Finishing & Screen Printing
Marylock: Serving the foil stamping industry for 10 years
Wednesday 28. May 2008 - Marylock is a registered trademark which is well-known and respected in Russia and all former Soviet republics.
What is Marylocks story? Why is there a gear wheel on the logo?
We decided to set up the company in 1998-1999, right after the governmental collapse in Russia. Due to our previous experience we established a company for serving the printers who started developing after the crisis, offering them used post-press machinery from Europe.
The print industry was just beginning to establish itself and the printers could not spend much money to buy new presses or cutters. Our business model was right at the time and Marylock provided many of the print-shops with the foil stamping and die-cutting presses of European quality at reasonable prices.
When we started to offer etching machines to our Russian customers, the next logical step was to set up our own stamping dies manufacturing plant. We had to launch our etching lab, first to demonstrate the equipment and then to produce dies for our customers.
I remember that we spent a lot of time working out our own procedures for etching because the imported chemical additives did not work correctly with the domestic components. However we overcame all the problems, trained our personnel and provided our customers with high quality stamping dies.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our U.S. & E.U. partners who assisted us with specialist etching advice and support since the launch of our production to make it work.
As for the logo – its a funny story. We had to make up a logo for our company to insert it in our company blanks as soon as possible. With typical self belief and confidence I read a book about CorelDraw and did the best I could – using a monochrome notebook with no mouse.
Of course, later we invited a professional designer to create our corporate style but the main idea remained unchanged.
So you have set up your own die production facility. Could you give our readers a view on present Marylocks structure?
Initially our company focused on production in Moscow. The idea was to link closely to all railroads and transport companies. This allowed Marylock to offer the delivery time all over Russia and the former Soviet republics within 2-3 days – there was no competition at that time.
Our next production facility was established in Saint-Petersburg, the second largest city and the center for the North-Western region. This division strengthened our presence in the market and guaranteed our regional customers the best production delivery speed.
Now we are also represented in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus and we are going to grow further. Nevertheless, lots of our customers are located in Armenia, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Turkmenistan and other states.
What is Marylocks intention now for the foil stamping industry of Russia and the CIS?
With our experience and expertise in foil stamping we at Marylock now offer high quality stamping dies made of magnesium, copper and brass, foil stamping presses of all sizes, spare parts and technical service, pigment and metallic stamping foils, adhesive tapes and make-ready materials, all accessories – everything you need if you are a foil stamper.
Stage by stage we carefully selected items for our product line to give our customers best offer. Thats why our motto is All For Stamping .
Although many companies sell foils or make dies Marylock is the only foil stamping specialized supplier in Russia.
What is DRUPA for you? What do you want to show us?
First and foremost we are a die manufacturer and DRUPA 2008 gives us a chance to show what we do, to promote our quality and to exhibit new products. Marylock is a fast growing and customer oriented company and to show this we will demonstrate our new ideas of what dies can be like. We welcome you at the DRUPA in the Hall 07 Stand 72D42.
In addition I will greeting my Russian customers at the Gietz stand and very much appreciate the welcome extended to us and our customers. I am really proud to present the advanced technologies of the FSA 1060 Foil Commander with Smart Register by Gietz and the Die-Coordinator by Insight Graphic Systems to professionals from Russia and the former Soviet republics.
Have you got a brief definition for the current Russian market?
The Russian printing market is now very competitive – all niches are filled out and it means that the opportunity for direct entry from outside is long gone. There is only one way to work in Russia now – find a reliable partner or buy a share in the local operator.
The situation in Europe is the same and we are looking for partnership and open for contacts. We are young, (an average age in the company of 30) and most of us have university degrees. The Marylock team is enthusiastic, inspired and focused on the further success.
Is there any foil stamping community in Russia?
In the foil stamping market all the players regularly meet each other, even competitors and finally we have formed a foundation of the Assotsiatsia Tisnenia i Gravirovki (ATG) – currently the only officially registered Russian community for hot foil stamping market development. The year 2008 united competitors and gave the Russian foil stamping market a chance to grow faster and promote foil stamping ideas among our customers. As a chairman of the ATG I plan to set up the first landmarks of the future Russian foil stamping market.
You mentioned your partners – no doubt you have them all over the world. Who are they and what are your relations?
For years we proved to be a responsible and reliable partner for the companies we work with. We appreciate their trust in us and their helpful support in our business. The names of our partners are well-known in the world market and we maintain the same level of service quality for our customers as they might expect from Gietz (Switzerland), Insight Graphic Systems (Scotland), Sterling Toggle (USA), Therm-O-Type (USA), Stoma (Germany), Inramik (Spain), Nakai (Japan) and many others.
We save your time.