24 email: news@printmonthly.co.uk November / December 2024 - Issue 351 New innovations showcased at American exhibtions A range of printing focused trade shows have announced success this year, including PRINTING United and Labelexpo Americas. The events, which all took place in September, have reported increases in attendee numbers, strong sales, and positive feedback from exhibitors across the board. PRINTING United Expo 2024, which took place from September 10th to 12th, announced positive sales and feedback from a range of its exhibitors. Muller Martini presented the North American premiere of its new Hunkeler Starbook Sheetfolder, presented in line with its Vareo PRO binder. The company reported strong interest and a high quality of discussions. Andy Fetherman, president and chief executive officer of Muller Martini, said: “The positive response from visitors at our booth shows that we are on the right track to drive digital transformation in the printing industry.” Printing solutions provider, Graphco, also announced strong success at the Las Vegas trade show. The event reportedly generated significant sales for Graphco, as well as strong interest for its range of printing equipment. “The response at PRINTING United was nothing short of remarkable,” commented Chris Manley, president of Graphco. The event also included solutions from Inkcups, a supplier and manufacturer of digital equipment including pad printing equipment and laser platemakers. PRINTING United 2024 marked the global debut of Inkcups’ award-winning Nano Pin Curing technology. The technology enables printing on transparent cylindrical vessels such as Tritan containers, wine and spirit bottles, candle holders, and assorted glassware without the need to fill the vessel with a UV-blocking substance. Technology company Sharp announced several products at the show includings its new six-colour digital press, the BP-1200S. Launched in April, the press boasts speeds of up to 120ppm, with an expanded colour gamut including CMYK, gold, silver, and bright pink, as well as the ability to print up to six colours in one pass. In addition, Sharp presented its monochrome digital presses, launched in May. The 125ppm BP-1250M and 136ppm BP-1360M are powered by a Fiery NX One Print Server and include real-time image quality adjustments, with an output resolution of 2,400 x 2,400dpi. Another event that declared increased numbers was Labelexpo Americas 2024, which also took place from September 10th to 12th in Rosemont, Illinois. According to the organisers, a total of 12,215 attendees attended the three-day show. Attendees came from 73 countries and overall international attendance increased by 33% from the last edition. Labelexpo announced further attendee increases across the board, with more converters and almost double the number of brand owners and designers in attendance. The three-day event included a market debut from digital printing solutions company, Nilpeter. The company showcased its new flexible packaging and labels machine, the mid-web FA-26, which has now officially launched in the North American market. Digital imaging systems company, Durst Group, also showcased a range of solutions at this year’s Labelexpo. Returning to the exhibition for a second time was the Durst Tau RSCi. The inkjet label printer, designed for both short- and long-run jobs, prints at 1200 x 1200dpi with up to 95% pantone coverage. UV LED manufacturer GEW, a UK company with a subsidiary in the USA, introduced two new products at Labelexpo. AeroLED2 was launched as a successor to GEW’s air-cooled AeroLED UV curing system. The AeroLED2 is reported to deliver an increased power level when compared to the original AeroLED model, allowing for faster printing across more applications. Also introduced was the LeoLED2, a successor to the first LeoLED. It introduces two power level options to its water-cooled system. The regular power option offers modest gains over the original LeoLED, while maintaining backward compatibility. The high-power option, however, is said to bring sizeable increases in UV irradiance and dose over its predecessor. Overall, it is clear to see from the success of Labelexpo and PRINTING United that the US continues to grow as a hub for print innovation, especially following PRINTING United’s announced collaboration with drupa earlier in the year. [Above] PRINTING United featured over 800 exhibitors and included a number of product debuts. [Below] Labelexpo is the largest dedicated label and packaging print event in the Americas EVENTS/ NEWS By Jonathan Pert
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjM0NDIxOA==