Electronics For Imaging (EFI) has expanded the speaker line-up for its users’ conference, EFI Connect 2018 January 23-26 at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel. On January 23, EFI CEO Guy Gecht will moderate a pair of fireside chat keynotes with two innovative print and packaging industry executives: Eric Bacourt, CEO of Hinojosa Packaging Solutions, and Mal McGowan, CEO of McGowans Print. The executives are the first users of EFI’s single-pass LED inkjet corrugated board digital press – the EFI Nozomi C18000.
Hinojosa: The power of packaging with digital corrugated. Bacourt’s company, Xàtiva, Spain-based Hinojosa, is a leading Spanish packaging group and one of the world’s most progressive users of digital inkjet printing in the corrugated market. The company also is home to the first EFI Nozomi press installation. Bacourt will share how his company – which was a leader in digital corrugated production even prior to adding a Nozomi press – achieved even greater digital opportunities and defied expectations by establishing a 24-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week high-volume manufacturing operation with its newest EFI single-pass production technology. Bacourt has had an extensive career managing and developing some of Europe’s most prominent packaging operations. He’s served as CEO of Hinojosa for nearly a decade, directing a high-volume operation responsible for a significant amount of the boxes used in Spain’s agricultural, food and beverage industries. Prior to his current role, Bacourt was the head of Iberian operations for Europe’s leading cartonboard producer.
McGowans Print: Single-pass print equals multiple market opportunities. Dublin, Ireland-based McGowans Print is the site of the world’s second Nozomi C18000 press installation. Founder and CEO Mal McGowan is a mathematician by training who started the business more than 25 years ago with a colour copier in a small shop in Dublin. As an aggressive adopter of digital print technologies, he and his 100-employee team have built the company into Ireland’s most recognized print solutions provider. Today, in addition to its new EFI Nozomi, the company operates more than 25 digital presses and is a market leader in Ireland for both cut-sheet and super-wide-format digital production printing. With much of its business centered on high-quality display graphics applications, McGowans is able to use its Nozomi press to meet existing demand for corrugated display work, as well as developing new business-producing, high-end, full-colour corrugated packaging.
With approximately 200 sessions at the four-day conference, customers will gain vital insights into smart business management. Attendees from all over the world will learn the best ways to use EFI technologies can meet with and provide feedback to senior EFI executives and technical development staff. Additional speakers at Connect 2018 include EFI Productivity Software Senior Vice President Gabriel Matsliach, and noted industry economist and first-time Connect keynoter Dr. Joe Webb. A 40-year graphic arts industry veteran, Webb will discuss the economic state of the industry while offering a unique perspective about the trends and challenges ahead, with actionable ideas for competitive advantage and a successful business future – as well as a Q&A session. Webb and print industry veteran Wayne Peterson will also deliver UnSquaring, a series of breakout sessions based on the strategy methodology they developed with RIT professor Chris Bondy in the book UnSquaring the Wheel. Connect’s UnSquaring sessions will showcase leadership strategies that print businesses can use to develop superior growth and drive sales – the same tools Peterson is using while serving as Executive Vice President and COO for one of the USA’s leading publication printers, Vermont-based Lane Press. The users’ group conference also will have a solutions centre featuring new EFI technologies and exhibits from EFI partners, including: 3M Commercial Solutions; Aberdeen Fabrics; Duplo; Enfocus; Esko; Kodak; Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A.; Motioncutter; OneVision; The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation; Print ReLeaf; Progress Software; Ricoh Americas; Riso; SpencerMetrics; X-Rite Pantone; Xerox; and Zünd.
Bacourt and McGowan to share personal and professional success stories in EFI Connect fireside chat keynotes
