co-located with FESPA AMERICAS - FLAAR Reports fileGraphics of the Americas co-located with FESPA AMERICAS 2011 2 ... A FLAAR sign expo report is focused on wide-format inkjet printers

Graphics of the Americas

March 2011

Nicholas Hellmuth

What was thissign & printer expo?

co-located withFESPA AMERICAS

Feb. 24-26, 2011

Graphics of the Americas co-located with FESPA AMERICAS 2011

II

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Please Note

Entrance view, GoA + FESPA AMERICAS 2011.

ContentsIntroduction 1

Most innovative booth 3

Nicest booth structure 4

Greenwashing award 4

Layout of the expo 5

UV printers 5

Chinese UV-cured printers 8

Flatbed cutters 9

Cutters other than flatbed 11

Thick material 11

Solvent printers 12

Latex printers 13

Resin-ink printers 13

Water-based printers 14

Textile printers 15

Missing: which companies missed out on the opportunities 18

After-market Ink 18

Media & Substrates 19

The combined expo was universally judged as successful 19

Many people said the expo should return to Miami 19

ISS expo was essentially invisible

(if you were attending GoA+FESPA) 19

Who was there? 20

GoA + FESPA Americas was international:

more than just Latin American 20

Competition 20

GoA and FESPA Americas Exhibitor List 2012 20

http://www.wide-format-printers.net




1

Graphics of the Americasco-located with FESPA AMERICAS

The first day there were crowds at the registration area, and crowds waiting to get in at the hall entrance. There were plenty of visitors the second day as well. The quantity of visitors the first and second day set a good tone for the whole event.

Normally I make a list of every model of wide-format printer in the entire expo. For this GoA+FESPA Americas, however, over four hours were in the GoA lecture room and an hour walking the attendees of the FESPA lecture booth-to-booth (more educational than only showing PPT slides). Another 30% of the day was assisting corporate managers who had made prior appointments for private consulting sessions with FLAAR.

Feb. 24-26,

2011Introduction

Top photo: you can see Dr. Nicholas lecturing at one of his three lectures at GoA + FESPA Americas 2011.


2

Dr. Nicholas lecturing at one of his three lectures at GoA + FESPA Americas 2011.

The third day I had to fly to China since TWO large signage expos were held the same week. So instead of a list of model designations of every single solitary wide-format printer at the two co-located expos, this FLAAR report will cover the general expo. I list all models of UV-cured printers that I noticed, but not every model of eco-solvent or water-based (since these printers are pretty well known to everyone already anyway).

It is worth mentioning that all other coverage on trade shows are not much more than exhibitor lists rephrased. In distinction a FLAAR trade show report actually identifies the difference between good products and iffy products. This is not possible for a company that depends on paid advertisement. A FLAAR sign expo report is focused on wide-format inkjet printers, associated inks, media, and workflow (cutters, laminators, etc). We do not cover screen-printing equipment, embroidery or copiers.

Over the years the FLAAR Reports form a veritable history of our industry with information that is not available elsewhere.

FLAAR has been writing reports on Graphics of the Americas since 2001.


3

Digital Graphic System, the distributor which featured Teckwin and honeycomb board was the most innovative at the expo. Although the DGS booth was filled with stuff (which usually results in no award for booth design), the “stuff” in this booth was mostly honeycomb material, which made the content interesting.

Most innovative booth

Digital Graphic Systems booth the most innovative we observed at this tradeshow.


4

There was less greenwashing at GoA + FESPA Americas this year than at all other trade shows in USA and Europe last year. But the PR release of one ink or substrates company (in the daily expo news if I remember correctly) did a beautiful job of greenwashing by showing greenery yet featuring solvent inks and PVC!

Greenwashing award

Sometimes a simple booth structure looks nicer than a complex booth structure. The booth of Decorative Powdercovering stood out and it deserves recognition.

Nicest booth structure

Decorative Powdercovering booth


5

Since this was the first year of GoA co-locating with anyone, and the first time FESPA Americas was staged, it is understandable that there were some things that perhaps will change for 2012.

