Exhibitors Offer Media Preview on Day Before Expo

As vendors put the finishing touches on their booths yesterday for today’s opening of PRINTING United Expo, dozens of print journalists from around the world met for a pre-show media preview day in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Key exhibitors offered a preview of what visitors will see and experience at their booths over the course of the three-day Expo.

Lisa Cross and Nathan Safran of NAPCO Research.

The full-day event started with a presentation on the current state of the printing industry by Nathan Safran, VP of Napco Research, and Lisa Cross, Principal Analyst with NAPCO Research. They noted that despite modest sales growth, inflation is outpacing price increases that print service providers (PSPs) have implemented, something that won’t likely change over the next 12 months. PSPs say the economy, interest rates, and inflation have had the biggest impact on their business this year. Another factor affecting business has been the availability of personnel. The third biggest factor affecting profitability is investments to increase productivity, automation and production speeds.

Safran and Cross highlighted research showing the four top reasons PSPs are making capital investments are to increase productivity, automate, upgrade aging equipment, and increase production speeds. The top five planned investments over the next year and a half are artificial intelligence applications, bindery/finishing equipment/systems, workflow software digital infrastructure (workstations, servers, networks, etc.), and E-commerce solutions. Nearly 83% of survey participants plan to make a capital investment over the next 12-18 months, Cross said.

Convergence is still a big trend among PSPs, and 70% of respondents have invested in new equipment in the past five years to expand into new applications. Other big trends they highlighted are AI, automation, inkjet, and customer service.

The most frequently cited “disruptor,” respondents noted, is AI. Cross described the new AI report “Artificial Intelligence in the Printing Industry: The Journey Begins,” from NAPCO Research.

Lisa Cross and Nathan Safran of NAPCO Research.

The report shows that while PSPs are primarily using AI today for content creation, Cross said, in the near future they expect to expand its use into operations, sales, customer service, market analytics, HR, risk management, and cybersecurity.

“The industry is still learning how to harness its power,” she said.

In terms of convergence, Safran explained, “68% of the close to 600 State of the Industry Panel members have diversified beyond their primary segment.”

Automation is Vital

Automation has become vital to print service providers.

“More than three quarters are looking at automating workflows,” Safran said. “It’s an industry imperative.” Further, he added, 64% are re-tooling operations to increase automation and productivity.

Moving to the topic of the analog to digital transition, Cross pointed to key takeaways from an inkjet study; as well as some of the benefits of inkjet. For example, when asked what percentage production inkjet has increased or decreased, respondents reported: paper costs/consumption (-3.9%); production waste (-4.9%); number of press operators (-1 person); organization’s profits (+11.8%).

Finally, Safran shared some data supporting the importance of customer service.

“75% [of respondents] want full-service providers,” he said.

Product Briefings

The day continued with exclusive product briefings by more than a dozen PRINTING United Expo exhibitors, starting with Canon. Bob Barbera, director of Production Solutions Marketing highlighted the varioPRINT iX1700 cut-sheet inkjet press, having its North American debut at the Expo.

Canon's Bob Barbera at the podium.

“It’s an exciting product,” he said. It will be among the15 product demos, happening at the booth all week, 12 of which have already been sold.

Also highlighted at Canon’s booth, Barbera said, will be the imagePRESS V1350, which will be showcasing packaging, embellishment, and long sheet applications to show customers new ways to expand their print services.

Brian Coombs, Canon’s director of Large Format Printing Solutions, then went over the wide-format equipment that will be on display at the Canon booth, such as the Arizona 2380 GTF and the Colorado M-series, as well as imagePROGRAF printers. The booth will feature demos of vehicle wrapping and wallcovering applications.

Canon will Introduce six new products on the show’s opening day, including the imagePROGRAF TX-3200, a five-color LUCIA TD ink system with a new magenta ink that prints up to 3.3 D-size prints per minute. Also new is the imagePROGRAF TZ-32000 MFP Z36, which prints up to 4 D-size prints per minute and boasts intelligent media handling and color calibration for light poster reproduction.

Fujifilm's Andrew Gunn.

Andrew Gunn, head of product marketing for FUJIFILM, introduced attendees to the company’s production declaration: the FUJIFILM Digital Disruption Platform. He continued by explaining, “print continues to be essential, the difference now is in how it is produced.” By touching on some of the common issues that drive process innovations, he positioned FUJIFILM as a solution to disrupt the print status quo.

He touched on some of the innovations from the Apeos, J Press, and Acuity product lines, as well as the digital toner Revoria line, including two new products: the Revoria Press EC2100 (print speeds up to 100 ppm) and the Revoria Press SC285 (print speeds up to 85 ppm). Underlying all of FUJI’s innovations is its XMF PressReady workflow, enabling the digital disruption platform.

