As Holly Steedman begins a new role as Business Development Manager for Integration Technology in Germany, I ask her to share more something about her life in print and the vision she has for her new role.

InPrint Munich 2021, the International Exhibition of Print Technology for Industrial Manufacturing, is teaming up with ICE Europe and CCE International, two leading trade events devoted to the latest innovations in converting and finishing, as well as corrugated and cardboard production technology, with a strong visitor interest also in printing for packaging solutions. The industry has welcomed the move to create a powerful, multifaceted platform with increased opportunities and synergies across related markets. The new show dates are 9 to 11 March 2021; the venue remains unchanged at Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany.

In response to the current crisis the world is experiencing, FM Future announces the first FuturePrint Virtual Summit (2-4 June 2020).

Free for all attendees and participants, the objective of the summit is to provide an online platform to connect the international print industry, to facilitate knowledge sharing, valuable networking, product and service updates and provide the inspiration and support to stimulate business during and beyond this very challenging period.

GIS announces the latest release of its industrial print Atlas Graphical User Interface (GUI) software, offering significant usability and functionality with interface options and language packs.

Richard Darling has a strategic business development role at Ricoh Europe. He manages a whole range of industrial inkjet initiatives with customers plus some of Ricoh’s own strategic equipment development projects and partnerships. Through the years Richard has contributed to some game-changing innovations across several sectors. Dedicated to digital and inkjet developments, he questions the way things have traditionally been done, identifying and dismantling barriers to introduce inkjet wherever it gives practical, operational and economic benefit.

Sabine Geldermann is the Director of drupa, the world’s largest print trade fair, and Global Head of Print Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf. In this interview, Sabine talks about her career trajectory that led her to become drupa’s first female director, the challenges and opportunities in the industry today, the decision behind the postponement of drupa 2020, and what we can expect from drupa 2021.

There is no questioning the popularity of PVC. It is a hugely successful material. Why? Because it is tough, durable, and it is easy to work with and you can print onto it easily. It isn’t a difficult material to manufacture so therefore, it is easily standardised. What you see is what you get! However, the main benefit of PVC is economic: It’s cheap and widely available. But according to Kavalan, it really doesn’t have to be this way.

PRINTING United was a big success last October in Dallas. Part of this success was in achieving the unity suggested within the title of the event. NAPCO Media and SGIA combined really effectively to achieve a sell-out event and a buzzing show centred around the theme of convergence. But what next? We talked to Executive Vice President of Business Development, Frank Tueckmantel, whom we have known for many years of his plans in his new role at NAPCO Media, the sector ahead of the events move to Atlanta as the team take the event format onto another level.

I recently caught up with Dorinda Gibbons who is Director and Owner of Profile Recruitment Ltd, a specialist recruitment company that has been operating in the field of Digital Inkjet Technology for over 20 years. We find out more about her experience and view of the trends in the industry.

I’ve always been someone who appreciates innovation. I fall into the innovator or early adopter category. I am excited by the potential and the value of exciting new things and I am prepared for it to not be 100 per cent. I accept that to break new grounds, perfection isn’t always the right target or indeed achievable at an early market stage. In this article we focus on FuturePrint partner Memjet and their culture of innovation.

Mark Stephenson is Marketing Product Manager for Jet Press at Fujifilm. In this interview, Mark speaks to Karis Coppabout challenges and opportunities in the commercial print market, why digital packaging growth remains subdued, and how the Jet Press outshines the competition even when it comes to traditional print.

Guy Newcombe is CEO at Archipelago Technology, which develops print solutions unique to areas such as adhesives and coatings. In this interview, we look at the fundamental environmental and efficiency needs that Archipelago’s technology is resolving, the importance of listening to what customers want, and how Guy’s years of experience in inkjet has shaped both his leadership style and Archipelago’s business model.

In 2019, Simon Roberts joined Integration Technology as Managing Director. Integration Technology has been very much part of the development of inkjet with their pioneering UV curing technology being a key component technology enabling the rise of inkjet printing. Based near Oxford in the UK, since 2015 Integration Technology has been part of the IST METZ Group. This enables Integration Technology and IST together to offer the world’s largest portfolio of UV curing solutions. Integration Technology serves the industry’s OEMs, integrators and system developers supported by offices in Europe, USA, South America and Asia. In this interview we talk to Simon about his experience, his view of the market and what the future holds for Integration Technology, inkjet, UV curing and LED.

According to the Future of Inkjet Survey 2020, conducted by FM Future in partnership with Ricoh, confidence that we have in the future growth of our (inkjet) technology remains high. This is really positive of course. But this has been the case for some time now. Yet has inkjet really penetrated into new markets and matched the expectations we had for growth back in 2014?

Genevieve Lewis is editor of monthly trade publications Print Monthly and SignLink. In this interview, she talks about the industry’s surprises and delights, current trends, and how we can build a better future for print, as well as a look ahead to this year’s Print Show, and new co-located event The Sign Show.

Kristin Adams is Marketing Manager at Kao Collins. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kao Collins has a strong track record of innovation in inkjet inks and has played an integral role in the growth of inkjet in the US and worldwide. Since 1990, the company has introduced innovative ink solutions enabling customers and OEMs to reduce costs, increase productivity, and expand offerings into various markets such as graphics, commercial print, packaging, labelling, textiles, and consumer products. In this interview, we talk to Kristin about her experience, her view of inkjet, marketing and the issues, challenges and opportunities for new market growth.

Staying safe during turbulent times is appealing.

But sheltering in the safe harbour, while it may be reassuring is hugely limiting. What are you going to do when the storm eventually comes your way?

There’s no hiding from change, so it’s best to confront it or flow with it, or at the very least set a course forward.

Any sailor will tell you that once you’ve set a course, there will be a whole set of adjustments and adaptions you’ll have to put in place on the way. Very few voyages go to plan. Yet to fail to even try is the worst strategy of all. Often what restricts progress is fear of the unknown.

2020 is a big year for Print Tech! So we are delighted to announce our FuturePrint Tech Partners for 2020 who are going to be sharing some inspiring and interesting content throughout the year. The objective is to collaboratively to grow the FuturePrint community and help to connect innovative print tech people with new opportunities in new markets.

Phil Jackman is Global Product Manager for Digital at Sun Chemical and I caught up with him after the InPrint Show to give his roundup of 2019 and a projection for 2020.

Often, an innovative technology takes far longer than we expect and hope to take effect. Sometimes it can take decades. There are plenty of past inventions that were ahead of their time. Think of the Sinclair C5, which was launched in the 1980s, then look at the Tesla. Obviously the TESLA looks fantastic next to the C5! The point is the concept was similar but the ‘time’ was different. Read on for more.