Agfa acuire Inca digital Printers.
Photo Inca Digital Printers
The Agfa announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Inca Digital Printers, which was announced on April 20. This acquisition is an important step toward the achievement of Agfa’s ambitious growth targets and strengthens the Group’s position in the sign and display and industrial printing markets.
The acquisition encompasses the portfolio of existing high-speed multi-pass printers, including a strong service organization, a newly designed line of single-pass printers for several packaging applications as well as a joint development of a customized in-line Print Engine in collaboration with leading corrugator manufacturer BHS Corrugated.
“I am pleased that we are now able to start integrating Inca’s activities into our organization. This acquisition is a major step in the transformation of our Group. Our digital printing growth engine has a tremendous potential, which will be further accelerated by the addition of Inca,” said Pascal Juéry, president and chief executive officer of the Agfa-Gevaert Group.
Inca Digital Printers is a Cambridge UK based leading developer and manufacturer of advanced high-speed printing and production technologies for sign and display applications as well as for the rapidly growing digital printing market for packaging. Inca is an ideal partner for Agfa, bringing a complementary portfolio of printing solutions of the highest standard and a strong technological platform to launch robust single-pass printing presses for the packaging market.
Vincent Wille, president of Agfa’s Digital Print and Chemicals division, comments, “The combination of Inca Digital’s manufacturing know-how and Agfa’s inks, technical expertise, worldwide presence and excellent service networks makes this a great opportunity to grow in the fast-moving packaging business. We now can take our position with high-end and high-speed systems in both the sign & display and the developing carton and corrugated markets.”
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
