After a hiatus of five years, PacPrint made its long-awaited comeback at the Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre at the end of June. The number of exhibitors may have been only two-thirds that of the previous show, with no sheetfed representation in the 7,000m² floor space, yet the mood of the more than 6,500 visitors was positively upbeat.
Exhibitors reported quality face-to-face meetings as prospective customers shook off Covid constraints to look at updating their plants with solutions to add value to their businesses. Friends and business rivals were keen to catch up post-pandemic and compare how they had fared over the intervening two years whether it was a quick chat in the aisles, over coffee in the halls or during the daily PacPrint forums, Women in Print breakfast, the National Print Awards, the HP National SGA Awards or enjoying a drink or two at one of the evening social functions.
The show was co-located with Visual Impact Expo – one of Australia’s leading showcases for the signage, engraving, display and wide format market – as well as with the Label & Packaging Expo, so it was no surprise that these sectors of the industry figured prominently among the 100 stands. Although final figures have not yet been posted, Peter Harper, CEO of Visual Connections, the show organisers, confirmed millions of dollars in business were transacted during the four-day event.
Among the sales were:
- An EFI Pro 30h hybrid LED printer to the Currie Group customer Allclear Print + Signs
- A dedicated roll-to-roll EFI Pro 32r+ to ABC Photo Signs also sold by the Currie Group
- The sale of an HP Indigo 6K digital label press to Soar Communications Group by the Currie Group
- An AccurioLabel 230 label press and GM DC350 Nano Ultra Compact converting unit sold to Revolution Print by Konica Minolta
- Konica Minolta Australia also sold an AccurioPress C4070 to Printcraft and an AccurioPress C14000 to Monotone Print
- The purchase by CMYKhub of an HP Indigo 6K Digital Press and an EFI VUTEk h5 hybrid roll-to-roll and flatbed printer through the Currie Group
- Southern Impact became the first printer in the Southern Hemisphere to own an HP Indigo 15K HD Digital Press sold by the Currie Group
- A swissQprint Karibu dedicated roll-to-roll wide format printer sold to Clarke Murphy Print by Pozitive.
- An Epson SurePress L-4533AW digital label printer purchased by Footprint Printing
- Melbourne Mailing ordered a Kyocera TaskAlfa 15000c cutsheet inkjet production printer
- Trimatt received a number of orders for its 1170 digital colour printer
- Sydney Print Media purchased a Colorado UVgel roll-to-roll printer from Canon
- Rodden Graphics sold a Canon LabelStream 4000
- A L350UV inkjet label press was purchased by Labels Connect through Screen GP/Jet Technologies
- Stick On Signs sold two of its Dimense 3D structured wallpaper printers to Label Concepts and Beyond Solution
- A Zünd G3 digital cutter was among sales made on the Starleaton stand
- Mutoh sold all of the products on its stand including the XpertJet XPJ-1682SR 1625mm eco-solvent printer, the XpertJet XPJ-661UF small-format direct-to-object desktop UV flatbed printer, the ValueJet VJ-1638UH dual LED hybrid UV printer, the VJ-628MP and VJ-1628MH for the packaging market and the VC2-1300 vinyl cutter
Further sales will no doubt be in the offing with many exhibitors delighted with the number of prospects to be followed up over the coming weeks and months. More detailed coverage on sales will follow in the next issue of Labels Plus and in this newsletter.
Visual Connections advises that PacPrint will be back in 2025 in Sydney, with Peter Harper firmly asserting that ‘in-person trade shows are back’.
“The success of this past week in Melbourne has been a resounding endorsement for industry expos, proving that nothing beats face-to-face meetings, the opportunity to see innovations first-hand, and the chance to speak directly to the experts,” he said. “We sincerely thank all the exhibitors and visitors who made PacPrint 2022 such a success and look forward to May 2025, when PacPrint will be back at the Sydney Showgrounds.”
