Supply and demand

Firstly, from your perspective, where has QPS come from to become one of the UK’s main wide-format press and consumables suppliers?

We’ve been operating as Quality Print Services Ltd for 17 years and like to say that we do what it says on the tin: we offer everything the wide-format printing community needs, from printers, inks, and technical support services to media and software, all at the highest quality. We’re based in Burscough, Lancashire, which allows us to service the country from the south-east up into Scotland with equal ease. We have grown organically over the years and were one of the original companies offering digital sublimation solutions. We are proud that the majority of our new business, whether it's wide-format, UV, or textile-related, comes from recommendations from existing clients.
 
From a supplier’s stance, what are the biggest changes you have noticed in the post-recession print service industry? Have we recovered, or do you still see a lack of confidence?

Whilst things slowed down over the summer period—as is the norm—we are seeing growth again, though perhaps not up to pre-recession levels. There are different pressures and priorities in today’s market: work has increased but deadlines are getting tighter and tighter, there’s a greater pressure on pricing, and we increasingly focus on providing the right solution to maintain customer loyalty. There’s more perceived industry competition and more established businesses have a smaller market share. I’m confident the industry will continue to recover, if the supply chain evolves in-line with customers’ needs.


One of the most exciting developments at QPS has obviously been the introduction of the Longier range of LED UV wide-format printers to the UK market for the first time. What response have you seen so far and what effect do you see their introduction having on the UK wide-format industry?

It’s still very early days but the initial response to the launch of the Longier range in October has been very positive—we’re very excited about supplying the machines to our UK customers and the market has been responsive.

We’ve had a lot of feed-back and enquiries, some very interesting demonstrations are booked in and the first orders have already been taken with the first installation booked for mid-November. Longier will certainly have an impact on the market share of the more established LED UV wide-format manufacturers as the range offers the same levels of speed and quality but with reduced running costs compared to more familiar marques, especially with our UK-based technical support and Nazdar inks installed from the outset.


Longier will to appeal to medium-sized signage-makers who are drawn to robust, reliable workhorse machines, that is, a large proportion of the industry. We’re not only concentrating on the Longier launch though—we have lots of plans for 2015 and will of course be continuing to support all of our existing customers.

You said back in March that you wanted Sign and Digital UK to be a celebration of British manufacturing. Was it?

There was definitely a strong presence from British manufacturers and products that are made in the UK. We had a lot of interest in our Nazdar inks, which are produced close to our HQ in the north of England, for instance. A lot of visitors were surprised to hear that much of the range is made here, which suggests there’s more British manufacturing going on than people realise.


We were proud to be able to preview the new Nazdar 202 ink label at Sign and Digital UK ahead of its official launch at FESPA, which was fitting: a British-made product shown at the British industry’s premier show. But I also think it was an excellent showcase of machinery from all over the world that can be used to support British manufacturing; much has been said about new printing equipment coming from the Far East but, as Longier proves, these brands can offer solidly-built, reliable print engines that can help British companies to compete locally, nationally and beyond. We have a global marketplace now with UK-based sign-makers and display printers producing work for customers much further afield and their work is seen internationally, thanks to social media.



So with that in mind, what do you see in the future for QPS?

We’re expecting to see continued growth of the signage market, which will keep us very busy. As I mentioned, we’re also seeing a marked move to textiles from many businesses; it’s an area we’ve always been involved in and were appointed a Roland Authorised Dealer for dye-sublimation applications last year, but we won’t stop there.
We are working with a number of manufacturers to develop other dye-sub and direct-to-textile machinery that will open up the market to our customers. There’s also a steady increase in the rate of businesses switching to alter-native inks as prices are being squeezed but quality remains paramount, so our technical support team is predicting a lot of Nazdar ink installations and conversions over the next year. We’re also obviously keen to see Longier expand into the UK market and will be demonstrating a selection of the printer range at next year’s shows. In short, I see our future to be pretty busy.

Key Company Stats

• Date founded:  1997
• Ink technologies stocked: 5
• Number of brands stocked: 14
• Product sectors covered: 7

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