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For many printers and converters, the next big investment doesn't necessarily have to be an entirely new press. At LOOP Americas in Chicago, Morten B. Reitoft talks with Kevin from MCS about how retrofit inkjet technology can add new capabilities to equipment already installed on the production floor. MCS is returning its focus to labels and tags with new four-color technology designed to bring high-quality CMYK variable printing into existing production environments. And the economics are changing quickly. According to Kevin, a four-color inkjet system today can cost roughly as much as a monochrome print bar did just a few years ago. That opens completely new opportunities for companies that want to add color, shorter runs, personalization, and variable data without replacing their existing flexo or finishing equipment. The same trend is visible in direct mail, where demand for four-color variable data continues to grow. For MCS, flexibility is a key part of the strategy. The company's controller technology enables it to work with various printhead platforms and technology partners, including Fujifilm and HP, allowing MCS to tailor solutions to specific applications rather than forcing every customer into the same configuration. The new four-color systems can deliver 1200 dpi quality at speeds of up to 600 feet per minute — around 180 meters per minute — using technology already proven in high-volume production. But Kevin also points to another challenge facing the industry: people. The workforce is changing. Experienced operators are retiring, apprenticeships are less common, and production systems increasingly need to become easier to operate. That means simplifying workflows, removing proprietary formats, and building around standards such as PDF. For MCS, that is part of a much longer journey. From mechanical and analog technologies developed by the previous generation of the family to today's high-speed digital inkjet and variable-data systems, the company continues to evolve around one fundamental question: How can existing production become smarter, easier, and more productive? In this INKISH film, Morten talks with Kevin about labels, tags, four-color variable data, retrofit inkjet, HP and Fujifilm technology, workforce challenges, and why modernization doesn't always mean replacing what you already have. Sometimes, it means making it considerably more capable.

Christoph Gamper, CEO of DURST Group, is always interesting to speak to. In this interview from LabelExpo Europe 2023, we talk about Hawkeye - Durst's AI technology and how LabelExpo is different from a show like drupa. When we talk to Gamper, he is one of the few CEOs who have no fear of discussing issues like the value of a trade show or the organizer's flaws. Liberating is the word that comes to mind. Christoph Gamper will be one of the guests at our upcoming '23-edition NON-EVENT in Copenhagen. Enjoy!

Theurer.com is one of many exhibitors at LabelExpo Europe 2023, and though everybody is suffering from the heat, the mood is high. Managing Director Tobias Theurer finds time to talk to INKISH and gives us some background of the company, but also how the MIS/ERP solution has developed from being 'only' an invoicing and quotation system to a system able to so much more - integration, workflow, imposition, and with growth and presence in many markets Theurer.com predicts a bright future - we were happy to finally catch up with Theurer in person, super nice :-)

At Printpack India 2025, Wayne Beckett speaks with Mirko Kern, CEO of Manroland Sheetfed, about the company’s latest innovations and strategic direction in the global printing industry. With strong visitor engagement at the exhibition, Kern highlights Manroland’s focus on high-performance litho presses, particularly in the 70x100 and extra-large format sizes, catering to commercial and packaging markets. A key innovation on display is the PressPilot, a remote support system that enables real-time diagnostics and troubleshooting. With direct online connections to customers, Manroland’s service teams in India and Germany can guide operators through machine issues, ensuring faster resolutions and minimal downtime. Kern discusses the company’s continued growth since its acquisition by Langley Holdings in 2012, emphasizing its commitment to the Indian market. With a restructured and strengthened sales and engineering team, Manroland India now provides full-scale support across the country, covering installation, maintenance, and print expertise. The conversation also touches on the company’s approach to automation. Modern offset presses now feature push-button operation, fully automated register control, and inline color measurement for seamless production efficiency. With India emerging as one of the largest and fastest-growing print markets, Manroland is positioning itself as a key player in both commercial and packaging segments. This conversation offers valuable insights into the company’s vision, technological advancements, and expanding presence in the Indian printing industry.

