PRINTING United Expo: A Look Back at Day Two

Day two of PRINTING United Expo has wrapped, and it’s been a phenomenal show thus far. The crowds here in Orlando, Florida are packing the aisles, and they are looking for new solutions to help them run their businesses better.

Enedy Brache, managing partner at A-plus Printing and Graphics in Plantation, Florida, is one of both the printers walking the floor, as well as an exhibitor, as his company produces trade work for fellow printers. He perhaps summed it up best, noting, “Just the energy, the amount of people stopping by — a lot of people are excited about printing, and the things that they are seeing at the show. I see a lot of people looking for new ways to make money and new ways to grow their business. And the show has been great for that.”

And it wasn’t just seasoned printers taking in what the Expo has to offer. Two students from Kent State University were walking the show floor, learning about the print and graphics industry and all it has to offer for the first time.
One, Trista Fox, notes, “I'm the most excited about being here learning more about printers,” and how they will benefit her fellow students and future company.

The other, Jaye Hamilton, notes, “I'm most excited to go around see what everyone has to offer, since we're just kind of starting out, lots of opportunities out there.” And they were just two of the newest (hopefully!) members of our industry, as they were joined by a number of high school students from around the greater Orlando area for Student Day at the Expo, which included a tour and a chance to talk to exhibitors about why the print industry is a fantastic career choice for their future — no matter what segment they’re interested in.

On the vendor side, enthusiasm has been high, with manufacturers of every size and shape reporting that not only has traffic been outstanding, but they are getting record numbers of leads — and qualified leads at that. Attendees at the Expo recognize that they must keep moving forward and innovate if they want to keep growing and thriving. And whether that’s deciding to invest in new equipment, software, automation, or even new AI tools that touch all of the above, the general consensus is that the excitement about all the opportunities print has to offer is higher than ever.

Elisha Kasinskas, a content marketing guru and consultant to the industry, notes that those last two, in particular, have her paying attention. She notes that she is really excited to see “AI, and all the innovations that are happening there and how people are putting it to work for them to automate their workflows."

Because everyone, from commercial printers, to wide-format providers, to apparel printers, to packaging converters have all realized one thing: automation is an increasingly essential way to compete in the modern print industry. No matter where you look at Expo this year, you see solutions designed to remove friction from the process, streamline how items move through the workflow, and eliminate repetitive tasks so employees can focus on what’s important — growing the business.

Videk’s Ethan Scott, application engineer, perhaps summed it all up best. He notes, “Automation, and the growth you need for automation, is really driving changing the market."