Printerxpert and its appreciation for Valiani Italian engineering

Printerxpert: history and business of the company

Arlo, can you introduce yourself and your company?

Yes, of course. Printerxpert is a company that deals with the sale of solutions for production printing, for digital printing and for cutting and creasing of sheets. We offer several solutions to our customers.

When did you first start this collaboration with Valiani?

We started selling Valiani in 2016. We started selling the Optima Series.

The difference between Valiani machines and imported ones

Before Valiani you mainly sold imported machinery, principally from Asia, is that correct?

As for automated machines, yes.

In 2018 we were in Germany at the FESPA. Here we saw the first imported auto-feed digital cutting systems and we were immediately enthusiastic about them because of the pricing and the possibilities. We said “Ok, it’s a nice tool to support our customers with”. 

But later we needed a better product because customers were really critical and they wanted the next level. So we introduced Valiani Omnia.

As well as reselling the equipment you are also a user. Is that right?

Yes, we are also a user, that’s right. In 2020 we had difficulty in selling production print. We have one of the largest showrooms in the Netherlands, we have an iGen, heavy stock production presses, we have the MGI, varnish. There was an investment of over a million and we thought “Ok, how can we – next to having a showroom – use this equipment to do business in the Dutch market for packaging”.

So, you have an Omnia at your disposal. How important is it to actually have a machine so you can demonstrate to your customers firsthand? Is that a key thing for Printexpert?

Yes it is. We have two machines in production, two Omnia. 

Customers immediately see that it is a good product, they see how easy it is for an operator to use equipment, they see how perfectly the machine is used standalone. 

With imported products you often have to stay with the machine as an operator because they need some extra help. Often the sheet get pushed off, or they stick to each other and therefore the operator must always be present and prevent these problems.

With Valiani Omnia, however, all this does not happen because it works perfectly on its own without the operator.

The quality of the performance of the machine is very different from some of the lower cost importation alternatives? Is this the reason you prefer Valiani?

Yes, it is one of the main reasons, but there are several other ones. The creasing equipment is far better, is more flexible, you can adjust the print heads on a level that is fixed. The pressure on the sheet is adjustable and you can make a library, the cutting and creasing tools are better.

So, is it more flexible for a wider range of application?

That’s it.

So the machine itself and the quality of the tools: we all know Italian engineering stands for them. But what about the other intangible items from Valiani: the support in installation, in training and then the post-sales support for the machines? How do you rate them in comparison with the alternative equipment?

If you compare this with the importation products I must say that they do their way of support absolutely.

But if you compare it to Valiani there are a lot of differences. We visited the fabrics in Italy, they came to us to give us the training several times and communication is good. But for me the most important thing is that a Valiani can be used for 15 or 20 years.

The cost of the machinery is higher but in the end this is not quite the case, because if you buy an import machinery, you will surely have to buy a new one after 5 years.

Arlo, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you!