As one of Australia’s largest diversified marketing companies – ASX-listed and employing more than 2,100 people across 22 sites – IVE Group is sending a clear signal that it is expanding its market leadership: at its newly constructed, 42,000 sqm production and logistics hub in Kemps Creek, Sydney, the company has commissioned state-of-the-art sheetfed offset presses from Koenig & Bauer.
Left to right: Rayne Simpson (Koenig & Bauer Australia), Paul Selig (IVE Group), Matt Aitken (IVE Group), Dietmar Heyduck (Koenig & Bauer Sheetfed), Kay Halboth (Koenig & Bauer Sheetfed), Andreas Friedrich (Koenig & Bauer Sheetfed), and Graham Harris (Koenig & Bauer Australia).
This investment is not merely a technology upgrade, but a central strategic lever for its commercial and packaging business. “The installation of an identical Koenig & Bauer press fleet is a core element of our investment strategy, designed to build a packaging capacity in New South Wales that exactly mirrors that in Victoria,” explains Matt Aitken, Managing Director, IVE Group. “This enables us to serve national brands and drastically accelerate our time-to-market once again.”
Today’s market strength is rooted in a long history: originally founded in 1921 by Oscar Selig as a local newspaper, the company has grown over the course of a century into an industry giant.
This focus on the business requirements of end customers is already paying off. Aitken adds, “By expanding the packaging printing operations within our company, we are taking this market segment to a new level. The investment we have made with these presses is creating a genuine ‘wow’ factor for our customers. The customers who have visited us are highly impressed and love what we have done.”
Behind the successful commissioning in Kemps Creek lies an intensive, three-year planning phase. From the outset, Koenig & Bauer acted as a “trusted advisor” to identify the precise technology configuration that would optimally support IVE’s ambitious targets in the packaging market. “From day one, there was strong alignment between our teams,” Aitken confirms. “Koenig & Bauer understood what we wanted to build in Australia and collaborated with us to find the technology that best supported this vision.”
This partnership approach continued throughout the complex installation process at the new site. Graham Harris, Managing Director of Koenig & Bauer Australia, praises the excellent cooperation with the management team at the IVE Group: “IVE is an incredibly professional company. It makes installing printing presses significantly easier when you are working alongside team members like Kane Flynn, Simon Bailey and Shane Britten at a new site such as Kemps Creek.”
