With 1200 square metres of floor space confirmed at Ipex 2014, Konica Minolta will have the largest footprint at the show in March 24 – 29, 2014 at London ExCeL. Ricoh, meanwhile, has withdrawn from the show – another blow to an event that has been beset by high profile withdrawals.
This commitment from Konica Minolta further affirms the company’s vision to provide ‘an easy path to digital’. Ipex 2014 aligns perfectly with its strategy to invest in the production printing industry, and to set new standards in a rapidly changing sector.
‘As ‘business enabler’ for the production printing industry, Konica Minolta provides substantial value to its customers. Ipex perfectly aligns with our aim to continually invest in developing technical innovations and focus on the future of our business, making it the key international event for Konica Minolta in 2014,’ said Olaf Lorenz, general manager.
Trevor Crawford, event director at Ipex 2014, commented, ‘We are delighted with Konica Minolta’s support for Ipex 2014. The findings from the independent international market study we commissioned in 2012, highlight the industry’s need for Ipex to move from being a general print event to a highly focused print and multi-media experience, promoting the essential role of print. This mirrors the future direction of Konica Minolta’s offering, and we look forward to working closely with them in the coming months to ensure they benefit from the added value we’ve put in place to support our exhibitors.’
Acting as a key international business hub, the main focus of the company’s stand at Ipex 2014 will be to underline its aim of becoming the preferred supplier for printers converting from offset to digital and to promote an end-to-end view of the print process.
‘We are promoting ‘less human influence’ to the production printing process to avoid mistakes by implementing automated workflows as well as in-line-finishing through intelligent solutions. Naturally, this is all focused on our upmost goal, to contribute to revenue growth and profitability for our customers, and to cover the needs of every production printer, from CRDs and commercial printers to industrial printing businesses, with our diverse and tailored hardware and software portfolio,’ added Mr Lorenz.
Though there has been no official announcement of Ricoh’s withdrawal, either by Ipex or Ricoh itself, the company’s UK marketing director Chas Moloney told Digital Printer that the move to London was not behind the decision.
‘I don’t think anyone could point at the venue as an influence on this decision – certainly not from my input,’ he said. Mr Moloney added that Ricoh saw one to one events as being better suited to its aims of developing customer relationships than a ‘one-to-many’ show like Ipex. The decision to pull out from its major Ipex presence was taken by Ricoh’s global management, rather than the UK business.
