Gulf Print & Pack 2013 – ME Printer Special Coverage
Part One – Industry On The Rebound
Part Two – A Solid Show From Digital Printing Suppliers
Part Three – Packaging is King
Part Four – The Devil is in The Detail
Part Five – Consumables Abound

Canon sells more than 28 imagePRESS PRINTERS

Canon Middle East is celebrating the company’s most successful Gulf Print & Pack participation to date by signing over 16 deals onsite and by having generated more than 600 sales leads during the 4-day biennial event that broke all targets. More than 28 imagePRESS machines were sold at the show, far exceeding expectations. Sales were strong across the full range of production presses, from the imagePRESS C0101, all the way up to the flagship Océ Arizona 480 GT, particularly from markets including UAE, KSA, Lebanon, Egypt and Kenya. 

“We participated at Gulf Print & Pack with high hopes and I’m delighted to report that those hopes have been more than fulfilled.

Over the course of the show we exceeded our targets, with over 103 print systems being sold. By showcasing Canon’s innovative input to output solutions in real-life scenarios, along with a strong array of solutions by our partners, we were also able to illustrate new ways in which customers can enhance their businesses, increase productivity and turnover and develop new markets,” said Hendrik Verbrugghe, Marketing Director, Canon Middle East. 

“Footfall on our stand was consistently high, and visitors came from all over the region to experience how Canon can help them better understand their customers,  which will further act  as a catalyst to accelerate their business growth. We manufacture some very powerful pieces of machinery but the real key to success for our customers is in knowing how to unlock that power and harness its full potential,” added Verbrugghe. 

The theme, ‘Canon understands its customer’s business’ was reflected throughout the various specialised zones of the stand. The focus was on enabling customers to see the bigger picture and the business opportunities it presents, especially in growth areas such as cross media communications.

Nexpress Turns a Hit For Kodak

Kodak participated with new found confidence in the exhibition. The company which is edging close to profitability was recently awarded an extension by US Bankruptcy Court to file a reorganization plan.

In its latest bid to exit bankruptcy protection Kodak is selling some of its document imaging assets to Brother Industries Ltd. The deal’s worth 210 million USD.

Gulf Print and Pack was successful for the American manufacturer. The company sold a number of high end equipment including NexPress, its flagship digital press as well as CTP systems and consumables. Kodak showcased a number of products in its booth nevertheless the star of the show was The KODAK NEXPRESS SX3300 Digital Production Color Press.

The machine on display was equipped with the 5th unit which can be used to print spot colours, as well as gold and pearlescent effects.

Kodak put up a strong show. Earlier the company had announced that it will not participate in IPEX 2014. One way of interpreting Kodak’s strong participation in Gulf Print & Pack 2013 is that Kodak sees more growth opportunity in developing markets including the Middle East.

EFI Defines Presence with Jetrion and VUTEk range

For the first time in the Middle East  EFI showed the Jetrion during the Gulf Print and Pack show. Paul Cripps, vice president and managing director EMEA of the company said that they received very good response from the show. “We sealed some deals during the event and the response from visitors and customers showed us that the market is quite upbeat.”

Expressing his opinion about the recent trends in business, Paul said, “Our business has always replicated the economy of the country it has traded in. EFI offers various products under different categories including industrial inkjet, software and under the Fiery Digital Print solutions. In 2005, when the Fiery business was flat we were able to compensate with the revenue of our industrial inkjet segment. As far as sales, this year we were good on the software side.”

Mentioning about their participation at GPP, Paul said, “We are showing some of our software solutions and also Canon is showing our web submission technology here. We received interesting enquiries from other re-sellers for our software line. I think that software and automation is becoming more and more important in the Middle Eastern markets. The Jetrion 4900 ML with inline finishing and the GS2000 LX printer attracted good crowd and people in this region loved the machines.”

Talking about the annual EFI worldwide user’s conference – EFI Connect- he said, “Connect is for all of our customers, although we didn’t have much pick- up in terms of our Middle East customers. I think that as we continue to develop our software opportunities in the market, the connect program will add more value to our customers in this region. It’s just a matter of time.”

He added, “The Gulf Print and Pack show generated very good response for us though I think that the timings of the show need to be adjusted so that more visitors can attend the event.” This year EFI shared their stand space with partners Saga Digital Jlt and Sarah Manufacturing to showcase their latest products and services. They had representatives from countries like the UK, US, Brussels and Germany to attend visitors and customers.

