Why should printers look at second-hand presses? And do you have to fight a fear factor sometimes?
Presses like cars are now manufactured to be much more reliable and to work both longer and harder. 15 years ago a Heidelberg or Komori press with 80 million impressions was looked on as a rather doubtful investment: today people happily but machines with 250 million on the clock knowing that they will still get another 5 years of trouble-free running from them. A press on double shift would, in the past clock up 10 million a year. Automation, faster make-readies and higher running speed means that 25 million a year is now not unusual.
It is all about return on investment: a 6 year old used press from a good manufacturer will be 90-95% as productive as a new press but with half of the initial investment, so for many companies, even those who can afford new, a good pre-owned machine is a no-brainer. The best way to make sure you are getting a good press is to buy from a reputable dealer – and there are excellent and highly respected outfits in Europe, North America and beyond – and to take the time to thoroughly print test the press, inspect cylinders etc. There are also good engineers – mainly former Heidelberg, KBA, Komori or Manroland technicians – who will, for a few hundred pounds, do a detailed inspection.
How should printers go about ensuring they get a good deal and a good machine - i.e. what to check...- and where should they look, private sales or dealers?
Before the advent of the internet it was very difficult for printers to know what was available on the market. They would contact their national dealers who would have a better idea, but they too did not have access to the huge amount of information available today. Sites like pressXchange.com and PressCity.com allow printers easily and quickly to find out what is on the market worldwide from printers and dealers – though still most machines are sold by dealers, either as owners or intermediaries, and four or five emails to dealers offering similar machines will soon give an idea of market values. Going via a dealer may cost a bit more - though, as they constantly bemoan, their margins are far tighter that they used to be due to the transparency of the internet. The advantage of using a good dealer is that he can make things happen – he knows about financing purchases, letters of credit when necessary, dismantling, re-installing, electrical connections etc. He’ll normally know what is a good machine and which, for the sake of his reputation and a quiet life, he shouldn’t touch with a barge-pole. He won’t dare to sell you a dud.
When buying a machine what happens differently to a brand new press purchase and install? Is a warranty normal?
Partly because machines are now much better made and partly because of the very high cost involved not many dealers now offer the kind of full rebuild which companies like Dornier (my old company) and others used to undertake. Machines are now normally offered ex site, loaded into container, site-to-site or, at best, cleaned checked and installed. Installation of a used machine may take a little longer than a brand-new press as inevitably some glitches will come to light, the odd roller will be found to need recovering, hydraulic pipes or bearings to be replaced etc. But a dealer, his contractor or a specialist installation company instructed by the buyer will not leave the site until the buyer is happy and satisfied the press and its first test job – and the printer will release the final payment until then. Most dealers will offer a limited warranty – three months on parts and labour for example where they carry out the installation in their own country, but this may be less comprehensive than the guarantees we used to offer on fully rebuilt machines. Machines exported by a dealer may come with a three months’ parts warranty, or with none if it a purely “as seen” deal with a printer who has inspected and approved the equipment. Warranties cost the seller money, and he has to have the lee-way to build this into the selling price.
What other print machines are good buys second-hand - presses are the most high profile but what other kit lends itself to second-hand market?
There is great demand for used bindery equipment, especially from the main manufacturers like Polar, Mueller Martini, Kolbus, Heidelberg and Stahl. A smaller but equally flourishing market exists for packaging machinery from makers like Bobst, whose autoplatens seem to last forever, Jagenberg and others. The most depressed market at the moment is for coldset and heatset web presses, and astute buyers can pick up excellent presses at a fraction of their original cost. Good and highly productive machines with the potential to produce for many years to come are being scrapped.
The used machinery market for second-hand digital presses has not matured as I expected it to do, due, I think, to a combination of built-in obsolescence, rapid technical changes, lack of support from manufacturers on pre-owned machines and the cost or availability of inks. This is changing, though, with specialist suppliers emerging who deal in nothing but these products and have the technical knowledge to make sure that end-users get a good deal.
