Last April, we spoke with David Savage, who took over as CEO of Presstek after AIP’s acquisition of the company. Earlier this week, we learned that Presstek had acquired one-time competitor VIM, an Israeli-based manufacturing of printing plates.  Our readers may remember that there had been litigation between the two companies over patent infringement in which Presstek prevailed.  Savage spoke with us about the acquisition and what it means for the future of Presstek.

WTT:  David, it was interesting to learn of Presstek’s acquisition of VIM.  Perhaps you could provide us with some background as to how this came about.

DS:  These conversations started in the February timeframe. VIM had been on the radar for a long time as a competitor and had done an excellent job in developing print technologies. We were marketing to same customers, and we were both looking to move beyond DI. We both agreed that we needed to put the past behind us and see how we could benefit from joining the companies.  That’s how the conversation started. 

WTT:  Maybe you could talk a little about the internal strategy discussions that I am sure took place leading up to this.

DS:  We mapped out a plan when I got here. We knew we had to right size to the realities of the marketand reduce our corporate overhead.. We decided to focus on specialty printing platesas our core technology is in waterless offset and chemistry-free plates.  The second piece was support and service for legacy equipment, leveraging our big presence in service in the U.S .and Europe.  We also wanted to refocus on those customers that built Presstek, the small to mid-sized commercial printers.  As we dug deeper looking to see where we wanted to play, waterless was a clear goal as it is our core and chemistry-free plates are an attractive growth area aligned with  global sustainability trends. So that is where we are going to focus from a plate perspective.

WTT:  What does that say about DI?

DS:  We will continue to develop and sell DI technology for the foreseeable future.  But offset presses of any type do not represent a segment that can grow us to a substantial size.  Organically, PT hasn’t grown for a long time.  We want to change that. To grow Presstek, we have to reach beyond DI presses and DI technology.  We need to look at where the ecosystem of printing is going and how can we play in the market most effectively from a consumables and equipment perspective.

WTT:  With Mark Andy also in AIP’s portfolio, do you see taking Presstek in the direction of flexo plates?

DS:  Mark Andy is run as a separate company within the AIP portfolio, although we do cooperate and leverage resources where we can. There is the potential for Presstek to go into flexo from a plate perspective, but this would be independent of Mark Andy. It is a growth market that we will take a solid look at.  We have done some some initial research, but we also want to take a look at other market segments where we could compete on value rather than price.

WTT:  Do you expect much in the way of headcount reduction as a result of the VIM acquisition?

DS:  VIM is a small company that was already outsourcing manufacturing in Israel.  . Our plan is to combine functions where it is appropriate, mostly those that are not visible to the customer such as finance, legal, etc., ut we are committed to being in Israel and intend to stay there and build the engineering team.  We don’t see a lot of headcount reductions happening as a result of this acquisition.  We went through a big restructuring of Presstek a few months ago, and we are a much leaner company as a result that is positioned for further growth  

WTT:  What about branding?  Will you continue to use both brands?

DS:  Yes. There are customers buying Presstek and customers who have chosen VIM.  We will ensure that there is as little channel conflict as possible, but we will keep both brands.

WTT:  We will look forward to speaking to you as this evolves to see how things are working out and where the strategy takes you.

DS:  Thank you. We’ll look forward to sharing that with your readers at the appropriate time.