At the beginning, I naively assumed that all the wide-format inkjet printers and related exhibits would be in the FESPA Americas half of the hall; and that all the copiers, offset printers, and other kinds of equipment would be in the GoA half. Yes, the FESPA half did have most of the inkjet printers (and T-shirt printers). But there were inkjet-related booths at least every two aisles also in the GoA section. So by the second day I learned that to see everything you needed to walk up and down each aisle of both exhibits (but not ISS; I did not have time to even get into that other hall).

For example, the HP booth was still in the GoA section.

Layout of the expo

UV printersGerber CAT had a nice booth. Sometimes I like it when a booth has no structure surrounding it. A structure often just blocks the view of the main product.

Gerber CAT UV flatbed printer.


6

Sun Innovation exhibited two printers. This is the first time Sun has exhibited in America for many years. The staff were different than in past years. The new team is more international in their multi-language capability. I would give the booth staff high grades for hospitality and putting out the welcome mat for visitors to their booth. I noticed this the first time I ever saw a booth of Sun Novosibirsk, at Gulf Print and Pack, 2007.

Agfa :Anapurna M2050, but had no Agfa label on the otherwise Dilli printer. In the booth of Celupal.

Agfa Anapurna M2050 at CeluPal booth.


7

I noted at least one Roland UV printer.Mimaki did not have any of their large flatbeds on display, and also not their hybrid UV-cured printer’ only their UJF-3042.

Mimaki UJF-3042 printing some samples.


8

HP Scitex FB500 in booth of Proveer distributor. HP Scitex FB 700 in the HP booth.

VUTEk GS2000 was associated with the extensive work area at the front middle end of the FESPA area.

Chinese UV-cured printersThe CET flatbed has a new attractively designed exterior. Evidently the machine itself is the same system as before. Printers from EFI Rastek are engineered by EFI Rastek and contract manufactured by RTZ. Printers of CET come from the same factory in the manufacturing hub of southern China and reportedly have several major components replaced in Atlanta: vacuum pumps, UV lamps etc.

Human Digital is a large and growing company that engineers and manufactures their own printers in a substantial new fac-tory. They had several models of solvent printers on display and one UV-cured printer. This had a transport belt, which I call a combo but most manufacturers dub a hybrid. I reserve hybrid for a pinch-roller on grit roller system.

XUV-Jet, using LED curing, Konica Minolta printhead. The spec sheet was well designed in the sense that it presented the output-per-mode in an easy to understand manner and produced the rest of the specs in an easy to see tabulation.

I will be curious to see if the LED system is from Sun or from elsewhere.

HP FB700 at HP booth


9

Teckwin had one UV-cured printer on display. This is an improved model over the earlier TeckStorm. Until we can do custom-er-site visit, we have no comments on this printer.

Flora, the brand name for RTZ the manufacturer, had a booth for receiving visitors. Their intent was for meetings (since their printer was already on the floor in another booth under another brand name).

Flatbed cuttersKongsberg was clearly the king of the roost for cutters at GoA+FESPA Americas. They had one cutter in the live workflow area and an additional cutter in their own substantial booth. One of these was the model XL20.

Teckwin had a cutter. There was a CNC router in the booth of MultiCam (not their digital model).

At the back , at the center of the booth, Teckwin improved UV -cured printer.


10

Esko artwork booth.


11

Cutters other than flatbed

Fotoba exhibited one of their nice cutters for roll-fed material.

Thick material

The booth of FESPA Americas had all their furniture made from honeycomb sandwich board.

Teckwin offered honeycomb sandwich board.

But otherwise, the expo where I have seen the most of this material is consistently VISCOM Paris, especially 2009. You do not (yet) see much honeycomb sandwich board at North American or Latin American sign expos.

FLAAR is very interested in doing evaluation projects on this interesting material: it can be used for signage and furniture both.

Samples of honeycomb offered by Teckwin.


12

Solvent printers

Mimaki, Mutoh, Roland, and Seiko printers were available. Roland had the most distributors around the show area.

Tubelite showed two Roland printers: SolJet Pro III Print&Cut XC-540 and VersaCamm Print&Cut VS-540 (Roland names are too long and thereby lose brand recognition)

Mimaki booth had CJV30-60.

Seiko H-104S in booth of Proveer distributor.

Samples of honeycomb offered by Teckwin.


