Almost two years later, Toru Miyakoshi, chairman of Miyakoshi Printing Machinery CO Lda., Miyakoshi Europe general manager Yuichi Ikeda and Enrique Rodríguez, the head of sales at Miyakoshi Europe, visited the main markets and clients of the company in Europe to continue spreading the word about the benefits of its offset semi-rotary technology and to learn about the needs of clients first-hand.
Miyakoshi Printing Machinery, a renowned Japanese manufacturer of semi-rotary offsets for printing labels, is a private company currently managed by the third generation of the same family and has been present in the market for more than 70 years. Following a decision to transpose this vast experience to the European labels market, it founded its subsidiary, Miyakoshi Europe, in April 2015. “Miyakoshi had had positive experiences in Portugal and Italy”, explains Yuichi Ikeda, the general manager of Miyakoshi Europe, “but we had not been able to expand our market, despite knowing what we had to do to achieve this objective. Indeed, there were three requirements that had to be met to ensure a solid entry into to European labels market: a good sales network, good organisation of service and a demonstration centre. In our opinion, these requirements could only be met with an actual physical presence in the market”.
Based on these posiitve earlier results in Italy and Portugal, management at Miyakoshi considered that the best strategy would be to start in the south of Europe. In this region, Spain, in collaboration with OMC, was the best option. “We decided to start in the south of Europe, from where we would develop our policy for expansion into the rest of Europe”, says Yuichi Ikeda, “because our main product line is designed for medium and short runs of high-quality labels, and that type of product fits in very well in markets for wine, oil, beverages, etc. found in particular in the south of Europe. In Spain, we now have a solid service and sales base which we use to provide support to all distributors in Europe, maintaining close contact with the manufacturing plant in Japan”.
Taking stock of period of almost two years of operations, the general manager of Miyakoshi Europe says that “we are very satisfied with our results in these two years, because we have been able to achieve the three objectives that were seen as essential when plans were being considered to expand into Europe: the sales network has been set up, the service network is in place and we have a demonstration room”.
“Furthermore”, he goes on, “the results in terms of machines installed have been very positive. At the moment, we have 23 machines installed across Europe, of which 10 have been installed in the last 18 months. All of these machines have been installed for clients that are indeed representative of their respective markets and countries. Therefore, it is safe to say that it has been a success, both in the south and in the rest of Europe”.
But for the representatives of Miyakoshi, the most important aspect of this whole process is the fact that Miyakoshi Europe has enabled them to reach clients who until now have been out of their reach. “Our main objective continues to be to show potential clients that Miyakoshi’s semi-rotary offset technology is the best solution for meeting the current demands of the labels market: we are convinced that once it has been explained, this technology is understood by the client as an optimal alternative with which to meet its needs”.
Indeed, one of the reasons for the visit to Europe by the president of Miyakoshi Printing Machinery was precisely to help spread the word about, and knowledge of, the semi-rotary offset technology developed by the Japanese firm. “Mr. Miyakoshi likes to be close to clients, to understand markets and learn first-hand about new demands and requirements in order to apply all of this knowledge to future developments by the company”, explains the general manager of Miyakoshi Europe. “In accordance with this idea, our future plans are based on continuing to work on maintaining and improving our relationships with this type of client”.
Technology at the service of the market
In terms of the differentiating values that a company such as Miyakoshi can bring to the European market, representatives of the Japanese manufacturer place special emphasis on its technology. “The global print market is becoming smaller, and only the labels and packaging markets show signs of growth. However, even within this growth trend, orders for labels are getting smaller and come with strict quality requirements. In this product range, this means very high-quality labels in short and medium-sized runs, where Miyakoshi has the advantage of its experience and technology in the development of offset equipment specifically designed to meet these requirements. It could be said that we have the right product at the right time”.
One of the flagships of the company, the Miyakoshi MLP UV semi-rotary offset, has been designed specifically to meet the growing demand for small and medium-sized runs of high-quality labels and to reduce start-up times and losses.
Solid and sturdily built, its offset technology provides excellent print quality, minimising start-up costs. With a repeat length of up to 406.4 mm, the unit provides for great flexibility in the attachment of labels, the ability to print large labels and very high productivity levels.
It has a maximum printing speed of up to 300i/m, irrespective of the length of repetition; it can print at this speed constantly while providing fast change times due to its complete automated electronic system. Each printing unit is controlled by a servo-driven Bosch-Rexroth engine, and can be operated on its own and/or in sync with other printing units.
