Ricoh has been confirmed as the latest digital vendor to be removed from the floor plan after deciding to cancel its 1,836sqm booking – which would have made it the second largest remaining exhibitor at the London event.
"It’s not a financial decision or a decision based on who’s going to be at Ipex and who’s not, our decision is based purely on our strategic plan on how we can best meet our customer requirements," said Ricoh UK head of production print Stephen Palmer.
"So we made the decision that we can reach more customers by doing smaller shows and very focussed customer events around the UK and indeed Europe," he added.
He declined to comment on whether the company had lost its deposit, but said the company had "reached a decision" with Ipex. He also added that the company still supported organiser Informa and while it had ruled out appearing at Ipex 2014, the company may still appear at Ipex 2018 and hailed its appearance earlier this month at North Print & Pack as "very successful".
While Ricoh’s decision is a major setback for Ipex organiser Informa, which has worked hard to reposition the show following a series of high profile withdrawals that began last summer, it follows a statement issued last week by Konica Minolta, the event’s largest exhibitor, in which it reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to the show.
"Ipex perfectly aligns with our aim to continually invest in developing technical innovations and focus on the future of our business, making it the key international event for Konica Minolta in 2014," said Olaf Lorenz, general manager, International Marketing Division, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe.
The company plans to use the Excel show as a springboard for its KM-1 B2 inkjet press, which was shown as a concept at last year’s Drupa. The 1,650sph KM-1 uses Konica Minolta’s own UV inkjet technology and a press chassis from Komori.
However, Konica will now be one of the few mainstream digital vendors on the show floor, following the withdrawals of the likes of Canon, HP, Kodak and Xerox.
Informa was unavailable for comment at the time of writing, but speaking in March, following Canon’s withdrawal, it said it was "absolutely committed to running Ipex next year".
