Jan-Michael Sieg
2013 marks 25 years since the German remanufacturer was established, with the company continuing to be optimistic about the future.
Stating that constant investment in high product quality and optimised manufacturing processes are “without doubt” the driving force behind the company’s success, KMP Print Technik AG is gearing up to celebrate its 25th year in the industry, with the company recently investing in new warehouse software, doubling its logistical capacity at its production facility in Ckyne, Czech Republic and concentrating its empty product collection centre there to further automate the process and directly integrate it with its toner manufacturing.
“Standing still is to go backwards,” Jan-Michael Sieg, Managing Director of KMP said. “You have to evolve continually in order to remain competitive.”
KMP has grown significantly since its founding in 1988, with a current workforce of 600 in nine fully-owned subsidiaries in nine countries, and sales revenues of €85 million ($113.5 million) according to 2011 figures, which is expected to have increased by “well over five percent” for 2012. KMP states that its growth is mainly a result of its export business: “In our market, you can only grow by squeezing someone else out,” said Jan-Michael Sieg. “The strong growth in our export business is driven in particular by the high quality and the good cost-performance ratio of our products.”
Ensuring its products are of high quality is said to be a priority of the company in order to compete against “cut-price Asian goods” and toners which violate patents; with Heinz G. Sieg, Founder of KMP, commenting: “There are three reasons why we have grown to our current position: firstly, it is the result of our unwavering quality strategy, secondly, we have never lost sight of the needs of our customers, and only then, in third place is price a consideration. We’ve never been the cheapjack.”
Describing the issue of toner clones as “very dicey”, Jan-Michael Sieg said: “Whatever the OEMs do about it will not be enough. In the end, HP and Co. are now losing much bigger market shares to the clones than to all of the serious recyclers put together.” He added that “ETIRA ought to be established as a quality brand of its own”, although it would require more restrictive regulations in accepting new members and tougher penalties for “black sheep” among its members.