Baum

A year after the disappointing attendance levels of PRINT 09, Graph Expo 2010 seemed like a real trade show again. The aisles were full of people, who massed around new products and kept vendors busy with demos. 

Numerous in-plants were spotted walking the aisles of Graph Expo. Dozens of them packed a conference room for a lunchtime session on Tuesday, to hear vendors and fellow in-plant managers talk about how to incorporate integrated marketing into their operations.

A year after the disappointing attendance levels of PRINT 09, this week's Graph Expo 2010 seemed like a real trade show again. The aisles were full of people, who massed around new products, and kept vendors busy with demos.

THOUGH SOME major digital printing equipment vendors may have sat out this year's AIIM/On Demand Conference and Exposition in Philadelphia, all of the key bindery vendors were there, showing off their latest innovations. IPG spent time at all of their booths.

LIKE MANY in-plants, Iowa Bankers Association's two-employee print shop had been getting by for years with old, inefficient folding equipment. Its friction-fed Baum folder had been around since Gerald Ford was in the White House. It was slow, inconsistent and could not handle heavy stock very well.

In November 2009, Bryan Wheeler, process engineer for FEO Outbound Publishing Services at Fidelity Investments, oversaw the implementation of a Baum AutoSet 2020 folder in his Covington, Ky.-based operation. This followed the addition of two Xerox iGen4 digital color presses.

After getting by for the past couple of decades with minimal investment, Ashland University Printing Services has carried out some major equipment upgrades, allowing the shop to bring a significant amount of printing back in-house. About a year and a half ago, the Ashland, Ohio-based university invested in a new four-color Heidelberg Speedmaster 52, along with a Heidelberg Suprasetter computer-to-plate device with Prinect workflow. At the same time, the shop replaced its aging Baum folder with a 20˝ Stahl folder from Heidelberg. 

Take a quick tour of the PRINT 09 show floor with IPG Editor Bob Neubauer.

THOUGH PRINT 09 may have gotten off to a slow start, the crowds eventually showed up. And when they did, many of them headed right for the bindery equipment. Nowhere was that more true than at the Standard Finishing Systems exhibit, which was bustling with activity on the third day of the show, even as other booths appeared to be on siesta. Mark Hunt, director of marketing for Standard, thought he knew why.

TO BE FAIR, the sorry state of the economy made it almost impossible for PRINT 09 to be a rousing success. Show floor traffic was so slow on the opening day (Friday), it was speculated that someone forgot to flip the sign in the front window at McCormick Place from "closed" to "open for business." And one had to question the logic of conducting a long, weekend-wraparound show on the first week of pro football season, when no one (it was presumed) would be coming to Chicago, let alone spending.

Though attendance was noticeably down on the first three days of Print 09, by Monday morning it was starting to look like a trade show again. Booths were packed with attendees, and vendors were busy giving demos, trying to capitalize of the sudden resurgence of interest after a lackluster weekend. IPG spent four days at the show, and the first three...let's just say we never had any problem finding someone to talk with at vendors' booths. Perhaps the beautiful Chicago weekend weather lured many to delay their arrival. (Or maybe it was the questionable wisdom of starting a trade show on a Friday.) Whatever the reason, though, by Monday morning, attendees arrived with a vengeance, including scores of in-plants managers.