Print Suppliers work with ViP to raise UK print competitiveness

Vision in Print has announced the appointment of nine Strategic Sponsors, committed to supporting ViP’s drive to improve the productivity and performance of the UK’s printing industry.

Since its inception in April 2003, ViP has been part funded by the Department of Trade and Industry. However, in April this year it will become independent, turning to the printing industry itself to generate the funds that will ensure its services continue to develop and thrive.

Nine influential names have already agreed to support the initiative. Fujifilm, Premier Paper and Sun Chemical have become Platinum level sponsors. Goss International, Heidelberg, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Man Roland, Muller Martini and Optimus have taken Gold sponsorship.

Andrew Pindar, ViP board chairman and chair of the Pindar Group, stated: ‘It is a testament to the success of ViP’s activities that so many prestigious names in the industry are keen to support ViP so it can continue its work raising the performance of so many companies in the industry.’

ViP has already worked with over 200 printers of all sizes and sectors. From an initial diagnostic to a wide variety of cost-effective, industry-specific programs ViP has helped them utilize Best Practice and Lean manufacturing techniques to obtain practical and sustainable productivity improvements.

So far, these programs have delivered an overall added value gain of more than 6.5m to the UK’s printing industry. In addition, five best practice studies have been published to further help the industry at large on topics such as Customer Service and MIS. They provide free practical advice as easy downloads from the ViP website. 

To ensure best use of the funds available, ViP created two advisory groups comprising print buyers and suppliers. They assist the ViP Board to set priorities and assist in encouraging printers to take full advantage of the opportunities from ViP to raise their productivity and competitiveness.

David Meldram, chairman of the ViP Suppliers Group & senior vice president Sun Chemical Europe, commented: ‘With simple-to use tools, perfected for the printing industry, ViP’s unique hands-on approach has inspired companies of all sizes and printing disciplines – offset, gravure, flexo, screen, digital – to progress quickly to sustainable process and bottom-line improvements. We are pleased that we have been given the opportunity to support the organization in its goals.’

Andrew Pindar extends his thanks to all current and future sponsors for their support in making the UK printing industry more efficient. Three more sponsorship slots are available this year.