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Bigital Thinking Podcast FESPA Special

The Bigital Thinking Podcast is a podcast, where our CEO Eric talks to interesting people from the printing industry. At FESPA 2022 we recorded a special episode and interviewed visitors and exhibitors live at the fair.

Usually we do our podcast episodes in German, but this time we had a few international guests. Therefore, we translate the German parts of the episode in the following article. 

Our international guests speak English, so we mark the time stamps in the text and you can listen to the original audio in the podcast. We also link to each guest’s LinkedIn profile here in case you want to network or learn more.

Because of the length we separated the transcription into a few parts. Part 2

Michael Ryan und Eric Bradatsch FESPA

Intro

Welcome to the Bigital Thinking Podcast by Texsib. My name is Eric, I am the managing director of one of the most efficient digital printing companies in Germany and I talk to great people here who give you valuable impulses on the subject of print and media, as well as your personal development.

Eric (CEO Texsib GmbH): Moin, moin and welcome to a new episode of the Bigital Thinking Podcast and this is a very, very special episode.

Judith (Head of Marketing at Texsib GmbH): Exactly, this is a special FESPA episode. We’re here in Berlin right now, but I’d say let’s leave the intro to someone else today.

Michael Ryan: Hi and welcome to FESPA 2022 live in Berlin. My name is Michael Ryan, Head of FESPA. Delighted to join this podcast with the Team from Texsib. As we discover all the latest trends, innovations and new applications for the print industry.

Eric: Hey Judy, tell me, this is your first show in the print industry. What do you think of it?

Judith: I am totally impressed because I think there are 8 halls, huge digital printers everywhere, super exciting, super diverse and most of all I am thrilled by all the people. I’ve already seen a lot of them online, but today and yesterday I got to meet them in person. Everyone is super friendly, open and it’s just really nice.

Eric: Totally agree! I am totally excited. The weather was great in Berlin and the show was amazing. To be honest, I had a bit of respect beforehand that people might be a bit uptight or act cautiously after such a long time. But quite the opposite, it’s a sigh of relief, everyone is happy to see people live again and to exchange ideas. Also to meet the familiar business partners again, because the industry is a bit like family. I just think it’s totally fascinating.

Judith: How often have you been at FESPA?

Eric: I don’t know. I think I attended FESPA when I was still a student, because TEXSIB is a family business. It was kind of compulsory, but a duty I always looked forward to. I’ve been here for a very, very long time and I’m happy to meet people at almost every stand and really enjoy the exchange that takes place here.

Judith: We also wanted to talk a bit about the trends that we could see for the industry here at the fair and one trend is clearly sustainability. 

Eric: Definitely. You have sustainable materials running at almost every stand with printers. They also make sure that the machines aren’t running in the fastest modes all the time, so there isn’t miles and miles of stuff flying into the bin. Even in that, there are changes that you can see. Most of the UV systems have been converted to LED. The inks have become greener, the confections. It’s all the way through.

What other trends and developments are there?  The quality is getting better and better. I always think, where is this leading? You now have almost photo-realistic prints, even on the 5-metre machines. What I also notice very strongly is the whole automation approach.

Many stands are dealing with the question „How can I process the prints faster and more efficiently?“.

The shortage of skilled workers is also a big issue. Of course, it always depends on the recruiting strategy, but you can see that a lot is being done technically to speed up production.

Judith: I also find that very interesting about the shortage of skilled workers. We are also a bit in our little Texsib universe and think that these are problems that only we have.  It was very good to hear in the many conversations that other companies have the same problems. It doesn’t matter whether they produce printers, inks or materials.  We just process the whole thing further. These are all our tools, so to speak, that are produced here. Nevertheless, we have the same challenges.

Eric: What I have also noticed are all the effects of everything that has happened in the last two years and that they have also set a process in motion that is far from over.

A very classic example: supply chains. I have heard on many stands that we now have delivery times of 6 instead of 3 months or 12 instead of 6 months.

Judith: Or 47 weeks.

Eric: That’s going on to a certain extent and everyone has their own strategy for dealing with it. Some are on the road like us and fill up their warehouses so that we can offer customers high availability, others say they are changing their supply chains a bit and try to source more locally. So there are a lot of big changes going on.

Judith: On all levels. I think the next FESPA is next year, isn’t it?

Eric: Yes.

Judith: I’m excited to see the difference, how it develops and what else has happened until then.

Eric: It remains exciting and is definitely a fascinating industry.

Judith: We have talked to a lot of people here and we have also collected a few voices from FESPA for you. There are so many and we’re going to listen to them now, aren’t we?

Eric: Let’s get started! Look forward to a great cross-section of visitors and exhibitors.

Judith: Thank you again to everyone who spontaneously participated in our podcast.

Eric: We will definitely do it again and if you want to be part of our podcast next year, just write to us.

Short disclaimer to our German listeners: FESPA is an international fair and therefore we also have international guests who speak English. Have fun listening!

Tobias Lang Marabu Fespa

Tobias Lang – Product Manager at Marabu

Today I’m looking forward to the podcast with Eric.

Eric: Tell me, what do you think of the fair, do you have anything new and exciting in your portfolio?

Tobias: I think the fair is great. I just arrived, but I’m already overwhelmed by what’s here. All the great big exhibitors like Durst, Canon etc. are here and it’s just great to meet people in real life again after two years.

Eric: Real people to touch.

Tobias: Exactly, real people to touch. Meeting people again, really talking to people again. That’s just what I enjoy.

Eric: What are your plans for the next weeks and months/years? Is there anything current that you can already talk about?

Tobias: We have this graphic print where we are super strong and we will now also go more and more into industrial print. One of our topics is industrial printing on glass. In the meantime, we are also moving in the direction of 3D printing, haptic structures, where we also do customisations and that is a trend that we are simply following.

Eric: Finally, what are you hoping for the days of the trade fair that are now coming up?

Tobias: Good conversations, nice people and getting to know some new things. I think those are three things that are really important.

Eric: Thank you very much!

Marcel Dietrich Durst Fespa

Marcel Dietrich – Managing Director and Sales at Durst Germany

I am happy to be here now.

Eric: What have you got that’s new Marcel?

Marcel: We have a lot of new machines. First of all, a very big booth. We have a new 5m printer here, which we are presenting for the first time. Then we have a textile printer, the P5 TEX iSUB and a hybrid printer P5 350/HS, as well as two new flatbed printers and a label printer.

Eric: How is the fair so far? Are you satisfied?

Marcel: We are very satisfied. It is very crowded on Wednesday.  It is usually the case that the second and third days are the busiest. But also yesterday there were a lot of customers here and we are happy to be here again.

Eric: What are your wishes for the next days?

Marcel: To see you and above all to meet as many customers as possible. It’s a small industry and it’s always like a family reunion. That’s the main focus and of course I’m looking forward to showing machines to every customer.

Eric: Thank you Marcel!

Marcel: You’re welcome and have fun!

Listen to the complete episode: