Robert Spiller, CEO of RotoMetrics, welcomed the attendees
Together with a large collection of partner suppliers, RotoMetrics held a successful second biennial open house event on 23 to 25 September at its UK facility in Walsall.
Manufacturer of rotary and flexible cutting dies, print cylinders, sleeves and adjustable anvils, RotoMetrics brought together the industry for three days under the theme ‘Evolution of Print’. With 318 registered visitors and 26 partners supporting, the event has grown by an impressive 50% since it was first held in 2012.
CEO Robert Spiller, who had flown in from the US after a very successful Labelexpo in Chicago where the company had presented a brand new stand to visitors along with several new products, opened the event on the first day. He said, ‘I wanted to be here in person to support this great event and would like to welcome you all to our UK open house.’
Having spent the last six months organising the open house, Neil Lilly, UK & Eire customer services director, said, ‘I’m very passionate about this event. It is very important to provide an opportunity for the flexo industry to come together and we have 26 global leaders here along with visitors not only from the UK, but from as far afield as Romania, Poland and Spain.’
A varied programme saw presentations from the host and a number of partners. These covered topics including counterfeiting of goods and how labelling technology can offer security in a variety of ways; how digital print can help reduce to time to market throughout the supply chain; the trend towards automation in plate mounting machinery; the advantages of proofing in an extended gamut workflow; the importance of innovation and open partnerships in press manufacturing; optimisation of workflow in the pressroom; UV curing; adding value through inspection; ink formulation; multi-layer substrates and thin liners; and many more.
The final presentation each day came from outside the industry in the form of Steve Cunningham, who gave an inspirational talk to the audience about how he has overcome the challenge of losing his sight at he age of 12. Accompanied by his guide dog Foster, Mr Cunningham entertained with his direct, no nonsense approach to life, and explained how he went about becoming the fastest blind man on land and at sea. He said, ‘It is attitude that disables you, not whether you can’t see or can’t hear. There is no point in worrying about things we can’t change.’
During the lunch break, there were tours given of the RotoMetrics manufacturing plant where flexible and solid dies are produced. Table top exhibitions supported the event throughout the days. Partners were AB Graphics, Avery Dennison, AVT, Bar Graphic Machinery, BPIF labels, Dantex, Edale, Epson, FINAT, Focus Label Machinery, GEW, Graphic Republik, Herma, HP Indigo, IST (UK) Ltd, JM Heaford, Kodak, Label Traxx, Mark Andy, Nilpeter, Paragon Inks, Print-tech Solutions, Sandon Global, TTS, Xeikon and Zeller+Gmelin.
Post-show feedback
The feedback from suppliers involved has been overwhelmingly postive.
Steve Donegan, managing director of Graphic Republik, said, ‘Labelexpo aside, there are no dedicated events for our sector with such a large mix of vendors. The internet is a great place to gather information, but this open house allows the industry to keep abreast of the most up-to-date technological advances being made in the industry. It gives customers the ability to have a one-to-one conversation with a variety of suppliers under one roof – from this aspect, it has been a great show – we are going to be busy.’
James Boughton, managing director of Edale, said, ‘We exhibited as table top suppliers at the first event in 2012 and jumped at the chance of exhibiting again this time. Being UK manufacturers ourselves, it is good to support UK based events as well as some of the bigger worldwide shows in a more intimate venue. As always, it was good to meet with industry friends and fellow suppliers to see what everyone is up to in the industry whilst keeping ahead of new trends. As well as meeting with existing customers, there were also a large number of potential prospects who we were able to speak to, and we are thrilled that several companies have since contacted us to arrange a visit to our head office in Hampshire for a demonstration on our showroom FL-3 press.’
Read the full report in the next issue of FlexoTech.
