Into the fray

Despite having suffered heavily in recent years, there is no doubt that the print industry is on the way up. You only have to flick through the pages of this or any other trade magazine to see headlines praising the growth of manufacturers and print companies alike.

This ongoing growth has spread across print and had a major impact on industry events and exhibitions, with organisers not only reporting an in-crease in demand from exhibitors, but also from visitors registering their interest. One such event is InPrint, which has gained praise from all sectors since its inaugural edition.

Organisers are keen to build on the success of the event’s momentum and have taken on board comments from visitors and exhibitors alike when planning this year’s show, which takes place at the Messe Munich Trade Fair centre from November 10th to 12th this year.

Growing success

Someone who has been heavily involved with this development process is Frazer Chesterman, the co-founder and co-director of InPrint on behalf of organiser FM Brooks, which is part of the Mack Brooks Exhibitions Group. Speaking about the success of last year’s show, Chesterman says he was keen to address the latest industry trends and the 2015 event has been designed to provide visitors with all the most important information about the wider print market.

“With any new event idea, you want to create a concept that really excites the industry that it serves,” Chesterman says, adding: “Our vision for this event was to develop a new market opportunity for the print industry and to broaden the visitor audience and potential opportunities for print technology manufacturers. We, like many others had observed that traditional printing segments are being challenged by the effects of digitalisation, promotional budget cuts and the volatility of the publishing house industry.

“Industrial print has benefited from rapid technological development and from the increased variety and broadness of the potential application. It is the only sector of the printing technology industry to show a two-figure growth rate: The industry experts I.T. Strategies predict a cumulative overall growth of 36 percent for the years 2014 to 2020.

“The growing success of the InPrint show, with 50 percent more exhibition space since 2014, confirms this trend. In the manufacturing industry, there is a strong demand for technological innovations, supported by considerable pull-factors from the consumer side. At the same time, the developer community is bursting with energy.”

Addressing key trends

With 150 exhibitors lined up for this year’s show—60 of which will be exhibiting for the first time—Chesterman is confident that the event will once again attract plenty of interest from across the industry. He goes to say that due to the topics the event will address, all visitors will have their needs catered for in Munich.

“You will see new industrial print technology and applications from some of the recognisable print names such as Konica Minolta, HP, Agfa, Canon, Durst, Ricoh and Heidelberg, which will show their technology and applications for the first time,” he says, adding: “In addition, visitors will see more unique and specialised technology from the developers and integrators who have created technology that you would not see at any other print event.



“Industrial print is the only print technology sector that can claim double digit growth. There is a huge amount of interest in this evolving marketplace and from our experience in launching the show; there is clearly a big need for insight, information and innovation for print in manufacturing from the entire industrial print supply chain.”


Focusing more on specific areas of the show, Chesterman outlines the key topics that will be covered at InPrint 2015: “The event will cover three broad topic areas; ‘Function and Future’, ‘Design and Décor’ and ‘Packaging’. The core technologies shown at the event will include screen, specialty, digital, inkjet and 3D printing processes.

“The event has over 150 exhibiting companies, the show features over 50 conference sessions and a raft of product launches for new technologies for industrial print production will take place at the show.

O Factoid: InPrint 2015 will feature 50 percent more exhibition space than the 2014 edition of the event. O

“Whatever happens, it is clear that InPrint has established itself as the show that provides the best answers for questions such as this whilst giving the most effective access to innovation, insight and expertise for industrial printing, both now and in the future.”

Who is on board?

As Chesterman mentions, a number of key manufacturers from across the print industry have signed up to exhibit at the event, including wide-format specialist Mimaki. Mike Horsten, general marketing manager EMEA, explains that the show will enable the company to reach audiences across the industrial print sector and demonstrate how Mimaki devices can help them improve business.

Horsten expands: “InPrint is an important new show for the industrial printing world, as, until the very recent past, there were no trade shows for this market. I believe this is one of the first shows that has captured the whole industrial print segment in one show. The unique combination of digital and non-digital solutions in one show makes this attractive to the potential customer to visit.”

