Nick Mansell – Australian Graphics Technology Innovator of the Year

The creator of the RapidX Memjet-powered press line has broadened his family’s heritage of innovation and he is now recognised as the Australian industry’s leading graphic arts technology developer.

Barely three weeks before shipping equipment to the Ipex 2010 exhibition in the UK, Nick Mansell was given the go-ahead to become one of the first integrator’s of Kia Silverbrook’s memjet technology. In a furious burst of creative R&D the Sydney-based developer conceived, manufactured and delivered the world’s first label presses, X2 and X1, using the game-changing technology in time to exhibit at the show. Within hours a press was sold from the Ipex stand to Sticky Labels in the USA, the first graphic arts press using memjet sold anywhere in the world.

Since then Nick Mansell has sold hundreds of units of the RapidX press and gone on to develop the second and third generation of his groundbreaking label press line. At PacPrint he showcased the X2 and D2 press and die-cutter, fielding a constant stream of inquiries for the Australian-developed technology. In the process he has become the inaugural Print21 Australian Graphics Technology Innovator of the Year.

Nick Mansell exemplifies the deep tradition of innovation and invention that informs the local graphic arts industry. The scion of a family that has almost defined graphics mechanical invention in Australia for decades, in recent years he has expanded and deepened the company’s engagement with digital technology. Building on “our toolbox of 25 years of solutions to mechanical problems,” he has led the world in integrating memjet super-fast inkjet technology into real-life production units.

He is currently developing an SRA3 model to meet the production requirements of a wider segment of the industry. While the larger machine will not be quite ready for display at Label Expo in Brussels, Mansell will be there with his current array of label production lines. He is confident the world market will continue to recognise and invest in the innovative efficiencies of the new technology.

It has been a long road to get to where Nick Mansell and Rapid are now. Manufacturing in Australia has never been an easy road and the past three or four years of a high Australian dollar have made it exceptionally tough. That Mansell has been able to thrive in such an environment is a testament to his business acumen as well as his undoubted technological talents.

However, he is disarmingly modest in disclaiming of any special genius and claims he was simply “lucky to be in the right spot at the right time in 2010 when we managed to start a commercial business relationship with Kia [Silverbrook] and memjet.” The disclaimer hides a whole life of preparation in mechanical design and development. Extensive development with Xaar inkjets in the years immediately leading up to the momentous memjet encounter, prepared Mansell to be able to seize the moment when it came.

Like father like son

 Nick Mansell was barely ten years of age when he designed a mechanical part for his father, the indomitable Bruce Mansell, who with his wife Marion almost singlehandedly carried the flag for Australian graphics technology development for years. Raised in an environment where innovation was in the very air, young Nick spent his formative years helping out in the workshops and watching as his parents travelled the world exporting Rapid Machinery designs to over 50 countries.

He graduated in mechatronics at university and put in his time working with various engineering companies before coming back to take on an increasing responsibility for the family’s enterprise. Eventually he stepped up to take control when his parents retired and recognised that the world and the markets were changing. The demand for purely mechanical solutions was no longer there.

“We started being a bit more forward thinking, trying to do a bit of crystal ball gazing. We had a toolbox full of solutions to mechanical problems but the industry was moving away from mechanical processes.

“We spent a lot of time, invested significantly in R&D of digital technologies and like most of the printing industry, we saw the first teasers in 2007 from memjet, and thought ‘what a fantastic Australian innovation,’ ” he said.

At the time Silverbrook was a long way from having a product ready for market so Mansell turned to other technologies to deepen the company’s understanding of digital and inkjet.

“We started developing digital solutions, learning about the digital environment. We learnt about digital presses using Xaar technology. We showed those UV industrial presses to label printers to get feedback about what was going to be acceptable in a digital world. And all this time the Indigos and Xeikon were improving their processes hand over fist. The development of the Indigo especially over the past 12 years has been a remarkable process,” concedes Mansell.

But it was the arrival of memjet that allowed Mansell to redefine his company and turn it from an ‘opportunistic’ developer into a production factory with a defined product portfolio and an ambitious product release schedule.

“The memjet product allows us to define ourselves and to not only still do the things we do very well, but focus on targeting our product range.  We’ve gone from 38 products we could have made during a 12-month period, to six or seven we make all the time. For the first time ever we’ve got a product release plan. In the past we’ve released a product when the need for it arose. It was customer driven by need alone.

“Now we’re concentrating and developing the printing units. We’ve got our processes extremely well controlled because we’re building the same product time and time again. There are efficiencies of scale. We’ve concentrated our R&D for 12 month on making the D2 product the most efficient it could be. We’re now releasing the bigger version of that product (SRA3) because it can fit with other printing technologies at an affordable price point,” he said.

The Chinese market has proven a fertile ground for the new memjet-powered Rapid range of presses. They are world class if not world-beaters and have been eagerly adopted overseas. The local market is catching on fast. Mansell says he has 150 solid inquiries to follow up and 85 quotes to write from PacPrint.

The passion in his voice is undeniable when he talks about Rapid and the technology. Despite the arrival of systems and production line scheduling it is a far cry from a soulless manufacturing process and he readily concedes it is still in the family tradition.

“It’s the way we’ve always done it. We’ve always tried to provide the customer with a solution. Rather than have them bend their product to suit our capabilities, we’ve tried to be lean and nimble so we can bend our capabilities to suit their requirements. I suppose that is the thrill of the challenge. That’s why Bruce started the business; he had a passion for it.

“I’ve met many people at this show [PacPrint] who’ve come to us and they have a passion for their business. They are looking for a unique solution. So the need is still there for someone to take up those challenges. These days we do it with a much more sophisticated toolbox.”

Meet Nick Mansell, the inaugural recipient of the Print21 Australian Graphics Technology Innovator of the Year.

[The newly instigated award recognises the deep-seated tradition of innovation and excellence in the Australian and New Zealand graphic arts industry. A panel of expert industry commentators and consultants chose the inaugural winner at this year’s PacPrint in Melbourne.]