Screen Europe expands EMEA service team

Screen Europe has expanded its service department over the past year to support the growing number of printers investing in digital equipment in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Steve Low, vice president of service and support for EMEA at Screen Europe

‘Over the past five years, we’ve seen a clear transition from conventional to digital printing, with many more printers eager to seize opportunities in the shorter print run market. There is a clear increase in sales of print-on-demand products,’ said Steve Low, vice president of service and support for EMEA at Screen Europe. ‘Investment in new digital equipment was stronger than expected at the start of the pandemic. Each month we are installing new products around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Covid-19 clearly hasn’t hit the digital printer market as much as other sectors. Our digital presses are still seeing strong demand.’

To support growing sales in recent years, the service and support department has expanded in 2020, hiring seven new staff members in Germany, the Netherlands, and France. As Screen is looking for more engineers to join its service teams across the EMEA region, the department is expected to continue to grow.

Screen is increasingly switching to remote service and support, using augmented reality (AR). The demand for this technology has accelerated in the pandemic. The team recently started providing AR glasses to some of its customers’ operators.

‘Our remote diagnostics tools have definitely helped us meet our short response times. From Amsterdam or London, we can dial into a machine in the Italian countryside, for example, and diagnose a problem, do updates and even reboot machines. The only thing we can’t do remotely is run a print test,’ added Low. ‘The pandemic has clearly changed our customers’ view regarding the need for Screen engineers to make on-site visits. A remote repair is now seen as better and quicker.

‘Customer satisfaction is essential for us to get new sales orders. Excellent service and maintenance are top priorities for printers looking for new equipment. They hope they won’t need service engineers, but if they do, they want them to be there fast and fix their problems quickly. And they’re absolutely right to demand this from us.’