Opus takes Xerox as on-demand partner

Opus Group says it is partnering with Fuji Xerox Australia to kit out its publishing division with continuous feed production inkjet technology, to satisfy its customers with fast turnaround on-demand digital print.

The handshake follows a multi-million dollar investment by the Asia Pacific print powerhouse in two Xerox machines earlier in the year, to bring short run digital work back to Australia that it had previously moved offshore.

An Impika Evolution 20inch colour inkjet printer was installed in its Sydney subsidiary Ligare, and a Fuji Xerox 1400 20inch went to CanPrint in the ACT.

Now Opus says it is extending the relationship to an official partnership, as it looks to provide its customers with high speed quality colour print, print-on-demand and transactional and marketing management services that require variable data.

However, it is not committing to an exclusive relationship with the supplier, nor are there installations planned for the near future.

Cliff Brigstocke, CEO of Opus, says the new inkjet production system will allow the group to continue to provide supply chain efficiencies for its customers.

He says, “After analysing the market and researching all vendors’ inkjet equipment options, we identified the strength of Fuji Xerox’s product portfolio.”

He says the group was attracted to Xerox’s “high quality colour output, its rigorous ongoing research and development strategy and the company’s highly skilled technical team, which has already deployed 20 installations in the Australian and New Zealand marketplaces.”

Since 2012 Opus had been shifting an increasing number of digital jobs to Singapore but can now opt to produce the work closer to home, with the partnership seemingly underlining its decision to keep work in Australia.

The group has offices in Sydney, Canberra, Auckland and Singapore, and alliances with printing partners in the US, UK, China and the Philippines.

Brigstocke says, “Opus felt that Fuji Xerox would best support and enable the delivery of value to its customers. By delivering print on-demand Opus can support its customers to manage inventory and reduce waste.”

Paul Sanelli, solutions marketing manager with Fuji Xerox Australia, says the partnership involves working closely with Opus to tailor a solution to the market’s demands, which digital print is well-suited to serve.

He says, “Rather than focusing on just the technology and what it can produce, we worked with Opus to understand the group’s business goals and what they want to achieve in coming years.

“We know the market is changing with strong competition from digital and online products. There are limited numbers of titles available in print, while digital book pages are growing at 16 per cent and the number of self-published titles is increasing.

“There is also strong competition from other entertainment media. These changing demands of the marketplace, and the ongoing issues of obsolescence and inventory management, have driven the move to a print-on-demand model.”

Brigstocke says shorter runs are emerging as a definite trend in the current Australian publishing market. He says, “Publishing customers are moving away from traditional warehousing to focus on lowering the total cost of ownership by utilising shorter runs, quicker turnaround times, online replenishment ordering and digital inkjet technology.

“We believe there is demand from onshore for customers wanting short-run colour print. Opus’s new colour inkjet printing and finishing systems will make it more economic for us to produce short to medium runs here.”

 

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