GEW aids a commercial printing works in Ukraine with the donation of a complete 40” UV & LED curing system for their Komori press, without charge. The UV system is custom designed for seamless integration on the Komori press. The UV LED lamphead integration kits are hand-built at GEW’s Sussex production site.
Mikhail Gluhovski, Managing Director of Pryvatna Drukarnya, contacted GEW in early 2022, to request a quotation for the supply of the system. The printing works, based in Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine, had been forced to halt production in February 2022 so that they could instead provide humanitarian support to some of the many refugees that were fleeing the conflict in the east of the country. This included using their two restaurants and a gymnasium, which were normally used by staff and customers, to prepare up to 1200 free meals every day for refugees, and to accommodate up to 500 people every night. These resolute and tireless efforts were carried out night and day for almost a month, while the refugees’ need was at its peak. Mikhail and his team made a short video to give the outside world a small window into what had been going on:
In the meantime, Pryvatna Drukarnya had an urgent need to get back into production in order to be able to continue as a viable business. At that point, many other printers and businesses had ceased trading. Mikhail had considered installing a UV curing system for some time before the outbreak of the conflict, and the time then seemed right to give his company a competitive edge by increasing its production throughput and reducing waste.
Mikhail’s original request to GEW was not for financial assistance; it was merely that the UV system could be supplied to Pryvatna Drukarnya on preferential payment terms to enable them to take on the risk of investment in such difficult business conditions. It was at this point that GEW’s family owners stepped in and offered to supply the entire UV system free of charge, in recognition of the valiant work the company had done under such difficult circumstances.
