This article first appeared in the April 2025 issue of ProPack.pro magazine.

Pozitive sign & graphic supplies has installed the first Felix Gluer in Australia at Clarke Murphy Print (CMP) in Sydney.

The deal was confirmed at drupa in Düsseldorf in mid-2024, following the appointment of Pozitive as the exclusive distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

“We have a longstanding relationship with Philip Trumble at Pozitive. We have bought seven swissQprint machines over our journey. Phil has seen the growth in our wide format business and the Felix Gluer was a natural progression for us,” CMP director Benn Murphy said.

“After taking on the distribution, Pozitive came to us with an opportunity to be the first in the country with a Felix Gluer table. It was a no-brainer for us, and it’s always such an easy purchase process when you see the quality of the product and you are working with the team from Pozitive.

“This is first time we have had an automated gluer in our business, and it’s a game- changer. The build quality of the machine is outstanding. It was up and running in a day and a half, and the entire process from end-to-end has been seamless.

“We are still in the early days of working with the product, but the Felix Gluer will be used for our point-of-sale work, all our corrugated work, and we can change the glue configuration so it can also be used for corflute and polypropylene products.

“We are also starting to see how it can be used in other applications that are not in our wide format business such as short-run presentation folders, making boxes, or even joining one-sided board to make a large cube.

“The benefit of the Felix Gluer is it can offer the application of both hot and cold glue – hot for the initial contact and cold for the extra strong strength. If you are creating a point-of-sale item that needs to be sent all around the country – from Tassie to Far North Queensland – you must ensure that the job is able to withstand humidity and temperature differences.

“With fast setup, not only can our wide format division send a cut file, they can also send a glue CAD file straight to the machine – or we have the option of setting up the glue lines on the table directly.

“Another innovative feature of the Felix Gluer is the table has a camera mounted on the top and we can manually setup the glue lines with its innovative software. The machine can apply the glue in the perfect amount – consistently, piece after piece. It can be dots, as a spray, or as lines – and most importantly, it can be hot or cold glue, or both.

“With the Felix Gluer now installed, this allows us to on-shore more business that we sometimes send to China. Sending work offshore leads to a longer turnaround for our clients. At CMP we are also providing our team with the tools to do things faster, easier and more cost effectively.

Pozitive founder and owner Philip Trumble said the companies’ relationship has been built on the way they have worked together to solve problems and support each other.

“Benn has been a partner in our business for many years and was one of the first printers to buy a swissQprint machine in Australia. Aside from purchasing machines from us, the thing that makes Benn very special is the support he has shown us – and the appreciation of the support that we show him,” Trumble said.

“At Pozitive, we don’t just sell machines; we supply the right machine to the right client, at the right time. I often say to my team that sometimes the best thing you can do is not sell anything at all – because a client will treasure that good advice more than selling them the wrong product.

“I have learned a lot from Benn by asking him whether the Felix Gluer would make a difference in his business, and that helped me to understand the challenges he faced and how a machine like the Felix Gluer solves these issues.”

Trumble said with printers in Australia still hand gluing or taping hundreds and thousands of items per day, the Felix Gluer provided Pozitive with a distribution opportunity in an untapped market for this type of solution as it allows Australian manufacturers to remain competitive and on-shore more business.

“Our mission at Pozitive is to keep Australian manufacturers competitive and performing at their best. We need to keep our local businesses efficient and competitive because if they are not, they’re just going to offshore more work – and that kills our local manufacturing industry,” Trumble said.

“If we can find ways to keep our industry competitive – through use of equipment and automation, we can make sure that people who are employed are re-skilled to ensure they are productive, efficient, and cost effective.”