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Wide-Format Inkjet Printers,Inks, Media, & Flatbed Cuttersin AustraliaPrintEx 11Visual Impact Image Expo (VIIE)May 2011, Sydney

IIIWide-Format Inkjet Printers, Inks, Media, & Flatbed Cutters in Australia

PrintEx 11 · Visual Impact Image Expo (VIIE)

Every year the FLAAR Reports extends its coverage around the world. Last year we added coverage of Reklama Moscow and Abu Dhabi. This year we added coverage of Graphispag (Barcelona), Brazil, and Australia.

This event in Australia was a co-located concept: two different trade show organizations. The idea is very simple. Events such as VISCOM Spain are shrinking; VISCOM Italy collapsed over 30% last year (VISCOM Spain collapsed over 70% about 2008). The only way to help these sign expos to recuparate is to have several shows coopeate and pool their resources.

It would also help if the expos would become more realistic: offer more than just a booth and old-fashioned lectures; but that is not happening very often. So at least it helps if two expos (that are shrinking on their own) can survive by joining together.

It is a good idea to co-locate printer-related expos in the same hall. It is essential (as here in Sydney) that they are really in the same hall. Merely being at the same expo center is not enough. At Graphics of the Americas+FESPA

Americas there was a third expo that was in a separate hall. I never had time to get there and the fact it had a wall separating it made it not very inviting. At ISA there was IRGA also in a separate hall (they might as well have been ten miles away).

When co-located they should be physically connected. And NEVER separated by a wall.

Quiet is the word I would use to describe the two expo in Sydney. This does not mean the expos are empty: just that people are quiet here.

here are evidently 20 million people in the country of Australia. For Turkey, there are probably that many in Istanbul alone. Same with many Chinese cities: probably 20 million people in Shanghai alone. Nonetheless, there were four halls here in Sydney and plenty to see. I would estimate, however, that the majority of people were from Australia. I did not see that many foreigners.

There was no Press Pass category, and no Press Room. This suggests not many (or any) Press come from other countries. It would help if a Press Pass were available and if Press had access to exhibitor lounge (as is the case at VISCOM).

We are issuing this report on 2011 to prepare for visual impact 2013, which now is co-located with pacprint 2013 (late May, this time in Melbourne).

Introduction

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21Wide-Format Inkjet Printers, Inks, Media, & Flatbed Cutters in Australia


Coordinate the catalog: cross-reference the two expos. You had to search through two totally separate indices to find out who was present.

Make sure everyone is in the catalog. Last minute slide-in page additions are not adequate. This is an issue with expos all around the world.

Suggested improvements for next year

Entrance to Printex 11

VIIE Floor Plan



More color management than any printer expo anywhere else in the world. I realize a lot of the color management was oriented to offset and other kinds of printing besides digital, but it was nice to see color management.

More estimating and comparable workflow software than any wide-format expo. Again, this is probably because this is a combined show: offset, office printers, and wide-format. One software booth that I visited was KIM.

Almost total lack of printers made in China. I comment on this more in later sections.

General comments on the sign printer expo

Wasatch RIP in Budde International booth

Cielab boothKIM Software booth



UV-cured printersAgfa GraphicsAgfa :Jeti 1224, Ricoh Gen 4 printheads, 4-24 picoliters

Agfa :Anapurna M1600, CMYK + W

DurstDurst Rho 800HS in booth of pes

Efi RastekEfi Rastek 650 in booth of DES

If I remember correctly there may have been another Rastek printer in the booth of imedia.

AGFA :Jeti 1224

Efi Rastek in imedia boothAGFA :Anapurna M1600



FujifilmFujifilm Advance HS (rebranded Oce)

HP GraphicsHP Scitex FB500 in booth of CPI Graphics and one or two other booths

JetrixA Jetrix UV-cured dedicated flatbedprinter was featured in the booth of anitech.

MimakiMimaki UJV-160 with no tables

Mimaki JFX-1631, no plus on the front since it was retrofitted

Mimaki UJF-3042

I remember one other Mimaki UV printerMimaki JFX-1631

Mimaki UJV-160 Mimaki UJF-3042 Mimaki UJF-706



OceOce Arizona 550

Also one Oce flatbed in the booth of Fujifilm, rebranded and painted the Fujifilm colors.

RolandThree Roland wide-format printers in their Roland booth, plus one Roland LEF-12 desktop UV-LED inkjet printer

Roland LEC-330 in booth of DES

Roland LEC-330 in booth of Kayell and elsewhere

Roland printers in Imagine booth

Oce Arizona 550 Roland Versa UV LEC-300A



SunSun had their Russian staff on duty with the small version of their combo (transport belt) LED-curing printer. Their previous distributor is evidently no longer a distributor.

TeckwinTeckwin TS300 dedicated flatbed

VUTEkVUTEk QS3220, in booth of iMedia

VUTEk GS3200, in booth of DES

If the printer is a combo flatbed (with moving transport belt), be sure that it has an adequate

system for handling roll-fed material.

Conspicuous by their absence

Screen had a booth, and a digital printer, but no wide-format UV-cured printer whatsoever.

Chinese UV-cured printers

One lone Teckwin UV-cured printer. No other Chinese-made printers.

