Business - Knowledge

The new trail currently being blazed by Pixartprinting in the world of online printing services is Upload & Print, a concept which brings the company and its clients closer together.

"We want to extend the production capabilities of each of our clients, acting as a metaphorical large, hi-tech printer on their desk" Andrea Pizzola, Sales & Marketing Director at Pixartprinting explained. "The user only has to create and upload the print file, as if the device from which it is uploaded were connected directly to our production department. With just one click our clients have cutting-edge printing services, the best on the market, at their disposal."

It is well known that Pixartprinting has always focused a great deal of attention on technological innovation, particularly on the production side of the business, which uses latest generation machinery, often honed by manufacturers and provided to Pixartprinting before its full release or tailor-made for the needs of the Italian web to print company. The goal, as always, is to turn clients' creativity and requirements into a printing process with high quality standards, innovation, competitive prices and a quick turnaround.

The success of the Venice-based company, which in just a few years has developed from purely local work to enjoying a widespread presence across Europe, is based on innovation, cutting-edge systems and a well-structured, long-term marketing strategy. These three assets have underpinned the transformation of what Andrea Pizzola calls a "simple idea": using technology to provide an immediate and high quality printing solution.

The company has a winning business model, based on the one hand on listening to its clients, and on the other on localisation.

"By 'listening' we mean all the active communication channels that connect us to our clients, from the online shop to social media, and from mother-tongue customer care to monitoring market trends. The combination of these tools helps us to pre-empt demand, remain innovative and offer solutions that meet emerging needs" Andrea Pizzola added.

"'Localisation', meanwhile, means a strategy developed around the cultural background of the individual country, applied to each step in the process, starting from the website, which is not merely a translation of the Italian site, but rather the result of the localisation of the brand."

Indeed, Pixartprinting is implementing a wide range of functions in its online shop to further optimise the user experience, starting from the new client area.

For more information on Pixartprinting, please visit www.pixartprinting.co.uk

[Image shows Andrea Pizzola]

In association with Aequitas, LFR brings you the latest in our monthly features offering insight and opinion on current business and finance news and how it relates to small and medium sized business:

In the wake of the General Election, businesses have been keen to outline what they see as the priorities facing David Cameron's new Conservative Government.
With many firms citing a sustained economic recovery as a primary concern, all eyes will once again be on Chancellor George Osborne, who has announced that he will deliver a second Budget on Wednesday 8 July. Please visit our website regularly for the latest Budget news and information.

Meanwhile, a survey of HR and finance professionals suggests that many would support a rise in pension auto-enrolment contributions. Compulsory employer contributions are currently being phased in, starting at 1% before rising to 3% from October 2018.

Businesses set out priorities for new Government
Small firms are looking for stability and certainty during the course of the new Parliament, a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) suggests.

Of the 2,327 FSB members questioned, more than a third (35%) said they want a sustained economic recovery to be the top priority for David Cameron's new Government.

When asked what issues they would like the Government to focus on during the course of the next five years, 53% said they wanted ministers to reduce the regulatory burden on business.

Some 51% of those questioned called for simplification of the tax system, while 44% of respondents said reform of business rates should be a top priority.

Commenting on the findings, Mike Cherry, National Policy Chairman at the FSB, said: 'Today's wide ranging research sends a very clear message on what small businesses want from the new Government - a supportive, light touch tax and regulatory environment in which to grow their business, creating prosperity and jobs.

'Over the five years of this Parliament, our members' top priorities are to lighten the burdens of regulation and tax, reform broken business rates, support the development and skills of young people, and improve broadband and mobile connectivity.'

Meanwhile, in an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has called for 'bold action' on six issues that it says will determine the UK's economic future.
John Longworth, Director General of the BCC, wrote: 'In return for your continued commitment to an environment that encourages enterprise and aspiration, businesses in all parts of the UK stand ready to delivery prosperity, jobs, and sustained economic growth.

'Over the coming months, you must use your strengthened mandate to take bold action on six issues that will determine the UK's economic future.'

The letter calls for a focus on: public spending, trade, talent, investment, Europe and infrastructure. It ends with a request that the Prime Minister should 'make no apologies for seeking the highest growth and investment rates, and the lowest unemployment and taxation rates'.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also expressed its views in the aftermath of the election, calling for deficit reduction to be made a priority, along with finding 'more innovative ways to deliver public services and backing the final decision from the Airports Commission.'

