Not only does HP have the largest stand at Ipex, it's also the largest company the graphic arts sector, so it's only fitting that it has some of the longest job titles in the industry. Senior vice president, graphics solutions business, imaging and printing group Christopher Morgan shares his thoughts on the future of digital and its place in the market.


What are your impressions of the show so far?

It's still early, but the first thing that strikes me is the huge shift to digital. Compared to 2006, about 80% of floor space is digitalrelated. Obviously HP is a part of that, but the whole show has really flipped to digital - it's now the mainstay rather than the newcomer. That's a big takeaway. I was looking at the numbers and it's big.

And HP is the biggest exhibitor this time? Given the traffic, it looks like we needed that big stand. We are in so many different part of the industry, whether its digital presses or large-format.

But, I'm guessing your Ipex 2010 spend hasn't been small change, how do you measure your return on investment?

It's important to showcase what we have to accelerate our conversion cycle and Ipex is one place to do that, particularly for European and Asian customers. I see Drupa and Ipex them as the summer and winter Olympics. That's how we think of it.

Are things picking up in the industry?

There are signs that usage is starting to improve. 2009 was a tough year, but the good thing is that colour digital pages has been a bright spot in terms of growth. We are aiming for high-value digital pages. The broader printing industry has had some tough times, but I'm pretty bullish on digital, particularly high quality digital.

I think in some ways the crisis accelerated some of the trends that are important to us: the move to shorter runs and higher impact, more variable and more targeted content. In terms of content, the days of mass distributing monochrome, low value collatoral are vanishing. The expectation now is more targeted and better payback. The trend of shifting to new services is one that 2009 helped to accelerate.

So when people talk about digital taking over from offset, is it more of a case digital is growing, or that offset is shrinking?

It's a combination. There's a short run increase. There is more focus on getting rid of waste in the value chain. One of our customers, CPI in France, is transforming the whole publishing chain through our T300. Digital is the right tool for getting more waste out. But part of it is the greater impact and ability to go after new services.

One of the examples I love is Blurb, a company that operates in San Francisco. It has built a business around enabling self publishing - not a traditional photobook, more of a personal book. That kind of publishing wasn't even feasible in an analogue world.

So could digital completely take over from litho in years to come at shows like Ipex?

I think to a certain degree there will always be a place for analogue. But as far as new investments, we will see a big fall-back. If you're a printer looking at investment, clearly the target is swinging to digital.

Where are the key growth areas?

One focus for us is to optimise the printer's environment - their infrastructure. Then there's the second piece where we're helping them to help their customers to transform their value chain. The third part of the value proposition is making the impact as high as possible, whether it's providing the variable data opportunities, the better colour.

The leading print service providers are moving up that step. They are not just providing a print service but as a partner to their customers. There is a theme that the leading companies are the ones that see themselves as a better customer.

There has been a lot of excitement about transpromo for some time. But clients seemed reluctant to get involved? Is that changing now?

Everything takes time. Having been in related IT printing industries there is always a time for general behaviour to change. We are a lot further ahead in this area. I think it's starting, there are customers out there doing some really good stuff. It's not a question of if it will happen, it's just a question of what speed will it happen at.

On a wider note, there is a big focus on the environment. If you dig through our announcements you will see where we have reduced energy, reduced the use of certain oils. There's a strong focus on carbon footprint reduction and the greening of signage and display. Things like latex technology in the signage space - that's a huge breakthrough.

Speaking of technology, Kodak claims that it has the only truly new inkjet technology, what are your thoughts on that?

While I would love to bite, I'll come at it from a different angle. One of the things I'm proud of is that if you look back at what we said at Drupa and what we've delivered, we've got a very good track record of delivering what we said we would. We have a big focus on innovation but we make sure that's tied into pragmatic reality. That's all I'll say.

Do have any further predictions on the market?

There are a lot of analogue pages that are being done, but the value per page is an important thing to look at because if you are doing very long-run monochrome, analogue work then you're probably not in a happy place. Short-run, high-value pages are going to be the most attractive. We continue to push the breakeven points.

What's the next step in the industry's evolution?

The printing industry is going to become an important IT sector. It's more than just buying the press. You are buying a system that has an IT infrastructure. We are part of the largest digital printing company in the world and one of the largest IT companies in the world. You need to think about the additional IT related activities.

What do you think this show will be remembered for?

It's when digital became mainstream. Also that HP didn't just have the biggest booth but also the biggest story.