Signed earlier this month, the deal allows Komori to sell all of Highcon’s product line in the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands, with the option to extend beyond these four countries depending on sales success.

An agreement was initially settled upon between the two manufacturers at Drupa to sell to the Japanese and US markets, and Komori marketing manager Peter Minis said it was the success of this agreement that had led to the extension to Europe. Komori also signalled its intention to move further into the post-press market at the Düsseldorf expo with the launch of its Apressia CT 137 programmable guillotine, along with a raft of other products.

“Our collaboration with Highcon is the first step in expanding our finishing department,” said Minis.

“We see there is an incredible overlap in the philosophy of the companies but also because we are making more and more print work that requires individual finishing, especially with the Impremia. We see this as having a big benefit of having the Highcon machines this close to our other equipment. 

“There is also quite an interest in the applications we create, really nice print work on the offset presses, and we want to inspire customers to see what they can do with all this print work. An expense towards this [Highcon] equipment will help get this message across.”

Jens Henrik Osmundsen, Highcon’s global sales vice president, said he was proud to have joined with Komori, saying the manufacturer “understands the true value our technology can bring to their customers”.

Komori is now in the process of installing a Highcon Euclid III digital cutting and creasing machine at its Utrecht showroom in order to support the partnership, which will be exhibited at an open house on 4 to 5 October.

“I think the Euclid will be one of the most suitable models for our customer base, all the applications look really beautiful coming off it and we can’t wait to show this at our open house,” added Minis.

“The total philosophy from Komori is to be a print engineering service provider, not only the printing processes from Komori but expanding to new areas continuously; finishing is just one example, there are plenty of others."

Earlier this year, Komori expanded its Lithrone product portfolio with the launch of a larger format one-pass double-sided offset press.

The Komori deal does not affect Conversion UK in Watford, which became Highcon's UK distributor in 2012 and continues to offer Highcon products.