With this in mind, Horsten explains that Mimaki will be showcasing a wide range of products at InPrint 2015, from devices such as small-format UV-LED printers, through to total packaging solutions that range from design to finished product.

He adds: “As the industrial print arena is becoming more digital we have decided to participate to inform potential customers of the Mimaki Industrial print offering.”

Another company set to have a presence at InPrint 2015 is Xaar, with product manager Mark Ritchie describing the event as a ‘powerful showcase’ to show off the firm’s latest industrial printing technologies.

Ritchie adds: “We exhibit at InPrint because it is an ideal event to show process engineers why Xaar technology is so successful and explore how it can benefit their own specific applications. Xaar technology has already had a substantial impact on a number of industries and has considerable potential to impact many more.

“The show is a powerful showcase for the very latest industrial printing technologies. This is why it attracts manufacturers from all over the world and from disparate industries to see the latest technology developments and explore how these can improve or transform their own processes.”

Ritchie goes on to outline Xaar’s plans for the event, explaining that the company will showcase a range of its inkjet capabilities, in addition to how the Xaar 1002 printhead and its variants can be integrated within an industrial process to bring significant benefits to manufacturers.



Xaar also plans to present its new single-pass Xaar Print Bar System, which can be configured with a combination of Xaar 1002 GS6, GS12, GS14, and AMp printheads on a bar with a print width of up to 560mm



He comments: “The Xaar 1002 family provides a choice of printheads capable of jetting drop sizes from 1 pL up to 160 pL for a broad range of applications: from highly precise fine patterning for advanced manufacturing all the way to ceramic tile decoration and printing high viscosity varnishes and high opacity whites onto labels and packaging.”

Varied content

Also set to have a presence at InPrint 2015 is Inca Digital, which specialises in the design, development, and manufacture of inkjet printers. Dr Jim Taylor, who serves as business development manager at the firm, has highlighted InPrint as an important event for Inca Digital, ahead of the company’s first appearance at the show.

Taylor comments: “InPrint gives manufacturers in a variety of industries the best opportunity to see the latest developments in industrial printing techniques. Inca Digital is an expert partner for companies looking to develop sophisticated print equipment for specific industrial applications—such as packaging, décor, metal and textiles.
“We are exhibiting at the show for the first time to present our new independent Inca Genius service, which works hand-in-hand with companies to develop and introduce digital print technology into their product range.”

Expanding on this, Taylor goes on to outline Inca Digital’s wider plans for InPrint 2015: “At InPrint we will show how well we understand digital print technology and how it can solve current manufacturing issues, deliver a combined analogue print solution or a fully digital industrial printing solution.
 
“The Inca Genius service harnesses our expertise and technology but, uniquely, can also incorporate the latest advances from other leading innovators. At the show our impartial Inca Genius experts will discuss a visitor’s individual needs and advise on digital print and product decoration options, which unite the best combination of inks, systems and software.”

With organisers and exhibitors alike singing its praises, it looks like InPrint 2015 is on track to emulate the success of its debut event last year and attract further praise this time around. Heavily backed by a host of major players in the market, those that do venture out to Germany this November will not be disappointed by what is set to await them.

Focusing on growth in industrial print

Industry heavyweight HP has revealed that it intends to use its presence at the show to focus on how its solutions can help companies operational within the industrial print sector. HP says it has four core business areas that feature kit capable of producing work for those in the industrial print market. These areas comprise of HP Indigo and PageWide Press, HP Latex, and HP flatbed UV.



Speaking about HP’s appearance at InPrint, Ronen Zioni, EMEA marketing director for HP Graphic Solutions Business, comments: “HP is a company that is always evolving and our technology is continually challenging customers to change how they produce print, by providing new possibilities and placing them into new markets.
 
“Industrial print is a growing market, and one in which HP is already active, so it makes sense to exhibit at the InPrint show which has a main focus on industrial print technology. We would like to show the visitors the variety of applications that our disruptive technologies could allow them to produce and remain very competitive.”


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