Matset A.Ş.'s new Ankara Regional Manager Cüneyt Özbal

04.03.2021

• “HP PWP T240 will prove itself in the book printing market”

• “HP PWP T240 digital web printing machine offers a new solution in the field of book, magazine, catalog, insert and commercial printing applications with high print quality, online color control and correction.”

Matset A.Ş.'s new Ankara Regional Manager, Cüneyt Özbal, an experienced name in the industry, answered our questions about his new position and Öz Baran Ofset's HP PageWide T240 investment.< /span>

“We have hope of achieving success in our region with Lombardi flexo printing systems”

• We congratulate you on your new position and hope it will contribute to the industry, Matset, you and your family. You took on the duty of Matset's Ankara Regional Manager. What does your area of ​​responsibility cover and which products do you think will stand out in your region?

Thank you very much. I have been in the printing industry since 2003. Apart from selling printing machinery and materials, I also worked in cardboard packaging production activities. I think I have a lot to learn in the dynamically developing printing industry. I hope my experiences will contribute to the Matset family and our customers, I wish everyone the best.

Our area of ​​responsibility covers the Central, Eastern, Southeastern, Black Sea and eastern provinces of the Mediterranean. I think that in these regions, our Alfa and Agfa consumables and CtP solutions, as well as HP digital web printing, HP Indigo digital offset printing systems and ABG label finishing machines capable of printing sheets, roll-to-roll labels and packaging, will stand out. The fact that Italian Lombardi flexo printing machines, with which a representation agreement was signed in 2019, has been accepted by the industry with 4 installations in a short time, gives hope that we can achieve success in our region with this brand. In addition to all these, I believe that our representation agreement with Kornit Digital, the global brand of digital textile printing solutions, will open new horizons for us in a different printing sector.

• You worked on both the supply and production sides of the industry and spent your working life mainly in Ankara. You know the city and the regions it interacts with closely. What are the dynamics of the region?

As it is known, Ankara has developed itself considerably in book publishing and commercial printing. However, when we look at the last 20 years, commercial printing jobs continue to shrink in both volume and circulation due to the untraceable momentum of the digital world. Many printing houses have identified this contraction long ago and have started to research into different printing fields such as packaging. As far as I have observed, the number of companies making progress in this direction is very small compared to the total number of printing houses in Ankara. Of course, the reasons for this can be discussed from different perspectives, but as a result, it is thought-provoking that Ankara remains slower in these markets while Turkey is on its way to becoming the flexible packaging production center of Europe with its export success or the annual production volume of cardboard packaging and corrugated cardboard is increasing significantly.

The provinces where I have observed progress in flexible, cardboard packaging and corrugated cardboard are Konya, Kayseri, Adana and Gaziantep, without ranking them in scale. The main reason for this is that there are more companies operating in areas such as food, furniture and textiles that demand flexible, cardboard packaging and corrugated cardboard in these regions. I think that when general stability is achieved in the neighboring countries on the Southeastern and Eastern Anatolian borders, there will be a rapid jump in printed packaging activities as well as in all sectors in our border provinces.

“Some common problems continue for everyone”

• Pandemic d