IPEX 2010 Blogs - Simon Enticknap Number 5 Farewell

Don’t go thinking it’s been all beer ‘n’ balti in Brum over the past few days. Many of the Australian suppliers on the stands say they’ve been pleasantly surprised by how busy it’s been with most of the major print companies sending people over here - with some notable exceptions – and they’ve come here with projects in mind, keen to find out what’s new and where to go next.

The language of the presentations has changed too – with the exception of the digital people who are relentlessly gung-ho. The words ‘hopeful’ and ‘optimistic’ are being bandied about as the first tentative signs of a recovery emerge (even as the share market goes into reverse again).

Bernhard Schreier at Heidelberg suggested that this Ipex might be “the turning point in one of the most serious crises” while Gerd Finkbeiner at manroland in the company’s press conference yesterday commented that they were “going forward in a fairly positive way after the worst recession.”
“Good but careful, let’s be cautious,” he said.

It’s still all a little fragile at the moment and, bearing in mind what happened after drupa08 when the expected bounce turned out to be a crash, nobody wants to put a hex on it by getting too excited.

Regardless of the economic situation though, the conversion of the industry to digital output continues at pace and that is going to drive everything else that happens in the industry.

Finishing is among the first
Take finishing for instance. At Ipex, the paper folders and the digital guys are about as far away from each other as it is possible to get, at opposite ends of the exhibition centre, but there’s no doubt that what’s happening at the digital end is having a big impact on activity down the other end.

There is some terrific innovation being shown in the digital finishing sector. On their own, the continuous feed digital printers simply produce big rolls of coloured toilet paper of little use to anybody, so the trick is to convert those rolls into something useful and saleable.

 

Yesterday on the Friedheim stand, I saw rolls from an HP T300 inkjet web press being run through an Ehret sheeter and an MBO folder onto to a stacker running at 185 metres per minute (although it will run up to 250 mpm apparently). It’s an amazing sight when it winds up and although what it was producing wasn’t terribly exciting, it’s easy to see the potential. There’ll be a lot more on this topic of digital finishing in the weeks and months to come and this looks like being a very interesting time to be in the bindery.

After two days on the exhibition floor, my bag is filling up with samples and bits ‘n’ pieces of print - some amazing stuff that can be hard to believe sometimes. The lenticular print looks better than ever. The die-cutting and folding is incredible. A company called Scodix – an Israeli technology company working with HP Indigo, new to me (www.scodix.com) – showed a digital UV embossing system that creates some stunning effects the like of which I’ve never seen before. And there’s lots more… but it will have to wait for now.

Last night, the Print21 team headed over to nearby Newbold Comyn check out the venue for the Aussie-NZ BBQ. It was a beautiful evening – warm and still in the twilight gloaming – and the location is English picture postcard perfect. It’s going to a great way to end the week for all Australians and Kiwis lucky enough to have a ticket to the BBQ tonight – and I’ll be spending it sitting in the departure lounge at the airport as it’s time for me to say ‘cheerio’ to Ipex and hand over to Patrick Howard to report on what happens at the rest of the show.

Before I go though, there’s still time for one more quick circuit around the exhibition halls – there’s bound to be something else out there worth seeing.

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