From June 7th to 9th Dscoop EMEA went into its 6th round at the Centre de Congres in Lyon. About 1,300 attendees from more than 45 countries joined the event.
HP went to great lengths to present the latest printing technology live and running to the attendees with four Indigo B2 devices printing at the site (two 12000, one 20000 and 30000), as well as the latest label presses shown in action – including an Indigo 8000 Digital Press. In addition HP shared some installation data, with currently 6,000 Indigo presses installed worldwide in commercial print and another 1,750 presses in label and packaging printing. This includes about 570 B2 engines. Large format latex printer installations amount to about 45,000 by June 2017, outnumbered by one million large format Deskjet devices installed. HP shared some information on the uptake of PrintOS as well and reported 5,560 registered users at 2,400 companies, with 1,700 of them using PrintOS weekly.
At the event HP announced some improvements to PrintOS: notably PrintBeat has a mobile edition now, which allows monitoring and benchmarking press performance from mobile devices. High definition imaging was presented at the event again and although it is set to go into field testing later this year, with general availability planned for 2018. Available now are several new screening options that will help in photo printing and high contrast images.
While pink fluorescent ElectroInk was introduced half a year ago, fluorescent yellow just became available to Indigo users. Fluorescent green and orange were shown at the event and are currently being field tested. Another new ElectroInk just introduced is “Light Light Black”, which is especially intended for smooth gradations in photo printing, underscoring that HP Indigo remains committed to be the leader in specialty colour choice. At drupa 2016 HP showcased more than a dozen of other specialty ElectroInks to gauge user interest – at Dscoop Lyon HP Indigo previewed some of these inks again: thermochromic ink (changes colour depending on temperature), heat seal (the glue is activated at high temperature) and release inks (e.g. for scratch cards), which are apparently moving closer to commercialisation. Additionally metallic ElectroInk was shown again, which should garner the biggest interest, but is likely to get a launch not sooner than 2018.
Especially the 250 partner companies exhibiting as well make Dscoop stand out. Some used the Dscoop even to launch new products and features – such as Highcon with a 40% speed increase of the Euclid die cutting and creasing system. With more than 50 partners presenting on the show floor print service providers had a great opportunity to get an overview on such diverse topics such as laser cutting, specialty substrates, workflow software and foiling. Interesting to see was the in-line integration of presses with finishing equipment as well, such as with Horizon’s Smartstacker, in-line laser cutting (Digilase from ABG International) and inline coating from TRESU.
Despite being a large scale event, Dscoop EMEA falls behind in size compared to the US event. This can likely be attributed to the more diverse nature of the EMEA market, compared to the US market. Distances within EMEA can be huge (think about South Africa to Norway), languages differ (only few have English as mother tongue) as do printing industry practices and even the availability of software and finishing solutions in local markets. Considerable efforts are exhibited by Dscoop in finding speakers who can present in English to appeal to the widest audience. In several sessions, interpreters were present to translate content presented in other languages to English. Despite language barriers, participants in the educational sessions were able to ask questions of speakers with the help of interpreters to further their understanding of the topics ensuring all learned from the content presented. Dscoop is also attempting to solve the conundrum by holding a number of local events as well. Currently 8 local chapter groups (Germany, South Africa, Spain, Italy, UK, Russia and France) hold regularly local meetings. This includes local educational content and speakers. Dscoop plans to increase number of events and countries covered.
Not only for Indigo users do the three days of educational sessions, solution showcases and awards offer the industry a lot to learn. The considerable contributions of the user community continue to make Dscoop a powerful event in Europe and reinforce for those considering an HP digital press the value of a user community willing to share their expertise to help others reduce learning curves and grow their businesses profitably.
