Text and image: Paul Fischer, swiss print + communication, and Flyerline AG

Flyerline Schweiz AG is regarded as the online printing company in Switzerland. In the beginning, printed materials were purchased, but later the company itself became an efficient, industrial print shop with 65 employees today. Over ten years ago, the company invested in an industrial 70×100 sheetfed offset press, and now, following the commissioning of the second HP Indigo B2 digital press, offset printing is history. swiss print + communication spoke to company founder and "re-owner" Steﬀen Tomasi about his company, its future and why HP Indigo builds the best B2 digital presses.

It's one of the most exciting stories in the graphic arts industry in Switzerland anyway. Steffen Tomasi, once a marketer for the music industry, was simply dissatisfied with the price level of printed matter for this sector. He realized that better conditions could be achieved with gang form productions. In 2002, he founded his own company to handle this. Initially working with subcontractors, he soon invested in industrial printing technologies himself. This did not make him very popular in the printing industry. Steffen Tomasi: "There were times when I received hate mail from print shop owners." But after more than two decades in the company's history, one thing is clear: he was never interested in "destroying" the printing industry. Rather, he was always fascinated by the printing business. However, he did not see the preservation of existing structures as his business model, but rather the search for opportunities, innovations and new market areas. It was therefore somewhat surprising when he sold his company to the Wipf Group in 2016 and continued to work as Managing Director. The story then took quite a turn: in 2023, he bought back Flyerline Schweiz AG and, as we know from him, he is once again going full throttle. The news that offset printing has now been replaced by the commissioning of the second HP Indigo 100k is of course exciting from an industry perspective, but it is just one piece of the puzzle in a comprehensive forward strategy.

Flyerline is different

When it comes to Flyerline Schweiz AG, there are often misconceptions about the company from Altnau. The first misconception is that even though Flyerline offers "normal" commercial print products such as flyers, it is not a traditional commercial printing company. Steffen Tomasi has been pursuing a clear focus strategy for years with three main pillars: high-quality printed matter, advertising technology and packaging. The investment policy has been and continues to be pursued accordingly. Specialized production lines can be found in Altnau, which enable the company to cover the entire value creation of all pillars in-house. This also distinguishes Flyerline Schweiz AG from a "conventional" online print shop, which primarily relies on the principle of industrial mass production. Yes, the company's origins were in the flyer business and it relied on collectible forms, but Steffen Tomasi quickly realized that you can only be successful from Switzerland with high-quality and specialized products and services and not with the cheapest ones. Steffen Tomasi: "The model pursued by German online providers, for example, was and is never feasible in the Swiss market, which is still divided into three language regions, simply because of the print volumes."

The chosen strategy was also pursued after the sale to the Wipf Group. When asked why he bought the company back in 2023, Steffen Tomasi replies: "Both sides realized that we could not develop Flyerline Schweiz AG in the existing constellation as the market required." With his return as owner, he can now implement the planned sharpening of the profile:

The online range of Flyerline Schweiz AG, which includes over 400 standard products from the categories of printed matter, packaging and advertising technology, is to be continuously developed.
Flyerline Schweiz AG promotes individual customer care and product development and offers customized solutions for all print products in addition to the standard online range.
Individual store solutions for the efficient procurement of print products (Web2Print solutions) have been developed and continuously optimized for customers for over 20 years
Targeted investments should enable greater efficiency and agility.

This background makes it clear why Flyerline Schweiz AG has invested in a second HP Indigo 100k.

Market radicalism

Steffen Tomasi states: "I like figures and analyzing figures, which is why I know exactly how our company has changed due to market developments since 2002." In general, there is a trend towards smaller, more needs-oriented print runs. Print runs are falling, orders are rising. When asked how exactly the situation has developed, Steffen Tomas hesitates for a moment before answering: "We have to be careful what we talk about. Are we talking about advertising technology, packaging or commercial printing? These are different markets with different trends and market changes. That's why my statement has to be clearly defined in the context of commercial print products. When we started with gang forms, we were able to produce more cheaply. We produced in fixed batches of 10,000 or 7500 copies. If the customer wanted 8,000 copies, for example, we produced them in a 10,000-copy production batch. The unused 2000 copies were then often thrown away at the customer's request. When we bought the 70×100 sheet-fed offset press back then, the main production batches were already at 5000 and 7500 copies. Even then, I predicted that print runs would continue to fall and individualization would become increasingly important - making offset obsolete for us, and I was right. Today, 2500 copies is already a large print run for "standard products". The focus is very much on demand-oriented printing. Customers want the exact number of copies; no one accepts saying: "We'll print a larger production batch for you than you need, then we'll simply throw away the printed matter we don't need". At the same time, the demand for individual solutions is increasing enormously. "This is a trend that we are seeing not only in commercial printing, but also in packaging and advertising technology. It's this mix of different customer needs that we simply can no longer cover with analog offset printing. The market has changed radically and this will continue. We have always anticipated market developments, and accordingly the second HP Indigo 100k came to replace our offset machines. In the poster sector, we are relying on a new generation of high-performance digital printing systems, and in packaging we have just installed a large, fully automated folding carton production system that enables us to meet individual customer requirements end-to-end."

