Meppel has a printing company again after the city was without printing presses for a year due to several bankruptcies. Due to a reorganization, the last printer left last year, but that place has been given a new meaning. Drukkerij Veldhuis Media is already running at full speed, saving Meppel’s tradition as a printing city. In addition, 117 new jobs are involved.
Veldhuis Media is not ‘just’ a printing company, because there are a hundred types of paper set up in the warehouse. In the coming year, therefore, eight thousand tons of paper will be printed for magazines, books and catalogs.
There is plenty of room for this in Meppel. The machines run there seven a week, 24 hours a day. “We struggled with space and were looking for expansion. That is why we are very happy with this place,” says director Oscar Jager.
How does a printing company survive?
But how did the director manage to expand, while printing companies are struggling due to digitization? “Of course I’m not going to reveal all company secrets,” laughs Jager. “But we have a very specific focus. We make, book magazines and catalogs in small editions. For example about hobbies. You can’t name a hobby unless there is a magazine for it. We take all the work off their hands: from layout to printing and deliver it to the post office. We are the specialists in this and we do huge quantities,” points out the many copies that are being printed.
According to Jager, it is a market in which he can continue to grow in a planned manner. “Many of our customers are publishers with subscribers. They come back every month and keep coming when the economy slows down.”
Alive
The status of Meppel as a printing city cannot escape Jager. Before he enters his site, he must first pass the monument that represents the printing city that Meppel is. The long tradition is no stranger to him. “I was born in Meppel and learned the trade here myself, by working for a Meppel printer as a seventeen-year-old boy. That is why I really enjoy keeping the industry at a high level.”
Jager did not come to Meppel to slow down. “Certainly not. The graphic industry is very much alive and is really looking for new people. People with ambitions can come along, because we are going to grow. Because we have more space here, we have already grown with seventeen employees to a total of 105 people. is the future for Meppel as a printing city.”
The tradition of Meppel as a printing city is continued. View below the explanation of Oscar Jager, director of Veldhuis Media.