Victorian premier Steve Bracks will officially inaugurate the exhibition on opening day May 24, highlighting the growing profile of print in the wider community.
The exhibition comes as the print industry is currently enjoying its best time in recent years, with the nation’s heatset web presses virtually booked out until July, some 40 B1 long perfectors all humming away, digital print becoming widely embraced by corporates, the threat from the internet receding by the day and printers increasingly embracing digital workflow, customer service and marketing.
In this climate production solutions suppliers are looking to PacPrint to provide a significant sales fillip, while printers can look forward to an unprecedented amount of new technology on the floor of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
There will not be as much heavy metal as in previous years, and this remains a moot point between various suppliers, and between suppliers and the PIAA.
However printers will have the opportunity to see the country’s first eight-colour long perfecting press, a Heidelberg SM 52-8-P, which is certain to be the star of the show. There will also be new presses on display from Komori on the CPI stand, Shinohara on the Currie stand, and Ryobi on the Cyber stand.
For new printing systems those visiting Melbourne will have an unparalleled opportunity to peruse the best the world has to offer. This include the big three digital printing systems, Fuji Xerox’s iGen3, Kodak’s NexPress and the HP Indigo range, as well as a host of mid level and digital lite systems, including new offerings from Canon, Konica Minolta, Fuji Xerox and Oce.
All other aspects of print production are well represented, with plenty of prepress, CTP, wide format and finishing solutions on the floor. PacPrint also presents an unrivalled opportunity for knowledge gain, with some 90 seminars set to take place over the five days of the show, all free and presented by expert speakers in various fields.
For several key players PacPrint 05 will be their first time exhibiting. These include Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, the new
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