Exhibitors, Attendees Gather for PRINTING United 2024

The registration desks were busy during the first day of PRINTING UNITED 2024.

PRINTING United 2024 returned to Las Vegas for its three-day run from Sept. 10-12 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This year’s show drew 24,969 registered attendees and 800 exhibitors, who covered one million square feet of exhibitor space to highlight their latest technologies to the printing industry.

Ford Bowers, PRINTING United Alliance CEO, reported that the feedback from the show was excellent.

“We have almost 5,000 members now and have one of the 30 largest shows in the country. Here in the moment, everyone seems very happy,” Bowers observed. “It has been everything from steady to overwhelming depending on the exhibitor you talk with – everyone seems to be very happy with it. The feedback on the educational program has also been good. The amount of equipment here is very impressive, especially considering it is a drupa year.”

Bowers noted the growing interest in digital printing, whish is ideal for PRINTING United.

“There is a gravitational pull right now in the industry, as the digital barrier to entry is lower now,” said Bowers. “Exhibitors want to spend less money in terms of marketing. They’d rather have everyone in one place, and printers want to minimize the number of shows they go to and see everything that can make them money.”

Latest Industry Analysis
During Media Day, PRINTING United analysts presented their insights into the industry. Lisa Cross, principal analyst of NAPCO Research, reported that printing industry sales are up 1.3% in first half of 2024, but operating cost went up 4.9%, and inflation outpaced price increases. Cross pointed to four key disruptors in the future: AI, government, data and sustainability.

“We think the future of the printing industry is positive for companies that use all the tools available – including AI – to do three things: maximize productivity company-wide, build robust databases and data analytics, and embrace transformative technologies and prepare for the next disruptor,” Cross noted. “Print companies will need to do these three things to survive.”

Nathan Safran, VP, research for NAPCO Media, pointed out that 68% of the close to 600 State of the Industry panel members have diversified beyond their primary segment.

“Seventy percent of respondents have invested in new equipment in the past five years to expand into new applications,” added Safran. “It’s not just talk or theoretical – there are actual applications. Digital technology is lowering entry barriers to enter adjacent markets, while digital media is reducing demand in some segments. If you’re in the commercial printing market, you may want to look into packaging.”

Exhibitors’ Thoughts on PRINTING United
With 800 exhibitors on hand, attendees had plenty to see in terms of new presses, inks, software and more.

Paul Edwards, VP of the Digital Division at INX International, observed that this feels like the early 2000s, when digital was starting to emerge in ceramics and wide format, but today it is packaging.

“There are more applications in the industrial and packaging space that are really emerging, including flooring applications and decoration, and for an ink company, its very bespoke,” Edwards said. “Understanding ink is really important, as ink technology can solve many of these harder problems.”

Edwards noted that INX is well positioned in many key digital segments.

“We have a variety of different areas,” added Edwards. “The aftermarket is very interesting to us, as we have a very large customer base where we have great relations for decades. We now work with multiple OEMs to develop ink technologies for their printers. We’ve provided the ink technology and print engine technology for direct-to-object printing for our Huntsville, AL operations.

“This is where the ink technology and knowledge of printing come together and this is the model that is going to work well with us as we move into the packaging area,” Edwards continued. “INX pretty much owns the metal packaging market, and there’s corrugated and flexible packaging, which I think is the exciting next adventure. What you don’t do is create a printer then design the ink.

“When people talk about flexible packaging, it’s not just a single application,” Edwards observed. “There are different requirements. The ability to add variable information and personalization is where brands want to be. We’ve picked some niches, and we’d like to provide companies with an ink/print engine solution. We have to be the solution provider rather than be solely an ink provider.”

“This show is interesting to see how the how the world of digital printing has changed,” Edwards said. “I would like to meet people and look at new opportunities – for me it’s the relationships, who’s doing what and see how we can help them.”

Andrew Gunn, director print on demand solutions for FUJIFILM, reported that PRINTING United went very well.

“The booth position is great, foot traffic has been great, the interaction with media is a welcome surprise, and the AI and robotics are the things that are sticking,” Gunn said. “There is a paradigm shift where some offset printers that haven’t adopted digital yet are finally moving over.”

Among FUJIFILM’s highlights at PRINTING United included the Revoria Press PC1120 six color single pass production press, Revoria EC2100 Press, Revoria SC285 Press, Apeos C7070 color toner printer, J Press 750HS sheetfed press, Acuity Prime 30 wide format UV curing inks and Acuity Prime Hybrid UV LED.

