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Highlights from GRAPHEXPO 2000 and CONVERTING EXPO 2000
Chicago September 27, 2000
Despite coming off the heels of Drupa, Graph Expo 2000 turned out to be a knockout.
By all measures, Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2000, which concluded yesterday in Chicago, will go down in the books with "knockout" status as an active selling show, an educational event, an international occurrence, and an enormous visitor attraction for the multifaceted graphic arts industry, which encompasses design, imaging, printing, and converting.
Once all the numbers have been officially calculated, nearly 46,000 people will have been involved in the show, counting attendees, exhibitor personnel, seminar presenters, visiting graphic arts teachers, media representatives, and hundreds of students.
Virtually everyone interviewed for this article called this perhaps the most successful of the annual expositions in the U.S., a particularly notable accomplishment given that it followed by just four months the gigantic Drupa 2000 trade fair held in Germany.
Statistics tell the story
For the record, here are a few statistics:
- Graph Expo drew 570 exhibitors, whose displays filled nearly 480,000 net sq ft of space.
- In the educational program accompanying Graph Expo, just over 1,750 attendees purchased almost 5,000 tickets.
- A total of 383 media representatives registered to attend the event, 15% of whom were from outside the U.S.
One of the most pleased exhibitors was also the show's largest: at Heidelberg USA, Niels Winther, president and chief executive, described the show as "phenomenal," adding that "strong sales and interest" were shown in each of the company's many product areas.
In fact, he says, coming off the heels of a "very successful" Drupa show in Germany-where North American printers not only browsed the latest Heidelberg solutions but purchased $150 million in equipment-he boldly set a Graph Expo 2000 sales goal of $140 million. At the start of the third day, Heidelberg was already closing in on the $140 million mark.
Setting drupa-like goal
"This has been an extremely strong show in spite of Drupa," said Winther as day three was drawing to a close. "Last year, our sales were $140 million; I set the same goal for this show, even following so closely after Drupa. I felt the goal was attainable."
Showing "total solutions" to the printing marketplace, he says, has proven to be a successful strategy for Heidelberg, whose breadth of products range from conventional and digital prepress systems to sheetfed, web, and digital printing equipment to innovations for the bindery. Printers today want to see integrated solutions from prepress, press, to postpress, said Winther.
At this show, which Winther referred to as the "U.S. Drupa," the company's prepress solutions got special attention when Iowa-based Walsworth Publishing purchased its 10th Nexscan, of which 1,000 have been sold since its debut a year ago.
Much interest is being shown in the 74 and 102 models of the Topsetter CTP system, 74 and 102 Primesetter imagesetters, with orders climbing into the double digits.
Strong interest in sheetfed
In the sheetfed line, Winther says that interest is "very strong" in the Speedmaster 52, 74, and 102 models. In fact, two 10-color Speedmaster 102 perfector presses have been sold; one will ship to Crowson Stone, Columbia, S.C., joining a 40", five-color Speedmaster 74 press. Crowson Stone purchased an entire printing solution from Heidelberg at the show: prepress, press, and postpress equipment.
The other 10-color press will go to a printer who asked to remain anonymous, said Winther, building on its current five-color, nonperfecting, half-size sheetfed printing capability.
Three times a day at the expo, Heidelberg shuttled attendees (about 30 per day) to its Mt. Prospect, Ill. demonstration center-which it called "Hall 2"-to see the new CD 74 sheetfed. Several of the presses were already sold (four-, five-, and six-color configurations). The CD 74 is sold out for delivery this fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2001. New orders will ship in April or May of 2001.
Winther said the two-color Quickmaster press was selling like "hot cakes" at the event, and by show's end, expected to sell from 50 to 100 units. The black-and-white Digimaster 9110 also was selling briskly, and 20 Quickmaster DI color digital presses had been sold in the show's first two days.
As anticipated, the recent digital innovation, NexPress, has been an active product; Heidelberg has taken a "huge" number of letters of intent, said Winther, who adds that field testing will begin in the near future.
Discussions with customers
While no numbers or sales figures are available thus far from Heidelberg Web Systems, discussions are ongoing with printers who came to Graph Expo to see the presses and binding solutions, said Mark Levin, vice president of North American sales. Web printing products of particular interest included the M-600 and M-130 webs and the Pacesetter 870 binding system. The Sunday 2000 press also was an attention-getter, said Levin.
On Tuesday, John Sommers, owner of Allied Printing, Manchester, Conn., stopped by to confirm his purchase of a 38", seven-color M-600 web press with Autoplate, slated for installation next April. It will join another 38", six-color M-600 currently installed at Allied Printing that is at capacity.
Heidelberg's bindery solutions, many of which highlight automation from prepress to bindery, were a "big hit," said Winther, who added, "We've sold more than we expected for the whole show in the first two days." Standouts included the ST 270 and ST 90 stitchers. The Pacesetter 870 stitcher also was a main attraction.
