Jacky's breaks into Pakistan digital printing market

The sale, to Lahore-based printing house, Astrosigns, is suggestive of the evolutionary growth of the sign and digital printing industry in Pakistan, said Ashish Panjabi, General Manager, Jacky's Gulf FZE. "The Pakistani market has changed greatly over the last few years and specifically in the last two years when we have seen a transition from traditional hand-painted signs to digitally-printed signs," he said.

He added that in line with the growth opportunities envisaged in that country and a commitment to better service, Jacky's, which represents Blaze Printing throughout the GCC and Pakistan, has appointed a Pakistan-based engineer to support customer requirements in Pakistan. This is in addition to the full-fledged service and support team that Jacky's has in Dubai.

The super-wide format SAHARAjet printing system is designed to print applications such as outdoor billboards, vehicle graphics, shop signs, POP displays, bridge graphics, exhibition graphics - wherever superwide format prints are required. In countries like Pakistan, opportunities have been growing due to the widespread use of outdoor advertising by major companies in the FMCG, tobacco, financial services, telecommunications and oil sector.

Astrosigns' new acquisition has led to it securing a major contract for the printing of new signs for PCOs in Pakistan, said Khurram Azhar, Managing Director, Astrosigns. "Buying the SAHARAjet is a good investment and I definitely feel that, given the way the outdoor advertising industry is developing in Pakistan, there will be many more contracts."

"Using Blaze's printing systems, over the long-term, gives customers a cost edge over their competitors, and they can look forward to a rapid return on investment," said Karl Feil, Regional Sales Manager, Blaze Printing BV. Among the other Blaze printing systems Jacky's distributes in the Gulf region and Pakistan is the high-performance, 5.0 metre superwide format, six-colour digital printer, Blaze XLjet.

Blaze Printing, meanwhile, also recently announced its inroad into new markets such as Iran and Saudi Arabia where they have recently installed the SAHARAjet. With rapid growth of the digital printing industry throughout the region, Blaze has recently hired their own service engineer to service distributors and customers in the Middle East.