First Digital Label Summit hailed as success

The first Digital Label Summit, held in Barcelona on March 24-25, attracted 274 delegates from Europe and beyond – an impressive figure which exceeded expectations in the current economic climate.

A two-day conference program hosted a wide range of presentations from label converters, brand owners and industry suppliers, which educated visitors about combining digital and conventional printing, brand protection and end user requirements, as well as technical sessions about finishing and substrates.

Keynote speaker Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager of HP Indigo's digital press division, offered delegates a comprehensive overview of the key markets and applications for digital technology. He discussed the impact of globalization on end user expectations, as well as looking at trends in digital labeling and statistics highlighting the sector's growth.

A number of panel discussions ran throughout the conference, hosting debates on a variety of topics. A case study was presented by Barry Griffiths, owner of Wales-based converter Borble, the first UK user of the Xeikon 3300 digital press and a dedicated digital print shop. Griffiths showed live demonstrations of online digital job quotes from the company's new print-on-demand website.

Reflecting the industry's concerns about the current economic climate, a session entitled 'Beating the recession – a digital alternative' explored the opportunities available to converters in short-run, variable printing, and looked at how digital can add value and cut costs.

Mike Fairley, director of strategic development of Tarsus' Labels Group, looked at digital security and brand protection strategies, future opportunities for anti-counterfeit solutions and how to combine variable data printing and RFID for track and trace solutions. A panel session focused on how to combine digital and conventional technology in the same plant, and featured Iban Cid of Germark, Jan De Roeck of EskoArtwork, Jakob Landberg of Nilpeter, Isidore Leiser of Stratus Packaging and Katy Nightingale of LabelTraxx UK.

A further highlight of the conference was a panel session with Paul France of global end-user P&G and Pau Dueas of Spanish designer Morillas, who discussed the requirements of label buyers and graphic designers.

Commenting of the Digital Label Summit, Richard De Boissezon, global marketing director of HP Indigo, said: 'To get such a high quality of content and high quality of participants underlines the interest level today and the power of digital solutions for the label industry. The summit has proven that digital is something to reckon with.'

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