There's the old industry adage that when Heidelberg sneezes, the industry catches a cold. But last year, the big ‘H' did a little more than sneeze and it's probably fair to say that Heidelberg chief executive Bernhard Schreier was more pleased than most to put 2009 behind him; having been forced to cut thousands of jobs and secure state-backed finance. The good news is that he's starting to see optimism creep back into the industry.

What are your thoughts about Ipex 2010?

It's a very important show. After two years of suffering through a financial crisis that started just after Drupa 2008, we're now, hopefully running into a new period of excitement. Sitting here today, 2010 looks like a turning point and we think, hope and believe that Ipex 2010 might just be the perfect boost to the industry. It's well documented that many printers have hesitated to invest because, being blunt, they didn't know whether they'd survive. Now, I think, the spirit of ‘yes, we can' and ‘yes, we did it' seems to have taken over and that is very good. Finally, the industry seems going in the right direction.

And are you starting to see that as well in your order intakes?

Yes.

Do you think there's still room for two big print shows?

Yes. But we cannot just concentrate on Europe - there must also be some US activities. That might not be this year, but next year definitely, and there will be no escape from an Asian exhibition, either in Japan or China, which will also have a major impact on the industry. Drupa and Ipex are the most important shows today, but when I look into Asia and the speed of development there in the printing sector, I'm convinced that a Chinese print expo will also play a major role on the world stage.

So you think there should be more shows rather than fewer?

Well, no. What I mean is that there will be fewer small events. The costs involved to attend all of these national rather than international shows are just too high, and with today's ease of travel, they are irrelevant. But international shows in the big parts of the world have a value. I think there will be two in Europe, one in the US, one or two in Asia - those will be the headline shows in the future and many small ones will disappear.

Back to Heidelberg, you've already revealed that you're looking for digital partners so that you can start marketing digital engines, will any deals be tied up soon?

Yes, but talks with potential partners are ongoing. I will personally meet with some of the them here at Ipex to find out what their customer approach is like, what the potential fit with Heidelberg is, and talk to them as well - my schedule here is half-full of meetings with these kinds of potential partners. But not only in this field - partnering in today's complex world is one recipe to move forward faster, instead of inventing everything by yourself. If you just look at the partnership approaches we have in terms of web-to-print, for example, in terms of MIS and workflow systems. All this proves that in the future the industry will see much more collaboration, which will enable all manufacturers to speed up developments and present new solutions to our customers' challenges.

Talking of partnerships, obviously the Manroland deal didn't happen in the end. Was that a disappointment or something that you have moved on from now?

When you get into such a financial crisis, you have to evaluate the options in terms of how the business is going and, when the situation worsens, how you will get out of it. Then you have to decide whether to join forces with someone or do it by yourself. We have chosen, finally, because of certain discussions we've had, to do it ourselves. So the choice is made. We acted, and this is why we reduced our workforce by 20%; this is why we lowered our break-even point to a level that we thought we could progress from, but which does not limit our ability to serve our customers, which does not limit our capabilities to offer decent service activities to our customers, which does not lower our capabilities to be globally active and which does not prevent us from spending money on new developments. And now, our homework is done, including securing our financial funds which was part of the game. Having done all this we're in a very - it's too soon to say comfortable - but, acceptable position for getting out of this crisis, but as a stand-alone company. So for us this chapter in collaboration or beyond with partners in the traditional printing field is not an issue anymore.

So it was a deal of its time? And that time has gone, not to be revisited?

Yes, at that time we had to make a decision to go one way or the other. We went the other.

Moving on to the subject of digital, what's actually in it for the digital partners?

If you look at any of the digital vendors, they're all coming out of the office equipment part of the business. The access to the professional customer base, to the commercial printer base, to the packaging printer base, the access to their mindset into how to do business, production processes, in integrated professional environments - that's what we bring to the party. Application know-how - what do printers require in terms of what they need to print, how do they act in terms of serving their customers? Our presses are in 170 countries, our ability to provide 24-hour, seven-days-a-week service, in those 170 countries. Our approach is now, not that we switch the offset printer to digital, but we say, we want to help you make your business successful, whether through offset or digital.

Yesterday, at one of the press conferences, you hinted at a larger-format Anicolor for Drupa 2012. Have you got any more information - B2, B1, is that still to be decided?

No, I didn't say anything about Drupa 2012 - I don't know where you heard that! The only thing I said was that the success of Anicolor for very short runs is leading us automatically to extend this technology into larger formats. When this will happen, I cannot tell you.

Finally, what do you think Ipex 2010 will be remembered for? A word or phrase that sums up the show...

It might be the ‘Turnaround Fair', hopefully not as the ‘Volcano Fair'. Everybody will remember this very severe financial crisis that just came over us in 2008-2009, so I think 2010 will be remembered as the most important Ipex in terms of the confidence it brings back to the industry.