Packaging
The first Digital Summit labeled a huge success
Friday 03. April 2009 - The very first Digital Label Summit from Labelexpo Global Series took place at Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I in Barcelona on 24-25 March.
Attracting 274 delegates from all over Europe and beyond, it has had an enormous amount of positive feedback from label industry representatives who gathered to hear from cross-section of international experts about the latest developments in digital printing – one of the most discussed and fastest developing trends.
There was a packed two-day conference program at the summit, with a wide range of presentations by label printers, brand owners and suppliers. Subjects that were discussed included: combining digital and conventional printing, digital printing as an active tool for brand protection, brand owner requirements, digital print finishing, and the best paper and film substrates.
The summit opened with a very interesting keynote presentation, “Key markets and applications for a digital solution”, delivered by Alon Bar-Shany, Vice President and General Manager of HP Indigo’s Digital Press Division. He offered delegates a comprehensive overview of the key markets and applications for digital solutions covering subjects such as the latest trends for digitally printed labels, making the most of the digital market, the impact of globalization on end user expectations, key figures on the growth of digital technology and solutions, and the latest digital application in tickets, tags and narrow-web flexible packaging.
A number of panel discussions ran throughout the conference and the panelists debated a variety of topics to demonstrate the extensive opportunities offered by digital technology. On the first day a case study entitled “A digital blueprint” was presented focusing on Borble who are the first UK user of the Xeikon 3300 Digital Press. Barry Griffiths (Borble, Managing Director) showed delegates live demonstrations of online digital job quotes from their new website to further indicate how digital is influencing the print shop of the future.
The current economic climate is a hot-topic at the moment in the labeling industry and this was clear from the conversations at the summit. The presentation session “Beating the recession – a digital alternative” was designed to explore the new opportunities that are presenting themselves for printers with short-run, variable printing capabilities and how they can cut costs and add value the digital way, as well as giving examples of businesses that have successfully adopted all-digital business methods. Presentations were given by Jay Dollries, President of Innovative Labeling Solutions, and Steve Smith, President of Lighting Labels in the first half of the session, to give delegates a very informative insight into this issue. The second half of the session comprised of a very popular panel discussion, chaired by Roger Pellow, leading into an interactive Q&A session to open the conversation up to the audience.
Other presentations and panel sessions included:
* Making digital printing an active tool for brand protection: a session chaired by Mike Fairley (Labels Group, Director Strategic Development) looked at digital security and brand protection strategies, future opportunities for anti-counterfeit solutions and how to combine variable data printing and RFID for track and trace solutions.
* How to combine digital and conventional printing within the same plant: presented by Iban Cid (Germark, Managing Director), Jan De Roeck (EskoArtwork, Director of Solutions Management), Jakob Landberg (Nilpeter, Sales and Marketing Director), Isidore Leiser (Stratus Packaging, President), and Katy Nightingale (LabelTraxx UK, Business Development Manager).
* What brand owners require from digital printing: a panel discussion with Paul France (P&G, Global Principal Engineer) and Pau Dueñas (Morillas, Managing Partner) looking at what label buyers and designers expect from label converters offering digital solutions.
* What options are available for converters looking to go digital: this panel included Mark Hanley (IT Strategies, President), Michael W. Atkins (Primera Technology, Inc., Business Development Manager), Aydin Okay (Canpas, President), and Jon Pritchard (Xaar, Product Manager) discussing pre-press and planning considerations, assessing critical factors such as run length and complexity and managing customer expectations.
Commenting of the first Digital Label Summit, Richard De Boissezon, Global Marketing Director of HP Indigo, said: “To get such a high quality of content and high quality of participants underlines the interest level today and the power of digital solutions for the label industry. The summit has proven that digital is something to reckon with.”
Roger Pellow, Labelexpo Managing Director, said: “The first Digital Label Summit from the Labelexpo Global Series has been an enormous success proving that digital really is an important part of the future of the industry. It is great to see established businesses embracing these new technologies and seeing printers and brand owners alike expressing their interest in the opportunities and advantages that printing labels digitally can offer.”