Graphic Synergy hits the wall

This week the industry witnessed the passing of an era when Graphic Synergy outputs its last job and shuts up shop tomorrow, Friday. The high profile company becomes the latest in a growing list of prepress companies that have failed to survive the changing industry conditions. The loss of a major client two years ago and the reluctance of directors to create redundancies among long-term staff are given as part of the reasons behind the failure.

Well-known industry identities and directors of the company, John Coote, Barry Patterson and Bob Schofield stood by at a creditor’s meeting on Wednesday and agreed to the sale of the customer list, “the business,” to Alfred Johns and the auctioning off of the equipment. The 17 staff that remained will all receive their full entitlements and at least 50 per cent of them have already found other positions in the industry, a number transferring to Alfred Johns.

“You never believe it can happen to you,” said John Coote. “I’ve been to my fair share of creditor’s meetings but I tell you it’s a different matter from this side of the table.

“I suppose we didn’t move fast enough retrenching people when the business changed two years ago. And then you find yourself in the position of putting in your own money to pay people’s redundancies. It becomes hard and before you know it, it’s too late.”

Graphic Synergy worked mainly in the packaging sector outputting flexo and litho plates. The sector has seen a number of spectacular failures in recent times, notable David Graphics, although in this case there is no question of employees missing out.

The investment demands of moving to CTP and the increasing consolidation of the customer base means there will be fewer independent prepress companies, with many now functioning as outsourced divisions of their largest customer.