News

With the Ifra Expo starting on 27th October, Adam Hooker asks newspaper print experts what they are hoping to see and if there is still a place for niche trade shows

DAVID KIRWAN, Head of colour reproduction, Guardian News and Media

What will people be looking out for at this year’s Ifra Expo?
I’m interested in how many people are using soft-proofing now, rather than technical developments. I’d like to see whether there is much interest in standardisation to ISO 12647-3, an area that is getting a lot of interest in the UK at present. I’d also like to see how digital printing is developing, especially high-speed inkjet such as the Kodak Versamark VL2000 and Hewlett Packard Inkjet Web press.

Will UK printers be looking to spend money at the show given the outlay on new kit that has been made over the past few years?
There have been some very large installations in the past few years and maybe there is some over-capacity in newspaper printing in the UK, but there are areas where people will be looking to invest. Anyone who doesn’t yet have full colour, or those people who were the early adopters of CTP, may need to replace that equipment. Post-press may be an area for investment as well as finding ways to make the press hardware you have work more for you.

Is there scope for UK newspaper printers to convert their presses to print commercial work?
There is a possibility for this. We are seeing a lot of interest in half-Berliner coldest commercial products which may have been heatset in the past. The half-Berliner size is almost identical to an untrimmed A4 magazine size and so is very efficient for that format. With a blanket to blanket press, adding an oven would seem fairly straightforward but, unless it was designed in as part of the original installation, who really has the space for it?

Will we see a spate of environmentally friendly initiatives at this year’s event?
It’s an area that’s been gradually growing in importance and the awareness has been high on most peoples’ agenda for some time, so all purchasing decisions have an environmental component. It is something suppliers can use to generate interest in new products and services. And whether motivated by concern for the environment, or spurred on by rising energy costs, it’s an area everyone is very focused on.

Is there still a place for niche trade shows such as Ifra?
What are you calling niche? It’s obviously not as big as Drupa or Ipex, but it usually has around 10,000 visitors from over 80 countries. Ifra is not really a technology show, it is more about meeting people, and is a great opportunity to find out what is happening beyond the UK. I’m sure plenty of deals are done, but maybe in a Drupa year it is not so important for making sales, and perhaps it is difficult for suppliers to give as much attention to two major exhibitions in close proximity.

IAN MCDONALD, Managing director of operations, News International

What will people be looking out for at this year’s Ifra Expo?
People are less likely to be attracted to heavy metal; there isn’t the money around for it. I think this year will be the year of the alternative. People will be looking at things like polybagging and polywrapping – how long will that stay in existence? People will also be talking about recycling ink, water-based inks and cleaner solutions, including reducing waste and reducing electricity. For instance, we have been looking at a wind generator recently.

Will UK printers be looking to spend money at the show given the outlay on new kit that has been made over the past few years?
It isn’t just the UK that won’t be spending. Germany, Spain and Scandinavia are all in the same boat. The manufacturers are relying on China, India and Argentina for their sales at the moment. In fact I think that this could be a pretty bad Ifra for those on the stands; they will have a really tough time of it. I think people will be really downbeat. If any money is going to be spent it will be things that reduce costs, that is the main thought from Europe.

Is there scope for UK newspaper printers to convert their presses to print commercial work?
The presses that have real scope to do this are the flexo presses, but trying to grab the bottom end of the heatset offset market is intriguing. It is something I have spent a lot of time looking at but without a dryer we would never be able to get the quality needed. We also looked at doing things like puzzle books, but if you get too high a pagination you need a binding line, not to mention that because it is newspapers every one expects them for 2p a copy.

Will we see a spate of environmentally friendly initiatives at this year’s event?
It is going to be big, you can’t get away from it. I am sure that a number of people on stands will be telling us that they are greener and cleaner than everyone else. Companies are offering to recover silver and things like that. There are some nasty things in the inks and solutions and we should be looking to keep those clean. As I mentioned before, everyone is looking to reduce waste and the associated cost.

Is there still a place for niche trade shows such as Ifra?
I think we may see Ifra following the Drupa frequency model. There isn’t really enough to do every year. A few years back you couldn’t look on the web for things and travel was much harder. The cost of a stand these days is also quite expensive. We may have reached a plateau in new technology, I don’t think we will be seeing any huge advances in the next five years. So I think it needs a rethink otherwise it may end up going the way of Newstec.

KEITH DALTON, Director of Fujifilm Graphic Systems, UK

What will people be looking out for at this year’s Ifra Expo?
I am looking forward to all plate and consumable developments – about which I think there will be several exciting announcements. Generally, I’m not anticipating any surprises but who knows? Ifra is an interesting show to walk around and sometimes you can find exhibitors showing niche software packages that can really help the industry and indicate change.

