The inaugural edition of Industrial Print Integration (IPI), organised by ESMA, took place on 18-19 May 2022 in Düsseldorf-Neuss.

Frazer Chesterman sat down with FuturePrint partners at the event for a series of FuturePrint TV interviews, discussing some of the key themes of the event as well as those that will be prevalent at the forthcoming FuturePrint Leaders Summit, including innovation, new technology, leadership, and sustainability.

Spotlight on innovation

Innovation in the industrial print sector was, unsurprisingly, a hot topic at the event. Clive Ayling of Meteor Inkjet comments: “Innovation is something everyone wants to do, but it’s when you’re forced to do it that it really happens. A challenge is that there’s a shortage of raw materials and electronic chips, which has caused more companies to innovate. Meteor is putting in more of a R&D effort than ever before and we are working extremely hard to keep innovating. Any Government-enforced change creates an environment where you have to innovate just to stay alive and keep going.”

We have fantastic products, but water based industrial products have a particularly bright future,” says Marc Graindourze of Agfa. “The industry and end user want recyclability, and water based is your natural choice. You can go for a cheap, single use product but that's not us. Secondly, we’re about working with different substrates with the same ink production, which is our biggest project in innovation.”

Ricoh’s Richard Darling: “We have a product now which we call TH5241, which is intended for scanning graphics, which is pretty nifty! The focus is on uniformity of print and it looks pretty good and it takes us into a new area. It’s now in mass production with a few thousand sold, and we’ll learn what we don’t know!”

Simon Edwards of Global Inkjet Solutions says: “The image quality technologies we have rolling out - it’s the whole idea of using software to make image quality excel. We’ve got customers using it, a mass of feedback and it's a very scalable product from our perspective.”

Jeremy Spencer, of Global Graphics Software: “2022 is quite a step forward for us, we’re launching a Smart DFE and we’ve seen an uplift in communicating to other parts of the process, and Smart DFE really encompasses everything in one device.”

“We have a lot of start-ups in our region, and there’s a lot of working together and lots of technology that gets picked up and transformed by new young, enthusiastic startups,” commented Roland Biemans of LMNS. “There are many young companies that want to make a difference.”

Peter Buttiens of ESMA commented: “Glass print is going to be a big thing for us – it’s about hollow glass such as perfume bottles as well as flat glass decoration such as for automotive uses. We also want to go further with growing our IPI event, which will be here in November 2023.”

Thomas Lehnen of Siegwerk said: We have a matte varnish which is one of the few products that gives a high quality finish that you’d find in the supermarket, and in terms of water based we are working on inks especially for lamination which is a special mixture which allows high bond strengths that you need for modern packaging types. 

The Sustainability Agenda

Sustainability was another notable theme at the IPI event. We some of thoughts on the importance of sustainability and how it can remain a key point on the agenda for the industry: Marc Graindourze of Agfa said: The shift that I see is going away from sustainability company by company, with the new focus being on the product in the market. How sustainable is your product in the chain? From creation all the way through to end-of-life.

So many industries are used to sourcing things at the lowest cost wherever it is in the world,” said Richard Darling of Ricoh. “Companies are buying large quantities over long supply chains from remote sources, particularly in things like fashion where there’s a lot of stock wastage, but I think some companies are realising that sourcing products more locally is absolutely necessary.”

Jeremy Spencer, Future Print Partner of Global Graphics Software comments: “It’s very important and we have several systems in place from electric vehicles to supporting sustainability projects worldwide and also offering our technologies which reduce waste, power and other materials with smart technology.”

 “This topic is here to stay and it needs to be on the agenda,” says Thomas Lehnen of Siegwerk: This is one of our five pillars for the future. We don’t just provide ink, we can also advise you on sustainability and we take the issue very seriously.”

 Angus Condie of Xaar: “Sustainability is a big thing, increasingly we’re getting more end users coming to Xaar and asking for help on their journey, which is a big opportunity for inkjet. We’ll be talking more about this in Geneva.”

M&A Activity

There has been a flurry of compelling news around acquisitions across print. FuturePrint partners also weighed in on the M&A topic.

Marc Graindourze of Agfa: “In the industrial world there are a lot of companies, so I think it's useful to have a few less but stronger companies. I think it’s useful to combine strengths - you cannot do everything yourself so clever acquisitions that increase your strength in the market are very worthwhile - especially to the end user.”

Simon Edwards of Global Inkjet Solutions: “I think there’s been a real fragmentation within the industry over the years, and there’s many players that aren’t working as a team, and this lack of a consistent approach has been a real issue. I think it’s a good thing, as it’s bringing together clusters of likeminded technologists and products that work together well.”

The event was a great success with leaders providing thought-provoking talks and having in-depth conversations about the topics taking the industry by storm. A much-welcomed panel was the Women in Print panel, which saw Holly Steedman of Integration Technology take to the stage. Holly explained, “I’ve been at conferences where I’m the only woman speaker before and it’s important for me to show young women that you can be any kind of person and enter the technical industry”.

To watch the full interview with Angus Condie, click here.

To watch the full interview with Thomas Lehnen, click here.

To watch the full interview with Roland, click here.

To watch the full interview with Holly Steedman, click here.

To watch the full interview with Peter Buttiens, click here.

To watch the full interview with Simon Edwards, click here.

To watch the full interview with Marc Graindourze, click here.

To watch the full interview with Jeremy Spencer, click here.

To watch the full interview with Richard Darling, click here.

To watch the full interview with Clive Ayling, click here.