The Fifth International Printing and Packaging Exhibition Technoprint 2013 held in April, at the Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre ended successfully. The show was sponsored by the Prime Minister Hisham Qandil and minister of state for local development, Mohammad Al Besher. The event was opened by Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh. The event saw the participation of several local and international companies including Xerox, Canon, Heidelberg, Agfa and Kodak through their local agents Xerox Egypt, DigiPro, Youssef Allam Group, Ahmad Mougeb and Sidhom respectively. A range of other companies in almost all sectors of graphic arts from prepress to finishing also showcased their products and services.
The organizer of the show was Printing Industries Cooperative. Ahmad Atef the chairman of the cooperative said that the current edition of Technoprint aims to complete the series of successful shows that they have had since 2006. “Undoubtedly, exhibitions are the best marketing tool, which creates an ideal platform for both the customers and producers to meet, to discuss the industry trends. Our effort is to make an impact on more than 200 local and international exhibitors from the packaging and advertising industry and also offer fresh opportunities for growth to people involved in world of graphic arts in Egypt and neighbouring countries,” added Atef.
Xerox
Xerox Egypt, a major player in Egyptian market since 1978 believes that such exhibitions contribute to the national economy by attracting foreign investors, a need of the hour. The company showcased Xerox J75 and C75 designed for printing books and marketing material. Other equipment on display includes, Xerox Colour 560 and Xerox D125 for monochrome applications. Speaking on the occasion Wael Sedki, Head of Graphic Sales Sector in Xerox Egypt said “The importance of investing in IT solutions and digital printing is to create new business opportunities and attract customers. Several new tools from Xerox, such as Automated Colour Quality Suite (ACQS) which brings automation to an operator’s colour calibration, advanced custom profiling, and in some cases spot colour calibration help our customers to achieve that.”
He added further, “Although the printing industry was adversely affected by the unrest in Egypt, but it is stable now and we are expecting a constant growth in the industry because there is demand for printed paper in Egypt. Apart from this, companies realize that today it is significant to invest in the production of marketing goods and advertising to attract customers.”
Canon Middle East, also participated in the event through DigiPro, its newly appointed partner for its office imaging products (OIP) business in Egypt.
“Canon is committed to providing the highest standards of support in the Professional Print industry and is a trusted partner to its customers helping them drive profitable business performance through continued understanding of the needs of their customers. Through our participation, we will help Egyptian customers to grow their business by acquiring new applications, expanding into new markets and also generate more revenue from existing clients,” said Naoshi Yamada, Deputy Managing Director, Canon Middle East.
Canon’s participation reinforces the company’s strategic approach to expand its professional print business in Egypt. During the event, DigiPro showcased a range of Canon applications including print solutions for books and manuals, automated collateral fulfilment, direct marketing, medical applications, photo printing, quick print and trans promo opportunities.
“Technoprint has become a major event for the Egyptian print industry and one that Canon Middle East eagerly anticipates. Through our newly appointed partner DigiPro, Canon showcased its strongest line-up of products as one of the main sponsors at this year’s event underlining our commitment to the Egyptian professional print market,” said Hendrik Verbrugghe, marketing director, Canon Middle East.
Commenting on the participation, Yasser Al Mattarawi, board member, DigiPro said: “Canon is known for consistently developing superior professional print technology products, solutions and business development tools that help professional printers to evolve their businesses. As one of the main sponsors of the show, we showcased vertical market turnkey Canon solutions and new ideas for print applications based on our understanding of our customer’s needs and our commitment to adding real value to their business.”
DigiPro which also represents Fujifilm showed for the first time showcase Jet press, Fuji’s flagship B2 digital press. The machine is targeted at commercial printers and has a maximum speed of 2700 sheets per hour. Jetpress was first introduced in drupe 2008 but has not been commercially launched. DigiPro also put on display a variety of products from different manufacturers including finishing equipment from German company Nagel and Italian manufacturer CMC as well as label printing machine from FFEI.
Bobst participated for the third time in the show. The company was located in hall 5, stand number 152. According to the company Bobst sees Technoprint as a platform to strengthen its position in Egypt, to maintain cordial relations with customers, present cutting-edge technologies and show them how to move towards “Zero-Fault Packaging”.
Bobst presented a series of products from its existing lines and services, designed to bring customers closer to a world of zero-faults, low waste and high productivity. Bobst claims its equipment prevents the delivery of defective packaging as well as improves the quality in packaging and printing. The solutions offered by Bobst includes Hotfoiling, embossing, Braille, the possibility to use cutting edge new materials in packaging (plastic, litho-laminated to list a few) and much more.
During the show the company also promoted its after sales services such as “Helpline Plus” which is used to connect Bobst experts to the machine in order to identify and solve problems. Other maintenance systems from Bobst include Remote Monitoring, Plasma Treater, Waste Stripper and Oil cleaner
Youssef Allam Group says their participation in the show was a success. The show was an ideal platform for the company to present itself not only as an offset equipment supplier but as a major player in digital printing market and automated workflow.
The company showed the latest Heidelberg’s digital printing offering, Linoprint 901 The machine is equipped with Inline finishing capabilities. Allam also put on display finishing equipment from Polar and Stahl. But the major surprise was Primera cutting machine which Allam premiered during the show.
Given the conditions in Egypt of utter confusion in the Printing industry, Youssef Allam believes that there will be decrease in the printed publication, thus pushing the industry towards digital printing. Meanwhile, offset printing will continue to top the charts in the packaging Industry of Egypt.
Technoprint Website: http://www.technoprintexpo.com/
