August, 2014 - Large Format Printers

Trade Show
August, 2014
Nicholas Hellmuth
II
III
Our favorite products which we noticed exhibited
6
It helps when the photos in print samples are adequate resolution
6
Most uninspiring technology display: Wimpy Backlit
8
Best booth structure design
9
Best Booth Wall Decoration
12
Overhead booth logo display
12
One of my favorite logos at FESPA 2014
14
Really nicely designed booth accessory
Excellent examples of Applications
15
Innovative Printers
16
UV-Cured Printers
17
UV-Cured Printers: Industrial
17
UV-Cured Printers: Normal Signage
21
LED-cured UV can handle more substrates.
23
UV-Cured Printers: Medium
23
UV-Cured Printers Desktop Sized
23
Mimaki24
Fujifilm
25
Colorific
26
Solvent Printers
26
Latex Ink Printers
27
Sepiax Ink Printers
29
Water-Based Printers
30
Water-Based Memjet
30
Label printers
32
Flatbed cutters
32
Textile Printers
33
Largest booths, only textile printers: d-gen and MTEX
34
Largest booths, only t-shirt printers: Kornit
35
Industrial printer brands for textile: MS, Reggiani
36
New textile printers: Fieldstar, FTEX
37
Surprising appearance: Hollanders, Zimmer
38
Chinese textile brands: ATEXCO, Homer, Locor
39
Italian textile brands: ATPColor, La Meccanica, MS, Reggiani
40
Best textile product: linen-like polyester fabric by Premier TextilesReggiani
41
Innovative product: highly stretchable fabric by Endutex Germany
42
Sublimation onto 3D Objects
43
T-Shirt Printers
44
Printheads in general
45
Being open and honest about what printheads your printer uses.
46
Color Management
48
RIP Software
48
MIS Software
49
Web to Print Software
49
Media, roll-to-roll
50
Media & Substrates: 51
Multi-dimensional51
Media & Substrates: Thick, Rigid
51
After-market inks
52
Laminator Tables (ROLLSROLLER and competitors)
54
Inkjet Applications: Giclee
62
Inkjet Applications: Fine Art Photography
62
Printers for Giclee and Fine Art Photography
62
Photo books to showcase your fine art photography
62
Scanners for giclee and décor: 63
Cruse and METIS brands were both at FESPA
63
Applications for Wide-Format Inkjet Printers: 64
Wallcoverings as an example
64
Toner Printers & Desktop Printers
66
Digital Presses
66
3D Printers at FESPA
67
Trade Magazine booths
68
My favorite trade magazines at FESPA
69
Expo organizer Booths
70
Distributors70
LED Signage
70
Traditional Signage (Channel letters, etc)
70
Attendence in General
72
Comparing Munich compared with other cities 73
as venue for FESPA
73
Venue: Munchen expo center
73
Venue: Munchen vs Hamburg vs Duesseldorf vs 74
Berlin vs Koln
74
Issues to resolve
75
Nice features
77
Helpful map 77
Nice catalog is at no cost
77
Nice Press room 77
Great meals in Press Room
78
Friendly aspects of FESPA
78
Almost no screen printers whatsoever
78
BENEFITS of an international expo compared with 79
local expo
79
Essentially everyone speaks English
80
Comparing ISA with SGIA with Graph Expo
81
What does FLAAR do at an Expo?
82
We also study why some companies do not succeed
84
Press Conferences and Evening Events
85
Closing Observations
86
Pride to be at FESPA
86
Closing images
87
Focused FLAAR Reports
87
*All items on this page are hotlinks.
2
3
The HIGH SPEED wide-format expo
If you wished to report the one feature, the one tag, the one buzz word of the
entire expo, I would name this The HIGH SPEED wide-format expo.
Efi featured high speed (and especially LED curing benefits). Durst was
showcasing higher speeds. Oce and Fujifilm had larger machines with higher
speed (in most cases due to having lots more printheads, sometimes twice the
number).
A good visual example of this “HIGH SPEED” focus was the SCREEN dedicated
flatbed. Their TruepressJet W3200uv HS was their high speed model. Of course the alternatives are lower cost (because fewer printheads, hence
slower speed). So there is still a market for lower cost options, but the big-name
brands (Durst, efi, SCREEN, Fujifilm, Oce (Canon) are all going for speed).
4
5
Our favorite products which we noticed exhibited:
Canon DreamLabo 5000 system (favorite of Nicholas; the advances with efi hardware and
software are covered in a separate UV TRENDs report)
Linen fabric which is actually polyester (favorite of Pablo)
Matan print samples were impressive as well as new UV printer from Durst (Speed) plus efi
VUTEk (the compact one: does not take up too much space).
Honeycomb but plastic and cutter of two head (Elitron), Endutex material.
It helps when the photos in print samples are adequate
resolution
Manufacturers and distributors spend a fortune to rent a booth, ship in their equipment, and
then they showcase fuzzy or low res photos. Photos which do not have the pixel count to be
covering an entire wall.
And these weak photos are supposed to make us want to buy the printer which printed this
image?
Already in 1997 we had a 24 megapixel camera (tri-linear scanning back from Better Light).
By 2000 we had a 48 megapixel version. Today we have a “35mm” DSLR with 36 megapixels.
Yes, a good photographer does not need fancy equipment, but…. If you are going to enlarge
your image to cover the entire wall of an expo booth, it might be wise to use a high-res image.
Here we show an image of such high resolution that it blows again any (and all) 35mm DSLR
cameras. This is a camera so old it barely exists today: Hasselblad with a Leaf digital back. But
Israeli technology (the back) is remarkable. We even have images similar to this, printed by a
Durst Rho at the Durst factory demo center many years ago and kindly shipped by Durst all the
way to our office in Guatemala.
Elitron new material exhibited at FESPA 2014.
Impressive Matan print samples at FESPA 2014.
Example of FLAAR high resolution images. “Ceiba Aesculifolia Flower”
6
7
Best booth structure design
Most uninspiring technology display: Wimpy Backlit
The MultiCam CNC router booth had a minimalistic appearance that was actually rather unique:
a complete structure featuring the posts and banner frames, but devoid of anything else. The
exhibit itself was appropriately matched (empty).
In artistic circles, minimalism is considered chic.
At ISA a few weeks ago two booths each had
wimpy weak images on the materials they
were trying to sell: a German company and a
Korean company. To be polite we don’t list the
brand or show the frankly inadequate material.
At FESPA Digital there was not time for me
to inspect media, cutters, or laminators (for
this reason we had a team of four people). But
what I did notice was lots of weak saturation
backlit (and other see-through materials): in
many booths.
If you are going to print backlit and feature
it in your booth, be sure that your ink or
image or material is well printed. Realize that
some printheads simply are not very good at
producing well saturated colors that pop on
backlit (or the printer operator is not taking the
time to set the RIP software options carefully).
So if you, as printshop owner or manager,
are at an expo to buy a printer, be sure its
printheads, its RIP, and its ink can produce a
powerful image for your clients. Be sure to test
this aspect in case the printer manufacturer
cleverly avoids exhibiting this downside to
their brand.
Ten years ago it was very clear that thermal
printheads produced more saturated (more
colorful) backlit than piezo heads (which in
those years meant Epson printheads). So
HP in particular, thus ColorSpan, and Encad
tended to produce noticeably better backlit.
Considering the number of booths filled with (sorry) left-over packaging and garbage, this
MultiCam booth was clean as a whistle.
In various booths there were backlit prints
which were a tad weak. And in the metro
stations (unrelated to FESPA), there were realworld backlit signage which were pathetic.
