Apex and IFS join forces for fourth Real Print and Finish event

Apex Digital Graphics and Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) will partner once again to hold the fourth Real Print and Finish open house in April.

The three-day event will take place from 10am to 5pm each day over 17-19 April at Apex’s premises in Hemel Hempstead.

Apex will exhibit a raft of equipment, including an SRA1 RMGT (Ryobi) 924 four-colour press. It will show live demonstrations of LED-UV drying on the machine during the event.

Apex managing director Bob Usher said: “Our success with LED-UV is continuing. There’s an awful lot of people that are still running conventional kit and there’s great interest in LED-UV because of the instant drying capabilities.

“And B2 printers can park this existing SRA1 machine down in their existing premises with no need to move or build extensions. Printing eight pages of A4 in one-pass instead of four is a great way for a B2 printer to double their production.”

Apex will also show Konica Minolta digital printing equipment and three Cron CTP systems that it first showed at Ipex in October, including a 46-inch machine making B1-size plates, and two smaller B3-size machines.

“It’s a big kit show – we have a big showroom here and IFS and ourselves will be populating that with large amounts of equipment,” said Usher.

“We’ll be producing work from web-to-print, then making plates or running those jobs out digitally, and then finishing those jobs on site here.

“So it’s the usual ‘come in with a piece of software and walk away with a printed job’ theme that we’ve had running for a number of years – with the accumulation of different suppliers at the event, we can actually achieve that.”

IFS will show a wide range of Horizon equipment, including two machines that it has been supplying since last summer and showed for the first time at Ipex – the Stitchliner Mark III stitching line and the BQ-480 perfect binder.

It will also show Foliant laminators with foiling capability and the HT-1000V variable three-knife trimmer, which can be used both inline with Horizon perfect binders or as a standalone machine.

IFS managing director Bryan Godwyn said: “We are looking forward to another collaboration with our neighbours Apex, taking advantage of our proximity and the synergy between the two companies.

“The event has a hands-on no-nonsense approach combined with a relaxed environment, which visitors tell us they appreciate.”

Mailroom equipment specialist KAS Paper Systems has also confirmed its participation.

It will be showing its Mailmaster Compact envelope inserter, which KAS sales manager Steve Jarvis said is “an ideal machine for printers who are planning to diversify into direct mail or add value to their print offering with a fulfilment service.”

Premier Paper and binding machine distributor Ashgate Automation are also confirmed to exhibit at the event, along with the IPIA, which will offer free consultations with business experts via pre-booked appointments. More exhibitors will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Real Print and Finish was first launched in 2015 and has run every year since. Last year's event attracted around 100 visitors from 60 companies across the three days.


 

Please note: this event has been postponed until further notice.