Trade printer Hero Print has rushed its new Komori GL-540 into service to keep up with demand from new business it picked up from more proactive advertising.
Manager Alex Coulson says work was flowing in so fast the Sydney factory’s ten-colour A1 Komori press was reaching capacity despite the company running as many shifts as it could.
“We were getting way too busy at the end of last year and the new press came just in time,” he says.
Coulson credits the dramatic upswing in business to Hero Print’s more proactive marketing approach, with ads on ProPrint’s website and newsletter, and the addition of several big clients from PacPrint.
“As a trade printer, in the past we tried to be a bit invisible and relied too much or referrals,” he says.
“As important as referrals are, since we started advertising much more in ProPrint we’ve seen a lot more clients coming to us.”
Hero Print has also seen growth outside its main Sydney market, helped by PacPrint being held in Melbourne last year.
[Related: More Komori press buys]
Coulson says the company chose the new five-colour A1 press because of Komori’s good track record with Hero Print, and its inline aqueous coater which is in high demand with clients.
“The coater was a big selling point, our clients like it and it gives a really good finish so we use it for a lot of jobs,” he says.
He says when the extra capacity became critical, Hero Print decided instead of just investing in similar press to what it already had it would buy a machine that gave flexibility to both take the pressure off the main ten-colour, and to pursue more short-run, high-quality jobs.
“It gives us the option to do fast turnaround jobs we couldn’t do before, so we can go after more boutique work that needs a high-quality finish in a short timeframe,” he says.
“The turnaround is much faster than our other press, and with the coater we are able to take it off the press and trim it very quickly as it dries fast.”
Coulson says Hero Print is also in the process of upgrading its finishing equipment to complement its press investment.
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