Of course even with thermal printheads you
can produce a wimpy backlit if you use the
wrong settings in your RIP software. I have no
way to know which printhead did these pathetic
backlits in the subway station. But I would
rather use these than show all the examples
from too many booths.
All printers are really good at some applications,
are okay at other applications, but are simply
not perfect for other materials or applications.
Thus it might be advisable to showcase what
your printer is good at, and be realistic at what
another technology can do a tad better.
MultiCam booth.
8
Chemigraf had a dramatic booth design.
9
The KIP booth is innovative both at European expos and in the USA.
In the separate FLAAR Report
on booth architecture, we discuss
such good booth designs as the
PAPIJET KISCO booth and the
surprisingly large FOTOBA booth.
10
11
Best Booth Wall Decoration
Normally we single out a really dramatic wall decoration, but there was no booth here in this
expo as impressive as the booth of Global Imaging Inc (Novus) at the recent ISA 2014 sign
expo in Orlando.
One of my favorite logos at FESPA 2014
Since I like plants and animals, the graphic designs I tend to enjoy are those of flowers and
creatures. Here is a logo (CHROMO INK) and a design (Eckart ink company) which were
among my favorites at FESPA 2014.
Overhead booth logo display
We have a full analysis of booth overhead decorations. We discuss which schemes are
successful and which are not a good idea. Here I show the overhead rectangle for efi VUTEk.
And the traditional size and shape employed over the booth of SCREEN.
CHROMO INK logo.
SCREEN booth.
Eckart wall booth.
12
13
Really nicely designed booth accessory
I always enjoy cute cartoon-like characters. Here are several which looked nice.
Excellent examples of Applications
FUJIFILM had an entire wall of applications. Many of these FUJIFILM applications were very well
conceived.
Fujifilm applications wall.
Samples exhibited at FESPA 2014.
14
15
Innovative Printers
The most innovative printer was the one using an atypical ink. We cover this remarkable printer
in our separate in-depth reports. These in-depth reports have a lot of photos, and since many
corporate e-mail systems do not allow any file over 5MB to be received, we can’t put everything
into one PDF (so we have many separate in-depth reports, on textile printers, inks, media, UVcured printers, MEMJET MEMS, etc.
UV-Cured Printers
UV-Cured Printers: Industrial
Most printers are understandably focused on signage. These we list in signage categories. But
here we list the significantly fast throughput printers. In wide-format jargon, these are called
“industrial” printers. I prefer to reserve the word industrial for printing on specialized materials
or truly industrial applications, such as 3D forms (Mimaki exhibited such a printer four or five
years ago; not a “3D” printer, but a printer for round objects).
I would consider printers for glass, metal, and ceramics as an industrial printer.
But printers which are really fast, and have special feeding front and back, these are simply
high-throughput signage printers. They are printing on normal sheets and “boards:” they are not
printing on any industrial materials.
The best examples at FESPA 2014 of fast-throughout UV-cured flatbeds were:
• HP Scitex 10000,
• Inca (in FUJIFILM booth),
• Efi VUTEk HS100
HP exhibited their HP Scitex 10000.
16
17
A second classification of faster-than-past-years-throughput would be the nice new Canon Oce
Arizona 6170 XTS and the comparable Fujifilm Acuity F. The printhead carriage has significantly
more printheads, hence the wider path and overall faster speed. However loading is manual
(but you can load one end of the printer while it is printing at the other end).
Thieme is a potential industrial printer, though smaller board size than the Durst, efi, Inca or HP
Scitex.
The HP Scitex FB500 would not be accepted by many analysts as “industrial.” This is a midrange signage printer; it is not an industrial printer: definitely not in speed; definitely not in
feeding system, and definitely not really for printing on industrial materials.
The INDUSTRIAL PRINTER sign of HP was facing a true industrial printer at one side (HP Scitex
10000) and a host of industrial printers across the aisle in the Durst booth. If you compared the
HP Scitex FB500 with any of these, you would see and understand why the sign INDUSTRIAL
PRINTER was not a very clever idea (since it drew attention to the lack of industrial aspects).
Fujifilm booth.
New Canon Oce Arizona 6170 XTS.
18
A colleague in the printer industry (in Texas) was just about to buy an HP Scitex FB700 about 3
years ago; he said when they found out he was also looking at an efi VUTEk the HP salesperson
dropped the price… significantly, but the print shop went ahead about bought the efi VUTEk
and was really happy with the results.
19
UV-Cured Printers: Normal Signage
SCREEN is distributed by KISTERS in Germany. This would be a high throughput system.
EFI, Durst, Oce, Fujifilm also make high throughput printers.
In other words, exaggerating the potential of a printer usually backfires. HP Scitex FB500 and
FB700 is ok for mid-range, but it is far far from being industrial.
HP booth at FESPA 2014.
SCREEN exhibited their UV- curing printer this year at FESPA.
20
Banding should not be accepted
It was a surprise to see banding on a
$300,000+ flatbed printer.
To be polite we do not list the brand in
public.
We have not visited the Inktec factory
in three or four years, so are not able to
comment on their several new models
of their JETRIX printers. As soon as we
can get back to their factory we can add
new discussion of this excellent Korean
technology.
21
LED-cured UV can handle
more substrates.
Mimaki
LED-curing is used for most entry-level UV
printers with Epson printheads (since an Epson
DX head is so slow the LED can sure the ink
more or less ok). But at the high end, primarily
EFI has focused on featuring LED curing in
their printers. At mid-range, Mimaki is mostly
using LED-curing, though three years ago
they had to add a fluorescent-shaped lamp to
the front of their flatbed to get an actual curing.
But their flatbeds today are three years more
experienced.
UV-Cured Printers: Medium
This is new category to help us keep track of the
different sizes and shapes. “Medium” is a size
reference, usually approximately 1x1 meter,
or 1.2 x 1 meter. Anything smaller is desktop
sized; anything larger is normal flatbed size.
There were about three medium sized printers
from China; one was rebranded.
Mimaki booth.
UV-Cured Printers Desktop
Sized
Lots and lots and lots of desktop sized printers.
We cover every brand and list every model in
our UV-Printer TRENDs report.
22
Fujifilm
23
Colorific
The nice article on SOLVENT UV, in Issue 2 of FespaDaily, totally missed the Fujifilm printer
with SUV ink. Was this article written before the expo started ? (Fujifilm launched their SUV ink
at FESPA).
Solvent Printers
Mimaki was about 50% UV, SUV, 10% textile
printers, and perhaps 40% eco-solvent or
Latex.
Until I see an MSDS and have an in-person
discussion with an ink specialist, it is safest
to classify most latex ink as a solventized
water based ink. Whether HP latex ink
has more solvent than Mimaki would be
an excellent question. It is notable that no
trade magazine has done such a lab test.
There were many solvent printers at
FESPA, including lots from China. Most of
the Chinese printers were rebranded, but if
you attend APPPPEXPO in Shanghai this
July you can easily find the original brand
(however it is safer to buy from your local
distributor than risk buying from the factory
in Asia).
Fujifilm booth.
24
25
Latex Ink Printers
No Ricoh booth; so no Ricoh Pro L4160 latex ink printers.
At ISA their booth was far to the end of everything. Latex
printers (other than HP) will not be successful merely
because they exist. PR releases are not what will make
an impact either. Until Ricoh really enters the world
of wide-format, it will have a marginal position, which
is ironic since it is precisely Ricoh printheads which
are very popular: Ricoh, Konica Minolta, and Dimatix
Spectra are the serious printheads for serious printers.
Epson DX printheads are used for entry-level.
