Ronnie Coogan from leading ink manufacturer Nazdar and Chris Bailey from UK distributor QPS look back over the 20-year bond between the two companies.

Stockport, UK – Quality Print Services (QPS) was established in 1997 with customer service at its core. Based in Lancashire in north-west England, Managing Director Chris Bailey can usually be found either driving cross-country to meet a client or under the hood of a printer. Along with providing technical support and an extensive range of hardware, QPS has been a leading UK distributor of alternative inks for the last 20 years.

"When we started in the late 1990s it was really the start of the wide-format industry," says Chris. "Commercial wide-format equipment was not really available, printers didn't have piezo printheads yet, so we were there right from the beginning. We became a Lyson inks distributor before starting QPS Ltd, then started selling digital dye-sublimation inks from Lyson. When Nazdar bought out Lyson in 2006 we had the full range of inks to offer our customers and an established relationship that now goes back over 20 years."

Ronnie Coogan, Territory Manager for Europe at Nazdar Ink Technologies, says that QPS is an ideal representative for the Nazdar brand.

"Chris and his team are 100 per cent focused on providing professional support to the QPS customer base," he says. "Chris would say he's not a sales guy, but in my mind, he is the ultimate sales guy thanks to his enthusiasm and attitude of just getting the job done for his customers."

This opinion is reflected in how Chris describes QPS. "Our aim is to find a solution," he says. "Whatever a customer's problem or application need we can probably find an ink for them, thanks to the breadth of the full Nazdar range. It's not just a wide selection of products; they are good, reliable inks that we can be confident will meet the requirements of our customers."

The relationship between QPS and Nazdar is both proactive and reactive. The QPS team has extensive knowledge of Nazdar inks and, more importantly, how they are used by print companies in the real world. Chris and his team of engineers are the first port of call when a customer has an issue. All this valuable data is fed back to Nazdar to aid improvements to existing inks and the development of brand-new formulations.

"If there are any problems, Chris will tell you straight," says Ronnie. "He pushes Nazdar to evolve. It demonstrates his total dedication to his customers, and I love working with him for that reason."

Nazdar's products are made for specific applications and printer models, from the highest quality ingredients. They perform as well, if not better, than comparable OEM inks, at a lower price. The range - all available from QPS - includes aqueous, solvent, UV-LED, and more.

"As a result of COVID-19 many print businesses are in survival mode at the moment," says Chris. "They are naturally hunting for the lowest prices and there are alternative inks available online that are cheaper than Nazdar's, but they simply aren't as high quality and don't come with the support from QPS. We help our customers make investments that will benefit their unique businesses long-term. We provide support in the field, not just the product. It's a cradle to grave service."

Ronnie echoes this sentiment. "As well as having all Nazdar products under one roof, QPS delivers the whole package for wide-format print businesses in the UK," he says. "The spare parts, the colour profiles - Chris and his team fill all the gaps.

"Nazdar owes its success to its dedicated network of distributor partners around the world, including Chris and his team at QPS in the UK."

Nazdar is currently looking for additional distribution partners outside the UK. For more information, please click here.

For more information on QPS, please visit: www.qualityprintservices.com.