Local executives attending the recent FESPA exhibition in Munich have described the event as the ‘Best Ever’ following high attendance and equipment sales.
Durst Oceania managing director Matt Ashman said FESPA 2023 exceeded his high expectations.
“This has been the best FESPA ever – the amount of Australians and New Zealanders that have visited has been unbelievable and they have constantly returned to the Durst booth for demonstrations on the machinery and information on our software platform,” he said.
“It is going be a very busy time for us when we return back home over the next few weeks as we follow up on the numerous leads in both Australia and New Zealand.”
Fujifilm business manager Troy Neighbour said he hosted printers from Australia and New Zealand on his stand throughout the exhibition and purchasing intentions were obvious.
“We have shown our new machines, including the new Acuity Ultra R2 LED, to a lot of Australians and it is clear that everyone who has attended FESPA was in the market to buy equipment,” Neighbour said.
Adriano Gut, key account manager for swissQprint, was overwhelmed with the attendance and purchases from the event.
“This is definitely the best FESPA we have ever had. We walked away with lots of great contacts and signed orders. We don’t normally disclose the number of machines sold at the show, but I can reveal is a two-digit number and we have never taken away this amount from any show. So this is the best FESPA ever for us in terms of sales from the stand. Two of the sales have been the flagship kudu model to two great Australian companies – one that we have been dealing with for 10 years and other that we have wanted to work with for 10 years,” Gut said.
Gut mentioned there was an unexpectedly large number of Australian companies in attendance.
“I even had colleagues from other countries started complaining that we have only been speaking with Aussies here at the show – that was fantastic for me. They got a bit upset about that and they were asking ‘how can that be that there are so many Aussies here?’. At swissQprint, we think it is great that everyone is back and travel is happening again, because it has been very restrictive for you in Australia as we know. Overall we had a ball here in Munich and we will definitely go home very happy and can’t wait for the next one,” he added.
Andy Fryer from Easy Signs enjoyed the networking and camaraderie at the exhibition.
“FESPA was amazing – there were definitely more locals than I expected – with over 100 Australians and New Zealanders in attendance – it was great to see everyone and catch-up. It was great to see the robotics being used – especially Durst’s crazy-fast robots. I think that was the highlight of the show. Someone has finally cracked robotics and been able to keep up with the machine,” Fryer said.
Blue Star Group NZ chief executive Jill Cowling attended FESPA for the first time and she was impressed with the event.
“It was a great show – it was fantastic to see the automation which is now what it is all about. I thought the robotics on the Dust stand was very impressive. Everyone can print – but it is now all about the post-press and automation and how it is integrated,” Cowling said.
“All of the big players are here at FESPA and it is good to see everything that is going on in this digital world and we all know that digital has a strong place in our industry and our future.”
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