Mimaki had a latex printer in their booth, but with so
many other models it did not seem to really be featured.
Only in the HP booth was latex really featured. The
new generation of entry-level HP Latex 310 series is a
helpful improvement. People with earlier models must
feel a tad left out, but at least the newer models try to
overcome issues of fading, weak color gamit, excessive
curing temperatures, etc.
Mimaki JV400-160 LX
HP Latex 310.
26
27
Sepiax Ink Printers
Water-Based Printers
It was nice to see Sepiax ink printers back at a trade show, but this is precisely the issue: to be
successful it is essential to be at 100% of the key expos every single year, year after year.
Canon, Epson, and HP had water-based
printers (most ink chemists do not really accept
latex ink as truly “water-based”). So even not
counting latex as true water-based, there were
still several traditional water-based printers at
FESPA.
But now there is serious competition from other
printheads, and other printer manufacturers.
All the brands using Memjet technology will
need to really ramp up positive results.
Water-Based Memjet
RTI, Canon Oce, and Gongzheng all had
their Memjet-powered printers at work. The
only one missing was Xante, which suggests
that their printer is not intended for signage.
We cover Memjet pros and cons in separate
FLAAR Reports, though presently we are so
busy studying trends in UV-cured and textile
printers, that these other reports come out first.
Skipping expos is what was one of many causes of general dismissal of this nice Sepiax ink in
past years. Working only on Epson DX heads was the even more noticeable issue. Needing a
really sophisticated heating unit meant that no normal Roland, Mutoh, or Mimaki could use this
remarkable ink properly. And being inpractical to print on the most common signage material:
PVC vinyl, is one of several reasons why not one single printer manufacturer was willing to
make a special printer to handle this ink.
It is ironic that precisely in an era when “industrial printing” is a real fad, that an ink which works
best on industrial applications is still barely visible.
Graphics One (GO) in California is one of the few companies in the world that has stood with
Sepiax ink the entire time.
Now that Sepiax has been sold, and thus more under the control of one of the consortium
partners, Marabu, I hope this ink can eventually restore itself to serious consideration from the
industry. But it was effectively “hidden” in the booth and although if you knew it was there you
could study it, I bet 80% of the people walking on the aisle had no idea what this printer was
doing there.
One downside of Memjet is that it can only
handle dye inks, which fade rather quickly.
But Epson has moved more into solvent The new HP single-pass printhead technology
printers (away from water-based). Only Canon can handle pigmented ink, which gives it an
has focused primarily on water-based. HP is immediate advantage.
more focused on its line of latex printers.
Xerox had 100% Memjet printers, so their
nicely designed booth was 100% focused on
Memjet technology and Xerox’s experience
with producing the feeding and production
aspects.
The new ink is called MaquaJet, a clever play on words of Marabu and AquaJet.
FESPA 2014 entrance.
Xerox booth.
28
29
Label printers
There may have been some desktop sized Memjet label printers but since this class of printers
was 98% BS for ten years (all talk, all promise, all PR claims), we do not take them seriously
at the moment. I would need to be shown a label printing company who has several such label
printers and is happy with them.
I spoke with one distributor who said he dropped Memjet label printers several years ago
because they were not what they promised to be. However if this technology has improved, I
would be glad to evaluate it.
There was one large label printer in the booth of Triangle INX, the NW140. This used Xaar 1001
printheads. The UV-cured printers branded by Neolt (and made by an Italian engineering firm
owned by Triangle) also use Xaar heads. Otherwise, 98% of the UV-cured printers around the
world no longer use Xaar heads. Everyone uses Konica, Ricoh, Dimatix Spectra, or Seiko. Oce
still holds on to Toshiba Tec. Dilli and Handtop offer Kyocera in one model.
Flatbed cutters
Innovation is what counts. Precision and quality help, but graphic design is also essential. With
flatbed cutters what I always enjoy seeing is the bees and spiders and monsters. Here is a bee
or fly in (I believe) the GCC booth which suggests it is not from a flatbed cutter.
We have separate FLAAR Reports on flatbed cutters and CNC routers.
Xerox booth.
Flatbed cutters were present this year at FESPA 2014.
30
31
Textile Printers
Largest booths, only textile printers: d-gen and MTEX
Pablo Martinez of FLAAR Reports is currently attending ITMA Asia, a giant textile trade show in
Shanghai. So we will have a lot more to say about textiles this summer (plus there will be many
textile printers at APPPEXPO in early July, also in Shanghai).
But there were plenty of textile printers at FESPA, more than any signage expo anywhere in
North America (actually more than all signage expos put together in the USA). Maria Renee
Ayau of FLAAR Reports covers textile printers and textile inks and attended FESPA in Munich
every single day.
The textile world is growing at a rapid pace, this reflects on FESPA by the growing number
of textile printer, textile inks, fabrics, transfer paper, and finishing equipment companies that
exhibited at the show.
A few years back only a couple of companies exhibited a small textile printer in their booths,
and screen-printing companies mainly occupied FESPA Fabric. This year there were only a
few screen-printing companies, about three. Everyone else was doing textiles with wide-format
inkjet (or desktop sized inkjet for T-shirts).
d-gen booth.
Pablo Martinez at Hongsam booth exhibited at ITMA Asia 2014.
32
33
Largest booths, only t-shirt printers: Kornit
Industrial printer brands for textile: MS, Reggiani
MS and Reggiani booth at FESPA 2014.
Kornit booth.
34
35
New textile printers: Fieldstar, FTEX
Surprising appearance: Hollanders, Zimmer
Hollanders booth.
FTEX booth.
Zimmer booth.
36
37
Chinese textile brands: ATEXCO, Homer, Locor
Italian textile brands: ATPColor, La Meccanica, MS,
Reggiani
Atexco booth.
ATPColor booth.
Homer booth.
La Meccanica booth.
38
39
Best textile product: linen-like polyester fabric by
Premier TextilesReggiani
Innovative product: highly stretchable fabric by Endutex
Germany
Endutex booth.
Premier Textiles Reggiani.
40
41
Sublimation onto 3D Objects
With our background in architecture (including interior design) and decades of experience with
archaeology and museums (hence artifacts), we are interested in “3D printers.”
Curiously there were almost zero 3D printers at FESPA 2014. What was 3D was primarily
thermo-formed in the booth of efi VUTEk (we tend to spend more time in the efi VUTEk booth
since we have been to their factory many times and hence know their managers and staff).
When I saw other items which I thought were 3D printers, I was told they were for “3D sublimation.”
I rarely notice such equipment but when SGIA comes around I will look for them. I assume these
machines are for dye sublimation onto 3-dimensional objects.
Expos are good to attend precisely because you always discover something new and a bit
different.
T-Shirt Printers
T-Shirt printers were well represented and so we have a separate FLAAR Report to show every
T-Shirt printer booth, every brand, every model, and every kind of ink and toner.
On the last day of the expo one of the managers of a large T-shirt booth came to introduce
himself (as I was in the aisle near his booth; most of our meetings are precisely when people
come out of their booth to introduce themselves and ask how to have a mention in a FLAAR
Report).
Turned out the company was in Greece, a country I enjoy visiting. I have lectured at several
printer events there a decade ago. As soon as we visit the factory of this company we can write
about the brand name and their specific products.
Kornit printing samples.
Efi booth.
42
43
Printheads in general
The key to improved products, faster speed and more reliability, is what printhead brand and
model you select, and what ink type for this printhead. In other words, printheads and inks are
the foundation of advances in our industry.
Printheads that clog are not a good idea. Printheads that wear out are not always popular due
to replacement costs. And printheads whose price-per-head (and/or price per nozzle) are too
expensive are sometimes priced out of the market.