Heidelberg's Print Media Academy (PMA) drew a steady stream of printers, approximately 700, throughout three days of seminars, said Larry Kroll, vice president of consulting and training. PMA speakers made presentations on timely industry topics such as color management and maintaining a viable family-run business.
Accumulating sales leads
At Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP) in Booth 2134, orders were booked for six multicolor sheetfed presses, and booth personnel accumulated about 500 leads in the first three days.
MLP president Ric Buchanan observed, "It's not just about what we sell at the show, but the generation of orders after the exhibition."
Experts offer views
Acknowledging that Drupa is always a tough act to follow, Charles Corr, group director of the CAP Ventures consultancy in Norwell, Mass., says he still expected this show to reflect more of where technology is moving the industry. He thinks that's what attendees expected, too.
"I would say what they got was a Graph Expo that looks much like last year's show, which I'd call a major disappointment," says Corr. "While people visiting Drupa saw real change in the basic business of printing-with what I thought were amazing products on display, including the incredible presence by Xerox-that message hasn't come across here. We saw part of it with e-procurement solutions, soft proofing, and workflow applications, but overall it's being viewed as more evolutionary rather than, 'Wow, this business is really changing!' "
David Davis, director of Interquest, a market and technology research and consulting firm in Charlottesville, Va., thinks this Graph Expo illuminates on a smaller scale the significant digital printing trends evident at Drupa.
"The theme from both shows is that digital is here and now, and that it's going to blend in with the traditional industry," says Davis. "Digital and conventional are moving together, and we're seeing them begin sharing data. I'm sure we'll see more digital offset and longer-run pure digital stuff next year."
Davis singles out Xeikon, which demonstrated its cut-sheet CSP 320 D and the third-generation DCP 500 D digital color presses, including coordinating variable printing workflow solutions.
'Powerful collective force'
On the same note, Pincus Jaspert, a long-time industry consultant based in London and Los Angeles, says the show's most significant announcements were Xerox's Book Factory display and the Hewlett-Packard/Indigo pact. "Combining Indigo's reputation for high-quality offset with HP's strengths in ink-jet and laser printing makes for a powerful collective force," he reasons.
Giorgio Gianoli, an industry consultant with g+g Communications Group in Milano, Italy, shared the sentiment that Print '01 should be much more of a breakthrough show, reflecting advancements not only in front-ends and digital printing, but in the streamlining of offset, flexography, and gravure to higher levels of efficiency. He predicts a bigger turnout from Asia, Canada, eastern Europe, and Mexico.
Many zeros add up to record size
A successful Graph Expo is a "perfect platform" to set the stage for the international Print '01 exposition, says Regis J. Delmontagne, president of the Graphic Arts Show Company and NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies. The Print show, also to be staged at McCormick Place, is scheduled to take place in less than a year.
GASC managers are already talking about the "1,000,100,000, and 1,000,000" figures, which describe the number of exhibitors, the expected attendance, and the net square footage for the event. "We've already sold 762,000 sq ft of space, which represents well over 80% of available space in Print '01, and we're halfway to our target in terms of number of exhibitors," he says.
"We have now definitely established the custom of a graphic arts show in Chicago in the fall," he adds. In fact, Print shows are scheduled for 2001, 2005, and 2009, with Graph Expo and Converting Expo events held in intervening years.
Delmontagne credits "the excitement of new technology and new solutions" for building the annual show to these levels, noting that "technology in design and print is developing very rapidly and the need to understand and better apply these new developments is growing as well."
He adds, "These exhibitions play a significant role in helping specifiers and buyers of systems and materials make important, final decisions."
Career Awareness Day Draws Hundreds of Students
Hundreds of local high school students attend seminar, walk show floor.
In an effort to attract young people to the printing industry, the Graphics Communication Council invited hundreds of high school students from the Chicago area to its Career Awareness Day to learn about job opportunities in the graphic arts. A series of formal presentations and testimonials from printing industry professionals were held at McCormick Place's Lakeside Center, followed by a tour of technologies being displayed on the expo show floor.
Speakers at the presentation told students that the graphic arts industry rewards those who work hard. Said the speakers, there is much money to be made here working either for printers or manufacturers. Students also learned that the Midwest is home to many reputable colleges that offer formal training in the graphic arts, and for those who aren't on a college track, the printing industry is in great need of capable and dedicated machinery operators.
