Wide format industry supplier Jetmark is stepping in to help sign shops affected by the bushfires, with a free $250 voucher available to the first 100 printers that respond.

Mimaki Australia has launched a range of special offers and assistance to help businesses impacted by the recent bushfires across the country.

Every year is a big year in the print industry, and 2019 was bigger than most, as the industry continues to rapidly evolve in the face of ongoing digital disruption, with wins and losses, highs and lows. Print21 has been there every step of the way, to bring you all the news, insight and analysis as it happened.

With bad news travelling faster than good, printers could be forgiven for thinking the end is nigh. The reality, though, is that 2019 saw a huge amount of money invested into print, as printers, technology developers, and suppliers banked on the future success of the $8bn manufacturing industry.

As various sectors of print expanded and contracted, the benefits of buying a rival could not be underestimated, with 2019 seeing a flurry of consolidation in the print industry large and small.

2019 saw local print innovation recognised on the world stage with printer Momento Pro, supplier Currie Group, and suburban outfit Style Communications graphic designer Indy Griffths all shining a beacon for local print by winning major awards overseas.

As print goes through the most disruptive period in its 500-year history, there will inevitably be casualties – and 2019 gave us no shortage of the good, the bad and the ugly hitting the skids, with several major names now just history.

Byzantine, brazen, or plain brilliant: some print businesses and individuals went to great lengths in their attempts to grow their businesses, keep them afloat, or just increase their margins – unfortunately usually at the expense of the rest of the industry and the taxpayer.

With all the checks and balances of the modern era, one thing remains clear: if humans are involved, stuff-ups will occur, which is why one of the buzzwords of this year and the next will be reducing human touchpoints. The 2019 print industry showed why.

Three big trade shows caught the attention of ANZ printers this year – PrintEx, Fespa, and Labelexpo – and they had a common theme: the blurring of boundaries of different print thanks to digitisation. Print21 was at all three.

In the ANZ print trade media landscape it was Print21 that powered forward, with its commitment to quality content and its unrivalled editorial industry engagement and experience setting it apart from the rest, as the magazine and associated platforms grew throughout the year.

Top Ovato executives, including chairman Michael Hannan (l) and CEO Kevin Slaven (r) welcomed customers to tour the expanded NSW printing site, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, and unveiled the company’s latest $20m manroland Lithoman 80-page high-volume web press.

Beacon Print in Whakatāne has signed an agreement to purchase a near new newspaper printing press from United Borneo Press Group of Malaysia, in what it says is a vote of confidence in community newspaper publishing.

Nicole Danger from Chapel Press, the winner of this year’s LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize, has been recognised by the Governor of Victoria at a reception at Government House in Melbourne, convened to celebrate Women in Trades.

Cactus Imaging has added a second Fujifilm Acuity Ultra to its stable, the eight-colour inkjet grand-format machine joining its existing four-colour-plus-white printer which it showed off at an open house event in February.

Foxcil, a leading trade print supplier of labels and flexibles, has been quietly surprising small remote schools across Australia with Foxcil Care Packages.