Page 12 - Print 21 Sep-Oct 2019

Leading Article
What’s in the suitcase?
To PrintEx at Sydney’s Olympic Park in August for this year’s major trade show. It’s always
a good event, and this time around was no different. Bright, colourful and busy for most of the time I was there. Good to catch up with many friends, meet many newcomers, and
Trade shows are a marvellous gauge of the intrinsic health of the industry, a tonic when compared to the bulletins of doom and
bankruptcy that often fill the news pages. PrintEx, PacPrint, and the other Visual
Connections events demonstrate that industry suppliers not only have sufficient faith in the future of print to hang out their shingles in anticipation of making sales, but importantly that they also have the capacity. It’s not cheap to participate in these trade shows, and those who do gain and deserve recognition of their commitment.
The energy and creativity of the exhibitors at PrintEx is in stark contrast to the shifty parasitic marketing conducted by at least one major substrate supplier that did not take a stand, and was exhorting printers to not buy at PrintEx. Suitcase or ambush marketing is
to be roundly condemned, as it cynically sets out to undermine the best efforts of others.
Not every exhibitor at PrintEx is a member of Visual Connections, the organising body, but they ought to be. Under CEO Peter Harper, and president Mitch Mulligan, it has become a highly professional and effective industry merchant association.
It has expanded to include industrial print and signage as well as commercial printing. Surely it’s only a matter of time before the label and flexo people, the FPLMA, see the light and join up. Be good for all concerned.
A visit to PrintEx is an opportunity
to check the technology direction of the printing industry. For my money it clearly shows the digital juggernaut is ascendant, with inkjet streaking ahead, reinforcing its likely destiny as the future of print. While high-end toner and liquid toner solutions maintain their grip on the highest quality reproduction, the gap is narrowing.
A pity the offset sector, which still completes the vast majority of print, didn’t make an appearance. Nobody expects
the companies under the gun for sales to actually exhibit the big presses. But there is still a vital and vibrant offset printing business model. Presses are still being sold and upgraded, there are advances in UV drying, automation is transforming the operation of a press, and there are new ownership options to consider.
I thought an information booth, a sort of embassy from the embattled sector, would be worthwhile from a marketing perspective. It’s important printers access the latest news
when considering options for their next capital investment. Where better than at a printing trade show?
A highlight of PrintEx was Currie Group’s Sydney Harbour cruise, to celebrate the company’s 70th anniversary as well as
50 years of engagement with his business by David Currie. It’s a remarkable odyssey on all levels. Anyone lucky enough to get one of the 300 plus invitations is unlikely to forget the spectacle of the man himself at the wheel of a vintage ute rising from the deck in clouds of smoke to wild drumming.
And finally, I note the Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA), under auspices of president Walter Kuhn and
CEO Andrew Macaulay, has opted for
a new identity as the Print and Visual Communication Association (PVCA). It’s an appropriate step and a long way from when I first learned of its existence when it was the Printing and Allied Trades Employers Federation Association (PATEFA).
First initiative under the new guise is
the Print2Parliament in Canberra on
23 October. This is the second time around for this opportunity to meet a pollie. Last year was a success, with numerous printers descending on Parliament to eat, drink, and lobby with our federal representatives.
It shows that printers are democrats, at least, not above sitting down to socialise, even with politicians. 21
get up to speed on the forces shaping the industry.
Patrick Howard
Editor-at-large
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12 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019