FIRE PRINTERS STRUGGLE TO GET GOING AS DISRUPTION BITES

Print businesses in the bushfire ravaged areas of East Gippsland, the NSW South Coast, Kangaroo Island, and the Blue Mountains are struggling to get back on their feet, with labour and logistics proving major stumbling blocks.

Andrew Macaulay, CEO of industry association Print & Visual Communication (PVCA), has been on a tour of the South Coast for the past two days talking to printers and helping them see where they can get assistance.

He says, “It is not so much the supply of consumables, paper and the like that is the problem – more that of staff, who are either battling fires or exhausted from their efforts in preventing fires. They also have issues with delivery, as many of the roads in the rural areas are still cut off. Everything is disrupted."

The number of print businesses impacted by the fires is unknown, but as Macaulay says, “There is one in every town, and more in the bigger centres. They face a long road back. In the short term, the massive drop in tourist numbers has hit business, which is having a major knock-on effect to printers, as no-one is looking to promote anything to the tourists or advertise to them.

“In the longer term the printers will face issues of sustainability, depending on how the situation plays out, and how far people want to go in rebuilding their communities and local businesses, how much support there is for that. What we have seen so far is encouraging.”

PVCA has launched a consolidated website for print business owners to find assistance from all agencies of state and federal government, as well as numerous charities providing support.

Print industry suppliers association Visual Connections has stepped forward with a generous offer to enable affected print businesses unable to get their jobs through the factory to have their work completed elsewhere.

In addition, individual suppliers have been quick to offer support, with the likes of Roland DG waiving all call out and labour fees for its affected customers, while Mutoh is offering its showroom as a production centre.

The big corporates including Fuji Xerox, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh have all weighed in with five figure donations to the rebuilding fund.