When distributors and customers came to Automated Precision House, the European home to Duplo, last week, there was more to the visit than looking at the machinery being launched, significant though it is. For just as important as the technology was the gathering of people itself. Duplo invited its distributors from across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In many cases these are relationships that extend back decades and have laid the foundations for long lasting friendships. In the Addlestone building for the first time in more than two years there were 25 countries represented: it might have been more but authorities in a country that aims to do business with the world, prevented some from getting visas.
And the highlighted products, B2 cutting table, B2 sheet cutter bridging to a DC746 and the DuSense 8800, were not the only machines that have not been seen in public before. Duplo has launched new models in its multifinisher range in the last couple of years. These had not before been seen other than by video.
This, of course, is going to be repeated in many places over the next six months, whenever distributors meet the manufacturers they represent. This starts again next week when a full Fespa takes place in Berlin. The exhibition may not be a full house, but there will be many more companies present than had been in Amsterdam last autumn and war, rather than plague, is the main reason for absences this time. The encounters will be emotional, more so since unless we have travelled widely, it is hard to know the impact of Covid and lockdown in different countries. Human stories, not just presentations about the newest technologies, will be shared. And necessarily so. Part of the process of returning to normality is listening to and telling these stories to friends and colleagues that have been physically absent in the intervening months. There is also two years’ worth of technology to discuss and for many, two years without significant investments. It will be easier too to do business in a face to face setting with the intervention of a screen between people.
However, while events like these might appear normal, the presence of face masks, sanitation stations and posters urging adherence to social distancing rules, remind us that the pandemic is still here and infections remain possible, though relatively unlikely. For now, let us celebrate that meetings can and will take place, that old friends can again meet and discuss the finer points of different printheads. Printers are free to bore the pants off each other.
At last we will meet again
When distributors and customers came to Automated Precision House, the European home to Duplo, last week, there was more to the visit than looking at the machinery being launched, significant though it is. For just as important as the technology was the gathering of people itself. Duplo invited its distributors from across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In many cases these are relationships that extend back decades and have laid the foundations for long lasting friendships. In the Addlestone building for the first time in more than two years there were 25 countries represented: it might have been more but authorities in a country that aims to do business with the world, prevented some from getting visas.
And the highlighted products, B2 cutting table, B2 sheet cutter bridging to a DC746 and the DuSense 8800, were not the only machines that have not been seen in public before. Duplo has launched new models in its multifinisher range in the last couple of years. These had not before been seen other than by video.
This, of course, is going to be repeated in many places over the next six months, whenever distributors meet the manufacturers they represent. This starts again next week when a full Fespa takes place in Berlin. The exhibition may not be a full house, but there will be many more companies present than had been in Amsterdam last autumn and war, rather than plague, is the main reason for absences this time. The encounters will be emotional, more so since unless we have travelled widely, it is hard to know the impact of Covid and lockdown in different countries. Human stories, not just presentations about the newest technologies, will be shared. And necessarily so. Part of the process of returning to normality is listening to and telling these stories to friends and colleagues that have been physically absent in the intervening months. There is also two years’ worth of technology to discuss and for many, two years without significant investments. It will be easier too to do business in a face to face setting with the intervention of a screen between people.
However, while events like these might appear normal, the presence of face masks, sanitation stations and posters urging adherence to social distancing rules, remind us that the pandemic is still here and infections remain possible, though relatively unlikely. For now, let us celebrate that meetings can and will take place, that old friends can again meet and discuss the finer points of different printheads. Printers are free to bore the pants off each other.
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