Seasoned veterans and first-time attendees alike stand among printers making an early commitment to attend FTA’s INFOFLEX 2023.
They are confident in their decision and expect the show to address their specific challenges and needs. Plus, they’re certain of finding solutions that will work at their plant. Exploration and discovery are seen as going hand-in-hand. Excitement and enthusiasm are on the rise. Printers registered weeks out from the show are ready to build their future.
Among FTA member converters early to act:
- Some cite past history for solidifying their expectations
- Newcomers point to the exhibit’s strong reputation, specifically its recognition as the place to be to see and experience all things flexography and all things package printing under one roof
- Others say purchases are always made as a result of walking the INFOFLEX floor
- Significant numbers note access to expert advice is available and they say seeking it out is an essential part of plans
- Several resolve to use their two days in Columbus to build relationships and grow their business
- Those navigating a move into flexography from gravure or offset, and those expanding from wide web to narrow web capabilities and vice versa, are looking to establish the requisite infrastructure
- And of course, a multitude of printer pre-registrants profess, “INFOFLEX will provide some great networking experiences!”
Those are just some of the findings of FLEXO Magazine’s brief survey of printers with tickets in hand. Other comments made, under the pledge that they were not for direct attribution, speak to both intentions and a hard-hitting agenda with laser-like focus.
Listing out as the challenges printers/converters are looking to identify solutions for at INFOFLEX 2023 are sustainability, automation, prepress and plate technology; automated practices and future print capabilities; market intelligence around different print technologies; workflow improvements; process controls—testing and measuring devices and print inspection systems; color management software; and the most obvious—new equipment, flexographic essentials and best practices.
Printers elaborate on just what might fall into their major classifications of interest. For example: Sustainability opens exploration to inks, substrates, cleaning systems, plate processors, plates themselves, presses and converting equipment, and more. Automation targets presses, plate mounters, inspection systems, converting equipment, proofers, plate setters, cleaning systems, web guides, registration systems, tension controls, etc. Workflow speaks to the pressroom, plateroom, plate making, maintenance and service needs, job management, color management, ink management, asset management, brand management…
“INFOFLEX is the place for printers to build relationships and grow their business,” proclaims one major converter. “Automation in tools and processes that helps ensure consistency and efficiency is a key need in 2023 and beyond. INFOFLEX is a one-stop shop for all our wide web flexo print and prepress needs. I’ve attended for years and made many purchases.”
Similarly, one label printer and INFOFLEX 2023 attendee alludes to a long history with the event. “INFOFLEX content constantly changes to meet existing and future needs. I’ll be visiting pertinent booths for anilox, plate systems, digital print, etc.”
Exuding confidence in the event, one soon-to-be attendee, who is currently expanding business offerings, states, “Being new to wide web flexo printing, we’re looking to learn more about the industry. All of our experience has been with narrow web flexo and wide web gravure. We’re developing our business and hoping to learn and discover a great deal about the equipment and processes available at INFOFLEX.”
Others appreciate certain characteristics of the trade show. “When considering new equipment or prepress capabilities, INFOFLEX allows one to visit all the leaders in a given field at one time, without traveling to multiple facilities. I collect expert advice on solving any flexographic printing, machine or prepress issues. It brings together the latest and greatest technologies and innovations within our industry.”
Another long-time proponent adds, “I have attended INFOFLEX for several years and feel it is the best consolidated gathering dedicated to our printing industry in the US. We have found several solutions in past years there. We have found quite a few new vendors at INFOFLEX as well.
“Definitely a must attend! I always put it on my calendar as soon as dates are announced,” he declares. “It makes it easier to get things done in one place at one time, rather than spending endless days searching the web and making phone calls.”
Show Signature
More than 100 product classifications, just under 200 exhibitors, 500 technologies, 1,500 attendees, 12 hours of non-stop networking, live demonstrations, in-depth technical briefings—that’s the allure of INFOFLEX and it has been for more than 40 years.
Printers always find the tools they need. Just look at the list of featured products year-in and year-out. Presented alphabetically, they are:
Adhesives, anilox cleaners, anilox rolls and sleeves, anilox storage, asset management, bag machinery, bar coding, brand management, central impression cylinder resurfacing, chambered doctor blades, chill rollers, color management, color management software, color measurement, consulting services, cores, corrugated board, corrugated presses, curing and drying equipment, cylinders, dampening systems, design and illustration software, design rolls, die cutters and punchers, dies, digital finishing systems, digital inks, digital overprints and coatings, digital presses, doctor blades, and drivers and controls.
Also: elastomer plates and sleeves, electron beam coatings, electron beam inks, enterprise resource planning software and systems, envelope presses, environmental supplies, equipment repair and maintenance, expanded gamut print, extruders and laminators, fan folders and perforators, film resins, films, flexible packaging presses, foils, folding carton presses, fountain rolls, gauges, gears, gluers, graphic arts filing systems, graphic design, hot stampers and embossers, hybrid presses, idler rolls, in-the-round plate making, ink cleaners, ink filters and magnets, ink management software, ink pumps, inline converting equipment, job management software, knives and cutters, label presses, lacquers, laser engravers, material handling equipment, near neutral calibration tools, pallets, paper, paperboard, photopolymer plates, pigments, resins and polymers, plate/sleeve mounting equipment, plate backing materials, plate cleaners, plate imagers, plate storage, pouch making machinery, prepress and premedia services, preprinted linerboard presses, press cleaners, press retrofits, print fault detection systems, print sleeves, plate sleeves, process controls, proofers and proofing materials.
Filling out the list: recycling systems, registration systems, RFID insertion equipment, RIPs, scanners, security coatings, security inks, sleeve storage systems, slitters and rewinders, solvent-based coatings, solvent-based inks, special-effects coatings, specialty inks, static controls, surface treaters, synthetic paper, tape, testing and measuring equipment, unwinds/rewinds, used presses and equipment, UV coatings, UV inks, viscosity controls, waste trim and removal systems, water-based inks, water-based coatings, and web guides and tension controls.
Learn more about INFOFLEX 2023, preview the show floor and reserve your booth at infoflex.flexography.org.