New feature. Market watch – that was the month that was

5 July 2011

No one knows the industry better than Richard Rasmussen. As a Melbourne-based business consultant he keeps his ear to the ground and his eye on the ball. In the first of a new series he reports on the openings and closures, installs and renovations during the past month. Stay tuned.

This month I counted eight closures, five new starts / new premises, 45 machinery installs / sales, including 19 digital, seven wide format machines and three major players consolidating their manufacturing premises.

It was really the good, the bad and the ugly.

Market Movements:

  • Dominated by some major closures, including Colourscan, Moore, and Borders (we just missed the Australian Envelopes administration on Friday)
  • Some shining lights in the new starts / new manufacturing sites including CMYK hub set up in QLD, On Demand Books move to Aust, Webstar opening a new printing facility in Auckland
  • Consolidations – particularly in NZ with Geon and PMP
  • Buy outs – BJ Ball replaces CPI, Raleigh and Focus


Major Installs / Sales – 45 in all including:

  • Digital – including Indigo (5), Nexpress (3), Xerox (2), Ricoh (3), Canon (1), and Oce (1), Konica Minolta (3)
  • Wide format – 7 wide format machines, 3 cutters
  • Inkjet – Bluestar buys 2 HP T 300 (I think this a landmark sale), also On Demand with an Oce Colourstream 3500
  • Offset – only two offset presses (both Ryobi) and two KBA Genius 52 presses (waterless / UV)
  • Bindery – quite a few for digital and offset businesses


This is really a sign of the times – closures and rationalisation, offset by new starts / growth in particular market segments, the rise and rise of digital printing installations, and the emergence of inkjet.

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