Page 12 - Print21 July-August 2022

Leading Article
Back to the ‘meet’ space
It was the best of printing exhibitions: it was the strangest of printing exhibitions. PacPrint in Melbourne was a triumph of industry resilience, a much-needed return to face-to-face meetings, as well as a dramatic display of the identity crisis gripping the printing industry. Patrick Howard final y gets to be ‘At Large’ at the big local print show.
“G’day, how’re you doing? Long time no see.”
“Yes! Nice to see you again.”
“How long’s it been?”
“A couple of years, at least. Great to be back.” Hundreds of similar conversations played
out in the cavernous spaces of Melbourne’s Exhibition Centre on the banks of the Yarra over four days in the last week of June,astheprintingindustryfi allycame together after three years of lockdowns and cancellations. PacPrint brought more than 7,000 visitors to the fi st major trade exhibition since PrintEx in Sydney 2019.
In the ensuing years of pandemic lockdowns the show was cancelled twice as we grappled with isolation, working from home and social distancing. Zoom meetings took over as virtual sales calls and social media chat replaced live human interactions. For those suppliers lucky enough to land consignments, local service teams had to be upskilled to become equipment installers with remote assistance from manufacturers unable to get technicians into the country. Sales of printing as well as equipment took a hit, of course, but a certain blitz spirit took over and the industry carried on, improvising and doing whatever was necessary.
That spirit carried through to the trade show. People went to PacPrint to see the latest technology as they always do, to get up close to the pieces of equipment they were thinking of buying, and to see what else might be capable of doing the same job. There was plenty of equipment on the some 100 stands, but after patrolling the aisles of the show, I can’t say there was any significant technology shift, no huge drupa-style breakthrough that heralded the next stage of printing. It was
a show of incremental advances, of faster, better and more automated machines. But nothing earth shattering. And besides, this time around, the technology wasn’t the main attraction. The people were.
It’s a multi-media world
Yaffa Media had a Print21 exhibition booth equipped as a blog podcast recording studio at the back of the big hall. There were seven of us working the show under the leadership
12 Print21 JULY/AUGUST 2022
PacPrint: face-to-face again
of Lindy Hughson, publisher. She and editor, Wayne Robinson, had full programmes
of video interviews with the industry’s
great and good, fil ed by Steven Pam videographer, while deputy editor Colleen Bate was assigned to write stories for the email reports going out every day. Grant McHerron, recorded the podcast interviews at the booth. It was live to air reporting
and a far, multimedia, cry from previous experiences of trade shows where talking, note taking and photographing were all that was required, with writing to be performed at a later date. I was very impressed.
Advertising person, Marni Groves, and
“It was a show of incremental advances, or faster, better, more automated machines. This time around the technology wasn’t the main attraction, the people were.”
me, were assigned to present the Print21 HotPicks to the most innovative, new, technologies at the show. (Mind you, since the last show was some fi e years ago,
just about everything on the floor could
be classed as new.) She’s a powerhouse personality and over the next couple of days we visited more than 20 stands, presenting and awarding, snapping the ‘grip‘n’grin’ photos and generally giving face time to
people I hadn’t seen in a long time. I won’t go through the full list here; there’ll be a complete account in the next issue. Suffice to say, the much sought-after HotPicks were very well received by all.
Best in show
It’s always a big ask to pick the best of the best. With over 20 awards to technologies that covered software and hardware, colour calibration and box making, wide format signage and label engines, it’s impossible to measure and compare apples with apples. However, it’s my task, so I’ll to stick my neck out for the Xeikon Panther PX3300 as the ‘best in show’.
Trevor Crowley, managing director, Xeikon Australia, sweated blood to get the newly released PX3300 to the show. He tells me the container ship docked in Melbourne before carrying the press further up the coast to Sydney. There it was offloaded, on a Sunday, before being trucked back down to Melbourne arriving just days before the opening.
The PX3300 is the latest from the Xeikon range of UV inkjet label presses. It’s a winning combination of productivity and quality, rated for 50 metres a minute with a superb glossy look-and-feel for the self- adhesive market. The print quality easily matches screen and flexo, with a fi ed colour pallet of CMYK or CMYK+white. A real workhorse and a worthy winner.
Crowley is a big enthusiast for face-to-face engagement and his enthusiasm for meeting people at the show was infectious. Every time we tried to engage that fi st morning he was deep in conversation with that most valued of human beings... the customer. When
wefi allydidmanagetonabhiminafree moment he shared the limelight with Marco Abanzi, global sales director, who flew out from Italy for the show.
“You can’t beat in-person networking and a hands-on approach. As much as we can extol the virtues of Xeikon technology during online presentations and virtual events, you really need to get up close
and personal with the machinery to truly understand its benefits,” said Crowley.