04.11.17
A record number of visitors attended the 3rd edition of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017. The four-day event, which took place March 28-31 in Belgium, attracted more than 800 unique international visitors. It featured well-attended and thought provoking business and technical conferences as well as live production of more than 30 key digital print applications.
The event also provided an opportunity to view end-to-end solutions from more than 40 industry suppliers. The Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations is a platform offered by Xeikon and its Aura partners, offering the opportunity to understand, evaluate and experience digital production, and enabling printers and converters to consciously make a business decision. Through demonstrations, presentations, workshops and discussions, participants receive first-hand actionable information and advice on industry innovations and trends.
“Xeikon Cafe was designed to create a relaxed environment where leading-edge technology from Xeikon and our key partners represents all stages of the print production chain. It aims to help visitors identify the best approach to digital production for their businesses and help them clearly see how future developments can support profitable growth,” comments Filip Weymans, Xeikon VP Marketing Digital Print Solutions. “It is always such a pleasure to be able to bring all of the experts together under one roof for the benefit of our customers. We especially thank our speakers and partners for joining us and for sharing their knowledge and expertise with visitors. We are so delighted with how well the event went this year that we have already set the wheels in motion for Xeikon Café 2018.”
Xeikon used this event to announce an important business expansion for the company, its entry into the production inkjet market with Panther UV inkjet technology, and the first product in that family, the PX3000. “We have targeted this production inkjet press at the industrial labels market,” Weymans added, “and Xeikon Café attendees were the first to see it in action, to rave reviews. Panther technology and the PX3000 is the result of Xeikon’s many years of experience in the label industry and our desire to take our product offerings in this space to the next level. Our acquisition by the Flint Group has made it possible for us to take this important next step.”
Highlights of the Business Conference included an energetic keynote presentation by Rafi Albo from Segmarketing. He showcased some inspirational and creative ways print can be used as part of truly engaging campaigns in a way that makes print interactive. Other speakers, including industry experts Kevin Karstedt (Karstedt Partners) and Sean Smyth (Smithers Pira), covered diverse topics such as important market trends, brand protection, mixing conventional and digital in a hybrid production mode, developing a successful approach to short-run printing, and more. The Technical Conference included deep-dive sessions covering a wide range of topics, from beverage cup production and flexible packaging to durable, wraparound and pharma self-adhesive labels. Ghent Workgroup PDF standards were also discussed with the audience. All the latest news, post-event reports and images can be found at www.xeikoncafe.com as well as on social media channels with the hashtag #XC17.
What visitors had to say
“We are a flexo house looking to buy our first digital printing press with offline finishing. I have been researching this for a year. I had many questions and I attended to get answers. There is a lot of information readily available at Xeikon Café from Xeikon and its many partners, and that has helped me get the information I need," said Andrzej Lyczkowski, Drukarina Franczak, Poland
Mimouni Abdelhamed, Magicom, Algeria, commented: “We bought a Xeikon 3030 this month, and it is our first digital press. I attended Xeikon Café to see what the possibilities are. I am interested in finishing options and the materials we can run. I think Xeikon Café is a very nice idea, especially with the many partners we can talk to.”
“It has been very interesting. We came to look at digital print and learn more about what Xeikon is doing. Some of the partners are very interesting as well, and we liked the die-cutting technology which is a very new for us," said Luis Amozarrain of Spain's Igamo Packaging.
“We were keen to learn more about the new Xeikon PX3000 UV inkjet press. It was very interesting for us to see this new development. We already work with Xeikon, but there are many new things we wanted to learn about. Attending the Xeikon Café was very important for us. It also gave us the opportunity to meet new partners," said George Laudis, CS LabelPrint, Greece
Added Lars Kjaerholm, LabelCo, Denmark, “It was my first time at Xeikon Café, and I think it is a cool event. I was interested in the special solutions and wanted to look at the opportunities for digital labelling. I was also excited to see the new UV inkjet system. It is a new player in the market, and it was definitely something I wanted to look at to see if it is a potential fit for us,"
“This is my second time at Xeikon Café, and last time we bought our first Xeikon – a 3300. We wanted to know more about the different applications we could produce. We especially wanted to find out about cup forming. We are already selling the cups, and we want to manufacture them in short to medium runs. We didn’t realise there would be so many areas to investigate. It is now a mini-exhibition. That is a bonus," concluded Keith Hamilton, James Hamilton Group, Northern Ireland
Participating partners
Taking part of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017 to showcase integrated solutions were: AB Graphic International Ltd, Actega Terra GmbH, Advanced Track and Trace, AGFA Graphics, Avery Dennison, AVT, Bograma, Brotech Graphics Co., Ltd, Cartes, CERM, CHILI Publish, Diamond Photofoil Limited, Esko, Flint Group Flexographic Products, Flint Group Narrow Web, Flint Group Sheetfed, Grafisk Maskinfabrik, Grafotronic AB, Highcon Systems Ltd., Hybrid Software NV, Iggesund Paperboard, Label Traxx, Lake Image Systems Ltd, Meech International, Metsä Board, Michelman, OneVision Software AG, Rietstack, Scodix, Sei S.p.A., Smag Graphique, Stora Enso, ThermoFlexX, Treofan Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Tresu Group, Tronics, UPM Raflatac, Xeikon, Yupo Europe GmbH, Zanders and Zünd Systemtechnik AG.
The event also provided an opportunity to view end-to-end solutions from more than 40 industry suppliers. The Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations is a platform offered by Xeikon and its Aura partners, offering the opportunity to understand, evaluate and experience digital production, and enabling printers and converters to consciously make a business decision. Through demonstrations, presentations, workshops and discussions, participants receive first-hand actionable information and advice on industry innovations and trends.
“Xeikon Cafe was designed to create a relaxed environment where leading-edge technology from Xeikon and our key partners represents all stages of the print production chain. It aims to help visitors identify the best approach to digital production for their businesses and help them clearly see how future developments can support profitable growth,” comments Filip Weymans, Xeikon VP Marketing Digital Print Solutions. “It is always such a pleasure to be able to bring all of the experts together under one roof for the benefit of our customers. We especially thank our speakers and partners for joining us and for sharing their knowledge and expertise with visitors. We are so delighted with how well the event went this year that we have already set the wheels in motion for Xeikon Café 2018.”
Xeikon used this event to announce an important business expansion for the company, its entry into the production inkjet market with Panther UV inkjet technology, and the first product in that family, the PX3000. “We have targeted this production inkjet press at the industrial labels market,” Weymans added, “and Xeikon Café attendees were the first to see it in action, to rave reviews. Panther technology and the PX3000 is the result of Xeikon’s many years of experience in the label industry and our desire to take our product offerings in this space to the next level. Our acquisition by the Flint Group has made it possible for us to take this important next step.”
Highlights of the Business Conference included an energetic keynote presentation by Rafi Albo from Segmarketing. He showcased some inspirational and creative ways print can be used as part of truly engaging campaigns in a way that makes print interactive. Other speakers, including industry experts Kevin Karstedt (Karstedt Partners) and Sean Smyth (Smithers Pira), covered diverse topics such as important market trends, brand protection, mixing conventional and digital in a hybrid production mode, developing a successful approach to short-run printing, and more. The Technical Conference included deep-dive sessions covering a wide range of topics, from beverage cup production and flexible packaging to durable, wraparound and pharma self-adhesive labels. Ghent Workgroup PDF standards were also discussed with the audience. All the latest news, post-event reports and images can be found at www.xeikoncafe.com as well as on social media channels with the hashtag #XC17.
What visitors had to say
“We are a flexo house looking to buy our first digital printing press with offline finishing. I have been researching this for a year. I had many questions and I attended to get answers. There is a lot of information readily available at Xeikon Café from Xeikon and its many partners, and that has helped me get the information I need," said Andrzej Lyczkowski, Drukarina Franczak, Poland
Mimouni Abdelhamed, Magicom, Algeria, commented: “We bought a Xeikon 3030 this month, and it is our first digital press. I attended Xeikon Café to see what the possibilities are. I am interested in finishing options and the materials we can run. I think Xeikon Café is a very nice idea, especially with the many partners we can talk to.”
“It has been very interesting. We came to look at digital print and learn more about what Xeikon is doing. Some of the partners are very interesting as well, and we liked the die-cutting technology which is a very new for us," said Luis Amozarrain of Spain's Igamo Packaging.
“We were keen to learn more about the new Xeikon PX3000 UV inkjet press. It was very interesting for us to see this new development. We already work with Xeikon, but there are many new things we wanted to learn about. Attending the Xeikon Café was very important for us. It also gave us the opportunity to meet new partners," said George Laudis, CS LabelPrint, Greece
Added Lars Kjaerholm, LabelCo, Denmark, “It was my first time at Xeikon Café, and I think it is a cool event. I was interested in the special solutions and wanted to look at the opportunities for digital labelling. I was also excited to see the new UV inkjet system. It is a new player in the market, and it was definitely something I wanted to look at to see if it is a potential fit for us,"
“This is my second time at Xeikon Café, and last time we bought our first Xeikon – a 3300. We wanted to know more about the different applications we could produce. We especially wanted to find out about cup forming. We are already selling the cups, and we want to manufacture them in short to medium runs. We didn’t realise there would be so many areas to investigate. It is now a mini-exhibition. That is a bonus," concluded Keith Hamilton, James Hamilton Group, Northern Ireland
Participating partners
Taking part of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017 to showcase integrated solutions were: AB Graphic International Ltd, Actega Terra GmbH, Advanced Track and Trace, AGFA Graphics, Avery Dennison, AVT, Bograma, Brotech Graphics Co., Ltd, Cartes, CERM, CHILI Publish, Diamond Photofoil Limited, Esko, Flint Group Flexographic Products, Flint Group Narrow Web, Flint Group Sheetfed, Grafisk Maskinfabrik, Grafotronic AB, Highcon Systems Ltd., Hybrid Software NV, Iggesund Paperboard, Label Traxx, Lake Image Systems Ltd, Meech International, Metsä Board, Michelman, OneVision Software AG, Rietstack, Scodix, Sei S.p.A., Smag Graphique, Stora Enso, ThermoFlexX, Treofan Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Tresu Group, Tronics, UPM Raflatac, Xeikon, Yupo Europe GmbH, Zanders and Zünd Systemtechnik AG.