We enjoyed visiting the Xaar headquarters in Shanghai for two years in a row and also appreciated
the Xaar team taking me to visit printshops throughout China which used their heads.
But today 90% of the printer brands in China use Konica Minolta, Dimatix Spectra, Ricoh, or
Seiko printheads. Only Oce and one or two others use Toshiba Tec. Since Xaar are used mostly
for in-line ceramic printers we have not been brought to any factories (for solvent, UV or other
inks) which use Xaar heads.
As soon as we can inspect the headquarters and demo rooms of another brand, we can add
discussion of that head. But in the meantime, we do keep track of which printer factory uses
which heads.
Being open and honest about what printheads your
printer uses.
It is a traditional game in the industry to hide
the brand and model of the printhead. One
original reason was to keep competitors from
knowing what to copy.
But any and every Chinese manufacturer
already knows what printhead is in every
printer brand and model of every other country.
Another ruse is that “we are not allowed to
identify the printhead.” (rather silly excuse).
Honorable mention is deserved for companies
whose brochures clearly list the brand and
model of the printheads in their machines:
• Handtop (very clearly listed, brand and often the exact model).
• Docan
• DYSS mentions model from which you would know the brand.
• Flora (RTZ)
• VISION TECH, brand (Epson), but not model.
• Plus others which we mention in the special
reports on UV or solvent or textile
There of course are the companies which
claim “we make the printheads too.” The only
companies who make printheads are Fujifilm The following did not list their brand, but
(they own Dimatix Spectra) and Ricoh and immediately provided the brand name when
Epson, HP, and Canon.
we asked:
One company assembles printheads into their • Efi VUTEk
own array and adds sophisticated electronics • Inkcups Now
which indeed makes them better, but the • Plus other brands which we list in specialized
“printhead” itself is from Spectra or Ricoh.
reports
XAAR booth.
44
45
Color Management
It was surprising to see Mimaki launch two new
printers still with Epson printheads. A Mimaki
distributor told me that even as a Mimaki
distributor he had a hard time obtaining DX
heads for older models. Keep in mind that
Epson stated openly and clearly what we were
aware of all along: Epson wants the entire
eco-solvent and dye sublimation market to
itself (just like many years ago it effectively
prohibited Mimaki, Mutoh, and Roland from
continuing in the fine art photography, giclee,
proofing or any other water-based market).
Epson wanted this entire market for itself.
But as Canon water-based printers got better
(and they kept launching newer iterations
as new model numbers), and as HP had
acceptable water-based HP Designjet Z-series
available, the market for photo and giclee
for Epson diminished. Head clogging, lack
of significant speed, and weak backlit were
probably the most discussed potential issues
of Epson printheads of these past generations
(DX 4, DX5 in particular).
So starting a few years ago Epson entered
the eco-solvent market with the GS6000. This
turned out to be a good machine (evidently
manufactured by Mutoh, in Japan). I have
spoken with a print shop in USA who bought
several Epson GS6000 and he really liked
them, so much that he bought a new generation
Epson SureColor eco-solvent printer.
Sadly
these
Made-in-China,
low-bid
“SureColor” printer systems are nowhere
near the mechanical or functional standards
of Mutoh’s factory for Epson Stylus Pro
series (or whatever other factory in Japan
may have been used by Epson in past years,
before Epson jumped entirely to a Chinese
factory).
Most UV-cured printers use Ricoh or Konica
Minolta or Dimatix Spectra printheads. Oce
and one Chinese factory use Toshiba Tec
heads. Efi VUTEk uses Seiko heads. Only
one manufacturer at FESPA was featuring
Xaar printheads in a wide-format printer , the
“Triangle” printers.
These are made by the same Italian factory
which made for NEOLT. But NEOLT printer
division is barely functional any more, so the
Triangle booth was showing the two new
printers with no NEOLT branding whatsoever.
But half the people in the Triangle INX booth
were from Italy.
Barbieri had a booth with a knowledgeable and
hospitable staff. They have many new models
but since our visit to the Barbieri factory and
corporate headquarters was many years ago,
we do not yet have hands-on experience with
their models for 2014.
RIP Software
Efi Fiery was present in their booth along with
VUTEk printers.
Barbieri booth.
Caldera had a large, fully-stagged, and very
busy booth. I also visited the booth of Onyx to
speak with Kevin Murphy, President and CEO
of ONYX Graphics, Inc.
Wasatch tends not to have any booth but the
President, and the key Latin America manager
and European manager were all at the expo.
ErgoSoft, ColorGate, SAI all had booths.
Efi booth.
I noticed only one person from Triangle USA.
Things at this European expo created a very
different kind of booth than in the days of
Ken Kisner (whose family strated Triangle).
Ken Kisner now works elsewhere.
Ergosoft booth.
SAI booth.
46
47
Media, roll-to-roll
MIS Software
We enjoyed visiting dozens of booths of media. Catherine Li of JUTA Technologies were typical
of the hospitality of media booths. Since there were dozens of media booths we have a separate
FLAAR Report dedicated exclusively to printable media and substrates.
With RIP brands, most people in the industry
know who-is-who. With MIS brands there is no
clear-cut leader, in part because the major RIP
companies are trying to build MIS inside their
RIP suite.
Another route is for printer manufacturers to
buy good MIS brands and incorporate them
within both their in-house RIP and their inhouse firmware and OS. Efi has been the most
efficient in buying up other companies.
In the meantime, only a few MIS companies
exhibit independently, and most MIS
companies focus on expos with a lot of offset
printing machines.
Web to Print Software
Optimus booth.
This is an important software tool. I would
estimate that some aspects are built into MIS
and some RIPs have both a bit of MIS and a
bit of Web to Print.
We have lots of experience with RIP software
from the many years of being in charge of the
wide-format printer research facilities at two
different universities. We are now gradually
adding comments on MIS and Web to Print
software (just that most signage expos are
weak in these categories).
Rogler Software booth.
Jutu booth.
48
49
Media & Substrates:
Multi-dimensional
Media & Substrates: Thick,
Rigid
At Chinese expos you see what I designate as
“bubble-wrap media.” A media which attempts
to create a sort of 3D effect with bubble-like
features. But at least you do not get as dizzy or
seasick as you do when looking at a lenticular
print.
Altogether we found about 20 companies
producing thick rigid printable materials.
We divide these into the following generic
categories:
Ironically the best lenticular prints are at
the APPPEXPO trade show in Shanghai.
Otherwise, hardly any lenticular software
or techniques are exhibited at most signage
expos any more.
• Honeycomb sandwich material
• Thick, Aluminum, anodized (Polychromal is a
good example)
• Thick, ACM, ACP
• Thick, Foam
• Thick, Acrylic
Separate FLAAR Reports focus on thick rigid
Vacuum thermo-formed techniques form a printable materials (and other report(s) are on
multi-dimensional shape. You could see this in roll-to-roll media, etc.
several booths, especially of efi VUTEk.
Most thick substrates can be printed on with
UV-cured, but several companies focus on
using other kinds of inks. And for glass and
ceramic times, various formulas of ceramic frit
ink are best.
