Dscoop Edge World Expo: A real ‘magic’ show

The 2023 edition of Dscoop, hosted in St Louis, Missouri, in
March proved to be a melting pot of innovation. Over 1,100
attendees from more than 40 countries gathered under the
St Louis-themed banner ‘gateway to growth.’

Basketball legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, known as much for his business acumen as for his athletic prowess, delivered the keynote speech. Johnson emphasized the importance of teamwork, community and personal growth, setting a tone of shared strategies and innovative ideas.

Johnson says: ‘My journey first started on the basketball court in Lansing, Michigan. I had won every championship from third grade to ninth grade. Then I went to a high school that had never won a championship. As leaders, even with the marketplace being bad right now, we still have to figure out how to win. When I went to this high school that wasn’t known for basketball, I had to figure out how to win.’

Johnson says he’s driven by two things: excellence and being ‘best in class.’

HP Indigo 200K North America debut

For the machine heads, the highlight of Dscoop was the North American debut of the HP Indigo 200K digital press. Aviram Iluz, global product manager at HP Indigo, underscored the machine’s potential in the flexible packaging market. According to the Flexible Packaging Association, flexible packaging is the second largest  packaging segment in the US, making up about 19 percent of the 177B USD packaging market in the US.

The new mid-web press, launched this spring at HP’s VIP event in Israel, is designed to increase productivity and provide on-demand delivery with no minimum orders, all while facilitating unique designs and reducing energy consumption.

The press features a 30 percent increase in speed and 45 percent boost in productivity compared to the 25K, HP says. The press is also meant to serve as a tool for converters looking to make the evolution into Industry 4.0.

Dscoop also unveiled an array of fresh initiatives during the
event, including a print exchange platform and an expanded
climate action committee. This committee, which was established in 2022, is made up of volunteer printers and partners aiming to guide Dscoop companies toward becoming carbon net-zero.

Expansive educational sessions

The event also featured educational sessions on key trends in the digital printing space, from exploring on Industry 4.0 to insights on emerging trends like the move to digitally printed flexible pouches.

HP’s Brent Holloway co-hosted one such session on flexible
pouches. Label converters are eyeing flexible packaging and pouches as a way to diversify their business and meet the growing demand for short-run digitally produced pouches. Holloway says the North and South American flexible packaging market grows around two to four percent each year. But digital printing, Holloway says, ‘is growing about two and a half times that.’

Holloway was joined by RooTree, a Canadian printer that takes an eco-friendly approach to flexible packaging.

As growth in digital flexible packaging enjoys a more robust
growth pace, it’s important for printers to communicate the
sustainability benefits of this packaging format, such as less energy to produce and transport than rigid packaging. And yet, most flexible packaging is made up of a multi-layer construction, and therefore not recyclable.

RooTree’s president and CEO Phil St-Cyr says: ‘At the end of the day, it’s going to take a recycler, it’s going to take a brand to pass that message on. But I think we can do so much more, because sustainability is all great on paper, but it requires an action.’

John Dettmer, a color expert at HP, led a PrintOS presentation on the importance of quality in color printing. He emphasized the role of tools like PrintOS in achieving consistent color results. The predictive interface was on display, demonstrating its ability to anticipate potential issues before they occur. Color Beat, another feature of PrintOS, increases operational efficiency by making color
a competitive advantage. It allows for color control time to be cut down to minutes per job.

Testament to commitment

In conclusion, the Dscoop 2023 conference served as a testament to the digital print industry’s commitment to innovation, growth and sustainability.

‘It doesn’t mean anything if there’s no heart and soul - and that’s all of you,’ Dscoop executive director Peter van Teeseling told the Dscoop audience. ‘You are all part of a truly amazing global community.’

That global community makes up the largest digital print
community in the world. It includes more than 16,000 HP
industrial digital press owners and partners across more than 100 countries. Some traveled more than 20 hours to make the trip to St Louis, Dscoop says. 

For a video recap of Dscoop Edge World Expo,
visit here.