Sydney’s Imagination Graphics has had all of its printing equipment, including a newly installed Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1, destroyed when two feet of floodwater swept through the factory on Sunday night.
“Everything is gone. CtP is gone, two Konicas are gone, the KM-1 is gone, the guillotine, everything. The walls are gone. I’ve got to get new walls. It was two feet deep, the whole street copped it,” devastated owner Emmanuel Buhagiar told Sprinter.
“I have to see the insurance on Thursday for the second time around and I should have a report by Friday.
Buhagiar got the bad news about the floodwater when a staff member called him at 4.45am on Monday to say the place was underwater.
“I’d been working there on Sunday afternoon and everything was fine. But at quarter to five Monday morning, my phone rang. All I heard was ‘Boss, I’ve got a drama. Everything is underwater’. I couldn’t believe it,” Buhagiar said.
Buhagiar said he and his wife Colleen have been devastated by the damage but are both heartened by the support they have received from other printers, who quickly put their hands up to handle Imagination’s work until they get back on their feet.
“We have managed to farm out all of our work. I’ve got some really nice friends in the industry and they have all put their hand up to help. I’ve got about four or five different printers that are helping me out. I’ve still got a couple of computers working,” Buhagiar said.
“The printing industry is a good industry, trust me. There are lots of nice people.”
The Buhagiars threw a party in December last year to celebrate the arrival of the KM-1, which they dubbed ‘Kimmy’ which was purchased during the PrintEx trade show in August.
The other equipment lost in the floods include two other Konica Minolta presses: AccurioPress C6100 and 1085. A collection of Agfa platemaking gear was also lost.
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