Chemtek has taken over responsibility for the Vulcan blankets agency in New Zealand.
Vulvan blankets (formerly 'Reeves') are set to get a boost in the New Zealand market with the announcement that they will be distributed here exclusively by Chemtek.Swedish company Trelleborg bought Reeves at the end of 2006, and it has appointed DS Chemport as the exclusive agency in Australia and Chemtek as the equivalent in New Zealand.
With the strength of DS Chemport behind it, Chemtek is well-positioned to bring the benefits of Vulcan blankets to New Zealand printers. DS Chemport has a strong presence throughout the Asia Pacific region, with a manufacturing site in Kuala Lumpur since 1987. The company has distributed Vulcan blankets in the Southeast Asian region since 1995.
“The name Vulcan or Reeves is very well-accepted and well-known by the market,” says DS Chemport (Australia)'s Ken Rendell.
Vulcan has a long history of innovation and quality, having produced the first compressible blanket more than 40 years ago.
“Vulcan are a market leader in technology and DS Chemport and Chemtek are the right partners for us in this market,” says Marco Carlini, technical and sales area manager for Vulcan's parent company Trelleborg.
Chemtek's background as a strong New Zealand-wide operation positions it strongly as a partner both to Vulcan and to potential customers in this country, according to Chemtek's managing director Rob Ruskin.
“Chemtek has offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and comprehensive coverage throughout New Zealand. We have built up a strong association with the sheetfed heatset and newspaper industries as a major supplier of pressroom chemicals, and we are well positioned to benefit printers through introducing them to Vulcan blankets.”
An important part of the new relationship is that DS Chemport will be doing all its own converting for blankets distributed in this part of the world, at its plant in Melbourne. The company has invested $1.8 million in capital equipment and people to ensure that it will provide top quality product and service to the Australasian market.
“We are not outsourcing converting,” Rendell says. “We control our own destiny, and as a result, we can ensure that what we deliver to our customers is the quality product they need.”
Often the question is asked how to achieve cost savings, obviously price is important
But productivity and on-press performance is a more important aspect supporting the Vulcan motto: “There is no compromise on quality”.
Quality control is critical for both Vulcan and DS Chemport, at its new converting facility: “The technical personnel have been in Australia training DSChemport staff in the correct converting procedures, and ensuring that we have the best quality control procedures in place,” Rendell says. “We have three dedicated people that are responsible for the converting operation in Melbourne.
The DS Chemport converting facility in Melbourne has installed the latest blanket converting technology, enabling blankets to be cut from master jumbo rolls.
Vulcan sent R&D barring engineer Stefano Ganini to Melbourne for two weeks to ensure that the new converting facility was perfectly set up to ensure the high quality and consistency.
“Vulcan distributors are like partners, Carlini says. “That's why we have exclusive distributors and we share our technical know-how with them.
“We have been working with the DSC Group for 15 years via their Malaysian operation, who exports Vulcan products to the South East Asian region.”
Chemtek's reputation, industry knowledge and strong nation-wide service in New Zealand also set the company up to provide a strong backbone for Vulcan blankets in this country.
Vulcan is the market leader in supplying metal back blankets, a relatively new technology in newspaper printing which provides the advantages of press stability and performance, reduced downtime, and long runs.
Vulcan is one of a select few manufacturers of the metal back blankets and has OEM relationships with almost all the leading press manufacturers including Goss, KBA, MAN Roland, Mitsubishi and Wifag.
Another important part of the Vulcan stable of products is its range of sticky back blankets for form and label presses. The sticky back blanket is a durable product that provides form and label printers with a consistent, high quality product.
With manufacturing plants in Italy, the United States, and China, Vulcan is truly an international player in the printing industry.
