28 July 2011

Chris Smith receives this year's BPIF Outstanding Contribution to the UK Printing Industry Award

Outgoing President Rupert Middleton presented the 2011 BPIF Outstanding Contribution to the UK Printing Industry Award to Halstan Chairman Chris Smith at the President’s Lunch on 14 July.

Smith has led the privately-owned Amersham-based printer of brochures, scientific and academic journals, music publications, books, leaflets and stationery for the past thirty-one years. He follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, who founded the company in 1919.  A former member of the Eastern Regional Board and a current member of the Government and Industry Committee, Smith has also given his support and experience to the Book Production SIG over a number of years. He is a former member of the BPIF’s Board of Directors, and is currently the Intergraf Board member representing the UK.

Rupert Middleton described Smith as “one of the industry’s true gentlemen, whose charm, warmth and kind demeanour is very much reflected in his genuine regard for his company, his staff, and his industry”. He paid tribute to Smith’s commitment to developing the talents of his workforce, which was recognised last month when Halstan won the Training and Development Category in the BPIF Excellence Awards. All customer-facing staff – including Chris Smith himself - were trained to NVQ level in customer service (an exercise undertaken in conjunction with BPIF Training), and lean manufacturing has been embedded in all the company’s operations. Halstan has also established a system of rotation for all its departmental managers, encouraging continuous learning and innovation. 

Middleton said that “innovation is a subject close to Chris’s heart, and one that he has driven relentlessly”. Although Halstan provides specialist music printing for many of the world’s major sheet music publishers, the market for sheet music is changing rapidly and Halstan has had to adapt to fast-changing customer needs. The company were the first in the world capable of digitally printing the non-standard, often outsized sheet sizes required by music publishers, and the company has used its in-house engineering expertise to adapt standard finishing equipment to produce the lay-flat qualities required for music.

Halstan’s leadership in the field of music publishing doesn’t stop there. The company has developed interactive music publications, whereby you point your smartphone or iPad at a QR code printed next to the music and the smartphone downloads the file and plays it there and then. The product was launched at this April’s Frankfurt music fair, where it wowed music publishers from all over the world.

In presenting this year’s Award to Smith, Middleton paid tribute to his service to the BPIF in a host of different areas, saying, “Chris has always seen the BPIF as a vitally important cog in the industry and has been involved in a host of activities on our behalf. He has served on the Eastern Regional Board and is a member of the Government and Industry Committee. Chris has also given his support and experience to the Book Production SIG over a number of years:  he has not only actively participated in their events but has provided invaluable advice on the direction of the Group. He is a former member of the BPIF’s Board of Directors, and is currently the Intergraf Board member representing the UK”. 

Middleton concluded, “Chris remains committed to the original philosophy of Halstan’s founder - his grandfather - by delivering first class value-added services to clients with continuous investment in the company and ensuring the well- being of employees. One rarely has the opportunity to meet a man of the calibre of Chris and I am sure all the many people who have the privilege of knowing and working with him will collectively applaud this Award”.