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Printer expos such as SGI Dubai, Sign Africa, D-PES in China:
Trade shows around the world for 201

This page is a list of all the trade shows we visited in 2011, so you can use it as a guide to begin considering which printer expos you may wish to attend in 2012.

Sign & Graphics Imaging, Dubai 2012

SGI, Dubai, is the first major expo of year 2012, 31 January through 2 February.

Their web site is SignMiddleEast.com, but the expo itself is best known as Sign & Graphics Imaging, SGI, Dubai.

I have attended year after year.  Why fly all the way to Dubai?

Because if you want to be ahead of the crowd, can you afford to wait until FESPA or until DRUPA?

In summary, the 15th Annual Sign & Graphic Imaging Middle East (SGI Dubai) is worth attending in order to get ahead of your competitors. Also Dubai is a friendly country: you can bring your whole family here. Frequent flights put the Dubai airport within reach of anywhere else in the world.

If you wish to make an appointment to meet Dr Hellmuth in Dubai, please contact FrontDesk “at” FLAAR.org by e-mail to obtain the consulting fee info. We can provide assistance before, during, and after the Dubai expo (and for any and all other printer trade shows during 2012).

Graphics of the Americas, 2012

I have enjoyed attending Graphics of the Americas for many years, and I will attend all three days, March 1st through third, 2012. Plus, for their 2012 expo I will again be presenting a lecture.

New Technologies in Wide Format Printing – Dr Nicholas Hellmuth

Learn about trends and innovations in wide format inkjet that will become available in Spring and Summer 2012. These will include new ink recipes, faster UV-cured flatbed printers, innovative textile inks, innovations in true eco-friendly substrates, and faster inkjet print heads.

For example, what is MEMJET at wide format size and how will MEMJET page array technology impact your business and your opportunities in 2012 and beyond.

The seminar will present the following questions:

• What UV Curable Printer brands and models will be new?
• What Textile Printers innovations can we expect?
• What advances have been made in print heads, including (but not limited to) those implemented in MEMJET?
• What about eco solvents? Will other inks cause eco-solvents to be less popular?
• Who else will be offering latex-like ink, and for Epson printheads?

You will learn:

• Practical knowledge on current technology that will help you maximize productivity.
• New printing technology on the horizon.

This session is for print shop owners, print shop managers and printer operators, as well as students who wish to learn about wide-format printing.

For 2012 Graphics of the Americas is back in Miami. I much prefer Miami over Orlando.

D-PES, China Sign 2012

D-PES was in Dongguan the last two years. In 2012 the D-PES will be in Guangzhou, the same week as the competing expo.

Since we have abundant experience in China, working with Chinese ink, media, and printer manufacturers, and attending all the key Chinese printer expos, we can provide helpful tips, suggestions and knowledge about which expos you (as a printshop owner or manager, or you as a distributor, or you as a manufacturer) should know about.

You do not want to waste your time (and airplane cost) flying to the wrong expo in China!

Contact us, FrontDesk “at” FLAAR.org to learn about the services available, to you, in-person with FLAAR to guide you through the maze of Chinese printer expos.

We go to D-PES every year, and four of us from FLAAR will be at this expo in mid-February.

Sign China, Guangzhou

There are two expos in the same city, the same week: both cover printers, inkjet ink, media, substrates, CO2 laser engravers, cutters, etc.

What is the difference between Sign China (the second one), and China Sign (D-PES)?

We can help you because FLAAR attends both, each and every year.

Graphispag, 22-26 March, 2011

Yet their web site lists zilch for their next show. Absolutely NOTHING.

Yes, I realize that Graphispag is not annual, but even DRUPA writes about their next expo four years in advance.

Since Graphispag itself has zero content on their web page (other than for last year) this suggests they are not to be taken very seriously. Plus, they don’t have an expo in 2012 anyway, so we can blissfully skip them (after all FESPA will be in Barcelona in 2012, so that is plenty).

Sign & Digital UK

I enjoyed visiting Sign & Digital UK in 2010, and for 2011 sent Silvia Herrera there. Silvia is one of our two Technical Writers stationed in Europe (yes, we are expanding worldwide; we will have four of us stationed in China for five weeks later this year).

I went to IPEX many years ago, but, like Graph Expo, IPEX is mainly offset and office copiers (and today narrow format digital presses, both inkjet and toner). So I find that Sign & Digital UK is more of a wide-format showcase, and definitely more inkjet media, inks, etc.

ISA Sign Expo

I enjoyed being on an ISA sub-committee last year (2011) and I have a better idea of the organization that stands behind this expo. FLAAR provides diverse services to trade show organizers, including providing pre-show and post-expo FLAAR Reports to our increasing multitude of readers.

