A fault in an underground transmission cable left printers in Sydney without power this morning, disrupting production schedules, costing companies time and money.
Supplier Ausgrid reported that power was out to about 25,000 customers in Sydney. Impacted areas include parts of Revesby, Panania, Padstow, Picnic Point, Milperra, East Hills, Bankstown, Padstow Heights, Condell Park. Emergency crews worked to restore power, which was successfully reconnected later in the morning.
Energy supply is top of the agenda for the print industry, costs have been ballooning in Australia, while supply issues have plagued South Australia, and more recently, Brisbane. Now Sydney has been affected.
While power has since been restored in Sydney, printers in the region will carry the burden forward. Naderco Signs and Printing (Naderco), based in Revesby, says that customers were assuming the business was shut down, having been unable to contact it through phone, email, or the web.
Andre Nader, director, Naderco says, “It was a complete blackout. We lost phones, internet, cameras, unsaved work, it has been a bit of a struggle this morning. I was in the middle of a large-format job when it happened, which now has to be started again from scratch.
“Customers thought we closed down; how do you get the message out without power? As a printer, no power even for an hour really affects us, it is a complete loss.”
Danielle Rogers, accounts manager, Bemac Printing, says, “Our power was out for an hour and a half. It has put our production schedule behind, and we are now running late.”
John Topping, production manager of Jeffries Print confirms they too were out of power.
Wide-format focused supplier, and Brother reseller GJS was also affected by the power outage, tweeting out this morning that its phones and emails were offline.
While Australian Printer was not able to contact all printers in the affected area, it features large industrial sites, with many printers based there. Kissel and Wolf Australia, Wild Fix Printing Promotions, OTB Designs, Sureprint, and Print 2000 all have sites within the blackout area.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter