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Friedheim International will distribute Tecnau's complete product portfolio in the UK and Ireland, reigniting a partnership which originally ran from 1997 to 2011
Friedheim International has announced a strategic distribution agreement with Tecnau, a provider of finishing solutions for sheet-feed and continuous-feed inkjet presses.
Under the new partnership, effective from January 2025, Friedheim will distribute Tecnau's complete product portfolio in the UK and Ireland. This includes its unwinders, rewinders, cutters and stackers, dynamic perforations and punching equipment, as well as its high-speed book solutions.
Friedheim, a 140-year-old supplier of finishing, converting, and packaging machinery, previously partnered with Tecnau for 15 years from 1997 to 2011. In 2011, Tecnau purchased Lasermax Roll Systems and partnered with Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) to distribute its solutions.
Following this new partnership with Friedheim, IFS will continue to supply Tecnau products from January to June 2025 to allow for a transition of sales and service activities without affecting service and product availability for customers.
As of July 2025, IFS will exclusively supply Tecnau equipment connected with Horizon and Smyth systems, including for stitching and folding solutions and digital sewn binding. IFS remains the exclusive distributor of these products in the region.
Stefano De Marco, chief executive officer of Tecnau, comments: “We are excited to partner with Friedheim as we embark on this new phase of growth in the UK and Ireland.
“This collaboration will enhance our market presence and provide even greater value to our customers through Friedheim’s strong industry expertise.”
Darren Crane, managing director of Friedheim, says: “We are extremely excited about this new partnership with Tecnau, which marks a significant milestone in our 140-year history.
“With the Tecnau solutions we will continue to support customers and printer partners’ growth across all digital print applications, both for continuous-feed and sheet-feed”.
Eric Keane, managing director of IFS, adds: “With Tecnau’s realignment of representation, we are delighted to continue our long partnership into the future by concentrating on the growing Tecnau integration opportunities with Horizon and Smyth”.
Friedheim International also recently announced an exclusive partnership with automation and packaging company Heripack.
The deal means that Friedheim is now the exclusive UK distributor of Heripack's packaging equipment and automation technologies.
Decisions made since Müller Martini's purchase of the Hunkeler organisation in December 2023 are also set to affect Friedheim's offerings from 2025.
In the months since Müller Martini's acquisition of the finishing solutions provider, a series of changes have been implemented at different levels within the two companies including changes to the companies' distribution plans within the UK and Ireland.
As part of these changes, starting 5th January 2025 Müller Martini will take over responsibility for the sale of new Hunkeler equipment from Friedheim International for UK and Irish markets. From this date, Müller Martini will also become the provider of spare parts and servicing needs for Hunkeler machines in these markets.