At Intergraf Print Matters in Budapest, Morten Reitoft speaks with Mirela Marica, Director Executive of the Romanian printing industry association, about the importance of attracting young talent, strengthening industry education, and building a stronger voice for the printing sector in Romania. The conversation begins with the success of Romanian designer Irena Pinta, winner of the Intergraf Young Talent Award. Mirela explains how challenging it was at first to identify and encourage young candidates to participate, and how the award has already begun to create positive momentum within the Romanian industry. From helping raise awareness among younger professionals to inspiring new career opportunities, the recognition has become a valuable tool for promoting print and design to the next generation. Morten and Mirela discuss the role industry associations can play in supporting emerging talent. Following Irena’s success, plans are already underway to use her story and achievements to encourage more young people to engage with the printing and graphic communications sector. The goal is not only to celebrate success but also to demonstrate that print remains a modern, innovative, and attractive career path. The interview also explores the development of the Romanian printing industry over the past 25 years. Having been involved with the association since its early years, Mirela reflects on the transformation of the sector, the growth of digital printing, packaging, and graphic communications, and the ongoing effort to ensure that policymakers understand the importance of the industry. Education remains a central theme throughout the discussion. Mirela explains how the industry has worked for years to rebuild educational pathways for future printing professionals, including specialized master's programs and efforts to establish full university-level printing education. Close cooperation between industry and educational institutions is viewed as essential to ensuring the sector has access to skilled professionals in the future. The conversation concludes with a discussion about Romania's membership in Intergraf and the value of participating in a broader European network. For Mirela and her colleagues, access to knowledge, collaboration, and best practices from across Europe helps strengthen the Romanian industry while ensuring that important ideas and lessons are shared with local members. A warm and inspiring conversation about education, young talent, industry development, and the role associations play in shaping the future of print.

Crystal Clean Connect fully automates the entire plate-making process, from imaging and exposure to plate production, reducing the number of steps in the flexo plate-making process from twelve to just one. It delivers a 90 percent reduction in dedicated operator time, an average 25 percent increase in press OEE, and a 20 percent reduction in ink usage. The system results from two years of joint development between Asahi Photoproducts and Esko. Mirco Wilk from All4Labels, Pascal Thomas from Esko, and Dieter Niederstadt from Asahi Photoproducts share the story in this film. Enjoy. Interviewed by Jacques Michiels.

Rencontre avec le Directeur France, Martial Granet chez Mimaki. Il nous parle des nouveaux produits et pourquoi il les a amenés au salon. Première occasion de les voir en action sur le territoire français. --- Meeting the France Director, Martial Granet at Mimaki. He tells us about the new products and why he brought them to the show in France. First opportunity to see them in action on French territory.

The first part is a component of an imaging section of a digital toner printer. I spent many years managing a service department. So, I started rotating at a distributor for Konica Minolta. From a business position, to then service. And then became VP of Operations and Strategy. From one side, I see users taking the machinery to the maximum. Or even more than an OEM even thought about. Before OEMs were focused on installing midfoot machines in the field. And that's what they get measured by. We have to be as close to the buying customer as possible. And at the end there's going to be a very big consolidation of production. Printers have an amazing advantage for on-demand local production of X. So, this was 2019 - a week before that flight, I called Bernd Zipper. And that ended up traveling to an Online Print Symposium. And this was this huge eye opener. I think local culture is very important. I wouldn't call it 'transform'. I would call it 'adapt'. Panama has no postal system. So how do you deliver something? There's been an increase on last mile delivery startups. So that's facilitated not only print, but all the e-commerce. This is a print controller board where everything connects to. It's basically the brain of the machine. We're trying to build something similar. But outside of the printer. Our company is called IMPRIMU. And we're building an on-demand print network. Those are my kids. We were at the beach one day. And just putting it into context…all these difficulties last year. But at the same time there were so many good moments. And the question is: how do you take advantage of those good moments? And are you able to appreciate them? That is actually our product. That is value we are providing to a tuna processing plant. And we are providing pretty on-demand labels for them. I love being a part of that adaptation. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikirubin/

The VIGC Hackathon is an annual event organized by VIGC and EY. The purpose is to develop ideas for future solutions in a fun and competitive environment. In less than 48 hours, an idea changes from just an idea into something presented to a jury and an audience. This year's Hackathon had twelve teams presenting exciting ideas - some more innovative and exciting than others - but the jury unanimously agreed on this year's 2nd place - yes, we also agreed on number one and number three :-) The Shiprz project was developed by Miki Rubin and Wouter Meeuwisse - and subsidized shipping costs by adding personalized advertising on shipping labels. In this interview you can learn much more - so please enjoy!

Zumbiel is one of the companies on my bucket list for a long time, and now we have the chance. Zumbiel has specialized in folding carton boxes for beers and softdrinks - and despite being a company of a specific size, they consider them small compared to the big players - but that also gives Zumbiel a unique position in the market, serving the customers that from time to time have circulations that are better suited for the mixed technology mix offered by Zumbiel. Zumbiel has several flexo-presses, VLF offset presses, and the HP T-470 inkjet printer. The T470 is a workhorse, and Mike Zumbiel explains that digital machines are so productive that he sometimes wonders if he has bought his last analogue press. Listening to Mike Zumbiel is a treat - so why not treat yourself?

