FuturePrint Podcast
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FuturePrint Podcast
#272 Dantex & LabelExpo Barcelona: Where digital print technology shines through agility, trust, and timing
In this episode, we reconnect with Richard Bunney, Group Managing Director at Dantex in a reflective and future focused discussion following their highly successful outing at LabelExpo Barcelona. Richard walks us through the strategic call to relaunch the PicoColour as a smart, lower-risk entry point into digital, alongside the proven performance of PicoJet. We dig into why digital print is drawing the biggest crowds, how converters and brand owners are collaborating on capital decisions, and what pressure points—agility, cost per label, sustainability—are driving that shift. You’ll hear how the team moved faster than a typical R&D cycle without sacrificing quality, and why a family-run, customer-first culture showed up not just in messaging, but in the stand’s design and energy.
Dantex's booth at LabelExpo also proved that trade shows don’t have to feel like a maze of similar looking booths featuring machines and hard sells. Richard explained more about how a hospitality-first stand—open space, a warm welcome, real conversations—helped Dantex convert interest into action, including on-stand sales and a 60% jump in active leads compared with Brussels. This isn’t a brag reel; it’s a blueprint for designing experiences that buyers trust.
We also look west and the dynamically growing US market. With a fast growing install base, a focused portfolio, and a strengthened sales and service footprint, Dantex’s U.S. subsidiary is turning proof into momentum. Expect a strong showing in Chicago for LOUPE Americas, with the compact, small-footprint platform moving from concept to commercial, and significant interest from Mexico and Brazil through regional partners.
If you care about digital label printing, trade show strategy, or building trust in complex B2B sales, this conversation offers practical signals you can use.
Enjoyed this conversation? Follow the show, share it with a colleague who’s planning their next expo, and leave a quick review—your feedback helps us bring more insight to more listeners.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Welcome to the latest episode of the Future Print podcast. I'm really happy to reintroduce Richard Bunny, who's the managing director of Dantex. We've interviewed Richard before, really popular podcast, The Art of Leading Creatively, if you want to track back and check that out. This podcast follows Dantex's super successful appearance at Labour Expo in Barcelona. And I wanted to catch up with Richard to see how the show went, get his impressions of the event, what um Dantex was were doing at the show. They took a slightly different approach with their exhibition presence, which has um worked extremely well. So welcome back to the podcast, Richard.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thank you, Marcus. Thank you for having me again on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Welcome back. Welcome back. Like I said, the previous one was good, and we're going to follow that up now. So it's a couple of weeks on, Richard, from Labour Expo in Barcelona. I understand you're fully recovered. I know it's an exhausting experience for everybody, isn't it? But it was a fantastic show for you, wasn't it? Give us a bit of uh a feel for what happened, how he approached the um show and and and so on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, thank you. Yeah, no, look, it was a really good show. Um we're now sort of two weeks back, uh, felt a little bit jaded the first week because they they are exhausting events, they are, because so much work goes into it. And you know, the team members are uh working a year to a year and a half prior to the show to get everything designed and built for the show. So they do a phenomenal job. Um but yeah, look, it was it was a really successful show for Dantex, uh, and we we take away so many positives from the show. One of the areas that obviously I'm I'm always interested in is looking at footfall and and what we saw at the show and and how it's sort of helping us to drive our our future goals and and objectives. Um, just looking at some numbers, actually, um, the last couple of days, we saw a 60% increase from um Label Expo Brussels, uh 23, uh, in terms of that's active leads. So from our side, it it's hugely successful. And I think it's always hard to quantify these sort of shows and actually do they value you and does it make a big impact in terms of capital equipment turnover as well? So for us to see that level of activity and the increase is phenomenal. Um, I think how do we pinpoint that? There's a couple of scenarios I would probably reference and say. I think it really did help being in Barcelona. I think there was a lot of buzz around a new place, a new location, and I think potentially more people wanted to see what was on offer, you know, for a new city and what it bought. It was very vibrant as well, you know, and good fun. So that that that was fantastic. I think obviously there was a big presence again um from the east, which I think we'll always welcome. And and maybe that's controversial to say from certain people, but I I would say absolutely we welcome it uh to see the competitive edge that they're bringing to the market. Obviously, where Dantex are positioned, we're