INKISH hosted for the first time ever our NON-EVENT. The Non-event is celebrating the people that have been in front of the camera, or been supporting INKISH during the past years. This is a new recurring event, and the idea is to give space for the people we have featured to connect in a new way. We invited 150 people, and 32 decided to join us. Our guests came from Japan, Canada, USA, UK, Belgium, Sweden, and Denmark - and we are confident that next year, even more, will come. We asked most of our participants to talk LIVE during the dinner - and here is Sagen De Jonge from Canada. Sagen De Jonge is one of the two owners of Tilia Labs, one of our favourite companies to cover on INKISH. Tilia Labs have reached star-recognition for their Phoenix imposition/planning software, and we were so happy when Sagen De Jonge and Scott More announced to come to our Non-Event. Enjoy!

In this 'Over the Skype' session, I have the pleasure of talking to Sagen De Jonge from Tilia Labs. Tilia Labs have, in few years, got a lot of recognition from the market for their imposition/planning tool Phoenix. In this session, we talk about AI, API, and how Phoenix help printing companies to become more efficient. As with all our ‘Over the Skype’ interviews, quality is limited to bandwidth, web-cams, and ability to literally LIVE mix the conversations. However, it works, and with Over the Skype, we will bring you more than 20 exciting people, and angles on the industry as it is right now. Enjoy!

In the corner of Canon's gigantic booth, you find a small yet fascinating corner featuring programatic print - which, in essence, is also referred to as the Omni channel. We got to talk to CMO Sabine Rittmeyer from the retail chain POCO. Poco uses the Omni Channel to drive traffic to their outlets and give users an experience when shopping - listen and learn!  

At the IST UV-Days, Sabine Geldermann joined a panel discussion with Stéphane Royère (KURZ), Sebastian Stange (Koenig & Bauer), and Tim Sterbak (IST Metz) under the headline 'One year to drupa.' It was a great debate with many interesting views about sustainability, supply issues, digital transformation, packaging, etc. And in this interview, INKISH got the chance to talk to Sabine Gelderman, following up on both the panel debate and her expectations for the upcoming 2024 edition of drupa. Enjoy!

Hello, everyone! This is Morten from INKISH. Today’s episode is a bit different from what we usually do. I’m excited to talk to my good friend, Rob Ens, from Toronto, Canada. Welcome to INKISH, Rob! Thank you, Morten. It’s a pleasure to speak with you. Likewise, Rob! It wasn't too long ago that we met in Düsseldorf at Duba. It was great you could come and see me, even though I was a bit stressed. That was one of the main reasons I went—to see you in action. And it was worth it! Recently, you reached out to me after I announced my plans to visit Ukraine next week. I'm going there to cover a story about a printing company, Faktadruk, which was deliberately bombed by the Russians on May 24th. Seven Heidelberg operators were killed, and more than 20 people were injured. Seeing the devastation on CNN and other major networks, it's a miracle more people didn't die. You mentioned this resonated with you because your family has roots in Ukraine and faced similar hardships after World War I and before World War II. I’d love to hear your story. But first, can you share your thoughts on the current situation in Ukraine? I usually avoid discussing politics online, but here we are. I support Ukraine. I have many Russian and Ukrainian friends, and I love them dearly. However, my family lost their land and privileges in Ukraine, and many family members died during the Bolshevik Revolution. So, I deeply sympathize with the Ukrainian people. They want to live in peace, and I believe they deserve our support. I bring this up because I, too, have Russian friends. Most of them now live in Denmark, the USA, or Canada. Of course, I still have connections in the industry in Russia. I believe that most individuals are not to blame for the war. In my opinion, which is political, Vladimir Putin bears most of the responsibility for the tragic events in Ukraine. There are similarities to the Bolshevik era you mentioned, which was around the 1920s, right? It was around 1919. My family kept detailed records and even wrote a book about it. The story feels different when read from a distance. Let me tell you a bit about the background. This book, housed in the Mennonite Archives in Winnipeg, was partly written by my great-grandmother when she came to Canada. I hadn’t read it until the war broke out, and it was an emotional experience. My great-grandmother wrote in factual terms about their hardships. Mennonites, originally Germans living in Ukraine, were pacifists invited by Catherine the Great to farm the land. They thrived peacefully for over 100 years. My great-grandfather, a learned teacher and lay preacher, was tragically killed by bandits during the revolution, which targeted landowners. The family faced immense hardships, including typhus brought by occupying soldiers. Despite these challenges, my great-grandmother's resilience shone through, seeing even the foggy day of her husband's funeral as a blessing for its safety. Hearing these stories makes us appreciate our fortunate lives today. They remind us of the resilience and hope that can emerge from the most difficult circumstances. Do you still have distant relatives in Ukraine, or did your entire family leave or disappear from there? Most of our direct relatives left Ukraine. An aunt who visited in the 1970s, whose husband had been sent to a Siberian gulag, initially thought our life in the West was staged because she couldn’t believe our prosperity. This underscores how fortunate we are to live in a part of the world with security, education, free speech, and other freedoms. That’s why I decided to go to Kharkiv, despite the risks. Faktadruk is one of the largest printing companies in Europe, printing schoolbooks for all of Ukraine. When the Russians attack such a significant institution, it’s a deliberate attempt to undermine Ukrainian culture and education. Ukraine is a vast country, as big as the entire Midwest in the US. Covering this story is essential to highlight the impact on the printing industry and the resilience of the Ukrainian people. Your heart drives you, Morten. You consistently seek the truth, which is why we admire you. I believe you’ll uncover important stories that can’t be orchestrated. I received a message from a Ukrainian woman who hopes I’ll see some of Kharkiv’s beauty despite the war. Documenting the damage to the printing company and its importance to the industry is crucial. Rob, do these family stories still resonate with your family, or do they fade over time? I’m the one reviving these stories. My cousin, a historian, and I keep history alive, ensuring we understand both sides. My uncle shared insights about the challenges wealthy landowners face, emphasizing the need for benevolence. Thank you for sharing your story, Rob. After my trip to Ukraine, I might call you again to share my insights. I’d love that. Stay safe, and I look forward to hearing from you.