Chinese solvent printers

ZERO Chinese solvent printers. Zilch; none. I know Chinese printers are sold in Australia, so it was kind of strange to not see one on display.

VUTEk GS3200 in booth of imedia Sun Innovations booth

Teckwin TS300 UV flatbed printer



Solvent printersRoland was clearly the leader in eco-solvent printers. Roland was far far ahead of any other brand.

Mimaki had a presence, but definitely not as many distributors as Roland.

Mutoh had lots of banners having over their booth area.

Seiko had a good distributor, anitech, and was visible.

Mutoh Valuejet

Mimaki JV 260

Roland solvent printers: Soljet ProIII XJ-840 and Soljet PRo III XC-540MT Seiko ColorPainter W-64s



Flatbed CuttersKongsberg had a nice booth with an i-XP cutter at work.

Multicam had a large booth but I did not notice their digital cutter: only traditional CNC routers.

Aristo was in booth of Converta Machinery

There was one Zund cutter in the Oce booth.

On the second day of the expo I did a customer site-visit of Severn Graphics; they had a Kongsberg i-XL24 and were content with it. They also had a Jetrix UV-cured flatbed and were happy with this also.

Textile printersZero AquaJet; AquaJet was also conspicuously missing from ISA sign expo in America the week before.

Several booths with dye sub at small size: T-shirts and household or office objects. Nova Sublimation Australia was such an example.

Mutoh had two printers doing textiles; one was a dye-sub machine.

One Roland was using pigmented ink for cotton (distributor; not in Roland booth).

d-gen had a Teleios on display; the model that is just the printer (without the large unit in front).

I did not notice any Mimaki specifically dedicated to textile printing but one could have been present. I did not see any 3.2 meter Mimaki printer, only their 2.x meter model.

booth of dgen

Zund cutter in Océ booth



Inkjet Media, Substrates, Printable Materials

Hardly any Chinese booths (only about two or three: at ISA there are dozens and dozens and dozens).

Only one or two booths of after-market inksInks

Chief Media booth

Textile media in Dongyi booth Sign Sheet Distributors booth Shann Australia booth

HVG Safari media Ricky Richards Solvent, dye-sublimation and Aqueous media booth



Trade magazinesImage Magazine is the magazine of one of the show organizers.

Visual Impact Magazine is the magazine of one of the organizers.

Image Magazine

Visual Impact Magazine



The reason there are no FLAAR Reports on Memjet is because there is no evidence (so far) this is a serious manufacturer. So far they appear to be simply collecting patents, and to earn their money by selling access to patents.

I have not seen any evidence that Mems printheads function adequately outside a lab. Spectra MEMS heads were not functional outside a lab. Even HP Scitex MEMS heads had endless problems. Thus I am not surprised that no actual printer really uses MEMS heads (other than a 3 inch-wide label printer!).

HP Scitex FB7500 uses MEMS heads but has to constantly replace them (which takes 45 minutes downtime per head).

I could not help but notice that there was no Memjet booth; and the only Memjet printer has about 3 or 4 inches wide. Barely even narrow format. This printer, Rapid label systems, is evidently made by Impression Technology.

I hope the Memjet printhead technology actually functions (out in the real world, in a real printshop, outside R&D labs) in the future, but so far it appears to be primarily a patent collecting concept. It is always nice to have disruptive technology. But end-users need an actual printer that really functions (without needing to change printheads constantly).

Obviously, if a wide-format version becomes reality it will perhaps wake up traditional printhead manufacturers (Epson, Ricoh, etc) that only by lowering their prices can they compete with Memjet.

But as long as there is no reality check, Memjet is primarily a PR dream. It reminds me of Foveon camera sensors: ten tons of PR releases, lots of patents; and then nothing that was adequate. The Sigma is the only major camera brand that uses Foveon sensors and the Sigma camera offers nothing special to serious compete with Nikon or Canon. Hasselblad was lured by all the PR promises at the start (years ago), but Hasselblad was wise enough to recognize that Foveon was only smoke-and-mirrors.

If Memjet really works, they need to have a Memjet booth at FESPA and also DRUPA and convince people that the printers function outside a clean-room in an R&D lab. I would want to see a Memjet printer in a real work environment: with all the dust and temperature changes. And see how long the printheads hold up without banding artifacts. It would be nice if Memjet works, but I am nowhere near convinced during the last three years.

VenueThe expo center is modern, and in the city (in other words, not at the airport, for example). The expo center is modern and has an appropriately high ceiling.

I did not stay in a hotel so can’t comment on hotel pricing but I was told hotels were about $200 a night during expo week.

Not all booths are photographedI do not have photographs of all the booths because I was at the expo by myself. Normally we fly two or more staff to a sign expo: one is a full-time photographer. Since obviously Australia is rather far away, and airfare is correspondingly high, it is not realistic to fly so many people to Sydney. So we have only photos of most distributors in Halls 3 and 4; and not many photos of distributors in Halls 2 and 1.

Since FLAAR does not sell photographs that we take at an expo, we often do not fly in a separate photographer unless it is an international expo.

Memjet

Hotel near the expo center

Documents

Wide-Format Inkjet Printers, Inks, Media, & Flatbed ...flaar-reports.org/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce...One software booth that I visited was KIM. Almost total lack of printers made