Tecnau are making their mark in the UK with an impressive strategy to support the print industry with cutting-edge finishing technology to enable product diversification and tailor-made (custom) applications.
For a long time, Tecnau has been dedicated to the continuous print market, from reels of paper to the finished product and it has an impressive history in multiple markets in the printing industry. In 2011, Tecnau acquired Lasermax Roll Systems, the companies came together to develop and market, dynamic and flexible finishing solutions supporting the broadest set of applications in the digital printing industry.
In 2013 the company strategy then moved to focus on four pillars: product innovation, performance, reliability and customization – and since have executed their plan with finesse.
Tecnau distributes its paper handling, monitoring, processing, and finishing technology in the UK and Ireland through Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS). Chris Matthews, Area Manager of UK and Ireland for Tecnau, explains how its partnership works for the benefit of their customers: “IFS has access to our broad range of solutions; it really is quite an advantage that a customer can speak to IFS who have an extensive portfolio. As a distributor and with their wide history, they have a great depth of knowledge about our products, the market and the industry.”
Market trends
Chris continues, discussing the market opportunities that Tecnau can assist printers in taking advantage of: “What we are seeing is the speed and quality of substrate flexibility from inkjet devices improving – they can now print on a wider range of stock than ever before, without pre-treatment in many cases. Inkjet quality is now very comparable to offset, so more applications that would be general commercial offset jobs can now be fulfilled with continuous inkjet. That’s where Tecnau are seeing the future growth. We developed our latest Revolution 50 series of continuous finishing solutions for these specific reasons.”
Another area that is growing, certainly seen through the B2 market, is the need for finishing automation from sheetfed print. Chris comments: “We recognised that and developed some clever smart cutting and stacking sheetfed solutions to address the need for process automation with a special focus in B2-size applications.”
Tecnau has also recognised that ‘book of one’ printing is continuing to grow, as they work closely with more and more companies printing individual book orders. This is a popular service, with paperback printing becoming more efficient than ever – utilising Tecnau’s automated book-on-demand finishing solutions.
Chris adds: “We can support printers looking to enter new markets, we have a range of products that not only support continuous inkjet but now support sheet fed digital and offset output too. From a diversification perspective, all printers have had to diversify over the last 10 to 20 years. Printers have had to become communication experts, in all forms of communication – whether that’s MMS, SMS, web-to-print, physical print or even social media. Tecnau work with those printers to help in many areas, especially digital finishing.
“All of our new product portfolio is compatible with the new ‘internet of things’ industry 4.0 standard, connecting devices and monitoring their performance including: up time, speed, parts usage, and other data through our Tecnau Connect platform. This helps us and our customers track the number of jobs processed for example in any given timeframe, day, month, year etc. it also allows monitoring of waste, reports error statistics and much more. Most importantly it allows Tecnau to provide remote support through a direct connection to the product – enabling us to deliver first class maintenance support and much higher uptime for our customers.”
Tecnau can provide integrated solutions to support various applications, whether that is transactional print, direct mail, publishing, graphic arts, books, short-run printing and more.
Chris concludes: “Our products are highly automated and advanced. However, as much as the products speak for themselves, it’s the depth of application and industry knowledge within Tecnau that is a great advantage for our customers. As a manufacturer we have the ability to design and manufacture industrial finishing solutions to fit specific applications. If there’s a customer requirement, we can usually address it. It’s that ability that makes Tecnau unique. It’s all about listening to our customers and understanding market trends. Tecnau are here to make their mark in the UK, ready to talk to printer vendors and customers alike.”
