The opportunity and the challenge

Ipex clearly showed three things: the rise of digital printing and decline of offset printing in most of the developed economies; the continuous increase in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America of both print consumption and the manufacture of printing equipment and consumables; and lastly, that trade shows in the developed markets need to change.

Ipex was hardly over before many manufacturers made a beeline for Beijing where the China International Packaging Fair from 2 to 4 June was a huge success. KBA mentions both Ipex in end-May and the Beijing event in beginning-June in the same breath, while recounting its success this year — it has sold 20 large-format presses to book and packaging printers in China alone. The PrintExpo in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 23 to 29 June 2010 also promises to be a successful event in a region with print growth and increasing equipment manufacture.

We believe that shows such as Ipex and drupa will now come under increased pressure because in these regions they can be replaced by less expensive digital printing events. The heavy metal shows will gradually move to Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Chinese government-supported industry understands this, and their show platforms have as much focus as their equipment and consumable manufacturers. For the Indian print industry too, there is a great opportunity and a challenge to upgrade our manufacture, to increase local market share with quality equipment, to export, and to cooperate in building respectable show platforms.

— Naresh Khanna