Ovato’s end would not have hurt broader industry: PVCA

Print & Visual Communication Association president Walter Kuhn says the association supports initiatives that make the industry stronger and as such is unable to condone the latest actions of troubled heatset web printer Ovato.

The fallout from the recent NSW Supreme Court approval of Ovato’s elaborate restructuring and recapitalisation plan is continuing.

Kuhn, speaking on behalf of the PVCA, aired his concerns recently in The Australian and has also questioned whether the deal that Ovato has put together would have been possible by a small to medium operator.

“The Association supports anything that makes the industry better,” Kuhn told Sprinter.

“Does this make the industry better for smaller operators, mum and dad operators, or does it only make it better for the bigger guys?

“As an Association, we are there to represent all members equally so something that is going to impact negatively on the industry, the association will not back it.”

Ovato managing director Kevin Slaven has responded to the PVCA’s concerns by saying the alternative would have been complete closure of the business, which would have meant the loss of 1200 jobs and a negative knock on effect downstream.

“I totally disagree with that. The work Ovato was doing would have gone to other producers within the industry. There are a number of other web printers and high volume large capacity offset printers throughout Australia, it would have gone to those companies,” Kuhn said.

“Market forces would determine where that work would go to as there are a number of other suppliers in that sector.”

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5 thoughts on “Ovato’s end would not have hurt broader industry: PVCA

  1. Amazing to see the PVCA display some intestinal fortitude when it’s a non member. I’m not a fan of Ovato’s corporate actions, but for Kuhn to suggest the excess capacity would be picked up by the wider industry shows he has absolutely no idea of the headset web business and total justifies Ovato’s decision not to be a member.

  2. Now now Inky… think it through… Walter is right here.

    The equipment doesn’t disappear if and when Ovato fall over… someone buys it off the liquidator’s or at auction etc.

    Furthermore there’s a bit of pressure on the volume that they currently have anyway… Word is that Woolies aren’t far off pulling back on their volume…. more bad news for Ovato! Paginations are also reducing generally across the entire segment also.

    Point – the capacity required isn’t what it was and the gear will still be in the market anyway.

      1. Water always finds it’s level….

        Have a look at GEON, gear was sold everywhere… primarily locally. The point the Onlooker is trying to make is that Inky’s view on the capacity is overlooking that the gear doesn’t just disappear… and the market is shrinking.

        Relevant points.

  3. Gordon Gekko Lives on! There is a lot of greed and arrogance in the big end of town, sorry old school… those days are gone, you did not move with the times, it will be interesting to see if your business model is still relevant and if you survive this “leg up” in 3 to 5 Years. Your thinking is based upon the past not the future it is based upon historical data, what was and not what is. A message to self serving management that has clearly failed, if you do not look at what is happening and have only based your actions on survival, then you will fail again, sad but true! You need vision and a plan of how to serve your industry sector into the future, I have not seen any statements to this end, only of what a greater disaster it could have been, and how you have valiantly ( and very narrowly) avoided the iceberg!
    Your ship needs to take a clearer more focused route.

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