Die making trade house Rotometrics is investing in upgrading its Melbourne centre, in a move it says will reduce turnaround time by eight per cent.
Rotometrics already offers next day delivery to anywhere in Australia and New Zealand, with a typical order taking 17 hours from receipt of order to shipping, the company says the new equipment will knock another hour off that.
Announcing the investment was Molly Moroni, the company's new vice president and general manager of its Asia Pacific region, which includes Australia and New Zealand, who is in the country for a familiarisation tour with Rotometrics ANZ general manager Cain Harper.
Moroni says, “Australia and New Zealand is a key market for Rotometrics, and Melbourne is the only plant in the southern hemisphere which makes its own dies. The new investment will mean even quicker turnaround for our customers, which they require. Rotometrics is acutely aware of our customers needs to have their assets operational at all times, this investment will boost our aim of ensuring they are never waiting for dies.”
Rotometrics has its own R+D department in the US, and part of the new investment in Melbourne has come form the company developing technologies to work with thinner films being used by converters, as they seek to drive down costs and improve their environmental credentials.
Moroni was previously director of Sales for the Americas from August 2012, and vice president of Sales of US and Canada for Rotometrics, prior to taking up the new regional role. She says, “Australia is similar to the US, Canada and the UK in its market, whereas much of the rest of Asia is still developing, some only just moving from flatbed to rotary. The dies manufactured in Melbourne will supply the whole region. Our ANZ customers will get 100 per cent of their dies manufactured in Melbourne.”
Some 55 staff are employed at the Melbourne site, which manufactures a full range of flexible and solid dies, and all other types of dies. Harper says, “We are a one stop shop.” According to Moroni and Roberts the impact of digital printing has been a positive for Rotometrics, as it has led to a strong trend to multiple shorter runs rather than one long run.
The Melbourne site manufactures both wide web and narrow web dies. Harper says, “Rotometrics is the blue ribbon supplier, with north of 85 per cent of the market. A die is around 3 per cent of the total cost of a job, people ask themselves why they wouldn't buy for us, rather than taking the risk with an imported die."