Business - Recruitment

Perspex Distribution Limited (PDL) Managing Director Keith Piggott has been appointed General Manager for the European Sheet and Composites business at parent company Lucite International.

Lucite is the largest manufacturer of cell cast acrylic sheet in the world and his role will cover the two manufacturing sites at Darwen, Lancashire and Clairvaux, France producing Perspex® acrylic widely used in the signage, print and retail sectors, and Lucite® used extensively in Sanitaryware markets.  He will also remain MD at PDL.

Keith has a long and successful association with Lucite International and in particular with the Perspex® business. He played a leading role in the creation of PDL and its subsequent growth to become UK market leaders in cast acrylic sheet and remains committed to its ongoing success.

As a leading figure in the plastics sector, Keith brings to this new role a wealth of expertise as well as extensive experience in the acrylic sheet and plastics markets in the UK, Europe and USA.

Lucite EMEA General Manager Phil Bailey commented, “The success of Keith’s PDL team over the past 10 years has made a significant contribution to our EMEA business.  I look forward to his ethic for excellent teamwork and shared company vision - helping drive our sheet and composites business to further success in the future.”

Keith has served as President of EPDA and as a Director of IAPD.

Drytac has announced the appointment of Mike Wildbore as the new Vice President of Sales for Drytac Canada. Wildbore holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Graphic Communications Management from Ryerson University and has more than 14 years of experience in the graphic arts industry.

As Vice President of Sales, Wildbore will be tasked with leading the Canadian sales team and generating new business for Drytac’s expanded adhesive coating and converting operations in Toronto.
“Mike is well known and respected in the industry,” states Marc Oosterhuis, President of the Drytac Group. “His experience in a variety of closely related markets and his understanding of multiple sales channels will be a huge asset in helping Drytac become the leading company for custom/OEM adhesive-coated products in Canada.”

Prior to joining Drytac, Wildbore promoted converted paper products for Canada Fibers Ltd and managed consumables and equipment for Partner Graphics Support. Most recently, he served as National Equipment Manager for Ernest Green & Son Ltd., developing national marketing and sales strategies to support the Canadian digital wide format market.

As part of its continuing growth strategy in-line with the increase in demand for its digital textile print solutions, Hollanders Printing Systems has added a new sales manager to its dynamic Eindhoven-based team. Bart van Kempen joined the company at the beginning of July and will play a key role in generating new customers as well as developing new territories for the product family.

Van Kempen’s experience includes working at Nestinox in Best where his sales roles involved dealing with specialist companies across a diverse range of manufacturing industries. His role at Hollanders gives him the opportunity to be involved with an ambitious company and use his customer skills to promote the ColorBooster family of textile printing systems.

Working alongside Hollanders CEO Jacco Aartsen Tuijn and founder and CTO of the company, Peter Hollanders, van Kempen is now an integral member of the close-knit highly experienced management team. His remit is to develop sales of the ColorBooster CB250 and CB250 Carpet Edition entry-level textile printers which received their European launch at Fespa 2014. In addition, he will be responsible for generating more success for the company’s 3.2m ColorBooster XL, the award-winning ColorBooster DS double-sided printer, and the ColorFix and ColorWash finishing systems.

“Working for this young yet experienced and ambitious company is a challenge I welcome. Its textile printing machines offer the highest levels of productivity and reliability,” comments van Kempen. “Peter Hollanders and his technical team have developed the finest quality family of products and it’s now up to us to share this ‘best-kept secret’ with the rest of the world.”
“In the first six months of 2014 Hollanders has seen a significant increase in interest across its entire product portfolio.

Van Kempen will play an important role in helping us to extend our reach to new customers and those wanting to upgrade to a new system,” states Aartsen Tuijn. “We are now on a very positive upward trajectory and, with this strong addition to our team, we can continue to move forward in the market.”

Following a number of very successful trade shows, wide-format print specialist i-Sub Digital has appointed Sharon Redhead as its New Business Development Manager.

Sharon, who has 15 years' experience in the industry, recently decided it was 'time for a change' and headed to Sign and Digital UK this spring in search of new opportunities. After meeting Andy Spreag, Director of i-Sub Digital, Sharon was offered the position.

Thanks to a background in both wide-format hardware and consumables, with a solid knowledge of i-Sub Digital's existing hardware portfolio in particular Agfa and Mimaki equipment, Sharon is able to recommend the perfect i-Sub Digital product to meet each customer's requirements.

