“Print is not dead!”
This statement, exclaimed by Frank Romano at Print 09’s Executive Outlook, just may have helped set the tone for this year’s show. Despite the heavy weight of the recession, the trade show was positive and optimistic for many.
After accepting his award from the NAPL for 50 years of service in the industry, Romano gave a few tidbits and predictions for the future of print: “Colour management is an oxymoron; flexography will die; digital print will grow; offset will not die; there were 25,000 printers in 1965 and 60,000 in 1995; in 2020, we will return to where we were in 1965.”
He offered up some positives and some negatives, some ups and some downs, but afterall, that’s the nature of this industry.
Chicago’s show started off slow, but as the weekend arrived, so did the crowds. This wasn’t my first foray into the world of printing trade shows, but it was my first time at the Chicago show and nothing quite prepares you for the awe-inspiring vastness of McCormick Place (nor the toll it will take on your feet, back and shoulders!).
The 450,000 square-foot-centre held more than 650 exhibitors, and housed an astronomical quantity of paper and ink. In the South Hall, visitors were immediately met at the entrance with Xerox’s booth to the left and Heidelberg’s to the right. Xerox had an innovative idea to create the front of the company booth to look like a talk show set, complete with lights, cameras and sofas. This proved to be an effective plan because there was rarely an empty seat at the booth – especially with appearances from Dr. Joe Webb, the Mythbusters team and even a U2 cover band. The impressive iGen4 and Nuvera 288 also drew in the crowds.
In case you missed Xerox’s Dr. Joe Webb seminar, his presentation included some simple ideas for complex times: “Be fluent in ROI from the client’s perspective. Credibility comes from decisive implementation. Immerse yourself and your business in new media and know its strengths and weaknesses.” Lastly, he says, “know why clients print, not just how to print.”
On the other side of the aisle was Heidelberg’s massive booth. This was also a highlight of the show in my mind. I always enjoy seeing large presses on the show floor – there’s something “epic” about seeing a piece of machinery that size that gets me every time. The Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 did just that, sitting at the entrance of the show in the spotlight, set against a dramatic red backdrop. The Stitchmaster ST 450, Stahlfolder TH 82, KAMA ProCut 74 and others were also impressive, as was Heidelberg’s Workflow Demo centre.
At EFI’s booth, what stood out most was the huge VUTEk GS5000r wide-format digital inkjet press. They just seem to get bigger and bigger don’t they? The 5-metre roll-to-roll printer, as well as the rest of EFI’s equipment, was complimented by many large, vibrant printed samples, showing its capabilities. Another neat demo from the company was its Pace MIS iPhone app. From your Apple iPhone you can track jobs, call clients – and the coolest part – check up on your press floor via a live webcam.
Avanti Systems won several awards at Print 09, including “must-see-ems” nods for its Direct Mail Management module and its CRM module advancements.
“We are one of the most open systems in the industry, we have full JDF links to most of the manufacturers both on the press side, the finishing side and prepress,” says Patrick Bolan, president and CEO, Avanti. “We have two new products this year; we have a mail module and we have integration into outlook, which is an extension of our CRM product.”
Most notable at the Hewlett Packard booth was the HP Indigo 5500 press, which included traditional ink colours, plus a new one – white ink.
“This year we’ve brought many new technologies to market,” says Danny Ionescu, vice-president, sales and marketing, Hewlett-Packard. “The first exciting one for print service providers is offering up white ink technology to our sheetfed devices from Indigo. This is a key value-add that print service providers can now offer up to the industry.”
Agfa is a company that gets the credit for ingenuity, as its representatives came to the show with “virtual crowds” in tow – life-sized cardboard standing die cuts of people. You couldn’t help but stop to take a closer look at what was going on with a “crowd” formed around the conference room (which looked like a park, complete with grass and picnic benches). If the virtual crowds didn’t get your attention, the troop of Agfa staffers alerting visitors of the next :Dotrix Modular demo surely would have with their energetic dancing and bright red gloves.
InfoPrint’s booth was jam-packed with software solution stations for products like TransPromo and Print-on-Demand, as well as a multitude of equipment including the InfoPrint 5000 colour inkjet with the addition of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) support. InfoPrint’s futuristic technology allows companies that print transactional documents like bills and statements to digitally keep track of everything. As soon as there is any human interaction, such as someone removing a statement from the pile, the system knows and prints a new one, automatically.
Presstek was another big company at the show and it was evident that a greener planet was part of its mission. Presstek unveiled its new DI-Dry environmentally-friendly waterless inks that are available in Pantone colours, special mix PMS, metallic and fluorescent colours, as well as varnishes. Jeff Jacobson, president and CEO, Presstek also discussed the company’s Aurora Pro plates and said that they are “the only true chemistry free, daylight safe plate.”
Hans-Gronhi is a relatively new company to the North American market, and even in these tough economic times, the company is definitely one to watch out for. “We are best known for high-quality and fast and efficient machines for medium-sized and small-sized printers. We do our best to help them succeed,” says Grace Gao, general manager, Hans-Gronhi. “We want to become well known suppliers for preprinting, printing and post printing – we supply all of their needs.”