HP Indigo 100K

Flyerline Schweiz AG has been using B2 sheetfed presses from HP Indigo for almost ten years. In 2021, it was one of the first users worldwide to invest in an HP Indigo 100k. The second machine was added in the spring of this year. Both machines are to be upgraded to the HP Indigo 120k standard by the end of this year.

Why does Flyerline Schweiz AG rely unconditionally on B2 machines from HP Indigo, even though many in the industry doubt the added value of the format and point to the allegedly excessive costs? Steffen Tomasi: "To all those who say that B2 digital printing doesn't bring any added value, I say: why not? The high costs are wrong. As I said, I know our figures very well and when I look at the productivity and the costs per square meter, the HP Indigo 100k is top! The machine gives me everything I need and I can work more economically with it than with the previous solutions. These are not gut feelings, but can be backed up by figures. Fundamental debates and assessments about the alleged advantages or disadvantages of formats have nothing to do with reality. Instead, I have to ask myself the question first: What do I need the machine for? We use the two HP Indigo 100k machines for many things: Brochures, posters, business cards, packaging. We can easily process cardboard with a basis weight of 400 g/m² on the machine. I refer to the two machines as our egg-laying woolly milk sows. Without these machines, we would not be able to expand our packaging printing range as much as we are doing now. So I come back to the question I always ask: What do I need the machines for? We have replaced a 70×100 and a 30×50 sheetfed offset press with the second HP Indigo 100k. But that's not the main reason why we invested in this technology. Today, they are simply the only solutions with which we can implement our company strategy in the area of high-quality printed matter and packaging, fully customized, fully flexible, with an eye on future market developments. I understand that a commercial printer who is looking for a 1:1 replacement for his offset press used in the pure commercial printing business may not be able to do so much with a B2 digital press. But is that the right way to go?"

B2 digital printing - what next?

Steffen Tomasi "swears by" his HP Indigos 100k. What makes the systems stand out? In a way that is typical for him, Steffen Tomasi sums it up like this: "They have it completely under control like no other. HP Indigo has been offering B2 digital presses for over a decade now, and you can just feel the enormous advantage in experience they have gained. The HP Indigo 100k was and is another big step forward. When we went to the technology center in Barcelona in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, we were promised 30 percent more productivity. I'm always skeptical and thought: just a little bit. But when the machine started working for us, it proved to be completely true. I know it sounds a bit strange when Tomasi says something like that, but I'm thrilled! At the same time, I would like to praise the CHROMOS Group, their service and support is highly professional. Of course, we don't just rely on this external help. We keep all our operators at the highest possible level of training and qualification so that we can do a lot of the servicing and maintenance ourselves. This applies not only to the Indigos, but to all production departments." And what are the benefits of upgrading to the 120K standard at the end of the year? Steffen Tomasi: "The modularity and the possibility of updating existing machines to the latest technological standard is an important success factor for HP Indigo. With 120K, the main focus is on the smart use of AI. This makes the machine even more productive, reduces downtimes and automates processes."

In view of the hymn to the qualities of HP Indigo, especially in the B2 format, is this competitive advantage not being called into question in view of further new launches in this segment at Drupa 2024? Steffen Tomasi: "Now I have to be very careful what I say. Yes, it's true that there are more and more suppliers pushing into the B2 digital printing segment. You can see exciting technological approaches and interesting solutions. But when I look at the overall package, HP Indigo is still clearly ahead. I don't think that will change that much in the near future."

One last question for Steffen Tomasi, one of the "eloquent ones" in the industry: in his opinion, what should graphic companies do when it comes to new investments in industrial production equipment? Steffen Tomas: "Most replace an existing solution and only think in terms of a replacement investment. However, they should always ask themselves the following question: What do I actually want with the new machine? If I replace something that already exists with a new investment that only continues what already exists, my company will not develop any further. But if I don't continue to develop my company in a market that is constantly changing, how can I survive in the long term?"

This article was published in September 2024 in the trade journal swiss print+communication