With more than a billion dollars in M&As, Kenneth Stack knows his business - and again, we have been so fortunate to find an M&A specialist that has deep roots in the printing industry as well. Kenneth Stack has worked with Kodak, and more recently President for Jetrion, which he sold to EFI - and continued working for EFI. Since 2011 Kenneth Stack has operated his own "small boutique," focusing on M&As for both buyers and sellers. This session gives you a GREAT insight into strategic acquisitions. GREAT session. I hope you enjoy watching as much as Ken and I enjoyed doing this!

At the recent LabelExpo Europe 2019, we got a chance to talk to General Manager Kim Beswick from Memjet about their new product launch - Duraflex. Memjet is a developer of core-technology that is licensed to a long range of partners, producing the finale machines. The list of partners is long and include names in almost every segment of the value chain from office print to large format, industrial print. Memjet practically invented waterfall technology where the colours are falling from the mounted print heads rather than moving the print head forth and back. This enables really fast print, and when you see a Memjet enabled machine for the first time, you can't do anything but say WHAU. With the launch of the new Duraflex print head, Memjet offers a third-generation inkjet engine where speed, quality, and price are the main KPI's. Watch, Like, and Share as usual.

Meccanotecnica is a family-owned company located in Bergamo, about 40-50 minutes east of Milan. A beautiful landscape, the best food in the world, and then - in the middle of Bergamo, you find Meccanotecnica, where we meet with Stefano Formentini. We, of course, meet because of Drupa, but maybe more importantly because Mecannotecnica, known for its fantastic machines for sewn books - both offset and digital, is now introducing its first perfect binding machine - and what an entry. We go through the machine in this walkthrough so you can hear and see what makes this setup fantastic. Enjoy!

In this series of Coffee Breaks from Italian book-of-one software developer Bronte, Pat McGrew talks about the importance of workflow automation. Enjoy!

Folding solutions for the sheetfed offset, commercial print market, has been the core business model at MBO for over 50 years. 14 years ago MBO added additional modules to their portfolio allowing them to offer world class roll fed Inkjet print finishing solutions to the changing commercial print market. The same great folders and direct mail modules that serve the commercial print market, can be directly fed from a sheeted roll. In the recent years MBO has found great success in the high end commercial print, marketing asset, book and mailing segments. Our specialty is being able to build folding and finishing systems that provide one-step total finishing. Join us to learn of our most successful system configurations, along with the newest modules capable of embellishing the web prior to final folding and cutting.

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 Maya Staels from Belgium. Maya Staels has worked with PR for many years, and both with established PR-companies, leading to developing her own PR-company. Among the customers from the printing industry, you find Kornit, Memjet, and CHILI publish. Enjoy!

Direct mail is the third largest media channel in the UK after TV and digital, worth an estimated £1.7bn annually. COVID has seen a great resurgence in brands turning to mail as a trusted way to communicate with clients whilst the majority of people are working from home. But COVID aside, why in this day and age should you still use direct mail as part of your marketing mix and how can you use print to communicate successfully? Join us for an interactive and fun session hosted by The Dragonfly Agency’s Managing Director, Isla Munro who will talk us through the agency process from receiving the original client brief to delivering an engaging mailpack through the letterbox. She will shine a focus on print technologies and opportunities which help to acquire and retain clients.

