Willprint feature

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WILLPRINT WILL PRINT… From left, the team at Willprint, Scott Almond, Mark Meda, Karen Sibley, John Smith, Ian Almond, Mark Morrison, Jan Almond, Tony Nardella, Marshall Henderson, Neville Carr, Keegan Byham, (absent) Alton Macreadie, Jasmine Watson and Julie Venables are proud to have been providing the local community with a quality printing and finishing service for the past 21 years. Photo: Alicia Niglia.

QUALITY PRINTING COUPLED WITH REMARKABLE SERVICE

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RINTING is their name, printing is their game and Willprint in Shepparton has just celebrated 21 years providing quality products coupled with remarkable

service to the local community and beyond.

The business was officially started by Max and Thelma Williams around 1960, trading as S. M. & T. A. Williams from an earthen floor shed in Numurkah Road and

when Ian and Jan Almond took over in 1996 had six staff members with a customer base in the hundreds.

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THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE TEAM IAN AND JAN ALMOND Ian and Jan are the owners of Willprint and between them have been in the business prior to purchasing it in 1996. Ian takes care of the managing, customer service, quoting and proofreading and Jan looks after administration, accounts and payroll.

Ian said, “I enjoy taking people’s ideas

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and turning them into something they love on a printed sheet and helping them come up with solutions to their needs.

Jan said, “I love being part of an evolving industry and enjoy working with like-minded people to deliver what the customer visualises.”

ALTON MACREADIE

SCOTT ALMOND

Alton joined the Willprint team in January 2000 and works in the pressroom operating the presses.

Alton said, “Producing quality work and having a good variety in the work produced are my favourite parts about working in the industry.”

Scott has been working with Willprint since before it became Willprint and his talents lay in the printing and guillotine fields.

Scott said, “My favourite part of working in this industry is turning plain paper into a finished, printed product and the diversity of jobs that Willprint does.”

MARK MORRISON MARSHALL HENDERSON Marshall started working with Willprint almost 10 years ago and works across the factory. His role is to ensure that everyone and everything is where it should be so as deadlines are met.

Marshall said, “My favourite part about working with Willprint is the technology. It has been staggering to see the improvements in production and quality over just 10 years. Who knows where it will end.”

Mark’s role in pre-press and other pre-production jobs with Willprint began in the early ‘noughties.’

Mark said, “I enjoy the different challenges and trying to nut out solutions to the tricky jobs. It is interesting to see how far the prepress area has advanced since I began in the industry in the ‘80s.

KAREN SIBLEY Karen began her role as pre-press/graphic designer in August 2007.

Karen said, “I enjoy the great mix of both the technical and creative aspects of the design industry. My favourite part is working with customers to create a design they love.”

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S STATE-OF-THE-ART… From left, Willprint directors, Ian and Jan Almond with Ricoh representatives, Leanne Hodge and Mark Baker in front of Wilprint’s new state-of-the-art Ricoh Digital. Photo: Geoff Adams.

EQUIPMENT AND KNOW-HOW TO CREATE A QUALITY PRODUCT

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T’S no easy task making sure a quality product is created, but with the equipment and knowhow, Willprint makes it look simple.

Willprint utilises equipment dating from more than 50 years old right up to the most state-of-the-art including offset printing with Heidelberg equipment. Their Letterpress plant is a Heidelberg Cylinder and Platen. When digital arrived it began a revolution in the printing industry so it is no surprise that Willprint utilises a Ricoh 7100, Ricoh 510 and the Konica Minolta 951 in this field. And of course there are many other bits and pieces that help to finish a product including laminators, bookbinding, and cutting machines that

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really make for a top quality product.

Ian said, “The Suprasetter (Platemaker) computer to plate system was one of our major purchases and biggest advancements.

“Stepping into digital has helped us stay abreast of the advancements in the printing industry. It cuts turnaround time from a couple of weeks to a couple of days.

“Our latest acquisition is the Ricoh Digital which has a full inline booklet finishing system on the end. It can produce a product that is trimmed, stapled and finished in a single pass and the quality is brilliant.”

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QUALITY PRINTING COUPLED WITH REMARKABLE SERVICE C urrent director of Willprint, Ian Almond began working with Max and Thelma from 1978 and in 1996, along with his wife Jan, purchased the business, which is when Willprint as it is known today was born.

From 1996, the company has grown to an average of 16 to 18 staff and in 2001, made the big move to a purpose built premises in Drummond Road where it still operates from today. Today, Willprint offers a total printing solutions package to a customer base of over 4,000 and handles a wide variety of jobs from annual reports, bags, banners, binding, books, brochures, business cards, calendars, catalogues, flyers, greeting cards, invitations, magnets, letterheads and novelty items, to raffle tickets, rulers, shelf talkers, stamps, stickers, year books and much more.

A clear indication of Willprint’s achievements can be seen through the growing list of awards that have been presented to the

business and staff including the Lithographic Institute of Australia Apprentice of the Year award, RMIT Environment Achievement award, two prestigious Business Achievement awards in the category of printing and allied services and has also taken out two Printing Industries Craftmanship awards for ‘sustainable green printing.’

Many may not know that Willprint is a real family affair. Ian is a third generation printing industry expert, following from his father and grandfather, but it doesn’t stop there. Two of Ian and Jan’s children had apprenticeships when the business was owned by Max and Thelma, they currently have their son and son-in-law working alongside the rest of the team at Willprint and have even had their grand children come in to the business for some school holiday work.

When it comes to service, you can’t get any better than the team at Willprint and directors,

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS… Former employee of Willprint Shepparton, David Keating (dec) at the business’ Numurkah Road premises. Photo: Supplied.

Ian and Jan Almond say that it is their service that has led to the businesses success.

Ian and Jan said, “Max and Thelma had a loyal customer base and created a business with good stead and people stayed loyal after we took over the business.

“We’ve had people who are 60 years old coming to us and saying that we did their wedding invitations and now we are doing their children’s and grand children’s printing.

“We feel quality service is extremely important. We go above and beyond to get our customers exactly what they want and if we can’t help them, we always try to find someone who can.

“What drives us is ensuring that people are happy with what we produce.

“We are very strong supporters of local businesses. Whenever we have something that needs sourcing, we always go to our customer base first.

LONG TERM EMPLOYEE… Willprint Shepparton employee, Alton Macreadie, who still plays an important role in the business today. Photo: Supplied.

It’s important to work together as a community to ensure the city’s success.”

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