Raids, trade, and debuts made: Day One at Paperworld 2018
January 28, 2018
An eventful opening day of the Remanexpo trade show got this year’s show off to a flying start.
Paperworld 2018 officially opened yesterday, and thousands of visitors have already poured into Hall 6.0 of the Messe Frankfurt to meet, network, and trade with a vast array of exhibitors, from across the industry and around the world.
A busy Saturday was not without its controversies, however, with two early raids by the German Federal Customs Service (Zoll) taking place in the hall. With products seemingly being confiscated from the booths, one by-stander speculated that the seizure occurred following complaints of patent infringement by an unknown OEM. Furthermore, on one exhibitor’s booth, Zoll officers took the step of removing a photograph of a potentially-infringing product from the exhibitor’s display, leaving a conspicuous white gap on the side of their booth.
Saturday’s action continued at the Seminar Theatre where Lightwords director Peter Mayhew kicked off this years The Recycler Live Frankfurt Seminars with an introduction to both the seminar schedule, and the show itself, in which he discussed various new products and welcomed several first-time exhibitors. He then gave the first proper seminar of the day: ‘Understanding the Managed Print Services (MPS) Market.’ Within this talk, Mayhew explained the complex differences between Managed Services, Managed Document Services and Managed Print Services, and warned of the aftermarket’s next challenge: The nascent technology of Amazon Dash, which may have caused baffled responses today but which Mayhew predicts will be a major talking point in the years to come – “Beware – this is the future!”
Mayhew’s talk was followed by Apex’s Serena Wang discussing ‘How to seize early opportunities to gain more market share’, a presentation which included various insights into Apex’s development processes, and some of the challenges they are seeking to overcome. Connett & Unland’s David Connett then delivered an entertaining address, involving audience participation, as he looked ahead at which OEMs would still be operating in the industry by 2025. Vincent Van Dijk, ETIRA’s Secretary General, gave the final seminar of the day, explaining his organisation’s work and revealing which forthcoming EU policy initiatives would affect the remanufacturing industry the most.
Among over a hundred and thirty exhibitors enjoying the first day of the show, Apex attracted copious crowds, with Amber Shi, the supplier’s Business Development Manager, describing the number of visitors to its booth as “much better than expectations.” Following on from her colleague’s seminar earlier, Shi spoke of the challenges Apex will seek solutions to in 2018, such as the OEMs’ continuing use of firmware, and reasserted Apex’s mission of keeping pace with the OEMs, saying: “When the OEMs update their platform, so do we.”
Ian McIntyre, of UK-based Photocopier Consumables, who was visiting the show on Saturday, told The Recycler how impressed he was with the “well-presented” show, and noting the increased number of booths at this year’s event. He also reflected on the recent Chinese ban on importing plastic waste, describing it as a “massive opportunity” to his company, and other remanufacturers in the UK.
Several other exhibitors were particularly enjoying their first ever day of Paperworld, with 2018 being their debut appearance. One such company was PRP Solutions, who was there to exhibit not only its range of Pelikan Hardcopy remanufactured cartridges, but also to promote the news that it is the brand licensing partner of Pelikan, following last year’s partnership deal. The company’s Head of European Sales and Marketing, William Gawler, said PRP Solutions had already received “a lot of genuine, positive interest”, and CEO Tony Mills declared he hoped the company’s presence would “clarify any doubts or confusion that there may be” over the potential of the partnership. Fellow debutants Trade Copiers, a British end-of-life products broker, said the interest in their company had been “overwhelming”, providing them with “lots of new contacts, lots of new leads” and some very positive feedback to welcome them in.
Today, The Recycler Live Frankfurt Seminars programme continues, with Peter Mayhew again opening the show before David Connett returns to discuss ‘Remanufacturing – a twenty-first century solution’. Printer Aide Corp. President Roger Teng then delivers a talk on Laser Printer Emitted Particles, and how they could affect your business in the near future, before seminars from Ecostar’s Eleni Chrysagi, on best practice in cartridge remanufacturing; Maciej Sianos (THI) and Krzysztof Serwatka (PrinCity), on how to increase profits with MPS, compared to standalone cartridges; a digital marketing Q&A with wta’s Zoltan Matyas; and a further discussion of MPS, and unsustainable long-term inefficiencies, from Nubeprint’s Antonio Sanchez.
To stay up-to-date on all that is happening at Remanexpo at Paperworld, visit therecycler.com, or click here for a full seminar schedule, exhibitor list, and speaker profiles.
Categories : World Focus
Tags : Frankfurt Messe Frankfurt Paperworld Paperworld 2018 Remanexpo