What type of printer is best fit for second-hand?
For many years start-ups proved to be a very good market for used presses, but these seem a thing of the past, in the UK and western Europe at least. Nowadays demand comes from established medium-sized printers who see the sense in, effectively, getting more for less in terms of potential productivity and turn-over. Larger companies who need a machine to develop a particular new product range or want to dip their toes into a new area of print or finishing are also keen customers. Finance companies still see good equipment from major manufacturers as the right place to invest their money, and they know that the machinery will not suffer the precipitate initial fall in value that a new press does the day it is commissioned and first becomes a used machine.
With the move of Graph Expo to Florida in September, the way has been left open for Print World 2016 in Toronto Canada to become the biggest show of the year in the North East USA/Eastern Canada catchment area.
Sandy Donald, the promoter of the Print World 2016 makes the following points:
Sandy claims that Print World is the gateway to the world’s largest printing market. “North American printers buy over $3.5 billion in equipment and supplies per year. Over 55,000 plants are located in Canada and the United States. Now is your chance to showcase your products to the lucrative North American market. We have a low-cost turn-key package for international manufacturers and suppliers for Print World 2016. The show is held in Toronto, Canada’s largest city and biggest printing market. The show occupies more than 125,000 sq. ft. in downtown Toronto's Enercare Centre, Canada’s largest and most advanced show facility.
“In offset presses, previous major exhibitors include Heidelberg, Manroland, Presstek, Komori and KBA. On the digital side, major exhibitors have included Xerox, Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Fujifilm, Ricoh and Konica-Minolta. Overseas exhibitors included Petratto (Italy), Zenith Rollers (India), Accura-MIS (U.K.), and Hans-Grohni Graphic Technologies (China). Print World offers attendees a top-notch conference featuring some of North America’s leading print experts. Over 50% of Canada’s top 100 printers attended the last show including Vistaprint ($750 million), St. Joseph Printing ($330 million), TI Group ($45 million), Lowe Martin ($85 million), Solisco Printing ($84 million) and RR Donnelley $250 million). A lot of smaller and mid-size printers look at pre-owned equipment as an affordable way to grow in size.”
Sandy wants pressXchange to promote his show with used machinery dealers from Europe and the USA, offering a Used Machinery Pavilion at especially attractive prices.
The Toronto show has been going since 1986 and in recent years has attracted between five and seven thousand visitors each year; this is less than half of Graph Expo’s visitor total, but Sandy expects this number to increase significantly in 2016 with no competitor in the region.
Dean Becket, Sales Director of leading machinery DPM in the UK is continuing to raise money for a very worthy charity. This year RRR (Ronnie Remembrance Ride, in Memory of his dad, Ronnie Beckett) takes on a whole new challenge.
They are cycling from the Blackpool Tower to Walton on Thames. That’s 275 miles in 24 hours on the 23rd July 2016.
So far RRR has raised over £ 75,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support and last year raised over £ 25,000 towards the brand new East Surrey Macmillan Cancer Support Centre that opened in January 2016 in Redhill, Surrey.
Dean thanks everyone who has sponsored them in the past and asks all his friends to dig deep in their pockets and help them ‘Hit the Hundred’…. ? They won't rest until they break the £100K target !
The JustGiving page link is: http://www.justgiving.com/DeansRRR2016
For those of you who would like to pledge corporate sponsorship can do so by sending a cheque made payable to Macmillan Cancer Support to Dean at DPM:
Direct Press Marketing Ltd
6 Churchill Court
Hortons Way, Westerham
Kent, TN16 1BT
Tel: +44 (0) 1959 569 900
Email: dean@dpm.uk.com
It is now eighteen months since pressXchange.com became an independent company again when I purchased it back from Haymarket Media. In that time we have redesigned the site making it easier for both our advertisers and users, we have bought PressCity and continued to develop its amazing extensopro back-office CRM system, we have concentrated on SEO and improved our rankings across every area of graphic arts machinery and we have seen activity on the site grow month by month.
