During the course of Q2 2019, we managed to get a major contract. SC newsprint Norsc Lite (from Norske Skog Saugbrugs) started being used for printing the leaflets of the Polish supermarket Biedronka (“ladybird”). The leaflets are printed in the largest and most modern Polish offset printer Quad/Graphics in Wyszków.
The beginnings weren’t easy, but our representatives set off to the site to define and solve any initial issues. A meeting was held at the Quad/Graphics printing house on 13 August 2019 in the presence of Simon Papworth (Technical Customer Service – Norske Skog Saugbrugs), Anna Długaszewska (Bjornberg 1781 – Poland) and Martin Štembera (Bjornberg 1781). Our partners in the meeting were the various representatives of the printing house involving the areas of goods ordering, logistics, quality control, and invoicing.
For Simon and Martin, it was the first time at this huge printing house, therefore, they were happy to attend a guided tour of the plant. Its 15 offset printing machines in a single hall were very impressive. Older machines form a part of the machinery as well as the most modern printing machines produced by various manufacturers (Man-Roland, Heidelberg, Goss, KBA). Even Biedronka’s leaflets are printed on the most modern Man-Roland printing machine. The speed of the machine is 50,000 copies per hour. The higher the speed, the higher the demands on the paper quality.
The meeting was satisfactory even beyond its formal purpose – the people who had only been emailing to each other finally met in person. Many more issues were dealt with, which would have been difficult by mail. Martin summarises his impressions: “It’s the largest printing house I’ve ever seen. All the machines in a single hall are very impressive. Their colourful pipes for ink drawing from the warehouse to the machines made the visualisation clear. The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, we were even taken to the business partners’ canteen for lunch. Unfortunately, the lunch hour was over, but the staff took care of us anyway. It was the first time I had a schnitzel with curry rice and chickpea.”