Most people in the graphic arts industry know Fujifilm for presses, plates, inks and production printing, but underneath many industrial inkjet applications is another part of Fujifilm that most print buyers rarely see: FUJIFILM Dimatix. At PRINTING United in Las Vegas, Morten B. Reitoft meets Mike from FUJIFILM Dimatix to see the worldwide debut of the new STARFIRE PhaseMaster 1024 printhead — and quickly discovers that this isn't simply another printhead for another graphic arts printer. The PhaseMaster combines technologies and experience from two long-established Dimatix platforms, Galaxy and STARFIRE, but introduces something particularly interesting: the ability to jet hot-melt fluids at temperatures up to 125°C. And that opens applications far beyond what most of us traditionally think of as printing. Direct-to-screen production, coding and packaging, printed electronics, photovoltaic manufacturing and additive manufacturing are among the applications discussed in the interview. Even jewelry enters the conversation, where inkjet can be part of highly detailed additive processes used to create customized designs. One particularly relevant application for the graphic arts industry is direct-to-screen. Rather than producing screens through conventional imaging processes, an industrial system equipped with PhaseMaster heads can jet material directly onto the screen. With the ability to lay down significant amounts of fluid at production speed, inkjet becomes part of the manufacturing process rather than simply a technology for putting an image onto paper. This distinction is important. FUJIFILM Dimatix doesn't necessarily build the final machines that users will eventually operate. Instead, it develops the printhead technology that OEMs, integrators and equipment manufacturers use as the foundation for entirely new production systems. The engineering behind PhaseMaster is equally interesting. Operating fluids at temperatures as high as 125°C creates an obvious challenge: the fluid needs heat, but electronics generally don't. Dimatix therefore separates the thermal environments inside the head, using cool, dry air to keep the electronics at considerably lower temperatures while maintaining the required temperature in the jetting area. The PhaseMaster has 1,024 individually addressable nozzles and can be configured with multiple heads across a printbar, allowing equipment manufacturers to build systems in different widths. Individual heads print one color, but multiple heads can also be configured to create multi-color systems. For Morten, the conversation becomes an interesting reminder of how broad inkjet technology has become. What began as a way of putting ink onto substrates is increasingly becoming a precision deposition technology capable of placing controlled amounts of fluid exactly where manufacturers need it. And that means the future market for inkjet may be considerably larger than the printing industry itself. Watch the conversation from PRINTING United in Las Vegas and get a closer look at the new FUJIFILM Dimatix STARFIRE PhaseMaster — and some of the industrial applications that could be built around it.

Adobe and Scodix have partnered to integrate the Adobe PDF Print Engine directly into the Scodix workflow. This gives Scodix users the same high-quality, reliable PDF interpretation that Adobe already provides across more than 200,000 systems worldwide. Because the engine handles complex elements such as spot colors, overprint, and knockouts in precisely the same way as CMYK production devices, printers can expect consistent results when transferring artwork from the main CMYK print to Scodix embellishment. The integration also significantly improves processing performance, with reported speed increases of 30–40%, providing faster file preparation and effectively increasing overall capacity—an advantage for demanding applications such as variable data embellishment. Adobe and Scodix are also collaborating on new technology under development, currently code-named Project Goldsmith, aimed at simplifying the preparation of embellishment files. The goal is to reduce prepress processing from minutes or hours to seconds by automatically understanding designer intent and optimizing PDFs for embellishment production. Adobe has published reference material for creatives interested in preparing embellishment-ready files, and the partnership signals a broader focus on creating an efficient, end-to-end workflow from design through manufacturing.

Mike Rottenborn is the CEO of Hybrid Software Group, and in this interview with Pat McGrew, Rottenborn gives an overview of their offerings and more. As always, listen to Rottenborn and learn more about Hybrid Software. Enjoy!

It was a super interesting chat with CTO Mike Natalizia from AstroNova. Of course, developing modern inkjet label presses is very different from the days with ribbons. In this interview, we talk about technologies, market demands, substrates, and inks. Super interesting!

Mike Mohn from Wallace Carlson enjoys eProductivity Software/EFI Connect 2022 to learn how to maximize the mid-market solutions software benefits.

