Copson moved to Cyprus at the beginning of the year, and his Katchprint operation is based in Larnaca. He is predominantly targeting printers in the Middle East and North Africa with a service offering that spans press calibration, chemistry auditing, colour management and a variety of cost reduction techniques. Copson is collaborating with a number of suppliers in the UK for his offering, building upon the contacts he made during his career here. He spent 12 years at Fulmar and prior to setting up Katchprint was operations director at a large printing company in Egypt. “The UK connections are people that I have done business with for many years while at Fulmar, CTD, Westerham Press, and Archway Press before that,” Copson said. “These same people are now supplying me with consumables or other services that will strengthen my offering to my target market.” Katchprint also supplies a range of consumables, including rollers and blankets. For more information visit www.katchprint.com....

Print4Printers was exhibiting its online quoting and ordering system for no-carbon-required print including set books and pads for the print trade. Managing director Matt Kent came away resolved to take on more youngsters after speaking to training providers such as Proskills and learn2print. Kent said: “Apprentices generally have more direction on where they want to go and are looking for a career rather than just any old vacancy. I have been speaking to training experts on how to implement a more serious apprenticeship programme.” This involved contacting local schools to flag up the trade as well as Print4Printers, which was launched in January as a sister company to eight-staff Ripley Printers. Kent already employs two apprentices, NVQ 3 designer Andy Beauchamp and NVQ 2 print finisher Eric Booth. “This is a young business and the idea is to bring people through to systemise the skills base in the business while training people up.” Kent aims to recruit two to four apprentices in print production and administration. The two businesses have a combined turnover of £500,000, and North Print & Pack yielded 54 potential customers for the web company, which is taking two to three orders a day, he said. Ripley Printers has two two-colour Heidelberg Quickmaster 46 machines, an Edelman Junior Print and a two-colour Super Web business forms machine. Clients include print managers and printers focusing on one area and contracting out other work such as textbooks. “We went to the show to demonstrate to printers how we are able to produce and deliver NCR books and pads in a more cost effective way than printers producing them in-house,” said Kent. “While at the show I went to the PrintIT awards and spoke in depth to a number of apprenticeship training providers who helped me to better understand the benefits of long-term apprenticeship...

Print4Printers was exhibiting its online quoting and ordering system for no-carbon-required print including set books and pads for the print trade. Managing director Matt Kent came away resolved to take on more youngsters after speaking to training providers such as Proskills and learn2print. Kent said: “Apprentices generally have more direction on where they want to go and are looking for a career rather than just any old vacancy. I have been speaking to training experts on how to implement a more serious apprenticeship programme.” This involved contacting local schools to flag up the trade as well as Print4Printers, which was launched in January as a sister company to eight-staff Ripley Printers. Kent already employs two apprentices, NVQ 3 designer Andy Beauchamp and NVQ 2 print finisher Eric Booth. “This is a young business and the idea is to bring people through to systemise the skills base in the business while training people up.” Kent aims to recruit two to four apprentices in print production and administration. The two businesses have a combined turnover of £500,000, and North Print & Pack yielded 54 potential customers for the web company, which is taking two to three orders a day, he said. Ripley Printers has two two-colour Heidelberg Quickmaster 46 machines, an Edelman Junior Print and a two-colour Super Web business forms machine. Clients include print managers and printers focusing on one area and contracting out other work such as textbooks. “We went to the show to demonstrate to printers how we are able to produce and deliver NCR books and pads in a more cost effective way than printers producing them in-house,” said Kent. “While at the show I went to the PrintIT awards and spoke in depth to a number of apprenticeship training providers who helped me to better understand the benefits of long-term apprenticeship...

The Acuity Advance Select HS has its worldwide launch at the show. It can be configured with six ink channels for faster printing or special colours. With CMYK+CM it can print at up to 49.7sqm/hour. Alternatively, the extra channels can be used for white or clear ink. “We can drive it faster, while maintaining quality,” said Gary Barnes, global product manager at Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems. “Clear is the new white – clear ink can be used to build texture or highlight certain areas. It adds value.” The Select HS has a standard bed size of 2.5×1.25m (the extra-large version is 2.5×3.05m) and can handle roll and rigid media. The list price is £167,000, or £214,000 for the larger-format option. The new model is available immediately. The bed of the Select HS has six zones, with pre-defined areas representing the most commonly-used media sizes. Barnes added: “Users don’t need to mask the bed so it gives better productivity. With flatbed or roll printing, and white or clear ink, it makes it a very versatile and productive machine.” Fespa takes place at London’s Excel exhibition centre from 25-29 June. Fujifilm is on stand F10S/E05S....

The Acuity Advance Select HS has its worldwide launch at the show. It can be configured with six ink channels for faster printing or special colours. With CMYK+CM it can print at up to 49.7sqm/hour. Alternatively, the extra channels can be used for white or clear ink. “We can drive it faster, while maintaining quality,” said Gary Barnes, global product manager at Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems. “Clear is the new white – clear ink can be used to build texture or highlight certain areas. It adds value.” The Select HS has a standard bed size of 2.5×1.25m (the extra-large version is 2.5×3.05m) and can handle roll and rigid media. The list price is £167,000, or £214,000 for the larger-format option. The new model is available immediately. The bed of the Select HS has six zones, with pre-defined areas representing the most commonly-used media sizes. Barnes added: “Users don’t need to mask the bed so it gives better productivity. With flatbed or roll printing, and white or clear ink, it makes it a very versatile and productive machine.” Fespa takes place at London’s Excel exhibition centre from 25-29 June. Fujifilm is on stand F10S/E05S....