Its thoughts were echoed by the Institute of Directors (IoD), which said that 'returning the budget to surplus must be the overriding goal in this Parliament'. A survey of its members also revealed that infrastructure and education are two other areas company owners want to see addressed in the coming years.

Auto-enrolment welcomed by employers, survey suggests
A recent survey of employers indicates that many would be keen to see a rise in auto- enrolment contribution levels.

The previous Minister for Pensions already noted that auto-enrolment would need to be assessed early in a new parliamentary term, and the survey of over 200 senior HR and finance professionals indicates that they agree with the proposal.

76% of those questioned by financial group Jelf Employee Benefits said they believed there should be an increase in pension contribution levels, while 15% disagreed. In addition, 85% of respondents thought that any increase should come from employer contributions - either wholly or in part - while just 14% thought that increased contributions should be made only by employees.

Auto-enrolment legislation requires employers to automatically enrol eligible employees into a qualifying workplace pension and pay a minimum contribution in the fund. The measures are being phased in between 2012 and 2018, depending on the size of the business.

Head of Benefits Strategy at Jelf Employee Benefits, Steve Herbert, said: 'Frankly, we were a little surprised at these results. Many employers are yet to reach their staging date for auto enrolment, and a significant proportion of those who have already staged are not yet at the full contribution rate.

'It is very encouraging that employers continue to see the benefits of offering a quality pension scheme. A good pension offering will obviously help employees, and will also provide an important recruitment, retention and planning tool for employers'.

Visit the Your Money section of our website to explore a wealth of information on personal tax and savings issues, including our guide to auto-enrolment.

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Pensioner bonds become 'biggest-selling financial product' in UK history
The Government’s 65+ ‘pensioner bonds’ have been sold to more than a million older savers, who made total investments to the tune of over £13bn.
Click here for the full story

New Enterprise Bill to help small businesses settle late payment disputes
In his first speech as Business Secretary, Sajid Javid has announced that a new Enterprise Bill aimed at tackling problems faced by small businesses will be brought forward and included in the Queen’s Speech.
Click here for the full story

UK economy slips into deflation
UK inflation fell to -0.1% in April, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed.
Click here for the full story

Osborne to deliver 'emergency Budget' on 8 July
The Chancellor George Osborne has revealed that he will present a new Budget on 8 July.
Click here for the full story

Government sells more Lloyds Bank shares
The taxpayers' stake in Lloyds Banking Group has been reduced to just under 20%, raising £500 million for the Treasury.
Click here for the full story

About Aequitas Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
Aequitas are a highly regarded chartered accountancy practice that work with all sizes of owner managed business, through to SMEs and larger corporations. With specific knowledge of the print industry - Aequitas clients range from print service providers to product manufacturers - we can recommend that you get in touch with Aequitas today to find out how they can help your business.

HEXIS UK Ltd. was founded in 1994 by Scott Wilkins and his father.  Based in Lichfield in the Midlands, the company is now owned by Scott and his sister, Joanne-Marie Wilkins-Brotherton, and employs circa 30 people – 10 of whom are direct family members or long-term friends.

With an annual turnover of £9m – and a strong growth figure of 10% year-on-year since its foundation - HEXIS UK Ltd. is the exclusive UK distributor of all of the products created and marketed by manufacturer HEXIS S.A. in France.  The business focuses on five key product areas: colour films for signage and marking of vehicles; cast films for vehicle wraps; media for wide format digital printing; films for protection and laminating; and heat applied flex for textile decoration.  The company also supplies all the associated tools and accessories.

At present, the company’s products are divided into four business units, with a fifth division in the pipeline.  The four existing areas include coloured sign vinyl, digital print, the automotive sector, and textiles (including printwear and promotion). 

New website

With more than 4000 products in stock and available for next-day delivery in its 1900m2 warehouse, the company has recently started to reap the benefits of online sales.  More than a year ago, Scott and his team decided to start researching ways of boosting such sales and invested extensive resources into developing a fully-interactive and user-friendly website incorporating an advanced online ordering system.

Scott explains: “When creating the new site, we wanted to ensure that our customers could do everything online that they could do over the phone.”  

The new website, which went live at the start of March 2015, boasts an impressive range of materials for sign makers, digital printers, automotive vehicle wrappers and textile garment decorators, alongside all the complementary ranges of tools and accessories.  It enables HEXIS UK customers to manage their accounts, order products, view stock levels, order samples, create quotations, save job order numbers and much, much more online.

