Business - Events

EskoArtwork reports a successful closing of Ipex 2010, held from May 18-25 in Birmingham (UK). Lead generation far exceeded expectations and a good amount of sales were closed on the stand. There were also significant investments closed with customers from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and India—for complete hardware and software configurations.

"Ipex gave us two surprises—the super weather and the super visitor numbers. We were very pleased with the show and the number of international visitors we met. Ipex has definitely regained strength and presented a great opportunity for EskoArtwork and Enfocus to reinforce our leading roles in innovating the commercial printing, packaging and sign and display markets,” states Armand Gougay, EskoArtwork Senior VP Emeala. "More and more, it’s becoming clear that workflow automation is a key element to a successful production business, and our customers and prospects continue to move in that direction with our solutions. Overall there was fantastic interest in the new Suite 10 software and Kongsberg hardware that we launched at Ipex, as well as an appreciation for the value our customers realized they can bring to the enterprises."

Healthy interest in a wide range of solutions

The EskoArtwork Digital Flexo Solutions attracted many visitors. A flexo press reseller in southern Europe exclaimed: “The flexo industry cannot thank EskoArtwork enough for the continuous progress you are bringing. And now with HD Flexo, this really is opening new possibilities."

On display was a CDI Advance Cantilever 1450, providing exceptional in the round flexo sleeves for the flexible packaging market and the HD Flexo technology for the production of plates and sleeves delivering printing quality comparable to offset or gravure, as well as the Inline UV Main Exposure and the Digital Flexo Suite for optimized and automated plate and sleeve production. New at Ipex was the revolutionary PreMount workflow, which streamlines and optimizes the handling of digital polymer carrier sheets.

"The new automation workflow they have is so cool, so sexy to look at and so powerful, you have to go over and have a look," was overheard from one visitor on his phone. Visitors could get a demo of new EskoArtwork software at one of the six software demo stations. Ipex was the platform to launch some of its innovations this year: Suite 10 with special focus on the Automation Engine and Studio—in fact anything related to 3D was demonstrated the most.

"This finishing on demand is probably the most interesting thing we have seen at this show," remarked two visitors as they concluded a demo on the Kongsberg i-XE10 Auto. There was a lot of interest for the new i-XE10 Automated at Ipex, a complete solution able to fully automate the entire finishing process. Equipped with a newly designed stacker and sheet feeding system, the Kongsberg i-XE10 Automated can meet the growing demand for finishing small-format, short-run digital printed materials. The redesigned sheet feeder system automatically loads and places the printed materials on the table. The automated stacker enables non-stop sorting and stacking of the finished parts. The system also automatically removes waste. As a result, the machine can run unattended, which saves significant man-hours.

Connecting More with partners

Ipex was also a platform for EskoArtwork to connect more with its many industry partners. Presentations at HP, Canon, Fuji, Xeikon and ten others important partners yielded good contacts, and helped to raise EskoArtwork’s profile in the industry even further.

“Ipex exceeded our expectations. Companies seem to be seriously interested in investing in solutions that continue to add productivity with a viable ROI,” concludes Gougay. “We left Birmingham with a good sense of optimism for EskoArtwork, our customers, and the industry in general.”

 

BARBIERI electronic shows large presence at FESPA 2010 in Munich and presents the 3rd generation of their well-known Spectro LFP, the leading spectrophotometer for color measurements in digital large format, flatbed and industrial printing.

BARBIERI electronic will be present at FESPA 2010 in Munich (June 22 – 26, 2010) in hall B1, booth 471. Besides this, Barbieri devices will be shown also on the booths of Caldera (Hall B1, booth 379) and Four Pees (hall B1, booth 567).

On these booths the new Spectro LFP Series 3 will be shown.

Accurate measurements of transparent and reflective media, thick and heavy media, big measuring aperture and fully automatic measurements: these are the special characteristics which until now kept the Spectro LFP unique worldwide. All these features also the Series 3 device does combine. Versatility, user friendliness and new application fields where the keywords for implementing the improvements of the Spectro LFP Series 3. The main improvements are:

 

• Switchable measuring aperture of 8, 6 and 2mm
• Polarization filter for 8, 6 and 2mm aperture

 

Especially for new application fields such as digital textile printing the larger aperture of 8mm is fundamental to gain the maximum measuring accuracy. Combined with the special measuring geometry and the fully automatic measurements it is the ideal device for this application. For high resolution prints the smaller apertures are preferred.

The polarization filter allows measuring also the most crucial and exotic materials with shining surfaces or inks.