Will UK printers be looking to spend money at the show given the outlay on new kit that has been made over the past few years?
In the current economic climate, I doubt there will be too many people there with big fat cheque books. However, despite current hardships, business continues and plans are still being made so you can never say for sure who will be spending money and how. Hopefully Ifra will still be busy and attract visitors.

Is there scope for UK newspaper printers to convert their presses to print commercial work?
There is always scope for presses to be altered in order to provide alternative services. But newspaper printers shouldn’t underestimate the efficiency of the thoroughbred commercial printer, whose costs have been pared down to offer a competitive product. Hybrid and compromise is always a difficult position to be in.

Will we see a spate of environmentally friendly initiatives at this year’s event?
Yes – simply because we all have a part to play in global trends. The public perception of the newspaper and print industry is poor and we should all do our bit in correcting this falsehood. Producing paper products and newspapers means increasing forestation through sustainable crops rather than less rainforests.

Is there still a place for niche trade shows such as Ifra?
The newspaper industry is not a niche industry and Ifra represents the newspaper industry. It is attended by all pre-press, press, mailroom and software suppliers and we firmly believe that it has its place.

MARTIN HARRISON, Product manager, Muller Martini

What will people be looking out for at this year’s Ifra Expo?
Ifra is more of a meet and greet event than a selling event. Our main task at Ifra is to discuss and consult with our customers. Also to hear and evaluate the trends in the marketplace and the expectations of the sector. For example, better utilisation of the newspaper production facilities, whether that be for contract print or semi-commercial products, such as magazines and flyers.

Will UK printers be looking to spend money at the show given the outlay on new kit that has been made over the past few years?
There is still potential mailroom investment in the UK in terms of consolidation, but also for new technology and better efficiency. Companies, such as ourselves, are always introducing new developments. In addition, there will always be a replacement market for mailroom equipment.

Is there scope for UK newspaper printers to convert their presses to print commercial work?
Better use of plant is always worth looking at and with improved inks and paper, the quality of cold-set is getting better and better. For example, we have a range of saddle-stitch machinery that can produce stitched and trimmed quarter-fold from tabloid sections – thus, the newspaper printer can get into magazine production without the need for a quarter-fold unit on the press.

Will we see a spate of environmentally friendly initiatives at this year’s event?
Efficiency equals savings. The lowest energy costs will be achieved by the most reliable process, with fewest stops and starts. So, better utilisation of equipment, with shorter makeready times, can make a real difference to the environmental impact of any system as well as saving money for the printer and the customer.

Is there still a place for niche trade shows such as Ifra?
Now that Newstec has finished, Ifra remains the one dedicated newspaper industry show in Europe. Ifra remains a crucial sounding board for the industry. It is a great place to meet with clients, some of whom you have a relationship going back years, and it is of course excellent for meeting new people.

CHRISTIAN KNAPP, UK managing director, KBA

What will people be looking out for at this year’s Ifra Expo?
We will see a more compact design and more flexibility from presses. Development in some areas has been slowing but compact presses are an area that is still drawing a lot of interest. There will also be new developments in the more ancillary areas.

Will UK printers be looking to spend money at the show given the outlay on new kit that has been made over the past few years?
I doubt it. UK newspaper publishers are still battling the continuing problem of dropping circulation and some are finding it difficult generating new business. Given that so many of them invested so much over the past five or six years it is unlikely that we will see any spending on the metal side. We might see some people investing in the pre-press and workflow areas.

Is there scope for UK newspaper printers to convert their presses to print commercial work?
Some newspaper printers may tell you they can do this, but until we see the first KBA Cortina in the UK I don’t think it will be possible. We have been developing the Cortina to allow specifically for printing on coated papers in the daytime and newspaper printing overnight. We are in discussions with a number of parties and I hope to see the Cortina in the UK soon.

Will we see a spate of environmentally friendly initiatives at this year’s event?
I think a lot of the presses these days are pretty environmentally friendly, so I don’t see any developments there. But on the fringe side of things, such as inks, we could definitely see a few green developments in those areas.

Is there still a place for niche trade shows such as Ifra?
Focused trade shows such as Ifra, or something for the digital printing sector or the book printing sector, probably have a very viable future. People are looking for exactly the same thing that you are so it is very targeted and I definitely support that. Is it going to be a show where you bring lots of equipment and show off lots of equipment? Probably not – it will be more of a meet and greet, but there is definitely a place for it.