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Imagedata Group’s (IDG) trajectory from small to large firm has also been aped in its production, starting out in small-format litho and lasering, moving through larger litho format and eventually, via screen print, into large-format digital for point-of-sale.

The latest investment in that area is an Agfa M-Press Tiger, which went into the Howden site late last year. It’s the firm’s second high-volume large-format digital flatbed, sitting in the same room as another heavyweight, an Inca Onset S70.
While other firms have opted for multiple Incas, IDG has gone for the Agfa to complement the Onset.

"One reason for the M-Press was disaster recovery, should the Onset S70 go down," says chief executive David Danforth. "Other than that we split the jobs between the two based on the content. The M-Press can handle smaller point-size text, has a wider colour gamut and variable data printing."

The M-Press Tiger isn’t the firm’s only investment with Agfa. It has also opted to use Apogee as its pre-press workflow and to use Agfa’s Azura TS plates to meet the 60,000m2-per-year demand at its B1 litho-printing facility, Imagedata Willerby, one of the highest-volume users to switch to chemistry-free platemaking.

Data focus
The most significant difference between IDG and most printers is that data isn’t just in the middle of its name, it’s at the heart of the business and has been since day one.

When it started as Image Data Systems in 1983, the firm’s first products were shelf ticketing for retailers; not glamorous and not the highest form of the printer’s art, but a core requirement for retail customers. That focus on meeting operational and marketing needs, in the context of what they deliver to the customer’s bottom line, is the key to the firm’s success.

Investment in the Onset and the M-Press Tiger is down to how it sees the market evolving, going straight for these digital beasts as Danforth doesn’t see any need for litho machines such as the KBA 205.

"Digital has got much better for longer runs at the same time that stores have gone in for more regionalisation," he says. "A job may be 14,000 sheets, but there will be within that versions that are 20-off up to 300-off.

When it comes to personalisation IDG understands the market well, specialising in this type of work at its extensive small-format site in Brighton.

Mandy Long group marketing director says: "I don’t think that retailers are using digital’s attributes in large-format as well as possible."

She adds: "There is a lack of material and collateral to do it, and in retail there’s always a battle between central marketing and local branches, and a battle between too much and too little data."

IDG has an interesting model for sales and marketing with market-focused, rather than production-focused, divisions.
"Different markets require different sales techniques and servicing. For example, public sector is different to retail," she says. "Public sector buyers need support, a consultative approach and more technical assistance, whereas in retail the pace is faster and they need you to integrate with their logistics and be reactive."

One of the sales divisions is Alliance, which offers a trade printing service to design agencies and print management firms. Its offering is price driven and delivers against specified KPIs.

Finally, the Core division is aimed at corporates and big brands. "It’s a more consultative approach," adds Long.
All divisions offer value-added services, an example being the Retail division’s store audit service.

Working in this market-driven way began four years ago. Prior to that each production site had its own sales team, and there were instances where different sales people were selling into the same clients.

Of the company’s retail clients, around a dozen use IDG to produce overseas work as well as UK jobs. For some, one-third of their print requirements may be for overseas, but it makes sense for IDG to print and collate store kits and then distribute them.

One reason is that, like its early focus on data, IDG understands that the devil is in the detail and there’s money in the nitty-gritty. Danforth argues that while other printers focus on printing, his firm understands that assembling and collating store kits may not seem creative, but it makes clients’ businesses run better – and they’re happy to pay for that.

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IMAGEDATA GROUP
Management Chairman, Roger Birkin; chief executive, David Danforth
Staff 220
Turnover £20m
Divisions/client base Core (corporate print), Public (public sector) Retail, Alliance (trade print, design agencies, print managers)
Locations Hull (HQ), production sites in Willerby (sheetfed), Howden (large-format digital), Hull (screen print) and Brighton (small-format digital)