30-year milestone for GEW
UV curing specialists GEW are celebrating their 30th Anniversary this month. GEW was formed in March 1991 by Gillian and Malcolm Rae, with the stated objective to ‘provide the narrow web label market with compact and efficient UV curing systems.’
Today, GEW designs and manufactures mercury arc and LED UV curing systems for applications all across the printing, coating and converting industries. With headquarters in the UK and subsidiaries in Germany and the United States, the company serves an international customer base with sales, service and support available worldwide.
In the early years GEW developed UV systems for a range of label printing machines, and the success of these first models enabled the business to grow rapidly. Between 1992 and 1999 the company repeatedly relocated into larger premises and developed the product range further. GEW quickly became identified with UV curing systems on narrow web printing machines. Sales at that point were mostly direct with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) accounts, based mainly in Europe.
In 1999 GEW were awarded the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, having doubled export sales in the preceding three years. In the same year GEW established their USA subsidiary operation, GEW Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio to service the Americas. A further subsidiary office in Germany and a worldwide network of distributors and agents completes the group.
2012 saw the company’s latest move, this time to a purpose built, state-of-the-art production facility near London Gatwick in West Sussex, UK. Founders Malcolm and Gillian Rae remain involved in running the organisation with the same enthusiasm and commitment with which they began in 1991. Adding to this strength, their son and daughter have also taken active, guiding roles within the company.
In more recent years GEW has continued to grow significantly, opening a second production factory in the UK and expanding the product line-up to include world-leading UV LED solutions. Expansion into adjacent UV application areas has also continued, with GEW now a major force in sheetfed offset, wide web converting and large scale industrial UV solutions. Even during the recent pandemic GEW has been recruiting and with the core products more reliable and in higher demand than ever, the future looks bright for the Europe’s leading UV curing provider.
Malcolm Rae comments: “The future of GEW is in many capable hands, supporting our customers and developing innovative new products to maintain our leading position in the industry. Today, GEW equipment is used on many of the world’s most advanced printing machines and our products are highly regarded for their standard of engineering, reliability and performance.” He concludes: “Our fast, friendly and flexible approach has kept customers loyal to us over many years. As testimony to this, our first-ever customer is still buying from us today.”