Hughes has vast experience in sales and service having worked for over 22 years
on the supply side with notables such as Edwards Dunlop, IPP and Currie Group
and more recently on the other side of the fence, selling print for Halkeas
Printing in Sydney.
Over the years, Hughes has sold and supported offset
including sheetfed and web (both newspaper and narrow web) technology, finishing
and peripheral printing equipment, to the commercial, publishing and packaging
print segments.
He says one of several attractions which lured him to
Graph-Pak was the opportunity to sell and support a wide variety of
technologies, applications and brands, including Autobond lamination equipment,
Omet narrow web presses and Rima post press handling equipment.
Over 20
years (first with Edwards Dunlop, the then agents for MAN Roland presses and
then with their successors, IPP), Hughes was involved with a large number of MAN
Roland press sales and subsequent support of those installations across
Australia and came to be very well known in the process.
Also during his
tenure with IPP, Hughes led the transition from letterpress to narrow-web offset
and flexo production of labels, and was responsible for the establishment of
Nilpeter as a major brand in Australian label printing.
He says he
relishes the opportunity to offer the best advice to printers considering
capital equipment investment, and is more interested in long term relationships
with the likelihood of repeat business. "I am always thinking about the next
sale to a customer as I carefully conclude the first sale," says Hughes. "The
best deal is a win-win situation for both supplier and end-user."
Looking
forward to catching up with printers he knows as well as those he has yet to
meet in his new sales role, Hughes says, "I was pleasantly surprised by the
quality and strength of agencies in the Graph-Pak portfolio. It is apparent
that, in a relatively short time, Graph-Pak has forged strong relationships with
its customers, many of whom are major players in sheetfed and web offset
commercial, newspaper, label and package printing."
Tom Ralph, managing
director of Graph-Pak, says, "Bruce brings a world of knowledge to Graph-Pak.
His background compliments our current portfolio and offers further opportunity
for our expansion. The Graph-Pak product platform is now cemented for continual
growth and our mission of offering premium service and quality products to the
printing, packaging and converting marketplaces has been further enhanced."
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