SGI, Sign & Graphic Imaging Middle East 2014, Dubai

Updated January 6, 2014. Originally posted Dec.4, 2013

SGI Dubai (Sign Middle East Dubai) opened Jan 7th and will run through January 9th. Nicholas Hellmuth and Pablo Martinez arrived in Dubai after two days of flights; over 11 hours delays in airports due to winter weather in USA, plus Ryan Crist, who has worked with FLAAR on international projects in the past.

In previous years we tried to cover this expo with just one person, but since SGI Dubai is the first major printer expo of the year, we really need three people.

Sign & Graphic Imaging Middle East 2014 is the largest printer trade show in this part of the world. SGI Middle East really covers the entire Middle East (in part because Dubai is such a popular travel destination for shopping).

Lots and lots of Chinese branded printers; more than any other expo outside of China, and many many brands of Chinese media, but almost no booths of Chinese ink manufacturers; whatever Chinese ink may be present is mostly rebranded with local names.

FLAAR will make a list of every UV-cured printer, every textile printer, each T-shirt printer, all solvent printer brands, any water-based, plus latex (which most ink chemists consider very different from true water-based).

SGI, Sign Middle East, Dubai, is capably organized by International Expo Consults, associated with Falak Holding.

Their web site is www.SignMiddleEast.com

FESPA Digital 2014 in Munich

Updated May 27, First posted May 9, 2014

Four of us from FLAAR Reports attended FESPA 2014 to experience all the new launches, to communicate with many colleagues, and to let our over half million readers around the world learn more about this main FESPA printer event in Europe.

FESPA 2015 will be in historical German city of Cologne, a great place to visit. We recommend FESPA in western Europe, and are considering possibly to visit FESPA Mexico 2014 (since Guatemala is very close).

Now that FESPA Digital is over, five of us are preparing to spend an entire week at APPPEXPO 2014 in Shanghai.

Although the July expo is four days, we arrive in Shanghai two days in advance since we are the international consultants for this growing printer, signage, and also traditional advertising expo.

There are roughly 200% to 300% more models of UV-cured and eco-solvent printers at APPPEXPO than any other expo in the world (about 400% more brands than at DRUPA!).

To order by PayPal or credit card, write This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and indicate which inkjet topics from FESPA you wish to obtain from FLAAR Reports.

ISA Sign Expo 2014, in Orlando, April 24-26

Updated April 2014, First posted December 13, 2014

Sign Expo 2014, also known as ISA, was in friendly Orlando, Florida, which is easy to reach from anywhere and everywhere in the world.

We attended to this great event, since ISA is a significant expo for learning the trends, and it is precisely the trends in inks, printers, printheads, media, cutters, laminators and coaters that FLAAR researches.

We also provided consulting for print shop owners, managers, printer operators; we provided consulting for distributors from other countries who come to ISA to figure out what products are reliable. Plus clients came to us to ask what printers, inks, or materials their companies should consider (especially for industrial products and especially for atypical materials).

We enjoyed ISA 2014, and we hope you saw us at our booth #3011.

ISA 2014 was in Orlando, a great place also to bring your family or your travel companion, since there is lots of family style entertainment here.

www.SignExpo.org is their web site, definitely worth visiting.

Consider SGIA printer & signage expo this autumn

Updated Oct 2, 2013. Posted April 10, 2013

The exhibitor list for SGIA 2013 in Orlando is anticipated to be a good selection of all aspects of the wide-format inkjet printer work flow. Plus SGIA still has screen printing, especially for T-shirts.

The FLAAR team looks forward to seeing you there in Orlando.

We will also be at Sign Istanbul in Turkey later this year.

Graphics of the Americas printer expo is back in Miami

Posted Feb. 11, 2014

Two of us from FLAAR where again at the GOA in Florida. We have attended almost every year for a decade.

Miami is a better city for bi-lingual, Spanish-English. We hope you saw us at Graphics of the Americas. We stayed all there all three days in late February (27 Feb through March 1st)

SignAfrica printer expo reports in preparation.

Updated Oct. 2, 2 013. previously edition August 20, 2013. First posted July 25, 2013

FLAAR has assisted at SignAfrica for many many years. We also write articles for PracticalPublishing, the leading trade magazine of this part of the world.

We enjoy the hospitality of the distributors, print shop owners, and expo organizers here in Johannesburg. The day before the expo opened we did another site-visit case study in a major printing company: over a dozen grand-format printers. We inspected their new 5-meter roll-to-roll UV-cured printer.

August 21-23, I was in the expo center to be taking notes on inks, media, cutters, coaters, printers, and the entire workflow of wide-format inkjet printing. Plus we are gradually moving into covering LED signage as well, though clearly our main priority is inkjet printers and applications.

FLAAR arrived in South Africa already two days before the expo opened, and stayed the entire three days of the expo.

We recommend SignAfrica, so hope to see you here in 2013. Next year this will be branded as FESPA Africa, so more reasons to attend (as an attendee) or exhibit (if you are a manufacturer or distributor).

APPPEXPO 2013, more international than every before

Updated July 25, 2013. Originally posted July 10, 2013

More major international brands of UV-cured printers are at APPPEXPO which was successfully held in Shanghai: Durst, Inca and Swissqprint, joined EFI Vutek, HP and brands already present.

Mimaki, Mutoh, Epson, Roland are present for eco-solvent. Plus a relatively new brand from Korea has a strong presence with four new models. This brand has never shown at this size in any expo in USA, Europe, or UK.

Five of us from FLAAR Reports flew to Shanghai already two days before the expo opened. We will be issuing lists of every textile ink, every textile printer, every UV cured printer (found 24 brands of Chinese printers alone, with a dozen brands from other countries). Plus a list of all after-market inks, all media and substrates. Back with more information when our reports are issued during August.

FLAAR Reports for Shanghai sign & Printer expo in July

Updated July 25, 2013. Originally posted May 9, 2013

We have posted a new series of FLAAR Reports on "what to expect at Shanghai APPPEXPO 2013 in July."

Below are front covers of these reports. During August these reports will be updated and replaced with additional information from the 2013 event in Shanghai.

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FLAAR attended the last days of China glass expo

Updated July 25, 2013. Originally posted May 3, 2013

FLAAR Reports covers glass printing technology and inks around the world. We visited the China glass expo in Beijing, flying there from PacPrint and Visual Impact in Australia.

If you wish to Subscribe to the wide-format inkjet printing on glass TRENDs report which Hellmuth will research and publish, please contact FrontDesk "at" FLAAR.org.