Stuart Morrison, who joined Durst UK a year ago as technical applications specialist, has been promoted to a newly created account manager role for the UK and Ireland, where he will oversee market growth in the traditionally large- and medium-format manufacturer’s relatively new inkjet labels division.
The UK business, a subsidiary of German parent firm Durst Phototechnik, took over the sales and service support side of Durst’s labels operations last year. Key to its portfolio are the Durst Tau 330 and 330E UV inkjet label presses, which Morrison will be responsible for.
His 26-year career in print encompasses digital, litho and wide-format as well as pre-press and finishing. Before joining Durst last year he worked with Domino for 15 months following 12 years at Screen, both in technical applications support roles.
Morrison said: "There has been such development in inkjet over the last few years in various markets. Large-format is pretty much all inkjet now but in labels it is relatively new and there is a huge amount of potential for growth. There is no real incumbent supplier in the UK so there is real opportunity there and it's a great market to go for.
"If you go into a supermarket these days you've only got to see the huge amount of brands and varieties across all sorts of products from shampoo to gin and the quality of the labels is key to making them sell."
Since launching around five years ago there have been more than 100 Tau 330 presses installed worldwide, with four in the UK and Morrison said he hopes to double that by the end of the year. The standalone Tau 330E was launched in 2015.
"I have a technical background and I'm looking forward to getting out there, seeing companies, meeting their people and seeing how we can fit with them."
Durst UK and Ireland managing director Peter Bray, to whom Morrison will report, said: “Stuart knows the labels market inside out, both from a selling and support viewpoint. This is another important appointment for Durst as we continue to build our presence in many diverse markets.
Headquartered in Leatherhead, Surrey, Durst UK has more than 150 customer sites across the UK and Ireland.