Another service we provided to ISA was one we copyrighted, a special kind of map to show attendees where each kind of printer is located at the expo. FLAAR had experimented with this service with SGI in Dubai 2011 and we rolled it out in more detail at ISA in 2011. This is a detailed and specialized “what to see” exhibitor list that goes far beyond the traditional categories pages inside the official printed catalogs. Those old-fashioned style pages list too many confusing categories, and most is simply padding by the exhibitors.

FLAAR, in its popular independent manner, cuts through the hype and lists precisely which booths show which printers. These FLAAR Reports are handouts at the expo, or available on-line.

How will FESPA Digital 2012 Barcelona compare with
FESPA Digital Hamburg 2011?

There was already a comprehensive FLAAR list of all inks and a FLAAR list of all media and substrates the day before FESPA Digital Hamburg 2011 opened. We wish to help make visitor experience improve by means of offering different concepts rather than the traditional official exhibitor catalog (since most exhibitors list too many products). Instead, we mention only the booths which really have the pertinent products.

It does not help the attendee to an expo if the back pages of the exhibitor catalog list all the categories that the exhibitor has back in their home office. We prefer only to list what is physically in the actual booth.

Print shop owners and managers tell us they really appreciate this new style of exhibitor list. We do not whatsoever intend to replace the official list, but we do wish to provide services so that more people feel that an expo was worth their time and airplane flight to get to the venue. We copyrighted this concept, since no one else in the world had tried this for a printer expo (that we are aware of).

Plus we also cover all flatbed cutters.

FESPA Digital has been the most successful printer exposition in the world; their halls have been sold-out for months. All other sign expos in Europe have shrunk; the Milano expo collapsed over 30% last year (2010). But FESPA is growing. We hope all printer trade shows recover, but clearly FESPA Digital 2011 Hamburg was the place to be. Indeed we flew SIX of us to FESPA.

2012 is a “DRUPA Year” and FESPA intelligently moved up the date of their expo to mid-February. Unfortunately this is precisely the same week as the two biggest print expos in China. These expos attract thousands of Latin American, North American, Middle East, African, and European clients: both printshop owners and especially distributors.

The clash of dates weakens the situation because if you are a distributor the Chinese expos are absolutely essential.

If you are clever you can juggle the international date line, and get to all three expos one after the other (as we at FLAAR will do).

FESPA 2013 will be back at the normal summer date, in London. Will be interesting to see how a non-European locus functions.

Textile printers, after-market inks, media expo in Shanghai, APPPEXPO, every July in China.

Every year in Shanghai there is a monumental expo on wide-format printers (five to six halls), with three or more exhibition halls on LED and LCD signage too. In 2011 it was 13 halls !

We are not yet writing evaluations of LED and LCD digital signage, but we are interested, and as soon as we have manufacturers who bring us to their companies we will begin evaluating dynamic digital signage. But in the meantime we are focused on wide-format textile printers, printable fabrics, after-market inks, and media, substrates, and printable materials.

We are also preparing a new FLAAR Report on Chinese-made printers with Epson DX5 and DX6 printheads. We found a new brand of these printers (for water-based inks) that has a good reputation.

For all APPPEXPO Shanghai 2011 reports, we needed time to process the over 847 photographs that we took during our week in Shanghai. But now all reports are available from 2011, to prepare you for the APPPEXPO Shanghai exhibitor list for 2012.

Textile wide-format printers and dye sublimation inks at huge Brazil expo

The FutureTEXTIL (sic) expo is co-located with SIGN 2011 (meaning wide-format inkjet printing) and combined with Serigrafia to result in the largest wide-format and textile expo in the entire Americas. Yes, sorry folks, more visitors, more enthusiasm, and more sign shop owners, managers, and printer operators than any single signage or print expo anywhere in Mexico, USA, or Canada.

We came out of curiosity: what we found exceeded our expectations (especially for dye-sublimation). Yes, if you want production textile printers at one ton per machine, you need to go to ITMA; if you want the leading several Italian textile printer manufacturers you need to go to FESPA Digital or VISCOM Italy. But if you need dye-sublimation there is plenty to see at FutureTEXTIL+SIGN+Serigrafia 2012. We saw the key textile-dedicated companies: Digi-Fab from USA and I met many new companies such as Dr Ink (in Havir booth).

WOW, plenty to see here (not to mention Brazil is a friendly country; the restaurants are worth the visit by themselves; and there is enough eye-candy in every booth and every aisle that if that’s what you need in life Brazil sure is a great place.

