Highcon is gearing up for the next phase of growth, securing the services of Alon Bar-Shany as chairman of the board and coming on the back of a successful IPO that raised $45 million for the company.
It supplies digital finishing technology combining laser cutting and a unique way of creating a creasing matrix digitally. These are suited to short run and digital printed packaging, particularly where intricate designs may be difficult to produce using conventional technology.
Bar-Shany had been general manager of HP Indigo until stepping down in March last year. During his time at HP Indigo the liquid electrophotographic technology was matured and sales grew by more than $1billion. He takes over from Amichal Steimberg, appointed to guide Highcon through the IPO process.
That was achieved through a share placement that was oversubscribed. Highcon now trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange with an overall value of $165 million. The promise is that growing ecommerce markets and demand for short run packaging will feed through to sales for Highcon’s Euclid and Beam machines.
Thanks to his tenure at HP Indigo, Bar-Shany has indepth knowledge of the market for digitally printed packaging and the businesses producing these sorts of cartons. “I am looking forward to joining the Highcon board and taking part in the ongoing digital transformation of the printing and packaging industry,” he says.
The company board now comprises Benny Landa; Adina Schorr, CEO of Scodix until last summer and once at Scitex; Giora Bitan, also ex Scitex and former CFO of ECI Telecom and senior partner at several venture funds and Fiona Darmon, general partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners.
The management board is led by Shlomo Nimrodi as CEO, who had previously recruited Bar-Shany to Indigo, He says: “As we start the year ahead, with this new team of expert players, Highcon is now well poised for growth and the ability to drive the digital change that is essential to optimise supply chains and reduce the inefficiencies that face the conventional folding carton and corrugated packaging industry.”
The team now also includes Simon Lewis, London born veteran of Scitex and HP Indigo, latterly as head of channel strategy and partners and who had three years as regional business manager in central Europe. He is VP marketing leading the marketing strategy and execution, according to Nimrodi.
That is going to be a focus for the business in the next period, ensuring that like Landa Digital Printing, it has the right approach to the market and the support in place. There are subsidiaries for the Americas and Europe and a distribution network of third-party businesses. In this country this is Conversion UK which has installed three Highcons in the UK, at Glossop Cartons, Delga Group and most recently at Linneys.
Highcon made its debut at Drupa in 2012 and has so far remained the only company to combine laser cutting and a digitally formed creating matrix. However, Masterwork, Heidelberg’s partner, has been working on a similar technology.