IST Metz, IST America UV and technotrans AG announces formal alliance at the expo
UV drying and curing system vendor IST Metz and its North American subsidiary, IST America, announced at the expo a formal alliance with a new company created through the purchase of Farwest Graphic Technologies by technotrans AG, a Germany-based supplier of sheetfed and web press auxiliary equipment. The new and as yet unnamed organization will provide conventional and hybrid UV equipment for installation on sheetfed presses. Shown from left are Andrew Stott, IST America; John A. Stacey, technotrans AG; Bill Bonallo, Farwest; and Norbert Huelsmann, RYCO Graphic Manufacturing, a technotrans subsidiary.UV drying and curing system vendor IST Metz and its North American subsidiary, IST America, announced at the expo a formal alliance with a new company created through the purchase of Farwest Graphic Technologies by technotrans AG, a Germany-based supplier of sheetfed and web press auxiliary equipment. The new and as yet unnamed organization will provide conventional and hybrid UV equipment for installation on sheetfed presses
Muller Martini Shows New Wares
Automation is key to the company's bank of postpress equipment offerings.
At a press conference held Tuesday, Muller Martini provided live demonstrations of newly released, highly automated postpress and web press equipment in its booth, the theme of which was entitled "Integrated Production Solutions."
Perfect binding, saddle stitching leader
Said Werner G. Naegeli-who was recently named president and chief executive of Muller Martini USA after having served its Switzerland-based parent company as vice president of engineering-the 4,400-employee global supplier of perfect binding and saddle stitching equipment makes more saddle stitchers than all other manufacturers combined.
On display was the new 5,000-cph Acoro perfect binder, which can achieve makeready in less than five minutes via its Acoro Commander control system. Also demonstrated was the company's 14,000-cph Prima-S saddle stitching system, which is upgradeable to selective binding and/or ink-jet addressing, says the company. During the live demo, the Prima-S tipped in to a sample brochure a CD-ROM through a specially equipped Model 315 card tipper. Accompanying this display were the newly released Model 3738 universal stream feeders, which automate loading for the Prima-S; the Model 361 knife trimmer; and the 9,000-cph Presto saddle stitcher for short- to medium-run applications.
Rounding out the presentation was Muller Martini's new Concept-NT variable-size shaftless web press, which, say company officials, has been designed to help customers more efficiently handle direct mail and commercial printing applications.
"Hitting Color" a Launchpad for Products & Services
Fresh features make pavilion a hit with attendees
New vendor participants, a new Web site, and "the best seminar program ever" were highlights of this year's edition of the Hitting Color in the Digital Workflow pavilion at Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2000.
New exhibitors taking part this year included Sprockets, a specialist in Web collaboration; Rods & Cones, which helps with comprehensive color profiling; and Fileflow, offering new data-compression technologies for print. The pavilion also offered the premiere of a large-format ink-jet printer from Seiko Infotech.
The new Web site, www.intheDigitalWorkflow.com , brings together a wide array of resources for specialists in Internet, input, design, workstations, data storage, color management, proofing, platemaking, and print.
Kathleen Kaiser, producer of the workflow pavilion, says visitors to the Web site will find such resources as collections of topically relevant articles from all the major publications, updated frequently. "Instead of reading all the magazines all the time looking for scanner articles," she explains, "people will be able to come to this site to find all the articles in one place."
The site also offers links to specific pages within vendor Web sites, pages that address particular topics directly, rather than simply the vendor's home page, Kaiser says.
DAX Introduces Own Private Network
New solution offers security benefits along with open, standards-based Internet access.
Digital Arts Exchange, Inc. (DAX), the first managed Internet and application service provider for the graphic arts industry, announced the availability of its Virtual Private Network, which gives customers the security benefits of a private network along with open, standards-based Internet access. R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company and two major retail catalog outfits have already signed on with the new service, revealed DAX president Brad Giles, who said that the incremental costs of the network are under $100 a month.
"We really think this will allow the industry to more deeply embrace the Internet by removing the last hurdle for e-production, which was the potential security issues," said Giles. "In a nutshell, printers can now have one pipe coming in building, letting them surf the Web one minute, and send an FTP file transfer to anybody in the world the next minute in a secure, encrypted environment."
Lite solution announced
Also announced was the addition of the DAX T1i Lite to its iSeries managed Internet solutions, providing a low-cost pathway for sophisticated bandwidth-intensive e-production applications, such as digital asset management, e-commerce, remote proofing, Web-hosting, and FTP. The product features set is similar to the T1i solution but at a lower flat rate of $1,295 per month, with no per-megabyte or other usage-based charges, regardless of traffic volume.
The solution is targeted at printers who have not only seen an increase in size and volume of e-mail attachments and FTP transfers, but are experiencing increased demand for e-production services. Says DAX, with T1i Lite, companies can perform any-size file transfers (at 768 Kbps for about 5 MB/minute), host their own Web site, and provide e-mail for the entire company.
TAGA news
DAX also announced that the Technical Association for the Graphic Arts (TAGA), a 900-member worldwide graphic arts technical association based at the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology, is now hosted in the DAX Data Center, offering much faster access to the site (www.taga.org), an updated appearance, and simpler navigation features.
Source: www.eshowdaily.com
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