Digital solutions remain star attraction
amid newspaper technologies at Ipex 2010
Sparking new wave of optimism, Ipex 2010 (May 18-25) in the city of Birmingham, UK concluded reasonably well, with strong international turnout and business deals. With over 1,000 exhibiting companies from forty countries, the show provided a spectacular showcase of the best in printing equipment, workflow and consumables, while witnessing remarkable developments in the newspaper industry. Digital newspaper solutions such as from HP, Kodak, Oce and Xerox were the star attractions amid cutting-edge options within newspaper production segments presented by major players from newspaper industry including Baldwin, Bottcher, Ferag, Glunz & Jensen, Goss International, KBA, KK Printing Machines (India), Kodak, manroland, Mitsubishi, Muller Martini, NBG, The Printers House, Tolerans etc. At the event’s mid-point, the announcement of fully acquisition of Goss International by Shanghai Electric Group Corporation marked another indelible sign upon the industry. Professor Frank Romano, international analyst and Ipex ‘Champion in Print’ summed up the mood of exhibitors and visitors, saying, “Ipex 2010 has demonstrated that the printing industry is back in business”.
Digitally printed rolls (left)
Group of champions in print at the formal opening of IPEX 2010. (right)
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With one day of Ipex 2010 to conclude, visitor attendance stood at just under 50,000 from 135 countries, excluding over 20,000 exhibitor, agents, dealers, distributors, OEM’s and 500 international media personnel. Most significantly, the international ratio has increased by eight percent compared to 2006, with the overall visitor attendance representing 48 percent. This makes Ipex more international than any other business to business event in the UK. The largest overseas visitor groups came from France, Germany, Netherlands, with a four percent overall increase from Western Europe. Notable increase in attendance levels came from Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as China and India. Exhibitors commented on the high level of personnel seniority from both overseas and UK companies. Seventy seven percent of attendees were senior managers, company directors and owner/managers. “This Ipex has been a success. It has been busy, had a real vibrancy and shown itself once again to be a truly international event. Visitors have been informed, entertained and shown glimpses of the future. Suppliers with the right products have generated good sales. Ipex came at a fortunate time in the economic and investment cycle and it will be remembered as the ‘Recovery Show’, the most important Ipex ever for our industry,” commented George Clarke, outgoing Ipex president & managing director of Heidelberg UK.
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“We’re delighted with the visitor numbers which are roughly in line with 2006, despite considerable industry consolidation. The notable increase in international visitors underlines the importance of Ipex to the printing industry. A far-reaching integrated marketing campaign, including successful international roadshows and a comprehensive co-marketing programme, came together to deliver an international decision-making and buying audience,” conveyed Trevor Crawford, Ipex 2010 event director, adding, “Here at Ipex 2010, the industry’s leading suppliers certainly inspired visitors with exciting new technology, but we believe Ipex 2010 will be remembered, first and foremost, as the moment when printers showed renewed confidence and moved to invest in the future of their business.”
At the opening ceremony, George Clarke and Trevor Crawford paid tribute to the resilience of the industry and the significant technological developments evident at the show. The ceremony also marked the culmination of the ‘Champions in Print’ initiative, which saw the Ipex champions presented with an award and honoured for their significant contribution to the industry.
Show features like the Printers’ Profit Zone in association with the Print Coach, Nick Devine and the Great Print Debates (in association with Pira) played to full houses. Feedback showed that the robust and tangible business advice provided during these sessions was extremely well received by printers.
Over a third of the exhibitor base had never participated in the event, demonstrating how Ipex continues to evolve and attract new companies, and reflecting the status of Ipex as an international launch pad to the graphic arts industry. Exhibitors reported record levels of business, with tens of millions of pounds worth of deals closed at the show, for both digital and offset technologies. “Feedback confirms that Ipex has played a key role in re-igniting the global industry, providing the catalyst the market was seeking. While we’ve set our own targets, ultimately, we judge the show on the business results our exhibitors have achieved. By that measure, Ipex has been a definite success,” said Nick Craig Waller, Ipex 2010 marketing director.
“Despite volcanic ash and airline strikes, we saw a record number of visitors to our stand and made a record number of sales. 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,” conveyed Graham Leeson, European marketing manager, Fujifilm Graphic Systems Europe.
