Innovation meets competence

A story like a fairytale involving one of the best known and market-leading online print shops in Europe: flyeralarm. The head office of the company is located in Wurzburg, the regional capital of Lower Franconia.

The group of companies processes an average of around 10,000 jobs per day at six production facilities across Germany - orders include traditional flyers, magazines, posters, banners, flags, and even drink cans and bound books - resulting in the dispatch of around 15,000 packages each day. The one-man-company, which opened its doors ten years ago, has grown into a large enterprise, which is still managed by its founder. flyeralarm has made a name for itself far beyond the Main-Franconia region. Its around 1500 staff and annual turnover of €260 million (2012) have made the flyeralarm Group a major player in the printing industry.

Right there at the front line: the waterless sheet-fed offset printing press Genius 52UV. This machine has been on the market since 2007. It was snapped up by flyeralarm in its very first version, and established itself with the company the very same year. Its astounding capabilities for a large variety of materials gave the company a strong product portfolio basis, and its keyless inking and UV technology allowed for so-called 'snapshot productions'. To date, flyeralarm has accepted deliveries of a total of five Genius 52UV printing presses – the latest arrived in time for the new year 2013.

Ulrich Stetter, Managing Director of Druckhaus Mainfranken (printing and print processing facility for flyeralarm), has added some important points the this success story: "flyeralarm Group has become a European player and it would be impossible to think of that market today without them. For some years now, we have been delivering our products to other European countries, and have established subsidiary flyeralarm offices in Austria, Spain, Italy, and Great Britain. We opened these offices to be able to offer advice and support for our local customers. The stores also offer paper and product samples to choose from. It is important for customers to see the coatings and substrate weights first hand, to get a feel for the print quality they can expect, or simply to get some new ideas. All of the production, however, is done right here in Germany. Fast production and delivery times are very important, so that we can ensure prompt deliveries to our customers. That is where our Genius 52UV comes in. There is no other machine on the market today that comes even close to its flexibility. We utilise the waterless sheet-fed offset printing press even for the smallest print runs - and these turn out to be even more cost-efficient than our digital printing systems. As a rule, incoming orders are printed and delivered within one week. With the kind of order volume we deal with, we simply can't afford long setup, storage, and drying times."

Many print shops tend to prefer digital printing systems today, as they feel these are better suited to deal with current market requirements: producing small print runs quickly, easily, with excellent quality and cost-effectively. But why would an online printing giant like flyeralarm, who earns his money with fast and low-cost production, continue to rely on Genius 52UV with its waterless offset technology?

Ulrich Stetter has the answer: "We have a well-equipped machine park to match the size of our operation. Our customers want a comprehensive product portfolio, which is why we also produce a number of plastics-based products, like stickers, labels, and flyers. Our customers can choose from an enormous variety of materials and substrate weights. Stickers for a football club, or wedding invitations on CHROMOLUX translucent paper - our Genius 52UV printing presses allow us to process 80g paper or 0.8 mm PVC foil with the same efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Even if the print run is as little as 100. We simply can't do that with any of the digital printing systems we have here. They don't offer the same kind of material capabilities, and substrates are restricted to between 0.3 and 0.6 mm. And then there are other limitations imposed by the manufacturers in terms of the types of materials that can be used - all that restricts our creativity. The main factors driving our decision to purchase a Genius 52UV included technical aspects, and specifically its setup times and user-friendliness helped tip the scales. Fast plate changes, extremely low start-up waste, and in particular the very easy and intuitive handling of the machine make it not only a favourite among our printers, but are decisive factors in our industry in terms of success and expansion. You simply have to be able to rely on a machine."

flyeralarm's trust in Genius 52UV has been richly rewarded over the course of the past five years. It remains to be seen, what new and exciting products flyeralarm will be offering in future - all produced on Genius 52UV.