Taking place between 14 and 16 March, the event, hosted by Apex – the UK agent for RMGT, Cron and a number of other manufacturers – and IFS, showcased a range of equipment.
Real Print, into its third year, exhibited in the centre of the showroom a four-colour RMGT (Ryobi) 920 press with LED-UV drying, demonstrating its fast-drying capabilities.
Speaking to PrintWeek at the event, Apex managing director Bob Usher revealed that there have now been 16 UK sales of the SRA1-sized machine with LED-UV, nine of which have so far been installed.
“The additional drying technology and the machine make it a market leader because in that sector we are finding a lot of B2 printers are looking for something new, they are looking for higher volumes. So rather than having 4-up pages of A4 they can have 8-up for the same physical size as a B2 machine, but double the sheet size.
“It halves your long-run work, you add that with the drying technology and you can print and deliver the same day.”
The machine prints at 13,000sph, taking paper weights ranging in thickness between 0.04mm and 0.4mm.
Usher added that he was extremely pleased with how the show had gone, with attendance figures at around 100 from 60 companies across the three days.
“This is one of the few events you can come to and bring images along and have them either printed digitally or with litho. Or you can create an image here using MIS and see the whole job being managed and your total cost for that job being calculated and then see it finished in a variety of different ways,” he said.
Usher added that the autumn edition of Real Print and Finish will not be taking place as Apex is exhibiting at Ipex 2017.
At this week's event, Apex also showed a 2015-launched Konica Minolta Bizhub C71hc, a digital production printer aimed at corporate and marketing collateral jobs.
Other machines on display included a number of Cron platesetters, a Horizon Stitchliner 5500 and two Foliant laminators with foiling options, a 400 and 530 model.
IFS technical sales director Jason Seaber said: “What’s so good about the open house is that you can have a customer come in to see you and then they end up chatting to someone else about something totally different, there are such a range of options.”
Mailroom equipment suppliers KAS and Renz also showed equipment, along with Premier Paper Group and Imprint MIS, who have done the show each year since its inception.
The IPIA was also present, with its chair Marian Stefani offering free business consultations, which Usher called a “first aid consultancy”.
