Building a machine like the AGFA SpeedSet 1060 requires a lot of people - and here we got a chance to talk to Michael Prosser. In the interview, he explains his role and how the team works together.

Matt Brooks is the head of AGFA's Digital Packaging Solutions division, and for years, he and his team have been working on the SpeedSet 1060. An amazing technology. In this interview, you will get an overview of the development of the market, and in our Walkthrough, you will learn more about how the machine works and what makes it special - watch both of them!

Jeff Wettersten works as an analyst with Keypoint Intelligence and gave his analysis on the packaging market - and was very direct that the AGFA SpeedSet 1060 is nothing but a gamechanger about the market needs now, but even more important in the future - Speed, Quality, and no need for changeovers are important KPI's of the new machine - Editor Morten B. Reitoft got a chance to talk to him after his presentation!

Francesco Sorrentino sells AGFA solutions in the southern part of Italy with success. As we speak with him at the Unboxing event in Cambridge, he proudly shows two installations taking place as we speak. He is a strong believer in AGFA and expresses that the SpeedSet 1060 will be a super product to sell - also in Italy. Enjoy! LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-sorrentino-b4b75152/

Barry Joyce from Simpson Group decided to join the Unboxing event in Cambridge because the SpeedSet 1060 might be interesting for Simpson Group. However, the company currently works mostly in the Large Format segment - SpeedSet 1060 runs up to 2 mm thick material, but also down to very thin substrates, potentially enabling customers to produce a very broad range of applications. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjoyce23/

Super interesting interview with Arnaud Calleja from AGFA. As you may recall, AGFA changed strategy a couple of years ago, sold off its offset division (now ECO3), and turned towards an entirely digital strategy - still combined with other business units within chemical, medical, radiology, green hydrogen, and other super interesting areas - in this interview with VP of Digital Printing Solutions Arnaud Calleja, Editor Morten B. Reitoft a chance to understand more about how AGFA is changing. We are sure you will like it :-)

An article published on INKISH.NEWS about an extended collaboration between Horizon International and Ultimate TechnoGraphics got our attention, and we reached out to both parties to hear more. Here is the first (of two) where CEO Julie Watson, Ultimate TechnoGraphics, explains that Horizon and Ultimate TechnoGraphics have worked together for a long time - and without saying anything specific, the new collaboration could mean tighter integration and new products released. We are excited, and though not specific - enjoy this interview with Julie Watson!

In French with English subtitles. From several hours to sometimes a few minutes. It is 2023, but large PDF files received by some mailing or VDP (variable data printing) customers often still show anomalies in the weight of metadata, irrelevant to printing. So what to do? Do we wait or find other solutions to speed up the process? Julie tells us more. Enjoy! De plusieurs heures à parfois quelques minutes. On est bien 2023 mais de grands fichiers PDF reçu par certains clients du mailing ou du VDP (variable data printing) montrent souvent encore des anomalies au niveau du poids des données méta, irrelevant à l'impression. Alors que faire ? On attend, ou on trouve d'autres solutions pour accélérer les processus? Julie nous en dit plus. Enjoy!

How can you explain software that you can hardly see? In this case, we have told a story about a successful company based in Groningen, in the North West of The Netherlands. Ziga Kovac and Editor Morten B. Reitoft arrive at the company Chris Russel and quickly realize that the company operates with several names - to serve different markets. This film focuses on Fotofabriek.nl, which delivers photo-related products, as the name indicates. Fotofabriek produces over 6,000 products daily; most orders are shipped out the same day. On top of that, all productions are filmed so the customer can follow the production process - the users share these films and generate further interest for Fotofabriek.nl, which adds up to a total of more than 2 million videos a year. Can you imagine managing imposition, planning, binding, and logistics without software? Totally impossible, and that's where workflow/automation comes in place. All printing companies have workflow software, often delivered with your hardware. With Fotofabriek, this is the same, but a strategy of streamlining the workflow will minimize or even eliminate other workflow solutions and focus all into Impostrip/Bindery is what's in plan - and when we visit Fotofabriek.nl, we hear for the first time how the new scalable solution in Impostrip allow the company to scale processing power and nesting engines based on needs. This is SUPER cool and very valuable as Scalable allows any company to adjust to workload instantly! Here is also the link to the 'testimonial' we did for Ultimate TechnoGraphics, where Chris de Jonge explains how Ultimate TechnoGraphics is being used to solve all of the above challenges! Stephan de Vries https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-de-vries-52098142/ Chris De Jonge https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-de-jonge-b5b30a257/

