The winds of change: 4 September 2008

The printing industry has more people coming and going than an airport. This week sees new appointments at Océ and Salmat.

McCourt gets the Océ ball rolling
Well-known industry identity and indefatigable Print 21 commentator, Andy McCourt joins Océ as business development manager/graphic arts.

Based in Sydney, McCourt (pictured) will help Océ get closer to the graphic arts industry. "I have always enjoyed being near the sharp end of change in our industry and being involved in the evolution of print from a mostly analogue industrial process into a new dynamic and IT-driven digital communications medium," he said.

Witnessing the company's display at drupa clinched the decision for McCourt. "What I saw from Océ at the recent drupa exhibition – especially the JetStream family, ColorStream 10000 and VarioStream 9000 configurations with Prisma workflows – convinced me that this company is on the right track, with the right culture and the right products to successfully address the next level of change," he added.

McCourt is excited about getting involved with Océ's  high-volume digital printing equipment, along with expanding his contact base even further. "I look forward to getting around the industry and meeting friends both old and new, in my new career."

Anson grows Salmat
Salmat brings Peter Anson on board as chief operating officer of the group to help drive the communications company in its next stage of growth.

In this newly- created role, Anson will be responsible for the overall growth and profitability of Salmat's operations and the alignment of strategies across the company's four business units.

According to Salmat's joint managing directors, Phillip Salter and Peter Mattick, Anson has played a key role in integrating the Salmat businesses to create a full-service communications offering to clients.

"As COO, Peter will play a leading role in Salmat's next stage of development. With our four business units now fully established, Peter will help drive continued growth across the company. He will also work to create opportunities for individual business units to work more closely together to deliver total customer solutions," Phil Salter added.

Commenting on his appointment, Anson said: "I feel honoured to be selected for this role during an exciting next stage of Salmat's growth. I have always appreciated Salmat's unique culture and commitment to its people and  I look forward to working closely with Peter and Phil as the business continues to develop in coming years."

Anson has worked at Salmat for over 16 years. Prior to his appointment, Anson led Salmat's Optimise Program, an ongoing enterprise-wide initiative aimed at reviewing and re-engineering processes, systems, products and services to provide a platform for enhanced revenue and profit growth across the organisation. He was also responsible for overseeing Salmat's new integrated branding and communications strategy launched to the market earlier this year.

Prior to this role, Anson held the position of group general manager at Salmat BusinessForce.