13

Latex printersAlthough HP has the only latex ink printer available today, there are several other latex inks available (behind the scenes). Plus you can now get an after-market latex ink from Sam*Ink.

HP Designjet L25500 in booth of Proveer distributor.

Resin-ink printersAt present there is only one resin ink that is widely available. This futuristic ink was in two printers in the booth of Graphics One

• A wallpaper printer• An Epson GO Eco Max, 24”

There are already three FLAAR Reports that cover resin ink, so we defer to these longer reports.

Epson GO Eco Max, 24” printer at Graphics One booth


14

Water-based printersA few Canon, Epson, and HP water based printers were exhibited. The Chinese water-based printers (with either Lexmark (En-cad), Lenovo thermal printheads or Chinese printers with Epson printheads) have not yet come to GoA or FESPA Americas.

Cannon IPF 900DS at DTG booth.

Epson GO Eco Max, 24” at Graphics One booth.


15

Textile printers

Lots of T-shirt printer booths. Lots of booths for transfer paper.

Mimaki, d-gen and Digi-Fab had the major textile printers on exhibit.

d-gen had two Teleios systems on display: one was the original single-unit model, which has been available now for many many years. The other is the two-unit model which has been exhibited now for perhaps at least the third year.

Mimaki TextileJet Tx400-1800D

Teleios GT


16

AIT heat transfer machine was in the Mimaki booth.

DigiFab had a popular booth with their production-class printers. The advantage of DigiFab over getting a textile printer from Mutoh or Roland themselves, is that DigiFab knows textile printing inside out. The family-run business knows the entire workflow. If you simply get any miscellaneous “textile printer” most of the other companies do not have a dedicated staff that are 100% conversant with wide-format inkjet printing on fabrics, for over ten years.

I have spoken with people who are familiar with DigiFab and they recognize that you receive good service because DigiFab concentrates 100% on textile printing, so they have years of experience to impart to you.

Contact info: Avedik Izmirlian e-mail: [email protected], telephone (323) 581-4500

Here is the StampaJet from DigiFab, printing some samples.

mailto:[email protected]


17

Graphics One exhibited their (which if I remember correctly was a Mutoh DrafStation atop a disperse dye heat unit; probably a Century Star brand). We have not yet tested any of these printers.

At SGIA there was an ink for Nylon being exhibited. Here at FESPA, this ink was nowhere to be seen. Instead the most interest-ing ink was in the booth of Gans.

Every year industry people mention that the silly patents for one single aspect of dye sublimation for wide-format inkjet print-ers are running out. There will probably be first a countdown, and then a celebration, when this illogical patent finally goes away.

GO Rip Pro Flagmaster at Graphics One booth.


18

Missing: which companies missed out on the opportunities

One company manager said they sold over one million dollars worth of hardware. I know the company well and know the manager well so this was a real figure. This is not the fiction that PR agencies put out in one sign expo that one heading-into-bankruptcy company tried to bamboozle people with at either SGIA or ISA 2009.

That same bankrupt company was nowhere to be seen at GoA, neither their past models not their supposed future model. But those companies that did attend were content with audience and sales.

Agfa had no presence as a brand but there was one :Anapur-na on display in the booth of a distributor. It had no model designation whatsoever on the front.

HP had a small booth. I did not see anyone from HP Barce-lona.

Oce and Fujifilm both were absent.

Aeromatrix was totally missing. I did not even see the own-er or his wife walking the aisles. In over 10 years this is the first time they did not exhibit. Aeromatix is related to “Infiniti America” and is the main Infiniti dealer to Latin America. In-finity and FY were conspicuously missing at this event. The cause is partially the shifting partnerships back in China and the changes in which factory is producing for which brand name.

Neolt (from italy) was missing since their distributor, SID Signs, was missing. Their UV printers are all either roll to roll or hybrid (pinch roller on grit roller). These are the two least popular kinds of UV-cured printers.

D.G.I. was absent from several expos around the world last year. They were completely absent from this event this year. Dilli, the related company was also totally absent.

After-market InkThe Sam*Ink booth stood out, as did the AT Inks booth. These are the ink companies I know the best because I have inspected their ink facilities.

There were perhaps three other after-market inks exhib-ited. As soon as it is possible to visit their respective com-panies, then it will be realistic to make comparative com-ments.

