For Flint Group, the formation of Print Media Europe has brought access to a very wide range of top class formulations and raw materials, as well as hundreds of years of experience in their development laboratories around Europe. By homogenising their structure, Flint Group has eliminated internal interfaces to optimise best practice in terms of product design, lean manufacturing processes and routes to market. Add to that the basket of powerful brands in Flint, Varn, HDP and Russell Webb, and Flint Group Print Media Europe has a superb toolkit to go to market with. 'Our ultimate goal is to make life simpler for our customers by offering one best in class product per application, and this announcement affirms the first step on this exciting journey' stated Nick Brannan, Director of Marketing and Product Management for Press Room Chemicals and Transfer Media, Flint Group Print Media Europe.

Starting in the second quarter of 2009, just six months after the radical restructuring of the world's second largest ink and consumables manufacturer, work will begin on providing a superb range of Press Room Chemicals, which meets all the needs of their customer base.

'From August 1st our range of coldset founts will be simplified as we create a portfolio of innovative products, in line with what you would expect from the market leader. This action will take a few months to complete, but by 1st October we aim to have reduced the complexity considerably, and be left with a very high quality, well structured range' explained Mario Johnson, Product Manager, Press Room Chemicals. In parallel, the range of heatset and sheetfed founts is due to be simplified too. Flint Group plans to convert customers onto best in class formulations wherever possible. This will offer improved performance and still be readily available from usual local sales organisations. Service levels and quality will not be compromised, and in most cases will be enhanced as customers are encouraged to move onto well proven, OEM approved and robust products, such as the Media Fount range.

Depending on application, water miscibility and ink technology, Flint Group Print Media Europe currently offers more than 50 different wash products. This has come about due to the rapid integration of different businesses over the last two to three years. Their customers recognise that these are good products and Flint Group has remained sensitive to their desire to continue using them. Nevertheless the right products will be carefully selected for the future portfolio and manufacture of the rest will be stopped.

Ultimately Flint Group's strategy is to keep the globally recognised brands of Flint Group, Varn, HDP and Russell Webb, which provide their customers with peace of mind in the knowledge of a strong and reliable support structure behind each product they use. Current complexity will soon be reduced and there will be a simpler range available by the end of this year.

All of these changes in the wash products on offer, are in line with Flint Group's Technical and Environmental development strategy. Reducing impact on the environment is a key driver and is part of the development of the portfolio, as emphasis on non VOC products is increased, and consideration is given to micro-emulsion technology for the future. Flint Group wishes to help speed up the cleaning process, and as automatic washing equipment is becoming more prolific, their aim is to enhance the benefits of this equipment with state of the art, clean label formulations, meaning the elimination of some raw materials and substitution with completely non-hazardous alternatives.

Concerning the current portfolio of anti set-off spray powders, Paul Harvey, Technical Manager, Press Room Chemicals explains the plans to re-define the range and transition all packaging into new 1kg and 2.5kg pouches. 'We have evaluated all of our formulations and chosen to give a better structure to our portfolio. What is of key importance to us is to ensure we cover all applications with best in class products, in a simple to understand structure. Furthermore our Premium range of powders is very clean, with narrow cut, low dust and good flow and they all meet BG Guidelines (BGIA - Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Germany).'

Flint Group uses starch as a base for virtually all of their set-off powders, which means that they do not scratch in the stack, and are extremely safe to use. The introduction of a new design of 1kg and 2,5kg pouches has proven to be very popular with test customers, who all said they found them clean, easier to use, created less wastage and the disposal of used containers was more straightforward.

For more details of all these important changes, the local Flint Group, Print Media Sales Managers are available to discuss.

13 July 2009

For more information, contact

Flint Group
Peter Baird
T +44 (0) 161 776 6868
peter.baird@eu.flintgrp.com


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