Planned Print loses the plot

Less than a year after a massive re-equip with second-hand Heidelberg presses, price aggressive Sydney printer's plans go off the rails.

The Strathfield-based company, which was placed in receivership on 11 January this year by St George bank, had a startlingly brief but stellar career. Under the direction of Jay Moodley, managing director, the company gained a reputation of never being beaten on costs. The line-up of relatively late-model presses are spoken of as running flat chat for most of the past ten months.

The appointed receivers, PKF, did not return calls but it is believed they are attempting to sell the business as a going concern. Advertisements were placed in newspapers last week. It is expected that suppliers, especially paper companies, will have taken a substantial hit with the company failure.

Industry analysts close to the action hold doubts that the company can be sold as a going concern. The relatively low cost press line-up is likely to wind up being auctioned off.

When Planned Print re-equipped by April last year it was held up as an example of how printers can save start-up capital costs by utilising the used machinery market. The trade media reported the purchase of several late-model used machines, supplied by ASI, the used Speedmaster specialist firm set up by Paul Carthew, Alex Rio and Clyde King. The buy included a 10-Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster 102; 8-Colour Speedmaster 102; 5-Colour Speedmaster 102 and a Fuji CtP.
 
At the time Jay Moodley told media that: "... we will have the press power and technology to deliver and give us even more of a competitive edge over our opposition." The company quickly gained a reputation of being a fierce price competitor, a fact that kept the presses running nonstop.

An industry commentator, who wished to remain anonymous, made the point that the predicament is a textbook case of not knowing the true costs of doing business in the B1 offset sector. "Despite installing excellent equipment last year, and saving money by buying late model used Heidelberg presses, Planned Print has fallen over less than a year after the fanfare of opening its new state-of-the-art facility."

"Printers all over Sydney knew their prices were unrealistic and yet paper and ink suppliers continued to provide them with consumables which, presumably, will not now be paid for. Ours is a capital-intensive industry and it is essential to know the true costs of each order and not just 'keep the presses busy.' "