RPI has operations in the US and Europe, and partners in Australie able to deliver consistent digital print globally down to the copy of one. We met with Joris Kuper, Account Manager New Sales, RPI Europe, at the recent Online Print Symposium in Munich. Great story.

In the middle of our presentations from Standard Finishing at PRINTING United, we suddenly see Rosemarie Garvey from Blooming Color. Of course, we ask her for a short statement about Horizon; as we know, Blooming Color focuses on HP, Horizon (sold by Standard Finishing), and Ultimate - so listen to her words here.

A few days before Rosemarie Breske Garvey and her team headed to Indianapolis to be part of DSCOOP, we visited Blooming Color in a sub-urban in Chicago - and it's super great to see Rosemarie Breske Garvey again. The last time we met was at DSCOOP Rockies in Denver, and now, I guess you understand that we are visiting a very dedicated businesswoman working with HP. A few days before our visit, the LAST offset press was removed from the site - and the digital transformation is complete. We are visiting Blooming Color because they use Ultimate Tech Impostrip and Bindery in the company, and with an increasing number of orders of one, the Ultimate Tech software has become a cornerstone in the company. Enjoy the film, and GREAT visiting this super smart company. Long live Commercial Print.

In this film, Rolf Scmidtke from Kurz discusses sustainability and how the entire life-cycle solution is developed. For now, in the northern part of Europe, later - enjoy!  

Though HP didn't bring an Advantage T2200 to Indianapolis, you could still learn a lot - on the product site, they released a plus pack that enables the press to run colors at 800 feet per minute, the same speed as monochrome - so with that said we got an opportunity to learn more about the print heads that are rather unique to HP. But rather than having me explain these, here is Rolando Martinez - enjoy!

RolandDG is one of the leading companies in the printing industry for large format, contour cutting, and machines that extend the boundaries of what's possible. See for yourself at www.argosinspirationdays.com in Brussels

Roland DG has always been considered a work-horse and in the upper segment of their segment and at Argos Inspiration Days we got the chance to talk to Business Development Manager Jeroen Kooij from Roland DG Benelux. In this short film, you can the amazing products and what opportunities i.e. the VersaUV offer printing companies and their customers.

Think about it. A family-owned ink manufacturer more than 250 years old and still on the top of the development curve. In this interview with Roland Schröder from Huber Group, we get some interesting background about the Munich-based Huber Group, and not only do we see and learn about the company, but also why UV inks are increasingly interesting, as the LED-technology becomes more and more capable. Roland Schröder shows a magazine printed on a web-offset press where the gas heating has been replaced with LED-UV. Super great result, and shown as it explains why the higher price on UV inks isn't a problem if you look at the entire production process - but don't take my word for it, listen to Roland Schröder - Super cool guy :-)

Business goes well in Switzerland, according to CEO Roland Eicher. With his company placed in beautiful Lucern, he has changed his business from a purely offset printing company to an almost entirely digital printing company today. Besides print and binding for his customers, Eicher Druck also operates as a binding partner for several other Swiss companies. Roland Eicher is at The Finishing First event to learn and invest in new technology - and the deal has been signed - a new Horizon Stitchliner MK III is on its way to Switzerland!

