Almost impossible to imagine, but AstroNova started with a 4-color ribbon print and is today a recognized supplier to the label/printing industry. At Drupa 2024, the neighboring booth, MTEX from Portugal, was acquired by AstroNova very recently - moving AstroNova into a new league of printers. Super interesting chat also allows us to learn about organic and non-organic growth! LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwoods1234/

C!Print 2023 in Lyon is, by all measures, already a success. The EuroExpo Center in Lyon was filled up with guests, and most of the day, it seemed very busy. There was a good mood, and we got some excellent interviews from many exciting people. In this Bonjour! Jacques Michiels and Morten B. Reitoft share impressions from the first day and expectations for our last day at C!Print. Enjoy, and remember to see our interviews on INKISH.TV. We already have many films online, and all are now uploaded with English subtitles (the French language editions!)

A few months ago, we visited Courier Graphics in Phoenix, Arizona - and besides the fantastic technology they use to produce great print and also the implementation of a new MIS solution from PrintVis, which brought us to the site, we got a chance to see the amazing showroom, talk to Designer Melissa Loughran from Courier Graphics - and to see some of the samples that really pushed the boundaries. Enjoy this!

Pat McGrew is impressed with the print samples delivered by Ricoh. They make it easy, but more importantly, they show cool samples from what their technology can deliver—folders, postcards, and of course, a piece that reminds us of Hunkeler Innovationdays Lucerne. Great to see how vendors invest in hopefully valuable samples that support your business - but hey, you should really consider doing your own print samples and use these to market your services to your customers!

The diversity of people attending an event like Hunkeler Innovationdays is simply amazing. PSPs, Specialists, Media, and of course, dealers. In this interview, Chris Manley from Graphco in the US explains how great he finds his first Hunkeler Innovationdays. As with many other attendees, Chris Manley meets friends, customers, and new leads. Dig in!

Let's talk about inkjet print heads here at Fespa 2024. Much of the equipment on display at the show uses Ricoh technology, so who better to talk to than Graham Kennedy, their Director of Industrial Print Solutions himself. Enjoy.

On the second day of LabelExpo-Americas 2022, Grafotronic and KURZ announced a partnership. With the partnership, Grafotronic will deliver a module to their digital finishing series and, by that, integrate the KURZ Uniliner into the machine. Interesting opportunities as the module also will be available to solutions already in the market. In this interview with Business Development Directory, Morten Toksvaerd shares his view on the agreement!

November 8-9/2016 GRAFKOM I/O 2016 in Norrköping, Sweden. INKISH.TV will cover this extremely exciting event and if you have the opportunity you should go. GRAFKOM is about sharing information and at this years event you will find speakers, vendors and have a fantastic opportunity to network with hundreds of business leaders. Find more information at: http://www.grafkom.se/io/

At the recent 'Print Next 18' event in Stockholm Grafkom and Federation of Swedish Printers (Grafiska Företagen) joined forces to create a joined event focusing on the future of the printing industry. We spoke with CEO Ravindra Parasnins - see and listen to what he say.

President and CEO Joe Straka, Priority Group, appreciate being back to eProductivity Software/EFI Connect for the tenth time and underscore the importance of human-to-human interaction. Joe Straka also explains his eight operations that ALL utilize solutions from eProductivity Software/EFI.

Hunkeler is among the most successful companies in the graphic arts industry, and being a family-owned company with success, the future looks bright. Today Michel Hunkeler is the CEO in close collaboration with his brother Stefan Hunkeler, who used to be the CEO but today has a role as President of the board. With increased interest in digital print from PSPs, the need for smart binding increases, and Hunkeler is well-positioned in the global market - but listen to what Michel Hunkeler has to say! LinkedIn Profile

In the VIGC Hackathon, the goal is to come up with an innovative solution or an innovative business model for the printing industry in a limited amount of time. The next step is a pitch where the participants (in this case 13 teams) present their prototypes to a professional jury, who will analyse and pick the winners. GOLD: Team Interaction Design - Luca School of Arts (Ghent, Belgium) Winning Project: SMILES The team of 5 students of the Luca School of Arts won the very first Graphic Arts Hackathon. “Smiles” uses the digital content from your smartphone for the content of a printed book. In this case, photos of smiling faces on the smartphone are detected via 'smile detection' software. Both the front camera picture from the person taking the snapshot as well as the actual back camera picture are being recorded and used in this smiles photobook. These memories are then collected in a personalized book along with all the content that made that person laugh. This winning 'Smiles' project with their clever idea also brought a smile on the faces of the jury, amongst our own Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH. A well-deserved victory! SILVER: Team “Print Quality Map” a team from Esko / AVT. Represented by Dries Vandenbussche (Director of Ideation – Software / ESKO) The second place is for Team “Print Quality Map”. This is a solution that visualises quality problems in print runs and visualizes this on a screen in a way like a weather / heat map shows, for example, storm or heat areas. These Print- “heat maps” are generated by cloud-based algorithms that use the data from the press inspection systems and communicate in real time. This advanced measuring software optimizes the colour stability in packaging printing on the actual printing press by detecting and predicting possible problems early on in the printing process. BRONZE: Team “Textiveroo” with members from DSN Artwork Systems, Conics and Hybrid Software. Represented by Dries Maerten – Owner Conics Third place goes to Textiveroo and is a solution for automatic text & barcode extraction. This artificial intelligence-driven software package ensures automatic conversion to other languages and the corresponding positioning of information on packaging. The files are analysed, and the relevant text is extracted from existing packaging artwork files. The benefit of this is the reusability of these elements for publications on online web portals or for streamlining the translation processes. *Next year’s VIGC graphic arts Hackathon is scheduled for October 11th and 12th 2021.

