IPEX 2010 Blogs - Andy McCourt Number 7 Goodbye, IPEX!

This is my last blog from Ipex; you can read much more detail in the June issue of Print21 magazine with special features from Simon and Patrick too. Just a wrap-up as I trekked the halls for the last time.

Ran into Heidelberg Australia's Andy Vels Jensen and Alastair Hadley (pictured below) taking a well-earned break over a mineral water in an NEC cafe. Well done gentlemen, should go down well with the top brass too!
 
The new owners of Goss and Akiyama, Shanghai Electric put an impressive 'meet the press' reception on with Chairman Xu Juanghao addressing those assembled in Chinese, and a translator turning it into English. At Q&A time, questions were translated back the other way, then the answer Chinese-to-English. I mentioned our Prime Minister Kev speaks fluent Chinese so if Mr Xu comes on down to Australia, we might get an audience at the Lodge and put some snags on the barbie for a good feed. Seriously, watch Shanghai Electric grow and grow in the graphics business, a very well resourced and managed company.

Pictured below: Heidelberg's Andy Vels Jensen and Alastair Hadley chill out with some mineral water.

Oh, and our glorious publisher buttonholed Heidelberg CEO Bernard Schreirer at the Drupa (yes they are promoting already!) reception. Fresh off the plane and not too cleanly shaven, he cut quite a dash in his trilby and beer-microphone! There's dedication for you.
 
Curry's came to the rescue (not a typo) – some person lifted my laptop mains adapter/charger and without it I would soon exhaust my battery ergo no more blogs (do I hear hooray?). Dropped in at local electrical chain Currys and lo! They had a universal iGo Green charger that works with my Dell Netbook! Lovely, helpful people – just like the Curries back home.
 
Seen around the aisles: Nick Benkovich, formerly of Graphic Knowledge in Sydney, now in a senior position with Kodak in Vancouver; Paul Bagshaw of Ricoh Infoprint Sydney; Steve Dunwell and Stefano Nistri of manroland; (pictured); regular visitor to our shores from CGS-Oris, Christoph 'Thommy' Thommessen with Fuji Xerox's Henryk Kryszewski; New Zealanders Gillian Nicholls and Ron Neal of CSG, the up-and-coming document outsourcing and digital print supplier headed up by former Xerox chief Phil Chambers.
 
Oh, and there's me hanging out of my room window at the Farmhouse B&B where we stayed. It was originally a Mill House and parts dated back to the 13th Century. See, we don't stay at fancy five-star places on these "junkets"! Mind you, the breakfasts were terrific and the place has been immaculately renovated – it was luxury to me.

 

Pictured below: Christoph 'Thommy' Thommessen (left) with Fuji Xerox's Henryk Kryszewski.

 
Plenty of kit has been sold at this show: haven't heard of too much going into Australia/New Zealand. All over Western countries, printers have been doing it tough but the remaining ones are modernising, especially on fully automated B2 and B1 offset. The new breed, like the superlative new Speedmaster CX 102, will make early adopters incredibly efficient, even on short 500-sheet print runs. The irony is, if Australia continues to keep the purse-strings on new press investment drawn tight, we could find our industry slipping from one where we were the pioneers of long perfectors and led the world technologically, to one where our under-capitalised and under-upgraded press halls are way behind the rest of the world.
 
By the way, Chinese sheetfed maker Hans Grohni is having a good show and sold a 5-colour B3 machine to Qwikprint of Bootle in Lancashire, if you'd like to know. If you don't wish to know that, just refrain from reading that last paragraph.

As one window closes, another opens and intrepid blogger, Andy McCourt (pictured) waves goodbye to IPEX and the UK.

Well, that's all from the blogosphere from me ... see you back home soon, volcanic ash permitting.
 
As DI Gene Hunt of Ashes to Ashes might say: "I'm p**s*ng in the general direction of 'off."
 
Take good care.