Specialty Press has installed a new Agfa Anapurna M2 hybrid UV flatbed, making it one of the first regional NSW print companies to enter the wide format market.

Specialty Press directors (l-r) Tony Konicanin, Kathy French, and Mark Lafferty

Mark Lafferty, general manager at Speciality Press, based in the NSW Victorian border town of Albury Wodonga, says the install has already proved a hit, printing on foam board, wood, corflute and glass, with strong interest from clients. He says the number of printers who have wide format capability in-house in Albury is few and far and he wanted to be the leader in this field by investing in the M2. Lafferty says, “Instead of outsourcing all the time we thought we would jump in and be first. It is growing so fast so you have to be in it or you will lose work.” He says it is also more cost effective to print jobs on site than trucking it in from out of town, especially as the products are often bulky and expensive to move. “This printer with its UV ability can print on virtually everything up to 1.6 metres wide, which is quiet attractive to us and our clients and makes one-off products viable,” Lafferty says. Lafferty is aiming to improve profits for Specialty, which is a $2m turnover 16-staff business, by 10 per cent this year from the higher margins of wide format work. He says the work will also lead to hiring more staff to cope with the extra work by the end of 2015. Specialty Press also produces general commercial, posters, books, labels, and magazines using both offset and digital technology, along with design and print management services.

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