A new trans-Tasman joint venture can now offer clients "every part of packaging design, development, pre-press and print tooling".
The joint venture between IMS Group and Colorite Group became official on 1 September. Colorite chief executive Rene de Wit said the two groups had complimentary businesses.
"Working together we have a perfect offer to the market that delivers the latest technology in every part of packaging design, development, pre-press and print tooling," he told ProPrint.
"We have invested in the manufacturing side with the latest technology in pre-press, printing plates and online workflow tools. IMS has focused on the front-end with high-tech packaging design solutions."
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Sydney-based IMS has 30 staff and also operates out of Melbourne, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, New Delhi and Cape Town.
Auckland-based Colorite is a 110-person group that also has offices in Christchurch, Hamilton and Sydney.
The two groups also run advertising agencies: IMS owns Vibe Integrated Creative and Colorite owns Energi.
IMS managing director Mark Mahoney said the joint venture would allow the two groups to offer more products to more customers in more locations – and keep it all in-house.
"We have the ability to cover the whole supply chain, rather than a lot of organisations that talk about it but go out and outsource it," he told ProPrint.
The joint venture is expected to produce lower costs, faster turnarounds and greater innovation.
The two groups will continue operating independently. Mahoney said there would be no site closures or redundancies and that the joint venture could actually lead to expansion.
Mahoney added: "There's a long-term customer base that both businesses have got, so we haven't wanted to confuse that customer base, but once we get our supply chain settled down, which is not far away, we'll be then going to both customer bases and saying this is what the collaboration means for you and this is what the benefit is for you."
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