Morten Reitoft and Shlomo Nimrodi discuss preparations and expectations for Drupa 2024. Nimrodi, who recently traveled from Seattle to New York, emphasizes balancing daily business operations with Drupa preparations. He notes that his recent US trip involves meeting with the sales team and potential clients, some of whom plan to attend Drupa, to finalize deals. Nimrodi reflects on the changes in Highcon's team since the last Drupa in 2016, highlighting the positive impact of new team members and their energy. He describes Highcon's strategic pivot towards industrial-scale packaging for corrugated and folding cartons, moving away from more niche markets. This shift aims to mainstream digital die-cutting and meet the market's needs more effectively. At Drupa, Highcon will showcase significant improvements, including a 50% increase in productivity through technological advancements and process changes. They will introduce the Beam 3, the Beam Writer (an offline device for faster job setup), and upgraded versions of their existing equipment. Highcon will focus on customer applications and their products' substantial productivity and efficiency gains. Nimrodi discusses the importance of customer feedback and involvement in product development, particularly with the new Vulcan model. This collaborative approach ensures that Highcon's innovations align with market needs and helps mitigate risks. He also highlights the success of the Beam Writer, which allows customers to increase productivity without the need for additional machines, offering a cost-effective solution. The conversation ends with Reitoft thanking Nimrodi for his participation and expressing mutual appreciation for their ongoing collaboration. Nimrodi acknowledges the value of Reitoft's contributions to the industry and looks forward to seeing him at Drupa.

A week before our visit to Highcon in Israel, CEO Shlomo Nimrodi attended the official PreDrupa. He told us that it was on the same day as his injury 46 years ago—evidence that war is almost a constant in Israel. How much does that influence a company, how they recruit, how they develop go-to-market strategies, and more? We asked difficult questions to the CEO, and as usual, Shlomo Nimrodi openly answered—a must-see interview!

In this LONG (45 minutes) conversation between CEO Shlomo Nimrodi and Editor Morten B. Reitoft, you'll learn about Nimrodi's background, his visions, and how he believes Reitoft was wrong in his evaluation of what is needed for a successful Highcon. We talk about the IPO, the cash burn rate, and how Nimrodi sees the future of Highcon. It is a super personal, open, and honest conversation that we are certain you will enjoy!

What a day. The Bangalore-based printing company Imprint TechnoPack is now officially the first FOGRA-certified printing company in India, and in this interview that takes place minutes after the signing at FOGRA's booth, Managing Director Shekar Balarishna explains why they chose to join FOGRA but even more important what it means to the company serving customers from abroad in India. India continues to be one of the strongest growing economies, and many Western companies are looking for opportunities - here is India's first FOGRA-certified printing company. A warm congratulations and best wishes from team INKISH.

Congratulations to Shawn Sundquist for his drupa-acquisition :-)

One of Drupa's more interesting product launches was Fujifilm's new ink, Aquafuze. Eight years ago, Fujifilm started developing a new ink that combines water-based ink with UV, enabling solvent-free technology. Shaun Holdom explains in the interview that it will offer a dry print when it hits the surface, enabling faster speeds and high quality. The technology is now developed for large-format printing but is expected to be used with other presses at some point! Super interesting!  

Got bottlenecks? Hiring more personnel? Building tech solutions vs. buying? There is a hidden cost associated with these, but end-to-end automation could help. Learn how to calculate these costs and then learn how end-to-end workflow automation could help your business.

In this "Over the Skype" session, we spoke with Sergio Castro, Country Manager of Agfa Mexico. In this episode, we talked about Sergio's beginnings in the industry, the services that the company has offered their clients during the pandemic, as well as the evolution of the industry towards new markets that have proven essential, as well as the potential of e commerce. En esta sesión "Over the Skype", hablamos con Sergio Castro, Director General de Agfa México. En este episodio, hablamos sobre los inicios de Sergio en la industria, los servicios que ha ofrecido la empresa a sus clientes durante la contingencia, así como la evolución de la industria hacia nuevos mercados que han demostrado ser esenciales, así como el potencial del comercio electrónico.

Interview in Dutch - subtitles in English. Igepa heeft op Drupa 2024 geen eigen beursstand, maar is samen met enkele partners op diverse locaties op de beurs vertegenwoordigd. Hun mensen zijn echter alomtegenwoordig, inclusief Serge de Crits uiteraard. We nemen hem even apart en hebben een gesprek over het belang en de kracht van de groothandel. De dagen dat ze enkel papierboer waren liggen al ver achter hen, ze hebben zich ontwikkeld tot een belangrijke partner en industriële aanbieder. -- EN -- Igepa does not have its own exhibition stand at Drupa 2024, but is represented at various locations at the exhibition together with a number of partners. However, their people are omnipresent, including Serge de Crits of course. We take him aside and have a conversation about the importance and power of wholesale. The days when they were just paper guys are long behind them, they have developed into an important partner and industrial supplier.

Serge gives us an overview of DURST’s software solution ecosystem, one of the best-kept secrets in print technology. From analytics to workflow to creative design to proofing options to eCommerce the goals of a more efficient production process, just about every pain point shop experiences can be addressed.