SAM*Ink booth.


19

Media & SubstratesThese materials were available from basic distributors. There were not many actual substrate manufacturers exhibiting.

The combined expo was universally judged as successful

“Nicholas, the attendees at this FESPA Americas event were prime buyers: not tire kickers”

“Nicholas, we had more serious buyers at this show than last year.”

This is what I heard in each booth: the sales managers in each booth that I asked (on the second day; I had to fly to China on the third day because two gigantic sign printer trade shows open simultaneously the next days). The consensus was that there were many visitors the first day and even more the second day.

The typical comment was “better than last year.” Another said “Busier than last year”

In fact if the show continues to become more popular, I will need to send more assistants. For the really international expos, most of my own time is as a consultant to large corporations. So I need the assistants to go booth to booth to make a list of the products being exhibited, and do the photography. Last year the expo was so small I did not even bother to have one as-sistant. Next year I may need to bring two assistants.

Many people said the expo should return to Miami

Miami has direct flights from Latin America. Orlando does not have many direct flights.

In Miami almost everyone speaks Spanish. In Orlando many people speak Spanish but by no means everyone.

Miami has a more Latin lifestyle and people from Mexico, Central America and South America say they prefer visiting Miami. Orlando is obviously a popular travel destination, especially for families.

At least the event was not held in Atlanta (too much crime and not many attractions). At least the event was not held in New Orleans: the city is dead and dull during the day and over-rated at night. Crime is infamous in New Orleans as well. Restaurants overcharged and the feed was mediocre (food in Orlando was excellent).

The week after GoA / FESPA Americas I spoke with one of the exhibitors who was also attending both the Dongguan and the simultaneous Guangzhou expos. He too said that Miami is much much better for attracting buyers from Latin America. He said they prefer to land in Miami, punto.

ISS expo was essentially invisible (if you were attending GoA+FESPA)There were three shows co-habiting (the jargon is co-located).

• Graphics of the Americas• FESPA Americas• ISS

ISS was in another hall. I have no idea what was there. I never set foot there.


20

Who was there?No one from HP Barcelona (or at least not that I recognized) was in their booth.

Zero from Agfa at any high level.

VUTEk had one top manager and other key people (but not Global Imaging Inc distributor; or at least none that I noticed).

Mimaki had one Japanese manager of appropriate level.

Kongsberg and parent company EskoArtwork had key American managers present the entire time I was there (first two days; I had to be on airplanes the third day).

GoA + FESPA Americas was international: more than just Latin American

Whereas the Dubai Sign & Grapics Imaging expo is the first major international signage expo on the world scene each year, GoA was for sure more international this year with the addition of FESPA. So I would rate GoA+FESPA Americas as the first international sign trade show of the year. Indeed, it is essential that the date remain early in the year, and not drift back in the calendar to conflict with ISA.

In other words, a date in mid February is better than a date that encroaches into March.

Competition and suvival of sign printer expos

Five years ago all trade shows were prospering. But a combination of the Internet and economic recession resulted in trade shows declining. 2008 was a year for DRUPA so many manufacturers pulled out. 2009 was the middle of the economic crisis. Both expos were substantially less than the heyday of 2007.

SGIA had a great year in 2010 and should do well in 2011. GoA can now survive with the co-location of FESPA. ISA is strong and should also do well in 2011. As long as each expo can improve what they offer they should do okay. What will cause one or more of these expos to decline is lethargy and mistakes rather than a competing expo.

The survival of GoA is beneficial to the industry since GoA caters to the Latin American audience. Trying to make this February event into a generic sign expo is not a road to success. Being in Orlando is too close to attempting competition for ISA and SGIA: success for GoA + FESPA Americas will be in actual innovation, in real practice. This means a city other than SGIA and ISA and as much as possible new and exciting.

The main competition to SGIA is not GoA or even FESPA, but GraphExpo. If SGIA could co-locate with GraphExpo, that would be a mutually beneficial partnership.

“United we stand; divided we fall” allowed the formation of the UNITED States of America. GoA+FESPA is one form of uniting. SGIA+GraphExpo is another form of uniting. ISA has no major competitors in the Spring time and should do okay.

