Interview with: Stanley Cheng
Brendan Perring talks to Stanley Cheng, managing director of Galaxy Printek Europe, about changing attitudes to Chinese-manufactured goods and the company’s expansion plans
Wednesday, 15 Aug 2012 05:20 GMT
Galaxy Printek launched in the UK in 2005
We are the exclusive European distributors of Universal Digital Technology (UDT), which was established in 2005 and specialises in developing, manufacturing and selling professional sign equipment. Our new factory, which covers some 38,000sq/m, is located in the Huiyang Economic Development Zone in Huizhou City, Guangdong province.
UDT saw how quickly demand across Europe was growing for wide-format print equipment and as we have a solid manufacturing and export base, Galaxy Printek Europe moved to its new headquarters in 2008, which has helped expand our international market share. Offering a strong portfolio of solutions for wide-format solvent printing, we continue to stand by our slogan ‘pay less for more’. It is our firm belief that excellence comes from our continuous pursuit of service improvement across the board in response to customer feedback and demand.
The sign industry is still a very fast growing market, with many small to medium-sized companies now becoming more heavily involved in wide-format print. With this in mind, UDT will also continue to listen and pay attention to the market place in order to improve and develop new products.
How is the UK market responding to Chinese-manufactured products?
The Chinese manufacturing industry has enjoyed very rapid development in recent years, making it one the top markets in the world. In terms of the national economy in China, the manufacturing industry serves as the dominant sector for economic growth. It is an important basis for socio-economic development and is the main channel for employment in cities and towns around the country—it fact it is proving to be the major embodiment of international competitiveness for China.
As one of the main catalysts for improving the overall power of China in the past 20 years, the comprehensive development and optimised upgrading of the manufacturing industry has allowed our country to establish itself as a one of the key nations in this sector”
The main advantage Chinese products offer are the cost in comparison to others manufactured by the likes of Japan and the US. More often than not this is because the component costs are much lower for Chinese manufacturers, as they can be sourced nationally. During the current global economic instability, budgeting is key to help business survive—in particular, small- and medium-sized companies—and so this makes them popular.
In terms of quality we are also seeing a positive response. Galaxy is committed to continuing to offer wide-format solvent printer solutions that are both economical to run and cost less to purchase. Our machines do not sacrifice the necessary print quality and are fully supported by our technical team in the UK.
What are the strengths of your latest wide–format print technology?
The main strengths of our latest wide-format print technology are good efficiency, quality and reduced environmental impact. As well as having past the rigorous REACH and RoHS tests, they also boast SPT510 printhead technology, which is designed for integration into a variety of printing applications.
It features fast-firing frequency, offers high resolution and has very good precision—all combined with strong durability”
Another important factor is the amount of training and support we offer after the sale. We provide on-site training when the machine has been delivered and installed, meaning the operator will be able to go into production immediately. In addition, the parts are covered by a one-year warranty and our support team are always available to lend their advice on other issues. Our experienced engineers are also dedicated to further research and development with the equipment, software and quality control of all our products. Again, they are also available to offer direct technical support to international customers.
Why did Galaxy Printek base itself in the UK?
Our move into the UK market is a natural extension of the Chinese company. As I said, we identified the European market as one with plenty of potential and we are keen to develop our own presence here. In addition, we are also excited in regards to making the UK sign industry aware of the latest science and technology which China has to offer.
As our sales network covers a range of regions across the continent, the decision to base our headquarters in the UK means we are at the centre of the market and within easy reach of other countries”
Essentially it allows us to provide an efficient and effective service to our European customers.
What expansion plans do you have for Galaxy Printek?
The company has a five-year plan that will see the continuation of our expansion into the European market. In the next few years, we will research and investigate what the market requires and strive to meet these demands. We are also keen to develop our European market presence further by providing more support throughout the continent, including local service groups, sales and marketing teams.
In addition, we are planning further development of our technical team. This is so we are able to deal with all customer queries within 24 hours. All of these plans will help the company grow overall and improve the efficiency of the service it can offer to customers.
