Dobruška / Grafitec has announced that as of 1. 1. 2005 it has entered the Polish market as a producer and supplier of SRA2 and B2 format sheet-fed offset presses and a distributor of CTP and materials of the American company Presstek.

This concluded the long-term cooperation between the company and its former Polish representative, the company Mercator Poligrafia S.A.

"In view of the fact that we were not able to agree on a joint long-term distribution strategy, we agreed to discontinue cooperation with our partner on 31.12.2004 and to directly enter the Polish graphic arts market. In spite of that, I would like to thank Mercator for the work that they did and for their share in the success of Grafitec on the Polish market. The Polish market is strategic for us. Historically, it is our second most successful market, after our domestic Czech market. We have hundreds of satisfied clients in Poland since 1992. Our decision was made easier by the fact that we are not only geographically and culturally close to the Polish market, but also because Polish customers know us and our products well. We have something to build on and we want to further improve our range and the level of services for Polish customers." said Petr Skrla, Grafitec CEO.

Grafitec Sales and Marketing Director, Jan Korenc, described the steps that Grafitec is taking in Poland: "We have already created a team of sales representatives for the Polish market and we are just about to sign contracts with 5-6 regional service organisations which, after training at our training centre in Dobruška, will receive authorisation to provide services to our Polish clients. Furthermore, we are setting up a warehouse of spare parts in order to be able to react quickly to customer requirements. Polish service organisations will be fully supported by our own highly professional service team, initially mostly with installations and preventative service calls. Polish clients will be able to visit us at the trade fair in Poznan this coming April, and of course at the EMBAX-PRINT trade fair in Brno, where we are planning to introduce a range of new products. After the trade fair we will begin taking steps to open a Polish branch of our company, probably in Warsaw."

"Even though Grafitec is the international owner of the Polly trademark, it was registered to the company Mercator Poligrafia. Since we have not as yet reached agreement on the transfer of the trademark, we are not going to use it for the time being. We hope to reach agreement on the transfer of the Polly trademark in the new future and that we won't be forced to resort to legal means. However, this changes nothing in our strategy to offer the Polish market what it requires - high quality printing machines supported by the best customer care on the market." concludes Grafitec's CEO, Petr Skrla.