It’s all change in the fiercely competitive offset plate world, with Heidelberg to supply Fujifilm plates, as its former partner Kodak will now go direct to printers.
The move comes as Heidelberg ANZ aligns itself with head office, which has a global deal with Fujifilm. Existing Fujifilm plate customers will continue to deal with Fujifilm. The new deal starts on July 1.
Kodak Australia managing director Steve Venn says the company has decided to go direct to customers after four or five years of using Heidelberg as its exclusive distributor, citing changes in the Australian print market as a main reason for the decision.
“There has been significant consolidation in the Australian market recently, a good example being the collapse of Geon last year, so the plate market has become much more competitive,” he says.
“We didn’t feel we could be competitive going through a distributor and the best way to be competitive was to get back in front of customers and control our own destiny. Our customers say they are looking forward to dealing directly with a manufacturer.”
Venn says Kodak will also be in a better position to offer its customers total solutions from plates and workflow to colour solutions, which it had been unable to do with an exclusive distributor arrangement in place.
Kodak will also be better able to help customers switching to or adding digital, in which the company is increasingly strong.
He says when the deal with Heidelberg was done the market was a very different place and using a distributor was the right thing to do as it would increase Kodak’s reach on the ground.
“A lot of things have changed in the past few years and we felt this was a good time to go back to dealing direct,” he says.
Venn stressed this is a purely commercial decision and the company has been very happy with Heidelberg’s performance. The deal is due to end the day before Fujifilm takes over.
He says Kodak is considering using distributors for A2 and A3 plates, but no exclusive deals and with only one layer of distributor between them and customers, unlike Heidelberg which often had two layers.
A Heidelberg spokesperson says: “Heidelberg customers can have confidence in the knowledge that Fujifilm plate products meet the high standards Heidelberg applies to all its consumables products.”
“Heidelberg’s decision to partner with Fujifilm reflects the continued commitment of both companies to offer the highest quality consumables in order to meet the needs of the market today and into the future.”
More information to come as it becomes available.
[Related: More pre-press news]
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