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April & May 2020 Printweek
Business inspection
supported by
● Padley advises anyone considering any new technology
– but certainly any as game changing as the HP Indigo
30000 – to do plenty of market research in advance in
terms of potential revenue streams.
● He explains that if you’re going to go for a completely
new technology and something very different to what
you’re used to, you need to be prepared to completely
rely on the manufacturer, in Kalas’ case HP, and build a
good relationship with them.
● “I think what we did well was that we had the balls to do
it,” says Padley. “We were the first to get it in the country
and although a couple of other companies now have it in
the UK, they are in completely different markets to us, so
although it’s taken three years to get going, we feel there
is no one currently close to catching us up. I guess I’d say,
be brave.”
Padley goes on: “It’s actually about the substrate we can
print on rather than the market we are attacking. There are
a lot of customers out there that use a lot of plastic POS and
packaging, and with the 30000 we are giving people the
ability to run promotions and be really clever with their
marketing. Variable data really is the key.”
Padley says the company is now particularly targeting
trade partnerships with businesses that work directly with
major end users. “Rather than us knocking on the door of
Procter & Gamble, for example, where we just wouldn’t
stand a chance, we want trade partners that can go out to
their customers and be able to offer all of their short runs
where they have lots of variants,” he adds.
“Large customers don’t generally want to deal with
smaller companies like us, but we are finding that there is
some real momentum now where there wasn’t three years
ago. People are giving us the orders and the work, which is
the acid test.”
Padley is bullish about the future and says that while the
business has been steadily turning over around £2m for “a
considerable number of years”, the new capabilities offered
by the 30000 have already secured enough new contracts to
bring in a comfortable £3m this year – although he was
speaking prior to the Covid-19 lockdown.
“We really are just at the start of it. Over the next two to
three years, we would like to see our revenue climb to £5m-
£6m and that will require another HP press,” he says.
“We’d possibly go for a duplex next because a lot of what
we print for horticulture is four-colour on the face and single
on reverse, so at the moment it’s two passes, so maybe a
slightly different variant, but it will certainly be HP.”
Padley says adding another press would of course necessitate
another extension, but because he owns the industrial
estate on which the business is situated, there is plenty
of flexibility.
Headcount has doubled to 15 and will continue to grow,
he anticipates, stating that Kalas would be looking to take
on more staff across its print, repro, conversion and finishing
divisions in line with the expansion of the business.
“The bottom line is that we are the only ones that can do
some of this right now, so we are the market leader in our
area. Others will follow suit of course, but then it’s up to us
to make sure we remain market leader.”
believe even if we had been up and running sooner, the
market wasn’t actually ready for its capabilities.”
During the three years it’s taken to come to fruition
however, the business hasn’t stood still.
Firstly, training on the Indigo has been considerable,
according to Padley, with staff spending “weeks and
months” in HP’s Israel and Barcelona training sites.
“It means we are quite technically proficient and can
solve any issues without having to involve engineers,”
he says.
Next was the installation of an Omega Allpro 70
folder-gluer in July 2017, enabling the company to bring
carton production fully in-house and, since then, the
business hasn’t looked back, testing the technology and the
market with a raft of ideas.
With the device fully up and running since autumn last
year, Padley says that the 30000 is finally doing “exactly
what it says on the box”.
“There are a lot of HP Indigo B2 format printers who’ve
been running work for a lot of years, but that’s on paper and
thin cards. The uniqueness that we have is that we can run
on thicker substrates, we can print on white and clear
synthetics, we can print with light fast and food safe inks,
and we can varnish inline and prime inline.
“Really that combination of features has made the possibilities
limitless,” he asserts.
The result
Since its installation, the Kalas team has used the time it
has taken to iron out its teething problems to really explore
its full potential and test the market opportunities for a
range of new and innovative products.
While the KBA continues to produce the majority of horticulture
items, the work is split, according to suitability,
with the Indigo.
The company has had early success in its new digital
market, says Padley, with synthetics for the horticulture
and food sectors, while a major new growth area is a
mixture of tiny cartons, point-of-sale display cartons and
variable data coupons for the vaping industry.
Further capitalising on the variable data capability is its
Vanillareindeer.com web-to-print online store, launched in
2018, offering premium quality, personalised items such as
bottle boxes, gift packaging, rope handled gift bags, greetings
cards, and advent calendars and Easter egg boxes.
Padley calls it a “three-pronged attack” with the company
now looking to open up a third new service offering personalised,
short-run small format cartons.
“People will be able to buy them in very small quantities,
just as they do business cards. Pixart is running this model
very successfully in Italy, but currently no one does it in the
UK,” he explains.
DIGITAL IS KEY
Kalas Packaging in
Boston
TOP TIPS
There is some real momentum now
where there wasn’t three years ago.
People are giving us the orders and the work,
which is the acid test” Jonathan Padley
/Vanillareindeer.com