In case you hadn’t noticed, printing is a tough old game at the moment. With overall print volumes slipping, controlling costs should be at the top of most printers’ to do lists. Paper, power, staff – the number of ongoing costs keeps stacking up. Pre-press, particularly plates, are another regular bill worth staying on top of. So what’s a savvy plate buyer to do?
In case you hadn’t noticed, selling offset presses has not been a highly profitable pastime in the last couple of years. Local press vendors have adapted to provide a broader product offering, and consumables such as plates play a significant role in their future business models. Arrangements between plate makers and pre-press and press vendors give all of them greater access to a broader market than some had previously reached. That offers the promise of lower costs to printers if they can drive a hard bargain with suppliers.
Heidelberg Australia & New Zealand and Kodak signed a deal back in December where Heidelberg customers got access to Kodak’s consumables, workflow software and CTP equipment in the commercial sheetfed market. At the time, Kodak Australasia managing director Steve Venn said that “industry suppliers owe it to their stakeholders to adapt their business model so as to be the best they can be in today’s marketplace”.
Does “be the best they can be” translate as “be the best for printers”? Heidelberg CTP product manager Soeren Lange says customers have been positive so far. “There have been quite a few changes with the vendors. For the Heidelberg-Kodak partnership, we’ve had very positive feedback so far, as most customers can see these moves as being smart and sustainable to the future ANZ print industry. There has been just as much changing and merging of printers, which the vendors have had to adapt to as well. So it tends to be a two-way street, the way most good partnerships are based.”
As Lange rightly pointed out, there’s been a lot of musical chairs in the pre-press supply arena. In April 2010, Ferrostaal Australia was appointed as a distributor of Fujifilm Australia’s range of plates, consumables and CTP equipment as incumbent supplier CPI Group pulled out of conventional print.
So printers now have more – or at least different – choices in their supply chain, if not necessarily a different selection of plates. A greater number of plate vendors should mean greater competition, and that could mean better deals for printers, right?
Not necessarily, say the vendors. Plate prices are already at rock bottom and any further margins erosion will cut directly into the back pockets of the suppliers. However, there are opportunities for printers to score better full package deals.
Michael Malone of Grafika Links, which handles Presstek in Australia, has seen a change in printers’ attitudes to plate making. He’s says printers are looking at more than just price when they make decisions on plates and platesetters.
“Printers are looking for ways to reduce costs, become green and be more efficient in their business. Across the past couple of years, we have seen CTP reach a level of maturity and other plate vendors have caught up in technology with the large plate vendors. This has provided customers with more choices in who they do business with today,” says Malone.
Avoiding contracts
This was the case for Wollongong University’s print department, which upgraded its platesetter to a B2 violet chemistry-free Fujifilm Luxel V-6 with XMF workflow back in November 2009.
General manager Max Chiodo says: “We went through the process of looking at four vendors in the market. We’d used Fuji plates before that and we’d had no problems with them, and were happy with them as a supplier. It wasn’t the cheapest machine but it wasn’t the dearest either. For us, it was a long-term investment and price was an important factor, but not the deciding factor.”
Chiodo said they steered clear of a contract for their chosen plates, Brillia Pro-V, but achieved an outcome that suited their needs. “We bought the machine outright and we have no contract for the plates. We basically negotiated the plate price before we negotiated the purchase of the machine. Fuji based it on volume, as we did, and it fitted our needs. It was extremely competitive.”
For Impress Printers, its recent pre-press negotiation was about trust, not price. The Rydalmere, NSW-based company is one of the first users of Kodak’s new Trillian plate in Australia. Impress went to Heidelberg for the plates, as it has done for nearly all of its technology needs.
Director Guy Marco says: “We did extensive trials here – we were being used as a beta site – and we went from positive to negative. We went with a plate contract primarily to guarantee our plate supply, as opposed to a casual basis. You normally get a better price.
“From my experience, you can make phone calls, you can invite other companies in and they’ll give you extra special deals, but we have a strong relationship with a particular supplier and they can supply us with pre-press, press and post-press technologies that are equal. We understand one another, and as a company with 17 employees, it gives you a stronger voice with that supplier. It’s about mutual trust.
“It must be underlined that by having one supplier, you must have real confidence that the supplier has the right level of expertise in every technology area. But strategically, why would you go elsewhere?” says Marco.
Focus Press pre-press manager D’Astoli agrees that a contract provides some security, but printers need some flexibility if plate technology moves on. “A short contract is the way to go. It gives you the option to see what’s happening,” he says. “The way that things change so rapidly in this industry with new technology, you don’t want to lock yourself out of the opportunities.”
Russell Edwards, owner of Finer Finish Printing in Melbourne, recently installed a Glunz & Jensen CTP system through AGS Allpoints. It was a business decision based on cost savings and better control of their print work, as they had previously been getting their plates made by a trade supplier.
“We’re using plates supplied by Glunz & Jensen through AGS. We’re only contracted for the system but not the plates. We’re free to purchase plates elsewhere,” he says.
“We took advantage of Mr Rudd’s incentive scheme. We were spending an enormous amount of money getting plates made outside by a bureau. We’ve cut that cost down by about 90%, and
it’s made a hell of a difference for us, particularly at the moment when things aren’t so easy out there.”
In terms of getting the best deal on plates, Edwards echoes Marco’s comments that relationships are essential. “People can ring around and try to get a good deal, I suppose, but we’ve been dealing with AGS for a while now and it’s important to have a good relationship with a dealer for the long term. I doubt if you can get better deals by jumping around. Service is very important.”
Heidelberg’s Lange points out that “caveat emptor” applies to all commercial decisions. “Buying value and buying ‘cheaply’ are not one and the same. A lot of end users will look at their square metre price for plates and think that the cheapest will give them the best value, which is rarely the case. Printers need to select a plate that covers off as many of their production criteria with the least environmental impact. Assuming a plate will provide all the requirements on press, the customer then needs to assess the total cost of producing that plate.”
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