Chairman Benny Landa said the firm would instead prioritise getting its presses ready for customer shipment.
"You have to really target what you want to achieve and for us, there’s only one objective, which is meeting our customers’ expectations on delivery of this product, so that’s what we’re focusing on," he told ProPrint's sister title, PrintWeek.
"We have an extraordinary situation, where our company starts out with such a huge backlog. Our challenge is to meet it and to meet the customer requirements and do it on time… All our energy, resources and focus are on that one thing."
Landa has more than 400 orders for the Nanographic printing presses it unveiled at Drupa.
"The last thing we need to do right now is to increase our order book. We need to deliver product," said Landa.
"We don’t want people to wait for years for these machines. It doesn’t make sense to increase the backlog at this time."
PrintWeek understands Landa's decision to avoid Ipex did not surprise owner Informa Exhibitions. Event director Trevor Crawford said: "We’ve been very transparent with all the exhibitors and we’ve been very clear for months about the fact that Landa, while it was on the floorplan, had not confirmed."
[Feature: Inside the Landa miracle]
PrintWeek also quizzed Landa on whether not being at Ipex would fuel scepticism that Nanography presses were "vapourware" that would never ship.
"Oh really? Is it evidence that HP and Heidelberg and Agfa and Xerox [not being at Ipex] are also not going to ship product? There’s nothing we can do about cynicism," he said.
Landa also said the firm would only exhibit at Drupa and avoid other major trade shows, including China Print in May.
"It doesn’t make sense for us. People expect to place orders at a show, and that’s not our objective at the moment," he said.
"We have activity in China and people dealing with our Chinese customers… There’s a difference between supporting your customers and promoting new business. We’re not in the mode right now of promoting new business."
Landa also confirmed his view that the role of industry trade shows needed to change.
"As digital products become larger and higher-end, the number of target customers becomes much more focused. For a €10,000 ($13,000) device it’s one thing. For a product that sells for millions of euros, most of your potential customers you know. You don’t need to go to trade shows to develop those relationships," he said.
"I was in the minority in favour of changing the date of Drupa. I thought one global show every three years was better than every two years. It didn’t happen this time but I think it will end up there."
[Related: More Ipex news]
This article originally appeared at printweek.com
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