Africa Print interviewed Brandon Jordaan, the Inland and Export Sales Manager at Fellowes Beswick, to hear his thoughts on convergence in the print industry.
Are you seeing a convergence with your traditional print customers investing in digital print production and finishing?
In the traditional printing market, particularly in South Africa and neighbouring regions, we’ve observed increasingly challenging conditions. Businesses are striving to become one-stop shops, handling everything from business cards to brochures and banners in-house. As a result, finishing is no longer being outsourced as frequently. Many printers are investing in their own finishing equipment, while finishing houses are adding digital print equipment to provide comprehensive services. There is a clear trend of convergence, with traditional print customers increasingly moving towards digital print production. This shift is influenced by several key factors:
1. Customisation and personalisation: digital printing allows for high levels of customisation, enabling businesses to produce personalised print products efficiently.
2. Shorter print runs: digital printing is cost-effective for shorter print runs, which is advantageous for businesses looking to reduce waste and costs associated with large inventory storage.
3. Faster turnaround times: the digital print process is quicker, from set-up to production, allowing businesses to respond rapidly to market demands and trends.
4. Quality and versatility: advances in digital printing technology have significantly improved the quality and versatility of digital print outputs, making them comparable to traditional offset printing in many applications.
5. Cost effective: while the initial investment in digital printing equipment can be high, the overall cost savings in terms of reduced labour, materials and waste make it an attractive option for many businesses.
6. Sustainability: digital printing is generally more eco-friendly due to reduced chemical use and lower waste production, aligning with the growing demand for sustainable business practices.
Are you seeing a convergence of wide format print companies investing in digital print production and finishing, and vice versa?
Yes, there is a convergence between wide format print companies investing in digital production and digital print companies expanding into wide format printing. This trend is driven by several factors:
1. Diversification of services: companies aim to offer a broader range of services to their clients by investing in both wide format and digital print production, and expanding their product offering.
2. Technological advancements: advances in digital printing technology have improved the quality, speed and versatility of wide format printing. This makes it easier for digital print companies to expand into wide format printing and vice versa.
3. Market demand: there is a growing demand for both wide format and digitally printed material. Businesses in various sectors including retail, advertising and events require a mix of large-scale and small-scale printed material, prompting print companies to invest in both areas.
4. Cross-selling opportunities: by offering a comprehensive range of print solutions, companies can cross-sell services to their existing customer base. A client ordering digital print materials might also need wide format products and vice versa.
What entry level finishing machines do you offer to grow the professional print market and upsell bigger kit as businesses grow?
Our motto is ‘You print it, we finish it’, and regardless of print volumes, we offer solutions for small copy shops to large production environments.
We get businesses started and support small businesses with low volume manual machines that either bind, cut, laminate, coat, fold, perforate, number, etc. through to fully automatic high volume, in-line, near-line and off-line solutions.
We try in all aspects to offer cost effective but robust entry level solutions, followed by premium mid to high end brands, but still at affordable prices for the African markets.
We offer a very wide range of machines and a truly comprehensive range of print finishing consumables. We have operations in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha and service 11 countries in Southern and Eastern Africa.
We pride ourselves on installing and training on operational, preventative maintenance and maintenance procedures and offer a second line of backup and service through our highly skilled technicians.
When it comes to consumables, we have an in-house slitting facility, allowing us to offer any variation of lamination film required as well as ring wire sizes. We also offer many more print finishing consumables such as calendar rims, hot melt glues, drill bits, cutting sticks, numbering boxes, etc.
In terms of service, we supply OEM parts and have fully trained field technicians readily available to offer technical support, backup and service.
Look out for our new catalogue and showroom coming soon.
What new markets are you focusing on?
Two years ago, with the acquisition of Ronnie Cox Graphics, we successfully expanded our reach into various markets, including government and wide format printing. Additionally, we’ve established valuable partnerships with our printer vendors and others, who are now incorporating our finishing equipment into their offerings. These collaborations bring significant benefits to our partners by enhancing their product portfolios with high-quality finishing solutions. We have made substantial investments in our after-sales service, providing robust backup support and field technicians. Moreover, we benefit from outstanding after-sales service from our solution partners, ensuring continuous support and excellence.
FELLOWES BESWICK
brandon@beswick.co.za
https://fellowesza.co.za/
