CIP4 Announces Print Automation Features to be Shown at Ipex 2010

BIRMINGHAM, UK—IIR Exhibitions Ltd and The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization announced plans for Ipex 2010 that will highlight advancements in print automation. The print automation programs will include a special Print Automation Pavilion for exhibitors to demonstrate top-of-the-line automation technology, distribution of a Print Automation Roadmap to attendees, and “Print Automation Live”, a new Ipex show feature.

Ipex 2010, which will be held May 18-25, 2010 at the NEC, Birmingham, UK, is well placed at the end of a global recession and at a time when many printing companies are looking toward future growth. “In the last year we’ve seen a growth in membership among printing companies,” says CIP4 Executive Director James Harvey. “For many printers, cost savings and increased productivity are still on the top of the priority list, and many printers I’ve spoken with have said that print automation is one of the few areas of investment that will provide the benefits they want in the short timeframes management is demanding. I expect that print automation will be one of the biggest priorities for Ipex attendees and I think these programs will help attendees find, learn about, and come to understand the latest in print automation technologies.”

The Print Automation Pavilion has room for fifteen to twenty companies to demonstrate print automation technologies in a concentrated and highly accessible area. Located in Hall 7, booth 7-E460, all exhibitors in the Print Automation Pavilion will be networked together, allowing printers to both learn about individual systems and software and see firsthand how systems from different vendors can be networked and integrated together. Attendees at the Print Automation Pavilion can request interoperability demonstrations and can learn how their current equipment configuration can become part of an integrated and automation production operation.

The Print Automation Live! program expands on what attendees may learn about in the Print Automation Pavilion to the entire Ipex show. “Many printers find it hard to visualize a fully automated printing environment,” says Mark Wilton of Wilton & Partners Consulting Inc. and CIP4’s Education and Marketing Officer. “The purpose of the Print Automation Live! program is to allow printers to follow a job from its inception through to finishing to see exactly what steps, labor, and time are saved along the way, and also how automated print production systems work together to improve the printer’s control over their own operations.” Any exhibitor can host a Print Automation Live! site in its booth, and many will need to coordinate with partners to show an end-to-end production line. Furthermore, some Print Automation Live! sites may demonstrate multiple workflows with various combinations of equipment. “We are very excited about this program,” says Trevor Crawford, event director of Ipex 2010. “Print automation isn’t something that is just simply bought, it involves planning on the printer’s part and coordination among supporting vendors. The Print Automation Live! program makes this very important technology concept tangible, and will be highly beneficial to Ipex 2010 attendees, as well as exhibitors.”

Vendors wishing to participate in the Print Automation Pavilion should contact Ipex 2010 Sales Manager Shona Hayes via email at shayes@iirx.co.uk or via telephone at +44 (0)20 701 77287. Vendors interested in any of the other programs should contact James Harvey via email at executive_director@cip4.org or via telephone at 410-451-5040.