Fespa Show Preview

But don’t be fooled into thinking the Darwinian reference means we’re now seeing change at a painfully slow pace – we’re still seeing quite rapid changes in kit and consumables. The heady days of ‘revolutionary’ product development may be over, but innovation is far from extinct as you’ll see at Fespa Digital 2011.
Still weeks before its opening, the show’s 18,000m2 of exhibition space was sold out and companies were scrambling up a waiting list. At the time of going to press space had been allocated to 370 exhibitors and 5,000 people had preregistered to attend the event, with 50 new registration being received each day since the beginning of March 2011. Those kinds of figures serve to indicate not only the huge level of interest in what has become one of the fastest growing sectors of the print industry - large-format - but recognise the necessity for PSPs to keep abreast of all developments (technical and strategic) to stay at the top of the evolutionary chain.
“At this year’s event, we’ll be concentrating on the characteristics that print service providers need to adopt in order to survive and thrive in this changed business landscape, says Fespa managing director Frazer Chesterman. “There are plentiful examples of that evolution with printers who are achieving success with new technologies, innovative materials, more efficient workflows, creative products, different business models or go-to-market plans. Fespa Digital 2011 will share their best-practice examples, and the combination of supplier exhibits and educational elements is designed to motivate other printers to follow their lead.”
This year the show has been extended from the traditional three days to four, giving Fespa time on the final day to offer The Big Idea, a programme specifically targeted towards creative decision-makers from agencies and corporate marketing departments who are looking at how they can integrate wide-format to maximise impact and boost response levels from target audiences.
As in previous years, the make-up of Fespa Digital will clearly reflect the prevailing industry trends. Alongside the many expected innovations in digital output, you can expect to see developments in software and workflow automation, finishing and substrates (see technical overview overpage). But it’s not all about what you can see on the exhibitor stands – there’ll be a really worthwhile chance to get involved in debates, seminars, workshops etc.
Clearly signed will be the Digital Showcase Theatre in which there will be free talks each of the first three days of the show.

Tuesday 24 May 2011
11am – Noon
The digital reality. By Stork Prints

Noon - 1pm
Soft Signage: The present, the future and the offer of Kilan

1pm - 2pm
Boost productivity and quality of your design to print to cut workflow. By EskoArtwork

2pm - 3pm
Achieving lean manufacturing and cost reductions with digital print production and workflow management. BY?EFI

3pm - 4pm
The Va va voom of Inkjet. By Xaar

Wednesday 25 May 2011
11am - Noon
Opportunities with high speed digital textile printing. By Durst
Noon - 2:00pm
The Digital Debate. Hosted by Image Reports

2pm - 3pm
The challenges customers are facing today. By HP

3pm - 4pm
60 minutes to sell print. By Paul Streeter

4pm – 5pm
The Va va voom of Inkjet. By Xaar

Thursday 26 May 2011
11am - Noon
Going green: sustainable solutions for wide-format printing
By DuPont

Noon – 1pm
60 minutes to evolve your business, By Fespa

1pm- 2pm
Social media for print. By Fespa

2pm - 3pm
Applying digital printing for green and labour cost saving in traditional printing mill. By d.gen

3pm - 4pm
The Va va voom of Inkjet. By Xaar
Round Two of the Fespa Wrap Cup Masters will take place on the show floor at Fespa Digital 2011 and will feature a host of vehicle wrapping superstars from across Europe, utilising the latest materials and techniques in a bid to take the prize fund worth at least 150 Euros. Each day the best of the best will be pitched against each other against the clock in order to find the Wrap Star of Europe.
If textile print is your thing, or you’re interested in making it your thing, then mark in your diary the 25 May when Digital Textile Conference takes place. This is a one-day conference, the onus being on garment printing, but at the time of going to press Fespa said the ‘Business Applications of Digital Textile Printing’ slot running from 1.15pm – 2.30pm will include information and case-studies targeted more at the graphics market.
Also expect live interactive sessions on the Fespa stand (A3, stand B60) from 1pm each day. These are designed to capture the essence of the modern print provider’s challenges and influences, with topics ranging from fabric trends to the environment, social media for print and a ‘What’s your big idea’ conversation with customers.
“Printers are facing 2011 with optimism,” says Chesterman. “In the two years since the last Fespa Digital the economic challenges faced by all businesses have reshaped the wide-format print landscape, encouraging PSPs to develop new revenue streams, adopt innovative technologies and business strategies to win new business and carve out new niches.
“We anticipate that convergence between technologies and market segments will be more noticeable than ever before at this year’s show. Several key exhibitors will show solutions that are not conventionally associated with Fespa’s core sign and graphics market, reflecting the fact that many established service providers in our community are looking at the potential that may lie in diversification into other digital print services.”

TECHOLOGY UPDATE
Every show is the same - there are exhibitors who want to keep information about new products/services secret right up until the day the doors open, and its no different with Fespa Digital 2011. There is information that just cannot be disclosed yet, but there’s still plenty to get your head around before your visit as Sophie Matthews-Paul outlines.
On the graphics’ front, we know there are certain to be additions and refinements to existing technologies; these cover all the accepted ink formulations with which we’ve become familiar during the past few years. Acknowledging that we are still on a plateau regarding major developments in accepted wide-format production, the emphasis now is for manufacturers to develop their existing solutions and broaden the scope for existing technologies to be used in additional market areas.
Notable segments of interest continue to separate themselves from the mainstream. This has now almost reached the point where the original intention for using wide-format printers to output posters and banners has been superseded by the need to bring inkjet into new arenas where short runs and versatility are becoming essential prerequisites for production of all shapes and sizes.
Developers across the board realise the potential of extending the way their products can be used across different industrial sectors, all of which now come under the Fespa Digital umbrella. It doesn’t take rocket science to appreciate how an ink or printhead which proves to be successful in one area of production can equally well be applied in another, and this is part of the beauty of inkjet. Back in the early days of wide-format, we were all surprised at the efficacy with which machines could print digitally and churn out large applications efficiently and relatively quickly. Move on a few years, and the same principles are now being applied to textiles, ceramics, glass and myriad applications that don’t come under display remit yet which can be produced on ordinary, as well as specially constructed, printing machines.