Thanks to its special features the Spectro LFP became market leader in digital large format, flatbed and industrial printing and the Series 3 device again confirms and strengthens this position. It allows measuring every kind of media, will it be transparent or reflective, thin or thick gaining always the maximum accuracy.

Same as the Spectro LFP Series 2 also the Series 3 devices are driven by most important Rip software.

For an International list of official Barbieri distributors click here. Barbieri devices are distributed in the UK by IGS UK Ltd, www.igsuk.net

 

 

FESPA has confirmed Italian digital inks specialist J-Teck as the latest sponsor of the Fabric Live! fashion show within FESPA Fabric (www.fespafabric.com), the garment printing and decoration event within FESPA 2010 (Messe Munich, 22-26 June 2010) .

Set to inspire visitors with the latest in attention-grabbing apparel, inks and printing techniques, Fabric Live! will comprise five live dance and fashion showcases from FESPA exhibitors and will take place daily from 10.30h until 15.45h in Hall A2.

Rosaria Pozzoni, Business Operation Manager of J-Teck comments: “FESPA Fabric is an unmissable event for garment printers, bringing together global innovations for both conventional screen and digital markets.  J-Teck’s focus is on developing digital inks that are innovative, environmentally responsible and technically advanced, and we see FESPA as the perfect platform from which to launch new products, meet new customers and gain visibility in the wide format printing market.”

JTeck expects FESPA Fabric to confirm a clear trend towards digital printing direct to fabric, and will present a range of products including direct-to-fabric disperse inks, acid and reactive dyes, pigment inks and the EPS system for double-side direct printing on textiles.

Pozzoni continues: “We expect the Fabric Live! fashion show to be a fantastic new marketing initiative for J-Teck, giving us a superb opportunity to present our digital inks through their final applications in sports garments, fashion items and outerwear.  We’re sure that the colour and spectacle of a live show will be a memorable feature of the show for visitors, and we’re delighted for the J-Teck brand to be associated with this.”

J-Teck joins an established sponsor line-up for FESPA Fabric including corporate sponsor Falk & Ross and platinum sponsors Kornit Digital and Gildan.

Fujifilm today announces that Ipex 2010 has proved to be a resounding success, with a record number of sales and leads taken at the show. The Fujifilm stand was buzzing for the duration of the show as the Jet Press 720 presentations drew in huge crowds and real interest from a large number of printers.

Fujifilm used Ipex 2010 to demonstrate its complete product offering, with the wide format and euromedia products joining Fujifilm’s workflow, digital and offset production solutions. The integrated production area demonstrated just how easily a job can be directed to a digital press or a platesetter via the company’s XMF cross-media workflow.  And, the virtual pressroom not only brought colour to the show, but highlighted where efficiencies in the pressroom can be made.

As well as the various product areas on stand, the Dynamic Brochure Builder terminals proved extremely popular, with over a hundred visitors each day participating in the production of personalised brochures relevant to their areas of interest.

“We are delighted with the results that the Ipex exhibition has brought us,” comments Ryuta Masui, senior vice-president, Graphic Systems Business Domain, FUJIFILM Europe GmbH. “Despite volcanic ash and airline strikes, we saw a record number of visitors to our stand.  The Jet Press 720 was the star attraction, with huge crowds at every presentation. In addition, we hosted more than 300 VIP tours of the press over the course of the show. We’re extremely pleased with the outcome of the show in terms of actual sales and firm leads generated.”

“The number of overseas visitors was also very encouraging, making it a truly international show for us,” he continues. “We do feel that Ipex 2010 has come at the right time and right place, and look forward to an upbeat remainder to 2010.”

So how did IPEX go for the exhibitors? Here's a selection of quotes from some of the large format print related businesses that were exhibiting...

Laurence Roberts, Ipex 2006 President & AGFA UK MD, comments: “There has been a real buzz at the show and having generated more than €25 million worldwide sales, we’re more than delighted. We’ve also noted a significant increase in the number of international visitors, in particular from Brazil, Africa and India. IIR has done a fantastic job in organising the event.”

David Preskett, European Professional Print Director, Canon Europe, comments: “Canon came to Ipex 2010 with high hopes generated by the results of our latest industry survey, which reported a growing sense of optimism in the market. I’m delighted to say that those hopes have been more than fulfilled.  Customers and prospects have come to the stand in droves to find out not only about our latest technology innovations, but, even more so, to gain inspiration for ways to grow their businesses and to make the leap to new revenue streams. As a result, our gallery of customer case studies and applications, and the services and support area of our stand have proved to be particularly popular. From a sales perspective too, it’s very clear that the industry is set for growth as people are looking to invest in the future of their businesses. Over the course of the show we’ve exceeded our targets, with 250 production and light production print engines sold, supported by strong solution sales, including Helix Production Workflow.

