Report 36 d,e,f,s,i.qxd:Report - KBA
Report 36 d,e,f,s,i.qxd:Report - KBA
Report 36 d,e,f,s,i.qxd:Report - KBA
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Sheetfed Offset | Netherlands<br />
Dutch printer Vis Offset installs its first Rapida 75 perfector press<br />
“With our new Rapida we are more flexible<br />
than we previously were with two presses”<br />
What audacity! Purchasing a new Rapida 75 perfector press in the midst of a<br />
recession. Not only that – this single press line at Dutch print enterprise Vis Off-<br />
All over the world the graphic<br />
arts industry is in the throes<br />
of a radical transformation,<br />
and the Netherlands is no exception.<br />
According to statistics released<br />
by the Grafische Bedrijfsfondsen<br />
(GBF, the agency which administers<br />
pension schemes for the Dutch<br />
graphics/media industry), at the end<br />
of 2008 the sector had a total of<br />
12 <strong>Report</strong> <strong>36</strong> | 2010<br />
40,555 registered employees covered<br />
by collective wage agreements.<br />
On 31 August last year, the most recent<br />
date for which figures are available,<br />
there were 3,687 fewer – a<br />
9.1 per cent decline in just eight<br />
months. Which means that at present<br />
there are still <strong>36</strong>,868 people<br />
employed by trade printers, screen<br />
printers, newspaper publishers and<br />
printers and the outdoor advertising<br />
industry.<br />
This year employment in this<br />
sector is expected to be approximately<br />
20 per cent below the 2008<br />
level. However, a closer look reveals<br />
something else behind these figures:<br />
while employment is dwindling,<br />
productivity continues to<br />
climb rapidly.<br />
Vis Offset’s Rapida 75<br />
four-colour press with<br />
automatically convertible<br />
perfecting after the second<br />
unit<br />
set in Alphen aan de Rijn has taken the place of two others. “It has increased our<br />
flexibility enormously,” says founder Arie Vis.<br />
Rational decision<br />
Vis Offset is a typical example. The<br />
company has been supplying<br />
printed products to the retail trade<br />
since 1949, along with magazines.<br />
Founder Arie Vis started off doing<br />
duplicating work for his father’s administrative<br />
office. He was joined<br />
soon after by his brother Jan. In<br />
1954 the two siblings decided to<br />
expand into small-format offset, and<br />
were among the first to do so.<br />
Nowadays the company is run by<br />
two of the brothers’ sons: Arjan has<br />
followed his father into the technical<br />
side of the business, while<br />
Daniel – also like his father – is in<br />
charge of sales and administration.<br />
In August 2009 Mijdrechtbased<br />
Wifac, <strong>KBA</strong>’s sheetfed and<br />
commercial web press agent in the<br />
Netherlands, installed the first Rap-<br />
A touch-screen (right)<br />
at sheet delivery allows<br />
rapid intervention