Colour fidelity and control
As inkjet processes become more sophisticated, so the demand for improved workflow becomes more essential to every company involved in digital production. Not surprisingly we’re seeing a growth in the numbers of partnerships developing between specialist software developers and the printer manufacturers who, not surprisingly, don’t particularly want to reinvent the wheel to become involved with colour-matched integrated throughput.
The increased sophistication of digital print, and the variety of machines and materials available on today’s market, necessitates that colour fidelity is maintained so that end applications don’t fall down on their consistency, even when produced across a range of different devices and ink chemistries. Using inkjet technology, it should now be possible to match everything from the smallest label or decal, through general posters and banners, up to giant hoardings and vehicle graphics. The importance of branding has never been stronger and, thus, it is vital to make sure that the colours remain true throughout.
These criteria are also been seen increasingly in proofing and prototyping for traditionally analogue jobs, such as packaging and flexo, as well as for the offset market. The importance of being able to provide samples of mock-ups or labels produced on the final material, yet created on a colour-managed inkjet printer, simplifies the ability to create the feel as well as the look of the end product.

Ink and its progression
In terms of ink technologies, the growth of UV-curable formulations has continued on its relentless upward path proving its worth in many inkjet sectors. It remains, thus far, the only chemistry which truly has the ability to output direct to a diverse range of rigid substrates with coated and uncoated surfaces. Improved flexibility and adhesion have also seen an increase for this ink’s performance on even some of the more tricky flexible materials, and latest products challenge many of the long-established solvent-based options for their ability to conform over irregular and curved surfaces.
Nonetheless, solvent-based products are very much alive and kicking, and still offer the only production method for outputting metallic shades. Rumours of their demise were somewhat premature, with new wide-format machines continuing to prove popular for producing strong colours and durable results at relatively low investment prices. After-market manufacturers have always homed in on this market sector, particularly so where so many older devices are still running on a daily basis and their owners have no intention of superseding them in the foreseeable future.
Likewise, the arena for aqueous-based printers is still a popular one, with their ability to produce low cost output at a fine enough quality to satisfy even the most fussy artist or photographer. Manufacturers have continued to add colours to original palettes and bolt on spectrophotometers for fine-tuning and precision calibration. Although the value of some of these has to be questionable on a printer which incorporates variable droplet technology and can handle a basic ink set admirably, users seem always to be tempted by the ability to add emphasis and extra impact to their prints.
No discussion about ink would be complete without mentioning latex technology, which has certainly created its own bunch of followers since the first platform was launched, as well as a separate enclave of critics. No matter how opinions divide the wide-format world, this is a chemistry which isn’t going to go away and will doubtless only improve as users’ needs and diversity of applications continue to grow.
Mentioning latex brings about almost an obvious move to the growing diversity of the digital textile market, with most machines that can handle a fabric now able to come under this particular umbrella. Increasingly proving to be a sector which is catered for by more than dedicated machinery and fixation units, this sector has actually witnessed its own evolution before it even really got off the ground as a mainstream production process in the wide-format market.

Textile options
Obviously disperse inks and dye sublimation will continue to hold their own in the market for polyester-based materials but, although there are ink formulations specifically for natural and man-made fibres, users are finding that their existing machines and chemistries are able to go some way towards providing textile prints for a variety of end applications. The main manufacturers and converters for this sector have materials which often can be used with just about every ink formulation going, including some aqueous-based products. But the question remains as to what exactly this industry means when textile production is discussed.
There is a clear dichotomy emerging which makes a bit of a nonsense of some of the perceived projections and figures emerging for digital textile market growth. For a start, there is the traditional market for fabrics and their uses, and then there are the alternative sectors where soft signs, flags, banners and other displays can be produced using these materials. Add to these segments the direct-to-garment and the industrial demands, and the numbers that quantify volume and investment become pretty difficult to use for practical purposes.
The cross-over points for printing wide-format textiles also need to account for whether the production is for long-run items such as bed-linen or for low volume graphic applications. When the latter is considered, it is even more difficult to disseminate because a fabric could have put through a solvent-based, a latex or a UV-curable printer yet still fit the textile description. Thus, digital textile cannot be labelled and categorised neatly because it has so few fixed parameters as it encompasses, for example, silk in the fashion market just as it does cotton canvases for wall coverings and photographic prints.

The evolutionary concept
All these continuing developments lead to this year’s Fespa Digital concentrating on the concept of evolution following on from its revolutionary approach of two years ago. What this means is that, as proven by the numbers of different exhibitors taking part in the event this time round, the impact and value of ink-jet and other digital technologies extends far beyond the relatively simple remit of wide-format output.
Many of the visitors to the show will, of course, be heavily involved already in producing large applications in various volumes and with different finishes for a selection of end customers. But diversification is now becoming essential to quell the relentless pursuit of the same market corners which everyone will admit is becoming ever more competitive.
Although it’s nigh on impossible to list every type of technology being demonstrated at Fespa Digital, suffice to say that the increase in interest for smaller format production and industrial applications will rank significantly alongside familiar wide-format products at the exhibition. After all, once we have adapted our workflow and associated techniques to accommodate the production of digital displays of all shapes and sizes, it makes sense to turn existing expertise to other types of application. As a result, Hamburg in May will be the obvious platform to learn about new products and understand how to integrate them into existing business models.