“As the newly appointed President of Ipex 2014, I’m also delighted for Ipex that the show has been such a success for all  and I look forward to helping to replicate that success in 2014. It’s clear that Ipex is both a platform for showcasing the latest developments in all printing technologies  and an international forum for visitors to network and share ideas, and the more we can encourage an international audience to visit the show, the more everyone – both visitors and exhibitors – will benefit.”

Hans Klarenbeek, European Sales Manager for Durst, was pleased to report that the company has had a very successful IPEX. He said: “Along with selling all four machines exhibited on our stand, our total sales have amounted to in excess of £2 million.  Ipex has helped to demonstrate that our core values of productivity, quality, reliability and service attributed to all Durst machines, are also at the top of our customers’ priorities. We were also proud to be presented with an EDP award for ‘The best UV curable high end production printer’ for our Rho 1000 UV flatbed.”

"IPEX is back to being a truly international show and we have benefitted from serious investors from all over the world coming to see our new SurePress L-4033A digital label press and our range of high-end commercial and packaging proofing Stylus Pro printers and media," says Duncan Ferguson, Director of Pro-Graphics,  Epson Europe.

Jef Stoffels - Director Corporate Marketing EskoArtwork, "Ipex gave us 2 surprises: the super weather and the super visitor numbers! We’ve been very pleased with the show and the number of international visitors we’ve met. Ipex has for sure regained strength and presented a great opportunity for EskoArtwork and Enfocus to reinforce our leading role in innovating the commercial printing, packaging and sign and display markets. More and more it’s becoming clear that workflow automation is a key element to a successful production business, and our customers and prospects continue to move in that direction with our solutions. Overall there was fantastic interest in the new software and hardware that we launched at Ipex, as well as an appreciation for the value they can bring to the enterprises."

Graham Leeson, European marketing manager, Fujifilm Graphic Systems Europe, comments, “Despite volcanic ash and airline strikes, we saw a record number of visitors to our stand and made a record number of sales. The star of the show has been the Jet Press 720, with close to 1,000 people attending the Jet Press presentations every day. There’s been an incredibly positive atmosphere throughout the show from exhibitors and visitors alike. This has definitely been our most successful Ipex to date.”

"If our feet didn't hurt so much we would stay another week - the show's been that good!" Ian Scott, UK, GMG UK

Richard de Boissezon, Worldwide Marketing Manager, HP Graphics Solutions Business comments: "Expectations exceeded! We are happy to announce that at Ipex 2010, HP surpassed its revenue and lead generation targets as of day five. We experienced strong demand for our entire graphic arts portfolio, with visitors coming from many faraway places. Ipex 2010 proves that digital printing is the mainstay. That's a fact."

Bron Curley, Océ UK Managing Director, said: “Ipex has been a great success story for Océ, There has been more interest from customers and prospective customers than in the last two years. And significant new deals have been actually signed at the show. The integration with Canon, which will create the strongest player in the industry, is also opening new doors to sales opportunities as we have very complementary products and technologies.”

 

 

BAPC membership hit 3,000 during Ipex 2010, when Neil Forrest, development director for web-to-print company Cognitu Cloud Computing joined the association at the show.

Sidney Bobb, chairman of the BAPC (British Association for Print & Communication) said, “It was great to see such positivity and the industry as a whole enjoying such a successful Ipex over the past eight days.  We were also very pleasantly surprised at the attention visitors were giving the BAPC during Ipex 2010, especially given the opportunity to see all the latest technologies on show.  It was therefore tremendous to welcome our 3,000th member at the exhibition.”

Neil Forrest added, “I am delighted to be part of the print community that is the BAPC and honoured to be the organisation’s 3,000th member.”

The BAPC is a not-for-profit organisation that supports the print community with member services including business advice, arbitration, environmental consultancy and legal advice.  Membership to the BAPC is a flat rate of just £50 per year.

“We’re an organisation of printers helping printers,” continued Bobb.  “This is a time of real change for the industry and we want it to succeed.  The BAPC therefore wants to work with everyone possible to make this happen.”

This year, the BAPC’s annual Conference will take place over the weekend of the 5-6th November at The Marriott Hotel, Waltham Abbey.  The conference, which is renowned for providing an unrivalled opportunity to network informally with fellow providers and gain an insight into the latest industry trends includes a line-up of international speakers and gala awards dinner on Saturday 6th November 2010.