PacPrint opens doors to print industry
Five years after its last outing the region’s biggest print industry trade fair PacPrint threw open the gates this morning, with organisers succeeding in putting on a show of depth and breadth.
Speaking as the ribbon was cut in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre this morning Peter Harper, CEO of suppliers organisation Visual Connections, which is producing the show, said, “The exhibition floor is looking terrific, and with more than 100 exhibitors there is something here for every kind of print business."
The show was officially opened by local federal MP Josh Burns, whose father had a 30 year career in print, and who himself spent time in the packaging field. He said, "It is a pleasure to open PacPrint. Australia is proud of its precision manufacturing industries, printing has a great part to play in the future of the country."
Several thousand print business owners and managers from across Australia and New Zealand are expected to tour the aisles at PacPrint, which is the first major comprehensive trade show to run since Covid.
Visitors to the show will see a plethora of new print technology, with multiple hardware, software and materials launches slated for the four-day event. They will also be able to take part in the industry podcast coming live from the show, on the Print21 stand C35.
Registration is still available online, click here to register and avoid the queues at the registration desk, but on site registration is also available. PacPrint opens at 10am every day, with doors closing at 6pm today and Thursday, 8pm tomorrow (Wednesday), and 4pm on Friday.
Industry suppliers have been working in overdrive to bring a host of advanced technology to the show floor, with 100 exhibitors booked into the event, including most of the major names in the industry. PacPrint is co-located with wide format show Visual Impact, and the Labels & Packaging expo, giving visitors an insight into different opportunities in print.
In addition there are industry forums on a huge range of relevant subjects running through the show. The Thursday evening sees the National Print Awards take place, and Tuesday evening has the HP Asga sign awards. In addition vendors are hosting their own events, both on their stands and off site.
PacPrint will also see the first time the about-to-merge industry associations PVCA and TRMC have a joint stand.
There are some major pieces of print equipment on the show floor. Currie Group has a B2 HP Indigo 100K which prints non-stop at 6,000sph. It is also launching a new EFI wide format printer, and a new Horizon perfect binder. Fujifilm has a combined stand, and will be launching a new Acuity wide format printer, and showing its PC1120 six-station cut-sheet digital print engine. Konica Minolta is launching a new production print engine, the Pro C7100, while first time exhibitor Kyocera has its new TaskAlfa Pro 15000c cutsheet inkjet printer on its booth.
New digitgal label presses will be on the Epson, Jet/Screen and Xeikon stands, with wide format print systems also on display from Canon, Epson, HP, Mutoh, Mimaki, Roland DG. New finishing equipment will be shown by Smartech with the Duplo range, Currie Group with Horizon, Starleaton with the Zund cutter, and Hilton Laminating among others.
Niche opportunities wil be shown by the likes of Stick on Signs, with the Dimense one pass print and emboss wide format system, Graffica with the Kolbus auto boxmaking system, Velflex with its heat transfer systems, and Kissel + Wolf which will be discussing the Kornit DTG range among other solutions.
Software highlights include the new uDirect from XMPie, enabling print businesses to provide cross media campaigns to their clients. It will be the first outing for eProductivity Software, the former EFI software business, while printIQ will have its latest release on the stand, version 44.
The major printable materials suppliers Ball & Doggett and Spicers are both at the show, as are wide format media suppliers Starleaton, Hexis, Graphic Art Mart, Amaria Visual, and Europoles. Large format printer Vivad will be showing its web-to-print solution, while trade supplier CMYKhub will be highlighting its new DesignDesk outsource design and prepress service
And Print21 is there, on stand C35, where we will be running a live podcast throughout the show, come along and tell us what you think of the industry.
Entry to PacPrint is free to print industry people, click here to register for the show.