In the space of just 8 weeks, the company has increased its online sales by £100,000 and has attracted 300 new customers.

On the success of the new site, Scott comments: “I am delighted and frankly quite flabbergasted that the new website has been so successful in such a short space of time.  We knew it was user-friendly, but had no idea it would take off in the way that it has.

“I’m hearing positive feedback from our customers and they love the fact that they can order - or check - whatever they want to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  For the smaller sign makers in particular, this flexibility has been a real advantage as they don’t want to waste crucial business hours checking and ordering stock when they could be producing profitable output for end-users.

“It’s been phenomenal to see the increase in orders on a daily basis and we’re confident that these enhanced online sales will continue.”

New products

HEXIS UK is not resting on its laurels though and constantly benefits from the development of new products by HEXIS S.A.  A recent addition to the product line is Bodyfence paint protection film.  Available in the UK from July 2015, this polyurethane ultra-high-gloss film has been developed to wrap brand new vehicles. 

As well as offering numerous colour options, Bodyfence enhances the gloss finish of the vehicle and protects the bodywork from the usual chips and scratches picked up over time. It is durable for up to 8 years, depending on conditions.

HEXIS UK Ltd. will be hosting an event in July 2015 to announce further details of the product range and will provide training and demonstrations for key accounts within the automotive industry.

New business

The development of complementary products has always been an important sideline for HEXIS’s core business areas.  For example, the company now supplies all the unprinted blanks – including mugs, coasters and mousemats etc – for its printwear and promotion business.

Another recent focus for the business has been the development of health division which is currently in its infancy.  HEXIS S.A. is investing significant resources into the development of anti-microbial films for businesses focused on the health and food industries and HEXIS UK will bring these solutions to the UK market.

Scott explains: “We’re already seeing a lot of interest in using these antimicrobial protective films to protect sign and display graphics within private dental and doctors’ practices; schools and colleges, as well as the food industry which has also shown a lot of interest.

“We plan to build on this division to meet the growing needs of these customers.”

Family business HEXIS UK turned 20 last year, marking two decades of continuous growth, product development and moving with the market. Its new website allows display producers from a range of disciplines to purchase the materials they need, be they in the vinyl signage, digital print, automotive or textiles sectors, and it has paid dividends for the Staffordshire company.

With plans to develop further products and to create new business areas to meet the needs of customers, the future looks very positive for HEXIS UK.

For more information, please visit www.hexis.co.uk.

About HEXIS UK Ltd:
HEXIS UK Ltd. is the exclusive UK distributor for France-based HEXIS S.A.’s full range of films and media for professional signage, vehicle marking, visual communication and surface protection applications.  The company manufactures 5 types of films: colour films for signage and marking of vehicles; cast films for vehicle wraps; media for wide format digital printing; films for protection and laminating; and heat applied flex for textile decoration.  The company also supplies all the associated tools and accessories.

Wide format printer manufacturer Mutoh has won a prestigious EDP award - attributed by the European Digital Press Association (EDP) - for its ValueJet 426UF A3+ flatbed LED UV printer as “Best Multipurpose Object Printer”. The award was presented to Mutoh at a special awards ceremony held at Fespa 2015 in Cologne, Germany last week.

The EDP awards are attributed by a panel of independent and highly respected print industry professionals appointed by the European Digital Press Association.

Mutoh Belgium’s Managing Director Akio Kotake, who received the award on behalf of Mutoh, comments: “We are delighted and proud to see the world wide recognition for our ValueJet 426UF desktop LED UV printer. Recently the product also won an award as “Best New Product” at the International Sign Expo in the US. We consider this award as a recognition for the versatility of our new series of environmentally responsible ValueJet LED UV printers specifically targeted at specialty and industrial short run digital print applications. The prize also underlines Mutoh’s innovation power, craftsmanship and our technological leadership in the field of wide-format piezo inkjet printers.”

The Mutoh ValueJet VJ-426UF is a compact A3+ flatbed 6-colour LED UV printer with integrated vacuum table. Offering a print table area of 483 mm (19”) x 329 mm (13”), the VJ-426UF enables direct printing onto objects up to 70 mm (2.75”) thick. The multi-purpose VJ-426UF printer will produce ultra-sharp, high quality output and is specifically targeted at short run items or one-off designs of products and their prototypes, personalised gifts, packaging, souvenirs, awards, specialty industrial items as well as labels, decals, signs, etc.

