Technicians, representatives, explorers

PGS-Pool Graphic Service makes its debut as a network of companies able to install, service and repair printing and converting machines. But also, and increasingly, to offer complete cutting edge systems for the converting industry, featuring the best brands.

For years father and son worked in the KBA technical assistance service, and when the big German printing press manufacture outsourced its processing, they structured a complementary circuit of micro firms, specialized in the various processes of mechanics, electronics, structurework etc. Then, at the end of last year, they did not renew their exclusive agreement, to be able to turn to the entire market and integrate their assistance and servicing work with the distribution of  post printing machines, with the relative ancillary equipment and consumables, offering themselves to converters as sole and complete suppliers.
This is the path of the Dalla Pozza’s that in early 2013 - with Ivan Dalla Pozza - led to the setting up of PGS-Pool Graphic Service, a network of companies that includes New KBN (specialized assistance), Kilobyte Service (electrical and electronics, controls, software) M.G.T.-Meccanica Grafica Torinese (assembly, removal, revision and cleaning of print machines of all brands) and D.P.O. (industrial assembly and automation, special mechanical engineering, heavy structurework).

Duopress features an innovative twin station structure, that performs hot gilded lamination, die-cutting and cleaning of sheets in a single pass. Proposed as a compact, performant and good value-for-money alternative to the more cumbersome and complex systems, it comes in six models, the last of which offering a paper size of 1.060×760 mm, with a top speed of 6000 copies/h that, multiplied by the two heads, gives an actual production of 12,000 prints/h. Masterwork Machinery Co. has filed several patents at  international  level and owns the exclusive rights to production until 2028.

MK1060MF. Today it constitutes the diecutter that best suits the characteristics of Italian converting: compact, extremely quiet, simple to use, with a production speed of 7,700 sheets/hour with a paper size of 760x1060, it configures well with existing formats of the most modern print machines: with a paper die from 70 g, with flat board and laminated/corrugated board up to 4 mm. With a shear force of 320 t, unique to this format, it is at the maximum levels of production possibilities of the market. EC certified, it can be integrated with a wide variety of accessories according to customer needs.

The builders represented
Hence PGS features for the completeness of its knowhow, skills and proposals. Moreover, it is exclusive representative for Italy and Switzerland of Masterwork Machinery Co., the largest manufacturer in China of machines for the paper and converting industry, as well as other oriental concerns with complementary productions, among which DLG-Shanghai Dragon Printing Machinery Co. (off-line coaters and laminators), HG-Wenzhou Hengtong Printing Packaging Machinery Co. (windowing machines) and Semigo Graphic Machinery Manufacturer Co. (reel to sheet cutting systems).
«A few years back - says Ivan Dalla Pozza, sole administrator and managing director of the group - we were at a trade fair in Shanghai, looking for machines downstream of printing that met our quality and production standards. We started directly with the most important producer, Masterwork Machinery Co., and we were lucky: we already knew the person in charge of overseas sales, Ken Farnsworth, and he was aware of our experience and our technical expertise. We looked “inside” the machines, appreciated the quality of their design and the components (the best brands of advanced electronics), visited the company and finally signed the agreement. Being the representatives of Masterwork Machinery Co. then facilitated contact with other Asian producers of the same calibre, who were on the lookout for a PGS’ aware of the advantage of presenting themselves as partners of a company at that level, and now we are gradually completing our portfolio».

Faith is a serious matter
«Now we are integrating solutions targeted for small converting firms with those for medium-to-large companies - says Franco Sala, PGS sales director - to be able to attend to Italian companies in a difficult time like the present with all the necessary tools. In parallel, we have integrated all additional processing, from the development of Braille codes to prepress interfaces, and we are constantly working to stay in step with the new technologies».
«With this in mind - the manager continues - we can convince the Italian user that our proposals are truly worthwhile: the faith that our clients have in us, gained on the field as KBA service, is the key that has allowed us to overcome the mistrust of machines manufactured in China».
PGS’ approach to the market hence focuses on the quality of the proposals, but there is no doubt that the price lever plays an important role. «Today - says Dalla Pozza - with this kind of offer you can propose the customer a new, quality product at the price of a revamped machine».
Hence is the mistrust machines Made in China over? «It depends on the product», explains the entrepreneur, who adds: «Italy is full of Chinese machines, especially in the south, but not only there; if I wanted to make a guess, in the absence of official statistics, I would suppose they comprise one out of every three machines up and running... And we are certainly not always speaking of low level products. Two recent experiences confirm this. The first concerns the expertise and responsiveness of an excellent Chinese manufacturer of digital machines, to whom we pointed out the negative gap between the precision of the register setting and that of the main western competitors: when we saw his new automatic system it had a tolerance of 0.015 mm, against 0.2 mm of the best international competition. The second, that I came across the other day, concerns a first generation Chinese diecutter, purchased by a customer of ours thirty years ago and still going strong, without breakdowns or stoppages. On the evolution of Chinese technology, therefore, we have no doubt, and personally, I bet that before long we will also find quality proposals among printing presses, incomparably more sophisticated and “difficult”. After a careful study of the market we decided to place our trust in MK - Masterwork Machinery Co., now truly a constituent part of the European market».                                

Oriental quality for converting

With a turnover of over 100 million dollars and 800 employees, headquarters at Tianjin near Beijing and a cutting edge, perfectly organized facility, Masterwork Machinery Co. is the first Chinese manufacturer of converting machines (diecutting, lamination, glu-n-fold, quality control, rollfed printing and diecutting in line).

China, where the company was founded in 1995, represents its first export market, where it serves packaging manufacturers covering food, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes and household appliances, but it is growing rapidly around the world: in Europe (east and west) with Turkey and the Middle East, the Americas and India, Australia and, of course, the Far East, including Japan. In Europe Masterwork Machinery Co. has a direct branch and spare parts section in the UK, where their marketing operates along with a network of highly skilled technicians; the PGS Group has recently been appointed exclusive representative for Italy and Switzerland, also providing technical assistance at international level with qualified and expert personnel. At Converflex-Grafitalia 2013, where PGS exhibited its MK1060MF diecutter in a live demo, Ken Farnsworth, General Manager of the Trade Department, presented the concern as «modern company, which designs and builds excellent, reliable machines that have a long lifespan, with a dynamic management strongly oriented towards technological innovation (that has lately led to the innovatory Duopress). Thanks to these characteristics its offer is also enjoying a lot of success on the most sophisticated markets: in Europe for example the company has been present since 2008 and continues to grow at the rate of 15% per year».
 
From entry level to midrange. In China Masterwork Machinery Co. is a market leader, serving the largest packaging companies and counts concerns with production facilities of 150 MK machines among its customers.
«Masterwork Machinery Co. is second in the world in market share - Ken Farnsworth adds - with a significant installed machine base. The company produces 45 machines each month and continues to grow; we started with an entry level offering and we are now expanding to midrange, offering the most advanced technology at very competitive prices as the current market demands. In proposing the machines of this company we are facilitated by a “battering ram” the likes of Duopress: innovative, advanced and reliable, it is opening the way to the sale of other MK solutions, helping us to gain a foothold in quality packaging which, as is known, constitutes the market with the best growth prospects».