At Printing United 2025 in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH meets Max Allen from Graphic Whizard, the Canadian finishing equipment manufacturer known for its compact, innovative solutions tailored to digital and short-run print environments. Morten notes that Graphic Whizard has carved out a distinctive position in the market: “Everything here is a little more compact,” he says, “but it seems you’ve found a niche where you’re very successful.” Max introduces the DF0906MT digital die cutter, one of four models in the company’s range. “What we’re really doing,” Max explains, “is bringing digital production into digital finishing. Instead of building expensive metal dies for every new job, you just load a PDF, and the system’s ready to go. There’s no tooling cost and no setup time.” The DF0906MT handles short-run packaging, labels, and stickers, and can run both sheets and rolls. “Traditionally, you needed an experienced bindery operator for this type of work,” Max says, “but those employees are aging out. Now, a single operator can handle digital finishing with minimal training. The machine does the hard part.” All the sample pieces displayed in the booth — from foam-core signs to packaging prototypes — were produced on the same machine. “We even install these in smaller spaces,” Max says with a smile. “We’ve put them in church basements. They’re ideal for in-plant environments, universities, franchise print shops — anywhere you need fast, flexible finishing.” Beyond production, Max highlights another strength: prototyping. “Packaging sells products, but prototypes sell packaging,” he says. “Larger companies use this machine to produce prototypes before going into full-scale runs. It’s small enough for short runs but powerful enough for professional output.” The DF0906MT can kiss-cut, through-cut, score, and perforate up to 24-point stock, and even handle materials up to six millimeters thick. It supports more than 100 tool options, though, as Max explains, “Most users stick with the standard configuration because it does almost everything they need.” Morten then points to a larger model with “a little more bling.” Max laughs and explains that it’s the heavy-duty version, designed for harder materials like acrylic, aluminum, MDF, and wood. “It’s a natural evolution,” he says. “Customers love the smaller digital die cutters, and when they’re ready to expand into signage or more industrial materials, this is the next step.” Max emphasizes that the workflow and tooling remain consistent across models. “That’s a big advantage,” he says. “A commercial printer doing both digital and wide-format can handle everything on one platform. It saves space, time, and investment.” As the conversation wraps up, Morten laughs: “It must be fun selling this stuff.” Max grins. “It absolutely is. When customers realize what they can do with these machines — how much flexibility and creativity they gain — it’s an easy conversation.” Morten concludes, “Compact, clever, and clearly built for the digital printer — Graphic Whizard’s solutions prove that smaller can definitely mean smarter.”

At Canon's Power to Move event in Venlo, Morten Reitoft speaks with Cathy Bittner and Tino Waegelein from Canon EMEA about a topic that is becoming increasingly important in modern print production: workflow. While much attention in the industry is focused on presses and print quality, Bittner and Waegelein argue that the future of productivity lies in understanding and optimizing the entire production process—from order intake to final delivery. Rather than taking a print-centric view, Canon is encouraging customers to adopt an end-to-end workflow mindset that considers every step in the value chain. A fascinating part of the discussion revolves around Canon's "End-to-End Experience," a methodology that uses physical building blocks and gamification techniques to visualize workflows, identify bottlenecks, and uncover opportunities for improvement. Originally developed as a teaching tool, the concept has evolved into a practical framework for helping customers understand complex production environments and make better decisions about automation and integration. The conversation also explores workflow openness, software integration, cloud-based solutions, strategic partnerships, and the importance of connecting specialized technologies rather than forcing customers into closed ecosystems. Canon's approach, according to Bittner and Waegelein, starts with understanding customer requirements before recommending the right combination of software, services, and production technologies. Finally, the discussion turns to artificial intelligence and whether AI may one day design and manage workflows on its own. While both see enormous potential for AI as a productivity tool, they believe human expertise, decision-making, and oversight will remain critical components of successful print production for years to come. This is a thoughtful conversation about workflow, automation, integration, and why the future of print may be less about individual devices and more about how everything works together.

In times when virtual, hybrid, and online have become important topics in our industry, printing-expo.online grows with more 'halls,' 'exhibition space,' and exhibitors. In this film, Wayne Beckett from printing-expo.online and editor Morten B. Reitoft talk about the platform's background and how Wayne Beckett sees themselves in the marketing mix. Printing-Expo.online was planned before the pandemic but landed at a time when online was the only option. Wayne Beckett also comments on how their platform has become an asset used at the physical tradeshows! Enjoy!

Matthieu Delessard has a story to tell. It is about what can happen when you automate and optimize your print processes from end to end. The Smart Factory is one software ecosystem that enables printers, OEMs, and resellers to bring a variety of solutions together to maximize efficiency from order entry to delivery.

Good conversation with the renowned UPM paper makers . We dig into the necessity of a robust player in the market, one that meets the demands for high-quality papers tailored for online print systems. We chatted with Matthias Reh, Director of Sales at Digital Printing Papers, about how the paper industry needs to provide and cater to an evolving market.