Ryobi/Xpedx and Komori garnered lots of attention by showing off their large-format presses. Ryobi with its 1050 and 750G as well as Komori featuring the Lithrone SX40 and SX20. Both companies featured live demos at their booths. Despite the opinions of some, it seems as though the offset industry will stay strong, especially by the looks of the new technologies and high speeds of these latest designs.
KBA is another large-format offset press manufacturer that impressed visitors at the show. The company featured its Rapida 106 and 75 as well as its new Genius 52 waterless UV sheetfed offset press. “We are reminded each day the toll the economy has taken on our customers,” says Eric Frank, vice-president, marketing, KBA. “We have gone big at this show because we want to invest in the future of this industry.”
A neat demonstration I saw at Graphic Whizard’s booth was a new “Worth-a-look” award-winning machine that can coat documents in a snakeskin-like pattern, called Vividcoater-Micro. In a matter of seconds, the 3’x 3’ machine produces a UV coated product that has a reptilian look and feel. Multiple different finishes are available.
MGI is a smaller company, but it has a lot of really innovative products, many of which are one-of-a-kind in the industry. MGI makes the only digital inkjet spot UV coater called JETvarnish, which made its U.S. premiere at Print 09 and was showcased in 20” x 29” format. Another one-of-a-kind piece of equipment is MGI’s Meteor DP 60 Pro 4-colour digital press, which has the widest cutsheet range of any digital press, from 4” x 6” up to 13” x 47” in size.
C.P. Bourg revealed some new developments at Print 09, including a partnership with Xerox to create a hybrid finishing workflow using its BSF Sheet Feeder and Xerox’s Nuvera 288 Perfecting System. Also noteworthy was the company’s new BST-e tower format collator, which has 10 pockets that can accommodate 3” stacks of paper.
Muller Martini, Duplo and Standard Finishing Systems were also among the memorable finishing booths at the show. Each exhibitor packed their floor space with a vast amount of machinery. From perfect binders to saddle stitchers to feeders, these booths covered all the bases and allowed Print 09 visitors to see a wide range of finishing solutions.
On the other hand, manroland chose to bring no equipment at all. This was a controversial decision, as many people come to trade shows to see, hear and feel the equipment and to watch it run. While the idea of the “virtual booth” didn’t appeal to everyone, what it did offer was more of a one-on-one chance for existing and potential customers to sit down and talk with salespeople and work on solutions.
Over in the North Hall of McCormick Place, new technology was also abundant. The first thing visitors laid eyes upon at the entrance was Kodak’s dynamic booth – you couldn’t miss it. From the flashing LED lights to the digital touch screen “stream of innovation,” the booth was packed with all kinds of pizzazz. Also included was a late night talk show style set, similar to Xerox’s (who had the first idea, I wonder), which was called K-Zone. It featured seminars and interviews with Kodak’s executives and researchers. Notably absent, however, much like manroland’s booth, was the equipment. The company also chose to use the space to setup meeting rooms and talk one-on-one with customers.
Jon Bracken, managing director, Kodak Canada says of this year’s booth: “We’ve used this opportunity to really not so much talk about the iron and the metal involved in the solution, but really talk about the business aspects. I think what printers need today is a partner to help them grow their business. And that’s a focus on their customer’s needs and it’s around applications and it’s around solutions. So we’re taking this opportunity to really re-set the agenda. It’s not about the equipment; it’s about the business solutions.”
X-rite’s booth featured the company’s colour management solutions such as the IntelliTrax and the “Must-see-em” award-winning new EasyTrax colour control console. The company, who has teamed up with Pantone, also featured its various design, prepress and print solutions. It was announced at the show that X-Rite’s 500-series of hand-held spectrophotometers are now pre-loaded with the Pantone formula guide and have ISO and G7 press control. A few lucky visitors to the show even won a draw to receive a free GoBridge swatchbook.
Mitsubishi Imaging brought an array of equipment to the show, including the DPX 6 Eco platemaker. This machine features an eco-coating technology that reduces the amount of chemistry and waste needed. The DPX 6 was also featured at Ryobi’s booth where it was used to print live to the Ryobi 750 high-speed offset press. Mitsubishi also showed off their new brand of inkjet proofing paper, called Diamond Proof.
Fujifilm brought all of its latest equipment to the show, including its new digital inkjet press (formerly called the Jetpress 720) as well as the Acuity flatbed. The real crowd-pleaser was watching the sleek Inca Onset S20 digital printer pass the substrate back and forth on its moving flatbed as it was smoothly imaged.
The company also has an extensive service program for its products. “We’re different from other vendors because in Canada we’re talking about local sales; local service,” says Tony Karg, senior director of business development and marketing, Fujifilm. “To the Canadian customer, we have a person who works and lives in their area. We’re the largest service organization in Canada, so in addition to buying market leading products in offset, digital printing and display graphics, we have a local sales and service force that will support those products in the communities where they’re being used.”
All in all, I’d say that Print 09 was a very successful show, with a lot to offer visitors and vendors alike. I noticed a strong Canadian presence and also a focus on positivity. Most of all, I noticed a lot of smiling faces and people enjoying themselves. The general consensus was that the worst of the economic crisis is behind us and that a very innovative and technology-rich future lies ahead of us.
Don’t forget to have a look on our website for our exclusive photo gallery of the show – you might even see yourself!
