Stringer, also chairman of the B&P Light Brigade Group, predicted that UV-curable flatbed digital printers would be the big news at the show, which will be held in Madrid on 4-8 June.

B&P uses both Inca Digital and Zund UV flatbed machines, but Stringer said new machines would be coming onto the market from Durst and Leggitt & Platt. The latter was originally designed for the mattress printing market.

Vutek also launched into the market last year with its PressVU. And Stringer said the main attraction of such machines is their ability to print direct to rigid board. "This is what the industry is begging for," Stringer said.

Direct-to-board printing leads to time and production costs savings, said Stringer, who said production costs for a flatbed UV printer were in the region of 1 per m2 based on 75% ink coverage.

Fespa is set to be the biggest yet, with more than 330 exhibitors from 26 countries signed up. It will take place in Halls 9 and 10 of the Madrid exhibition centre, which have a combined floorspace of 40,000m2.

Visit: www.fespa2002.com.

By Lauretta Roberts