Xaar announces Engineered Printing Solutions as its first acquisition

Xaar, one of the leaders in industrial inkjet technology, has announced the acquisition of Engineered Printing Solutions (EPS), a provider of product printing equipment in North America. The acquisition, which completed on July 1, is Xaar’s first as part of the company’s strategic vision to achieve £220m of annual sales by 2020.

EPS has built a successful business through supplying customised and bespoke printing solutions to a wide variety of market sectors including promotional, packaging, medical, automotive, apparel, appliances, sports equipment and toys. One of its focuses has been to develop flexible and cost effective digital inkjet solutions. In 2015 EPS generated $14m of revenue and today the company employs 60 staff.

“The product printing market is served by multiple print processes today and the fastest growing is inkjet,” said Doug Edwards, CEO of Xaar. “Here, just as with other industry sectors, there is great potential to accelerate the adoption of inkjet. EPS has established a successful business and is well positioned to continue to grow.

“Xaar gains a strong customer base and footprint in North America, a region it has been targeting for growth. The integration capabilities EPS brings to Xaar will enable us to provide greater support to our existing and new OEM partners.”

Julian Joffe, who founded EPS in 1985 and who has been appointed as Xaar’s new president of EPS, commented: “Engineered Printing Solutions has a long track record of success through providing both analogue and digital inkjet solutions to its customers.

“Xaar values our brand, engineering capability and the innovative solutions we bring to the marketplace. Xaar brings deep knowledge of inkjet technology and access to wider channels. We are looking forward to working together to better serve our global and US customers and accelerate the growth of the business.”