It’s not surprising that the big Japanese press manufacturers, both offset and digital, along with the vast number of technology companies that call Japan home, should set the tone and the agenda of this year’s IGAS exhibition at Big Sight, Tokyo.
The show’s Japanese organisers have always made a point of the international reputation of their major printing exhibition, which takes place every four years at the Big Sight exhibition centre out in Tokyo Bay. It’s even called the International Graphic Arts Trade Show (IGAS). They like to consider it on a par with drupa in Germany, Print Chicago in US and of course, previously with IPEX, although that may not be as relevant after last year’s London debacle.
But definitions of internationalism remain vague in Asia where there are fierce national rivalries to augment language barriers. IGAS is competing with Print China for prominence in the region, while South Korea also likes to consider its show as a regional event.
This is my second IGAS, the first this century, and there’s no doubt that it has become a lot more accessible for overseas, (read English speaking) visitors. Lots of signs are bi-lingual, and there’s an impressive increase in the number of staff on exhibition booths able to speak the world language.
But the elephant that is not in the room is China. Most of us are unable to physically distinguish Chinese people from Japanese or even Koreans, so there may have been a goodly number of visitors from China, but there was no mistaking the lack of their manufacturers at IGAS. At trade shows around the world, Chinese companies are a growing presence, but at IGAS the political chill made it impossible for them to be here.
Mind, it’s not confined to the Chinese. You have to wonder what on earth Heidelberg is doing? Despite always having a good marketplace in Japan the German manufacturer’s small exhibition booth boasted clowns and sailor girls clambering around a sailing ship theme with mast and riggings. In the corner an ancient Heidelberg platen worked away die cutting. If you’re looking for metaphors about ships battling rough seas and headwinds then there are plenty to choose from.
At least Heidelberg showed up, more than can be said for the other German press manufacturers who made plain their opinion of the international importance of IGAS by not turning up at all.
But Japan doesn’t need the presence of other countries to claim a first rank in graphic arts equipment manufacturing. The list of home-grown manufacturers is as impressive as it is long: Komori, Fujifilm, Konica Minolta, Screen, Canon, Epson, Toyo Ink, Ricoh, Horizon, Shinohara, Mimaki, Miyakoshi and many more. Then there’s the new press giant RMGT, which basically translates as Ryobi-Mitsubishi-Graphics-Technology, which launched its massive presence to the home market with muscular stand and three new large offset presses; RMGT 9, an A1 5-colour with RMGT 10 and 11 stretching up to 1130 mm format, all with LED UV curing.
There are many relatively smaller manufacturers too in rubber, paper, machinery and chemistry from the powerhouse of Japanese industry, certainly enough for the absence of the Chinese and the Europeans not to threaten the future of IGAS in a similar way to the lamented IPEX. With a roll-up over the six days of 56,000 its future seems assured.
HP was by far the largest of the non-Japanese brands, (even without the Dscoop conference going on in the basement) with an enormous booth stacked with big B2 digital presses – 10000, 20000 and 30000 – along with many smaller ones, notably showing its Pagewide XL 8000 high-speed inkjet.
All the big Series 4 presses were covered in plastic, on their way to customers after the show. Roy Eitan, director and general manager, Asia Pacific and Japan, assured me they were all sold, with at least one Japanese printer buying two HP Indigo 20000 labels and packaging presses. It reinforced the notion that the Japanese market is simply too big to ignore.
Komori the brave
But as far as the local industry was concerned the show belonged to Komori. Enjoying the largest single exhibition space, it paraded a number of its massive 50-tonne plus Lithrone presses, highlighting the new GX40, a straight path packaging press with no turning drum. These are powerful automated offset presses that cannot fail to impress with their productivity.
There were other Japanese offset presses at the show, reinforcing that rumours of the death of offset are greatly exaggerated. Both Sakuri and Shinohara were there with live press runs on the stands. As to how many are being sold, well that’s another question.