I came here for printers, inks, media, cutters, and to learn about the distribution system for introducing international products in Brazil. But you would have to be blind to not notice the attractive and pleasant booth hostesses in every booth.

We also had the opportunity to visit a printshop using Sam Ink in Sau Paulo, so we could update our report on this popular after-market ink.

Sign Africa, Johannesburg

FLAAR attends Sign Africa each and every year. Nicholas presents lectures and interacts with all the major distributors here in South Africa.

Sign Africa is the premier inkjet and office copier printer expo on the continent, and is held in August (in this part of the world, the temperatures are pleasant in August).

Since FLAAR is dedicated to assisting printer expo organizers, we enjoy working with Dyelan Copeland and Charnia Yapp each year. We look forward to being back in Joburg to enjoy the exhibitor list for Sign Africa 2012, 22-24 August.

FLAAR also contributes, all year, to the leading trade magazine of southern Africa, Practical Publishing.

Graph Expo, 2012, Chicago

The major FLAAR publication from 2011, in the TRENDs, discusses whether MEMJET is a functional printhead technology in reprographic applications. 90% of the postings on the Internet suggest that this MEMS page-array concept is just a PR hype like Foveon (a digital sensor that was 97% PR releases and less than 3% substance). CrystalJet fourteen years ago, and the Kodak 5260 printer ten years ago were other ¨¨fabulous technologies" that survived only in PR releases, sham reviews, and dubious ´´Success Stories.¨

Despite most industry people being dubious of potential for page-array MEMS printhead technology, a nice Xante Excelagraphic 4200 reprographic printer of 42” wide-angle width with MEMJET printheads was at Graph Expo 2011.

There was also a first launch of a hybrid UV-cured printer during Graph Expo.

Otherwise, this is an offset printer expo, office copier expo, and digital press show (Xerox (and what was left of Kodak).  This obviously raises the question: shoud you opt for SGIA? ISA? Graph Expo?

How do these compare with FESPA or VISCOM in Europe?

Should you attend a Chinese printer, media, ink expo instead!

FLAAR’s entire staff of evaluators attends selected printer expos around the world every year: we have specialists for ink, for textile printers, for media, for cutters. So you can come to us for assistance in making crucial decisions what to do in a DRUPA Year .

What will happen to your business if DRUPA is the only expo you attend?  And how can you handle the hotel costs of Duesseldorf hotels? What other options are available?

Sadly, the most under-attended print expo in the world.

A Durst booth with no printer (and on the final day no attendant).

Informative and capable Mimaki team on duty, but only 10x10’ booth.

Only Dip TECH had a serious printer on display.

Fortunately I scheduled only one day here; it was worth only 3 hours to see everything. I feel sorry for people coming here and expecting to see all the options for wide-format inkjet.

It would have been helpful if the owners and managers of all the other printer expos in the US and Europe had visited this expo. Sorry, but the shock of the empty aisles would have been helpful.

If no one makes constructive criticism, then one by one printer trade shows will fizzle. This GlassBuild America was a complete dud.

This annual downsizing (and for expos such as PMA, a total failure in 2011; they did not even have enough exhibitors to stage a show), can be avoided only if people wake up and understand that this is the year 2012, not 1998 or 2004. I can still remember Seybold expos in San Francisco  H U G E printer trade show.

I can still remember when Graph Expo, the “print” version, occupied BOTH SIDES of the expo center in Chicago.  And I can still remember when Xerox had an entire hall at DRUPA (and when Kodak had an entire hall at Photokina).

If we all work together, we can help printer expos succeed

Late September 2011 was "ITMA week",
in Barcelona, Spain

Dr Hellmuth attended ITMA about five days, together with Silvia Herrera, the FLAAR representative for Europe (who lives in Spain; our other European rep is in Ukraine, and was with Nicholas at Reklama Moscow the week after ITMA). Yes, we now have staff in Europe, as FLAAR continues to expand.

ITMA is all about textile production; the machines that weave and knit textiles. But there are also exhibits of textile inks, RIP software for printing textiles, and textile printing machines. These are more than just dye-sublimation: here at ITMA you get serious million-dollar printers, as well as serious production printers (that do not cost a million dollars) such as the new textile printer by efi VUTEk.

ITMA is held only every four years. Since you probably missed this year's expo, you can obtain the FLAAR Report, TRENDs level, on textile printers at ITMA. The price of the FLAAR Report is less than the cost of flying here, hotel, and all your meals and local cab fare costs. Write FrontDesk@FLAAR.org to order your TRENDs report on ITMA.

ITMA in Europe is only every several years, so the next ITMA that we might attend is Asia.

