What’s having the greatest impact on your business at the moment?
Covid19! Hopefully, we are on the road to recovery at this point, but I just don’t want us all o rush back to work with little or no structure as I fear we will then have to do this all again.
Where do you see the greatest wide-format opportunities?
For the rest of this year I can see that social distancing signage will be in big demand as it becomes commonplace in all businesses and not just the High Street. I also think when the green light is giving for exhibitions and conferences this will be a boom sector again.
What would make your day-to-day operations easier?
Not having a mobile phone!!!
Your favourite bit of kit is..?
We have two SwissQprint machines, a Canon Colorado, an Indigo 7900, and two Zund cutters - and we have just had a Durst P5 350 installed. I do love large format-printing and the SwissQprint machines have been my favourite bit of kit by far but I am hoping the Durst will change his - it’s just spectacular.
What’s the best bit of business advice you’ve been given?
By my dad when I told him I was going into business with two partners: “When are you going to buy them out?” was the first thing he said. There are still two of us and it works really well.
What are you most proud of achieving?
Never falling out with my business partner Ian in 15 years of working together and building a successful business that offers a great service of course, but which is also a place where I hope people are happy to work together everyday - that is very important me.
What lesson does the wide-format sector need to learn?
We need to learn from the route litho took - where everybody was printing for no profit just to keep the lights on and devalued the trade so much. I see pull-banners selling for £20 now which surely just devalues the market for everyone. We need to learn to work together as an industry to add value to what we do.