Paul Coniglio, a former general manager of Conect Enterprises and Asia Pacific head of films manufacturer Metamark, has now purchased a wide format print business of his own.
Coniglio joined grand and wide format specialist, Print X, as general manager last October and has acquired it from Motor One Group – a company that specialises in after-market window tinting for car dealerships and corporate glass window finishing.
Coniglio told Sprinter he always considered he would buy his own business and while it has happened a little quicker than he thought, he is very excited and looking forward to growing the business further to better meet the needs of the industry.
The business, a one-stop-shop manufacturing operation for the wholesale market, will remain at its current Mt Waverly site in Melbourne with plans to further invest to improve speed and automation in operations.
Print X One works with other sign and print businesses, as well as print brokers, agencies and graphic designers.
“It is business as usual but there will be more investment in people, infrastructure and printing assets,” Coniglio told Sprinter.
“We’ve already got four Durst presses, two large roll-to-roll and two flatbeds, that can print up to five metres wide, and we’ve added more Durst flatbed capability and finishing capability with a Zund 3.5 metre by 5 metre.
“We are going to start to plan for further investment to improve speed and especially with the expansion in the fabric space.”
Print X One
Coniglio said the name change to Print X One reflects the company’s ability to provide wholesale customers with one service point for all of their signage and print needs.
“This marks an exciting new era for the company. Print X is synonymous with high quality, high-speed and customised wide-format printing with outstanding service. We have an opportunity to expand our product and service offering and improve the value we can bring to customers by accelerating our investment in the company,” Coniglio said.
The business currently has 10 staff and has just employed a new production manager to oversee the planned accelerated growth of the business.
Industry insights
In terms of how the industry is looking right now, Coniglio says there has been a noted increase, in a post COVID world, for customers to want their print work done even faster.
“I think the trend we are seeing is that life moves a lot quicker, and I think expectations for recovery have escalated and that translates to I need it now, I need it in 24, 48 hours and we need it to be affordable and we need it to be fast,” he said.
The effect of the end of the JobKeeper scheme would also likely result in job losses in the industry he said.
“From our perspective, we haven’t had JobKeeper for some time, but I think that it is going to have an impact across a number of industries and sectors and I feel like that is going to result in job losses across parts of the industry,” Coniglio said.
“We just want to support the industry as best we can to help with the impacts. It was such an unprecedented event, and we are still waiting to see what will happen.
“We seem to be resilient, and we seem to bounce back but we still don’t know what that final impact is going to be on various industries feeding into the print market.”
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter