The West Yorkshire-based printing company has formulated a method of reverse printing onto a clear, heavy-duty commercial grade flooring material that it imports from the US. “We saw a gap in the market for heavy-duty flooring beyond the usual floor graphics,” explained sales director Martyn Hicks. “It has made a surprisingly big impact. We can see it having appeal for environments such as car showrooms and sporting venues.” The flooring has a 20-year lifespan and is available with checkerplate, dalsouple, or sandstone surface textures. The roll size is 7x3m. It has been used for the floor of the Fespa UK Association stand (D45N) opposites Screenprint Productions’ own stand (D44dN). Screenprint Productions (www.screenprintproductions.com) runs a range of screen printing and digital printing kit, as well as CNC and Kongsberg cutting equipment....

The biggest single order for the roll-to-roll machine was placed by Italian web-to-print house Pixartprinting, which ordered three of the 120m2/hr machines on the opening day. “One of the true innovations of the London exhibition, the world premiered HP Latex 3000 is the solution that we have been searching for a long time,” said Pixartprinting general manager Alessandro Tenderini. Megaprint, based near Oslo, Norway also signed for a 3000 on day one of the show. The installation will be the first in the Nordic region, with the company taking delivery of the 3000 from HP’s booth early next month. “We have always been early adopters of technologies and now that latex is in its ‘industrial phase’ it’s a very interesting technology for us,” said Megaprint founder Sigurd Hammerstad. Initially the 3000 will run alongside Megaprint’s exisiting digital battery, although it may ultimately replace one machine. The company has also been earmarked as a beta site for the the 3000’s mesh kit, which will become commercially available in January. Faber Group signed for its 3000 on day two, with the £230,000 machine destined for the Dutch group’s facility in Wodzislaw Slaski, Poland. The company currently focuses on textile printing, but it said that the 3000 would afford it the flexibility to handle a wider range of substrates. “In addition to the extra industrial capacity and versatility the new printer will give us, we also wanted to pay attention to environmental factors,” said Huib Faber, manager of marketing & communications, Faber Group. “Our experience with our first HP Latex printer was very positive, and the unique combination of more sustainable production, high-quality printing and print speed made us choose the HP Latex 3000.”...

The West Yorkshire-based printing company has formulated a method of reverse printing onto a clear, heavy-duty commercial grade flooring material that it imports from the US. “We saw a gap in the market for heavy-duty flooring beyond the usual floor graphics,” explained sales director Martyn Hicks. “It has made a surprisingly big impact. We can see it having appeal for environments such as car showrooms and sporting venues.” The flooring has a 20-year lifespan and is available with checkerplate, dalsouple, or sandstone surface textures. The roll size is 7x3m. It has been used for the floor of the Fespa UK Association stand (D45N) opposites Screenprint Productions’ own stand (D44dN). Screenprint Productions (www.screenprintproductions.com) runs a range of screen printing and digital printing kit, as well as CNC and Kongsberg cutting equipment....

Systems have been sold to Color System in Sweden, Widecco in Finland and SeyfferCCW in Switzerland. The printer offers a print width of up to 1.6m, a top speed of 66.6m²/hr and resolutions of up to 900dpi. Various technologies ensure smooth operation as well as high-quality prints with smooth colour transitions and sharp details, according to Seiko. ‘The Beauty’ processes roll materials up to a weight of 50 kilograms. Thanks to new low-odour, low-solvent inks in six or seven colours, including grey, the printer can also be used for indoor applications. Seiko sales manager Frank Jänschke is confident of attracting further customers. “We expect further sales of the ColorPainter M-64s here at Fespa,” he said....

Visitors converged on London’s Excel Centre from more than 150 countries with the highest representations coming from the UK, Germany and the US respectively, followed by France, Italy and Spain. Visitors numbers from India and China were also strong. Fujifilm head of communications, Europe Graham Leeson said: “The show has been more international than we thought, with the it being in the UK we did wonder how many people would travel.” For many of the vendors business was swift. Fujifilm sold seven Uvistar’s in the first three days alone beating its target of five. HP also had a strong show with two major product launches and sales in the “millions of Euros”. Director of market development, EMEA GSB Ronen Zioni said the show had exceeded expectations. “Fespa works because it’s focussed, which means that we can focus. So we can first inspire with the applications and then we show how to execute it with technology,” he added. Agfa Europe vice president Frederik Dehing said he was impressed with the show: “It’s been great to see so many different applications. Customers live on applications, that’s what makes it so interesting.” EFI managing director, EMEA Paul Cripps said: “We feel like there is new energy in the marketplace and signs of recovery, and we’re excited about what that potentially means going forward. We feel good about the deals we did and we have a lot to follow up on.” Fespa managing director Neil Felton said: “It’s been an outstanding success and surpassed all of our expectations. We are over the moon. “The only way these shows work is if the exhibitors have success and are happy and from going around the stands and speaking to the vendors it seems as if they have really done well.” Felton said that side exhibitions, including Fespa Fabric and European Sign Expo, had been a success with a number of bookings for the latter already agreed for Fespa Digital 2014, in Munich. Additionally he said that 50% of space for Fespa Munich 2014 had already been allocated and he expected to increase floor space due to demand. It was also announced that HP will sponsor the debut of Fespa Eurasia set to take place in Istanbul on 3-5 October. Meanwhile the show’s glittering gala night played host the to inauguration of Fespa’s 15th president, Augustus Martin joint managing director Lascelle Barrow who took over from outgoing, Gyorgy Kovacs. This is Barrow’s second three-year tenure as president, having previously held the title in the early 90s. “I’m immensely proud to be given the chance to serve Fespa as President for a second time, and to be taking office here in London, my home city, mid-way through...