The Economical Printing Press in Dubai

History

The company was founded by Mr. "Hassan Fahmi" Saleh AlShunnar, an architectural engineer who migrated to Dubai in the early 60's looking for work. He later on realized the markets need for a professional Printing Press that provides quality offset printing. The Company was founded in the heart of the city, which is now being recognized as "Al Karama" Using state of the art machinery at the time, including a Miller TP41 (72x104 CM), a Sakurai Oliver 52E (52x36 CM)and a Heidelberg GTO (33x46 CM)

The Economical Printing Press was forced to downsize its employee count in 2009 due to the great recession that hit Dubai in that period, which saw many people leaving the country with all their belonging and debt unsettled.

The company has relocated its headquarters to Al Quoz in Dubai, and is about to open five more branches scattered around the United Arab Emirates.

Soon after Mr. Hassan graduated from Al Azhar University, where he studied Urban-planning, Alshunnar migrated to the United Arab Emirates to chart his career. He first worked as an employee of Dubai government before branching out to establish his own business in the world of architecture. A partnership firm was established with Australian architect, Eric Towel and the company was named Eric Towel & Partners. “I gained firsthand experience of how a business should be run in Dubai,” reminisces Alshunnar. “We did not particularly have anything to do with print, but it was a stepping stone for the companies I would later participate in. Moving to Dubai also helped me get acquainted with a lot of market experts that helped me sort of visualize my goal in establishing my dream printing press.

Mr. Hassan quotes “During my studies, I was always involved in mechanical and electrical freelance projects with my friends in the university. I also preferred researching and learning more about the letterpress, Lino-mono type offset and lithography aspects of printing until I was actually involved in the printing process back then. Coming back to the partnership, though it was a failed attempt, it gave me insight and knowledge which has helped my future progress.”

Economical Printing Press was established in 1975. After venturing into different entrepreneurial projects, Alshunnar decided to focus his attention on his printing business and a couple of other projects to help finance his press. “The print industry is different in each country, due to the varying amount of population. The print industry over here is not as strong as it is elsewhere but it is definitely on the right track to becoming a powerful force to be reckoned with. Though, the printing industry has always been vibrant and strong, but I realized that it became increasingly easy for anyone to start a printing business these days, thanks to the widely available options of short run digital machines that cater to small businesses. The newly introduced technologies were both good and bad for the printing industry, now that anyone can start a business with a couple of machines it resulted in a lot of poor quality work and high prices being given to clients around the market due to the lack of knowledge.”

An ardent calligraphist, Alshunnar hails from Nablus in North-West Palestine, a town known for its ‘beautiful scenery and rich culture’. “This artistic side of me has been in the family genes for ages and all of my children share this trait with me. I am also very interested in the way things work, especially moving mechanical parts which explains my love for offset machines as opposed to today’s digital presses.”

Specializing in commercial and corporate printing, Alshunnar says, “The biggest problem in the print industry is the lack of ethics between competitors, many small and medium sized businesses fights furiously over clients using many un-ethical procedures to gain insight or obtain clients. This resulted in a lot of unhealthy competition between print shops and is affecting everybody in the printing industry.”

Attributing their honesty and ‘old school’ way of ensuring maximum quality at honest prices (regardless of the turnover of the client), Alshunnar explains, “Remember to always keep a healthy relationship between your clients and your competitors. It is also important to focus on stabilizing the company’s revenue stream and eliminating any extra unneeded expenses that will slow down the company’s progress. Now is the perfect time for the print industry to raise awareness towards quality control since we are about to witness the demand that the Expo2020 will bring in to our doorsteps. I think that where there is supply, there is demand. But in some cases, this has proved to be wrong since one must make sure he is ready to venture into a saturated market. There is always room for underdogs to prove their worth, by adding to a healthy industry with innovative technologies and solutions that refresh the market every once in a while.”