‘You can’t afford now to be one-dimensional,” says Cactus Imaging general manager Keith Ferrel, who will present a seminar on diversification and automation at the FESPA Asia Print Expo in Bangkok, Thailand in February 2019.
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| Cactus Imaging, Silverwater NSW |
Ferrel will look at emerging trends in the industry based on his experience at Cactus - the Sydney wide format specialist acquired for $6 million in 2016 by outdoor giant oOh!media from OPUS Group.
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| Keith Ferrel, GM Cactus Imaging |
“Times are changing in the print industry, there’s more consolidation, you can’t afford now to be one-dimensional and you need to be more adaptable,” Ferrel told Wide Format Online.
“When I say one-dimensional, I look at our experience over the years. In the early days, probably 90 percent of our work was printed billboards. Today, that would probably be 50 percent, except we’re printing more volume. We’ve diversified into other areas because of, I suppose, the necessity, but also technology has played a huge part in that. Printers have gotten quicker but also quality has risen exponentially.
“As an example, we’ve just purchased a Fuji Ultra, which is a three and a half picolitre head and prints at 1800dpi. You can print billboards on it but you can also print close to photographic images for interior decorating, fabrics, a lot of retail stuff. That’s what I mean about diversification into different areas of print, not being one dimensional. In the old days, you’d get away with that because the pricing would allow you to specialise in one area.
“The Ultra has been in about three weeks. It’s the first in the southern hemisphere, the 6th in the world, I think. On top of that, we’ve had the 5 metre Durst 512R just over 15 months, and that prints in a fine art mode at 1200dpi. So it also allows you to print for lot of different print sectors, retail, fabrics, interior decorating.”
Ferrel says fabric printing and interior decorating are definite growth markets.
“Fabrics specifically,” he said. “Printing on fabrics is very new to Australia; a lot of people say it’s been around for a long time but it hasn’t, not compared to Europe. We’re a long, long way behind and it’s a new area but if you look at the FESPA showcases, certainly coming up in Munich, they have huge areas set aside for fabrics and the way it can be used. To me, that’s a market that has got a lot of growth potential, certainly the interior decorating side of things and wallpapers. We’ve started doing more of that kind of work at Cactus.
“Transit is another area that we’ve gotten in to because we’ve got two latex 3-metre machines as well. The flexible length allows you to be able to do those kinds of things.”
Cactus Imaging, founded in 1996 and based at Silverwater in Sydney, produces front lit and backlit billboards, point of purchase posters, retail displays and decals, street furniture, stadium and arena displays, transit advertising, airport terminal displays, exhibition graphics and displays, wall murals, banners, event and stage backdrops, point of sale displays, construction signage and hoardings.
Asia Print Expo 2019 has just confirmed the programme of speakers and seminars for its upcoming event, taking place 21 - 23 February 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. Each day will offer a mix of seminars covering screen, digital and textile printing as well as environmental issues and sustainability.
