FESPA – a home for Africa’s wide-format sector

As one visitor, Graham Hawthorn of Grosvenor Branding, sums up: ‘This was a fantastic expo where I was able to do three months-worth of research in one and a half days, and all the under one roof!’

Exhibitors were also positive, reporting high-quality visitor traffic and increased sales compared to 2014.

For instance, Antalis MD, Raymond Waldeck, remarks: ‘The quality of prospects was very good. Most visitors who engaged with us were serious buyers.’

Digifab’s Greg van Heesch echoes this sentiment: ‘We were extremely happy with the event. We had a lot of good leads and we will be expanding our stand at the 2016 event.’

And Colorscreen’s Hans Vogt has this to say: ‘We sold all the equipment exhibited at the show. It was a successful event all round; generating numerous new customers.’

Further positive comment comes from Mimaki’s Mike Horsten, ‘FESPA Africa is the largest show in sub-Saharan Africa and the main attraction on the African continent, which made the expo the ideal location to launch our new printers, the Mimaki TS300P-1800 and SIJ-320UV. Our high-quality products have been accepted amazingly well and we sold equipment off the show floor.’

Adds Gavin Peterson from Clear Solutions, ‘We’re happy with the number of visitors; it was very busy, and we had a lot of interest in our equipment.’

Event organisers Practical Publishing’s Dyelan Copeland and Charnia Yapp are well pleased: ‘It was our second year at Gallagher Convention Centre, and positive exhibitor feedback plus modest growth in visitor numbers has been an indication of the event’s success. Now our aim is to analyse the show and set plans to deliver an even better event next year. We’re putting together a focused plan with our partners, FESPA, to attract more visitors from the SADAC region.’

Comments Neil Felton, FESPA’s CEO, ‘The exhibition was wonderful, there was a real buzz in the aisles and on stands and feedback from exhibitors has been extremely strong. We always seek to improve our events by listening to and understanding the market. As we move forward, we plan to engage with more of the African continent and ensure that FESPA Africa becomes the home of Africa’s wide-format printing sector. Using FESPA’s profit-for-purpose philosophy, and our partners’ local knowledge, we will make the event truly regional as it goes from strength to strength.’

Best stand awards

Following a judging process that included stand design, staff friendliness and professionalism, joint winners were named as Gemini and Evonik Acrylics Africa in the small floor space category; and Witcolor took the prize in the small shell scheme classification.

Tying for first place in the medium floor space sector were Sytech Supplies and Channel Letter Factory, while first prize in the medium shell scheme grouping went to Clip-Tite.

Another tie in the large floor space category saw CNC Professional Machines & Engineering and SA Argus jointly taking first place; and in the mega floor space class, Midcomp took the crown.

Kemtek shapes up

Creating a distinctive selling point is the goal for today’s printing companies and digital printing and finishing is certainly proving its worth in terms of providing a commercially-viable short run, personalised printing platform.

Furthermore, judging by response from visitors to FESPA Africa, Kemtek’s digital technologies are attracting significant interest from specialists in exciting markets.

During the three-day show, visitors were delighted to discover a colourful and interactive Kemtek stand featuring advanced printing, cutting and finishing technologies from Durst, Aristo, Duplo, and film laminating machine specialist, Foliant … plus some rather unusual 3D creatures made from Xanita board, printed on the all-new Durst P10/160 industrial flatbed wide-format UV digital press and cut on the Aristo TL1625.

‘Inspiring innovation is one of our goals and we’re delighted to have received enquiries from a broad spectrum of sectors,’ remarks Kemtek MD, Gavin van Rensburg. ‘It’s evident that business owners are looking to diversify their offering, and digital printing and finishing is becoming recognised as the perfect platform for promoting commercial creativity. With the quality and versatility of our machines, especially the Durst P10/160 industrial flatbed wide-format UV digital printer and Aristo TL1625 cutting table, we provide technologies that have the flexibility to serve diverse industries – from traditional wide-format printing and cutting to POS, promotional furniture, packaging prototypes, display items and promotional gifts.’

Besides witnessing these ‘powerhouse’ printing and finishing systems in motion, visitors were invited to meet the team from Build Volume and Rapid 3D, Kemtek’s newest business partners, who were presenting a range of 3D printing technologies for the commercial and retail sectors, including the Mcor IRIS paper printer, Ultimaker 2 and the worldwide best-selling consumer machine, the Zortrax desktop printer.

‘3D printing is already being ear marked as the next “big thing” and Rapid 3D and Build Volume are already local leaders in this field, providing leading-edge systems for the government, plus the education, automotive, jewellery, packaging, retail sectors and more,’ Gavin continues. ‘It’s a print medium that has been slowly evolving over the last 20 years, attracting consumer and industrial vendors alike, especially in Europe and the US. And, despite its relative infancy in the local packaging and printing industry, it’s set to make a lasting impression on the African continent.’

Screenline orders new dash Sales Manager!

Following the highly successful African launch of the new dash Sales Manager at FESPA Africa, Optimus reports that Screenline will be the first Optimus dash MIS user worldwide to take delivery of this new module.

Screenline has agreed to become the first beta site for the new module and the company’s MD Neil de Greef  comments: ‘We see this as a valuable addition to our Optimus dash MIS in enabling our sales team to use the data within dash to see all information pertaining to existing customers, while being able to track and trace activity with prospective customers.’

Antalis offers long-term solutions

Comments Antalis MD Raymond Waldeck, ‘Today’s printing equipment quality is excellent. By adding service and support, we offer long-term solutions for our customers’ businesses.’

Adds David James, marketing and purchasing director, ‘Apart from providing an opportunity to showcase our machines and demonstrate our expertise, it was also important to exhibit our products and services even in today’s difficult market conditions.’

Marketing manager, Caroline Coughlan, was also pleased with the company’s participation at the exhibition and being a runner up in the best mega stand stakes. ‘This year we placed emphasis on our visual  communication media used in the sign and display industry and these were beautifully displayed on our stand.’

As David James sums up: ‘We’re delighted about the quality of the leads we received at FESPA and will be working hard to follow up on these prospects to convince the market that our visual communication offering can create new business opportunities for them.’

Top High plates for Africa

Among exhibitors at FESPA was Taiwan’s Top High Image Corporation.

Established in 1985 and now acknowledged as one of Taiwan’s top 500 enterprises, Top High has taken the lead in Taiwan’s printing plate market (Taiwan Commercial Times May 2002).

Explains Lily Sun, senior sales manager of Top High’s international business division, apart from being Taiwan’s top brand, these plates are also widely used throughout Europe, the US, the Middle East and South East Asia; and in 2004, a fourth production line was established to bring annual capacity up to 10 million square metres.

In 2007, both thermal CTP plate and CTcP plates were commercialised and accredited by leading platesetter manufacturers; and now Top High is ready to supply global customers, offering a range of plates at reasonable cost.

Previously represented by First Graphics and later Antalis in South Africa, Top High has now announced a change in its marketing procedure for Africa.

Top High plates are now being marketed directly into the African printing market, with the aid of independent consultant, Keith Solomon, who was present at FESPA on the Top High stand.