When it comes to handing out prizes for unlikely headlines of the year, then "new web printer formed" has to be right up there among the contenders for top spot.
Initial reactions to the Grapho Media news from stunned contacts in the web printing business ranged from "are they insane?" to "oh great just what we need some more capacity".
The response from buying contacts was illuminating, though, with one noting that of all the web businesses that have closed down in recent times, Graphoprint could be considered the most lamented.
The Grapho Media team has picked up a flexible press at what I imagine will have been a bargain basement price. The K12 Komori from what was Cooper Clegg is circa eight years old and was originally purchased for printing the covers for Glamour magazine, if I remember correctly. The eight unit configuration provides plenty of options viz potentially running 32pp sections, two 16pp sections, 16pp with special colours, covers with special colours and seal, delta fold for square products, or double-parallel for A5. Probably all manner of other things too, in fact Vic Rollinson reckons it can produce the widest range of press finished products of any press in the UK - something that may well find plenty of appeal among customers.
I understand it's now well on the way to being installed at Grapho Media's new factory, which ironically is just around the corner from the old Graphoprint building on the same industrial estate. What's palpable about this venture is the amount of goodwill attached to members of the senior management team, including Neil McRae and Vic. I'm getting a very different vibe than I did, for example, during Bob Pitts' ill-fated attempts to get New Jarrold Printing off the ground.
Good luck to them. As William Gibbons has proved, it is possible to make money in web offset if you have the right business model, pricing structure and cost base. And the right clients.
Who knows, if they are able to establish themselves over the next year or so maybe I won't be so surprised if a future headline says something along the lines of "Grapho buys new web".
