The economic shift from west to east

An interview with Stefaan Vanhooren, President of Agfa Graphics about current products and economic development.  

By Thomas Fasold

How has Agfa Graphics’ product offering changed since the last drupa?

For the first time we have brought the M-Press Leopard to an exhibition. The M-Press Leopard excels in sectors of digital printing like 

homeware and decoration. This complements market the sign & display market which we address with our Anapurna and Jeti solutions. All these systems have obviously evolved to state of the art solutions, including inks and workflows. 

This brings me to the importance of the software and workflow that enable our users to approach their customers with web to print, and even cloud based systems, and connect their current pre-press with new digital printing alternatives. We are showing our latest software developments like Arkitex Eversify, a SaaS solution for newspaper publishing on e-media readers and Apogee 8. 

Last but not least you will find a strong presence of our plates and equipment solutions for the offset market, with a special focus on chemistry-free plate solutions for both commercial printing applications and for newspapers.

What are the main focus points for Agfa at drupa 2012?

Offset printing is important for Agfa Graphics. We heavily endorse the chemistry-free plate solutions for offset printers, also for demanding users and newspapers. Chem-free plates make printing more sustainable because they are easier to use and easier to clean while offering an extremely stable process and greatly reduced waste. 

For the industial and sign&display segment we focus on UV curable inkjet solutions with the widest offering in the industry, which not only includes presses but also inks for very specific applications.

And the software ties all of that together. Efficient workflows are much in demand, especially now that inkjet printers or presses have grown into production assets. Software also links the conventional offset workflow with digital alternatives so integration and connectivity are our primary focus. 

Sustainability and care for the environment are important buzz words for drupa 2012. Agfa is reknown fort he plates – is there anything new?

Our solutions that lead to a more sustainable production of print are definitely not restricted to chemistry-free plates. In the meanwhile Agfa has a number of other products and services that help our customers to reduce their impact on the environment: we have press room products that enable them to eliminate the use of alcohol, and we have software solutions that reduce ink. They all make printing a more stable system, which in the end also means a more sustainable solution. 

What is the impact of economic growth in the emerging economies?

There is definitely an ongoing economic shift from west to east. 

Even though we have European roots, we are very active indeed in all of these markets, not only through local sales organisations (like in Japan) and some well-established and strong local partners, but also with our local plate supply from our manufacturing sites in China, South Korea, the US and Brazil. 

We have increased our efforts in recent years to become a strong partner in these markets and we have been able to strengthen our activities and position consider-ably during the past few years, both in offset and in digital printing. The joint venture with Shenzen Brothers (Agfa Graphics Asia Ltd.) opens opportunities for a larger market presence in Greater China and the ASEAN Region. Latin America has traditionally been quite successful but recent investments in the local manufacturing site enable us to be present even more prominently. In India we have a technology agreement with Technova, which allows both of us to focus on the Indian market specifically