FLAAR Reports is also in France, VISCOM Paris 2012

As you notice the FLAAR team is world-wide. That is because our readership comes from every continent and all languages (of far over a million readers each year, and growing).

So Silvia and Nicholas were at VISCOM Paris 2011, flying there from ITMA textile expo in Barcelona.

Then Nicholas flew to Moscow to work with Ievgenia Nemirova, our colleague from Ukraine, who helps us each year at Reklama Moscow.

Then FLAAR was at Labelexpo Europe in Brussels.

From there I went to VISCOM Duesseldorf, SGIA and VISCOM Milano.

VISCOM Paris has a pleasant Press Room; the lady in charge is really hospitable. And I will admit it helps when munchies are available so I can be writing my notes and eating simultaneously. I would rate VISCOM Paris as an expo I will return to again in 2012 (if you read our TRENDs for VISCOM Paris 2011 you will see why).

Reklama Moscow

Moscow is still an imperial city. And Reklama Moscow signage trade show is still an interesting event.

Lots going on behind the scenes. So I had productive meetings every day for the three days (first day of Reklama Moscow I attended VISCOM Paris).

We will issue three reports: free Reklama Moscow report; TRENDs level report; and an updated list of all Russian distributors. Plus a report on DX5 printheaded printers, and list of inks and major media vendors.

I also continue to write for PUBLISH magazine (translated by Jenya).

Nicholas and Ievgenia (FLAAR associate from Ukraine) were at Reklama Moscow three days. Plenty of UV-cured printers, Chinese printers with DX5 printheads, inks and media, and a few dye sublimation printers.

We intend to return to Reklama Moscow in 2012, though again the expo is same days as the Viscom Paris exposition.

WIDE-format surprise at Labelexpo Europe in Brussels

FLAAR continues to expand coverage in the world of inkjet printers, and now has attended Labelexpo Europe 2011, in Brussels. Nicholas flew there from three days taking notes and having meetings at Reklama Moscow.

Labelexpo Europe is much more than just flexo and offset. And at this expo we were invited to photograph the most remarkable WIDE-format printer we have seen this entire year.

WOW, totally unexpected.  Plus of course lots of narrow-format UV-cured label printers; plus naturally toner-based printers. But all this pales in comparison with the one single WIDE-format printer. New technology blows away the competition.

The report  does not need to be long: all you need is to see the printer. Not even a spec sheet: what counts is our reaction, and Holy Moly, this is more than disruptive technology.

The report will be available for a standard fee (sorry, no free version, due to the impact of what we saw, were told, and have learned). Contact FrontDesk “at” FLAAR.org to be invoiced so you can receive your report.

VISCOM Spain, Madrid

6-8 October, 2011 was the VISCOM Spain expo, in Madrid as always. Since this expo is too small, I no longer attend, but I did send Silvia Herrera, since FLAAR is gradually making lists of all the distributors, country by country. This is because many manufacturers ask us for this information. So as a public service we prepare lists of distributors.

But it is more than the list that counts: anyone can make a list. What counts is which are the reliable distributors; which are the distributors that actually pay the costs of the equipment from the manufacturers. There was a well publicized scam in the US where one distributor kept declaring bankruptcy and then opening back up under a slightly different name.

Viscom Spain 2012 will have a tough time competing with both DRUPA and FESPA Barcelona. But this is the nature of reality: competition. Evolution of species gives success to the successful. The inefficient and old-fashioned become extinct.

It is the same with trade shows: web sites are replacing expos. But even though FLAAR is 100% web site proficient, we prefer to work with expo organizers. This is why we work with Sign Africa, SGI in Dubai, ISA in USA, and D-PES in China.

VISCOM Duesseldorf, Germany

13-15 October 2011 was a nice expo in Germany. I found it worth visiting even though it is not gigantic.

For 2012 it will be tough, since probably 100% of all German, Austrian, and Swiss printer industry people will visit DRUPA. But like the other expos in the autumn, here you can see the printers which at DRUPA (in early summer) were only (non-functional) prototypes. By the time of Viscom Frankfurt 2012 later in the year, you should be able to see these new printers actually function.

SGIA expo: sign printing and other applications

There are several ways to describe SGIA 2011. One is to say that it's wide-format aspect is as large and often larger than any other printer expo in the world during autumn.
I can document this because in the two months before SGIA I have attended GraphExpo (Chicago), GlassBuild America (Atlanta), Viscom Paris, Viscom Duesseldorf, Reklama Moscow, LabelExpo Europe (Brussels), Sign Africa and five days at ITMA textile expo in Barcelona (it lasted an entire week but I had to fly to two other cities that same week).
And, although two MEMJET 42" wide-format inkjet systems were launched during these months, one of the most remarkable looking wide-format technologies will be a world-first at SGIA.
I look forward to returning to SGIA 2012, and sure am glad that it is not stuck in New Orleans any more. The exhibitor list SGIA 2012 should be healthy even if this is a DRUPA Year, because many new printers will not yet be fully functional by May (the DRUPA dates).