“We had a record year in the US for sales and our market share has grown,” Gunn noted. “B2 democratization is becoming more prevalent, and people are starting to take note. The rising tide rises all the boats. With the Acuity Prime Hybrid, there is lot of interest board or roll to roll presses.”

Nazdar highlighted new equipment, notably the M&R Quattro direct-to-film press which uses Nazdar inks.

“We are showing some new EFI and Canon presses, but the big push is the M&R Quattro direct-to-film press,” said Shaun Pan, chief commercial officer at Nazdar. “Since we acquired Lyson, there’s been a lot of effort to branch out in digital – textile, graphics, label and packaging. We are venturing into many new segments, and OEM ink is a big business for us.

Pan spoke about the opportunities for digital textile printing.

“Digital penetration isn’t very high in textiles yet but it is continuing to grow – you can design one copy for the same cost as a thousand copies,” Pan observed. “Screen still plays an important role and is here to stay, but digital will continue to grow. We are seeing customers who are doing both screen and digital. Each has their specific advantages and colors. We have expertise in both. On the screen side we have always been a service provider helping to optimize our customers’ operations; we also can help digital fit in. That is definitely our strength.”

Mark Pomerantz, sales and marketing director for Xeikon, showcased the new TX500 with Titon toner.

“The Titon toner now has the durability of UV ink but all the toner characteristics – no VOCs, durability, quality – remains,” said Pomerantz. “Now that it is durable, it doesn’t need lamination and can be printed on flexible paper-based packaging. When we combine it with the Kurz unit, we can create metallization effects at a fifth color station. The foil only sticks to the toner, so registration is always perfect.

Pomerantz noted that this makes the life of the printer a lot easier.

“This prints the job in one step rather than three, and you don’t have to have the additional pieces of equipment,” added Pomerantz. “This has created an ‘embellishments of one’; it has the most value to a designer due to cost. The only additional cost is the foil itself. We sold out all of our prototypes and more at drupa in applications we didn’t expect, like wall decorations. Wine labels are the most obvious application, and we think this will move a lot of converters over to this technology.”

Oscar Vidal, global director product and strategy, Large Format Print for HP, highlighted the new HP Latex 2700W Plus printer, one of many new products HP had on hand at PRINTING United 2024.

“Latex ink on rigid platforms such as corrugated, cardboard adheres very well,” said Vidal. “One of the beauties of water-based ink on paper is that they get along very well. It penetrates into the cardboard – we have been exclusively water-based inks for 25 years.”

Among the new features on the HP Latex 2700W Plus printer is the upgraded ink capacity.

“The HP Latex 2700W Plus printer can upgrade the ink capacity to 10-liter cardboard boxes, which is better for cost productivity and is recyclable,” said Vidal. “This is ideal for superwide signage – big banners are a key market – self-adhesive vinyl car wraps and wall décor.”

Wall coverings are proving to be an upcoming growth area for digital printing.

“Every year we are seeing more in wallcoverings,” Vidal observed. “The beauty of digital is you can print different varieties. Water-based is still unique for wallcoverings, as it is odorless, and the quality is very high. Our water-based inks respect the surface, as you can still see the substrate. We optimize our systems, from the printheads and inks to the hardware and software. The printhead architecture for water and latex inks are different.”

Marc Malkin, PR manager for Roland DGA, showed the new offerings from Roland DGA, beginning with the TrueVis 64 printers, which come in eco solvent, latex and UV inks.

“We started with the eco-solvent TrueVis, and now we have the Latex and LG series printers/cutters that use UV,” said Malkin. “The VG3 were the big sellers for us and now the TrueVis LG UV series is the most in demand products; printers are buying these as their go-to all-purpose printers, from packaging and wallcoverings to signage and POP displays. It can also do gloss inks and embossing, and it now has a wider gamut as we added red and green inks.”

Malkin said that the other big area is the personalization and customization markets such as apparel.

“Roland DGA is now in DTF printing for apparel,” said Malkin. “The versastudio BY 20 desktop DTF printer is unbeatable for the price for creating custom apparel and tote bags. It only takes 10 minutes to make a custom T-shirt. The VG3 series is still the most in demand for car wraps, but the AP 640 Latex printer is also ideal for that as well, as it requires less outgassing time. The VG3 does have white ink and a wider gamut than latex.”

Sean Chien, overseas manager for INKBANK, noted that there’s a lot of interest in printing on fabric. “It’s a growth market for us,” Chien said.

Lily Hunter, product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc., noted that attendees are interested in Epson’s new F9570H dye sublimation printer.

