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Interview in Dutch - subtitles in English. Igepa heeft op Drupa 2024 geen eigen beursstand, maar is samen met enkele partners op diverse locaties op de beurs vertegenwoordigd. Hun mensen zijn echter alomtegenwoordig, inclusief Serge de Crits uiteraard. We nemen hem even apart en hebben een gesprek over het belang en de kracht van de groothandel. De dagen dat ze enkel papierboer waren liggen al ver achter hen, ze hebben zich ontwikkeld tot een belangrijke partner en industriële aanbieder. -- EN -- Igepa does not have its own exhibition stand at Drupa 2024, but is represented at various locations at the exhibition together with a number of partners. However, their people are omnipresent, including Serge de Crits of course. We take him aside and have a conversation about the importance and power of wholesale. The days when they were just paper guys are long behind them, they have developed into an important partner and industrial supplier.

Serge gives us an overview of DURST’s software solution ecosystem, one of the best-kept secrets in print technology. From analytics to workflow to creative design to proofing options to eCommerce the goals of a more efficient production process, just about every pain point shop experiences can be addressed.

At Printing United in Orlando, Morten Reitoft from INKISH meets Serge Clauss from Durst at one of the company’s several booths — this one dedicated entirely to software. Serge explains how Durst’s Smart Factory ecosystem has evolved and why the company decided to split its core software into two distinct but fully integrated products: Prepare and Produce. According to Serge, Smart Factory is an open, modular environment built on proven Durst technologies such as Lift ERP, Smart Shop, and PDF Editor, now expanded with the two new “babies.” Prepare handles file preparation, automation, preflighting, and bleed management, while Produce focuses on color management, ripping, and printer control. Both applications can operate independently or together, offering customers a seamless workflow and a clean, unified interface. “The most important thing,” Serge explains, “is flexibility. If a customer already uses another preflight or workflow solution, they don’t have to replace it. They can integrate ours. The same goes for production — you can choose what fits your setup.” This modularity is enabled by a new generation of open APIs, allowing Smart Factory to connect with almost any external system. Durst’s approach, Serge emphasizes, is to build an open ecosystem rather than a closed one. “We don’t want to be known as Durst-only software,” he says. “That’s why we’re showing an HP printer here on our booth — to demonstrate that our platform works with any device. Our goal is to give customers freedom of choice.” He also highlights a new image-tracking solution designed to eliminate paper job tickets and make production tracking completely digital. “Once you cut a job, you often lose the printed information,” Serge says. “Now, you can scan the printed piece with a phone or tablet, and immediately access the full job ticket and production data. It’s fully system-agnostic and can connect to any workflow.” Throughout the conversation, Serge returns to a central theme — integration over isolation. Durst isn’t trying to replace what printers already use; instead, it’s creating tools that connect everything together. “We’re not reinventing the wheel,” he says. “We’re giving customers a smarter, more connected way to use it.”

Head of Sales Ali Eranpurwala from Seiko talks with Jacques Michiels from INKISH.BENELUX about how they showcase their inkjet printheads, but, of course, also about the increasing demand.

We at INKISH, fully support Printing United, and we believe it's important that the entire industry back this event up. INKISH will cover the show extensively both with our upcoming INKISH.NEWS channel, as well with INKISH.TV. Daily INKISH will broadcast 'The Lunch-Break Hour" live show from 11 am to 1 pm. We will spice-up the show with interviews, demos, live-coverage from the show floor and on October 23rd even the Girlie Award 2019 ceremony. Who will be the winner in 2019? Well, tune into www.inkish.tv or facebook.com/inkishtv. If you are interested in joining us for our show, feel free to reach out to me at mre@inkish.tv.

As production moves from conventional offset to digital print the need for binding equipment that matches the qualities known is in demand. Italian vendor Meccanotecnica deliver solutions for both digital and offset. At Hunkeler Innovationdays 2019 in Luzerne, we got the chance to talk to Marketing Manager Stefano Formentini from Meccanotecnica. The solution they showed at the event consisted of an unwinder and a cutter from Hunkeler combined with Meccanotecnica's Universe Web solution that sections the cut sheets into a signature and delivers these for further processing. The quality is superior and the applications seamless. Watch, Like, and Share.

