Currie Group hosts successful EFI open house week

Currie Group has hosted its first EFI open house week since both companies inked a strategic distribution partnership for the Australia and New Zealand region in January.

The open house week, which ran from April 12 to April 16, showcased the latest EFI wide format product offerings, including its Pro 32r+, to customers.

The EFI Pro 32r+ on show at Currie Group’s open house

The event ran at Currie Group’s Melbourne headquarters in Hawthorn across four session times during those dates.  

The sessions also covered a live demonstration of the latest EFI Pro 32r+ as well as introduced EFI’s extended range of wide format products, such as the Pro 30f flatbed printer and the VUTEk 32h and Pro 16h hybrid printers. 

Currie Group’s recently appointed wide format business unit manager Paul Whitehead said the event was “fantastic and better than expected”, with the complementary message of Currie Group and EFI resonating strongly with the marketplace.

Currie Group wide format business unit manager Paul Whitehead

“That message is the strength of the Currie Group support and service network along with the tier one equipment offering from EFI,” Whitehead said.

“The feedback we have received is that customers are certainly seeing a gap in the market when it comes to service and support for wide format equipment, now that it has moved into the mainstream. The end customer is expecting the same level of service that they previously only required for our Indigo business or the offset conventional print market.

“Currie Group is closing the gap from a servicing standpoint and we are catching up to market expectations.”

Whitehead also mentioned that the open house saw a combination of customers – people who have had little exposure to both EFI and Currie Group, as well as current customers of both businesses. 

“Currie Group, being in the traditional print space, saw some new sign and display customers who were familiar with EFI come through the door. Traditional Currie Croup customers who have had very little exposure to wide format joined us too,” he said.

“So, we had to share with all attendees the combined EFI and Currie Group narrative. Depending on the customer, we then customised the story based on where they are on the spectrum. From this cross pollination, we are opening up new customers and new markets for the business.”

Whitehead welcomed the opportunity to be able to meet customers face-to-face and have them view the printer in person.

“There is nothing like being face-to-face with customers and engaging them in a live printer demonstration.  We printed some UV textile prints and that has allowed attendees to touch, feel and take a closer look at the prints,” he said.

“It was also easier for the customers to view samples that showed different features under different lighting conditions. I have been blown away with the amount of momentum we have been able to achieve in such a short time.”

EFI business development manager Brett Addison said the event saw both existing clients and new prospects attending the event, having a keen interest to learn more about EFI’s offerings.

EFI business development manager Brett Addison

“This is our first EFI Currie Group open house since we announced our strategic partnership, and it has been a huge success. We have been fully booked and existing clients and new prospects have shown a keen interest to learn more about our innovative technology offerings,” he said.

“The event has provided an opportunity to showcase our leading portfolio which provides a comprehensive end-to-end digital printing solution for our customers. We offer a wide range of superwide and wide-format printers, Fiery digital front ends and productivity software solutions, supporting our customers’ businesses to thrive with the latest technologies.”

EFI Asia-Pacific vice-president of sales Rodd Harrison added that the coming together of EFI and Currie Group is a “combination of two powerhouses” that results in new growth and business opportunities for their customers in A/NZ.

EFI Asia-Pacific vice-president of sales Rodd Harrison

“Together with Currie Group’s incredible people, infrastructure, sales, and service capabilities, the synergies created from our partnership enables us to open up new growth and business opportunities for our customers in A/NZ,” he said.

“The synergies created will help support our customers’ existing business, as well as the transformation from analogue to digital imaging. With the addition of Currie Group as our partner, we are committed to help our customers be better, faster and achieve an even greater ROI.”

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