The printer incorporates a latest generation piezo drop-on-demand print head offering print resolutions up to 1440x1440 dpi. The VJ-426UF will deliver exceptional print quality on a wide variety of solid materials and objects including ABS, Alu-board, PC, PE, PET, PMMA (acrylic), PP, PS, PVC and glass. Mutoh’s LED UV CMYK + white inks & varnish are completely VOC-free. An energy-efficient latest generation LED UV lamp ensures ultra-sharp, safe & ready to use prints. Its reduced working temperatures also allow printing onto heat sensitive substrates.

The machine comes standard with dedicated Mutoh printer installer & driver software for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1, as well as a Mutoh proprietary layer management software to facilitate the adjustment of white, varnish and colour separation and start with object printing without in-depth knowledge of colour management and separations.

For more information on the Mutoh ValueJet 426UF A3+ flatbed LED UV printer, visit http://www.mutoh.eu/en-us/products/specialtyindustrial/valuejet426uf.aspx 

HEXIS UK Ltd., the exclusive UK distributor of HEXIS S.A.’s full range of films and media for professional signage, vehicle marking, visual communication and surface protection applications, has significantly boosted its online sales with the implementation of a new website with extensive online ordering capabilities.  In the space of just eight weeks, the company increased its online sales by £100,000 and attracted 300 new customers.

More than a year ago, HEXIS UK Ltd.’s Managing Director Scott Wilkins and his team decided to start researching ways of boosting the company’s online sales.  The company invested extensive resources into developing a fully-interactive and user-friendly website incorporating an advanced online ordering system.

Scott explains: “When creating the new site, we wanted to ensure that our customers could do everything online that they could do over the phone.  By adding an online ordering facility, we are able to respond to our customers’ needs at all hours of the day and night.  

“We are renowned for our high levels of customer service and enabling them to order what they want – and crucially when they want – seemed a logical next step.”  

The new website, which went live at the start of March 2015, boasts an impressive range of materials for sign makers, digital printers, automotive vehicle wrappers and textile garment decorators, alongside all the complementary ranges of tools and accessories.  It enables HEXIS UK customers to manage their accounts, order products, view stock levels, order samples, create quotations, save job order numbers and much, much more online.

On the success of the new site, Scott comments: “I am delighted and frankly quite flabbergasted that the new website has been so successful in such a short space of time.  We knew it was user-friendly, but had no idea it would take off in the way that it has.

“I’m hearing positive feedback from our customers and they love the fact that they can order - or check - whatever they want to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  For the smaller sign makers in particular, this flexibility has been a real advantage.  It’s been phenomenal to see the increase in orders on a daily basis and we’re confident that these enhanced online sales will continue.”

With more than 4000 products currently in stock, the company offers next working day delivery throughout the UK and Ireland from its 1900m2 warehouse.  Vinyl for sign making and wrapping can be purchased in a variety of widths up to 1520mm and from 1-30m lengths, digital printing materials are available in all popular widths up to 1600mm wide and even wider for certain banner materials and fabrics.

For more information, please visit www.hexis.co.uk

[Images show (above) Scott Wilkins, Managing Director of HEXIS UK Ltd. in the company's expansive warehouse and (below) outside the company's HQ]

Avery Dennison is going virtual. To allow more and more people around the world to experience its latest innovations just as it showcases them at trade shows, the company has been developing a new concept: the virtual trade-show booth. Its next rollout will focus on products from its Graphics Solutions portfolio.

The virtual booth will be launched at www.virtualfespa.averydennison.com, and will highlight the innovations that the company is showcasing at its physical booth at FESPA 2015, from 18 to 22 May at the Cologne Exhibition Centre in Germany.

Visitors to both booths will be able to view and interact with the latest in Avery Dennison’s graphics innovations, showcased under the theme, “Everywhere You Look”. Examples include the new Avery Dennison Colour Swatch mobile app, the company’s value-added service programmes, the complete digital offering and exciting new Supreme Wrapping Film colours. The virtual booth will remain open after FESPA itself closes.

“Our virtual booth will open the door to everyone who is unable to attend the show,” said Patrick Winters, marketing communications manager Europe. “This tool will enable them to experience the innovations we will debut and gain access to the information and tools featured in our booth.  It’s also a great way for visitors at the show to share what they’ve seen with colleagues who won’t be able to come to Cologne.”