Chris Jones on Day Two of his first LabelExpo...

My second day has been fantastic.  The Alphasonics booth has been absolutely jam packed today and we have actually sold a few more systems. It's been extrmemely tough but equally rewarding in so many ways.  We have had a bit of a hectic day but we've enjoyed meeting potential customers and some old friends.  Again, I've personally made some great contacts and met customers that I have not had the chance to visit yet.  All I know is that I'll be out visiting many customers when I return home.

If you saw my blog update from Day One, you will have noticed the extra update revealing that we had won the Green Award at the Global label Awards ceremony.  We are absolutely delighted.  We have entered the AS1000 Trojan Parts Washing systems on two previous occassions and were apparently very close each time. To be recognisedin this way is fantastic news for us and it represents the rewards for hard work in terms of research and development, engineering and hard work personally trying to re-inforce the message behind the system.  In today's world, cleaning systems need to be more than effective.  They need to make savings.  Whether this be time, energy, money or all three they must represent value in terms of their impact on the workforce and the enironment.  The AS1000 certainly does this and to be recognised in this way has been extrmemely pleasing.  On this note,  I must thank the judging panel and also the many people tweeting, writing and visiting our stand who have sent their conngratulations.  

Going back to today's events on our booth we have our Japanese agent Mr. Yosuke Kimura with us for the rest of the week now.  He's been a great help and his enthusiasm for our equipment has been so great to see.  He is also great fun and I've really enjoyed his company both at the show and out last night.  It's been a pleasure to have him here.  

To finish for today, I'd like to make a quick point on what we're offering at the show.  Alphasonics has always stood for the very best quality of cleaning equipment and this is refelcted by the way our customers have purchased systems from us time and time again.  Our cleaning systems represent excellence in terms of how the mchine is designed, built and supported after the system is installed.  The fact visitors to our booth recognise this means we are doing our job. 

The market is unfortunately starting to fill up with cheap alternatives that basically do not perform to the standards that we have set and the standards customers expect.  I've said this before, and it's an old one, but you do get what you pay for.  The waters are being muddied which has me slightly worried.  Not for Alphasonics, but for the flexo industry.  When cheap alternatives and even shoddy imitations of our equipment are leaking into the market place, printers are being exposed to equipment that could in the end cause more trouble than they're worth.  Obviously I cannot, and more to the point will not name names but at the end of the day, systems like this simply are not good enough and customer exposure to systems of such poor quality is concerning. If you read my blogs from last year, they discuss this in fruther details and there is some advice on how to make the best choice when choosing a roll, plate or parts cleaning system.  

We're about to go for a couple of drinks on the Edale booth and have a quick chat with their staff.  They always give a warm welcome and I'm looking forward to having (another) beer with them.  That's it for Day Two.  A day of great visitors to booth and enjoying the victory of last night.  I will be posting again tomorrow evening.  Remember, keep looking out for our tweets and pictures direct from our booth.  Goodnight!

Chris