The seminar « Unity creates strength » was a real success!
Febelgra, the NGO representing the Belgian graphical industry and six suppliers, i.e., C.P. Bourg and its Belgian distributor Albyco, Dataline Solutions, Fedrigoni, Konica Minolta and Agfa Graphics joint efforts to present to Belgian companies, on 11th September, a digital production line from “web-to-finish”.
A brand new event format!
Indeed, it was the first time a real partnership was put in place to offer a complete solution to professionals. The objective was to encourage a mentality shift in the relationship between the client and the supplier, which from now on, is seen as a partnership.
Over a hundred people responded favorably to the invitation. The different speeches held during the evening focused on current changes of the industry (i.e., economic crisis, aggressive competition between printers and reduction of offset printing).
“In order to survive, the economic model must be rethought. We must stop trying to reach higher offset volume printing. Digital printing has increased by 30% since 2012. The future of the graphical sector belongs to short-run production and high quality personalized jobs. Printers must switch from graphical to communication companies. They must diversify their offers, and make the most of technical evolutions of the equipment to improve their offer to the clients (faster production and costs reduction as a result of automation).” said Pascal Genot, Secretaris of Febelgra.
To achieve this, Pascal promoted the graphical trainings offered free of charge to Belgian companies to help them to become communication companies. He also mentioned two main financial supports that are in existence in the Walloon Region. Their objective is to help printers to invest in new, more automated and efficient equipment.
To animate the event, a demonstration on a digital production line from “web-to-finish” was performed using (1) the Apogee StoreFront software of Agfa that enables to create online print shops; (2) the software MIS of Dataline Solutions that provides an efficient administrative management tool to printers; (3) a Bizhub PRESS C8000e Konica Minolta, offering the perfect match for efficient digital color print production; (4) the innovative paper of Fedrigoni to satisfy the ever-changing aesthetic and technical demands of the market; and (5) the automated print finishing equipment of C.P. Bourg that enables to produce on-demand personalized stitched booklets and perfect bound books.
“This seminar was a rewarding exchange of experiences. It is hard to believe we must change to survive, but finally, the public welcomed the message with a large enthusiasm”, concluded Pascal Genot.
Pictures: © L. Zébier - ID FIRST - www.idfirst.be