Matthias Miederer and Morten Reitoft discuss the developments at KAMA and their plans for Drupa 2024. Miederer, who started working for KAMA as the Head of Product Management earlier this year, explains his role in strengthening the link between sales and development. He introduces KAMA as a supplier of post-press finishing solutions, focusing on tailored solutions for short to medium-run finishing, especially targeting the digital printing market. Reitoft showcases a product from KAMA's customer, Studio on Fire, emphasizing the added value and quality KAMA's equipment brings to print products. Miederer agrees, highlighting the company's commitment to providing efficient finishing solutions that help customers offer more to their clients and gain new jobs. They discuss KAMA's new product, the Hammerhead, a digital embellishment machine capable of coatings/varnishes and metallization. Miederer explains that the Hammerhead continues KAMA's tradition of building solid, robust machines while integrating efficiency and speed for digital embellishment. The machine offers a B2 platform ready for B1 and can run at 5,700 sheets per hour, making it flexible and suitable for various production needs. Reitoft asks about the potential market for digital embellishment. Miederer acknowledges the slow growth compared to digital printing but sees increasing interest and adoption. He emphasizes the need to educate graphic designers and the benefits of digital embellishment in offering flexible, tool-free, and unique finishes compared to traditional methods. They then discuss the FlexFold, KAMA's high-speed folding and gluing machine with a high level of automation. Miederer highlights its quick setup times and suitability for the pharmaceutical market with built-in Braille functionality. He mentions that KAMA will showcase the ProCut 76, FlexFold, Hammerhead videos and samples, and animations of new robotic solutions at Drupa. The conversation wraps up with Reitoft noting the importance of KAMA's solutions and looking forward to seeing Miederer at Drupa in two weeks.  

Workflow is more than managing a single product stream in most shops. Symphony is the orchestration tool that conducts the production streams through the most efficient pathways. Matze Heinz explains how orchestration is essential in a modern online print workflow.

You join Jacques Michiels for an interview with COO Matthias Heinz from Ctrl-s as we explore the fascinating world of its spiderwebs on the way to a lights-out production. In such scenarios, staying ahead with automation and seamlessly connecting all your operating systems is crucial. But the question arises: Do you need an integrator or a software compan y? Let’s dive in and discover what Ctrl-s has to say about this.

It is always a pleasure talking to Matthias Heinz from CTRL-S. At Hunkeler Innovationdays, you should also take the opportunity to learn from what CTRL-S is offering. In this film, COO Matthias Heinz explains how you can use CTRL-S to automate your production—not only your prepress.

Wayne Beckett talks with Matthias Heinz COO of Ctrl-s about their software and their ability to strive for full lights out production.

Matthias Heinz is a member of CIP4 and with standardization of hardware/software - will it not take away from his company CTRL+S? Well, listen to his answers here!

Hunkeler Innovationdays 2025 is about connecting, and you, of course, see Hunkeler equipment connecting printing presses with binding equipment everywhere. You also see Hunkeler equipment at Hunkeler's large booth in hall 2. In this video, Matthias Annaheim and Jonas Zürcher deliver a well-prepared presentation of GEN8EVO and the cut-sheet product now under Zürcher's young, steady hand. It was an excellent presentation and great to learn from; well done, chaps!

Head of Marketing Matthias Annaheim show the 46 meter long Canon/Hunkeler solution - impressive - end-to-end :-) LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthiasannaheim/

Matthew Pullen works for Meteor Inkjet, and designs and produces the controller hard- and software enabling the print to hit the printheads in the right order, and fast enough! Matthew Pullen in particular works with the Meteor DropWatcher that compares the expected output with the actual output and enables through software to correct eventual errors on the go. Amazing what technology can do to maximize profitability. Enjoy!

Matthew Parker is one of the leading influencers in the printing industry and we made a "Conversations" with him on INKISH.TV. This is a teaser for the film, that can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awf2UrnewG8

Matthew Parker is an author, speaker and finally host on his very own Matthew Parker PrintChampion channel on INKISH.TV. Everybody talks about content marketing, but how do you get around making long, engaging, and thought leadership articles? Well - you don't. Matthew Parker, as usual, has some great ideas that you can learn from, and easily do yourself. As usual enjoy. Watch, listen, like, and share!

Matthew Parker is an author, speaker and finally host on his very own Matthew Parker PrintChampion channel on INKISH.TV. Most Sales People don't spend a lot of time on sales. They may think so, but they don't. Get the insights from your host Matthew Parker! As usual enjoy. Watch, listen, like, and share!