It would be nice if giclee, décor, or architectural decoration events could also co-locate, but that may be unrealistic. But sooner or later print shops will need to realize that signage will gradually go LED and LCD and the best hope for survival is to print things other than signage.


21

FLAAR Reports encourages and supports trade shows

Although FLAAR Reports has continued to grow during the recession, we still feel that both trade magazines and trade shows have a valid place in our industry. But too many trade shows turned into Dullsville: same old ra-ra-ra “how to sell” type lectures; same old vehicle wrap seminars (still popular, but not very innovative).

There are several simple basic mistakes that help trade shows go extinct: first and foremost is being too many days. DRUPA is an absolutely perfect example of two major mistakes actually: first, they assume since they are “DRUPA” they can do whatever they want and exibitors will put up with it. Second, DRUPA is too many days. It is a waste of money in every way, shape, and form.

Plus DRUPA makes no attempt to have hotels cease gouging and totally screwing attendees with excessive rates. The recent D-PES expo in China provided cut-rate hotel (first class, better than many US hotels) but about $40 per room per night. Plus D-PES intelligently provided VIP guests with free lodging etc. D-PES is huge international event and worth attending on its own merits (even without freebies).

All of us witnessed Seybold go from a huge international wide-format printer expo to bankruptcy (they lost their focus). We saw DPI disappear. VISCOM Madrid almost evaporated in 2008 and evidently has not recovered. VISCOM Italy held up well in 2008 and 2009 but was hit so hard in 2010 that the expo hall looked silly with the wide-aisles that tried to hide how many exhibitors did not show up. I would prefer one true hall rather than two fake halls of which 75% is 8-lane wide walkways and areas with chairs for people to rest (but whose real job is to hide how many booths are no longer being booked).

This was the first year of the hopeful trend of co-locating: Graphics of the Americas and FESPA Americas (plus the third kind of silent partner in the adjacent hall). I hope they can find giclee, fine art, and décor partners for a Miami venue.

GraphExpo tried hard but has failed to hold on to most wide-format inkjet exhibitors. Plus they lost Heidelberg (which al-lowed HP to move into their space in 2010!). I stopped going to GraphExpo after 2009 because there were too many days long and their lectures lost focus on wide-format and turned into primarily on offset printing. The sad result is that our million readers, most of whom are in North America, Central America, and South America, will no longer see any more FLAAR Reports on or about GraphExpo. We can’t write about an expo if we don’t attend.

So we hope that Graphics of the Americas + FESPA Americas can find additional partners and can avoid the problems that have caused too many other trade shows to lose attendance. I have many ideas how things can be improved, but FLAAR does not wish to get into the trade show business ourselves; we wish to support the expo organizers that already exist.

GoA and FESPA Americas Exhibitor List 2012

We look forward to having Graphics of the Americas and FESPA Americas co-located in Miami in 2012. And we look forward to an even larger exhibitor list now that people realize this exposition was successful.

The one company which had booked sales of over one million dollars by the second day is clearly the best example. But obvi-ously they were not selling desktop printers; they were selling big-ticket items. Since I was not present the third day, I don’t have their actual total sales for the full three days. I know only what they sold the first two days (well over a million dollars worth).

The companies that did not exhibit at Graphics of the Americas + FESPA Americas lost out on their share of that one million+ dollars, and there products were simply one part of the workflow.

First issued the week after the expo. Updated several times since then.

These are some of the most

Recent FLAAR Reports (2008-2010)

Introduction to UV Curable Inkjet Flatbed Printers

Most recent UV Printers

There are also even more available from 2009 (some of which are still pertinent).

This is a sample of the

FLAAR Reports on UV for 2010-2011

UV Printers Manufactured in China, Korea and Taiwan

These are some of the most

Recent FLAAR Reports (2008-2010)

Comments on UV Inkjet Printers at Major Trade Shows 2007-2009

TRENDS in 2010

Sign & Digital UK

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There are also even more available from 2009 (some of which are still pertinent).

Here are examples of the TRENDS level of

FLAAR Reports for 2010-2011

Documents

co-located with FESPA AMERICAS - FLAAR Reports fileGraphics of the Americas co-located with FESPA AMERICAS 2011 2 ... A FLAAR sign expo report is focused on wide-format inkjet printers