A constant flood of visitors filled the stand to see product demonstrations, talk with product experts, and hear from Kodak customers who are embracing change with Kodak solutions. The KODAK PROSPER 6000XL Press, KODAK NEXPRESS SX3300 Digital Production Colour Press, KODAK FLEXCEL Direct System, KODAK SONORA XP Process Free Plates, and KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System v6, were just a few of the solutions drawing standing-room-only crowds throughout the two weeks, showing that the market is searching for innovative solutions to help them differentiate and grow their businesses.
Drupa marked a major turning point for the industry and for Kodak. The print, publishing, and packaging markets are undergoing dynamic change, and Kodak is helping customers add value to print with the broadest portfolio of traditional, digital, and hybrid solutions. Over the course of the show, Kodak exceeded its sales goals and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees around the world.
drupa has been an extraordinary event on many fronts—for our industry, our customers, and for Kodak, said Antonio M. Perez, Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. I am very excited about how our customers are embracing change and adding new solutions to create higher value printed products for their clients. They have shared with me many examples of how KODAK Products and Solutions are the catalyst for this change and how they are staking their futures on the unique, market-leading applications we enable.
The Kodak stand was 2500sqm – the size of two Olympic swimming pools – and it was easy for customers to get lost! Fortunately we have many customers who have experienced drupa before and we had appointments and demos set up with most of them. There was an excellent presence from Southern Africa with over 300 visitors from our region and there was something for everyone on the stand, said Keith Solomon, Director of Antalis South Africa, the Kodak distributor for Southern Africa. Sales exceeded our forecast and we welcomed many new customers into the Kodak family of CTP, NexPress and Digital workflow systems. We also showcased the latest in chemistry-free plates. It is an amazing thought that the total number of pages printed in a year using Kodak plates, stretched end-to-end, would reach to the moon and back 7000 times! The Kodak stand was by far the best that I have experienced in the eight drupas which I have attended.
A significant increase in orders for KODAK Equipment from customers around the world underscores the rapid growth of print in emerging markets. The printing and publishing industries in Asia have been experiencing double digit growth, resulting in multiple orders for KODAK PROSPER 1000 and 5000XL Presses at drupa. The modernisation of government offices in Latin America yielded a multi-solution order for Kodak’s digital prepress and printing technology, and the rapid rise of consumer packaged goods in Greater Russia and Eastern Europe has brought in a large number of orders for KODAK FLEXCEL NX Systems.
Our expertise in imaging and materials science, combined with our intimate knowledge of the markets we serve, drives everything we do, added Perez. We leverage our presence at industry events around the world to learn more from our customers and ensure we are designing and delivering digital solutions on which they can build and grow.
As print’s role in driving successful multichannel communications increases, the industry is innovating to keep up with the changes. Kodak is leading the way with products and solutions that are helping customers around the globe produce higher value, highly-personalized pages for their clients.
