Ultimate Print eyes govt sector collaboration through partnership with Darphane, says CEO

KUALA LUMPUR - A partnership between Malaysia’s one-stop printing solution provider Ultimate Print Sdn Bhd and Türkiye’s state-owned mint Darphane will enable the former to access cutting-edge technology and expertise, allowing the company to produce more sophisticated and secure documents.

This, in turn, will also benefit Malaysian government agencies and ultimately, the public.

Ultimate Print chief executive officer Azizi Fikry said the partnership currently focused on collaborations with government agencies since the company was shifting from commercial printing to security printing, further expecting government agencies to be the main clients for highly needed government documents production such as passports, identification cards and licences.

In a strategic move set to boost Malaysia’s printing technology sector, yesterday, Ultimate Print and Darphane, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim to establish Selangor as a leading regional hub for technology and security printing.

Azizi said government paperwork required high levels of security to prevent counterfeiting or fraud.

He said distinctive security features, such as holograms and watermarks, were essential for government security documents, making partnerships with security printing companies crucial while creating a steady stream of business.

Azizi said Ultimate Print was focusing on targeting government sectors for future partnership as its production now included printing security documents.

"Our biggest consumer would be the government agencies, while private sectors require a different type of security, mainly cybersecurity," he said.

He said the government's need for security printing such as for tax stamps and licences has always been relevant, where last year, the company helped to introduce an e-licence that has only been valid in Malaysia so far.

"In Thailand, e-cards are still invalid," he added.

Azizi also highlighted the goal of revolutionising the security printing industry through impactful partnerships with strategic players, including government agencies, to drive effective innovations.

Upon addressing Ultimate Print's expectations in its production following the partnership with Darphane, he said the collaboration would ultimately help them develop and enhance their skill set.

"Different types of market require a different set of skills, even if you use the same machine. Our skill set is more towards the commercial market, the SOP (Standards of Operations), the way we control our product and deliver things.

"In that aspect, instead of learning by ourselves, we can learn from them (Darphane). The learning curve will be shortened and it will increase our efficiency (in production)," he said.

Commenting further on the shortened learning curve, he said it was because many processes can be bypassed with the advanced technologies used by Darphane provided to the company following the partnership.

He said Darphane, a well-established company in security printing, has been operating for over 500 years and has extensive experience in managing security documents.

He added that because Ultimate was shifting from commercial printing to security printing, it has several things to learn from companies like Darphane, also highlighting that partnerships were currently vital, with a focus on partners' capabilities.

"We have identified Darphane to become our technological partner. They are now going worldwide with customers from around the world.

"Their products are a compilation of the requirements from different governments and sectors so their products are far superior to Malaysia.

"By partnering, they can transfer their technology to us. This is how the Malaysian authorities can benefit from them," he said.

He added that this transition would help stabilise supply chains, making the security printing process smoother, given the global demand for security documents like identification cards and passports.

He emphasised the importance of testing their products worldwide to improve their efficiency, where partnering with global-level companies played an important role.

Under Türkiye’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance, Darphane, established in 1467 during the Ottoman Empire and currently managed by Abdullah Yasir Sahin, has been managing high-security production from its headquarters in Istanbul, including coins, banknotes, revenue stamps and other government documents.

Ultimate Print, a Malaysian printing solutions leader with over 30 years of experience, specialises in book, digital, packaging, newspaper, and Quran printing.