A 'Beast for Every Need'

“The booth is full of all new technology,” Deborah Hutcheson, director of strategic business development and distribution, digital print, Agfa, said during Agfa’s presentation at media day. She described how Agfa has a “beast for every need,” aligning with Agfa’s motto “powerful by nature.”

Agfa's Deborah Hutcheson

She touched on the advancements of Agfa’s hybrid systems on display at the Expo, including the Anapurna Ciervo H3200 for mid-level markets; the Jeti Bronco H3300 S, which is upgradable from two rows to four rows to meet growth needs; the Jeti Condor RTR5200 HS roll-to-roll device, which offers flexibility; the Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS, which builds on the well-known technology but is now a seven-color system and has expanded automation capabilities and robotics with MAX Bots, maximizing productivity with cutting-edge automation and freeing up staff; and finally, the Onset Grizzly X3 HS, which is ideal for high-volume flatbed printing and full robotic automation with an autoloader to boost productivity and reduce labor costs.

Josh Hope, director of Marketing at Mimaki USA noted Mimemi’s theme, “Ever Evolving” means “We’re in a mode of constant innovation.” He set out to prove this by detailing what visitors will see at the Mimaki booth. The single-head CJV200 series print and cut system, he said, is 1.5x faster than the CJV150.

Mimaki's Josh Hope

“It’s easy to set up, it is easy to operate,” Hope said. “It’s really geared toward customers that are moving into production.”

The JFX200-1213 EX 4x4-foot UV LED flatbed printer will also be at the booth.

“This is perfect for in-plant graphics shops,” he noted, touting its ability to print ADA-compliant braille signage at larger sizes and higher volumes.

“Mimaki supports our customers printing braille,” he said.

With a 30% smaller foodprint, it boasts bi-directional printing, three staggered printheads, and two vacuum zones.

He said the company is “super excited” about the TS330-3200DS, a 3.2-meter hybrid printer that can print both transfer paper and handle direct printing onto textiles. He said this machine is for shops looking to move into super wide textile printing.

For DTF printing, Mimaki is showing the 63”-wide TxF300-1600, for customers looking to increase throughput or create larger DTF prints.

“We’re able to increase the speed by 30% over the TxF300-75,” he said.

Gavin Jordan-Smith, senior vice president of RICOH Graphic Communications.

Gavin Jordan-Smith, senior vice president of RICOH Graphic Communications, presented Ricoh’s view on the graphic arts market. He listed major challenges faced by PSPs, such as paper price increases, labor cost increases, sustainability, and the offset to digital transition and detailed how Ricoh is addressing them with its technology.

Jordan-Smith noted that Ricoh listens to clients to understand their challenges and goals, and then co-innovates with clients to solve problems and add value.

“We transform the way we work in order to solve those problems” he said.

Ricoh's Mark Little

Ricoh’s Mark Little also detailed the products Ricoh will be showing at the Expo, including the Ricoh Pro C9500 color toner digital press, the pro C7500 fifth color toner digital press, and the new RICOH Ri 4000 digital textile printer. The award-winning Ricoh Auto Color Adjuster will also be a booth highlight. Ricoh will also provide virtual  demonstrations of the Pro VC80000 inkjet web press, and the Pro Z75 sheetfed inkjet press.

Next week, Ricoh will announce the136-ppm pro 8400 series, it’s black-and-white platform, showing its commitment to the monochrome printing business.

Andy Fetherman, president and CEO, Muller Martini Corp., closed out the media day presentations by describing how the company is “driving the digital transformation.” He focused on Smart Factory - Finishing 4.0 and how it addresses automation, connectivity, variability, and touchless workflow. With that as a backdrop, he explained some of the equipment Muller Martini is highlighting this year, including the SigmaLine Compact digital press that runs at speeds up to 200m/min or 650 fpm, and Antaro Digital perfect binding system running at speeds up to 2,000 to 4,000 cycles per hour. Fetherman focused on the increased automation of these systems.

Andy Fetherman, president and CEO, Muller Martini Corp.

For digital cutsheet processing, he noted that the Starbook Sheetfolder with Vareo PRO is making its North American debut at PRINTING United Expo. The device boasts book of one with high variability capabilities. Fetherman also highlighted the Connex Workflow System for automation -- your production under control -- including Connex ImpoWhiz for print-ready PDFs with seamlessly integrated prepress; Connex LineControl taking the PDF to finished product; and Connex Info Cloud, three modules for production overview and optimization.

During lunch, PRINTING United executives briefed journalists on show highlights and trends. Next year's Expo will be Oct. 22-24 in Orlando. Then it's back to Vegas for 2026, which will take place Sept. 23-25.

Then in the afternoon, editors got to meet personally with Expo exhibitors in a series of timed meetings during which they were able to ask questions directly for their audiences.

With the show floor now open, we are off and running to check out all of these exciting technologies in person. Watch for our Expo reports in the days ahead.