I thought you would like an update on the progress we’ve made.
The number of offset presses has increased by 50% to nearly 1250 machines
The number of bindery and finishing presses has increased by 36% to over 860
The number of advertisers on the site has grown from 140 to 163
pressXchange now receives over 43,000 visits per month with 220,000 page views. Combined with PressCity visits total 75,000 and page views 360,000
Over 176,000 people have now registered on pressXchange since 2000, making us one of the biggest print communities on the globe
We come at the top of search engine rankings on over 65% of common graphic arts machinery searches
Our combined-databases Newsletters now go to 98,000 “opted-in” print professionals.
I hope you’ll visit us on our stand at Drupa: we aim to make it a place where our friends and customers can meet each other and relax. If you are amachinery dealer then don’t miss a demonstration of extensopro – a system which will save you time and transform the way you do business.
Before Drupa we will launch a new section on the site – News from the Dealers – which will focus on our advertisers. Please send us any press releases about your company, news of installations, sales, personnel changes etc, along with an image or two. Don’t worry if the English isn’t perfect – we will be happy to knock it into shape.
Everything we do is to ensure that pressXchange delivers to our users the information they require in the most easily accessible way, and that our advertisers get the best return on their investment with us. We want to stay the go-to site for the industry. If you have any ideas on how we can improve our service to you then please let me know.
pressXchange.com has been at the heart of the international market for pre-owned printing and graphic arts machinery since 2000. We have tracked the changes in the equipment required by our users and their changing demographic over more than 15 years.
Used printing, binding, and packaging machines and equipment is the core of the site. In the sheetfed litho category, second-hand Heidelberg presses remain the most popular, closely followed by used KBA, Manroland and Komori offset presses. The Heidelberg Speedmaster range makes up something like 30% of the total number of sheetfed offset offered through the site, with SM 74, SM 102 CD and SM 52 being the most sought-after; the more recently introduced Heidelberg XL 105 and XL 75 ranges are also increasingly available.
Used Heidelberg presses make up more than 50% of the total number of used offset presses offered; pre-owned Manroland 700 presses come next, with second-hand Komori Lithrone 40 and KBA Rapida 105 some way behind.
In the smaller format used Heidelberg GTO and Printmaster presses do very well, while Ryobi B2 and B3 presses remain popular, especially second-hand Ryobi 524 HX and 525 HX machines.
Used bindery equipment is the second most searched for category on the site. There are many searches for second-hand Muller Martini Bravo, Prima and Primera gatherer stitchers, while second-hand Heidelberg Stitchmaster and Prosetter saddle stitching lines are a distant second. Perfect binding lines continue to be very popular
Used Heidelberg Stahl folders and MBO folding machines make up more that 80% of the second hand folders listed, while Polar 115 guillotines are the most popular cutters.
Used Hewlett Packard (HP) Indigo 3050, 5000 and 5600 digital printers are the most searched on the site, and second hand Presstek DI are also popular. Used CTP include second hand Agfa Avantra and Palladio, Kodak Magnus, used Heidelberg Suprasetter and Topsetter and Screen PT-R computer to plate systems.
About us
pressXchange launched in October 2000 by print industry professional John Roadnight. In February 2007 it was bought by Haymarket Media Group and repurchased by Roadnight in 2014 following Haymarket’s decision to focus its resources into other areas and markets.
In 2015 pressXchange merged with its very successful competitor PressCity. The sites still operate independently, serving rather different sectors of the market, but sharing the advanced technology offered by the extensopro CRM system.
pressXchange.com is one of the largest worldwide online communities for the print sector and is the market leader for the promotion of used printing, bindery and graphics equipment. We are independent, not linked to any machinery dealer or other supplier to the trade, so we can be trusted to serve the interests of our members and advertisers. We have no machines of our own to sell, so there is no danger of us or anyone else benefitting from your leads and enquiries.