After-market inks
Of the ink companies at FESPA the ones we
Thanks to the popularity of this FESPA brand know the most are the brands whose factories
here in Western Europe, the increasing we have visited:
precense of Chinese companies is quite
significant; each year can be noticed an • Singapore: Sam Ink, at their factory three times
increase of approximately 10% of these
• Germany: Eckart, at their gigantic factory companies.
about 2 years ago
What we are also noticing is a reciprocal • Miami: STS Inks, at their factory a few months
increase at APPPEXPO of European ago.
companies exhibiting at this show in Shanghai
every July. We have attended this growing When we visit the headquarters of a company
signage, printer, advertising expo for about six then we know more about both their products
years now, so are in a position to comment on and their top managers and executives.
trends in trade shows in different parts of the
We are interested in Eckart after our visit,
world.
but in the meantime both the Singapore and
the Miami company specifically requested
evaluations, so here are the front covers of
what is available so far.
Since Hongsam was at ISA and will be at
APPPEXPO, they did not exhibit at FESPA;
but since we have visited their factory and/
or their headquarters and demo room outside
Shanghai about three times, we show here our
reports on Hongsam.t
There will be FLAAR Reports on the major
international glass expo later this year and on
the giant ceramic tile expo also later this year.
FLAAR Reports covers most applications
for architectural materials since our family
background is in architecture.
Imballaggi Prottetivi booth.
This year Pablo Martinez (FLAAR team
member who observes media trends around
the world) noticed the presence of several
companies that have’t been observed
in previous years; such is the case of
Imballaggi Prottetivi, who presented a quite
interesting honeycomb PP, I want to learn
more about this material and compare their
ecological properties between the honeycomb
paperboard.
Sam Ink booth.
STS ink samples.
50
51
Laminator Tables (ROLLSROLLER and competitors)
Six years ago there was only one major brand of laminator work tables: ROLLSROLLER. Yet
every two years there is another brand; there is even a separate brand from South Africa. And
starting about two years ago Chinese began producing low-bid versions: FeiYang is one of
several. This year at APPPEXPO 2014 in July we will take note on how many Chinese brands
exist..
Several laminator brands were present: mostly
(but not all) made in China. At most perhaps
two coater brands.
Printer companies understandably hope that
the entire print shop budget will be spent on
PRINTERS. So many printer PR releases
claim “NO lamination necessary.”
At FESPA 2014 I noticed the following brands:
BMA Applicator, Bobis, www.bobis.nl, The Netherlands
Sorry, in most cases this is not true. You do still
need lamination.
Coating is different; coating puts a special
effect onto the surface. However coater
manufacturers have not been effective in
presenting their advantages. This is where
a FLAAR Report would make a significant
impact, but until we can visit the corporate
demo room and visit an end-user who has
the equipment, it is not realistic to begin an
evaluation on a brand.
STS ink samples.
Bobis Engineering booth.
52
Bubble-Free Applicator, Huber’s,
53
CUT Work Table, Paperlinx (distributor)
www.hip-shop.de
(distributor); Bubble-FREE Applicator (FESPA 2013), made in Hungary,
www.bubblefree.hu
Bubble-Free booth.
CUT Work Table.
54
ModulMounter, flatbed laminator,
www.modulMounter.dk,
Denmark
55
Rollover,
www.Rollover.no,
so made in Norway
Rollover booth.
ModulMounter booth.
56
ROLLSROLLER,
http://rollsroller.com/,
Sweden
57
The following companies also make or sell flatbed applicators. It is not always easy to tell
whether a company is a manufacturer or just a distributor putting their own brand on the product
of a different factory.
Eastsign, www.eastsign.com, Hongkong
ROLLSROLLER booth.
Eastsign booth.
58
59
Other brands:
Eezy Applicator, Ogwini Engineering, South Africa
EzyRoller (name used by an Australia distributor)
Lamidesk, www.ilatec.de, Germany
Mounter’s Mate,
www.mountersmate.co.uk,
UK
Rapid Applicator, The Netherlands
Graz, Austria would be one place we would like to do an evaluation of a flatbed laminator
for a brand made in Europe. I lived in Graz for eight years while doing my PhD research and
dissertation but I have not been back for over 23 years.
Since there are now about 10 different brands, the best way to learn which is which is to start
by visiting a factory and then doing a site-visit case study (such as in Graz). As soon as we are
flown to a factory we will do our evaluation report.
Plus it will be worth reporting how this technology began in the first place, and spread worldwide
(vis ROLLSROLLER).
Inkjet Applications: Giclee
Inkjet Applications: Fine Art Photography
Printers for Giclee and Fine
Art Photography
Photo books to showcase
your fine art photography
Epson was once king of giclee printers but
clogging printheads and slowness opened
opportunities for HP Designjet and then
Canon iPF printers to gain market share.
The continuing issues with the potentially
problematic Chinese-made Epson SureColor
series will send even more market share to
HP and Canon. The Epson GS6000 was very
popular, but was more for signage than for
giclee. A major print shop who really liked his
Epson GS6000 is one of several sources of
information on the weaknesses, issues, and
deficiencies of the SureColor series.
We at FLAAR enjoy testing printers for A3
and all comparable sizes for coffee-table style
books. This is because FLAAR specializes in
high-resolution digital photography. We started
with Leica and Hasselblad in the 1970’s and
moved to Canon, Nikon, Leaf, and Phase One
for the digital world of today. In the last three
years alone we have 78,000 photographs of
which many are of fine art giclee quality of
Neotropical flowers and utilitarian plants of the
Maya world of Guatemala. You can see these
on our www.maya-ethnobotany.org and www.
maya-ethnozoology.org
Chinese engineers are fully capable, but if you
allow any low-bid component or software into
the system, the overall system is weak. We
hope a third or fourth generation will result in
a fully acceptable quality. But in the meantime
it is worth pointing out that the Epson printers
made in a Mutoh factory seem to function
better than printers made by Epson in China.
The Canon hdbook system consists of the
Canon FlatSpread FS-500 and DreamLabo
5000 printer. We look forward to inspecting
these at Photokina 2014 this autumn in beautiful
Cologne. Here at FESPA 2014 Munich the
Canon booth had the appropriate manager of
this product range plus complete brochures.
We at FLAAR appreciate the hospitality of the
Canon team in their booth at FESPA.
60
61
Scanners for giclee and décor:
Cruse and METIS brands were both at FESPA
Two brands were present at FESPA: but only
Cruse had an actual unit. METIS did not have
any actual equipment. Since we have not
had any METIS to use ourselves, and since
we have ample experience with the Cruse
(plus we know many places which use the
Cruse), unless our own tests of a METIS were
During the years that Dr Hellmuth was a to surprise us, we would tend to recommend
Visiting Research Professor at two universities Cruse technology.
(both simultaneously), we had a Cruse giclee
scanner at BGSU in Ohio. So we have ample Since our current main office is less than
a mile from two different art museums and
experience with this scanner.
their university campus, we would consider
As a result of our experience with this Cruse in launching new evaluations of fine art, décor,
our facilities, many museums, photographers, and cartography, especially since we work
and giclee atliers around the world bought a with Neotropical wood grain (lots of incredible
trees in Guatemala), plus we work with sacred
Cruse reprographic system.
flowers of the Mayan cultures, as well as handBut when FLAAR grew to over 15 employees, woven Mayan textiles.
no university had enough space, so we moved
off-campus. We no longer have any flatbed Since our family background is architecture,
scanner to evaluate, but we have plenty of anything to do with décor is of interest to us.
experience to know the difference between
brands.
The background of FLAAR is in art and
architecture. Hence our core knowledge is
in fine art photography and giclee workflow.
Indeed FLAAR was the second worldwide
evaluator for Better Light tri-linear scanning
systems already in the late 1990’s.
Applications for Wide-Format Inkjet Printers:
Wallcoverings as an example
A printer is a machine. The firmware (internal software) combined with RIP software and color
management software give the machine a brain.