ETG Scores High and Bags Many Deals

The absence of big players in the show was bad news for some exhibitors however for others including ETG it came as a boon. The company managed to secure numerous deals and booked more than 100 enquiries. Jayaprakash, company’s general manager for sales and marketing says the show was a right choice for the company, because top decision makers formed majority of the visitors.

“We managed to sell more than half dozen equipments during the show.  We have sold 4 Konica Minolta C 8000 presses to Al Sahaba printing press in Bahrain, International Printing Press in Dubai, Al Muntada Al Islami in Sharjah and Expert Print in Dubai. We have also sold one PTR 8600 Screen platesetter to Arabian Impressions in Bahrain. One MGI DP 8700 Excel digital press to Gulf colours in Qatar, one Duplo collator to Quick Copy in Saudi Arabia and the list goes on.”

“We also signed new partnership agreement with MGI as well as Foiltone Limited. MGI is a leading French manufacturer of digital presses and Foiltone manufactures advanced retrofit system for all makes of offset presses. EPP is already using Foiltone products. We are also in discussion with some top flexible package printing manufacturers to represent them in this region. We will soon make an announcement on this following final agreement. We also plan to focus more on packaging, security and digital printing,” comments Prakash and adds that in light of the company’s aggressive expansion, ETG is hiring engineers, sales people as well as print professionals who are looking for challenging opportunities and an exciting career.

OKI Demonstrates Prowess of White Toner

OKI has been a regular participant at Gulf Print and Pack show, and have used the show as a platform to exhibit their latest products and solutions. This year the company showcased their C711 White Toner A4, C920 White Toner A3 and a C910 A3 colour printer at the show. OKI says that the white toner printers are ideal for printing leaflets, labels, POS and displays as well as it caters to the demands of design agencies and buyers of printed products. Live demonstration was held during the event, and visitors got the chance to see the samples being printed on different media types.

“In the past, products have been based on inkjet, dye sublimation or transfer film-ready technologies,” said OKI Middle East General Manager, John Ross. “These have niche applications in areas such as garment decoration or printing proofs for packaging application which are typically expensive both to purchase and maintain and the production time is lengthy.

“The new OKI white toner-based products by contrast are versatile, easy to use and, as there is no drying time required, enable much faster and more cost-effective printing. At the same time, the robust solid print output is just as good as foil blocking, making it a credible in-house solution for a wide range of white print applications.”

Adding inputs about the show Ceirah Hutchison, Marketing Executive, OKI Middle East, India and Africa said, “We received good response from the show, especially for the white toner printers which is a ground breaking technology introduced by OKI to the market. The white toner printers enable small and medium business customers to print high quality prints and at an affordable price, and are suitable for graphic based industries.”

She added, “During the show we received many positive leads and in the coming months we will be following them up with the customers and our distributors. We received customers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Africa, and from across the UAE. We could also see SMB customers, who were seeking methods to print their materials in-house rather than outsourcing it.” OKI exhibited along with Magic Touch this year.

IMPZ Sees Growth Trends in Industry

IMPZ is a regular exhibitor at Gulf Print and Pack and this year is no exception. Saeed al Falasi, IMPZ’s executive director says the demand for offices, warehouses and pre-built units is on the rise. “Things are moving fast. Our business partners want to expand and there are also many new comers. There is more demand for pre-built units. People prefer the plug and play style rather than starting everything from scratch,” comments Falasi.

Falasi also explains that during the recession when the companies were hard hit IMPZ stood by its business partners and now, the companies once again are on upswing and are looking for expansion. “I want to make it clear that we at IMPZ do not consider ourselves as landlords. Our customers are our business partners. More than 70 companies are already operating from IMPZ. They include printers, publishers, PR agencies, event management companies and so on.  We help and encourage them to relocate their offices, or other centres around Dubai and TECOM also assist them to convert their freehold commercial tower license to DED licenses,” maintains Al Falasi

According to Al Falasi IMPZ have been conceived to be a community from the outset and it never really strayed away from this vision. “We already have 6 residential towers in the IMPZ and it is set to grow.  Access to the site has been improved. We are also strategically located. IMPZ is close to Jebel Ali airport. It can cater to the demands of the whole region and beyond. During drupa 2012 we received enquiries even from European companies. Gulf print and pack is also a very good opportunity to show our support to the industry and our partners,” concludes Al Falasi.