At Canon's Power to Move event in Venlo, Morten Reitoft speaks with Sébastien Chevalier from Cavin-Baudat, a Swiss printing company based in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Like many forward-looking print service providers, Cavin-Baudat operates both offset and digital printing technologies. Having worked with Canon inkjet production equipment for years, the company has seen firsthand how inkjet technology has matured in terms of print quality, productivity, and commercial viability. The conversation focuses on one of the most important questions facing the industry today: when—and for which applications—sheetfed inkjet will begin replacing offset production. For Chevalier, the latest developments are moving faster than many printers expected. His visit to the Power to Move event was driven by a desire to evaluate Canon's varioPRINT iV7 and better understand whether the technology is ready to take on work traditionally produced on offset presses. The discussion also touches on changing customer demands. While mass customization remains a relatively small market in Switzerland, partly due to the country's strong focus on privacy and data protection, the demand for shorter runs, faster turnaround times, and efficient production continues to grow. Throughout the interview, Chevalier shares his perspective on how quickly production technologies are evolving and why printers need to stay open to new opportunities. He concludes by praising Canon's event, the venue, the hospitality, and the opportunity to see the latest generation of production inkjet technology in action. Enjoy the interview.

Pat McGrew from Inkish interviews Sebastiano Lonardi from Graphical at LabelExpo about their experience as a joint CERM and Esko customer. Sebastiano explains that while they already used Esko’s powerful software, they lacked the data needed to drive automation effectively. After seeing a demo of the CERM–Esko integration, they decided to invest in CERM’s MIS system because it seamlessly transfers information into Esko, enabling extensive automation and reporting. He says they had to learn some new things during implementation, but the CERM technicians understood their business well and guided them through the setup, so deep data expertise was not required. Graphical primarily produces labels but also has a sheetfed department for folding cartons, and they are now working on applying the same level of integration to folding cartons because it has worked so well for labels. Although the benefits are hard to quantify, he notes that with just six people handling 20,000 label files a year, the automation manages complex reporting and workflows almost entirely on its own, which he describes as “magic.”

Sebastian Stange works in the fantastic Koenig & Bauer demo center in Radebeul and was part of the panel with Sabine Geldermann (drupa), Stéphane Royère (KURZ), and Tim Sterbak (IST Metz) talking about one year to drupa among other things. Interesting chat with Sebastian Stange, and as always interesting to hear what's up with Koenig & Bauer!

In this interview, Sean Springett, CEO of manroland sheetfed USA & Canada, talks about growth for manroland and how their new Evolution series fit into packaging and general commercial print. Good to learn from!

Data and access to the same are today more essential ever. Fortunately, companies like Smithers, and people like Sean Smyth work every day collecting the needed data from an incredible number of sources. In this (long), but VERY exciting Over the Skype, Sean Smyths share his view on the importance of data and why the data is needed. 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!

Pat McGrew speaks with Sean and Paul from PrintPapa, who say Printing United has already been valuable as they explore new technologies to support their continued expansion. They are moving into textiles and are especially interested in Epson’s new DTF-film transfer solution. PrintPapa, long known for growing through additional production “garages” in Santa Clara, is also building out its roll-label business. They recently acquired two new units and are considering further investments for flexo, roll labels, and flexible packaging. Originally planning to evaluate Konica Minolta for this segment, they discovered Domino on the show floor—something they say illustrates the value of attending— and are now seriously considering Domino equipment instead. They describe the show as both research and future buying, noting they’ve attended industry events for more than 20 years to stay educated and keep growing. PrintPapa film made by INKISH.

One of the more exciting companies we have met is for sure Hamillroad Software from the UK. We have mentioned the company on several occasions on INKISH. In this film, we talk to Owner & CEO Andy Cave about their amazing screening technology. The technology is called DMS - short for Digitally Modulated Screening, and no - it's not AM, FM, Stochastic, or anything you know. The most amazing thing about DMS is that the quality is stunning; at the same time, printers can save ink. Watch, Like, and Share this film - we LIKE it a lot

Screen is one of the leading inkjet press companies and at Argos Inspiration Days 2018 in Brussels you'll have a chance to talk with them about their SC-ink promising Inkjet INK for Offset Stock - without pre- or post-coating - quite interesting. Sign up for www.argosinspirationdays.com

Tobias Kaase is the CEO of MediaPrint in Germany. The print division is part of a publishing group but serves all types of customers - of course. In this film, which was part of our Learn With Us Inkjet event, Kaase explains why they chose to invest in Screen inkjet. As usual - enjoy!

