Atlantic Zeiser Division
In 2010 Atlantic Zeiser reported an 18% increase in sales revenues expressed in euros (9% in CHF) compared with the previous year. Uncertainty continued to be a dominant feature of the capital goods markets, especially for card systems and digital printing solutions. The operating loss was reduced to CHF 0.9 million (CHF 4.4 million in 2009). Excluding extraordinary expenses, positive operating earnings of CHF 1.0 million would have been posted. However, progress at the operating level and in the marketing of new products was slower than expected. Atlantic Zeiser reduced costs through selective short-time working and did not need to make any further cuts in its core workforce.
The business trend in the banknote and security printing systems sector was positive throughout the year. Good levels of orders in hand and greater demand for numbering system solutions resulted in higher sales revenues at Atlantic Zeiser in this sector compared with the previous year.
The card systems business suffered from a declining market trend. Atlantic Zeiser continues to face challenges in this sector, since core markets are likely to recover only slowly and new market segments will have to be developed.
In the sector of digital printing systems for industrial applications the expansion of the distribution and dealer network contributed to an increase in new orders and sales. Overall growth in sales of modules and of integrated systems for marking with industrial digital printing continued. The growth potential of this sector is promising.
Events:
In the year under review Atlantic Zeiser made strategically important additions to its product portfolio with in-house developments. For example, new digital printing modules were incorporated in printing systems for revenue stamps and security documents in 2010. The acquisition of assets of the former Böwe Cardtec with effect from 1 October 2010 provided Atlantic Zeiser with a foothold in new segments of the card personalisation sector. At Cartes 2010, the largest trade fair for card personalisation, the Persoline, a machine for the high-speed personalisation of ID cards, and Persomail, a solution for the individualised mailing of cards, as well as software platform PMP by Cardtech for secure data management, were the focus of interest.
With the acquisition of SOFHA GmbH in January 2010 Atlantic Zeiser has at its disposal an in-house development for processing a PDF workflow in industrial digital printing. Although the PDF workflow is increasingly becoming the industrial standard, also for individualised digital printing, these capabilities still amount to a unique selling proposition. At IPEX 2010, one of the major global printing trade fairs, Atlantic Zeiser exhibited the Gamma digital printer for four-colour printing and the Delta grey-scale printer models. The system solutions have been standardised under the Digiline brand name. Atlantic Zeiser thus now supplies preconfigured industrial solutions for individualising products as well as systems for personalising security documents. Atlantic Zeiser supplied systems to prominent companies in the pharmaceutical industry in 2010 under the “Late Stage Customization” heading. These involve the printing of packaging with high print quality at the latest possible stage within existing production processes. This technology helps users to achieve significant reductions in process costs.