in the other end completely with what we offer. So, you know, that was great to see, um, seeing a lot of our competitors and what they're offering. Uh, but for us, obviously, we were launching some new tech, and and I think that had a massive part to play for us. We bought back a very popular uh machine of ours, which was the really the start of our digital journey, which I I think I'd mentioned in the previous podcast that this is our Pico Colour coming back to the market. And we've been hugely excited. It's something I've been pushing for very hard during my four years at Dantex to bring this back to market. We sold numerous amounts of the previous machine, the Pico Colour 210. So we had phenomenal results at the show. Uh, and to get sales during the show. Um, I know people talk about pre-sales, but we did get sales during the show, and that that means the world to us all. All that hard work that's gone into, you know, uh the distribution, bringing machinery to the show, we actually were able to turn that into physical sales. So we're a very happy Dantex team at the moment, and now there's a lot of work in the background happening to get machines out before year end for some happy customers, hopefully.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, brilliant. And so, like you say, the Barcelona move, I think overall was a fantastic move from Brussels to Barcelona, hugely successful, more more footfall, and and and that's uh like you say at the end of the day, the numbers the numbers speak for themselves, I guess. You also exhibited in a slightly different way to many of the others, really, many of the other exhibitors, which I really liked, and and and it really sort of a hospitable approach, shall we say. Um, yeah, give us a bit of a feel I know Sarah Sarah did a fantastic job of of managing that, but it it looked great, and but actually it was always full of people. Give us a a feel for why you did it that way around. Perhaps more hospitality technology, almost as opposed to technology first.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, no, it was it, and I'm glad you've brought that up, Marcus, actually. And and you know, for the listeners that's not been plugged, you know, it's nice to hear your feeling of that because obviously you came to see us. We really consciously tried to give a different approach to this year. You know, we wanted to make it very apparent that we we embrace the Barcelona move as well. Um, but as a family-run business, and we are very personal to our customers, and we emphasize that a lot, we wanted to create that family feel. We're a family-run business. We had the tech, the tech's there, and we were able to launch new tech, which is fantastic, of course. But it was all about giving people almost a platform and somewhere to as a like a homely feel. So we offered obviously food and and drink for our VRP guests, and again, we offered tapas, so it was something that that that nice Spanish feel, but we naturally had a lot of footfall for that because we tried to create this family feeling of what we do with our existing customers, the new customers coming on board with Dantex. We embody that that's what we're all about. We're very cuddly, we're very warm, and that's what we tried to show um during the show, and actually the layout of the stand. You know, we had open areas where it was it was more inviting for people to communicate more. It wasn't just a sort of a footprint of machinery at the front of our of our stand. It was come in, you know, have some fun, talk to us about what you're working on, or if we've got uh distributors or you know, uh marketing partners, whoever it was, we tried to open up our doors a lot more and be inviting. And it and it really paid off. It really paid off for us. And like you said, Sarah and the team, um, our marketing team and head of marketing, they did a phenomenal job to put forward, I would say, our management um approach of what we really wanted to embody for for Labour Expo Barcelona. My obviously, my my view is all to get as many people on the stand. So, how do we do that? You know, it's uh they're busy, there's lots of comp uh competitors out there, there's lots of things for people to see. So, how do you stop them? How do you get them into our stand? Feed people, be approachable, and and it really paid off. And and obviously we could come we could almost marry it with the technology that we've showcasing as well, which was which was really good, really great.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it really worked well. And and and like you said, the typical approach is to lead on technology and you know, many booths just dominated by technology, not so much by meetings, and actually uh that way around really delivered. And like you said, that it it felt welcome, warm, and hospitable and and and so on. And that and I guess when people are relaxed, they talk more, right? And they want to they want to discuss and meet people, and I think that is a really conducive atmosphere to create, which isn't easy in a very, very busy show, such as it was. Um just give us a uh you know, obviously, what shows like Labour Expo, which has now been renamed, I know Loop, I'll probably still always call it Label Expo, but anyway, we'll maybe we can talk about that later. But um they're brilliant ways of of gauging the market, aren't they? And getting a sense of either optimism, change. You've already mentioned the perhaps more um eastern-based businesses or uh or asian-based businesses uh uh exhibiting and showing, which you welcome, which is great. So I guess that's a change. Any other sort of insights from the show that you might have picked up on on the on the on the optimism of the market or or the any changes in the market? What any sort of thoughts there?