Graph Expo 2008   

Top questions at Graph Expo: 
Can I retrofit that? 
Can I get it used? 
Can you finance it? 
This was the show of a thousand small solutions to everyday problems. It was also a show at which major industry suppliers adopted a leadership role. They will take the management chops they've developed to redirect themselves for where our industry is headed, and apply this to consultancy (manroland printadvice, Heidelberg Business Development Audit) for printing industry customers.
In many ways, though, the show was less about grand solutions and more about granular refinements in process: Envelope feeders for variable digital printing devices (MGI, Secap, Xante, Rena), trainable offset pr...Read More

Comments (0)

"This is an unusual time," said CEO Guy Gecht as he opened EFI's Graph Expo noon press conference. "It's going to be tough times for a lot of suppliers; and tough times for a lot of printers. And it's going to change the trajectory of the printing business." 
Yet EFI took the opportunity this year to expand its Graph Expo display (Booth 2000) to 8,000 sq.ft.--in part to house a growing stable of printing industry production staples. 
"We bought more space and have our biggest booth ever," Gecht said. "We figured a lot of people would be focused on. . .finding new ways of getting revenue from existing customers." That, and entering new markets altogether, such as wide format. EFI cites IT Strategies prediction of 12% growth leading...Read More

Comments (0)

This economic downturn will set the stage for a parting of the ways for those printing firms who will make it, and those who will merge or disappear. While the presentation of industry ratios shows technology investment as the leverage point between profit leaders and laggards, what we are really seeing is that access to capital will quickly separate the wheat from the chaff. (The cycle will clock around every time payroll approachs and the line of credit limits and loan covenants kick in.)
At ...Read More

Comments (0)

Businesses around the country are living through the credit squeeze, affecting printing customers and printing and publishing operations alike. Measures addressing the issue at the Federal Reserve and among European and Asian banks will take awhile to filter through as capital availability to smaller businesses. But the concerns might reasonably generate some fears that capital investment financing will be unavailable at Graph Expo 2008.
Not so, say suppliers we've talked with, who can evaluate customers and underw...Read More

Comments (0)

The printing industry and print-based media have made it through many a financial downturn over the centuries. Our customers don't always survive, but we do. 
Tne unprecedented bank credit interventions announced yesterday already appear to be unblocking the credit jam.
Ultimately business will resume its normal course.
Such huge shifts present great opportunities. Outlining some of them for next year, TNS Media notes which areas of the advertising market will grow, and which will shrink. Two examples: Newspapers are expected to feel a 9% drop in ad revenues; direct mail a 6% rise.
Opportunities in mailing are obvious. But in newspapers, the bad news points to something we are already seeing: a massive shift as publishers reset their business models, and seek new options. A likely outcome: disposing of real e...Read More

Comments (2)

A search for "Bernanke" and "printing" turns up 618 news articles tieing the Federal Reserve bail out to currency presses running full tilt. Though printing is often viewed by the investment community as yesterday's news, it comes in handy as a metaphor for solving the woes of the global economy. Well, unlike Wall St., or Detroit, for that matter, we don't need a printing industry bail out. But we are too "big" to fail, in the very best sense of the word "big." And that's a good thing. With the turbulent economic situation as a backdrop for Graph Expo, perhaps the fires back home will be a little less frequent and distracting, and you can spend some time searching McCormick Place in Chicago for keys to the next big thing.
Printing and graphic communications firms either arrive at thi...Read More

Comments (0)

Graph Expo exhibitors are bringing machines, yes, in most cases. But a key take away from this show will be process management--optimizing workflow, materials handling, manufacturing, business and sales and customer interface processes. 
Workflow once stood in as an alternate term for prepress, but now encompasses the entire scope  managing the printing manufacturing process, starting at any point in the supply chain to any end point. Prepress suppliers from whom you expect workflow are being supplemented by new or newer names rooted in categories as varied as MIS and enterprise resource planning systems, wide format printers, finishing systems, digital printing and related software. 
And now capital equipment manufacturers are as likely to sit down with you and analyze your business practices as to spec out a printing press. M...Read More

Comments (0)

In the light of the financial turmoil facing the world economy, the printing industry remains a solid bet. Main Street, where printing businesses are principally owned and operated, will remain a bulwark of the economy.  
Banks that rely on deposits for financing small businesses in the $2 million and under range will remain reliable sources for equipment funding--comfortable with real estate and printing assets as collateral.
So Graph Expo should remain at the top of the travel plans. It will offer special interest for smaller printing businesses, as the National Assn. of Quick Printers convenes its annual Owners Conference in the two days prior to the show.
The new ...Read More

Comments (0)

Graph Expo 2008 promises to be different than others. Our industry is getting leaner, and faster. And our adoption cycles for new technology are speeding up. For companies intending to remain competitive—the only way to remain in business—this is a critical opportunity to compare, explore, and learn. Many of your favorite bloggists and writers from Graphic Arts Monthly will be in Chicago for the show Oct. 26-29 for the show.
Graphic Arts Monthly is receiving waves of news reports about what will be at the show—both from the Graph Arts Show Co., and exhibitors who are excited about their newest offerings. While Graph Expo is preceded by special interest events on labels and screen printing, this is the venue where everything is under one roof, and you can connect all the pieces.
Graph Expo will present its large...Read More

Comments (0)