Article is written by Olivier Kettels, Pack & Label Around
Guido van der Schueren was born in Ghent, the son of a letterpress photo-engraver and a graphic arts engineer, and he soon had a vision of what prepress services would become. In less than 15 years, this man who loves simple pleasures has created a group that employs more than 300 people and now has a global presence.
Can you tell us about the start of your career, which was marked by advances in computer technology?
Guido van der Schueren: My very first job was as a teacher, teaching photocomposition. In 1982, I met the directors of Disk, which was developing a photocomposition system, DigiLabel, for administrative forms and self-adhesive labels. At the time, I was responsible for the commercial development of products worth between €200,000 and €500,000! The exponential development of computing and the arrival of the first Macintosh changed things radically. With two colleagues, we came up with a new tool, a revolutionary editor for pre-press: ArtPro. We marketed it through our first company, Artwork Systems.
Guido van der Schueren: “According to our estimates, more than 25,000 companies worldwide are likely to equip themselves with Packz and Cloudflow. And the Packz 10 version we have just launched has nothing in common with the first version.
With DigiLabel and ArtPro, you’ve had two fundamental visions…
I stumbled upon the label sector by chance thanks to a printer friend who taught me all about the business and his needs, in short, I listened to him. With the creation of DigiLabel, we brought a digital solution to the self-adhesive label market for the first time. 25,000 turned out to be a real commercial success, with over 10,000 licences sold in just a few years…
In 2011, you set up a new company, Hybrid Software. What were your motivations?
The sale of Artwork Systems left me a little ‘hungry’. On the other hand, pre-press applications suffered from a manifest lack of innovation. I said to the friends who followed me: “Let’s do it again! We had just one very good idea: to launch a native PDF editor… which we called Packz.
The Hybrid Software group has a rich portfolio of applications, which is regularly enhanced by new acquisitions. How do you organise this ecosystem?
Most of the acquisitions we make are integrated with our flagship solutions in a Cloud environment, namely : Packz and Cloudflow. The principle behind our choices is simple: control the entire graphic chain and have our own technology at our disposal. This also explains why we have a team of around a hundred in-house developers. Packz and Cloudflow have now been around for more than 10 years.
Aren’t you worried that some markets, particularly in Western Europe, are reaching saturation point?
With the exception of Belgium, where very few printers are not now equipped with Packz, we’re a long way from that prospect. For example, we have sold more than 4,000 Packz licences, and according to our estimates, more than 25,000 companies worldwide are likely to be equipped with Packz and Cloudflow. And the Packz 10 version we’ve just launched has nothing in common with the first version. We also expect to win many new customers with our new cloud versions MyPackz and MyCloudflow, which were presented as innovations at the last Drupa.
At Drupa, many companies are showcasing solutions based in whole or in part on artificial intelligence (AI). What do you think?
Nobody really defines what AI is. In most cases, this argument is purely marketing. Some of our tools make use of AI, for example to control exchanges between ERP, the flow and the RIP. I’d also like to mention one of our latest applications: Streamline Autotune. This module also makes partial use of AI. Integrated with our Harlequin RIP, it will enable us to optimise print results even further.
Do you have a ‘secret garden’? Do you find the time to cultivate other passions?
I divide my private life between my family (I have six grandchildren) and what I would describe as rather simple pleasures: travelling, reading and drinking a good beer with friends. Hybrid Software Group has been listed on Euronext for two years, but other suppliers to the packaging industry have sometimes taken the opposite route. Global Graphics had already been listed since 2005 without any difficulty. What changed in 2022 was the name of the listed entity, which became Hybrid Software Group. Our free float is only 17%, and the rest is privately held.
What’s the secret of your growth?
It’s a question of alchemy. We draw our strength from our structure, which is still very much a family business. We surround ourselves with the right people, but the most important thing is to stay close to our market and our customers. Every time we think we have an interesting idea to offer our customers or a partner, a manufacturer for example, we put our proposal to them. Our heart beats in unison with our customers. That was our slogan at Drupa.
