HP Indigo general manager Alon Bar-Shany kicked off the Dscoop EMEA conference in Dublin last night by highlighting the rapid evolution of the print industry.
“We live in world where print is transforming and we’re trying to not only keep ourselves relevant, but also bring some of the amazing capabilities that only print can generate,” he said.
“To be successful in anything you need a little bit of luck, but it’s mostly planning and hard work and learning from things that others have done and evolving it into something specific to your business.
“The Dscoop mission is about helping our customers grow and reaching out beyond commercial print, and impacting anyone who can help our industry grow."
Dscoop is the global co-operative of HP graphic solutions users, which operates across the US, Asia and the EMEA region.
Bar-Shany also used his welcome to unveil the HP Indigo 7r, which was one of nine Indigos being demonstrated. The factory-reconditioned 7000 series press, which can be upgraded to include features from the 7800, is targeted at entry-level users.
Previously the firm reconditioned its machines, such as the 7000 and 7500, to the original specification. This will now be discontinued.
“We want to tighten how we upgrade these presses, and how we enable our customers to enjoy some of the benefits not embedded in the original design of the 7000 series,” said Bar-Shany.
“We also want to protect our customers' investments and enable them to trade in the presses over time and move to a newer model.”
As well as the nine Indigos the event also features a number of machines from the 53 Dscoop partners spread across 4,000sqm of exhibition space on two floors of the Convention Centre in Dublin.
More than 1,200 delegates from 47 countries are attending this week’s event, around 250 of them from the UK.
This year’s conference, Dscoop Open, is the fourth iteration of the annual event, which centers on peer-to-peer learning. It features almost 100 educational sessions on business and technology, many of which are presented by the Dscoop members themselves.
Highlight of the opening evening on Wednesday was the inaugural Inkspiration awards, open to users of HP Indigo and HP high-speed web presses, which generated 200 entries from 70 companies in five weeks.
Dscoop’s UK contingent put in a strong performance at the awards, with three of the 10 category winners hailing from the UK.
DG3 secured the Book category, Precision Printing the Photo Specialty crown and Pureprint Group won the Direct Mail award.
“It was fantastic to win the award. The actual mail piece we submitted was full variable content and we had such great feedback from the client on ROI that to win an award for it too was just brilliant,” said Pureprint business development director Aaron Archer.
Dscoop runs until Friday 5 June.
Want to be an award winning print business yourself? The PrintWeek Awards are open and ready for your entry, for more information visit printweekawards.com.
