MPS Systems has turned 25, with its anniversary year set to see the company set itself up for future growth and prosperity.
Founded on 1 November, 1996 on November, MPS Systems has grown from a small flexo press manufacturer to a global company with a footprint and expertise in various printing markets. This includes hybrid printing, where its partnership with Domino for the EF Symjet line has borne fruit in recent years.
The company’s history began 25 years ago when Bert van den Brink and Eric Hoendervangers, two former employees of Stork, now known as SPG Prints, started their own business to develop an improved flexo press. Together with Henk Wientjens they founded Multi Print Systems. The company started life out of a small garage, before moving to a larger location in Nijmegen, The Netherlands shortly thereafter.
In 1999, the company took over the Sloka machine factory in Didam. Since then, further expansion has seen MPS expanded with locations in Germany, the UK, North America and Asia.
The MPS founders were pioneers in the world of narrow web flexo printing, inventing the first servo-driven flexo press. In 1997, the trio sold their first machine to a Swedish printing house, and this very first press is still running production today.
According to Mr van den Brink, ‘Innovation is in our DNA. It used to be about finding the best technologies, now it’s about continuous improvement. We’ll never stop improving our unparalleled solutions.’
Whilst Mr Wientjes retired in 2019, Messrs van den Brink and Hoendervangers are still employed in advisory roles after the company was taken over by AAP in early 2018. Mr van den Brink and Mr Hoendervangers are to step back from daily operations as of January 2022.
MPS CEO Atze Bosma commented, ‘We are extremely grateful for our founding fathers, especially for the efforts they took to get MPS where we are today. Without them, we would never have had such a beautiful, successful company with the best quality products.’
Earlier this year, MPS launched new branding and a corporate message, ‘Connect to Grow’. This was introduced to go beyond the machine through intensive cooperation between MPS and its customers to address all aspects involving the printing press, to help deliver the best performance and maximum return from an investment in MPS hardware.
Mr Bosma continued, ‘Having an MPS press means you have a golden tool to be extremely productive and efficient as a company. But in practice, we see machines not being used to their full potential. To change this, we’re showing our customers how to improve by giving them access to unbiased, factual data coming from the printing press. Our customers can choose to have advice from our expert team of data analysts and print managers, so they can learn how to improve their press productivity; for example, in shortening changeover times and lowering waste.’
Mr Hoendervangers said, ‘Having over 800 of our machines running production across the globe is more than we could have ever dreamt back in 1996. I’m proud of where we are today, and I trust our ‘baby’ to be in good hands with our current board; Mr Bosma and Michiel Borst (CFO). I look forward to seeing our company grow even bigger and more successful in the future.’
