Inkjet & Digital Printing

Timsons and LEGO, a lasting cooperation

Monday 10. June 2013 - LegoPrint Spa was established in 1991 with the buyover of two different companies (Litovelox and L.E.T.) - formerly owned by an entrepreneur from Trento, and already in a state of composition with creditors.

Already in 1990, L.E.G.O. S.p.A. started cooperating to restore the companies, and the takeover started officially on October 1st, 1991 with the hiring of all the employees of the two companies. L.E.G.O. S.p.A., with the buyover, acquired the first book rotary press ever installed in Italy, in 1986, a Timsons T32. The restoring of the company has been achieved through actions involving financial, commercial and organizational aspects. Organizational changes have been characterized by an important development in technological investments and the creation of a managerial organization. The number of employees went from 36 in 1991 to 310 in 2009 and the sales volume from 3.2 million Euros in 1992 to 55 million in 2009.
The reasons of success are based on organizational flexibility – all the working cycle is conducted internally, allowing an extreme flexibility in programming the production – and the continuous technological evolution, which brought L.E.G.O. to install, first company in Italy and often in the whole Europe, all the new models of machines designed and built by Timsons Ltd. In fact, besides various T32 and T48, L.E.G.O. S.p.A. was the first to acquire, in 2003, the Timsons T48 ZMR, able to start production with reduced make-ready copies in two colours and with zero make-ready in single colour; in 2006, the Timsons press T14/2, for a high quality 2 colours print and above all, in 2008, LEGO is the first printer in the world to install the T14/4, to print in four-colours or two-colours with zero make-ready.
Today
With more than 10 Timsons presses installed in the headquarters in Lavis (TN), the cooperation between LEGO and Timsons today continues and renews with the purchase and installation of the latest technological innovation of Timsons T14/4. The technological innovation, the continuous discussion and development carried out with LEGO has allowed Timsons to supply a machine able to impose new standards in the industry. The improved quality of print and the possibility to print runs of 500 to 50.000 copies perfectly matches the actual market. The new press has two folders which cut the circumference respectively in 3 and 4 parts.
New Investment
The object of the investment is a T14 at 4/4 colours, whose value, including the supply of water, electricity and constructions, is of several million Euros. “After a few years of stop, the group decided to face such an investment, forecasting growth in education, law and religious book markets – says Giulio Olivotto, president of the group. “In this moment, we are already present in these sectors, but we cannot satisfy all the requests from the clients, and are even refusing some orders. The markets in which are interested are France, Holland, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, USA and, in part, Italy. The newly installed press will work aside another T14/4 press, in function since 2009, which in the last year has produced sales volumes for 13.5 million Euros in 8000 hours of work. The capacity of production of the new press is already filled until next October. The advantages of this investment can be summed up as follows:
– The school book market has characteristics which perfectly match the other markets in which we operate, because it has a seasonal production which is the opposite of the general one.
– The presence on several markets allows us a continuity of orders which cannot be found with other products, as the beginning of the school period changes from Country to Country. The technology used by our competitors is often out of date and non efficient: they often use sheetfed machines, where you print one side at the time and the folder is not in line.
– Moreover, for a few years, we have been witnessing an increasing pressure to reduce the weight of books. This means reducing the weight of text paper. This will lead to a higher advantage of the rotary press technology over sheetfed machines.”
The rotary press Timsons T14/4 uses a technology superior to other press machines dedicated to the aforementioned sectors. With the change and start of 8 plates in a few minutes, or zero make-ready when the machine is used with 2 colours. Sheetfed machines today require 20-30 minutes for the change and start of 4 plates. Moreover, rotary presses, unlike sheetfed machines, guarantee the flexibility to use papers with various thickness levels, and a quality level comparable with the one of the sheetfed machines for this kind of product. These characteristics, together with the speed of production (20.000 signatures per hour versus 4.000/6.000 signatures) are decisive in a market where editors are reducing their stock levels and, as a consequence, the production. The low costs of plate changing are vital to remain competitive. The competition of the electronic book in the school sector, for now, is not a reason to worry. A study recently carried out in Germany and South Korea has shown that students using paperless technology have 25% lower results than the ones in traditional classes.”
Sales volume forecasts of the newly installed machine:
2013: 4.000.000 Euros; 2014: 9.000.000 Euros 2015: 12.000.000 Euros
Additional information – LEGO
The company led by Giulio Olivotto was founded in 1900. At the beginning of the XX century Pietro Olivotto, after having started to work in a bookbinder’s, decides to start working on his own and starts the company. At the end of ’40ies, under the lead of Giovanni, the company employed already 150 persons.
1956-1958: the company moves to the headquarters where it still resides.
1973: LEGO, led by Pietro, surpasses 1000 employees, and becomes the first bookbinder in Italy, and among the leaders in Europe. It starts working beyond the national barriers.
90ies: LEGO buys out two of its print suppliers, Legoprint (Lavis) and Eurografica (Marano), becoming one of the leader operators, with a complete offer from pre-print to delivery.
2006: some functions are centralized to better answer the market needs and reduce costs.
2007: merge of all companies into a single one.
1 January 2008: All previous companies are incorporated into LEGO spa, which operates with 3 headquarters in Vicenza, Lavis (ex LegoPrint) and Marano (ex Eurografica), Sales volumes for 100 million euros (70% generated abroad) and 750 employees. It is the 4th largest Italian company in graphics, but the first if we consider the book-market only. Two generations lead the company: Giulio Olivotto and the sons Rosa and Giovanni.