Two new Worldwide print hubs open, more still to come

Hot on the heels of its Queensland opening, Worldwide Online Printing sets up shop in Alexandria, Sydney.

Officially opened by NSW Senator Marise Payne, (pictured) the new hub hopes to improve design and print efficiencies for customers of the group's NSW retail centres.

"It was a lot of hard work with several hurdles, but we overcame them," said production manager, Iain Marshall. "This hub is going to enhance our quality and open up new markets and a higher volume of print."

A new Ryobi 925 A1/5 multi-colour offset press is expected to deliver these results to the Alexandria store. Chris Eales, national production manager (pictured), said that with increasing competition, the Ryobi 925 would keep Worldwide at the forefront.

"We've got to be ahead of the game and the Ryobi is an economical press in terms of purchase price," he said. "This is our first venture into an A1 format press."

Growth and expansion in Worldwide were listed as reasons why the Ryobi was chosen. "Our networks grow at such a rapid rate that we get requests for bigger runs, and the pressure of doing that on an A2 machine was too much," said Eales.

With a Queensland hub opening only the day before, Worldwide are expected to roll out even more franchises. NSW franchise owner, Athol Ritchie, spoke positively of the company's growth, saying that the only thing preventing it was finding the right people.

"We estimate that we can probably put in at least another 20 at the minimum," he said. "We're hoping to have about 45, but first we've got to find the franchise owners who want to come and operate in the hub environment."