PRINTING United Expo was cancelled a few days ago - sad but somehow expected. In this interview, editor Morten B. Reitoft sits down with President Mark Subers to learn why the decision was taken, Subers' view on the future of PRINTING United, tradeshows in general, and other very important and exciting topics. The consequences for the industry with the many cancelled tradeshows aren't at the current time clear, mainly because the buying cycles are LONG in our industry. But listen to the conversation, and as usual, enjoy! LinkedIn Profile: Mark Subers

PRINTING United takes place October 18th-20th in Atlanta, Georgi - and of course, INKISH will cover the event - and as usual, in-depth, engaging, and hopefully something you will like. Part of coverage is as often as possible to talk to the people behind the scenes and for PRINTING United Expo, one of the leading forces in Mark Subers. In this session, we talk about whether the Under One Roof approach is still the right approach that visitors can expect, and, of course, we also talk about the industry in general. It was nice catching up with Mark; we hope you enjoy it!

PRINTING United had its first show in 2019 and planned a physical show in Atlanta in 2020. Due to the pandemic, PRINTING United soon realized that it had to either cancel, postpone or change. In this session, we hear more about the considerations, the outlook, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic directly by President Mark Subers - and most likely, we will also hear about the upcoming PRINTING United 2021 show.

Mark Stephenson is the Product Manager for the Jetpresses in Europe. In this conversation, we speculate over the future of drupa. One reason is obviously Fujifilm's own presence at the show, but also because Mark Stephenson has a crush on the drupa-songs, so he has created a Facebook page with all the songs - you can find that here: https://www.facebook.com/DrupaSongs/ 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!

We are warming up to Hunkeler Innovationdays #HID25, and once again, we offer free interviews to all exhibitors before and during Innovationdays. We are excited and thrilled to welcome our first guest, Mark Stephenson, from Fujifilm. Fujifilm is one of the most interesting companies to follow these years, with tons of acquisitions, new employment, and consequently so much new and exciting equipment. At Innovationdays, Fujifilm will focus on their Inkjet series of printers - and I am sure you can look forward to engaging presentations by the entire Fujifilm team!

My father, who was a church minister. He would use, I guess, a Techni Duplicator to publicize his rallies and meetings. And try to bring people to Jesus. All this blessed thing, he would say. It's been the first time I ever saw print happening. There was the smell of the ink. Things took a long time. And sometimes it was not just budget. It was like you wanted to do something now. You could have 30 or 50, 100 within half an hour. Somebody comes up with a bright idea. And when you look at the background to it, you find out: Actually, that's how things used to be. But just framed in a different story. By 1977, this was me. Handsetting type. Out by the poster machines this was. You've got a very tight set of constraints to be able to design something. You know, putting text on a curve is like: Whoa! I'm one of those sort of sub creative people that knows when they look at something, if it's right or not. A lot of the terms we use today go back to letterpress composing. So, leading between lines was a physical piece of lead. When two characters are one like ‘fi’ and ‘ffi’. We call it a ligature. This is a Wharfedale. The one I operated was called an Elliott. But it was all out of the same factory in Otley. It was a double Demy press. That was the biggest sheet it would take. And I would hand feed this press. And hand ink it. On my training, I was told: Never walk around the back of this machine. The last person that did that when it was running, lost their leg. It was taken at our Advanced Print Technology Center in Brussels. Where I haven't been in fourteen months. And I've been here in this room with the exception of one trip. I have this picture on my desktop. And on another screen, I have a picture of that old press. I can see the journey I took. And this process has been my life now for around four years. We're reaching the speed. An offset B2 press. It's bringing together a whole team of people. To achieve what we've done. But at the moment we're being quiet about it.

Screen has long been recognized as one of the leading Inkjet printer OEMs in the market. At PRINTING United, we got the chance to talk to VP of Marketing Mark Schlimme about their continued focus on web-fed Inkjet printing and how the new Truepress JET S320 fits the bill as a machine that can be used as a backup for the popular 520 series. It was great listening to Mark Schlimme, so please enjoy!

Senior Director of Global Product Marketing Mark Little and Editor Morten B. Reitoft spent some time at Ricoh's booth to learn about what Ricoh exhibits and its motivations. We, of course, talk about the VC40000, which is shown in Europe for the first time at a show despite being one of the world's most used print engines. We also talk about toner, color management, and software, and finish with the VC80000 - enjoy!

