Printers with a certain quality – Print 21 magazine article

It was fate that brought them together and saw the creation of a successful Western Australian printing business that has triumphed against the odds. Mitchell Jordan meets the two inspirational men behind Quality Press.

Atish Shah and Ramesh Patel believe in making five-year plans for their company; but when the pair both arrived in Australia 14 years ago, neither knew that their future would lie in printing. Indeed, they did not even know each other.

Migrating from Kenya in 1995, the two men saw Australia as a promising new country to start afresh and fulfil their long-held dreams of running a business. As anyone who has ever been overseas would know, arriving in an alien land is always startling. It was a relief, then, when a migration agent introduced the two men who would eventually see that they shared more similar hopes and ambitions than they thought.

“We didn’t know each other at all; the only thing we had in common was coming from the same place at the same time,” Shah recalls.

It did not take long to realise that by working together they could achieve something and, from there, a unique partnership formed.

“Being in a different country brought a lot of anxiety so we thought that by joining hands we would share the risk,” Shah says.

Pictured: Quality printers, Ramesh Patel (left) and Atish Shah (right) with some of their award-winning work.

There is no doubting it was a risky decision that the pair made. After considering a number of businesses, an advertisement in the paper for Quality Press, an Osborne Park-based printing business in administration, caught their eye.

Neither had any prior involvement with the printing industry but Patel had a management degree from university and Shah was equipped with a business degree of his own. They believed that with this knowledge, and their experience working for companies overseas, they could turn Quality Press into a sound, successful business.

Not everyone in the local industry shared this opinion.

“It was pretty daunting,” Shah recounts. “We had a company that had been in administration – a lot of suppliers had written us off and thought that we wouldn’t survive. Slowly, we built up our credibility with clients and improved our reputation.”

Part of the survival tactics included devising regular five-year plans for Quality Press, along with a wider grand plan for the company’s future. The first few years involved testing the water and widening their understanding of the printing industry.

In 1999, the pair bought land in Osborne Park, not far from Quality Press’ original location in the same suburb and constructed a purpose-built building where the company remains today. Starting out as an A2 operation, it soon became evident that there was a big demand for A1 so a new 5-colour Komori press followed, along with the installation of CtP.

Any doubts that industry players may have had about Quality Press were soon dispelled when, in 2004, the company stepped into the spotlight with Australia’s first installation of an A1 10-colour Komori LS1040P press, which gave them a major competitive advantage over other businesses.

With an existing Komori fleet, Quality Press had already set up a relationship with the manufacturer.

“Our old machines were Komori so the know-how was already established with that product line,” Patel says. “We never had any problems with Komori and didn’t see the need to change.”

Growth for QPrint Online

Recognising the obvious rise of digital printing, management made the decision to grow QPrint Online, its digital branch established in 2006. QPrint Online, which, although still a part of Quality Press, has a different name due to the nature of the work it produces.

“Moving into digital printing is far more than just buying a machine,” Patel says. “The culture is different, which is why we keep the two separate.”

Armed with a Kodak Nexpress, the branch has been developing considerably ever since its inception. The next phase involved buying a new machine – this time, from the Currie Group. Patel and Shah first caught sight of the HP Indigo 5500 at PacPrint last year and were impressed.

“We are always analysing our strengths and weaknesses,” Shah says. “The Nexpress continues to be important for QPrint Online but we thought that having an Indigo would give us additional strength along with providing extra choice for our customers.”

Adrian Dixon, state manager for the Currie Group in Western Australia, believes that the 5500, which was installed in early November, will open up a number of promising opportunities for the company.

“It will allow them to take on new markets due to its quality,” he says. “It will also give them access to more high-end work.”

Pictured: Planning for the future, (l-r) Ramesh Patel, Adrian Dixon and Atish Shah.

Shah sees that offset will continue to be an integral part of the company’s range of services, but change and new developments is something that Quality Press takes seriously.

“There will always be a need for offset – at least in the next five to 10 years; but we also see the importance of moving with the technology,” he said.

Looking forward, looking back

It is easy for any business to grow nostalgic or complacent over time, but management at Quality Press are just as focussed on the future. As Shah notes, businesses must change because so much has shifted in the wider world. “The next five years will be quite interesting and challenging for us after the downturn,” he says.

“A lot of thinking has changed and customers are most cost-conscious than before. We will focus on customer service based on their budgets.”

Patel adds that in the next five years, Quality Press hopes to offer a full print management service to its customers.

Working to enhance its environmental credentials is a major priority for the company over the next five years and it hopes that during this time it will become both carbon neutral and solar powered.

With a name like Quality Press, customers expect printing of the highest possible standard. This is not hard, given that the company achieved ISO 12456 certification from DES in July last year.

Another aim is to educate the wider community of the benefits of print as a product.

“We want to present print as an environmentally friendly option for our clients,” Shah says. “A lot of media recently has been working against print. What we want is to convince clients that printing properly actually uses less emissions than a desktop printer and that reading from a hardcopy is a lot more relaxing than staring at something on the screen.”

Quality Press today has a team of just under 60 (including staff from QPrint Online), but Shah and Patel insist that it is still very much a family business. Proof of this claim can be seen when wandering the offices or factory floor where Patel’s son, and Shah’s two brothers can both be found.

If printing is considered as being bad for the environment, then it also has a reputation as being an industry of older people. At Quality Press, much has been done to indoctrinate the younger generation who will quite literarily be the company’s future and lifeblood.

“We have planned for the next 25 years and that involves putting young blood into the company,” Patel says. “We are giving them the chance to take the business forward.”

When the two look back on Quality Press’ extensive history that began in late 1995, they do so with not only a sense of pride, but also an admission that it only seems like yesterday that they saw the advertisement in the newspaper. Much has changed of course, but some things have still stayed the same and the pair remain good friends.

“For us, making money is important but having a stable lifestyle which printing offers is also very important,” Shah says.

“We have never regretted buying this company. It was a challenge, but totally worthwhile. We are very satisfied with what we have done.”

Patel adds that on top of turning Quality Press into a local success story, it has been rewarding to build a friendship between two people who might otherwise have never met. “We have become like two brothers,” he says. “We see each other as an accomplishment.”