Once you have this system, you need to understand the additional items needed for your
complete workflow: ink choices, media options, spot-varnish, coating or laminating (they are
very different), cutting, etc.
Other crucial decisions are what applications to feature at your print shop, or for your factory to
produce the equipment to handle.
Distributors also decide which applications the will focus on: some do lots of soft signage
(textiles), others stick with traditional vinyl signage. Every city and country has different focus
for their local printing.
We at FLAAR work on all these aspects: equipment, inks, media, software, and applications.
One application which is definitely growing is wall-coverings, either murals or wallpaper. Since
some media has an odor; and as some curing systems roast or melt the material (adding odor)
and as some inks release VOCs or simply a noticeable smell, it helps to fully understand inks,
curing temperatures, and media.
Roland wall covering exhibited at their booth.
62
63
For wallcoverings, to avoid solvent stink and the odor of UV-cured inks, we suggest you look at
the non-solvent ink of Hongsam. This could potentially be considered a kind of resin-based or
almost latex-based ink (but is not a copy of HP latex). Hongsam is one of the companies which
develops their own kind of ink (and they hold several patents).
For wall-covering material, I was frankly surprised to see Xeikon offering this. True, wallpaper
often comes in narrow widths, but since you can print wallpaper in 5-meter widths with a grand
format printer, as an interior decorator I would think twice about a material only half a meter
wide.
Toner Printers & Desktop Printers
Effectively zero toner printers: only perhaps as a toner printer for T-shirts. But no digital offset
presses; no desktop printers. So no iGen printers in the Xerox booth: no desktop or even office
printers in the Xerox booth (and curiously, not a single solitary printer in the Xeikon booth.
Xeikon has great technology; I love their renditions of panorama photographs. Indeed we at
FLAAR like to have Xeikon do print samples of our photos. But I would need to visit their demo
room and visit end-users to see how their wall-covering suite works out in the real world.
But since they had no actual printer in their Xeikon booth, and since there was nothing special
in the booth to draw me inside, I focused on the hundreds of other booths throughout the four
halls of FESPA.
Digital Presses
Effectively zero digital presses. Surely there were some somewhere, but this is not a trade
show for digital presses.
We have been guests of Xerox at their world headquarters circa 2004-2005, and guests of HP
Indigo at their printer and their ink factories (before Drupa 2008).
As soon as we are at another digital press factory and demo room we will add this equipment
to our reports.
Sign Istanbul, Graphics of the Americas (in Miami), and SGI (aka Sign Middle East) we see
more digital presses. This is why we attend an average of a dozen expos per year, every year.
We have staff at the giant ITMA Asia textile expo as I write; FLAAR will have staff at the largest
glass expo in the world (Duesseldorf), the largest ceramic tile expo (in Italy), and the largest
photo equipment and photo printer expo (in Cologne).
So we cover many applications in addition to signage.
XEIKON booth.
64
65
Trade Magazine booths
FespaDaily (sic, not FESPADaily)
3D Printers at FESPA
Issue 1 of the FespaDaily ran a feature article on “The exciting world of 3D printing.” But most
of the “3D printers” actually on exhibit were only to sublimate onto cups or bottles. So these are
not doing any 3D printing, they are only decorating 3D objects which already exist.
There was no significant presence of 3D printers whatsoever. I did not even notice a 3D printer
in the Agfa booth (in their combined AGFA-PITMAN booth at US expos they show a 3D printer).
And to repeat, most “3d printers” are not printing, they are laying down melted plastics. There
are actual 3D printers, using either HP, Canon, or Ricoh printheads. But I do not believe that
any of these were at FESPA 2014.
We cover 3D scanning on our web site:
www.3d-scanners-3d-software-reviews.org
PrintWeek had a really large booth filled
with people (all in a closed room, but with
glass windows). Their text was fully bilingual:
Deutsch and English. I read the Issue 1, 2, and
3 but never saw an Issue 4. When I left the
expo the fourth day at 4 pm, it was still Issue 3
in the help-yourself bins.
Trade magazines help by bringing product
launch info. Repeating PR releases on new
products is the standard practice. However
several trade magazines such as SIP provide
research statistics and articles.
We show here snapshots of several of the
many trade magazine booths. Normally the
booths are empty of people since they are at
press conferences or other meetings.
Digital Teknik Magazine.
Plus our notes for 3D printers at FESPA we have added to our web site
www.wide-format-printers.org
(look for the link at the left to 3D printers).
Global Signs/ SM Media.
66
67
My favorite trade magazines at FESPA
SIP did not have a booth and there were no SIP
magazines in the bins the day before the expo
opened, so I have no recent issue. Same with
most Spanish magazines: hardly any were in
the bin at the main entrance to the expo the
day before the show opened.
I did not see any issues of GD Pro, nor did
I see Editor Michael Lyons. I was not able to
find their web site either. Also I did not notice
ISM International Sign Magazine.
The most impressive printer trade magazine
from the UK was SignLink.
And most Italian magazines were missing
(though about two were present). So I can’t
compare or find my favorite Italian or Spanish
trade magazine. PUBLISH of Russia did not
have a booth but this is definitely my preferred
magazine for Russia.
Distributors
Not many expo booths; VISCOM Germany I
noticed, and KOSIGN tends to be present with
a Korean trade magazine at most major expos.
But otherwise not many expo booths. However
some I may simply have not noticed since I
was looking primarily for printer equipment.
We have separate FLAAR Reports on
Distributors of different countries. However
FESPA is mainly an expo for manufacturers
more than distributors. But some distributors
were present.
The VISCOM Germany booth had a pleasant
reciptionist but a typical expo problem: she
was hired only for the expo and had zero
background in trade shows or printer or
signage industry reality.
LED Signage
Bazil Cassim of IEC, expo organizers of SGI
and also DEAL in Dubai, was busy every day
at FESPA 2014.
IndPrint was great because it clearly and
precisely defines industrial printing. This was
the first time I have seen this magazine (and
only a 2013 issue; not (yet?) any 2014 issue.
ME Printer magazine is my favorite for the
Middle East part of the world. Head editor Alex
Jahanbani was present day after day, as were
several of the guest writers for this magazine.
Tough to describe the total lack of LED
and LCD dynamic digital signage exhibits.
APPPEXPO in Shanghai has more than two
ENTIRE HALLS with traditional signage, and
the equivalent of one hall of LED and LCD
dynamic digital signage.
I can understand the lack of dynamic digital
signage in a screen printing expo, but even
SGI in Dubai had more digital signage than
this May expo in Munich.
Traditional Signage
(Channel letters, etc)
Practical Publishing is a great magazine for
South Africa. Dyelan Copeland was at the
expo. At other expos I see Charnia Yapp of
this magazine. FLAAR writes articles almost
every two or three months for them.
Lots of magazines from Turkey, but I did not
notice any writer from SignGraphic whatsoever,
nor did I see any of their magazines anywhere.
But Dijital teknik had a hospitable and friendly
booth and their key people were at the expo.
I also saw Dijital teknik at Sign Istanbul each
year.
Expo organizer Booths
EuroSign is a good try, but since there are
special expos for traditional signage in China, it
is understandable why the area and coverage
at FESPA in Germany is modest. But this year
EuroSign was better integrated (into the textile
hall so to speak). The modest size is less
noticeable when it is merged.
X-media trade magazine.
68
69
Venue: Munchen expo center
Attendence in General
Attendence seemed great the first three days, and even good the morning of the last day. By
noon the last day attendance was down, as is typical of most signage and printer expos around
the world.