At Printing United Expo in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH meets Mark Little to talk about Ricoh’s VC80000, the company’s newest high-speed inkjet press—shown publicly for the first time in North America. Mark gestures toward the towering machine beside them. “We’ve had one running in our Customer Experience Center in Boulder,” he says, “but people want to see the real thing. They’ve seen the installations around the world, and now they can finally experience what makes it so special.” Having spent years working across toner and inkjet platforms, Mark believes the timing for a true digital shift is now. “People talk about ‘offset to digital,’ but really it’s ‘offset with digital,’” he explains. “Offset isn’t going away, but for short runs, variable jobs, and faster turnarounds, digital is the smart choice. The VC80000 fits perfectly—it’s already running in publishing, commercial print, data-driven direct mail, and transactional mail. It’s a Swiss Army knife for production printing.” The VC80000 is a ground-up Ricoh design, not an iteration of earlier systems. “It’s all Ricoh technology,” Mark notes proudly. “Every new platform brings challenges, but customer feedback has been outstanding. One customer told me they’re saving thousands of dollars every day on metal plates alone. That’s massive, and it’s why several are already ordering their second unit.” When asked about costs, Mark acknowledges that total cost of ownership has long been a key discussion point for digital inkjet. “We perform ROI analyses with customers before installation,” he explains. “In most cases, digital comes out ahead. Roll-fed paper is cheaper than cut-sheet, uptime is higher, and with our 23-inch web width, we can run letter workflows in landscape orientation—boosting efficiency by over 20%. Add grain-correct folding and full-speed handling of up to 300 gsm, and suddenly, commercial printers see applications they never thought were possible on inkjet.” He highlights automation and AI-driven intelligence as Ricoh’s biggest differentiators. “Labor shortages are universal,” he says. “So we built intelligence right into the machine. The VC80000 automatically manages alignment, density, and registration—it even calibrates itself. Operators don’t need to understand every technical parameter anymore. Just push the button, and the system does it.” During live production, the printer scans every page in real time at 150 meters per minute (492 feet per minute). “If it detects a jet-out,” Mark explains, “it corrects it instantly—milliseconds—without stopping the press. Later, it self-cleans and permanently fixes the issue. That’s ultra production efficiency in action.” Morten laughs. “With half a million offset presses still out there,” he says, “I suppose they all just need to buy one of these.” Mark grins. “Exactly. And if they order by the dozen,” he replies, “I’ll wrap them myself.”

Mark's Quest for American Exhibitors takes him to Ricoh, a global player—but Mark Little, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing, is as American as it gets. Here, Mark and Mark talk about the booth traffic, the new VC80000, the types of applications, and who this printer is made for. Great work!

Almost 34 years with Standard Finishing, and one of the most influential people in the US printing industry, Mark Hunt, is soon retiring. 68-year-old Hunt looks back on his career in this interview with Editor Morten B. Reitoft, but also forward as he expects to see more of his family. Enjoy!

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 Mark Hinder from the UK. Mark Hinder has worked with digital inkjet for many years is a very experienced person. He is maybe most known for his work at Konica-Minolta where he was deeply involved with the KM-1 but has recently moved to Ricoh-Europe where he continues to work with inkjet. Enjoy!

Mark Hinder and Ricoh Europe bring valuable information about how to look into investment - even during the COVID-19 crisis.

Imagine having three printing presses that can be replaced with one. Imagine that this new device gives you are larger output, gives you more immense flexibility, and even a better profit! Imagine that in the future, your press will be way more autonomous, and your business will be very different from today. At the same time, your choice changing equipment is extremely dependent on whether you want to survive, become stronger, or even taking all these metrics into account before handing over your company to the next generations. Exciting, right? This is just a few of the things Vice Presiden of Sales, Mark F. Milbourn and Editor Morten B. Reitoft talk about in this 20+ minutes conversation - recorded at PRINTING United 2019 in Dallas. We love the long conversations where the person we talk to have time to explain the details, and where the person at the same time have the opportunity to deliver.

HP is the market leader in digital packaging printing. In this interview with Mark Dempsey from HP Industrial Print, we discuss the PageWide C550, the T-700, and the T-11xx series, which all fit different segments with different business requirements. Of course, Dempsey is also proudly announcing their first C550 sales to Welch Packaging - congratulations and thanks for a great interview, as always :-)

Interesting to talk to Mark Dempsey from HP Industrial about corrugated packaging, especially since more and more converters and packaging printers are interested in full-printed boxes.

If you wonder what DoDxAct stands for you are probably not the first to ask, and understanding what Mark Bale does - the name is ingenious! The abbreviation is short for Drop On Demand (e)Xact - and that is exactly what all this is about. As you know, or will learn in this film, the printheads are only one of the essential components of a functional printer. The controller, the ink, and obviously the substrate needs to be aligned to make a perfect output. Mark Bale focuses on the printhead, where he teaches, consults, and also has a lab where he can test all of the above. Enjoy the film!  

Mark Andy is an American family-owned company with strong values. It has a strong global base in the label/flexible packaging segment. As we meet Vice President Stu Gallup at LabelExpo-Americas, we not only see and learn about the digital/hybrid products on display but also learn about Mark Andy's offering of consumables as part of the delivery promise. In this film, Stu Gallup shows us the three machines at their booth and explains the differences and for what customers these are particularly interesting! Enjoy!

