Company’s theme, “Finishing 4.0,” was well received by booth visitors

During a recent interview, the CEO of Muller Martin, Bruno Muller, spoke in depth about the company’s presence at this year’s drupa, in particular the amount of positive customer feedback they received with regard to the booth's theme, “Finishing 4.0.”

The eleven eventful days at drupa are now a thing of the past. How do you rate the show from Muller Martini's perspective?

Bruno Muller: I consider it to be an outright success. We are not only highly satisfied with the number of visitors, we also received lots of positive customer feedback about how we presented our machines and our services to reinforce and support the future of finishing, or as we call it, “Finishing 4.0.”

“Finishing 4.0’s” key buzzwords include consistent automation, integration, variable, customized products, and touchless workflow. Is that what the graphic arts industry is most interested in?

Bruno Muller: Yes. I’m convinced that there is major potential for development of customized, variable and high-quality printed matter. And, although the process can be complex, these materials must be produced efficiently. During drupa, Muller showed how to do that with specific, practical applications, as well as live presentations. That left a convincing impression on our booth visitors.

How did customers react to your integrated solutions and the demonstrations using complex hybrid products?

Bruno Muller: In particular, visitors liked the booth’s design and layout. They were introduced to the topic of “Finishing 4.0” within a tower which offered a bird’s eye perspective of all our live products. I met with a variety of professionals from the graphic arts industry and other major businesses, publishers as well as printers, managers, and machine operators. Many experienced an "Aha!" moment with the way we presented new and future business models. And that was the case for both visitors with experience in digital printing as well as for conventional printers and finishers.

Positive responses from visitors are certainly encouraging. But investment decisions and commitments are more telling. How satisfied are you with the sales you concluded at drupa?

Bruno Muller: drupa was very successful for us. As we presented new ideas and future-driven production processes to our customers, various projects were determined. What's important now is to process these projects rapidly, and hopefully complete many of them.

Three days before the end of drupa, the fair’s management announced that the next drupa will not be held in 2019 as originally planned, but in 2020, which is the usual four-year cycle. How do you view this decision?

Bruno Muller: It's the right thing to do. After all, we want to impress at drupa by demonstrating multiple machines, but the expense involved in doing so is considerable. At this year's show, for instance, we moved more than 200 tons of equipment to Dusseldorf in 27 trucks on 258 pallets. Plus, we invested three weeks to install the booth. What's more, in addition to 30 technicians, we also had more than 100 sales experts and product managers from all continents on hand. I believe in light of these figures, it's understandable that we prefer the four-year cycle, and we're looking forward to drupa 2020.