Head of Sales Ali Eranpurwala from Seiko talks with Jacques Michiels from INKISH.BENELUX about how they showcase their inkjet printheads, but, of course, also about the increasing demand.

We at INKISH, fully support Printing United, and we believe it's important that the entire industry back this event up. INKISH will cover the show extensively both with our upcoming INKISH.NEWS channel, as well with INKISH.TV. Daily INKISH will broadcast 'The Lunch-Break Hour" live show from 11 am to 1 pm. We will spice-up the show with interviews, demos, live-coverage from the show floor and on October 23rd even the Girlie Award 2019 ceremony. Who will be the winner in 2019? Well, tune into www.inkish.tv or facebook.com/inkishtv. If you are interested in joining us for our show, feel free to reach out to me at mre@inkish.tv.

As production moves from conventional offset to digital print the need for binding equipment that matches the qualities known is in demand. Italian vendor Meccanotecnica deliver solutions for both digital and offset. At Hunkeler Innovationdays 2019 in Luzerne, we got the chance to talk to Marketing Manager Stefano Formentini from Meccanotecnica. The solution they showed at the event consisted of an unwinder and a cutter from Hunkeler combined with Meccanotecnica's Universe Web solution that sections the cut sheets into a signature and delivers these for further processing. The quality is superior and the applications seamless. Watch, Like, and Share.

Sebastian Stange works in the fantastic Koenig & Bauer demo center in Radebeul and was part of the panel with Sabine Geldermann (drupa), Stéphane Royère (KURZ), and Tim Sterbak (IST Metz) talking about one year to drupa among other things. Interesting chat with Sebastian Stange, and as always interesting to hear what's up with Koenig & Bauer!

In this interview, Sean Springett, CEO of manroland sheetfed USA & Canada, talks about growth for manroland and how their new Evolution series fit into packaging and general commercial print. Good to learn from!

Data and access to the same are today more essential ever. Fortunately, companies like Smithers, and people like Sean Smyth work every day collecting the needed data from an incredible number of sources. In this (long), but VERY exciting Over the Skype, Sean Smyths share his view on the importance of data and why the data is needed. As with all our 'Over the Skype' interviews, quality is limited to bandwidth, web-cams, and ability to literally LIVE mix the conversations. However, it works, and with Over the Skype, we will bring you more than 20 exciting people, and angles on the industry as it is right now. Enjoy!

One of the more exciting companies we have met is for sure Hamillroad Software from the UK. We have mentioned the company on several occasions on INKISH. In this film, we talk to Owner & CEO Andy Cave about their amazing screening technology. The technology is called DMS - short for Digitally Modulated Screening, and no - it's not AM, FM, Stochastic, or anything you know. The most amazing thing about DMS is that the quality is stunning; at the same time, printers can save ink. Watch, Like, and Share this film - we LIKE it a lot

Screen is one of the leading inkjet press companies and at Argos Inspiration Days 2018 in Brussels you'll have a chance to talk with them about their SC-ink promising Inkjet INK for Offset Stock - without pre- or post-coating - quite interesting. Sign up for www.argosinspirationdays.com

Tobias Kaase is the CEO of MediaPrint in Germany. The print division is part of a publishing group but serves all types of customers - of course. In this film, which was part of our Learn With Us Inkjet event, Kaase explains why they chose to invest in Screen inkjet. As usual - enjoy!

At the CERM booth, many panel debates took place. Unfortunately, we could only cover a few, and one of them was with Dennis Ebeltoft from Springfield. In that same session, Stuart Morrison from Screen Europe attended and talked about how Screen has also developed interfacing to solutions like ABG and, in this case, CERM. With its 350UV, Screen has become a well-known and well-used inkjet solution in the label industry, and when you hear about the collaborations, it only seems natural. Dig in!

Featuring the Screen Truepress Jet520HD+, serving the commercial print markets. Truepress uses the new ink SC+ in the shown configuration to enable high-quality commercial printing on offset-coated papers. Also present is the “new to be” packaging-focused Truepress PAC 520P high-speed, water-based inkjet system for paper packaging substrates. It is located a bit more hidden in the back of the booth but was elegantly brought to our attention by Hiromi Kitagawa for us to see. It’s not out yet and still under development, but we got a chance to see it up close & personal, and now so do you. The Truepress PAC 520P is coming to fruition, and it uses Screen’s new Truepress ink NP, specialized pigment inks that comply with appropriate food-safety guidelines and regulations for paper packaging. The PAC 520P will be introduced to the market later this year.

LinkedIn Profiles: Scott Mackie https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamscottmackie/ Nick Benkovich https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-benkovich/

Scott Mackie has a vast background in the industry and is today part of Fujifilm's global development team. Fujifilm at drupa is one of the companies with the broadest portfolio of technologies and products and strives to be number one. It was super enjoyable to listen to Scott Mackie, and I recommend listening to some of the product specialists we also spoke with during our Fujifilm visit!

Nigel Tracey discusses digital enhancement developments, value and ROI of the Scodix Ultra 1000’s Series of B1 and B2 Presses.