Print 01: Big event, jolted by national tragedy, is judged a success

The eyes of many industry watchers worldwide were on the Print 01 exposition in early September as they tried to gauge the immediate and longer-term effects of the national economic slowdown on visitor turnout, exhibitor sales levels, and consumer confidence within the printing industry.

Attendance, while it didn't approach early projections, was judged "good" by the show's producer, the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), which estimated that total attendance reached 66,300.

By now, most people know that the show was jolted by the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., which occurred on the sixth day of the eight-day show (more on page 49).

National air travel, and thus some amount of visitor traffic in and out of Chicago, was stopped for several days, plus the extent of the human tragedy all but crowded out interest in the show for most people, visitors and vendors alike.

Exhibitors and McCormick Place personnel held a memorial service the day after Print 01 closed, and GASC announced a donation to firemen's and policemen's funds in the name of show exhibitors.

Nonetheless, the show's biggest exhibitor, Heidelberg, reported that its show sales exceeded $345 million, more than half tied to its sheetfed segment. Counting "respectable" sales among other heavy equipment exhibitors, along with an estimated $100 million in prepress systems sales plus another $100 million in consumables contracts, the show sales total certainly can be expected to soar well above a half-billion dollars.

MAN Roland, citing equipment orders of more than $20 million in the first two days, reported sales in all major product areas, plus it compiled more than 2,000 qualified sales leads. The company staged the U.S. debut of its DicoWeb plateless color press and announced its first sale, to Bentley Graphic Communications, Pottstown, Pa.

Komori America, which showed its Project D sheetfed press for the first time as a six-color system, announced the first buyer, Quebecor World MIL Inc. of Canada.

Xerox Corporation reported show sales of $27 million; Creo-Scitex, which noted that its products also appeared in 17 other vendor booths, booked $24 million in signed orders; and Pitman Company anticipated show revenue of $20 million.

For many companies, such as General Binding Corporation (GBC), Indigo, and Presstek, sales exceeded expectations, and Agfa reported selling $1 million in prepress equipment shown in its booth within three days.

Interviews with countless attendees (conducted by GAM editors in the preparation of the Official Print 01 Show Daily newspaper) bore out higher-than-expected levels of buying interest. In general, visitors tended to be higher-level decisionmakers, and, while far fewer representatives were on hand from individual printing companies—which had a direct impact on total turnout—they stayed for a far shorter period of time than in the past.

Just about every exhibitor reported that they worked harder than ever to "qualify" attendees before appointments at their booths, so that they needed to rely less on walk-by traffic.

Exhibitors also said visitors were more prepared for equipment demonstrations and financial negotiations than at any time in the past. Said one exhibitor's representative, "They'd done the research and knew what they were looking for. Many more visitors were here to make a buying decision, not just to shop."

At the same time, printers' confidence levels were fairly high, if high levels of interest are an accurate indication. In other words, visitors who weren't actually buying equipment sounded as if they would be serious prospects in the near future. One conclusion: many apparently believed that investments in higher productivity and better quality were their best means of staying competitive in a challenging industry.

Other printers said they had invested heavily in new technology over the past few years and now planned to defer major purchases for another year or so, but they were serious about keeping up with industry trends.

A surprising number of visitors interviewed said that their business was up, often by double digits, although a few reported a strong first half but a weakening second half. Nonetheless, nearly all visitors reported a business pickup in August and early September.

Print 01, the year's biggest international graphic arts trade show, presented the displays of nearly 900 exhibiting companies, which filled about 850,000 net square feet of space on three floors at McCormick Place.

Registration and attendance levels at three general sessions, three brunch presentations on critical current topics, and almost 100 educational seminars were called "respectable," even for sessions held late in the show.

On the other hand, student turnout for the traditional Career Day, which took place over the show's final two days, suffered when school officials canceled field trips. Originally, the events were expected to attract about 1,000 students, but fewer than 300 were able to attend.

Heidelberg gave an equipment boost to education when it announced the donation of a six-unit gapless Sunday 2000 web press, valued at about $8 million, to the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology, where it will be installed in a new building by next fall.

At a conference for graphic arts teachers, a new mentoring program linked expo veterans with first-time showgoers to maximize their experience.

Vendors held events for customers, dealers, and partners. The National Association for Printing Leadership staged its annual Soderstrom Society dinner and awards ceremony, and the Printing Industries of America held its Premier Print Awards program.

For the past year, show organizers had promoted attendance at Print 01 by visitors from around the world, and attendees—as many as 5,000 or more—were expected from about 125 nations. Special international days focused on Asia Pacific, Latin America, Canada, Europe and the newly independent states, and the Middle East and Africa.

More than 20 formal delegations from overseas visited the show, including first-ever delegations from Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

"Must See 'ems," a listing and brief description of Print 01 booths and products judged particularly intriguing or compelling for visitors, was prepared by an expert panel for presentation at the show (for a sampling, turn to page 64; for a complete "Must See 'ems" listing, log on to eshowdaily.com, where much additional show coverage appears).

Also, a day-long Executive Outlook session, described as a trend-spotting program for company owners and senior managers, drew more than 200 people.

At the show, a "battle of the titans" involving variable-imaging digital color production presses using dry ink pitted Heidelberg and its NexPress 2100 against Xerox Corporation and its DocuColor iGen3 (a system previously code-named FutureColor).

By the end of the show, Heidelberg reported sales of 70 NexPress systems (equivalent to about $24.5 million), for delivery after mid-2002; Xerox held that it was unveiling its system but not yet presenting it for commercial sales (availability is to take place in second-half 2002).

Two surprise announcements at the show (see News, pages 28-29): Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of Indigo N.V. and the merger of Barco Graphics and Purup-Eskofot, whose combined billings of $227 million are said to represent the broadest computer-to-plate offering in the world.

Generally speaking, many of the product announcements made at Print 01 were in the areas of CTP platesetters; workflow products and turnkey prepress production systems; remote and digital ink-jet color proofing; sheetfed presses, automation, and perfecting, especially in the 28" category but also in the 40" format; and dry-ink and toner-type digital imaging.

Also, announcements were forthcoming involving UV coating and curing on sheetfed presses; hybrid ink systems; on-press and DI (direct imaging) plate production; and on-demand bindery solutions.

Accessories for presses and bindery machines also were evident, including web register controls and guiding systems, and cleaning and static control items.

To a far lesser extent, e-commerce solutions appeared in exhibitors' booths. Those that did mainly involved business information systems, production services for printers and their clients or vendors and their customers.

Product coverage, much of which appears on the Web site, eshowdaily.com, will continue in future issues of GAM.

The next international Print show will be held September 8-15, 2005, at McCormick Place.