Heidelberg top brass in the shape of Supervisory Board member Ferdinand Ruesch and Asia Pacific region sales boss Thomas Frank are in Australia, to assess the market, explain the Masterwork (MK) investment, and introduce Dierk Wissmann as the new Mr Gallus ANZ.
Speaking exclusively to Print21 this morning Ruesch said the MK investment was a permanent partnership, and meant that for Heidelberg customers they could buy the Chinese manufactured finishing equipment with confidence, knowing it was manufactured to Heidelberg standard.
He said, “Heidelberg customers can know that when they invest in Masterwork solutions they will be investing in a Heidelberg solution, it will be a long term relationship. They can also know that the equipment is manufactured to exacting standards, but comes at a competitive price.”
Ruesch said that over the past five years Heidelberg and Masterwork have been developing an operational partnership that has seen a cross pollination of engineers and R+D, and says the new partnership is the “logical extension” of what has happened so far.
Senior Masterwork management have long term relationships with Heidelberg, the founder began life by reconditioning Heidelberg cylinders, while one of the board members used to be Heidelberg's China country manager.
Ruesch and Frank have been visiting commercial, packaging and label printers across Australia and New Zealand for the past fortnight, with Ruesch impressed by the amount of work he is seeing being produced.
They have been travelling with local managing director Richard Timson, and introducing Dierk Wissmann as the Mr Gallus ANZ. Wissmann is well known to many in the print industry here, he has been in Australia for almost a decade, heading up the Prinect digital workflow part of the business.
Thomas Frank said, “Dierk Wissman is ideal for the role of representing Gallus in the region. He comes from a Heidelberg background with a full understanding of the benefits of digital workflows. Label printers in Australia and New Zealand will have a person who understands their business, the market and how to optimise technology for their benefit.”
Gallus supplies a range of label converting solutions to the market, including the new digital Labelfire, which comes with Fujifilm printheads. Some 20 Labelfires have been installed around the world, two of them in Australia.