Canon UK is hosting its annual Cutting Edge customer event this week (9th-11th April 2019) at its Customer Experience Centre (CEC) in Venlo, The Netherlands, showcasing the latest innovations in its cutsheet digital print solutions portfolio and how they are enabling customers to grow their business.
Now in its third year, over 450 customers and prospects are expected to attend the three-day event where they can explore how to improve operational efficiencies and be inspired by new application opportunities. From promotional communication to publishing, Canon will demonstrate how print service providers (PSPs) can add value, diversify their business and fuel business growth.
To highlight the power of print within multi-channel brand campaigns, customers will see live production of a range of high quality promotional communication to support the coffee table book ‘Speed’, which features images of British subcultures from the last two decades, captured by photojournalist Horst A. Friedrichs. From direct mail, leaflets and postcards, calendars and banners, to magalogs, brochures and books, the Speed campaign collateral highlights the breadth of application possibilities and demonstrates how brand owners and publishers can fuel emotion with print, elevating response, deepening brand engagement and driving sales.
The Speed campaign materials are being produced live at Cutting Edge on a varied line-up of Canon cutsheet solutions, including two colour toner presses: the newly-launched imagePRESS C910 series (see separate release), delivering book dust jackets, postcards and booklets, and the flagship imagePRESS C10000VP. The Océ VarioPrint i-series colour presses will produce magalogs, direct mail, invoices, bookmarks, calendars and posters, while the Océ VarioPrint 6000 TITAN and Océ varioPRINT 140 mono devices will deliver high quality book pages with perfect registration.
Alongside the cutsheet toner and inkjet devices, Canon’s wide format solutions, including the Océ Arizona flatbed printer series and Océ Colorado 1640 roll-to-roll press with unique Canon UVgel technology, will be seen producing promotional Speed graphics, such as banners, promotional posters, signage and packaging.
Extending customers’ choice of finishing technologies to increase operational efficiencies, Canon’s cutsheet digital print presses are working alongside third party solutions, including Tecnau, CP Bourg, SDD, Plockmatic and Uchida, helping customers to improve overall productivity, decrease turnaround times and transform blank sheets of paper into high value, high margin applications, for example using foiling and coating effects.
At Cutting Edge, visitors are also able to see how the latest version of Canon’s PRISMAprepare solution can accelerate production and enable applications diversity, for example, with personalisation. With version 7 of the software, customers benefit from a more intuitive user interface and enhanced functionality for minimal operator intervention and faster throughput. With the PRISMA suite controllers, PSPs can easily personalise a static document and support all in-line finishing options. Pre-press and print production can be automated, reducing turnaround time and virtually eliminating risk of human error, freeing up time for operator skills to be deployed elsewhere within the business.
Each day of Cutting Edge will kick off with a welcome from Canon’s senior management team, followed by a keynote presentation from Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first and only woman to take outright victory in the Dakar Rally, the longest and toughest rally in the world. Jutta will highlight the need for innovation, leadership, motivation and teamwork, and the importance of taking risks.
Delegates can join a range of workshops with business development experts, innovators, technical consultants, trainers and Canon customers such as Ipskamp, who will demonstrate how PSPs can evolve their value proposition. Business-focused sessions will look at the growth opportunity with inkjet, how print adds value in today’s digital world, and process automation. Technical workshops centre on colour management, on-demand book production and how brands can enhance customer communications for profitable growth. Visitors will also have their first opportunity to get hands-on with new technologies including the imagePRESS C910 series.
Peter Wolff, Vice President, Production Printing Products (PPP), EMEA Commercial Printing, Canon Europe, comments, “Now in its third year, Cutting Edge provides a focused environment for customers to see our latest developments in cutsheet technologies and explore the vast range of applications that can now be printed with a single solution. The event shows our customers how they can improve operational efficiency by automating workflows and simplify the production of more creative, high value applications, to fuel their business growth.”