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, due to the nature of the show for us, I mean, we didn't really get much downtime. Um just because we were at that level of um uh also the level of uh sort of uh personnel on the stand was quite high, so we didn't really get chance to go off and see what was around. We got a 10 minutes, 15 minutes here and there to go and have a look. I think it's very apparent that digital is slowly turning the key in our in our industry, is slowly starting to really grasp and take its mark over your traditional methods uh with analogue. So it's starting to become more and more apparent. I saw where the certain stands were so busy were you know um sort of stands that similar to ours that are showcasing digital machinery, capital equipment. They were the ones that seemed the busiest. People have always been quite interested in where they move their businesses next, where they're gonna go. But I think the focus around digital seems more and more heightened. Uh, and that for me was really apparent looking at the other stands that were mainly offering, you know, your standard analog plates with processing equipment, didn't seem as as busy. Um, so maybe the audience were slightly different, more end users. I don't know if it was more of the brands. I we we saw quite a lot of brands during the show as well, um, which was quite good because obviously that's your label converters customers in the end. So, you know, I think there's a bit of a market shift as well with that, which we're seeing, because with digital, there is this viewpoint of it being a more um, I suppose in terms of skill sets, it's a bit easier to get into in terms of digital. So I think the market's opening up a little bit more to the likes of brands, and I think again, I've spoken about that previously, hence why maybe the footfall is up. But I think to see brands there and the end users is quite an interesting concept. Um, and we saw a lot of visitors on the stand that were more the end users, really interested about the next steps of digital and where we're looking to go, even from where we are today. So that's been really interesting to see. But I would say definitely the the attention and the focus really looks and feels more around the digital arena.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, that's that's the the key, isn't it? And I and I guess sort of market forces tend to dictate that. And what you said there is very interesting in terms of the brands, in that they need, even though they may not necessarily be the investors in the capital equipment, they they are, I suppose, having to understand the virtues of that, because they're under pressure, right? For given the uh the agility uh that digital can give and the flexibility and efficiencies, that that must be more acute now more than ever, because of all the different pressures we've we're experiencing, maybe more in Europe than other markets.
SPEAKER_00:No, you're right, and and they have to do their homework and their due diligence because if they're going to market and working with a supplier who's supplying them um, you know, X amount of labels per year, they need to look at price points. So they're looking out there to say, well, okay, if that machine can offer X, what does this machine offer? And and at times the brand owners can be involved in a potential sale with their supplier. We've seen this at times, so they're driving the market, and you're right, they're under pressure, definitely from the packaging companies or even looking at the big supermarkets out there, they're under pressure constantly to reduce um one from a sustainability point of view, so but two from a price price point. So they're really doing their homework, and I saw a big shift. And again, I wasn't able to go out too much onto the elsewhere at the show, but just from what I saw incoming uh at the stand or on the Dantex stand, was quite interesting, a bit of a shift. And and we're fortunate we have a fantastic distribution network um uh worldwide, and we have them working for us on the stand, and they're bringing in everyone from however many different regions. So we get to speak to many different people, and it isn't just Europe, it's worldwide. I mean, we had a um, I think we spoke previously at the show, we had a customer fly in literally on the Sunday, a US customer, just because they wanted to see our tech. And that was down to the work we're doing over in America at the moment. We're really pushing um our market over there with our subsidiary, and they came over and and and bought a machine on the stand. So you're really getting this sort of vast amount of information from all regions because of that distribution network. So that has really helped us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And and um as you said, uh the US market is obviously one that Dantex is strong in already. Um it's interesting a European event you sold it to a US company, which is which is uh which is cool. And and I guess I know it's called Loop now, isn't