Nouvelle stratégie commerciale chez Roland DG où ils ciblent plus qu'avant le marché d'entrée de gamme. Lorsque ces débutants et adoptants grandissent et doivent adapter leurs machines et vitesses de production actuelles, Roland a tout ce dont ils ont besoin pour soutenir leur croissance. —— New commercial strategy at Roland DG where they are targeting the entry-level market more than before. When these beginners and adopters grow larger and need to adapt their current production machines and speeds, Roland has everything they would need to support their growth.

Roger Popovec talks about US converter DRG Technologies' experience integrating CERM's workflow software into its production of labels, tags, and flexible packaging across multiple sites and the productivity and efficiency gains brought to the company.

At IGAS, we saw more robots than ever before at any tradeshow. Henrik Christiansen from Cool Graphics is a well-known robot/cobot specialist in the printing industry. In this film, he walks us through several different types of robots and explains when it's called a cobot and when it's called a robot. What is the difference between an AMR and an AGV, and why two arms instead of one? We also get a view of the different types of grippers, so in short, a guided tour of the different types of robots and how they are utilized in our industry. GREAT - so watch it :-)

German language with English/German subtitles Richard Müller is the production manager of one of Europe's largest online printing companies, Saxoprint. We were invited by Horizon to see how robots are used along with Horizon's BQ series of binding machines, and the result is a solution that requires a minimum of operator intervention. Amazing to see, but in this film, we try to cover the full story of how automation has become increasingly important in digital and analog production. We also published an article on INKISH.NEWS about SAXOPRINT (In English) - you can read it here: https://inkish.news/article/MTMyOQ== -- add on --- our friends from Printmedianieuws found inspiration in the article above and the film published on INKISH.TV, and wrote this follow-up article in Dutch - you can read it here, requires a premium subscription!

At the Seiko Open Week 2022, you get the opportunity to get kind of behind the scene. How do ink- and substrate manufacturers test their products? Even printhead manufacturers need test equipment, and that is exactly what Roberto Campos from People&Technology show in this interview. The company has two main products - one is the above-mentioned ink testers. The second product line is machines made to clean printheads when they start making stripes or have other artifacts. Interesting to see how this works, and a world, that many most likely don't know! Enjoy!

Robert Olsson from DS Smith has one of the most exciting job titles in our mind - Print Performance Development Manager. In this interview, we get a chance to understand how changes in the market influence demand and production and how DS-Smith manages this. DS Smith is a customer with BHS and uses the opportunity of the BHS Open House to learn more :-)

Robert provides insight into how sales teams must be brought into the loop when it comes to introducing new technologies to the shop. Explains the value of digital label printing while still offering flexo solutions. Educating sales so they can educate the client is crucial to success.

It must be super exciting for Rob McCann, as he is moving from the US to Switzerland with his family to start a new position with BOBST—namely, the Tooling Director. In this interview, Rob McCann talks about how IoT is not just nice to have but a must to have. We, of course, also ask about how he will be bridging services, tools, new machines, etc., together as the entire ecosystem seems to be more and more integrated. Super interesting interview!

Robert Lugg works for the company GIS. GIS is deeply involved in digital inkjet development and delivers hardware and software. As laymen, we often talk about Inkjet as a single and straightforward technology, but it really consists of various elements from the controller, to the driers, to ink, to the ink supply system, to the printhead, and probably many more things. GIS delivers software and ink-supply systems to Inkjet partners, and at PRINTING United, the software that turned the IST Intech lamps on/off, as you could see in the episode with Holly Steedman (IST Intech), was developed by GIS. Listen to Robert Lugg here, and learn :-)

I must admit that I have given up counting how many 'Over the Skype' interviews I have done since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world - BUT - I love each and every interview I have done. In this 'Over the Skype,' I am talking to Robert Godwin - an American who now lives in Chile. I was curious about one of his businesses, Rent-a-press.com, but I believe it was almost the only thing we didn't talk about in this 48 minutes long conversation. Robert Godwin has such great storytelling skills and knowledge that I am sure you will love every second.