| |
|
 |
Home  News Events
|
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO 2000 opens with a bang,
Chicago September 24, 2000
Chicago's McCormick Place opens its doors to what is expected to be the largest show in the event's history.
The new century's first Graph Expo and Converting Expo will be the largest in the history of the show, in terms of new product introductions and exhibit space, with an expected attendance of 45,000 or more, says Regis J. Delmontagne, president of NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies and the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC). Further, the show will incorporate many digital e-commerce facets, including a new e-commerce seminar, a Web-based attendee assistant, e-mail addresses for both attendees and exhibitors, and a contingent of e-based exhibitors, including Collabria, Noosh, and PrintNation.com.
The expo is spread over two levels and two halls at McCormick Place in Chicago. The North Hall will present press and converting equipment as well as prepress systems in 425,000 net sq ft of space. Xerox Corporation will occupy a 40,000-sq-ft area in the Lakeside Center (formerly East Hall). The resulting 465,000 net sq ft exceeds by about 35,000 sq ft the total floor space comprising the 1999 expo, which filled the South Hall.
What's driving the show's success? The healthy state of the printing industry, maintains Delmontagne. "This has been a very good year for the industry," he says. "Overall, the economy continues to expand, as does the advertising market. Advertising has the single most significant effect on the industry. When it's healthy, print is healthy. Plus, we have significant areas of print that are growing. These include direct mail and book production. As print grows, it drives new equipment sales. A recent Kiplinger forecast noted a tremendous gain in capital purchases with no let-down in sight. The economy continues to record low inflation and we have the added combination of an election year and advertising for the Olympics!"
To back up his claim, Delmontagne points to a Printing Industries of America report. It says that printers' profits are at their highest level of the 1990s-with the average printer earning a 3.4% profit before taxes. Profit leaders-firms in the top 25% of profitability-were earning nearly 11% of their sales as profits. PIA also reported that print sales in the U.S. grew by almost 5% in 1999, to $148 billion. Printers, though, are even more optimistic than that, judging from PIA's Quarterly Print Market Survey. Survey respondents anticipate sales increases of slightly more than 10% this year.
All of which leads to a healthy Graph Expo. With printers flush with profits and earnings, there will be many printers keen to compare and purchase new equipment to keep their print shops cost-efficient and competitive.
"We will have over 200 companies introducing new products," says Delmontagne. "The Drupa 2000 exhibition in Germany earlier this year is always a positive impact on our show. There are so few U.S. customers who attend Drupa, except for some larger printers. But if an equipment supplier unveils a product at Drupa, that firm has to have a big presence at Graph Expo and Converting Expo. All the U.S. printers and converters are clamoring to see that new product in person. That's what happened with Xerox. They had a tremendous response at Drupa and wanted to keep the momentum rolling. The U.S. is still their largest market and they wanted to have a big presence at our show."
The show, which has been sold out since the beginning of the year, will feature 575 exhibitors compared to 622 last year. "We have fewer exhibitors but they are taking up larger spaces," notes Delmontagne. "Space limitation is the major factor for having less exhibitors plus there is still a lot of merging and consolidation activity going on. For example, I point to CreoScitex or printCafe, in which four or five individual firms have merged under one entity resulting in a smaller booth."
While there will be many exciting announcements and developments at the show, Delmontagne sees a trend among press equipment. "I would characterize this show as the year of the digital press," says Delmontagne. "There will be a lot of new announcements and displays, including A.B.Dick, Adast, Heidelberg, Karat, MGI, MAN Roland, Riso, Scitex, Xerox, Xeikon, Indigo, and TR Systems."
Delmontagne is excited about many new aspects of the show. For the first time this year, the show will feature e-commerce seminars. Another highlight will be four panel sessions of suppliers discussing future equipment and systems trends. "These suppliers will discuss what is coming down the pipeline," says Delmontagne. "They'll describe what they're working on in research and development. We've never had anything like this, and I think it will be quite popular."
|
|
|
