Upex Used Hardware Show At Ipex Draws 80 Firms

Affordable and available used and fully refurbished equipment could represent best value at April's Ipex exhibition in Birmingham (UK).

Affordable and available used and fully refurbished equipment could represent best value at April's Ipex exhibition in Birmingham (UK).

That is according the used equipment trade show Upex, which is incorporated with Ipex and will have 80 suppliers drawn from 10 different countries spread across 2,200 square metres of exhibition space.

Upex said that it will be the largest representation of used equipment ever staged at an international print industry trade show.

Upex organiser Mike Steele, who is chairman of the British Used Printing Machinery Suppliers Association (BUPMSA), said that the show has attracted in excess of 300 tonnes of machinery with the potential to generate total business of around GBP100m.

That is said to include the re-sale of used equipment back to dealers, during or as a direct result of the exhibition.

Steele said: "Past experience indicates that at least 10 per cent of all Ipex visitors attend the exhibition with the express intention of trading in used equipment.

Unlike most of the new products on show, not only is the investment lower but the kit can be installed straight away.

Likewise, the technology differentials between new and used can be imperceptible." The direct incursion of press manufacturers in to the used sector is a tacit acknowledgement of the stimulus exerted by the trade in refurbished machinery to facilitate sales of new equipment.

In what is increasingly a replacement market, used equipment could now represent the deposit against 70 per cent of all new purchases, he added.

Heidelberg, MAN-Roland and KBA, via its Dutch subsidiary HGO, are amongst a number of leading suppliers directly represented within Upex.

With the sale of new sheetfed offset presses in decline due to consolidation and shrinkage within the sector, manufacturers are inclining to the view that the re-sale of a used machine is better than than no sale at all, Steele commented.

According to Mark Stribley, head of MAN-Roland's Used Direct Division: "The industry is getting smaller.

Less than 200 B1 and B2 presses from all manufacturers are now being sold in to the UK market per annum; that would have been 20 per cent more than four years ago." And he explained: 'I'm even hearing that they're up to capacity in China now.

You've got to be smart, you've got to work out what you want to get from your machinery to make a margin.

I see putting used equipment back in to the market as being a really good idea, because apart from anything else it stimulates the spare parts side of the business." The biggest display of machinery within Upex will be on the Dutch Graphic Trade stand, featuring three Bobst die-cutting machines the largest of which weighs over 50 tonnes.

Wakefield (UK) firm Grafitec will be showing used bindery equipment from Polar, Stahl, Heidelberg and Muller Martini and, via its used Goss web equipment division, a single unit for delivery post-Upex as part of a press valued at GBP0.5m, which has already been sold for installation in Africa.

Grafitec managing director Tony Barrett said he is looking to generate GBP2m worth of business at the show and he added: "Used machinery is a very important element within the overall printing industry.

It drives investment in new equipment and without a used trade you wouldn't have a next stage on." Other exhibitors displaying used finishing equipment for sale at the show include Bindery Machinery Services and Muller Martini specialists Nyland Graphics, whose managing director, Steve Nyland, said: 'We're expecting to generate at least GBP0.5m worth of business at the show and at least as much again over the following 3 - 6 months.

Fifty per cent of our business is now outside of the UK, spread through markets such as Australia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe." Ossett, Yorkshire (UK) based BBR Graphics is also anticipating interest from developing overseas markets.

The company's John Goodwin said: "We established a good foothold in the Middle East as a direct result of the previous Upex four years ago and now we have customers in Iran, Iraq, the Yemen, and Dubai.

Around 50 per cent of our GBP22m annual turnover in refurbishing press equipment is now generated outside of the UK.

We're looking to do between GBP3 -4m at this show." In addition to promoting the value of used equipment, Upex will be looking to attract further support for its sponsorship of next January's attempt on Lake Coniston to regain the 317.6 mph world water speed record by the British manned 'Quicksilver' team led by driver Nigel Macknight.

The 3.5 tonne 'Quicksilver' craft will be getting its first public viewing at the show.

Industry suppliers that have already lent support to the bid include Upex, Komori, MAN-Roland, Agfa Gaevert and Metal FX.

A full-colour illustrated book commemorating the world record bid is being printed by Rotherham (UK) based Garnett Dickinson, with signed copies on sale at the NEC throughout the exhibition.

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