Share of Finished Products is growing

(NPES International E-commerce Website, August 15, 2008) Rieker Druckveredelung in Leinfelden near Stuttgart is a fourth generation family company with 30 employees. Products among other things: Finishing film lamination, structured stamping, special coatings, UV offset and effect pigments. Ralph C. Riekar, born 1964 and a graduate in print engineering of FH Stuttgart, is the Managing shareholder.

drupa technology guide: How do you view the market for print finishing in Germany? Ralph C. Rieker: Finishing is in great demand in all areas of the printing industry and, with inline solutions, the share of finished products is constantly growing and in many cases has already become the norm. As finishing specialists, we are very much a part of this increasing demand.

drupa technology guide: What are your customers looking for and demanding in this area?
Ralph C. Rieker: Flexibility and speed combined with a broad spectrum of finishing capabilities are expected. The ability to implement in practice what a customer is looking for in terms of protection, function or effect in such a way as to create fine, individual products. Abrasion resistant matt films, structured or relief coatings are examples of this. For us, as a supplier of out-sourced services to printers, matching the finishing possibilities of printing to our finishing capabilities is an increasingly important factor in quality and success.

drupa technology guide: What has the impact of this been on your company? Where are you particularly looking to invest in the near future?
Ralph C. Rieker: Specific finishing effects, process technology and consumables have to be matched and possibly modified in conjunction with the suppliers. Increasingly, there is a desire for the integration of the finisher into the workflow, from the idea to the finished product. When investing, we particularly took for energy-saving systems and optimized system components for existing technology in order to save materials.