25 years on and still going strong

Sign and Digital UK 2012 kicked off with a bang at Birmingham’s NEC with a cornucopia of light, sound, colour and the evocative smells of ink on vinyl.

Arriving on the Sunday before the show with our biggest ever stand in tow, it really was amazing to see the hundreds of workmen swarming across the huge concrete expanse of hall three, constructing what has become the must go-to event for the UK sign industry.

“We thought we would create a special gallery to celebrate our 25 years, and it is not just a case of reminiscing, this is actually going to be a fun thing to see at the show. So there are a lot of people in the industry that you will recognise from years gone by and there are all the photos of techniques from yesteryear,” Sign and Digital UK’s event director, Rudi Blackett, told SignLink on day one, adding: “So it is a celebration, and we have also got some equipment from 25 years ago. You can also see an original Roland CAM, a Gerber Edge and a Scientific Equipment. Now these three pieces of equipment were absolutely pivotal in starting the industry on the path it is now on and really are historic.”

Indeed, there seemed to be a sense of excitement in the air throughout the day as herds of sign-makers in all there guises thunder through the halls in search of new technology, deals and suppliers to improve their offering and, most importantly, the bottom line.

Sign-industry veteran and managing director of Dorotape, James Carpenter, who is featured in the 25 Year Gallery, explained his take on 20 years of exhibiting: “We started of just selling application tape which we manufactured in Europe and all we had was a shell scheme some white walls and a few small sample roles of application tape. In those days, the majority of the show was CAD/CAM and it was mostly plotters, cutters and plain coloured vinyl. That was what the market wanted and that was what was new then. But of course things move on, and now we are into the digital market which dominates the industry.”
  
 Indeed, there were more wide-format digital print options, corresponding finishing solutions and software support at the show than ever before. And due to the increasing level of technological development, these solutions are not only coming down in cost but exponentially increasing in speed, quality and range of output.

Sealing the deal

The show is always a place where deals are done, or new ventures taken on their maiden voyage. Indeed,  Eurostand Display’s international sales manager, Sam Mooney, spoke of his firm’s partnership with two other companies as part of the DISQ Group. He claims the tie-up means the firm can now offer end-to-end solutions for all its customers’ needs and will play a major part in the industry in years to come.

Inktec’s UK sales manager Ben Woodruff, also beamed as he told SignLink that the firm had secured the first sale of its new Jetrix 2.3m wide printer, which can print on a wide range of substrates. Merseyside-based Quantum UV purchased the device, as they do a lot of work which involves printing onto glass and UV.

In line with European trends, wide-format digital print does seem to still be growing at a truly astonishing rate. Not only were there brand new launches by the likes of Mimaki / Hybrid Services, Mutoh, HP, Roland DG, Agfa and Epson, but brand new manufacturers such as Galaxy Printek were also showcasing what they can offer the UK market.

Graphic Printing Technologies (GPT) also teamed up with Secabo for the show to sell its range of heat presses. The move was made to reportedly enhance GPT’s capability to fully service the textile and apparel industry as they compliment Mimaki’s range of market leading dye-sublimation textile printers. According to GPT, Secabo’s seven heat presses provide a simple, cost-effective solution for all common heat transfer methods and objects.

“Many people printing with small format Epson-type printers using Saw Grass or other third party dye sub inks are finding that as their workload increases, the cost of this printing setup is expensive. GPT can offer a complete, cost-effective solution that delivers more of a production-level solution with lower cost per print and greater flexibility to deliver a broader and most value-oriented service,” says GPT’s general manager, Stuart Cole.

The fallout

A host of exhibitors declared Sign and Digital UK 2012 a success, despite visitor numbers falling by over seven percent compared to last year. Exactly 6,264 unique visitors came through the doors at the NEC over the course of the three days. Perhaps the reason for this perception of success despite the fall is that all the exhibitors I talked too, around 50, seemed to be singing of the same hymn sheet.

Each said that Sign and Digital UK 2012 saw a strong trend of visitors ‘coming to buy’ rather than just investigate—with some on the Mimaki stand even asking if they could take home machines the same day.

Ultima Displays, which manufactured our biggest ever SignLink stand, described the exhibition as ‘a huge success’ and say they have already signed up for next year.

“We collected some great new leads, and they totalled up to some of the most productive responses we’ve ever had from a show,” says managing director Andrew Burdett.

He also says the show confirmed to him that digital signage is ‘part of the future’, adding: “The tablet holder, used in conjunction with the stand is becoming an integral part of a display.”

Burdett additionally revealed to SignLink that Ultima is planning major global investment in the coming months, explaining: “Along with our partners and sister companies in Europe, we have decided to spend more money on research and development. We will be spending more money on products in China and more money on manufacturing in Corby and Chicago.”

Business management software solutions provider Clarity Software’s marketing manager, Emmerson Welch, told SignLink it also had a ‘phenomenal response’ to its new deliveries module which it launched at the show.

“Gone are the days when office-based employees are waiting on paperwork to raise invoices. Now Clarity users receive immediate job completion and sign-off directly from site and raise an invoice instantly, accelerating their cash flow and optimising their business profitability. Deliveries is the final piece of a streamlined, cost reductive electronic business workflow—saving hours in needless paper-based administration and improving customer service across the industry,” says Welch.

Clarity’s managing director, Richard Gamlin, also paid tribute, commenting: “Sign-makers, POS fitters, surveyors and office equipment installers have already expressed an interest. There is no doubt that this new functionality will directly increase bottom line profitability.”

Roland DG’s number one reseller, printMAX, also states that initial analysis of post-show leads reveal they ‘dramatically exceeded’ that of last year, as chief executive Michael Bolton explains: “With both quality and quantity sales leads coming through from visitors this year we weren’t disappointed. It was definitely the best show in years.”

