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
QuadTech Technology Focuses on Quality
The company QuadTech designs and manufactures control systems for various sectors including commercial, newspaper, packaging and publication gravure. Hemant Desai, General Manager of QuadTech branch in India while participating at Gulf Print and Pack observed that the show was better than previous years. “We received many quality visitors at our stand this time and overall we had good response.”
Hemant said that QuadTech has so far done over 343 installations in Africa and Middle East together, and that it has over 80% market share in press controls and 90% market share in flexible packaging market. “Our press control systems help in quality management, consistency of print management and wastage reduction. Our equipment are supplied by press manufacturers to the end customers, which mean that about 80% of our sales are done through press manufacturers.”
Hemant mentioned that QuadTech controls systems are used by major press manufacturers such as GOSS and Manugraph. “Our products are continuously upgraded and are made compatible to work with the latest technology, software or be it the latest communication software. When we started operation in 1993, ours was just a technical office support and since then we have emerged to provide service and support to a wide geographical area. Almost 60% of our staff consists of technical experts and our equipments can be controlled and monitored remotely, which makes us accessible from anywhere.”
Techkon GmbH based in Germany manufactures opto-electronic measuring devices for the printing industry and supplies densitometers, colour measurement systems and software solutions for application in pre-press and print.
Albin Baranauskas, managing director of the company while talking to ME Printer said that this year they received more visitors than expected. “At Gulf Print and Pack we saw many visitors who were interested to know more about the tools for quality measurement and quality control. We met both new and existing customers and we felt that the awareness for quality control products have risen in the region.”
When asked about the solutions exhibited by them at the show, he said, “We showed instruments for quality control used in the print industry, densitometers, spectrophotometers and everything that you need to check the whole workflow system.”
Albin observed that the Middle East market is becoming more and more important for the company. “Since the last Gulf Print and Pack show, which was held in the year 2011, we could triple our turnover in this market. That was the major reason which made us come back to the show.GPP is more of an international show now as it attracts people from all over the Middle East, from Africa and even countries like Georgia and Armenia. In the coming months we will be collecting the leads that we received from the show and will be following up them with the customers and also with the dealers in the respective region.”
Print Enhancement Solutions by E+L
Erhardt + Leimer Company based in Germany provides customized solutions for web control, web guiding and spreading, web tension measurement and control, cutting technology, measuring and inspection technology as well as print image monitoring. Talking to ME Printer, Dirk Schröder, sales division manager – paper/film division of the company observed that shows like Gulf Print and Pack give them an opportunity to exhibit their latest innovations and products.
“Our main purpose behind attending the show was to make ourselves more familiar in this region. The Middle East region is becoming an interesting place to trade and we got the chance to meet many potential customers during the show. By participating in such exhibitions, regional dealers and visitors will come to know more about the service and products that we offer and as a company it’s also important for us to identify the big companies here,” said Dirk.
He also commented that in future the show timings need to be adjusted in such a manner that more visitors can attend the exhibition. Talking about the range of companies that make use of their solutions, Dirk said, “Companies that use our products include Gallus in label printing, manroland in offset along with a big number of Chinese companies and many OEMs in Germany and America.”
MBO to Focus in Niche Markets
MBO has been providing book binding and finishing solutions for more than 40 years now. The MBO group today (which comprises MBO, MBO Digital and Herzog and Heymann) offers a wide range of solutions and products including folding machines, thread sealing machines, cross-cutters, plow-fold devices, un-winders, pile deliveries, mailing and gluing systems and other machinery and accessories for various print applications. Dieter Adam, area sales manager of the group while attending Gulf Print and Pack said to ME Printer that exhibitions worldwide are losing their appeal due to the shrinkage of market space. “Companies now prefer to have direct contact with their customers, and many of them conduct customer meets like open houses, which helps them to engage with their customers more freely and at a lesser cost.”
