From wine labels to cereal boxes, packaging has become more sophisticated in its design and print production. Indeed, as a showcase for printing technology, packaging today has few equals...a trend that will be prominent at next year's PRINT® 05 & CONVERTINGSM 05.
The show, the largest in the world in 2005, will be held on September 9-15 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It combines one of the strongest and most respected graphic arts events in the world, PRINT, with a brand new exhibition devoted to packaging printing and converting.
While CONVERTING 05 is a new event, the convergence of the printing and converting specialties is a long-running story.
GASC identified package printing and converting in the mid-1990s as a promising growth avenue both for its shows and for the industry they serve. The 1997 PRINT® show, for instance, provided the setting for the first edition of the international CONVERFLEXTM exhibition ever held on U.S. soil. The next year, GASC launched CONVERTING EXPO® as part of its annual GRAPH EXPO® event serving the North American market.
The logic behind this strategy is simple: The specialties of converting and commercial printing share many technologies and processes. Their practitioners' customer lists are converging as well. And each offers important advantages to companies traditionally focused on the "other" market.
High quality design and print helps packages win the all-important battle for shelf space and consumer attention. And package printing can be a strong growth market for commercial printers.
The road to adding this service to your commercial printing operation, however, is not without its hazards. Newth Morris, president of Dixie Printing and Packaging Corporation in Glen Burnie, MD, warns that "there's no point in going from being a good printer to being a so-so folding carton converter. The question is how to be a top-notch converter. For us, it's a matter of focusing on what we already do well and doing it even better."
Specifically, Morris predicts "it is going to take a high level of automation and sophisticated customer relations for us to survive in the future."
He calls commercial printing and packaging "cousins," noting that "80 percent of the work we do is printed." Dixie runs a six-color 51-inch sheetfed press among other pieces of high-end printing equipment, and is closely watching developments in printing technology because "usually things start out in the commercial end and work their way over to folding carton."
Dave Kornbau, vice president/Operations at Strine Printing Company in York, PA, says his company evolved into converting in answer to a clear opportunity. "We have a large customer who was happy with the work they were getting from us but unhappy with their packaging printer. They wanted Strine to become their packaging printer."
This was a plus for the customer as well, Kornbau says, because "the commercial printer can add a lot of quality to short run packaging work. We have pressmen, for example, printing an annual report cover one day and a children's crayon box the next, and they treat them the same way."
Today, about 20 percent of Strine Printing's annual US$60 million business is made up of packaging work.
"High end, short run quality packaging is the best fit for the commercial printer," Kornbau says. "You have to market it, get in there and sell it, but it can be done."
Printers and converters alike will rely on the giant 2005 event to show them the most likely paths of technological development and business evolution.
"We go to the shows, and we bring a team," says Wayne Scheible, president and CEO of Flower City Printing, Inc., in Rochester, NY. "We go to see which way the technology is swinging. It can go in many different directions, and if you pick the wrong direction you could be in trouble. PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 will be very important for the future growth of Flower City Printing."
Major exhibitors have responded with enthusiasm to the launch of CONVERTING 05. "The convergence of the printing and converting markets is advancing, and having these two events in one place at the same time makes good business sense for us," says Heidelberg CEO Niels Winther.
Hank Brandtjen III, president of Brandtjen & Kluge, agrees. "We see the merging of our traditional print market with our converting market. Now we can reach out to all of our customers with one show. In the past, our customers were being asked to attend two separate trade shows, and economics being what they are, decisions were being made as to which show to schedule. Now they can conduct all their purchasing research at one show."
Replacing multiple shows with a single comprehensive event also appeals to Yves Rogivue, CEO of MAN Roland, Inc. "The luxury of having a trade show for every conceivable niche is a thing of the past," he says. "Graphic arts professionals want to get as much information in as little time as possible. That's why PRINT and CONVERTING will be successful."
PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 will be backed by the intensive global promotion and marketing campaign, and its value will be enhanced further by an extensive schedule of educational programs and other special events to be presented at the show.
All of the major associations serving the converting and package printing sectors are expected to participate in the event.
Detailed information about PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 can be found at www.print05.com.