Digital Print Innovation’s managing director Stewart Bell was also bouyant about his experience, with four of the company’s products in particular pulling in the crowds– the Jetrix 2030FRK, the MTex 3200, the EasyRack media storage system and the Seiko H2 74s mild solvent printer.

“Overall, we’ve had a busy show. It’s been great to meet with our customers, new and old, and introduce them to our new products and tell them about our Digital Print Innovation Centre in Derby where they can come and try out their medias and substrates and demo files on our printers there. The MTex direct to textile printer received interest this week as well as the H-series Seiko printer,” says Bell.

He continues: “People came to talk to us about the MTex specifically at Sign and Digital UK so it’s going to be an extremely popular choice. With the Seiko H-series, visitors were interested in the flexibility of the machine—the fact that you can print up to 100sq m an hour with CMYK in two configurations, and has double sided and mesh printing options available, means that this printer can open up a huge range of markets to a small-medium sized digital print outfit.”

Breaking records

When the queue to pick up magazines on day two of Sign and Digital UK started snaking around the corner of our stand, we realised that this year’s show really had lived up to its potential.

The figures speak for themselves; on day one we handed out some 400 magazines, but the Wednesday saw 1,200 fly off the stand in the space of about six hours—an all-time record.

Simply walking around the show, I was astounded with sheer enthusiasm and good spirits being felt. This ranged from interviewing Lou Macari and Arthur Albiston of Manchester United fame on the Hybrid/ Mimaki stand for Sign7 News on signlinktv.com, through to buoyant Guinness World Record chaser Clare Newton on the Agfa stand.

Speaking to Agfa’s wide-format manager Steve Collins he also said that day two at Sign and Digital had indeed seen some heavy footfall, enthusing: “The stand at times today became overwhelmed with the number of people and we really have generated a lot of leads, which will of course be translated into sales in due course. This year is particularly important to us because we are launching new machines for the first time in the UK, and so we can demonstrate their capabilities on stand to far more people than would otherwise be possible.”

The show has also seen the positive impact of some first-time exhibitors, with company’s such as Sihl bringing their German manufacturing might to UK shores. The company’s UK operations director Ian Turnbull explained that Sihl’s focus is to showcase its high quality standard approach to business in the UK and highlight the capabilities of its extensive range of material options for sign-makers.

“Our goal here is really to show people who we are and what we can do to improve their businesses by investing in quality solutions,” Turnbull told SignLink, adding: “Sign-makers understand that media is a vital part of the overall look and quality of their work and they want to make sure they have access to the best possible products at the best possible cost. Our extensive range helps them to meet this aim and we look forward to becoming the media of choice for many sign-makers throughout the UK.”

Partnered with Colourgen, Mutoh also showcased its impressive fabric printing solutions for creating soft signage. With the stand’s vivid soft signage graphics printed with its technology, the company’s president of European operations Arthur Vanhoutte explained that solutions such as its dye-sublimation 1638w (64”, 60sq m/hr, disperse dye inks) are really focused on continuing to create sustainable solutions for market.

“We are focusing on continuing to develop our classical solutions for the wide-format market, but in addition to that we are also investing in creating a new diverse range of industrial solutions to address the growing demand for printed electronics, direct-to-glass printing as well as a range of other niche areas,” Vanhoutte told SignLink, adding: “Sign and Digital UK really does stand up to the European shows and we are seeing a good level of lead generation, with around 50 being created each day off the stand.”

Crowning the victors

This year’s Sign and Digital UK awards also went off with a bang as the good and great of the industry gathered to be entertained, network and applaud this year’s winners (see P for full list).

Hollywood Monster was crowned ‘Wide-format Printing Company of the Year’, while Signbox took home the much-coveted ‘Sign Company of the Year’ prize. But perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came from SignLink’s very own Jack Gocher as Graffiti Design picked up the ‘Multiple Sign Project Award (10+ employees)’ for its work on the stadium of Gocher’s beloved Brighton and Hove Albion.

It was also great to meet thise at the coal face of the industry on their way up. Gemini Katwa came third in the ‘Rising Star’ category. She told us how her firm is one of the growing number of traditional litho printers investing in wide-format in search of additional revenue streams. Katwa also says she regularly gets her hands dirty by getting involved in the production process

Final reflections

HP’s UK and Ireland design country manager, graphic solutions business, Phil Oakley, enthused as he spoke of his ‘best show ever’. He has been representing HP at Sign and Digital UK for six years and said business had never been better. When SignLink spoke to him midway through day three, he said the firm’s 50 golden tickets offering £1,000 cashback on latex machines had almost all gone.

You can also expect a deluge of new ink manufacturers from the Middle East entering the market in the coming twelve months. SignLink spoke to quite a few ink suppliers from the region on a reconnaissance mission at the NEC, looking for partners to launch their products into the market.

It really is clear to me the industry is in good shape, despite all the negative things we see, hear and read on the economy. People are buying machinery again and firms are investing in signage.

Looking to the future, Sign and Digital UK obviously faces stiff competition from FESPA’s UK debut next summer. But exhibitor responses such as these and the general feeling and positive feedback from the show across the board should put it in a very solid position to retain its market share. If anything. a second major UK sign and graphics exhibition will help it to up its game even further and bring a string of new innovations for 2013.

For full video interviews, documentaries, special reports and time lapse videos from Sign and Digital UK 2012, head to www.signlinktv.com and search: ‘SignandDigitalUK’ or browse our Trade Shows channel



                        Sign and Digital UK 2012 in pictures