Ipex 2010 is a fair weather event for EskoArtwork

Av Ratanaporn B. Jakobsen

EskoArtwork reports a successful closing of Ipex 2010, held from May 18-25 in Birmingham (UK). Lead generation far exceeded expectations and a good amount of sales were closed on the stand.  

There were also significant investments closed with customers from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and India—for complete hardware and software configurations. "Ipex gave us two surprises—the super weather and the super visitor numbers. We were very pleased with the show and the number of international visitors we met. Ipex has definitely regained strength and presented a great opportunity for EskoArtwork and Enfocus to reinforce our leading roles in innovating the commercial printing, packaging and sign and display markets," states Armand Gougay, EskoArtwork Senior VP Emeala. "More and more, it's becoming clear that workflow automation is a key element to a successful production business, and our customers and prospects continue to move in that direction with our solutions. Overall there was fantastic interest in the new Suite 10 software and Kongsberg hardware that we launched at Ipex, as well as an appreciation for the value our customers realized they can bring to the enterprises."

Healthy interest in a wide range of solutions
The EskoArtwork Digital Flexo Solutions attracted many visitors. A flexo press reseller in southern Europe exclaimed: "The flexo industry cannot thank EskoArtwork enough for the continuous progress you are bringing. And now with HD Flexo, this really is opening new possibilities."

On display was a CDI Advance Cantilever 1450, providing exceptional in the round flexo sleeves for the flexible packaging market and the HD Flexo technology for the production of plates and sleeves delivering printing quality comparable to offset or gravure, as well as the Inline UV Main Exposure and the Digital Flexo Suite for optimized and automated plate and sleeve production. New at Ipex was the revolutionary PreMount workflow, which streamlines and optimizes the handling of digital polymer carrier sheets.

"The new automation workflow they have is so cool, so sexy to look at and so powerful, you have to go over and have a look," was overheard from one visitor on his phone. Visitors could get a demo of new EskoArtwork software at one of the six software demo stations. Ipex was the platform to launch some of its innovations this year: Suite 10 with special focus on the Automation Engine and Studio—in fact anything related to 3D was demonstrated the most.

"This finishing on demand is probably the most interesting thing we have seen at this show," remarked two visitors as they concluded a demo on the Kongsberg i-XE10 Auto. There was a lot of interest for the new i-XE10 Automated at Ipex, a complete solution able to fully automate the entire finishing process. Equipped with a newly designed stacker and sheet feeding system, the Kongsberg i-XE10 Automated can meet the growing demand for finishing small-format, short-run digital printed materials. The redesigned sheet feeder system automatically loads and places the printed materials on the table. The automated stacker enables non-stop sorting and stacking of the finished parts. The system also automatically removes waste. As a result, the machine can run unattended, which saves significant man-hours.

Connecting More with partners
Ipex was also a platform for EskoArtwork to connect more with its many industry partners. Presentations at HP, Canon, Fuji, Xeikon and ten others important partners yielded good contacts, and helped to raise EskoArtwork's profile in the industry even further. "Ipex exceeded our expectations. Companies seem to be seriously interested in investing in solutions that continue to add productivity with a viable ROI," concludes Gougay. "We left Birmingham with a good sense of optimism for EskoArtwork, our customers, and the industry in general."