"It was a fantastic event, and gave visitors the opportunity to see kit from multiple suppliers seamlessly working together," said Muller Martini UK sales director Roger Cartwright. "We are now looking forward even more to Workshop 06."

The joint annual event between Komori, Friedheim International, Muller Martini and Print Finance showed kit, from pre- to post-press, linked by Tharstern MIS.

"It was great for visitors to be able to see the true JDF connectivity of MBO folders," said Friedheim post-press division national sales manager Stuart Bamford.

Friedheim also used Workshop 05 to give the Tauler sheet laminators their UK debut. The firm is confident that as a result it has secured the first UK sales of the Spanish system.

Muller Martini showed its AMRYS Prima Plus stitcher, being switched between a Pratico compensating stacker and a Palamides Delta pressing, stacking and banding system from Friedheim in around five minutes.

The firm also linked a Valore stitcher online to a Bograma 450 multi die-cutter. The event was also used as the European launch for Fuji's Brillia PRO-T processless thermal plate.

"It's all about creating confidence, and last week we certainly did that," said Fujifilm product support manager Steve Cookman.

The plate was demonsrated being imaged on a Screen PlateRite 8800 and then printed on a five-colour Komori Lithrone 28, which was shown alongside a six-colour Lithrone S40 plus coater.

According to Cookman the demo proved the firm's claim that imaging speeds are the same as those on conventional  thermal plates. He added that there was no additional time needed for makereadies or to get the press up to colour, with the non-imaged emulsion being removed from the plate on the first five sheets.

Other partners at the event included Technotrans, PaperCo, Baldwin and Weko.