The FuturePrint Virtual Conference, taking place 25th – 26th February, will be showcasing a range of solutions, insight and education from established print giants to cutting-edge newcomers, both of which are blazing the trail for the future of the industry. We caught up with Mary Ann Rowan, Chief Experience Officer and Jonathan Malone-McGrew, Senior Director of Engagement at Solimar Systems, to find out why they are continuing to support FuturePrint and what viewers can expect from Solimar at the Future Print Virtual Conference.

Since COVID-19 struck and we found ourselves looking for ways to connect without being able to travel to physical events, Solimar has been a part of FuturePrint events. Close to a year on, Solimar is a Headline Partner for the FuturePrint Conference – why are they still invested in the FuturePrint mission? Mary Ann explains: “Solimar is a global company with a global reach, and especially during COVID events like these are a great way to reach our friends, customers and partners worldwide. FuturePrint is a great community, coming together to share educational thoughts and support for each other, and we had great success at the FuturePrint events in 2020.” Solimar is also growing its team in the UK and expanding its customer advisory council to members in Europe, so a European platform for the global business makes sense.

Jonathan adds: “The FuturePrint team gave their time for free to try to create something impactful last summer, in the middle of a really hard time for a lot of businesses. That’s the kind of community that drives global economy, and we thought that was really special. Futureprint really knocked it out of the park with that first conference in terms of the reach that you could achieve, and when you see something innovative like that, you want to support it. It’s a great way to connect when connecting is difficult, and I think it'll be lasting.”

With a new version of Solimar’s SOLitrack software available, we can expect the business to focus on the importance of visibility and how this product can help managers achieve that comprehensive overview of production. Jonathan explains: “The last twelve months have really challenged printers, and now they are starting to challenge back and look at how they can ‘make lemonade’, if you will. That's what this session is really all about. People are rethinking how to future proof their businesses, and we want to talk about, how do you do that, and what technologies should you be looking at to make that happen?”

Why this topic for Solimar, and who is the target audience? Jonathan continues: “We moved mountains to develop this technology through the last year because we saw a need for our customers. Everyone needs something a little different, but one thing that everyone needs is a needs is a cost effective solution, a solution that they can configure that, learn how to run themselves, expand and adapt with their business as needed.”

He concludes: “We want to take the pressure off the print shop operators. They are the ones getting everything thrown at them real time, and if the plant is locked down, with fewer people, the burden is really on them to figure out all the problems. We want those print managers to understand that a piece of technology like this could not only be cost effective to implement and run, but could really improve many different facets of your business.”

Register for the session ‘Will Software Actually Drive Success For Your Volume Printing?’ here.

You can view the full FuturePrint Virtual Conference schedule here.

Find out more about Solimar Systems here.