When a label or flexo converter considers buying a new press, the process should be straightforward. You sit down with your numbers, weigh technology against features, evaluate price against value, and make the best decision for your business. Sometimes you compare what’s available on the market: perhaps another supplier offers the same at a better price, or something more advanced for the same money. It’s not a daily exercise—you don’t invest in a new press every week—but when you do, the decision matters. The wrong press can cripple you for years; the right one can secure your future. Some care deeply about buying American-made. Others chase the cheapest machines from China. Most care about performance, service, workflow integration, and reliability—factors that determine whether the press actually strengthens their business. In a free economy, those choices should be yours. It should not be dictated by politics. Unfortunately, in America today, the flexo market is already distorted by the simple fact that there is only one major manufacturer left: Mark Andy. When Donald Trump became president, tariffs were inevitable. It wasn’t a surprise. What seems to be forgotten, however, is that tariffs are not paid by the sellers. They are paid by you, the American converters and printers. Bobst doesn’t pay. Gallus doesn’t pay. MPS doesn’t pay. You do. The 15% tariff on flexo presses negotiated between the US and the EU was already painful, but at least predictable. You could run the numbers and see the impact. Geography softened the blow—Europe is far away, after all. But Canada and Mexico are right next door, and their converters can now deliver products into the US without carrying the same cost burden. Currency only makes it worse. The dollar has lost around 15% of its value against the euro. That means you’re not only facing a 15% tariff, but you’re also paying 15% more in currency exchange fees. Suddenly, the press you had your eye on is 30% more expensive than it was just a few years ago. And now comes the real outrage. Recently, Mark Andy’s leadership wrote to Washington asking for flexo presses to be classified not as presses, but as steel, subject to a 50% tariff. Let’s be honest: this is not about fairness. Yes, presses contain steel, but they are not steel. This is a blatant attempt by one company to bend the rules for its own selfish benefit. Converters have always chosen Bobst, Gallus, MPS, or others because those presses offered something better: higher productivity, superior quality, or features that met specific needs. To now claim that American-made presses are “cheaper” only because competitors are artificially handicapped is dishonest. It is manipulation dressed up as patriotism. Why should Washington decide which machines you can buy? Why should a single manufacturer believe it has the right to use political influence to block your choices? Every monopoly in history has led to higher prices, lower innovation, and stagnation. Without competition, R&D dries up. Customers pay more for less. That is not what a free economy looks like—it is what protectionism and corporate lobbying create. And don’t think the rest of the world will sit idle. European manufacturers will look to Canada, Mexico, and Latin America instead, exporting freely into markets that can then indirectly feed the US. The distortion will not disappear; it will simply grow more complex, leaving you—American converters—trapped in the middle. Do you honestly believe that every converter in the United States will one day operate exclusively with Mark Andy equipment? Of course not. And you shouldn’t. American converters still possess tremendous strengths, including craftsmanship, the ability to produce short runs, exclusive labels, and high-quality work. But for one supplier to make it harder—almost impossible—for you to access the presses you truly need to compete is nothing less than sabotage of your future. Tariffs should protect national security, not serve as a means for corporate vanity projects. What we are witnessing is not a matter of economic policy. It is selfishness weaponized. And that, friends, is a reality you cannot afford to ignore.

Inkish TV talks to John Vigna, Latin America sales manager for Mark Andy, about the press manufacturer’s strong sales in the region, trends in the Mexican market, and the machines on show at Labelexpo Europe 2023.

Phil Baldwin gives us a Mark Andy Digital Series HD walkthrough from Mark Andy's demo center in Warsaw, Poland. Get to know the concept of the press, which utilizes embellishment, flexo, digital and finishing, and a very configurable line, managed from one simple-to-use user interface and with the flexibility you'll expect from any Hybrid machine. Great work, Phil Baldwin :-)

She knows everything or pretty much everything, and when mentioning it, she brings her entire team into the conversation and tells us that all are binders and have a passion for Horizon and the products - we like it! In this interview, Marisa Dütsch also talks about the importance of being both a driver and market-driven and how important events like Finishing First is for the company. Super interview, you should watch it!

Marion Williams-Bennett is a professional PR/Communication woman with clients in the printing industry. In this 'Over the Skype' session, we talk about the role of PR- and how companies can benefit from working with a professional communications person. Great insight. 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!

Talking to Ripu Bakshi, Commercial Director Hexis Graphics Spain Hexis Graphics Spain unveiled new films (chrome, textiles, window tinting, and sun protection). At the stand, we were with Ripu Bakshi, Commercial Director, and Marine Guelaia, Product Manager Hexperience, who showed us the latest interior design and wrapping developments allowing us to comfortably work with vinyl. ___ Ripu Bakshi Director Comercial Hexis Graphics España Hexis Graphics España dio a conocer nuevos films (cromados, textiles, tintado de lunas y protección solar). En el stand estuvimos con Ripu Bakshi, Director Comercial y Marine Guelaia, Product Manager Hexperience quienes nos mostrarón las últimas novedades en torno al interiorismo y el wraping que permiten trabajar de manera muy comoda el vinilo.