Holly starts her new role as Business Development Manager at Integration Technology
Tell us a bit about your career in Print ?
I started out in the lab at what was then Fujifilm Sericol, at this time the focus was on UV graphics ink development, but I started in the industrial group and later moved on to OEM projects. My next step was on the machine manufacturing side where I worked for Industrial Inkjet Ltd. There it was a whirlwind for me through the world of industrial single pass printing, back then it had a start-up feel and was all hands to the pump, but it was one of the greatest learning curves in my career. My move to Germany meant developing further, learning a new language and being part of building a new company, indujet that remains successful ink manufacturer. The last three years I have been working at Marabu, responsible for UV Digital Products, which has taken me all round the world and covering every printing application thinkable.
An 'English women' in Germany - what do see as the big cultural differences?
When I first moved to Germany my new colleagues were intrigued about me to say the least, it was unusual that I had moved alone with my children to Germany to take on such a challenging position. But they respected me and always supported me. In Germany men and women are equal and you are respected as a professional woman. But it is not always easy to have a career and family as there is still some stigma about being a career woman especially if you have children. Also, the childcare structure is not in place for both parents to have a full-on career, therefore often the women take a part time or less demanding role even if they do not necessary want this. My mentor at Marabu always encouraged me to forget that I was a woman and that I should not let it prevent me in my career path. I think this is a perfect point, sometimes as a woman we can doubt ourselves or put barriers up against our career as we are more concerned than men about how we are perceived.
What is your view of the Print industry at the moment, What are the challenges for the future?
The print industry is full of creative individuals, but is also consumer and trend driven, this combination makes it one of the most interesting and ever evolving industries I have worked in. The biggest challenge I see, particularly in digital applications, is technology timings. For example, you need all the complex components of a digital printing system to be at the correct technology level to enable a print to be acceptable for the application. It is at this point that applications get past the test phase, or pilot lines and become products on shelves or real objects that we use daily. One example of this is printing on 3D objects/products, here still there are same limitations on what type can be printed because of the dimensions of the parts. Here we need a technology catch up, it could be printheads throw distance or software developments.
What do you expect to see at DRUPA next year that will excite the market ?
For sure one of the hot topics will be packaging, for some it may not seem a glamorous topic, but certainly for digital there has been a huge invest in this area in recent years, which has been dependant on mainly the continued improvement of waterbased digital inks. But this is an important area of development as these inks are needed for sensitive applications and for sure the time has come for the return on invest from this area. As a UV and UV LED supplier an interesting area that I expect to see increased activity is functional printing and automation which has increased due to the continued industrialisation. Here UV inks are a clear focus still due to the robustness, application range and ease of integration. Drupa have made it clear this is a focus area, but we will see if the visitor profiles represent this.
So a new role at Integration Technology, what will you be doing?
My role is Business Development Manager, which is a broad and varied role, but my focus will be on looking towards the future and finding new strategic business and application areas. UV and UV LED applications are not just confined to printing and Integration Technology are a strong technical orientated company with the ability to develop technology, products and solutions for a range of curing applications, in a timely manner. I will be making sure the potential partners know who we are and what we have to offer as a solution provider.
This is an exciting opportunity for you and an interesting development in your career, what can your experience bring to the table?
Yes, it is an exciting time, Integration Technology for me is a company I have known since I started in the printing industry, it is and always has been an industry leader in that area when it comes to UV technology. But now we are in a new development phase with the recently appointed MD Simon Roberts, developments in new applications and the cooperation with our Mother company IST Metz, there is the opportunity to become the leading UV supplier for new applications. How I fit into that, is coming from both an ink/coating and engineering background I will be able to tackle these new application areas and support the development to bring these projects to end systems and business. I am passionate about the printing and industrial application industry and not afraid of the challenge and hard work it requires, and I am confident that Integration Technology have the expertise to provide the solutions.
