It is targeting the Indian firm's services at the monthly magazine and catalogue market, and expects to announce the first customers soon.
"We are talking to a number of publishers at an advanced level," said Polestar Applied Solutions category director Tim Smith (pictured right with Express KCS managing director Robert Berkeley). "Some people have been out there to see it and given it the green light."

After extensive testing of the firm's services, which are offshored to its facility outside New Delhi, Polestar technical director Jack Bisset approved the quality and the service levels.

"We have established that the company can produce work of a quality that is appropriate," said Bisset.

"If you look at people's objections [to offshoring] quality is the big one," said Express KCS managing director Robert Berkeley. "That Jack says what he's saying pokes that in the eye."

Berkeley added that other objections such as bandwidth and customer communication had been addressed. Bandwidth had been solved with the deregulation of the Indian telecoms market, while communication was addressed by Express KCS' own UK-based account manager, and in this instance by Polestar's own team.

The deal follows Polestar's Applied Solutions division's launch of its internet-based publishing workflow Isis earlier this year.

It is the firm's response to the need to provide added value solutions alongside print and move towards a commodity market for pre-press in the UK. "It will become a commodity and a UK cost base will become unviable," said Smith.

A further development will include a catalogue production partner, to be announced in the next few weeks.

Polestar is the first major customer of Express KCS to go public. Berkeley believes that following the firm's revelation others will become more comfortable about the prospect of outsourcing and those already doing it may go public.

Story by Barney Cox