“Attendees are amazed by the compact and sleek design and how it sends a print job through at high speed and quality – this replaces all generations of 64”dye sub printers,” Hunter said. “Another thing people are loving is our technology debut of our roll-to-roll direct-to-film (DTF) printer, which has no name yet. We are showing people we are in the DTF game; for those who want to go into DTF production printing, this is our concept – it can print 35” wide and goes from printing directly to the shaking and melting the powder.”

David Lopez, product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc., discussed the
New SureColor V1070 direct-to-object printer.

“The reaction has been great – we will be sold out before the end of the show,” said Lopez. “It was definitely well received. People are doing the research on desktop direct-to-object printers and our price point is so much lower that our competitors, plus we do varnish, which is an added effect. The SureColor S9170 has also been a big hit for us. We are hitting more than 99% of the Pantone library by adding green ink.”

Gabriella Kim, global marketing manager for DuPont, noted that DuPont had a lot of people coming by to check out its Artistri inks.

“We are highlighting the direct-to-film (DTF) inks that we showed at drupa,” Kim reported. “We are seeing a lot of growth and interest in this segment. What we see now is screen printers and dye sublimation printers looking to add DTF printers, which are able to print on anything other than polyester. A lot of people who buy transfers are outsourcing, but they are thinking about buying their own equipment; the cost of doing it in-house is coming down.”

“We are growing a lot as we are seeing a lot of adoption,” Kim added. “We do aftermarket like the P1600 and we also work with OEMs. We need to be in the aftermarket because people are always looking for different inks. Direct-to-garment remains strong, and wide format and dye sublimation are also growing. It’s very exciting to see all of this after the pandemic across very different segments.”

EFI had a wide range of new presses on its stand as well as its partners.

“The show has been excellent,” said Ken Hanulec, VP of marketing for EFI. “My whole team is extremely positive and bullish. We have three new printers on the stand, and five additional printers at four partner stands for wide format. We feel it is back to pre-pandemic levels.”

Josh Hope, director of marketing for Mimaki, reported that the big focus for Mimaki was the four new wide format products for the first time.

“The JFX200 1213EX is a 4x4 flatbed UV machine based off of Mimaki’s very successful JFX platform, with a printable area of 50x51 inches and just like our larger machine, three staggered printheads and takes the our same ink sets,” Hope said. “It prints Braille and ADA signage, as we can print bi-directional. The CJV 200 series is a new print cut machine geared toward entry level using the same printheads as our larger 330. It’s a solvent-based unit using our new SS22 eco-solvent, an evolution from our SS21, and has excellent adhesion weathering and color gamut. It has fewer volatile chemicals in it – we pulled out GBL. We also changed the cartridges from plastic to recycled paper.

“The TXF 300-1600 is our new DTF machine,” Hope added. “We had the 150 – a 32” machine; now we have the 300, which has two printheads, and this is a full 64-inch width with two printheads, adding 30% throughput. Not only do you get the increase of speed plus now you have a lot more space to work with for home décor, tapestries, or personalizing a child’s room because the inks are Oeko certified. The TS300-3200DS is our new superwide hybrid textile machine that prints on dye sublimation transfer paper or direct to fabric, both with the same ink set.”

Christine Medordi, sales manager, North America for Sun Chemical, said that the show has been great.

“We have had good traffic, and the booth has been very busy,” said Medordi. “We are meeting with many direct-to customers although we also have OEM business. The inquiries come from every part of the printing industry.”

Errol Moebius, president and CEO of IST America, discussed IST’s Hotswap technology.

“We have our Hotswap, which allows the printer to change the bulbs from mercury to LED cassettes,” said Moebius. “It makes sense from the perspective cost perspective on applications such as flexible packaging, where heat is a concern, as well as sustainability.

“There’s also been a lot of interest in FREEcure, which allows printers to run a coating or ink with reduced or completely eliminated photoinitiators,” Moebius noted. “We moved the spectrum to the UV-C range to give us more power. Food packaging is one area, and we are working with ink companies and raw material suppliers. This would be a big evolution especially for the label market, where people are moving to LED. If you can get rid of photoinitiators that would be the big thing, as supply and migration have been problems.”

STS Inks CEO Adam Shafran said that PRINTING United has been “wonderful.”

“It’s a great way to celebrate our 25th anniversary, a nice milestone,” Shafran noted. “It is nice to come to the show and it makes it enjoyable to have customers stop by and say hello, see old friends and make new ones.”