However are all eyes were on Komori’s, yet to be released Impremia IS29 digital inkjet press. The long anticipated four-colour sheetfed machine prints 53 x 75mm (29") format is the offset press manufacturer’s bid to get into digital before it’s too late. Given Komori’s background it’s not surprising to be told over again that the press is to be used for those runs that don’t need offset. A lot of time was spent emphasizing that the results were “almost as good as offset.” And they certainly were. The Impremia IS29 uses Konica Minolta inkjet heads and the level of cooperation between the two firms could not be more obvious.
The Konica Minolta K-1 has been a long time coming. A digital inkjet press it is almost a technology replica of the Komori Impremia IS29 using the same Konica Minolta piezo inkjet heads, outputting a similar size sheet and relying on Komori paper handling technology. The single pass printer uses LED UV drying on standard offset paper and the results are looking good. However, samples from both engines, Impremia IS29 and K-1 are impossible to take away, so it’s difficult to gauge the effectiveness of some of the claims.
The two presses are poised to hit the market next year, possibly at drupa, but you have to wonder at the delay.
Sharing the Konica Minolta stand was the bizHUB C1100 and the latest iteration of the MGI digital foiler, the JetVarnish 3DS. The machine uses Konica Minolta inkjet heads and although there has yet to be one sold into the Australian market, there is a sense that digital varnish is a technology whose time has come.
Partly this can be seen from the success Currie Group have had with the rival Scodix machine, although at a different price point. Three or possibly four have gone to firms in Australia and New Zealand with the latest going into Western Australia even as I write. At IGAS The Scodix Ultra was on the Screen stand attracting plenty of attraction with samples being handed out of what we can expect with gold foiling at drupa next year.
Also at the Screen stand and again a harbinger of technology that is about to make a huge impact, was the Motioncutter, a digital laser system that can handle up to 40 mpm. With a three axis mirrored laser the samples handed out displayed none of the rounded edges that bedevil the technology. A great design makes it a very attractive piece of equipment for anyone thinking of getting die cutting. (On that the arrival of the Horizon RD-4055 rotary die-cutter is changing the market dynamics. More on that in the Horizon report next week.)
Screen cantered its exhibition around the TruPress Jet 520 HD printer. This inkjet is producing very fine, colourful results. Over the way Miyakoshi continued to demonstrate its sense of being a pioneer with an impressive display of it high-speed MJP20MX. Printing at 1200 dpi this powerful solution at up t 160 mpm uses water-based pigment and dye inks. Despite being a pioneer it has yet to impact in the Australian market.
As you’d expect there was no shortage of toner-based or inkjet digital presses from Japanese manufacturers; Ricoh showed off the C9110 eight colour press to great effect; Fujifilm showed a range of Fuji Xerox presses including the iGen 5 150 and a mono colour Versant; Canon took its Image PRESS C1000VP out for a run, emphasizing its six dot resolution sizes. It is futile to draw quality comparisons between these machines; toner digital printing is a very mature technology with something to suit every application.
Wide format inkjet was obviously in evidence but not to the same overwhelming extent at our local PrintEx in May. Fujifilm showed its Acuity 1600 II while Mimaki showcased its SIJ – 32OUV, a 3.2 metre LED UV machine that looked the goods. HP had its new Latex 3500 on show to reinforce the popularity of its water-based ink. Screen’s Trupress Jet W3200UV went roll to roll at maximum productivity. Agfa had a decent size stand featuring mostly flatbed machines
On the Epson stand the new SC series in action were attracting plenty of attention, signalling the company’s intention to make a serious assault on the whole range of production sign and display.
I came away from the Big Sight show with a renewed optimism in the health and sustainability of the whole printing and graphics industry, especially for the Japanese manufacturers. They appear to be financially stable and from my inquiries are enjoying a revival of business, getting back to the levels of before the crash in 2008.
If trade shows can be regarded as bellwethers of the state of the industry then, according to IGAS, the printing industry is doing quite nicely, thank you.
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