GRAPH EXPO 15 Will Be a Tasty Appetizer

As we approach GRAPH EXPO 15 and CPP EXPO in Chicago next month, digital production printing will take center stage. Canon USA will tout the new Océ VarioPrint i300 cut-sheet inkjet printer, Xerox will feature its iGen 5 150 press with a fifth imaging station and HP will promote the HP Indigo 7800 digital press, among digital press offerings from other exhibitors. Wide-format inkjet printers will also dominate—with devices from EFI, Epson, PriscoDigital, Roland DGA, Mutoh America and other suppliers on display.

However, we’re likely still a year away from what will open the floodgates in terms of new digital press offerings, especially B2-format, cut-sheet inkjet models. The reason: GRAPH EXPO 16, which will relocate to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, for a one-year commitment Sept. 25-28, 2016, will fall on the heels of drupa 2016, which is slated for May 31-June 10, in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since a relatively small number of American printers are able to sojourn to drupa, GRAPH EXPO 16 should serve as the first U.S. trade show event for American printers to check out some of the inkjet presses that will be making their worldwide premieres at drupa.

With that said, this year’s GRAPH EXPO event will showcase several new show floor attractions, making the trip to Chicago well worth your time. Aside from around 50 co-located events—as well as three other trade shows that will be held in nearby halls, including a two-day overlap with Process Expo—an “Industrial Printing Pavilion” will focus on 3D, industrial and decorative printing applications. Also on tap are “Application Island,” a “Materials Matter” booth featuring multiple substrate manufacturers, and an “Education Main Street” comprising colleges and universities that offer industry-related degrees and programs.

Throw in hybrid workflow, MIS and Web-to-print software and a plethora of digital finishing equipment—sprinkled with LED UV curing advances for the offset printing crowd—and GRAPH EXPO 15 and CPP EXPO will serve up a pleasing “appetizer” course for those seeking current recipes for success and will further whet the appetite for an eclectic menu of “main course” inkjet printing innovations that still loom on the horizon for 2016.