ‘Leading Light’, which he undoubtedly is having turned a £2 stake in a new business venture back in the mid ‘60s into the £53m turnover Augustus Martin of today.

Peter Leyland,
MD, PDQ Print
http://www.pdqprint.co.uk

What’s having the greatest impact on your business at the moment?

There does seem to be a general upturn in business across the board - tongue-in-cheek there is not so much competition around.

How personalised T-shirts are in vogue thanks to the likes of YR Store’s interactive offering. Could you make a similar fashion statement?

YR Store’s interactive printed garment concept is catching the imagination of fashion retailers including the likes of Topshop and Selfridges. Now the system - that lets people create personalised clothing on easy-to-use touchscreen terminals then sends the finished design for printing within minutes via Epson SureColor printers - has global brands Nike and Google hooked.

Fabio Elmi, marketing director Guandong, explains how the company works closely with the market to develop new products for ever more creative applications.The natural vocation of Guandong is that of a real visual communications – a trendsetter if you will.

The natural vocation of Guandong is that of a real visual communications – a trendsetter if you will.

Alongside a comprehensive range of large-format digital printing media, the company is engaged in researching original products, capable of extending demand in new application sectors and anticipating emerging market trends.

The latest developments in automated cutting tables point toward a demand for faster throughput and better quality finishing as Nessan Clearly reports.

Yes, you can make use of it, even if you’re a small company. Walter Hale explains.

The term ‘big data’ doesn’t help. It sounds expensive, technologically complicated and something that only big companies can take advantage of. The hype doesn’t help. As technology critic Evgeny Morozov noted: “If you have a treasure trove of unpublishable papers, just add the words ‘big data’ and see them go viral.” In truth, the issue isn’t that complicated. When we talk about big data what we’re really saying is, let’s do the kind of analysis that helps us make decisions based on facts, not gut instinct. Put it like that and the real question is: can your company afford not to invest in big data?

Longier has produced a flatbed printer at a reasonable price but does it have the print quality to compete in the UK market? Nessan Cleary puts tries it out.

Whether deserved or not, Chinese inkjet printers have generally had a poor reputation here in the West for quality and reliability. But Paul Serellis of Eazy Print, whom we met for last month's Hands On, was so enthusiastic over his Longier flatbed that we were intrigued enough to have a proper look ourselves.