The Machines Are the Easy Part — People Make the Difference at Prima IP · Alenka Volk

Ten years ago, Alenka Volk joined Prima IP with a background that had very little to do with printing. She was a lawyer.

Today, she is a Managing Director and co-owner of the Ljubljana-based printing company – and can comfortably discuss workflows, drying technology, digital printing, and the daily challenges of running a modern print operation.

But her primary responsibility remains people, HR, contracts and the organizational side of the business, complementing Primož Štrumbelj’s commercial and technology focus.

And people are particularly important at Prima IP.

The company has official status as an invalidsko podjetje — a Slovenian company employing people with disabilities — and Alenka explains that around half of its employees have this status. But rather than separating people into simple or repetitive jobs, Prima IP integrates employees throughout the workflow and production environment.

For Alenka, that is fundamental to the company’s success.

Buying technology is relatively easy. It is the people who operate it, solve problems, develop products, and take responsibility who ultimately make the difference.

In our conversation, we also discuss Prima IP’s decision to move strongly into digital book production. The company saw an increasingly familiar development in publishing: print runs getting shorter while the number of individual orders continued to increase. For Prima IP, industrial digital printing became the logical response.

But identifying an opportunity is only the beginning. Major investments require technology decisions, financing, convincing banks that the business case works in a relatively small Slovenian market — and convincing the people inside the company that the direction is right.

Today, those investments are on the production floor, Prima IP is growing its position in digital book production, and Alenka has a very clear ambition for what comes next:

When you think about books in Slovenia, she wants you to think Prima Book.

En You Have to Jump the River — Prima IP Goes All-In on Digital Print · Primož Štrumbelj · CEO

You Have to Jump the River — Prima IP Goes All-In on Digital Print · Primož Štrumbelj · CEO

Sometimes transformation requires more than taking small steps. As Primož Štrumbelj from Prima IP puts it: if you want to cross a river, you have to jump all the way to the other side. That philosophy says a lot about Prima IP. Located just outside Ljubljana, Slovenia, the family-owned company has undergone dramatic transformation over the years. What started with traditional screen and offset printing has today become an almost entirely digital operation, covering dye-sublimation, textile printing, large-format — and now industrial digital book production. Primož describes himself as a technology enthusiast, and that curiosity has clearly influenced the company's development. But as he emphasizes in our conversation, technology alone doesn't create success. The people who operate it, develop the business, and work with customers are equally important. The latest major step was Prima IP's investment in an HP PageWide Advantage 2200, along with automated Hunkeler and Müller Martini finishing technology. Going from cut-sheet digital production to a high-capacity roll-fed inkjet platform wasn't simply another equipment purchase — it represented an entirely new production philosophy. And there was no halfway solution. With the investment, Prima IP can address the growing demand from Slovenian publishers for shorter and medium-sized book runs, while producing everything from softcover and wire-bound products to sewn and hardcover books. For many publishers, Primož explains, seeing the production environment changes their perception of digital print. What was once considered a compromise compared with offset has developed into highly automated industrial production capable of delivering excellent quality, short runs, variable products and increasingly personalized applications. And personalization is exactly where Primož sees some of the biggest opportunities ahead. Combining data, AI, digital printing and automated finishing could enable everything from personalized books and notebooks to highly targeted printed communication. At the same time, Prima IP is developing its own products while serving as a white-label production partner. The river was big. Prima IP jumped. And the journey has only just started.

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Sep 04 , 2026
Prima IP
31 Brnčičeva
1231 Ljubljana-Črnuče

Slovenia
Tel. : 593 34710
Email : info@prima-ip.si

Fri September 4th

En

You Have to Jump the River — Prima IP Goes ...

Sometimes transformation requires more than taking small steps. As Primož Štrumbelj from Prima IP puts it: if you want to cross a river, you have to jump all the way to the other side. That philosophy says a lot about Prima IP. Located just outside Ljubljana, Slovenia, the family-owned company has undergone dramatic transformation over the years. What started with traditional screen and offset printing has today become an almost entirely digital operation, covering dye-sublimation, textile printing, large-format — and now industrial digital book production. Primož describes himself as a technology enthusiast, and that curiosity has clearly influenced the company's development. But as he emphasizes in our conversation, technology alone doesn't create success. The people who operate it, develop the business, and work with customers are equally important. The latest major step was Prima IP's investment in an HP PageWide Advantage 2200, along with automated Hunkeler and Müller Martini finishing technology. Going from cut-sheet digital production to a high-capacity roll-fed inkjet platform wasn't simply another equipment purchase — it represented an entirely new production philosophy. And there was no halfway solution. With the investment, Prima IP can address the growing demand from Slovenian publishers for shorter and medium-sized book runs, while producing everything from softcover and wire-bound products to sewn and hardcover books. For many publishers, Primož explains, seeing the production environment changes their perception of digital print. What was once considered a compromise compared with offset has developed into highly automated industrial production capable of delivering excellent quality, short runs, variable products and increasingly personalized applications. And personalization is exactly where Primož sees some of the biggest opportunities ahead. Combining data, AI, digital printing and automated finishing could enable everything from personalized books and notebooks to highly targeted printed communication. At the same time, Prima IP is developing its own products while serving as a white-label production partner. The river was big. Prima IP jumped. And the journey has only just started.