the source
As a provider of UV coating services, we were uniquely positioned to hear what our printing customers were looking for if they were to purchase a UV coater.
Branching Out Gala Equipment goes beyond the call of print duty Photography: Mark Taylor
W
ith more than 25 years in printing, George Gadzik and Zarir “Zee” Lakdawalla have seen it all. From the prosperous years when the Valley economy was booming to the more challenging times, like the present, when competition is stiff and new projects are hard to come by. It’s those challenging times, however, that Gala has found itself in a very good position. With an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” mentality, Gadzik and Lakdawalla have created an offshoot of Gala Coating & Binding Ltd. called Gala Equipment. The pair has entered the realm of post-press printing equipment sales, now offering UV coaters geared for the small- to mediumsized businesses that have fast-turn and short-run services. The journey began at the end of 2004 when Gadzik sold a printing company in Mesa and began looking for opportunities to leverage his skills and talents. “UV coating was coming on strong at
the time, so I started Gala as an alternative bindery specializing in UV coating, especially digital UV coating,” he says. “Zee had worked with me for 19 years at my previous company, so we decided to join together for this new venture.” According to Gadzik, Gala Coating & Binding pioneered the process of UV coating over digital printing for the local print market. Six months after, the local big source closed, bringing a flood of business. Over the next year, the company added UV spot coating and perfect binding. “We specialize in the short run, quickturn market in whatever services we offer. When printers want something, they want it now because that’s what their customers are demanding of them,” says Gadzik. As the company continued to see its volume grow, it began to investigate the purchase of an additional UV coater. It balked at the high prices that were being asked for the equipment and began to research building its own.
“In that process, we saw a movement of larger volume printers putting in UV coating equipment as their needs increased. So instead of adding a new machine, we looked at selling UV coaters instead,” he says. The pair found a partner in Asia and worked 18 months to co-design a unit that they could sell and in February 2008, Gala Equipment was born. Currently, the company offers four key pieces of equipment: three roller coater models and high-speed UV spot coating cylinder presses. The ultra-small 18” UV roller coater, which is also available in a medium format 26” size, features a reverse spin metering roller for a smoother coating surface, 30-square-foot footprint, and an IR pretreat system for hard-to-cure sheets. The high-speed cylinder presses are especially made for spot coat, screen print applications requiring precise registration, sharp crisp edges, and excellent registration at speeds of 600 to 3,600 sheets per hour. “Our goal is to provide quality postpress printing equipment at reasonable prices,” says Gadzik, adding that their units are currently installed in Connecticut, South Carolina, Texas and Idaho. “We also have strong interest from dealers who want to sell our products outside of the U.S.” According to Gadzik, there are five or six UV coating suppliers in the U.S., most of whom are selling their equipment for $30,000 or more. “Our UV coating line starts at $6,000. We’re uniquely positioned to maintain that competitive edge,” he says. “Our sales are up from last year and my expectation is that we will end this year very strong, maybe even 50 percent ahead of last year’s sales. If we keep on that track, it’ll be fun to see what sales will be in 2010.” Contact: Gala Equipment 480.505.1850 + galaequipment.com
process
fall 2009
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