EFI CRO in Aus, says look to applications
EFI chief revenue officer Frank Mallozzi is in Australia to meet with printers as the company begins the Jeff Jacobson era, with Mallozzi saying the company is positioned to deliver an increasing range of print solutions to the market.
Mallozzi said he is “thrilled” with Jacobson's appointment to the head of the billion-dollar business, telling Print21 that “Print is an incredible industry, with many challenges and opportunities. Jeff knows the industry inside out having led from the front for many years. Having him at EFI is great news for the company, and for the industry.”
Mallozzi said that Jacobson is already familiar with EFI, especially from his time at Xerox to which EFI is a major supplier with its Fiery digital front ends. Mallozzi said, “He wasn't a stand-off CEO, he got involved, he understood what we were doing and attempting to do. I have known him personally for 25 years.”
The DNA at EFI will not change, according to Mallozzi, who himself is celebrating 21 years working for the company, and 30 with being involved from his time at Ricoh and Canon in the 1990s when EFI was just starting out in colour.
Jacobson's position as CEO will support EFI's growth strategy, which remains based on developing profit-making technologies for a diverse range of applications, including commercial print, display, packaging, textiles and ceramics, and providing the ecosystems that surround producing those applications. Mallozzi says the company has a great set of technologies and a strategy for organic growth with its current portfolio. That will remain the emphasis even if the company remains “open” to acquisitions where necessary. He said, “We have a roadmap for the future, that will not change.”
In the lead up to drupa next year, Mallozzi said the company could not reveal its exact technologies, but that the focus would clearly be on specialisation and developing the products to meet those specialist print areas. Mallozzi said, “As I have been touring Australia this week, the businesses that are successful are the ones that have found an application and are working it.”
Mallozzi said that printers that had good control of their costs, and had tools that were fit for purpose, were ones that were operating successfully.
According to Mallozzi, drupa will also see Industry 4.0 come centre stage as technologies connect with each other and everything else. He said, “In addition, automation and sustainability will be strong themes in Düsseldorf. Artificial intelligence will also be part of the show. At EFI we are already using AI to ensure we are giving the best possible service to our customers, and are able to predict consumables requirements, service needs, capacity uptake and the like.”
EFI has some 39 different printing systems just for its display division, and this broad product portfolio will also continue, with Mallozzi saying it means printers can get specific about their needs. He said, “I am here in Australia partly off the back of PrintEx, which has given EFI a pipeline of enquiries for many different solutions. The new Vutek h3 and h5 hybrid presses seem to have particularly hit a nerve here, with their versatility and scalability appealing to Aussie printers. I am here to do the double-click with printers and go deeper into the technology.”