The core of the website is our huge database of pre-owned and secondhand printing machines for sale. This sector is valued at more than $8bn a year. It is truly international, but business was previously limited by the inability of a buyer in one country or continent to source a seller in another. The Internet has changed that, and pressXchange is an instrument of that change.
For 16 years we have been the world's premier pre-owned graphic arts machinery web site, and the most effective international medium in this global industry. We have maintained that position with more users and more equipment sales than any of our competitors.
We have an enthusiastic team dedicated to developing our site and to making it a global portal for our industry. We are investing heavily in a major project which will make pressXchange the go-to site for our 170,000 registered users, where they will source paper, inks, chemicals, software, new machinery and a whole range of graphic arts related services.
Philosophy
pressXchange.com will continue to carry the most comprehensive and up-to-date listing of used graphic arts machinery, offered both direct from printers and from many of the world's most reputable dealers.
In order to attract those listings, we have built an exceptionally well qualified audience. Using the site is free of charge, and we provide access to full information on the machines available and we give direct access to their owners; we take no commission from any seller.
We invest significantly in large-scale online marketing campaigns to attract thousands of new visitors every month, and we keep them coming back through the quality of the site and our on-going member-care program.
We are an independent enabler, not a barrier, between buyer and seller. We keep the site up-to-date, responsive to our users’ needs and suggestions and constantly evolving, with new services added on a regular basis.
The result of all this is that machines sell quickly when listed on pressXchange. Leads generated through the site are of high quality, and we are always open and transparent about our audience figures, and we use a trusted third party service to measure it.
The Future
We are not complacent, and we are fully aware that we can only maintain our success if we provide you, our visitors and advertisers, with a useful and efficient site.
With a knowledgeable team dedicated to serving the print and related industries we are confident that our growth will continue, and that we will enhance the value of pressXchange both to our advertisers and users.
“We certainly think the UK market is more buoyant than it has been”, says DPM’s Tim Pawley.
The big change expected to roll through into 2014 is the growing confidence both in the UK and abroad, helped with the stimulus of government schemes.
“I think in the UK, we are seeing some customers have been able to capitalise of government incentives – particularly RGF (regional growth fund) grants. Not enough has been made of that,” he said.
The scheme, which helps businesses fund growth plans that meets certain criteria such as protecting jobs, has helped around 2,700 SMEs access £800m in lending so far.
That, coupled with recent good news on economic growth from the chancellor, Pawley is hoping will focus the minds of printers that have “been teetering on the brink of buying” but held out during the grip of recession.
In some ways the recession has had positive impacts for those that have survived. For one thing, it’s not just the banks that have been pushed towards having a stronger balance sheet.
“Most buyers we are seeing are pretty well qualified,” said Pawley. “The companies out there are better off cash-wise as people are learning that need to be in order to access funding.”
Farther afield, and Pawley says the bulk of DPM’s business remains in the export market, Latin America and most obviously China and the rest of Asia continue to show the strongest demand and are likely to do so through 2014. Other regions are also showing signs of activity such as Thailand – a market that had previously been very busy but of late had died back.
In terms of application packaging looks set to be a safe and growing bet – with interest high in areas such as UV. “There has been a trending towards packaging, particularly UV, where companies are looking for add ons to help sell products.”
Digital is also likely to grow, although its impact on the secondary markets is difficult to forecast with some manufacturers less enthusiastic in supporting these markets than others. Additionally, printers looking to set up in digital need to go beyond simply adding a digital press to cater for passing trade, to setting up a standalone division after assessing what the market demands.
2014 will also be remembered as an Ipex year, and not one that hasn’t had its fair share of problems, losing some household names in the industry from its halls. Although with 80% of the 42,000sqm space sold it’s not likely to feel empty.
It’s still too early to say what impact this will have on visitor numbers – both domestic and international – but Pawley maintained that the show remains very important for DPM to meet their UK customer base.
In conclusion, 2014 looks like many of the dynamics of the market in 2013 will remain in place, but it’s likely to be a growth year. However the focus will be on the quality rather than the quantity of customers.
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