Viscom Italy was worth visiting in November

I enjoyed visiting Viscom Italia but this expo in Milano continues to shrink noticeably. The number and size of booths in 2010 shrank about 30% over 2009. In 2011, the expo was noticeably smaller than 2010. Nonetheless Viscom Italy is still larger than Viscom Paris and Viscom Madrid put together. And still worth coming to Milano.

We look forward to seeing the exhibitor list for Viscom Milano Italy 2012 (Milan Visual Communication Italia, 3, 4, and 5 November 2012).

Expos we skipped in 2011 (but would consider for 2012)

In 2011 we skipped IPEX Middle East; we were invited but never heard back the month before he expo, so we never bought a plane ticket. There have been several small local print expos in the Middle Eastern countries, but so far only SGI in Dubai has reached international status. But I hope that expos in Egypt, Jordan, and other countries can also become high status.

In 2011 also skipped Sign Istanbul. I really enjoy visiting Turkey in general and Istanbul in particular, but did not get there this year. Last year, and in several past years, I have enjoyed this December expo. I hope to return to Sign Istanbul in the future.

During 2011 I also decided not to attend two other expos. There has to be a compelling reason to attend an expo and if there is no reason, I can write more reports by being in my office than stuck at airports and on an airplane. However I did travel over 440,000 kilometers, so got to a lot of trade shows.

Two reasons: first, our audience is international. We can better serve our audience if we get to know the distributors and print shop owners in each part of the world.

Second, I am inherently curious. We make no profit by attending trade shows (the airfare, hotel, meals, and time away from the office cost more than any way money can be made at an expo). But I do learn about printing technology, printheads, inks, substrates. I can see what is true green and what is blustering greenwashing.

I wish to help provide information for our million+ readers, and I do this by asking questions wherever I go. I have been a university professor in my earlier life and I guess the twin concepts of research and then providing, and sharing, my knowledge with others is simply ingrained in my personality.

What about FESPA Asia ? What about FESPA Mexico ?
What about trade shows in Japan ?  What about sign shows in Korea ?

For 2012 we are providing consulting services on which trade shows to consider attending (and which expos you can skip).

FLAAR Reports offers these services specifically to

1. Distributors (printers, inks, substrate, cutters, laminators, accessories, etc)
2. printshop owners and managers,
3. and manufacturers (of inks, media, substrates, printers, software, cutters, laminators, etc)

We can also provide tips on how to get a Visa to China; how to get a visa for Russia. What is a potential travel hiccup for some countries elsewhere in the world?

Often we can even suggest which hotels to consider (and which hotels to avoid).

What (printer) expos would we like to consider in 2012

I would like to go to more glass printing, and to ceramic printing expos in 2012.

I would like to attend expos in Canada, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia outside China (since I automatically go to the main Chinese expos already). I have never been to KOSIGN in Korea, for example.

Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, India, are a few of the countries I would like to visit for their printer expos.

Many regional expos, such as Sign Africa, SGI in Dubai provide basic costs for FLAAR to attend, since in return we provide consulting services for their expos. We would be open to comparable relationships with printer, architectural décor, or photo expos in other parts of the world.

What about digital photo expos?
What about fine art giclee expos ?

FLAAR has over 14 years experience at photography, fine art, and giclee expos. We are also increasingly asked to help as consultings in these fields.

So if you wish additional information on what is giclee?  How much profit can be harvested from the giclee market?

And most importantly, how can all the new inks and printers that will appear in 2012 totally revitalize and revolutionalize the giclee and fine art market.

What about 3D scanning, imaging, and modeling expos ?

FLAAR was working with 3D projects long before the movie Avatar made 3D popular worldwide. We still attend 3D expos and can provide consulting services for selecting 3D scanners and 3D manufacturing equipment.

Our background is architecture (just Google    Hellmuth architect ) and all architects make 3D models since the days they are in school, so already at age 19, while a student at Harvard (undergraduate major in architecture there), I was making models (by hand !) back in the 1960’s (before I even knew how to use a computer or software).

First posted January 3, 2012, as part of our new programs for 2012: consulting, and subscriptions as an enhanced benefit for printshops, distributors, and manufacturers.