Atlas printing’s new foray into digital printing dubbed as APM (Atlas Precision Marketing) is yet another sign of an industry in fundamental transition. Atlas Group has been investing aggressively in digital printing technology during past few years. In 2010 Atlas Media Communications, a subsidiary of Dubai-based Atlas Printing announced its partnership with Newspaper Direct Inc.-a multi-channel newspaper and magazine content distributor- and installed new Screen TruePress Jet 520 digital presses, plus Hunkeler finishing equipment in its IMPZ facility.
The new digital set up was part of Atlas’s strategy to enter print on demand newspaper market. Since then Atlas is printing a number of high profile newspapers including Daily Mail, Sunday Mail, and USA Today for readers in UAE. Recently Atlas launched its Precision marketing division which according to the company enables businesses to retain, cross-sell and up- sell with existing customers with relevant target material to the individual.
Atlas Precision Marketing services was officially launched during a two day event in its IMPZ premises on Sunday and Monday 21 and 22 September 2013. A number of print professionals as well as representatives from Xerox and Screen attended the event. Live demonstration including personalized printing on site was part of the event.
Jonathan Day head of company’s digital and variable data division who joined Atlas in 2012 and has a long experience working with Xerox as a consultant is upbeat about the unique services that the new division can offer. “When I joined Atlas I wanted to launch something unique in this region. We already had two Screen web presses for on demand newspaper market plus a Xerox 700 which we were mainly using it for proofing and some high end jobs. However we were looking for a technology that could work in unison with Screen and at the same time complete our offset operation.
Because of our offset heritage there were many short run jobs that could not be done with offset and had to be digitally printed. That’s why we decided to invest in the latest model of iGen 4. Also iGen 4 is an ideal platform for production of transpromotional documents as well as book on demand. We considered all other options as well but at the end we came to the conclusion that Xerox iGen4 is an ideal solution for what we want to achieve.”
Other than iGen 4 the company also invested in a range of software solutions including Xmpie software B2B and B2C web to print applications. Atlas’s web to print service will be fully operational by the end of 2013. Day believes there are many opportunities in transactional and transprom market. “Transpromo is an untapped market in UAE. Many people are neglecting the power of hardcopy.
While there are huge marketing possibilities in transpromotional mails many companies still prefer to send invoices online because it’s cheaper. Through APM we also want to explore book on demand market using our iGen technology. Atlas is already printing a considerable number of school books for African countries. So for us it’s only natural to tap into book on demand market,” Concludes Day.
