According to the organisers, more than 5,000 industry figures from 70 countries, including 100 UK customers visiting with distributor Friedheim International, attended the four-day event (14-17 February) in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The show, which focused on the integration of digital print technology and high-end finishing systems, was attended by manufacturers and suppliers including Xerox, Oce, HP, Kodak, InfoPrint, Screen, Pitney Bowes, Nipson, Impika and Xeikon.

Peter Wolff, vice-president of graphic arts at Océ production printing, said the company was not at the show to present a specific product, but instead to "demonstrate the entire package to customers".

During the event, the Dutch manufacturer ran its JetStream 1000, full-colour duplex printing system with a Hunkeler roll-to-roll production line with rewind module RW6.

"I think that this show demonstrates that we are on the way to establishing inkjet at just below the top production level. There were early adopters using high-volume machines and now there is the next stage of application," said Wolff.

Xerox grabbed many of the headlines during the show with a demonstration of its as-yet unnamed inkjet web press, which was previewed at Ipex and is due to begin beta testing in the second half of the year.

Speaking at the event, Scott Wagner, manager of worldwide marketing at Xerox, said the four-colour waterless machine, which features a Xerox-patented granulated resin-based ink formulation, allows customers to cut waste labour while providing consistency and colour.

"Waterless inkjet can cut the cost of production. The machine uses existing technology in a way that we’ve not done before," he added.

InfoPrint used the four-day event to demonstrate its expanded 5000 production inkjet family and ran its 5000 GP in conjunction with a Hunkeler roll-to-sheet line.

Theresa Lang, InfoPrint UK managing director, said the show represented an opportunity to engage with customers and suppliers.

"The inkjet marketplace is still very much a land grab. I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of recommendation to potential users from existing clients," she said. "There is a clear argument for continuous-feed technology, but the industry still needs to work harder to sell itself."

Elsewhere, Screen Europe demonstrated its new high-speed 220m/min production printer, the Truepress Jet520ZZ. Marketing manager Tim Taylor said the show represented "the perfect opportunity to meet almost everybody connected to continuous-feed print production in one event".

"Screen believes that PDF/VT opens the way for this to happen and judging by the reaction we have had, we think that we will look back the 2011 Hunkeler event as when PDF/VT really started to gain momentum for volume print," he said.

HUNKELER INNOVATIONDAYS
Nine Innovationdays shows Hunkeler has run since 1996
5,000-plus Number of attendees at this year’s event
70 Number of countries attendees visited from
100-plus Number of UK customers present
Exhibitors Included Kodak, HP, Xeikon, Nipson, Xerox, Océ, Impika and InfoPrint