John Penhallow11.20.15
It is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the label world were riveted on Brussels during the recent Labelexpo Europe show. The
Razzmatazz does seem to fit well into the corporate culture at Iwasaki. This Japanese press maker exhibited at the very first Brussels label show back in 1985, and has remained faithful ever since, while always keeping a profile so low you have to bend down to see it. Iwasaki’s narrow web presses are all semi-rotary, and at this year’s show visitors could see two presses, a flexo and a waterless offset. Jacob Shushei Fukuda explained to your correspondent that their business in Japan was mainly in letterpress, but that the waterless offset model has been proving popular, with over 50 units sold worldwide. Asked for the reasons for this success, Fukuda quoted the famous argument in favor of waterless (“no need to get ink/water balance”) and added that the Iwasaki press could print on all substrates and offered a longer life and easier operation than competing presses. These advantages are confirmed by Laurent Gremmel of SMAG which represents the Japanese company in France. The machines are first-rate with an excellent quality/price ratio, he says, but he feels the parent company could pay more attention to its marketing support in Europe.
Foiled by a Rhino
Another exhibitor anxious to break out into world markets is Pantec. Hot foiling and embossing are expensive, and this Swiss company has perfected a flat-bed semi-rotary foiling unit which can be used on rotary or semi-rotary presses. Pantec is a small company and the “Rhino” foiling/embossing unit is very much CEO Peter Frei’s baby. He explains, “Foiling generally slows down the whole line, so when I tell converters that our ‘Rhino’ runs at up to 300 feet per minute with significant foil saving, they don’t need much convincing. We’ve sold 60 units since we launched in 2010, mainly in Switzerland and Germany, and we’re now reaching out to other world markets.”
How not to lose your shirt
A few months ago readers of this column may remember the story of an American investor who visited a tire factory in France which was up for sale, and after looking at French labor laws and French unions, remarked (more or less) that he wouldn’t buy a plant in France even if it were offered to him for free on a silver platter with a sprig of parsley. Turning the knife in the wound, Europe’s newspapers and televisions were recently filled with pictures of Air France’s managers losing their shirts (literally) in a running scuffle with union representatives. Not very gentlemanly. Not good publicity. So here’s another story with a slightly different twist. During a conference in Vienna, your correspondent spoke to Mr. Thirawit Leetavorn, executive vice president of Double A, one of Asia’s leading fine paper manufacturers. Double A had for several years been looking for a chance to invest in Europe, and when the Alizay mill in France, formerly owned by M-Real, closed down in October of 2011, this Thai-based group expressed an interest. France, Leetavorn said, was an unlikely choice given its unfortunate reputation of being hostile to foreign investments. “However, the Alizay mill had been closed for several years when we decided that it could be what we were looking for,” he said. “Most of our group’s mills are in industrial zones near major cities and it was a new experience for Double A to take on a facility which is the main employer of a small town. But we need not have worried. We hired 175 people, nearly all local and mostly former employees of M-Real. On the day before the official opening of the plant, the staff was there until after midnight making sure that everything was ready. So far I’ve no complaints about the business climate in France. The mill is highly productive, the quality is excellent, and we will soon start exporting not just to other parts of Europe, but also Africa and America.” Unquote. So there you have it, maybe the future of Europe is not so black as it’s painted.
A touch of Lingo-centricity
In terms of ease of doing business, the ranking as calculated by the World Bank, though often contested, is probably as good a guide as any, and clearly points any potential investor or entrepreneur towards Britain and to the four Scandinavian countries, all of which figure in the top ten worldwide (the US ranks seventh). It is also relevant, though not included in the World Bank’s analysis, that the “attractive” European countries, i.e. mainly the Northern European ones, are also the ones where most people speak English. However much the Spanish, the Italians and (in particular) the French may disapprove, English has become Europe’s lingua franca. Top slot in the World Bank listing is still Singapore (also with many English-speakers). At the other end of the scale, in case you are interested, Libya and Eritrea vie for the wooden spoon.
How not to conquer European markets
Weifang Donghang, a Chinese press manufacturer, showed at Labelexpo two narrow web flexo presses, servo-motorized and with IR/UV drying units, cold-stamping and diecutting units. The company has a whole slew of quality certificates including ISO 9001 and sells, as your correspondent was told, 2,000 presses per year. However, Weifang has no agents or distributors outside China, and the success of its investment in a booth at Labelexpo, alas, can be judged by this photo (at left), taken at 11 AM on the third day of the show.
A Trojan workhorse
One of the more pricey presses at the show, available from an old-established and highly reputable Swiss manufacturer, was on offer for a whisker under $2 million. Many visitors had a more modest budget, and for them the young Danish company Trojan had a lot to offer. Founded just over two years ago, the company makes digital label presses selling for a modest $44,000. Of course, you get what you pay for, and of course several other people offer digital presses in the same price range, but one thing is uncontested: at Labelexpo the Trojans attracted the kind of crowds that haven’t often been seen since the days of Agamemnon. In a post-show announcement, CEO Mikkel Wichmann said thirty presses were sold during the four-day show, bringing the total up to almost 100 since this model was launched in Chicago last year. This Danish company, according to Wichmann, can offer exceptional value for the money in part because of its production facilities in China. He had better be wary if the next delivery from China includes...a horse.