it? Not label expo, but loop loop next year you're participating in as well. So yeah, why why is the US market you've got a subsidiary there? That's key, but the US market is obviously at quite an exciting area of growth for you, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:It is. It's I mean, we have um we have a big footfall in the US already with with our other side of the business, with our dry offset market. So we supply 90 to 95 percent of that market already. So we already have the contacts. Um, we're involved with the packaging industry. Um, we we call it around our four or five big customers over there in the dry offset market. So we we have a we have good presence. Um, we're based in in Georgia in terms of our subsidiary. So digital has always been something that we were going to be looking at around 2017, 2018. Um we sold our first machine in 2018, digital machine. And now we're around sort of 10 to 15, roughly, in terms of machinery, and that's only getting more traction. You know, I think once you break into a market, it normally takes two to three years to be accepted. And I think that's what we faced with the US. You know, we have a US entity, we are a British manufacturer. They do like that, they like that fact of the quality aspect to it, but they want to have real assurance with their market first. So, you know, you have a beta site, for instance, which we've had in the past in the US. That took us two years to get verification because everybody in the market wants to see stability. So we are in that position now where we're starting to get a lot of footfall. Um, we have a great sales team that we've we've really bolstered in the last year or so and got some great experience into the regions. Um, so yeah, the US is a big growth market for us, and I think naturally Europe is always that innovator. Europe is always the one who wants to test the water, it's a complex region, it's always been very complex and very critical, uh, and it and it is, and quite rightly, because that we have to be the innovators in our technology. So when we get to a point in in Europe where those decisions are being made and we've got technologies that are being verified, it then goes to the US and they need to do their due diligence as well. So now the market seems a lot more open because they're accepting digital print. So we're really seeing that market open up, and the lead generation is is honestly unbelievable. Definitely what I've seen in the last nine to twelve months when I do our review meetings with you know with the US team and and and um our uh our vice president Rob Tolland in the US, they're they're really starting to become one of our biggest subsidiaries in terms of turnover just because they're scaling the market really well. They've got the backing of the head office in the UK, um, where I'm based, in terms of our quality aspect. And that's what they're competing with. So they need to be sure and confident the quality we deliver is where it needs to be for that US market because they are critical and quite rightly, so they should. Because in Europe we've had that, I'd say eight to ten years of quite you know critical um investigation in terms of digital print. Now it's in the US. So yeah, we're really excited about our future, our future sales going forward in in America.
SPEAKER_01:And and America is um culturally, it's interesting you say that you do the in the innovation comes from Europe to to America, which is quite often mostly the other way around, isn't it, in many, many markets. But um is from your yeah, just a massive assumption, but I mean that the the American market is an economy is generally in a better place than Europe, shall we say? Is that is that partly for the reason? And obviously aside of the quality of the technology and so on, but it's it's an ex it's a dynamically growing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:It is no, it really is. And I think you know, saturation in Europe plays a part as well. I mean, there's a lot of competition, you know, excuse me, in Europe. But when you talk about the US, it is you're right, it's very buoyant. Um, putting political views to one side, you know, that there is changes in America, and you can see that, you can feel it. But also we've got a very engaged team and a and a hugely engaged subsidiary in in America, and we have to feed that and support them. And I think since we've been able to do that with a real real clear strategy over the last 18 months, it's given Rob Tolland, like I mentioned earlier, him the chance to really grow, home in on certain products. You know, we're a very diverse company with what we offer, and we'd spoken about this on the last podcast. You can scale very big, but sorry, from a from a wide perspective, almost too big, where you lose your identity. That's at times my battle. But with the US, we've been able to really narrow it down and focus in three or four really key areas to drive us forward. But the economy is on the up in America. You have to deal with you know certain things like the tariffs, which we're we're massively involved in and we know you know what's going on. Um, and being a British manufacturer, you know, we have to export machinery over there. So that's always a factor that we have to build in and speak to our customers about. But from what we hear from them, we're always very well received in terms of the quality. And you know, customers want that. They they what they don't want cheap solutions in America, they're willing to invest because they see a forward path, definitely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, and that trust build and that understanding that you're you're you're you're there to support and serve and and so on. So I guess next year your attention is on the Chicago event from that point of view, which will be loop in America's, and that'll be a big, a big deal for you, I'm sure. And um, and I guess the priority right now is following up on Barcelona and um and planning ahead for next year.