In times where we focus on efficiency, speed - is there at all space for focusing on quality, and if so, how to identify customers willing to pay for quality. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-malpas-21403a24/

Whau - what a story. Mike King is the President and CEO of New Jersey-based Eagle Systems. In this, Over the Skype episode, he tells how his father and him, worked in New York City, and how the interest for foils eventually became Eagle Systems. With a more than 30+ years knowledge about both hot- and cold-foil, not strange that their website is thefoilexperts.com. 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!

Interview in English - subtitles in Dutch. Ook Agfa heeft er voor gekozen om zonder beursstand, dus beperkt aanwezig te zijn op Drupa. Een wat merkwaardige vaststelling voor velen, maar waarschijnlijk ingegeven door het feit dat ze sinds vorig jaar afscheid hebben genomen van hun Offsetdivisie. Ik ontmoet Mike Hosten dus op neutraal terrein waar we het hebben over zijn DPC onderdeel binnen de Agfa groep en hoe zij Drupa en de evoluties in het grafische speelveld verder vorm zien krijgen. — EN — Agfa has also chosen to have a limited presence at Drupa without an exhibition booth. A somewhat strange observation for many, but probably due to the fact that they said goodbye to their Offset division last year. So I meet up with Mike Hosten on neutral ground where we talk about his DPC part within the Agfa group and how they see Drupa and the developments in the graphic playing field taking further shape.

Interviewed by James Wells from Intermedia, Australia Produced by INKISH. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehorsten/

EMT International has success, and as we approach the booth, it is full of people, all demanding samples of what we later understand is found, fed, and delivered back to the ocean. This is interesting to learn from, so here we go! Mike Herold: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmichaelherold/

With a background from IBM and Ricoh, Mike Herold used to be primarily associated with products around the mentioned companies' ecosystems. Still, in his relatively new role with EMT International, he is suddenly invited to former competitors—and that journey is, of course, interesting. Still, it also gives Herold many new opportunities!  

At Printing United in Orlando, Pat McGrew from INKISH meets with Mike Herold, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at EMT, to discuss the company’s transformation, new technology, and growing role in the print finishing market. Herold explains that while EMT has an 85-year legacy of engineering and manufacturing excellence, the company today operates with the energy and mindset of a startup. This combination of heritage and innovation, he says, allows EMT to build on its strengths while reshaping its product portfolio for the future of digital print finishing. Herold reflects on his own time with EMT, noting that Printing United 2025 marks his third show with the company. Since joining just over two years ago, he has helped lead EMT through a significant strategic shift—from being seen primarily as a custom engineering company to becoming a developer of scalable, standardized solutions for a broader market. The company’s reputation for durable, precise, and adaptable systems remains, but its focus has expanded to include products designed for general commercial and direct mail printing as well. At the center of this evolution is EMT’s new Vera cutting platform, unveiled at the show. Herold describes Vera as the embodiment of EMT’s “listening tour”—a process of gathering customer and partner feedback to design equipment that addresses real-world needs. The system combines EMT’s high-speed web handling expertise with a compact, powerful architecture capable of creasing, scoring, punching, pin-feeding, sheeting, chip cutting, and stacking — all within a small footprint. The Vera, he explains, represents a new chapter for EMT, moving the company beyond its transactional print roots into broader commercial and direct mail markets. Partnership and collaboration, Herold emphasizes, are key to EMT’s success. The booth features integrations with Horizon, SpencerMetrics, and other OEM partners, showcasing how EMT systems connect seamlessly within diverse production environments. He credits CEO Mohit Uber for fostering a transparent and open corporate culture that encourages strategic alliances and data sharing across the industry. EMT’s commitment to interoperability includes open data interfaces that allow customers and partners to access machine information for dashboards, performance analytics, and workflow optimization. Herold reports that the response to Vera at the show has been overwhelmingly positive. The booth achieved, in one day, the level of customer engagement and interaction the team had expected over three days, with visitors praising the machine’s reliability, usability, and performance. For Herold and the EMT team, this strong feedback validates their direction — combining 85 years of manufacturing expertise with a renewed focus on innovation, collaboration, and real-world application.

Mark's Quest for American Exhibitors led him to Mike Herold from EMT International - and after sharing American anecdotes, Mike Herold's history from IBM to Ricoh to EMT International is talked about - and, of course, the equipment from EMT. Enjoy!

Mike Ferrari discusses Jetfx's digital embellishment technology, its growing adoption, and the benefits it can bring to label-converting companies.