But the booth personnel of efi VUTEk, Sam Ink and other companies said they had lots of
visitors. I would rate this FESPA as by far more popular than the one
Direct U-Bahn connection to main train station,
so access is easy, however it’s a looong ride.
Weather was great first day; unexpectedly
hot second day. Warm the third day; more
agreeable temperature the last day (if my
memory serves me).
Main entry to the halls. Note that every year
there is less billboard sized WELCOME signs.
Same is true at expos in USA: hardly any more
WELCOME signage. A decade ago the entire
Las Vegas Convention Center would be a
giant series of immense signs. But at the last
expo there nothing was even visible from the
road directly in front of the expo.
Comparing Munich
compared with other cities
as venue for FESPA
I like Amsterdam; Cologne is great. Hamburg
was okay. Dueseldorf is overpriced and we
see enough of that with Drupa to last the next
four years.
London was even more overpriced than
Duesseldorf and distant expo center was
too far from Heathrow airport (took too many
different trains; Munich airport required one
train to hotel and one to expo center).
Geneva, Switzerland was okay. Barcelona
was okay as a venue. Paris is too complicated
to get around.
FESPA 2014.
Messe Munchen International
70
71
Venue: Munchen vs Hamburg vs Duesseldorf vs
Berlin vs Koln
Duesseldorf is a friendly city with a nice
historical section. But not enough hotels near
Messe area and in general all hotels grossly
overpriced during a trade show week. No
economical hotels anywhere near the venue.
Duesseldorf gouges everyone around the
world during Drupa every four years, so not
always a popular destination unless you have
an unlimited corporate expense account.
This was a great expo and we encourage
people to exhibit and attend FESPA Digital
every year. But it is not a public service to
pretend that everything is perfect. Actually it
is a courtesy to point out the few things that
hopefully can be improved for FESPA 2015 in
Cologne:
Entry turnstyles seemingly did not function
whatsoever. You had to be scanned manually
by a human. Not a good ad for local
organizational capability; a waste of human
resources, a waste of time waiting for one or
two people scanning your badge when there
are 20 turnstyles locked down.
Exhibitors the day before said only one person It was stated that the expo center charged
was attending the llllooong line to get exhibitor XY-thousand dollars to access their turnstyle
badges.
system. Typical reason why trade shows are
either gradually less popular or often (as with
Lack of PR at airport (whether a FESPA VISCOM Madrid) failing.
welcome area and welcome signage was
installed the days of the event I do not know, The badges has no plastic encapsulation
since we need to arrive several days early system (probably cheaper this way). Downside
to prepare for an event as large as FESPA was that if you had anything nearby it would
Digital).
scrape off the text so no booth person could
Berlin has lots of museums, lots of history: I
was in East Berlin the day the Berlin Wall was
broken down, indeed it was easier to drive
through the broken wall than try to handle the
over 5 kilometer line of East Germans trying to
flee through the main highway.
Lack of complimentary airport transportation
(no shuttles which were complimentary; the
airport is actually quite far away). A wimpy
discount simply reminds everyone how
overpriced the city is.
Hamburg has centuries of history as a trading
port, but not really the allure of Munich or
Cologne.
Cologne is a popular destination. I lived in
Germany for 9 years, so have been in Cologne
often. There are a few reasonably priced hotels
and if you don’t mind a kilometer hike, you
can even walk to the expo center. However
the expo center since the last several years
has changed dramatically as all the historical
buildings along the front of the former expo
center have been bought by another (nonexhibit) company. So the expo halls are
far behind, making the hike an even better
exercise opportunity.
Berlin and Duesseldorf probably have more
direct flights. Not sure Cologne has any or
many direct flights from any countries outside
Western Europe: you would need to fly through
Frankfurt.
Issues to resolve
scan-your-badge.
I did not notice any free shuttle bus to any
hotel (the Ramada and H2 hotels were within
hiking distance, so no bus needed). And yes,
there is excellent Underground and S-Bahn
systems in every German city. But ten years
ago the expo organizers would have wrangled
a deal with the local city to provide a free pass
for attendees and exhibitors: after all, we are
all bringing lots of profit to the local city by
attending FESPA.
Lack of U-Bahn or S-Bahn tickets or even
discount. 10 years ago most European trade
shows wrangled totally free transportation for
all attendees. After all, we of the Press are
writing about the expo (in theory encouraging
people to visit the city). The least the city
could consider would be local Metro and Tram One company not exhibiting reportedly had a
tickets.
sign pointing to a bus to lead to an event offsite.
I did not see this, but heard about it. The same
Total lack of aisle names. This made finding company did this at an earlier FESPA several
booths time-wasting, especially since there years back: invited people to visit their facilities
were the following two noticeable lacks:
by bus; this company did not have a booth at
• Total lack of booth maps at side doors
FESPA.
• Total lack of booth location maps at major cross-aisles
Messe Munchen International
72
73
Nice features
Helpful map
Cell phone usage varied from difficult to impossible; but occasionally a call did go through. I find
that about 50% of large expo halls have inadequate cell phone adequacy: in other words, most
calls simply don’t go anywhere.
Except that with no A to Z aisle system, and
no 100 to 1000 aisle system, booths required
using the map the entire time).
Too many booths took down their exhibits early on the last day. This is not fair to attendees
(and wastes the investment of the exhibitor also). It is the habit in Guangzhou and elsewhere
for exhibitors to remove their exhibits as early as 10 am on the last day; 50% of the exhibits are
being removed by noon; and by 2 pm there is nothing left to see anywhere (other than major
international brands who are trained to keep their booths open until official closing time).
Nice catalog is at no cost
A full exhibitor catalog is available to all
attendees at no cost. My compliments to
FESPA organizers. Also a nice floor plan map
was available. But it helps to have the list A to
Z and not by booth numbers!
And would be even easier to navigate if there
were aisles A, B, C, or aisles 100, 200, 300
etc. Spalttered numbers suggests that the
lists were not complete in time to print (or print
them later so that there are fewer changes).
At expos in Russia and some in China, they
charge too much $$ or €€. Frankly expos need
high attendee figures, so should be happy that
anyone comes at all.
Nice Press room
Many booths took down their exhibits early
Several expos elsewhere have either wimpy
Press Room or none at all. Drupa has nice
Press Room, as does Graphics of the Americas
in Miami and Graph Expo in Chicago.
FESPA 2014.
74
75
BENEFITS of an international expo compared with
local expo
Great meals in Press Room
This is definitely appreciated. Graphics of the
Americas in USA also offers yummy lunches
and even breakfast.
Local and regional expos such as Sign Digital UK are helpful because you can meet the local
distributors.
Friendly aspects of FESPA
FESPA has the benefit of more manufacturers and more brands.
Sadly Drupa is so overpriced that it no longer offers the benefits of an international expo: not
enough brands exhibit here. And, since FESPA is a month or so in front of Drupa, you can see
most of what you need at FESPA 2016 in a more comfortable venue.
Free WiFi was a great idea, but it did not seem
to function for people with cell phones from
outside EU.
We hope Drupa can literally reoganize and literally understand wide-format inkjet and everything
else about inkjet (wide or narrow). But when we have asked a Drupa person about anything we
were abruptly told that “Heidelberg needs 14 days so the expo is 14 days.”
Almost no screen printers
whatsoever
Well Heidelberg is not a major force any more and if you wish an ossified expo with ossified
brands, then people will stay away.
If the purpose of Drupa is to fill the hotels of Dusseldorf and bring profit to everyone in Dusseldorf,
they are devouring their own potential every year that they don’t re-think, from the ground up.
But if all board members are from the City of Duesseldorf, or from the era of offset and flexo
printing, they will follow the path of all four VISCOM expos (which even through supposedly
wide-format, they all four did not enough to the point that they let FESPA win the EU marketplace.