“Ipex 2010 has been a successful show for Goss International on a number of levels. We have enjoyed quality discussions with key customers as well as establishing many potentially useful connections. The resoundingly positive feedback to our first joint exhibit with Shanghai Electric has been an added bonus,” commented Eric Bell, Goss marketing manager EMEA, adding, “We were also able to utilise the international reach of Ipex to good effect when announcing the imminent hundred percent acquisition of Goss International by Shanghai Electric, which was certainly one of the highlights of the show.”
Richard de Boissezon, worldwide marketing manager, HP Graphics Solutions Business said, “Expectations exceeded! We are happy to announce that at Ipex 2010, HP surpassed its revenue and lead generation targets. 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.”
For Klaus Schmidt, KBA marketing director, Ipex 2010 has been much better than expected. “We were quite pessimistic coming into the show considering the economic situation and the ash cloud so we were surprised by the number and quality of visitors especially from Russia, the Middle East and Far East. We certainly achieved our sales goal for the show and may possibly exceed it depending on some very important meetings and demonstrations. We are very optimistic for the next Ipex. We have seen a mood change here since Print 09 in Chicago showing that Ipex still has a good place in the international calendar,” he conveyed.
“With Ipex, we have exceeded all our expectations. The stand’s innovative and virtual design attracted a lot of visitors and represented the perfect platform to further build our long-standing customer relationships and partnerships,” said Chris Payne, director and vice president, business to business marketing, Kodak.
According to Philip Dunn, European marketing manager, Komori International, “In common with most exhibitors, we came to Ipex with modest expectations. For Komori, these have been considerably exceeded, especially by a heightened interest from printers who, we are sure, recognized that the considerable advancements in technology since they last invested in machinery could give them a lead over their competitors. Testimony to this – and to the international attendance at the show – are orders which have been received from countries as diverse as Holland, Sri Lanka, China, Nepal, and, of course, the UK.”
For manroland also, Ipex 2010 has been very successful show exceeding their expectations. “We’ve had very strong press sales throughout the show and have a huge number of qualified leads to follow up. Ipex is now truly an international exhibition and we saw a big increase in visitors from every corner of the globe. Our stand and the decision to focus on applications and value-added printing solutions was very well received by customers, with full houses for nearly all our 3D presentation sessions. Printers we spoke to expressed a genuine desire to understand how they can add greater value to their product portfolio and enhance their strategic relationships with their clients in the process,” conveyed Thomas Hauser, head of marketing and communications, manroland AG.
As per Andreas Schillinger, UK MD, Muller Martini Limited, “The large number of interested visitors we have welcomed during the show has made us cautiously optimistic that we are seeing a return to better conditions. We have had intense discussions about productivity improvements, faster make-ready capabilities and general flexibility of lines and this has clearly been driven by the continued fierce competitiveness of the industry and the emergence of the digital environment. Ipex has been a great show for us and the feel good factor was amplified by the bright summer conditions outside the halls.”
“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,” said Bron Curley, Océ UK managing director.
Rainer Kuhn, managing director for PrintCity confirmed, “Ipex has been an important event for our members ever since 2002, when the long term alliance was first promoted here. The 2006 was a major stepping stone for us, and this year we have successfully launched our new concept for PrintCity international exhibitions here. Our nine members, including Leonhard Kurz, manroland, MEGTEC, Merck, Océ, Sappi, Tolerans, (leading provider of newspaper stitching solutions) UPM and Weilburger Graphics have made multiple customer contacts at Ipex 2010 under the shared three themes Print: Lean. Green. Seen. This has been done in a most efficient way, focused on our ‘connection of competence’ networking and knowledge sharing with all visitors.”
For Ferag and WRH Marketing, the Ipex 2010 show arrived at the perfect time. According to Lee Whatmough, MD, WRH Marketing, UK, “Our customers and indeed the market are looking aggressively at new ways to provide printing and finishing facilities that will allow them to create new revenue streams. The equipment we have demonstrated on our stand has the ability to provide this for the commercial, newspaper and direct mail sectors of the industry, and most importantly today is that the cost of the equipment allows for a short return on investment time. It is clear apparent that the market is researching and gathering information to prepare themselves for investment when the economic situation will allow. We can only assume that this has contributed to the high level of interest on the Ferag/ WRH Marketing stand.”
“We have been delighted with the show, our stand has been extremely busy, and we’re very pleased with the number of leads we’ve taken from visitors interested to learn more about the range of technology, workflow and business development tools that we have exhibited on our stand,” said Tracy Yelencsics, vice president, production products and programs, global business group, Xerox Corporation.
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