Founder and owner Ewen Donaldson of Vivad Printing in Melbourne’s Campbellfield opened his doors yesterday to showcase his latest Durst printing technology.
Co-hosted Durst Oceania, the Open House allowed printing businesses to see Durst printers in action and learn of their many applications.
Loyal durst customer
A loyal Durst customer of 13 years, Donaldson purchased his first Durst in 2011, including the P5 Tex iSub dye sublimation printer and the P5 350 HS hybrid printer, two of Durst’s latest printers installed in the last three months.
Guests experienced Durst printers in action, doing what they do best with the Durst team on hand, explaining the many attributes of Durst technology.
A changing industry
In an address to guests, Donaldson said it is a great privilege to be involved in such a vibrant and dynamic industry that has experienced incredible growth over time and also talked about Vivad’s sustainable efforts and credentials and the proliferation of large-format digital print.
“When you look at how far the industry has come over the last 20 years, it’s been truly extraordinary,” he said.
Donaldson said moving forward, Vivad enthusiastically embraces a new era of sustainability.
“There’s a growing appetite for customers, suppliers, and print houses alike to develop and propagate second-life solutions for our wares.
“It’s encouraging the amount of goodwill, collaboration, sharing of knowledge and bipartisanship, which has been shown by many players in the industry when it comes to reducing our impact,” said Donaldson.
Moreover, Donaldson emphasised the proliferation of large-format digital print with applications such as exhibitions, events, displays, point of sale, packaging, apparel, architecture and furnishings, providing livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people globally.
The Durst effect
Vivad’s relationship with Durst was the event’s focus, and Donaldson spoke of his journey with Durst as a supplier before they were operational in the Australian market.
“Circa 2011, we were looking at our first Durst machine. Paul Taylor from PS, who is sadly no longer with us, had organised for Matt to take me to a company, Service Graphics in London, to demo the Durst 500. And I liked what I saw.”
“You will see this machine (Durst 500) running today after 13 years of service, which is a testament to the reliability and the durability of Durst equipment,” added Donaldson.
Matt Ashman, managing director of Durst Oceania, said he was proud of Durst’s association with Vivad, a successful 13-year relationship. He was excited to showcase the P5 350, Durst’s most successful printer in Australia.
“We’re a family company. We’ve been around for over 90 years. The 500 was the first printer I sold in Australia to Ewen before I lived here. Thirteen years that’s been running, and still running every day, producing saleable work.”
“Durst is probably not for you if you want to buy the cheapest. But if you want, if you value reliability and service, which, let’s face it, is going to serve you better in the long run, then your future self will thank you for investing in Durst,” explained Donaldson.
“This is why we now have six DIRS printers and counting.”
Vivad Vivtrack on show
One of the unique elements of the Open House was a demonstration of Vivad’s Vivtrack web-to-print portal.
“During my presentation we took a photo of the crowd and uploaded it to the Vivtrack portal and placed an order online to replace a 3.5 by 1.2 metre graphic on a Lightbox in our showroom.
“We ordered online a backlit banner for the Lightbox in the showroom – we ordered online, before everyone left it was printed, trimmed and rubber beading was sewed on and it was installed within 59 minutes.
“We had all six of our Durst printers running, including our two 5 metre roll to roll printers, two flatbed printers – the P5 and the P10 and our two dye sublimation printers – the new P5 Tex iSub and our Rhotex 325 printer,” he said.
Vivad also ran guided tours around the rest of the factories including the frame making department, the lightbox department as well as the banner making department with over 20 different aluminium extrusions Vivad has developed over the years to deliver a number of solutions for silicone-edge graphics.
One of the Open House participants – Brad Parker-Hill from Premier Signage in Greensborough won a $2000 Vivad print voucher. Parker-Hill won the prize after he was drawn out of a hat as one of the visitors who signed up to join the Vivtrack web-to-print printing portal.
A huge success
Post-event, Matt Ashman expressed how fortunate Durst is as a business to have Donaldson generously share the expertise Vivad has gained over many years building his business.
“The Open House today at Vivad was incredible and was attended by so many key industry players,” said Matt Ashman, managing director of Durst Oceania.
“And to have FESPA participate as an industry organisation was the icing on the cake.
“There were six Durst printers on display at the Vivad Open House – with the oldest being 13 years old and still running every day and supported by our service team.”
“This is where we like to have that partnership with our customers. If you’re successful, we’re successful,” concluded Ashman.
Donaldson said the event went beyond his expectation with over 100 members of the industry in attendance.
“Overall it was very well received and we had a lot of positive feedback about the tours and I think we have forged some new friendships in the industry,” Donaldson said.
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