This is a compliment. Lack of screen printing
equipment meant less awful odor. Any client
who needs a new screen printing machine
hopefully already knows where to find one.
Ironically SGIA still has a large screen printer
section.
I have a high respect for the screen printing
industry, but the world is moving to digital, so
technology expos correctly focus on what’s
new.
Messe Munchen International
It is nice that FESPA provides booth
opportunities even for competitors: VISCOM
Germany had a booth: though the booth rep
was not knowledgeable about VISCOM or
anything about the industry; she was simply a
person to smile and hand out brochures. Yes,
there were two actual VISCOM people in the
booth, but often they were not present.
In general FESPA 2014 was well organized
and well attended.
FESPA has the benefit of more manufacturers and more brands.
76
77
Essentially everyone speaks English
In Europe most people are tri-lingual or at least bi-lingual. So even though we at FLAAR are all
bi-lingual (and tri-lingual) we find FESPA Europe a great place for being easy to be understood.
Several other expos had only their local language; not even English and not even Spanish.
There are 21 Mayan languages in the tiny country of Guatemala (plus Spanish, Xinca and
Garifuna), so we at FLAAR are used to multiple languages.
But at an international expo, the de-facto business language is English. Even in most Chinese
signage expos 80% of the booth personnel speak English. I estimate that about 90% at FESPA
booths spoke English.
Comparing ISA with SGIA with Graph Expo
FESPA was twice the size of any expo in USA. Considering the size of USA, plus Canada plus
Mexico, and Caribbean Islands and Latin America, you can see how FESPA is doing something
to get such good size.
Shanghai expo in July is about 300% larger in size and has twice to three times more brands of
wide-format printers; of inks; and especially of media and cutters. The Shanghai expo is about
500% larger for traditional signage.
Nonetheless FESPA was a healthy size and we at FLAAR recommend FESPA in Europe (and
FESPA Mexico). As soon as the dates of FESPA Africa are no longer the exact precise same
days as APPPEXPO in July 2014, we will definitely return to this nice event in Johannesburg.
We also like Sign Istanbul and SGI (aka Sign Middle East), plus find Glass expos and ceramic
tile expos and textile expos important to attend.
FESPA team members were of great help.
FESPA was twice the size of any expo in USA.
78
79
What does FLAAR do at an Expo?
FLAAR is an educational and research institute. We study, we learn, and we bring information
to print shop owners, distributors and manufacturers (plus to the interested lay public).
Since there are already plenty of trade magazines, we do not attempt to replace any of them.
FLAAR is very different, which is why we have over half a million readers around the world each
year.
Grace Morales taking notes in the efi VUTEk booth.
Nicholas with the editor of a popular printer trade magazine in Africa. We also visited with
Dyelon, the editor of Practical Publishing in South Africa.
Maria Renee Ayau taking notes about a UV-cured printer but which uses a variant of a “sticky
belt” more commonly used on a textile printer
80
81
We also study why some companies do not succeed
Press Conferences and Evening Events
I have always been curious of why some companies keep improving and keep gaining market
share (efi VUTEk is an excellent example for the recent five years).
Here are snapshots from the nice Durst evening event. Several years ago this was at the
Audi factory. This year it was at the BMW factory. Durst makes a quality product and definitely
organized a quality excursion for the Press.
I am even more curious of why some companies fail: SigmaJet (formerly GRAPO) is one
example
The rise and fading of Sun Innovations in Russia is definitey worth a thesis in an MBA program;
same for L&P Digital Technology through WP Digital into Polytype.
Neolt is a good case study; years ago their booth would have been a major size. Yet now their
booth was half the size of a minimal booth. Not a single Neolt printer was at the expo (though
two printers from the same factory, but with no Neolt branding whatsoever, were in the Triangle
INX booth). The only place I have seen a Neolt UV-cured printer is in China; the distributor there
seems to have a final machine they have been trying to sell for several years.
The only press event we attend are those of efi VUTEk, since there is simply not time to attend
all the others. We also attend the Dilli evening event at ISA or SGIA once a year. We enjoy the
hospitality and friendship of the Dilli team.
The efi VUTEk lunch period event was educational and all four of us attended. The team at
VUTEk is knowledgeable and hospitable and we are in their booth taking notes at least once
every day.
We also appreciate the evening dinner with Mr Sam of Sam Ink.
The renamed Neolt web site shows two printers for sale, but they are not exhibited at major
expos: zero in ISA sign expo for example.
FLAAR Staff at Durst evening event.
Efi booth at FESPA 2014.
82
83
Closing Observations
This was clearly a very successful expo. Attendance was excellent first three days, and morning
of the final day. But there are several things which could be done to raise attendance dramatically.
Closing images
This Chinese booth deserves recognition for innovation, and for humor. Since FLAAR does
cartoon characters, we enjoy the cute crying faces in these hand-made signs.
Since I attend expos around the world for 15 years, I can note which countries have major
numbers of people here. For example, Slovenia and Croatia were well represented: many
came up to introduce themselves, or if we already knew each other, to say hello.
But there were several world areas where FLAAR Reports are popular and people in these
world areas indicate to us that they tend to attend those expos which FLAAR announces far
in advance. However we have no booth nor any association with FESPA and there for 2015
there will be two giant exps in the months immediately before FESPA. So despite the frankly
wonderful venue of Cologne, the year 2015 will have the most struggle among expos for the
periods January through May.
Autumn schedules will be normal: no major earthquakes or Tsumanis here. Even summer of
2015 will be relatively peaceful. Hopefully in 2015 we can return to recommending FESPA Africa
now that hopefully the 2015 dates will not be the precise same days as APPPEXPO 2015. And
FESPA Mexico is always an event we have respected (though we have no booth; we attended
two early years when FESPA provided airfare, since Guatemala is only one short hop away).
Focused FLAAR Reports
Here are the front covers of all our other FLAAR Reports on this nice FESPA Digital 2014 event
in Munich.
Pride to be at FESPA
Occasionally booth managers come out into the aisle to ask if FLAAR can include their booth
in our report. Since an individual PDF can’t function as an attachment if over 4.9 MB, it is
simply not possible to show 300 booths (or even 100). So we tend to showcase the booths of
companies we know best because we have personal experience at their factory or their world
headquarters. For example, I have been to the factory of efi VUTEk several times, to the factory
of Durst five times in Brixen and four times in Lienz.
The booth manager came out to ask to be included, and since I could see from his booth
how much hard work he had invested in his company brands and his booth, as a courtesy we
added him to this report. However we regret that due to file size it is not possible to include
photographs of more booths.
84
This report has not been licensed to any printer manufacturer, distributor, dealer, sales rep, RIP
company, media or ink company to distribute. So if you obtained this from any company, other than
FLAAR itself, you have a pirated copy.
Also, since some reports are occasionally updated, if you got your version from somewhere else, it
may be an obsolete edition. FLAAR reports are being updated all year long, and our comment on
that product may have been revised positively or negatively as we learned more about the product
form end users.
PLEASE NOTE
To obtain a legitimate copy, which you know is the complete report with nothing erased or changed,
and hence a report with all the original description of pros and cons, please obtain your original and
full report straight from www.large-format-printers.org or other web sites in our network such
as www.wide-format-printers.net.
Your only assurance that you have a complete and authentic evaluation which describes all aspects
of the product under consideration, benefits as well as deficiencies, is to obtain these reports directly
from FLAAR, via the various sites in our network.
FLAAR_Reports
Nicholas Hellmuth
Free Subscription