Dieter said that the market conditions in the Middle East are better than before and there is potential for the print industry to grow in the region. Explaining about their services, he said, “MBO is trying to set its foothold in niche markets. Our machines are built according to customer specifications and they are trusted by our customers because it is reliable, stable, has quality and needs less maintenance and service.”
The company distributes through Dynagraph in the region and supplies a full range of products and components for the finishing area. Talking about his experience at Gulf Print and Pack, Dieter said, “I am here to meet all our customers and those of Dynagraph and to share with them the latest information about MBO and its products. Participating in shows like this is a great learning experience, as it gives me the chance to interact with various companies and customers alike. We listen very carefully to the market changes and have always tried to maintain our product portfolio according to market demands.”
Capturing The Market For Used Equipment
This year UPEX – the used equipment exhibition specialist brought along a range of used equipment dealers from various countries. According to Mike Steele director of UPEX two American dealers were signed up to be in the show; however they cancelled at the last moment. Maybe they thought the environment is too hostile! Who knows? The point is that with the used equipment market in Europe and US stagnant, Middle East is a growth area.
Allaoui Printing Service from Germany had one of the biggest stands among used equipment dealers. Ammar Allaoui, Managing Director of the company, was quite upbeat about the show proceedings. Talking to ME Printer and sharing his opinion about the show he said, “The show paved way for networking and to get connected with people. We met a lot of decision makers at the show and the exhibition was a good opportunity for us to reach out to the industry. “
He added, “We were able to seal some deals during the show, especially from Libya. It was the first deal that we had done after the revolution in the country. We also got the opportunity to meet many clients from parts like Africa and were able to renew our relationship with them. An interesting trend that I could observe was the increasing enquiry for packaging equipments.”
Talking about the trends in the used equipment market, Ammar said, “Lot of printers have now found reliable partners in the used equipment sector; from where they can make sure that they receive better after sale service. Of late, printers have realized that the best way to save money is by investing in ‘quite a new’ used equipment. According to me the best market to sell used equipments is Europe.”
Ammar added, “Communication and trust is very important in this trade. We sell all over the world and have clients in more than 30 countries. In areas like the Middle East we are the top sellers, as we can better understand this market. Here people are hungry for service and we offer them complete support even after the machine is sold. Allaoui is the only European dealer with two locations in GCC; one in Dubai and the other in Jeddah. With our range of machines and services, we help customers by upgrading their existing fleet or adding to it.”
Chairman of GPP says with 15% increase in number of visitors, the show proved to be a real success
Roger Pellow, chairman of Gulf Print & Pack is upbeat about the Gulf Print & Pack 2013 results. Following the conclusion of the exhibition he said, “We would like to thank everyone involved including gold sponsor Canon, the exhibitors and our media partners for their continued support and contribution in making 2013’s show the biggest and best yet. The level and quality of this year’s unprecedented attendance has been exceptional and the show was phenomenally busy across all four days resulting in a lot of business being conducted right up to the closing minutes. With the region’s growing industry and increasing sophistication we expect an even more successful show in 2015.”
Pellow, whose group Tarsus runs shows all over the world believes that running a show in the Middle East is quite unique in many ways. Pellow maintains that diversity of ethnic groups in Dubai is truly amazing and attracting these groups to the show is also more challenging than in countries such as India or China for example. “Here you don’t have the volume of the visitors you’ll see in the exhibition floor elsewhere in the world but there is a constant flow of quality visitors. Having said that, this year the show reported a 14.9% increase on 2011’s edition with 9,408 key industry professionals visiting the four day show. We are the only truly print show in GCC and we cover packaging and commercial printing, which also includes digital technology,” adds Pellow. The chairman of Gulf Print and Pack strongly rejects the notion that exhibitions are a thing of the past in the age of Internet. “People buy people and not the technology. You never buy technology from somebody you don’t like. Exhibition is a place where you get a variety of products under a roof and you find the opportunity to meet face to face with many suppliers. It’s like a supermarket with a whole range of products to choose from. Exhibitions are here to stay. ” concludes Pellow.
