Countdown to the Ipex 2010 Exhibition - 100 Days to Go
BIRMINGHAM, UK—February 8, 2010—With only 100 days to go until the NEC in Birmingham, UK, opens its doors on May 18, 2010 for eight days, Ipex 2010 has entered the final countdown stage. More than 550 stand holders are signed up thus far, representing over 1,000 companies and accounting for more than 60,000 square metres of floor space.
Suppliers’ commitment reflects the exhibition’s premier status as an international event. All the major industry players are signed up and cover a wide section of the entire print production workflow, including Agfa Graphics, Apex/Ryobi, Bobst, Buhrs, Canon, Duplo, Ferag, Fujifilm, Heidelberg, Horizon, HP, KBA, Kern, Kodak, Komori, manroland, Muller Martini, Océ, Pitney Bowes, Ricoh and Xerox to name just a few. Exhibitors will come from over 40 countries. Over half (55%) of the companies will come from overseas, notably from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, France, India, USA and China.
Trevor Crawford, Ipex 2010 Event Director says, “Ipex is almost 95% sold out so we’re extremely pleased with the event’s progress and development, in particular when you consider how the industry has consolidated in the last few years and the difficult economic climate effecting many regions of the world. Many industry figures consider this Ipex to be the most important in its history: many of the latest innovations will be coming to commercial fruition at Ipex and there have been positive signs that recent adverse economic conditions will begin to ease. As a result, we’d expect that our exhibitors’ customers will continue to view Ipex as a major buying and research event.
“With over 1,000 exhibiting companies, visitors will have unrivalled opportunities to see the current and future shape of our industry and plan their investment decisions accordingly. We’ll continue to promote the event globally and this combined with our many business-focussed event features will build a compelling case as to why companies need to visit Ipex to plan for their futures.”
Some exhibitors have increased the size of their stands. In particular, Konica Minolta has increased its footprint by 400%, Océ by 110%; Canon by 100%; Pitney Bowes by 65%; Fuji by 55% and Ultrachem by 15%. HP, who has increased its footprint by 50% to 2,870m2 and will be the largest stand holder at Ipex 2010, followed by Heidelberg with 2,448 square metres and Xerox with 1980 square metres.
Almost 40% of floorspace will be dedicated to pre-press and digital solutions suppliers, whilst press manufacturers and post-press companies will occupy around 34% and 26% of the exhibition respectively.
Over a third of the exhibitor base has never participated at the event, demonstrating how Ipex continues to evolve and attract new companies and reflecting the status of Ipex as an international launch pad to the graphic arts industry. The majority of these companies can be found in the digital and pre-press areas. For example, printing solutions provider Ricoh will be a prime stand holder for the first time, occupying an impressive 1,400sqm stand.
The Ipex organisers have also confirmed that international pre-registration is well under way and visitors from over 100 countries have already signed up.
For the first time, Ipex 2010 will be held in 11 adjoining halls to provide easier navigation. The new ‘horseshoe’ footprint, occupying the newer halls around the Atrium which is accessible via one main approach into the Atrium provides a logical layout for visitors by mirroring the print production workflow from Creation & Design/Pre-Press and Digital Solutions (7; 9 – 12); Output/Presses (6– 8; 20); Post-press Systems & Finishing Equipment (18 – 19) as well as Packaging & Converting (17-20).
Visitors with an interest in used printing machinery should include a visit to UPEX (Hall 17) where they can find over 60 specialist dealers keen to buy and sell all kind of used printing, finishing and ancillary equipment.
Concludes Trevor Crawford: “Ipex 2006 welcomed visitors from over 159 countries – more than any other Graphic Arts exhibition before. I’m confident that with everything on offer at Ipex, we will build on this success and will play a significant part in reigniting the industry.”
All major features and exhibitors have now been allocated space and the final floor plans showing the hall configuration is available from the Ipex website: www.ipex.org/floorplans. From exhibition lists, company details, floorplans, and news about all the features at Ipex, the Ipex website contains everything that visitors need to know to plan a successful trip to the event. In addition, visitors can pre-register free of charge www.ipex.org/register and get information about travel and accommodation.
About Ipex 2010
Ipex is the largest English-speaking global technology event for print, publishing and media. Acquired by IIR Exhibitions in 2006 from its previous owner, industry association Picon, IIR Exhibitions also owns Total Print! Expo incorporating Digital Print World, Northprint and Ipex South Asia.
Ipex 2010 will take place from Tuesday 18th May to Tuesday 25th May 2010 at the NEC, Birmingham, UK. The new footprint for the show provides a logical layout for visitors by mirroring the whole print production workflow.
The new Ipex 2010 website www.ipex.org includes sales brochures, the exhibition layout, an exhibitor list as well as marketing and logistical information. It also has information and voting forms for the international Ipex 2010 ‘Champions Print’ Awards which were launched to acknowledge the huge contributions of those who have influenced and shaped the development of the printing industry.