The theme for the NON-EVENT 2024 is 'Conflict,' as we all experience conflicts on different levels, we have invited speakers who are exposed to conflicts, learned to live with them, and used conflicts to move things forward. One of the most challenging conflicts is centered, where the outcome can be peace or war. This is where we find VP of R&D HP Indigo, Golan Landsberg, who has also been on the Search & Rescue team for IDF; besides his job with HP, in peacetime, a challenge, and when at war, even more challenging. Listen to Landsberg and if you attend the NON-EVENT in Copenhagen on December 5th, 2024 - more to follow.  

David Zwang has been in the industry for a long time and continues to be 'everywhere' :-) And this time in the BOBST Open House in Alpharetta, Georgia. In this almost ten minutes long interview, we get to know a few of the many roles David Zwang has covered in the past years - but for now, enjoy the interview where you get different perspectives!

As with so many companies, Grafisk Maskinfabrik or GM started 40 years ago in the current Director Uffe Nielsens parents' kitchen. Today GM is a recognized supplier of roll-based finishing equipment for digital and flexo labels, both under their own brand and an OEM supplier. Recently GM has moved to a new headquarter where the company now enjoys both a larger showroom and new and modern facilities with space for growth. In this Conversations, Director Uffe Nielsen talk to Editor Morten Reitoft about the history, the current situation, and the future. Great story - so please enjoy.

Martin Overgaard Hansen is the relatively new CEO of Glunz & Jensen. The company has deep roots in the pre-press industry, producing equipment for high-quality plate-making. With administration and R&D in Denmark and production in Slovakia, the company is in a restructuring mode where the company is scaled to meet the future's needs. Martin Overgaard Hansen comes from outside the printing industry and has the tough job managing the restructuring. In this INKISH Conversation, we get a great insight into how the company sees itself and its future role.

Sustainability is one of the most critical topics in the global printing industry these years. Global warming is a severe challenge to everybody, and while companies, individuals, and governments work on solutions to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere, more things influence global temperatures. Henrik Svensmark is an Astro Physicist at DTU Space and has for years researched how solar flares influence cloud formation, which also has a huge impact on global warming. In this unusual presentation (for being in the graphic arts industry), Henrik Svensmark guides our audience through the research and the ideas they are pursuing. Great presentation and the INKISH team is happy that we can bring this interesting research to our audience. Thank you Henrik Svensmark.

Giovanni Vitale, international sales director for SD Italy, points out the versatility of the manufacturer’s Augusta F150R PRO. Distributed in the U.S. by Graphco, the hybrid CNC cutting and plotting system is ideally suited for wide-format rigid and architectural signage applications up to six inches in thickness.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gil-oron-50721973/

In this 24th episode of Print Sample TV, your host Pat McGrew for the very first time has a few complains. Not about the quality of the Plockmatic binders and the samples, but more because both the creative and the "more boring" sample lacks Call-to-Action or more precise information about how to get a hold on the nice people from Plockmatic. However, when you look at the Pizza Recipe booklet the company has produced, your appetite grows - not sure if it's for Pizza or a new binder, but as usual; Watch, Like, and Share!

In this Get Work Done session, Scott Peterson and Thomas Olofsson from Tecnau give you insight into the world of digital binding - focusing on their Cut Stack products. Cut Stacking can be used for products like postcards, posters, and other flat products, but it can also be used for producing book blocks. Tecnau also presents the inline integration with Canon, so all in all a great overview of Tecnau solutions, and of course, spiced with great conversations and loads of humor :-)

Koenig & Bauer is mostly known for their offset presses and the almost only offset supplier capable of delivering VLF-sized offset presses, particularly for the packaging industry. With the focus on the packaging segment, it's only natural that Koenig & Bauer, over the past years, have developed binding technology and acquired companies to support their mission, and in this Get Work Done session, Mario Gerber gives the audience a super insight into the strategy and the products! Enjoy!

Jordi Giralt is a relatively new CBO with German KAMA. KAMA is more than 125 years old, and as Jordi Giralt explains in the Get Work Done session, the inventor of creasing/scoring - and being one of the first offering folding/gluers, it makes sense. In this session, Jordi Giralt and Editor Morten B. Reitoft talk about the unique products and, therefore, also the value proposition KAMA offers.