Dalton: don't waste Ipex opportunity

Fujifilm UK managing director Keith Dalton has urged the industry not to waste “the Ipex opportunity”, and said printers should use the show as a platform to investigate potential new business models

The manufacturer is showcasing a host of potential real-world applications on its Ipex stand (S4-E330). 

“We haven’t built a normal stand here, it’s a digital print shop and we have data and costs on everything we’re doing,” Dalton stated.

“We unboxed three digital presses last Monday morning and built the whole thing in five days, which is incredible. It’s been quite a challenge for a show, and very different.”

Fujifilm is producing a variety of jobs including magazines, books, photobooks and labels.

The average pagination is 68pp and the work includes the equivalent of 150 makereadies in a seven-and-a-half hour shift, on nine different paper stocks.

It has crunched the numbers on a range of digital printing business models, with thought-provoking results.

“We worked out it was a saving of £3,000-£3,500 a day on the equivalent offset production just in terms of pre-press costs and paper waste,” he explained.

While Dalton said the firm had hundreds of customer appointments booked in for the show, he issued a rallying call “to those people who are sitting in their offices looking for reasons not to come.”

“I hope that people do come to the show, rather than find excuses not to. It’s really worth looking into the detail of the numbers. We’re not saying change your business, we’re saying think about how you’re going to grow your business.

“I believe we’ve got to go out there as an industry and find new just-in-time customers. There are all kinds of customers out there that haven't been tapped.”

The firm is also printing the IpexDaily, produced by PrintWeek, each afternoon on its inkjet web press the Jet Press 540W.