At the CERM booth, many panel debates took place. Unfortunately, we could only cover a few, and one of them was with Dennis Ebeltoft from Springfield. In that same session, Stuart Morrison from Screen Europe attended and talked about how Screen has also developed interfacing to solutions like ABG and, in this case, CERM. With its 350UV, Screen has become a well-known and well-used inkjet solution in the label industry, and when you hear about the collaborations, it only seems natural. Dig in!

Featuring the Screen Truepress Jet520HD+, serving the commercial print markets. Truepress uses the new ink SC+ in the shown configuration to enable high-quality commercial printing on offset-coated papers. Also present is the “new to be” packaging-focused Truepress PAC 520P high-speed, water-based inkjet system for paper packaging substrates. It is located a bit more hidden in the back of the booth but was elegantly brought to our attention by Hiromi Kitagawa for us to see. It’s not out yet and still under development, but we got a chance to see it up close & personal, and now so do you. The Truepress PAC 520P is coming to fruition, and it uses Screen’s new Truepress ink NP, specialized pigment inks that comply with appropriate food-safety guidelines and regulations for paper packaging. The PAC 520P will be introduced to the market later this year.

Buying a digital press used to be mostly about speed, resolution, quality, and productivity. That is changing. At Labelexpo Americas in Chicago, Morten B. Reitoft meets Charlie from SCREEN and Peter from LabelHub to talk about something increasingly important in label production: the entire workflow surrounding the press. Both come with years of hands-on experience from production environments. Charlie spent more than three decades in printing before moving to SCREEN, while Peter worked for 20 years as an IT manager at a Danish label-converting company before founding LabelHub. And that experience matters. SCREEN continues to develop its digital label portfolio, including wider and increasingly productive presses, but Charlie explains that customers today are looking at much more than specifications alone. They want to understand how orders enter the company, how files are prepared, how production is automated, how presses connect with finishing, and how errors can be removed before they become expensive. That is where LabelHub fits in. LabelHub integrates with established MIS platforms and combines production data with PDF files, simplifying ordering, reordering, and, increasingly, prepress processes in the cloud. The objective is straightforward: remove unnecessary complexity and make it easier for both converters and their customers to move work through the production process. And catching mistakes early matters. As Charlie puts it, the closer an error gets to the press, the more expensive it becomes to fix. Better upstream automation can save materials, labor, production time, and downstream capacity. For SCREEN, partnerships with companies such as LabelHub — together with finishing partners — make it possible to demonstrate something much broader than a printing engine. Even within a relatively compact exhibition booth, customers can see a complete label production environment from order and prepress through printing, finishing, and final product. For LabelHub, the journey has also changed significantly. Eight years ago, the company was still demonstrating concepts with PowerPoint because the software wasn't ready to be trusted live. Today, major customers run production through the platform, and prepress has become one of its fastest-growing areas. In this INKISH film, we talk about digital label production, workflow automation, MIS integration, cloud-based prepress, partnerships, and why selling a press today increasingly means being able to show the complete production ecosystem. Because the press may still be at the center of production. But it is no longer the whole story.

Scott Tacosik discusses KURZ's latest developments and innovations in transfer materials, their sustainability credentials, and the benefits they can bring to label converters.

LinkedIn Profiles: Scott Mackie https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamscottmackie/ Nick Benkovich https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-benkovich/

Scott Mackie has a vast background in the industry and is today part of Fujifilm's global development team. Fujifilm at drupa is one of the companies with the broadest portfolio of technologies and products and strives to be number one. It was super enjoyable to listen to Scott Mackie, and I recommend listening to some of the product specialists we also spoke with during our Fujifilm visit!

In this interview with Scot Gilbert from KURZ, we discuss the Steinemann DPE Maxliner 2D. The B2 size machine enables customers to digitally embellish sheets, which, of course, leads us to talk about the value of embellishment.

Nigel Tracey discusses digital enhancement developments, value and ROI of the Scodix Ultra 1000’s Series of B1 and B2 Presses.

English Edition: A few months before filming this film, we met with Scodix President EMEA, Franz Repp, who kept talking about this fantastic printing company he wanted us to film from—and here we are. Printhouse is the production backbone of several known online services like MyPoster, Junique, KartenLiebe, and ArtPhotoLimited, and what a production. HP Indigo's four Scodix machines and binding equipment can manage everything from simple posters to complex photobooks, along with extensive software, logistics, and clear management that knows where they want to be, now and in the future. This was a really great day, and also super nice filming with Frank Roller :-) German Edition: https://youtu.be/YDE4IfKaxVM