There was an enthusiastic opening to Japan’s international graphic arts trade show at Tokyo’s Big Sight exhibition centre as crowds queued to get into the halls on the first day.
Ushers at the entrance had to calm the throng as the doors were finally opened after an extensive ceremony to celebrate what the organisers themed as ‘Venture into the Next.’ Hard to imagine such enthusiasm in Australia for getting into a printing trade show, but the Japanese industry has embraced its opportunity to step up to international centre stage.
Unlike many previous IGAS there is a sizeable international presence here, not only in exhibitors but also in visitors. I ran into a number of locals in the aisles having made the trip in a year when the late lamented UK Ipex would normally have provided a reason for overseas travel.
As this is Japan, the people at the show are largely a homogenous bunch of locals, keenly attending to the numerous exhibits and presentations, all of them in Japanese. The international visitors are completely dependent on their compatriot contacts on the exhibitions stands for any information. Luckily, many companies seem to have sent representatives to handle the overseas visitors’ questions.
No printing trade show in Asia Pacific is complete without the attendance of the delegates from the Forum of Asia Pacific Graphic Arts, and so it is with IGAS. Decked out with red and white rose buttonholes the great and the good from the trade associations in the region assembled for their conference. Representing Australia was long-term chairman of FAPGA, Peter Lane (far left) as well as Andrew Macaulay, CEO of Printing Industries (far right). They stolidly sat through the speeches before Lane joined in the ceremonial cutting of the opening ribbon.
Afterwards I ran into Walter Kuhn, president of Printing industries, with the others heading in for a daylong session of presentations and speeches.
I couldn’t attend myself, having too many appointments on the exhibition floors, but I’m sure it went a long way towards defining whatever the ‘Next’ is we’re invited to ‘venture’ into.
No one told the crowds that the opening was at 11.00 on the first day to allow for the speeches, so it got a little testy in the lobby, in polite Japanese style, of course. I came upon two Konica Minolta representatives who were in danger of getting run over in the crush as the doors were finally opened. David Cascarino and Anthony ‘AJ’ Jackson are here to meet and assist a fairly substantial complement of Australian and New Zealand visitors to the Konica Minolta stand. I haven’t made it on there yet, so I can’t tell you what they’re looking for, but I will.
As always HP is at the show with a massive presence, the largest non-Japanese exhibitor here. HP Indigo B2-size presses dominate the stand but there is a plethora of segments and products illustrating just how diverse are the uses to which digital printing is being put. I ran into the non-stop Alon Bar-Shany, honcho of HP Indigo, well known to Australian and New Zealand industry. He was with Mike Boyle, vice president graphics solutions Asia Pacific, our local guy who’s claimed a senior role in the company’s operations in the region. The two of them share more than common business interests – both are accomplished rock guitarists who take any opportunity to get together on stage. No sooner had Bar-Shany moved away than Michael Mogridge, Landa Corp vice president for Asia Pacific, joined us. Surprising to me, Boyle and he didn’t know one another, so I was pleased to make the introductions. In another life, Mogridge occupied almost the same role in HP. Many of Biyle's current team came on board during his tenure, although it’s a far larger enterprise now. It’s a small world, this printing industry.
My first scheduled appointment was with Tetsuya Morita, vice president commercial & industrial printing, Ricoh. Fascinating company and very well helmed by efficient management, insofar as I could tell. I didn’t realise the depth of experience in Ricoh, or the amount of technology collateral it has invented and accumulated over the years. On a tour of the considerable stand it became obvious that Ricoh is a Japanese technology leader intent of leveraging its position to gain greater prominence in the industry. Centrepiece of the stand is the VC60000, a high-speed duplex inkjet that has as good a repro as any I’ve seen. Another version, the VC70000, is about to be launched with a new ink set and a top-secret drying system. This style of digital press is a little high-end for our local industry so I’m not sure when we’ll see one. Apart from the well-known production print work horses of the brand, the Pro C7210s up to the ProC9200 for commercial printing, more likely for our market is the new hugely productive wide-format flatbed, the Pro T7210, outputting at over 50 square metres an hour, double that of its nearest rival. We had a good in-depth interview, Tetsuya-san and me, so keep an eye out for a full exposition in the next issue of Print21 magazine. It’s a story worth the telling.
Trawling the aisles after lunch I came upon one of the industry’s elder statesmen, Bernie Robinson, managing director Currie Group. He’s over here with David Currie, executive chairman, to attend a Horizon worldwide channel partners conference today. All good news seemingly; Hori-san, founder and owner, has some announcements to make. To emphasise the point, Horizon has the largest exhibition stand at the show, not bad for a company that makes digital finishing equipment. Bernie was showing Dayne Nankervis the ropes, the scale of the industry and who’s who in our zoo. Remarkably for a member of the prestigious Melbourne printing family, this Nankervis is only a recent entry into printing, after a career in engineering. Now with CMYKhub, a good Currie Group customer, he’s here for the duration of the show, soaking up as much information as he can. Nice to see the traditions continue of the wise passing on their wisdom to young.
I left the show in the late afternoon to go with Maeda-san on an interminable train journey through the sprawling city that is Tokyo to visit his boss Yasuhiko Isobe, senior managing director of Mutoh. One of the industry’s best kept secrets, Mutoh is an example of just how the Japanese do it. A company founded on the invention of the first the first drafter (designated part of Japanese mechanical engineering heritage) in the 1950s, it prides itself on the quality of its engineering. According to Isobe-san it’s not seeking to compete in the general market, preferring to invent its own category of production, especially in industrial printing. It’s a big ask but there’s a certain samurai-like determination about it. With Russell Cavenagh in place as the new Australian GM, Mutoh is set to use this year’s Visual Impact in Sydney to launch three world first machines. Not an everyday event, you’ll agree. At the Visual Impact show you’ll be the first to see:
- ValuJet 1638 UR, a UV inkjet that expands the range and is the first to use a new Mutoh-invented ink, the US11 that has the qualities of ‘bendability.’
- ValuJet 626 UF, a UV flatbed, a first for the company.
- ValuJet 1948 WX, a high-speed textile printer with another new ink, DH21, specially designed for the segment.
Finally Maeda-san, who's the deputy GM sales, took me to dinner at Shibuya, the jumping sector you always see in Tokyo videos where everyone crowds onto the intersection. It was packed and hot … did I mention there’s a heat wave in Tokyo? Dinner was sushi and sashimi in a nice low-key diner. Japan does it very well. Now I’m up for another day at the show, before the typhoon hits on the weekend. Oh, didn’t I mention the typhoon? Gotta love this place.
Sayōnara!