Named for the Ottoman Emperor Fatih Sultan Mehmed, the conqueror of 15th century Constantinople, the municipality of Fatih in Istanbul, Turkey, embraces an abundance of World Heritage historical sites and a neighborhood of tremendous significance to the Turkish printing and publishing industry: Cagaloglu. This district gave birth to the vast majority of printing houses founded in Istanbul during the boom and bust years of the 1960s and early 1970s, including PrintPark, established by Mehmet Dansik in 1974 in a 50-square-meter shop to produce packaging. Dansik had already worked in the package printing industry for more than 15 years as a craftsman and press operator when he opened his own shop.
Today, under the family's second-generation management, PrintPark has developed into one of the most renowned printers in Turkey, making use of 10,000 square meters of floor space and nearly 100 employees to manufacture a full range of high-end packaging for the food, cosmetics and spirits sectors throughout the region and Europe.
Ferit Dansik, managing director of PrintPark, relates his history with the company: "The company was founded by my father, and the second generation became involved in the mid-1990s, starting with my elder brother Turan. I joined in the 2000s, after graduating from university, along with my younger brother Turgay. I had already been working part-time at the company while I was a student, so taking a full-time position was a very smooth transition for me."
"The second generation started a revolution in the company that is still continuing today. We've made a great deal of investment, we're registering strong growth year after year and we're exporting 40 percent of our production. Today we are a fully integrated company that offers a wide range of services with the latest machines," says Mr. Dansik.
PrintPark's capabilities include conventional and UV offset printing, die cutting, embossing, engraving, hot foil stamping, film lamination, screen printing, window patching, folding-gluing and hologram patching. The company's core product lineup covers an equally wide range: folding cartons from cardboard or corrugated board, labels of all types, tags, riders, blister packs, and sheetfed self-adhesive labels and sleeves.

The latest: Six-color Lithrone G40 plus coater

The company runs a trio of Komori presses: a five-color Lithrone S29 with coater, a six-color Lithrone S40 UV with coater and a six-color Lithrone G40 with coater that was just installed in March 2016 (watch the installation with the QR code).
"On the Lithrone S29, we mainly run short jobs," says Dansik, "and we have a lot of these. The Lithrone S40 is a fully equipped UV press, so it primarily handles our added value work. The Lithrone G40, our newest press, prints large volume jobs. In general, we aim to operate with run lengths of 10,000 sheets or more."
"Since installing the new Lithrone, we run only one shift. Before that we used a two-shift production setup, and we might return to that in the future as our business grows. Since we concentrate on added value work, we are less interested in the high volume market and we don't seek to operate at maximum capacity. This allows us to keep our profit at a favorable level," he adds.
So how does PrintPark meet the real needs of its customers? Dansik describes an application developed by PrintPark for Turkey's leading cosmetics brand: "I can tell you about our most recent case study — a printed product that won Best Beauty and Cosmetics Carton in the Pro Carton ECMA Awards, one of Europe's most prestigious packaging awards. Our customer, Flormar, the number one brand of makeup in Turkey, came to us for a packaging solution for their All Eyes on Me Collection. They wanted to present their newly developed products with a highly compelling look. To attract customers' attention, the design focuses on two current trends: the houndstooth pattern, which is very popular in the textiles and cosmetics industries, and the equally popular velvety texture.
This resulted in the cosmetics industry's first carton with a velvety decoration applied to a matt metalized surface. The velvety surface even rounds the corners without breaking. Using special foil printing (flock printing) in combination with high-quality UV printing, the package is given a very special finish that makes it extremely attractive at the point of sale. It can be filled automatically as this treatment is highly robust and scratch resistant. The fashionable presentation made some of the products so successful, both in terms of sales and consumer feedback, that they have been included in the program permanently."

The jury has spoken

As the ECMA jury noted: "The Flormar All Eyes on Me Collection certainly achieved the 'all eyes on me' claim. All the judges were fascinated by these little packs that not only achieved brand and product communication but, through the effect of print techniques and 'flock,' had this amazing in-hand feel that just had to be touched."
Food is another major part of PrintPark's business, and Dansik describes the challenges in the production of food packaging: "The initial challenge in food packaging was to master the use of low-migration inks. But now customers are not willing to print food packaging on machines that also run nonfood jobs. I believe that in the near future the entire plant will be dedicated to either food or nonfood packaging."
"With cosmetics products, on the other hand," he continues, "the challenges never end. Because customers are always looking to achieve more attractive results, they are much more open to research and development. Attaining the extremely high quality level that is demanded is also a big challenge, and cosmetics packaging customers insist on zero tolerance for quality variation. Compared with food packaging, however, the runs are not so long, so achieving these results is not easy."
Dansik says that PrintPark is a totally integrated company: "We never outsource or subcontract any of our processes. Even for special applications such as screen printing, hot-foil printing, and pick-and-place window patching, PrintPark's in-house capabilities can meet any needs."

Old but young and full of passion

PrintPark's award-winning All Eyes on Me Collection

As with any printer, human resources are key to sustaining and growing the business, and PrintPark deploys a highly motivated workforce that is fully backed by management and equipped through training and leadership to handle the work and then some - creativity, inventiveness and imagination are fundamental to the job specification.
Dansik likes to describe the company as progressive: "We are an old company, but on the other hand we are also young. Our people are filled with energy and passion. We are fully equipped and strong but also very flexible. And I can offer proof that we are progressive. In the 19 years of the Pro Carton ECMA Awards, Turkey has won only two times and both of these prizes were collected by us!"
"Succeeding with difficult jobs also contributes to high motivation. Our employees gain satisfaction by seeing PrintPark's added value products on store shelves. This inspires real confidence," he adds. "Training is a big must, and we are always updating our techniques. Our quality assurance strategy is also constantly being upgraded, so we are always looking to have more training on the latest topics."
PrintPark has received ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004, ISO 18001:1999 and ISO 22000:2005 and BRC IOP certification. "We try to run our business by following accepted standards, and our tenacious quality assurance department makes sure that we do just that. The next certifications that we are looking to attain are for social compliance and energy saving," he adds.
Looking ahead, Dansik likes the prospects for PrintPark: "The roughest time I ever had in the printing industry was 2009, when we had just made additional investments and the bottom was falling out of the market. We bore down on our business and a gradual recovery followed, although of course many printers did not make it."
"We want to make PrintPark well known - that's why we participate in exhibitions that grow our brand value. We have been exhibiting at Luxe Pack Monaco for seven years, and up until last year we were the only Turkish company taking part. We have ample capacity for now, and over the next five years we will try to maximize capacity utilization. We'll renew some equipment as necessary. For example, we are planning to replace our Lithrone S29 as soon as possible. On the other hand, digital printing is knocking on the door, and the knocking is growing louder, so PrintPark will probably open that door."
"As I said at the Komori World Party during drupa 2016, our company is exceptionally satisfied with Komori printing presses and very happy with the relationship that we have both with Komori and ArasGrup, the distributor for Turkey. We're looking forward to what the future brings with anticipation and confidence."