"I'm enjoying generating sales leads and seeing them through to the demonstration stage," says Sharon. "My goal is to increase hardware sales for i-Sub Digital and additionally expand the consumables business as well.

"There's a lot of interest at the moment thanks to the big shows like Sign and Digital UK and FESPA – every day we are receiving more interest. With our range of industry-leading products I can advise customers on hardware, consumables and maintenance, depending on their existing structure and their individual needs."

Andy Spreag comments, "We're really happy to welcome Sharon to the i-Sub Digital team. She has many years of experience and in just a couple of weeks she's generated new business and already had success with closed orders."

For further information on i-Sub Digital, please email info@i-subdigital.com or call +44 (0)1536 415511.

Dublin-based Sign+Digital, which rather fittingly exhibited at the UK's Sign & Digital UK event last month, is looking for 'talented, passionate' Account Managers to help with its planned expansion in the UK.  The company offers Roland wide-format printers and related equipment, media from 3M, Sihl, Metamark and Orafol, Rollover flat-bed applicators and a vast array of tools, fixtures and display systems for a number of applications and is now looking to grow its UK division following its success in the Republic of Ireland.

Account managers will work within their region from one of the vibrantly-wrapped 'Creative Cruiser' vans, each of which is fully stocked with popular supplies. They'll be supported by Maher and his 22-strong team, as well as the Creative Centre, which is full to the brim of colourful, stand-out signage and digital print applications. Customers can also visit headquarters to help hone their skills in a number of high-margin areas, including vehicle wrapping.

"Sign+Digital's team is made exclusively of people who are bursting with passion for helping the businesses in our sector," explains Maher. "The response to our off-the-wall presence at Sign and Digital UK was phenomenal, and shows that this kind of one-to-one relationship is absolutely crucial in the sign and display graphics sector. I want to bring on board individuals who gel with that approach, bringing a relentless entrepreneurial attitude and a real gusto for helping the customer grow their business."

Applicants are encouraged to visit Sign+Digital's recently relaunched website – which will also support their future UK customer base – for more details about the opportunity and the application process. Full details are available under 'UK Business Development Representative' at http://www.signanddigital.co.uk/careers.

While there is no closing date, Maher and his team are keen to make appointments rapidly.

CMA Imaging, a provider of colour management solutions for the printing industry, has announced that three experienced industry veterans from across Europe have joined its sales team.  Following the earlier appointment of Mark Sanderson as VP of Global Sales, the CMA Imaging Sales team has been extended with three industry veterans to cover their respective territories.

The new team members have extensive knowledge of the proofing and printing market and are proficient to bring the best in class colour management proofing and media offerings to the market.  The new appointments are Piet Cottenie, Thomas Reinisch and Oscar Velasco.

Piet Cottenie has been in the proofing industry for nearly 20 year and has been Managing Director of Agfa-Gevaert's subsidiaries in Australia and Iberia and more recently President and CEO of Agfa Europe. Piet joins from GMG Color where he was VP of Sales.  Piet will be the VP of Business Development and will be responsible to expand the dealer network and develop the key accounts.

Thomas Reinisch comes from ILFORD Imaging Switzerland GmbH, where he was responsible as sales manager for the development of the commercial and proofing markets covering the D/A/CH/East and North-Europe region. Previously Thomas has been heavily involved in the graphic industry with initially with Linotype followed by Heidelberg and GMG.  Thomas will take responsibility for sales in DACH/East and North-Europe.

Oscar Velasco has extensive knowledge of the Iberian market with 20 years' experience in the graphics art industry. Oscar has also owned a very successful professional laboratory and his hands-on experience and understanding of the challenges customers face will be invaluable.  Oscar will be responsible for all sales activities in the Iberia region.

Gerardo Cerros, Managing Director, CMA Imaging commented on the new additions to the team: "It is extremely important for me that the Sales Team offers CMA's customers the highest level of service, technical competence and market knowledge. The new Sales Team are very experienced and with such a wealth of knowledge we can offer our customers the best advice whether they are interested in purchasing a full colour management solution or a roll of inkjet media".

Cerros continued, "CMA Imaging offers a bespoke colour management service as well as wide product range of proofing inkjet media extending to photo and commercial wide format inkjet paper. The new Sales Team has hands-on experience in all these areas and will be the driving force to move the CMA Imaging business forward."