Last month marked the one-year anniversary of specialist finisher Alpha Media Solutions (AMS). The Bradford-based company specialises in miniature finishing, dealing specifically with Z-Card products, for which it holds the European distribution licence.
AMS may be a young firm, but its history is longer than its age might suggest. It is one of two separate firms born when Scorpio Print Finishing, one of the UK’s largest finishers, went into administration last March. Four directors, led by Ian Whitfield, set up AMS to focus on the Z-Card and specialist side of the business. Standard finishing was left to Scorpio Print Finishers, headed up by Darren Walker, which fell back into administration this February, but is now trading again.
Collective experience
All four of the directors at AMS have years of experience in the print industry although, surprisingly, the man with the fewest years in the industry is Whitfield, the managing director, who joined Scorpio in 1999. Whitfield is flanked by Michael Ridgeon, operations director, a veteran of 20 years’ print service. The other two key figures, production director Gary Fagan and sales director Daniel Graham, have been around for 12 and 18 years respectively.
The experience of Scorpio Print Finishing’s failure was undoubtedly a stressful one, but it left the AMS team with plenty to bring to their latest venture, and the directors say the experience drove them to switch the new firm’s priorities.
Whitfield says: “We spent too long looking for customers to fill the plant, not looking for plants that would be filled. We are acutely aware of what we believe is needed to succeed. At Scorpio, we went through the whole grade. We set up a new company, became the largest at what we did, and then saw that turn on us.”
Now that those painful lessons have been learned, Whitfield’s team is facing the tough trade finishing market with renewed optimism. In the year since it started up, AMS has already shown impressive growth. When the split took place last March, the firm had 50 staff. It has now doubled to 100, and has invested £500,000 in a new carton line.
Alpha Media’s core business is its work with Z-Cards, for which it has the sole UK and European manufacturing rights. AMS does the finishing for Z-Cards, but it also sources the print. Whitfield believes its credit-card size, and the ability to carry a wealth of information, makes it a much more useful marketing tool than a traditional A6 sheet.
He adds: “We took over the sourcing, while Z-Card maintained the selling and marketing. Last year, Z-Card grew by 52% worldwide, which shows that there is a lot of untapped potential for the product. It gives us a stable business. Around 50% of the company’s £6m turnover is related to the product – although that is not all through the factory. Only around a third of what we handle is Z-Card work.”
Aside from Z-Cards, Scorpio provides a wide range of other services, striving, like many others in the trade, to do whatever clients ask of it. Technology, of course, is key to its efforts. On top of AMS’s new Bobst carton line, the firm has gluing kit, as well as cut, fold and stitch, window patching, tabbing, label application and die-cutting equipment.
Graham says: “If the customer comes to us with a request, we will see if we can do it. For instance, currently on our carton line, we are sticking credit cards on to paper. It is a pick and place job, but the flexibility of the carton machine actually enables us to do it.”
As for the future, the firm has its sights set on further growth. Graham explains: “We will continue to develop our Z-Card production, but outside of that we will be making sure we have the people and the equipment to run specialist folding. That should take us through the next few years, then we can take a longer-term view.”
Any new kit the company buys will need to fit in with its existing regime of multi-functionality. Ridgeon says: “We look to buy kit that can give us more than one option. We are particularly interested in the diversity of a machine.”
Whitfield adds that he wants to see the Z-Card product used more in the UK and Europe. “We will look to take the firm forward over the next few years. After that, we’ll take stock.”
One thing’s for sure though: no-one can really be sure of what Alpha Media Solutions will be offering in the future. “We have to be moving constantly,” says Whitfield. “In three years, who says we’ll be doing the same thing? We can’t afford to be just another finishing firm – there are too many about.”
ALPHA MEDIA SOLUTIONS
Location Bradford
Turnover £6m
Staff 100
Managing director Ian Whitfield
Established 2006
Sectors miniature folding, specialist trade finishing, distribution licence for Z-Card
Kit and services MBO folders, guillotines, ram-punching, miniature folders, flow wrapping, tabbing, die-cutting and auto-stripping