In a suburb close to Toronto, INKISH visit Marketing Kitchen. When entering the premises, we soon realize that Marketing Kitchen produces great products and that the company has a great sense of humor. Funny posters with employees keep you smiling and well - just nice! Marketing Kitchen is a Direct mail/marketing company helping its customers send out marketing and communications. Creative solutions are developed together with the design/marketing companies ordering from Marketing Kitchen. Marketing Kitchen is a full production site with both b&w printers and their Konica-Minolta KM1, which both Audre Jamieson and her operators are very satisfied with. We are at Marketing Kitchen as the company uses Ultimate Technographics Impostrip. Marketing Kitchen uses Impostrip for automating many of their repetitive jobs, but what has made a huge financial impact for the company is how Impostrip helps Marketing Kitchen to utilize the B2 format better on the KM-1. Great company, and many great and innovative ideas!

In this session, we talk to Ulrich Stetter, who is the Geschäftsführer/Managing Director of Schleunungsdruck - one of the largest printing companies in Europe. In this conversation, we will have the opportunity to learn when it's time to scale - both up and down- which KPI's Stetter believes are important in operating a successful printing company. Learn! Ulrich Stetter recently became President of Intergraf! LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulrich-stetter-72227a1/

The Komori organization is expanding its local presence in Europe and beyond! We got the chance to talk to the 2 architects of this extended collaboration and meet with Ulrich Sause from Komori and Christian Baumann from the Heinrich Baumann Graf. Gruppe. While being transparent and open in their answers, we learn about their bold strategy, which also includes putting new and good people on site. In the case of Germany, this also includes a new Competence center. Great conversation, enjoy!

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 Ulf Sunnberg from Sweden. We have to put this first - Ulf Sunnberg is our new Country Director of INKISH Sweden, and we are so happy that Ulf, Magnus, Ola, and Anders have decided to join forces with us for the Swedish, and Norwegian market. But Ulf has an extensive background as a consultant, as the founder of the Grafkom network, and very active in Workflow Summit and PrintNext in Sweden - and now also with INKISH Sweden. Thank you, guys! Enjoy!

This is Morten from Inkish. It's my last night in Ukraine after four intense days. There weren't many direct threats, but the experience was unique. Crossing from Poland to Ukraine, I had little idea what to expect. My friends here assured me it was safe, and I trusted them. This mission felt important personally and for INKISH to tell crucial stories supporting our industry and democracy. Books have historically represented knowledge and free speech. They are one of many information sources today, but their role remains vital. When Martijn from Cloudprinter.com told me about the bombing of Faktor Druk in Kharkiv, I realized the gravity. This attack by Russia on a printing company producing schoolbooks was an attempt to destroy education and culture. Language is a key part of identity. An attack on a printing company is an attack on democracy and free speech. The Russian invasion aims to erase Ukrainian culture, starting from the 2014 annexation of Crimea. The West's lack of action then has had lasting impacts. Visiting Kharkiv, I saw the devastation firsthand. The printing company, once producing a million books a month, was severely damaged by missile attacks, killing employees and destroying equipment. Despite this, the resilient staff is determined to rebuild. The war's impact on civilians is profound. Many have lost lives and limbs, and the societal fabric is torn. In Kharkiv, I saw how war disrupts daily life and education. The printing company needs work, not money, to recover. Supporting them by giving them printing jobs can help them rebuild. This mission was eye-opening. The Ukrainian people are fighting for their culture and democracy against an aggressor. It’s crucial to support them and stand against such aggression globally. If you believe in democracy and free speech, consider supporting Ukrainian businesses and sharing their story. Thank you for listening. I hope you understand the importance of this cause and appreciate the peace and stability in your own lives. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reitoft/

Every day is a new day in the life of CEO Charles Jarrold. BPIF was established in 1901 and has since focused on supporting its members consisting of Print Service Providers in the UK. The job is, according to Jarrold, to support the members with services that are beyond the work of the company itself. That goes from labor, legislation, future, events, environment, health and safety, and more. 55 employees enable BPIF to serve the UK industry and align activities with Intergraf - which BPIF is a member of. In the chat between Charles Jarrold and Editor Morten B. Reitoft, topics of all kinds are discussed, and an open and fruitful conversation. Enjoy!