major exhibitors are covered extensively in this issue of L&NW, but the show contained many other innovations, some of them surprising, on the booths of smaller or less well-known companies. Take Werosys, for instance. Their finishing equipment stood out at the show partly because it is all painted in very bright orange, so bright it hurts the eyes, particularly after a late night. Werosys was founded in 2003 by Bjarke Gerdes-Nielsen, the son of the founder of (better-known) GM Maskinfabrik, and was one of a many smaller companies showing finishing equipment. In the case of Werosys, the leitmotif is “intelligent converting” of digitally printed labels. The rewinding and other finishing equipment shown at Labelexpo Europe looked immensely solid, and this robustness is, so Gerdes-Nielsen says, combined with intelligent software from Belgium-based CERM.Razzmatazz does seem to fit well into the corporate culture at Iwasaki. This Japanese press maker exhibited at the very first Brussels label show back in 1985, and has remained faithful ever since, while always keeping a profile so low you have to bend down to see it. Iwasaki’s narrow web presses are all semi-rotary, and at this year’s show visitors could see two presses, a flexo and a waterless offset. Jacob Shushei Fukuda explained to your correspondent that their business in Japan was mainly in letterpress, but that the waterless offset model has been proving popular, with over 50 units sold worldwide. Asked for the reasons for this success, Fukuda quoted the famous argument in favor of waterless (“no need to get ink/water balance”) and added that the Iwasaki press could print on all substrates and offered a longer life and easier operation than competing presses. These advantages are confirmed by Laurent Gremmel of SMAG which represents the Japanese company in France. The machines are first-rate with an excellent quality/price ratio, he says, but he feels the parent company could pay more attention to its marketing support in Europe.
Foiled by a Rhino
Another exhibitor anxious to break out into world markets is Pantec. Hot foiling and embossing are expensive, and this Swiss company has perfected a flat-bed semi-rotary foiling unit which can be used on rotary or semi-rotary presses. Pantec is a small company and the “Rhino” foiling/embossing unit is very much CEO Peter Frei’s baby. He explains, “Foiling generally slows down the whole line, so when I tell converters that our ‘Rhino’ runs at up to 300 feet per minute with significant foil saving, they don’t need much convincing. We’ve sold 60 units since we launched in 2010, mainly in Switzerland and Germany, and we’re now reaching out to other world markets.”
How not to lose your shirt
A few months ago readers of this column may remember the story of an American investor who visited a tire factory in France which was up for sale, and after looking at French labor laws and French unions, remarked (more or less) that he wouldn’t buy a plant in France even if it were offered to him for free on a silver platter with a sprig of parsley. Turning the knife in the wound, Europe’s newspapers and televisions were recently filled with pictures of Air France’s managers losing their shirts (literally) in a running scuffle with union representatives. Not very gentlemanly. Not good publicity. So here’s another story with a slightly different twist. During a conference in Vienna, your correspondent spoke to Mr. Thirawit Leetavorn, executive vice president of Double A, one of Asia’s leading fine paper manufacturers. Double A had for several years been looking for a chance to invest in Europe, and when the Alizay mill in France, formerly owned by M-Real, closed down in October of 2011, this Thai-based group expressed an interest. France, Leetavorn said, was an unlikely choice given its unfortunate reputation of being hostile to foreign investments. “However, the Alizay mill had been closed for several years when we decided that it could be what we were looking for,” he said. “Most of our group’s mills are in industrial zones near major cities and it was a new experience for Double A to take on a facility which is the main employer of a small town. But we need not have worried. We hired 175 people, nearly all local and mostly former employees of M-Real. On the day before the official opening of the plant, the staff was there until after midnight making sure that everything was ready. So far I’ve no complaints about the business climate in France. The mill is highly productive, the quality is excellent, and we will soon start exporting not just to other parts of Europe, but also Africa and America.” Unquote. So there you have it, maybe the future of Europe is not so black as it’s painted.
A touch of Lingo-centricity
In terms of ease of doing business, the ranking as calculated by the World Bank, though often contested, is probably as good a guide as any, and clearly points any potential investor or entrepreneur towards Britain and to the four Scandinavian countries, all of which figure in the top ten worldwide (the US ranks seventh). It is also relevant, though not included in the World Bank’s analysis, that the “attractive” European countries, i.e. mainly the Northern European ones, are also the ones where most people speak English. However much the Spanish, the Italians and (in particular) the French may disapprove, English has become Europe’s lingua franca. Top slot in the World Bank listing is still Singapore (also with many English-speakers). At the other end of the scale, in case you are interested, Libya and Eritrea vie for the wooden spoon.
How not to conquer European markets
Weifang Donghang, a Chinese press manufacturer, showed at Labelexpo two narrow web flexo presses, servo-motorized and with IR/UV drying units, cold-stamping and diecutting units. The company has a whole slew of quality certificates including ISO 9001 and sells, as your correspondent was told, 2,000 presses per year. However, Weifang has no agents or distributors outside China, and the success of its investment in a booth at Labelexpo, alas, can be judged by this photo (at left), taken at 11 AM on the third day of the show.
A Trojan workhorse
One of the more pricey presses at the show, available from an old-established and highly reputable Swiss manufacturer, was on offer for a whisker under $2 million. Many visitors had a more modest budget, and for them the young Danish company Trojan had a lot to offer. Founded just over two years ago, the company makes digital label presses selling for a modest $44,000. Of course, you get what you pay for, and of course several other people offer digital presses in the same price range, but one thing is uncontested: at Labelexpo the Trojans attracted the kind of crowds that haven’t often been seen since the days of Agamemnon. In a post-show announcement, CEO Mikkel Wichmann said thirty presses were sold during the four-day show, bringing the total up to almost 100 since this model was launched in Chicago last year. This Danish company, according to Wichmann, can offer exceptional value for the money in part because of its production facilities in China. He had better be wary if the next delivery from China includes...a horse.