NELA considers WPE an important industry event and, therefore, the trade fair is a fixed date in the annual show calendar. This year, however, the plate automation specialist decided last minute for a participation in Vienna, expectations were rather conservative in view of reduced exhibition space and moderate visitor forecasts in a drupa-year.
Newspaper printers are an extremely important customer group for NELA, and for these customers we wanted to be present in Vienna. Those who had found their way to the Austrian capital appreciated our offer to meet face to face, and a number of projects were discussed and brought forward with end users or with our sales partners. The main topic was pre-press automation with NELA’s Just In Time-concepts which help newspaper printers to prepare their plate making departments for today’s challenges, namely increasing plate volumes, continuing diversification of printed products, and shorter production times. While attendance was okay on the second day of the show and during the conference sessions, the third show day suffered from very low traffic. The image of the local Vienna white coffee specialty called ‘Wiener Melange’ – a mixture of dark coffee and light whipped milk – was used along the aisles in comparison with the show’s success.
Martin Haselbach, NELA’s Head of Sales Graphic Systems says after the show: „In spite of the suboptimal conditions of the show it was very important for us to be on site for our customers. Many newspaper printers want to discuss their plans for an automation of their pre-press departments at WPE. This year we had fixed fewer appointments before the show, but we were surprised by the positive feedback of the people who had visited our booth. German as well as international customers truly appreciated that we took the effort to exhibit in Vienna.” As a special treat, NELA could even take home an order for a multivariable register punching and bending system for several plate formats.
