Dscoop Edge World Expo | 67Dscoop Edge World Expo: A real ‘magic’ show Dscoop World Edge hosted a celebrity keynoteDscoop Edge World Expo witnessed the launch of HP Indigo 200K digital press and played host to a celebrity keynote speaker. Charlie Edward reportshe 2023 edition of Dscoop, hosted in St Louis, Missouri, in “Sustainability is all great on paper, March proved to be a melting pot of innovation. Over 1,100 attendees from more than 40 countries gathered under the Tbut it requires an action”St Louis-themed banner ‘gateway to growth.’Basketball legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, known as much for pouches as a way to diversify their business and meet the growing his business acumen as for his athletic prowess, delivered the demand for short-run digitally produced pouches. Holloway says keynote speech. Johnson emphasized the importance of teamwork, the North and South American fexible packaging market grows community and personal growth, setting a tone of shared strategies around two to four percent each year. But digital printing, Holloway and innovative ideas. says, ‘is growing about two and a half times that.’Johnson says: ‘My journey frst started on the basketball court in Holloway was joined by RooTree, a Canadian printer that takes Lansing, Michigan. I had won every championship from third grade an eco-friendly approach to fexible packaging.to ninth grade. Then I went to a high school that had never won As growth in digital fexible packaging enjoys a more robust a championship. As leaders, even with the marketplace being bad growth pace, it’s important for printers to communicate the right now, we still have to fgure out how to win. When I went to sustainability benefts of this packaging format, such as less energy this high school that wasn’t known for basketball, I had to fgure to produce and transport than rigid packaging. And yet, most out how to win.’ fexible packaging is made up of a multi-layer construction, and Johnson says he’s driven by two things: excellence and being therefore not recyclable. ‘best in class.’ RooTree’s president and CEO Phil St-Cyr says: ‘At the end of the day, it’s going to take a recycler, it’s going to take a brand to pass HP Indigo 200K North America debut that message on. But I think we can do so much more, because For the machine heads, the highlight of Dscoop was the North sustainability is all great on paper, but it requires an action.’American debut of the HP Indigo 200K digital press. Aviram Iluz, John Dettmer, a color expert at HP, led a PrintOS presentation global product manager at HP Indigo, underscored the machine’s on the importance of quality in color printing. He emphasized the potential in the fexible packaging market. According to the Flexible role of tools like PrintOS in achieving consistent color results. The Packaging Association, fexible packaging is the second largest predictive interface was on display, demonstrating its ability to packaging segment in the US, making up about 19 percent of the anticipate potential issues before they occur. Color Beat, another $177B USD packaging market in the US. feature of PrintOS, increases operational effciency by making color The new mid-web press, launched this spring at HP’s VIP event in a competitive advantage. It allows for color control time to be cut Israel, is designed to increase productivity and provide on-demand down to minutes per job.delivery with no minimum orders, all while facilitating unique designs and reducing energy consumption. Testament to commitmentThe press features a 30 percent increase in speed and 45 percent In conclusion, the Dscoop 2023 conference served as a testament boost in productivity compared to the 25K, HP says. The press is to the digital print industry’s commitment to innovation, growth also meant to serve as a tool for converters looking to make the and sustainability. evolution into Industry 4.0. ‘It doesn’t mean anything if there’s no heart and soul - and that’s Dscoop also unveiled an array of fresh initiatives during the all of you,’ Dscoop executive director Peter van Teeseling told event, including a print exchange platform and an expanded the Dscoop audience. ‘You are all part of a truly amazing global climate action committee. This committee, which was established community.’in 2022, is made up of volunteer printers and partners aiming to That global community makes up the largest digital print guide Dscoop companies toward becoming carbon net-zero. community in the world. It includes more than 16,000 HP industrial digital press owners and partners across more than 100 Expansive educational sessions countries. Some traveled more than 20 hours to make the trip to St The event also featured educational sessions on key trends in the Louis, Dscoop says.digital printing space, from exploring on Industry 4.0 to insights on emerging trends like the move to digitally printed fexible pouches.For a video recap of Dscoop Edge World Expo, HP’s Brent Holloway co-hosted one such session on fexible visit https://bit.ly/3ppF6jHpouches. Label converters are eyeing fexible packaging and Jul - Sep 2023