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. So we're keeping the sales teams very busy at the moment following uh post-European uh expo. So they'll be they'll be busy for at least six to nine months on on all the lead generation. So that's fantastic. But yeah, now the planning starts, or it already had started um around the summertime this year for for Chicago um and next year. Again, really excited about that show because I think we're we'll be showing the certain tech that we want to be showing again. Uh what we would class it, our intro-level machine, our small footprint machine, that's going to be commercial um by then, because obviously the show it was still in our concept phase. Uh, and to sell again, have pre-sales is phenomenal because it allows us to feed production going forward. So, in terms of um uh sorry, Chicago for next year, we're in a really good position to showcase this running and getting the interest, but also in terms of where we scale and the interest we have with our distribution. Obviously, we can support, there'll be a lot of interest from Brazil. Um, we have a big presence in Brazil with uh Dugraf, who's our distributor there. So we'll have a lot of footfall from Brazil and Mexico coming to Chicago to see our technology. So again, we'll go equipped with the right personnel to show them what we can offer. So we hope to create something very similar to Europe on the European show, but on a smaller, slightly smaller scale. Um, but yeah, we we we expect to have some good results from from Chicago.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well th well thank thanks for sharing that with us. Um it's really nice to hear optimism, positivity, and um a sense of of growth, really. I mean, I and I think maybe that's partly the label industry, but I don't think it's necessarily, I still think it's fairly mixed in Europe, isn't it? So I think it goes to show if you have the right approach and the right product, product's important, isn't it? The product that suits the needs of the market at the given time puts you in the game regardless of the economy and the wider context of everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I think I mentioned this before, Marcus. I think we're fortunate in our position. As a family-run business, we're very agile and we can flex quite quickly. And we've we've seen a gap, we've seen a niche, and we've we've run with it, and and we had it. We had it, but we had to change the technology. You know, we knew we were falling behind slightly, where now we're at the forefront and we're really going to push forward with that. So you are right, the product is hugely important. And if I could look at, you know, we have that robust technology with our PicoJet technology, you know, that's our fast-moving, you know, very commercial machine. It's been in the market, it's tried and tested, you know, for five or four to five years. But with the Pico colour coming back, the interest is there. So I think again, this is a great way for us to get really customers who are thinking about digital, the ones who just want to dip their toe. This allows them because it's the price point that would maybe not make them as nervous to say, okay, this is something that we can really embody and and really put into the market for them because they know they're being pushed for price and variation and quick changes. And it it does really fit their business model when you look at something like a Pico colour. So we are hugely excited. And I think, like I said, being agile enough, we've been able to flex and really push hard in the last 18 months. This is something that probably should have taken us five years in terms of development. I think if we speak to our our development team and RD, they would have wanted five years, but we know we had to really condense this because the market was there, and we were constantly being asked to bring something to market, you know, from existing customers and new. So we had to actively move quick. And that's you know, it's fantastic. We're in this position, and uh we were able to showcase it a few weeks ago in Barcelona.
SPEAKER_01:Fantastic. Great news. Pleased to hear that optimism positivity, as I say, and uh, you know, congratulations to you and the team. Great, great outing in Barcelona. And um doubt if I'll get to Chicago, but if I do, I'll certainly come by your booth because you look after people nicely. So I appreciated that.
SPEAKER_00:And uh more than welcome, you know that.
SPEAKER_01:Um, yeah, so thanks again for joining us, Richard. And we look forward to catching up with you again, perhaps some sometime in the future to to update progress then. So um, thanks very much for joining us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thank you, Marcus. Thank you for your time.
unknown:Thank you.
