Xeikon Café 2017 sets new records
A record number of visitors attended the 3rd edition of the Xeikon Café Packaging Innovations 2017. The four-day event, which took place March 28-31 in Belgium, attracted more than 800 unique international visitors.
It featured well attended and thought provoking business and technical conferences as well as live production of more than 30 key digital print applications. The event also provided an opportunity to view end-to-end solutions from more than 40 industry suppliers.
“Xeikon Cafe was designed to create a relaxed environment where leading-edge technology from Xeikon and our key partners represents all stages of the print production chain. It aims to help visitors identify the best approach to digital production for their businesses and help them clearly see how future developments can support profitable growth,” comments Filip Weymans, Xeikon VP Marketing Digital Print Solutions. “It is always such a pleasure to be able to bring all of the experts together under one roof for the benefit of our customers. We especially thank our speakers and partners for joining us and for sharing their knowledge and expertise with visitors. 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.”
Xeikon used this event to announce an important business expansion for the company, its entry into the production inkjet market with Panther UV inkjet technology, and the first product in that family, the PX3000. “We have targeted this production inkjet press at the industrial labels market,” Weymans added, “and Xeikon Café attendees were the first to see it in action, to rave reviews. Panther technology and the PX3000 is the result of Xeikon’s many years of experience in the label industry and our desire to take our product offerings in this space to the next level. Our acquisition by the Flint Group has made it possible for us to take this important next step.”
Highlights of the Business Conference included an energetic keynote presentation by Rafi Albo from Segmarketing. He showcased some inspirational and creative ways print can be used as part of truly engaging campaigns in a way that makes print interactive. Other speakers, including industry experts Kevin Karstedt (Karstedt Partners) and Sean Smyth (Smithers Pira), covered 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. The Technical Conference included deep-dive sessions covering a wide range of topics, 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.