The 2017 Xeikon Café took place over 28-31 March in Belgium

 

A record 800+ international visitors attended the third edition of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017 which featured more than 30 key digital print and end-to-end solutions from over 40 industry suppliers.

Xeikon used the event to announce its entry into the production inkjet market with the PX3000 UV inkjet press, which runs the company’s new Panther technology and is targeted at the industrial labels market. 

Rafi Albo from Segmarketing made the keynote at the Business Conference, explaining ways to make print interactive in campaigns. Other speakers included digital print experts Kevin Karstedt and Sean Smyth, covering diverse topics such as important market trends, brand protection, mixing conventional and digital in a hybrid production mode, developing a successful approach to short-run printing, and more.

Topics discussed in the Technical Conference ranged from beverage cup production and flexible packaging to durable, wraparound and pharma self-adhesive labels. Ghent Workgroup PDF standards were also discussed with the audience.

‘I think it is a cool event,’ said visitor Lars Kiaerholm, from LabelCo, Denmark. ‘I was interested in the special solutions and wanted to look at the opportunities for digital labelling. I was also excited to see the new UV inkjet system. It is a new player in the market, and it was definitely something I wanted to look at to see if it is a potential fit for us.’

According to Keith Hamilton, of James Hamilton Group, Northern Ireland, the event is ‘now a mini-exhibition’ and offers many areas to investigate. ‘Last time we bought our first Xeikon – a 3300. We wanted to know more about the different applications we could produce.’

‘It was my first time here, and it was a great opportunity to see it both as a visitor and as an exhibitor said Kim Trintel, vice president, digital solutions, Tresu Group – a partner of the Xeikon Café. ‘You can really see how digital print is developing. I think it is a great show.’

‘We are so delighted with how well the event went this year that we have already set the wheels in motion for Xeikon Café 2018,’ confirmed Filip Weymans, VP of marketing, digital print solutions, Xeikon.