STS Inks highlighted its new bottle direct-to-object press at the show.

“The quality is very easy to see,” Shafran said. “We have our single pass packaging unit that’s drawing a lot of attention, and we sold some already. The 924DFTF printer with new shaker system is a big hit – it’s a newer technology, a lot quicker and the output is 188 square feet an hour, which is what people are looking for along with a small footprint to deliver it. It is also environmentally friendly, as it is a water-based system and it runs our own inks produced in the US.”

Bob Keller, Marabu North America president, said that PRINTING United 2024 has been excellent.

“For, me it’s been one of the best shows of my career – the traffic has been very good, and the leads have been very well qualified,” Keller added. “For us, the most exciting product has been the LSINC PeriOne, a direct-to-object printer. We are getting a lot of attention from the beverage and promotional markets for our Marabu’s UltraJet LED curable ink.”

Etay Harpak, product marketing manager, S11 for Landa, said that PRINTING United was “amazing.”

“The best thing we have going for us is now 25% of our customers are now buying their second press, which is the greatest testament to our technology,” Harpak added. “The talks are about how they can integrate our presses. The ink is one of the major reasons why we can get the color consistency and reproduction of color that we can get, especially when you are looking at brand colors. We are getting 96% of Pantone with the 7 colors we use – CMYK, orange, green and blue. The vividness and zero light scatter are why it looks so amazing. We are also able to be consistent on any substrate, and there’s no priming or pretreatment.”

“The Landa vision is now reality,” said Bill Lawler, partnership development manager, Landa Digital Printing. “We are finding that people are coming to us focused and want to know our story. Previously at PRINTING United it was just people wanting to discover what we are doing. We now have over 60 presses worldwide. Our new ink plant in the Carolinas is nearing completion.”

Konica Minolta had a wide range of new presses on hand at PRINTING United 2024, led by the AccurioLabel 400.

“AccurioLabel 400 is our newest press, which offers the option of white, while our AccurioLabel 230 is a 4-color home run,” Frank Mallozzi, president, industrial and production print for Konica Minolta, said. “We partner with GM and offer some really nice options plus embellishments. It is toner-based, prints at 1200 dpi and customers love it. We have about 1,600 units installed and we have better than 50% market share in that space.”

“We go after the client who outsources their short run digital label work and help them bring it in house,” Mallozzi added. “It prints on all sorts of material, and we are now targeting the converter market.”

Konica Minolta showed its AccurioJet 3DW400 at Labelexpo, and said the response was terrific.

“The AccurioJet 3DW400 is the first of its kind that does all in one pass, including varnish and foil,” said Mallozzi. “It is very well received in the market; everywhere you go you have to do multi-pass and this eliminates that, improving productivity and eliminating mistakes. We are aspiring to build technology that provide automation and error correction and making it like running a copier, and I’m really impressed with what we have.”

“The show’s been good – we’re very happy we participated,” Mallozzi said. “There’s a lot we do to get customers here and our team did a nice job with that.”

Deborah Hutchinson, director of business development and distribution, inkjet, North America for Agfa, pointed out that automation definitely got the most attention, as it is the hot area of interest right now.

“People are trying to reduce the cost of operation as well as labor,” added Hutchinson. “It takes the grunt work away and gets employees doing some more interesting and rewarding jobs.”

As an example, Agfa has robots on its Tauro as well as the Grizzly, and also introduced the auto loader on the Grizzly, which picks the sheets up, registers it, prints and stacks the printed sheets.

Hutchinson noted that the Tauro has moved to a 7-color configuration, shifting to muted pastels, with light cyan and light magenta, to meet the needs of customers.

“We’re looking at versatility and flexibility in the press – converters want to be able to go from roll to rigid when a hot job comes in,” Hutchinson noted. “The flexo roll is built into the Tauro and you just move the table in for sheets. This improves the customers’ ROI and speed to market with their printing jobs. We are trying to help our customers lower their cost of print.”

Among its other introductions, Agfa brought the Condor to the North American market. The Condor offers a 5-meter roll but can also be run two or three up. The Jeti Bronco is brand new, offering a growth path for customers between an entry level and high-volume space, like the Tauro.

“The show has been really good,” Hutchinson said. “It’s the third day and we still have people here. Our salespeople say that having their customers see the presses in action moves the sales cycle. Grizzly won the Pinnacle Award for Material Handling, and the ink also won the Pinnacle Award. Our ink has a very fine pigment grind and high pigment load, so it has a low ink profile and doesn’t use as much ink.”