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Sector: Print & Digital Media

Value of Grant requested (max 5000): 5000

SME Contribution to the project

(monetary or in kind) and value ofcontribution: 5000

Number of staff employed: 75

Annual Turnover: 6.3m

3: Details of Project

Please describe the work that you are

proposing to undertake in conjunction

with the Academic Partner:

UnitedPrint are in the process of acquiring various assets

from the receivers for BankruptPrint, with whom Napier

had a very successful KTP recently creating highquality

personalised print documents. They wish to exploit these

proven techniques for a more general corporate

marketplace, principally in marketing materials,

shareholder reporting and aftersales support

This project is to review the assets that have been

acquired in order to establish whether and how these can

be integrated with UnitedPrint existing systems, what

other components need to be procured or developed, and

what process and workflow needs to be defined to offer a

reliable and attractive service to the corporate market.

Since the original expert is no longer available, and the

BankruptPrint system, as was, was the integration of a

wide range of working practices, equipment and multiple

software vendors, there is a substantial task to document

the existing components, review UnitedPrint systems and

plan the integration, specifying additional

purchases/procurement/development

Please outline why you expect this

project to lead to a long term

relationship between the business and

the University. Please also outline the

value to be obtained from the

partnership on an ongoing basis:

UnitedPrint announced in 2008 that they were looking to

grow its turnover from a current figure of around 6.5m,

to 10m within the next three years, at least in part

through M&A activity. The assets they are acquiring from

BankruptPrints receivers will allow them to enter new

markets in personalised printing and realise several of the

business benefits originally established in the KTP with

BankruptPrint

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5: Impact and Route to Market:

Please indicate the commercialisation

process proposed for any new product,

process or service based on theoutcome of the work to be undertaken

with the University including the route

to market:

Once the capabilities of the acquired equipment and

software have been identified and their readiness forintegration into UnitedPrint IT and print systems, then a

further project, probably a KTP will be defined to create a

fully functioning business capability in personalised print

for the corporate sector, incorporating many of the

refinements planned in the originally proposed 2nd

KTP

with BankruptPrint. The KTP process would identify exact

mechanisms to exploit

Please indicate predicted follow on

activities:

Consultancy: KTP: 120,000

R & D Grant: SMART:

TSB Award: Other:

If Other please specify:

Please indicate predicted impacts of

the project and any resulting product,

process or service:

Estimated Value:

New Jobs: 150k (after a full KTP)

Safeguarded Jobs:

New products:

New processes:

New Services: 10,000 (with this project)

Please provide justification of the

predicted impacts: It is thought that a rudimentary service that could attract

a few early customers, can be established with the assets

proposed to be (or already) acquired by UnitedPrint, by

documentation of the systems and integration with

existing systems where this is possible.

A full KTP would take this further into a functional

business process with the impacts typical of KTP an

increase in turnover within 6 months of the end of the

project comparable to the total cost of the KTP, additional

staff recruited, further staff trained.

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6: Previous Grants and Funding:Please provide details of any funding

or grants that any related project has

attracted, including details of partners.

Please also indicate if any of this was

received as de minimis funding:

No previous collaborations with UnitedPrint. Previous

collaboration was with BankruptPrint

7: Evidence of Expertise

Please provide evidence of company

track record in the project area; this

may include previous work,

publications, other related grants to

the topic area and patents:

UnitedPrint are one of the country's leading print and

digital media companies. Our recent investments in state

of the art technology have allowed us to reduce

turnaround times and maintain our competitive pricing

without compromising our high standards. We offer a

complete managed solution from initial enquiry to storage

and distribution of the finished items.

Please provide evidence of academic

track record in the project area, this

may include previous work,

publications, other related grants to

the topic area and patents:

Academics worked on a related KTP and a BTP.

Lecturer in Publishing has been involved in Print on

Demand for almost 20 years. His career began as an

apprentice in colour print and with Napier he has

collaborated with Fuji, Heidelberg, Quark, Scotsman,

Landmark Press, as well as setting up a College of Printing

in Mauritius and advising the Pakistan government. Will

contribute knowledge of colour print and analysis of

specific target markets for PoD, both domestic and

business.