Consumables
Kodak Appoints Gulf Commercial Group as its UAE Distributor for its Graphic Communications Group Portfolio
Tuesday 23. December 2008 - New Kodak distribution deal enhances service and sales support in the Gulf for workflow and prepress solutions, including proofing solutions and printing plates
Kodak has signed a distribution agreement with Gulf Commercial Group that extends the Dubai-based firm’s sales coverage and service support in the UAE to the majority of the products in Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group (GCG).
Jacek Skibicki, the Graphic Communications Group’s Sales Director for the Middle East and Africa, described Gulf Commercial Group as one of the UAE’s market leaders with a highly-qualified sales and support team focused on customers’ needs.
“The Gulf is a very important region for us, and it was vital that we secured the right partner there,” he said. “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with a company of Gulf Commercial Group’s stature and market expertise, which has built such an excellent reputation among the customer base. The team there is highly-motivated and enthusiastic, and it has a deep understanding of the key technologies that are driving our industry.”
He said the new agreement – which covers sales and services for Kodak’s workflow and prepress solutions, including proofing solutions and printing plates – was finalised at Drupa 2008. It follows the Gulf Commercial Group’s success as a distributor for Kodak’s electrophotographic printing solutions product range since December 2007.
“We’re very much looking forward to building a successful alliance that will enable both companies’ customers to take advantage of growing markets, such as in digital printing or the packaging segment,” he said.
Peter Schaefer, Service Director at Kodak EAMER’s International Cluster, said the new alliance will deliver enhanced service support to Kodak’s clients in the region.
“Having agreed on a sales and service contract with Gulf Commercial Group for Kodak’s leading workflow, prepress and electrophotographic printing portfolio, we will be able to reinforce our service support and offer a better and faster service to our customers,” he said.
He added that Kodak’s own engineers will continue to provide direct service support alongside Gulf Commercial Group’s team and that the overwhelming majority of customers in the region are on Kodak service contracts, which Kodak will continue to honour in full.
“We are convinced that this new agreement will increase the availability of local service support. This adds a huge advantage for us and our customers,” he said.
Gulf Commercial Group General Manager Hakam Abu Risheh said the new contract with Kodak was especially significant for the prepress products and workflow solutions it is bringing into his company’s product portfolio.
“We have a full range of exciting solutions available for all commercial printers, covering everything from digital colour production, B/W digital printing to digital prepress equipment, consumables and workflow solutions” he said. “Our partnership with Kodak has immensely increased our
status as a graphic communication solutions provider.”
Abu Rishesh said he had already received highly favourable feedback from the regional market with Kodak’s consumables.
“We seem to be striking a chord with many printers. I have no doubt that you will be hearing a lot more about Kodak’s new plates in the future. As our focus segments are commercial printing, packaging and newspapers, we expect to see a lot of movement of KODAK ELECTRA XD Thermal Plates and KODAK FLEXCEL NX Digital Flexographic Plates,” he said.
“Flexo CTP, newspaper CTP and Kodaks flagship TRENDSETTER Platesetter Products, supported by the KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System, one of the industry-leaders, will be the focus area in the fourth quarter and the coming year.”
Abu Rishesh added that Gulf Commercial Group’s sales force has been enhanced, with a specific focus on commercial printing, packaging and the newspaper segment.
“To boost our business in the UAE, we have formed a new business unit comprising dedicated sales and technical teams. The sales and marketing team consists of six specialists supported by five technical engineers. This team will grow with the expansion of the business in the coming years,” he said.
“Our focus for the fourth quarter and the coming year will be on educating and on promoting our solutions to small and medium commercial printers, advertising agencies, packaging firms and publishing companies. We will be doing this through road shows and seminars. We will also be inviting industry experts to talk about the latest trends in the printing industry and to share success stories.”