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uffe-nielsen-3809882/

In this session, the founders of THE CRM Agency will explain how they designed and digitally printed, highly personalised SuperHero comics - for their client HackerOne - that included the recipient by name in the evolving story. Ultimately revealing the recipient’s illustrated, digitally printed face in the final frame, and showing them saving the day and becoming their company's hero. This hugely successful lead generation campaign ran in English and French and generated pan-EMEA new business for HackerOne.

This was a very cool interview, person, and company - all three in one! At the Scodix booth, we got the chance to meet with President & CRO David Baird. His company has for years produced 'Save the Date' magnets - and we talk in the 100,000s per month. David Baird is an entrepreneur, so what's more natural than developing the concept - and voila - here you see the result of a lot of work involving vendors, paper merchants, and of course, the workflow enabling customers to order these very special sets of cards online.

This is a really interesting, yet very difficult to understand, interview with Tri Tuladhar from Trijet. Many of the PSPs I talk to, often ask why the inkjet vendors don't allow to use of third-party inks, similar to how they buy offset inks. Is it only a money machine, or are there any other good reasons? There are! Tri Tuladhar is an ink specialist who tells us in this interview that each color and even each ink manufacturer has their own unique 'fingerprints.' These fingerprints are important for the vendors to know as the exact properties of an ink relates to how fast the machine can print, and when Tri Tuladhar shows how the same ink act under different conditions it makes a lot of sense. Dive in and enjoy!

2020 was supposed to be a drupa year. Although the event did not take place, many vendors announced new inkjet presses that were targeted for the biggest print show on earth. In this session the inkjet press experts from Inkjet Insight will discuss each of the 2020 launches and announcements in commercial, label and packaging print, compare products and market approaches and talk about the recent trends in inkjet press launches, as well as the recent push for hybrid and bespoke solutions. Attendees can also receive our latest research “Production Inkjet Market Survey on Ink Estimating Solutions.” Inkjet Insight is the most trusted source for evaluating, optimizing and growing business using inkjet. Say up-to-date by visiting InkjetInsight.com

Companies in the printing industry are currently being confronted with different trends in the market, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some examples are: shorter delivery times, need to offer a wider range of products, more jobs/shorter runs, consolidation. Explore the requirements of a post-COVID printing operation and gain valuable insights into the latest inkjet innovations that are redefining the way companies are manufacturing print.

A long time ago, I interviewed former HP Indigo GM Alon Bar-Shany, and one of the things he said, was "we never invented the Indigo to print balloons, but it does." It reminds me of the visit with CEO Patrick Donner from Traffic Print Online Solutions. He has invested in Xerox, HP, Scodix, and a fantastic range of other technologies, so a printing company like so many others, you could argue, but Traffic is not like all others. Every time others say no thanks, Patrick Donner and his team find solutions - and it looks great, and show the diversity the equipment can be used for - great company, great products, to us an inspiration. What do you think? LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-donner-55384b2a/

Being a trade printer serving thousands of customers requires excellent flexibility. At the BOBST Open House event in Alpharetta, Will Prettyman from WISE explains what they are looking for before investing in new technology. When Will Prettyman says 'capabilities,' it shows how crucial fast setup time, automated setup processes, and the high quality of a hybrid press is - and well, it's always great talking to experienced people!

IGAS is the no. 1 print show in Japan and used to be a more international exhibition. Today the show is still huge, but its influence is more regional, with a strong focus on Japan. In this 'walkthrough,' Yasuo Taketsugu from Horizon International gives editor Morten B. Reitoft a guided tour through the biggest of all booths at IGAS. Enjoy!