SHOWDAILY Wednesday, September 16, 2015 GraphExpo.com McCormick Place | Chicago, IL | USA Co-located Show: GRAPH EXPO 15: Trailblazing Transformation! All across the show floor—and, Breakthrough technologies create “new age” pathways for print By Richard Romano Floor traffic was brisk and exhibitors reported that leads are highly qualified at GRAPH EXPO 15. Ken Garner (continued on page 62) (continued on page 62) NEWS BRIEFS PRINTERVERSE THEATER (Booth 3867) presents “Digital Schmigital: Marketing Print to Millenials” at 11:00 am. FLEXTECH ALLIANCE presents a 45-minute session on “Printed Electronics & Applications, at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm in the Future Print: “Experiential Lab” (Booth 4436). CAREER AWARENESS DAY welcomes upwards of 900 high school students from the Greater Chicago area, as well as the neighboring states of Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. THE HIRING HUB: Closing the Skills Gap! (Booth 570) Graphic Communications Contest begins at 12:30 pm. GRAPH EXPO 15: Guy Gecht, CEO, EFI PrintingNews.com/12114357 GRAPH EXPO 15: Dennis Amorosano, VP and GM, Marketing, Canon U.S.A. PrintingNews.com/12114557 GRAPH EXPO 16 Preview: Orlando Will Surprise You! PrintingNews.com/12114977 INSIDE DAY 4 Inkjet Candy Store..........................10 NPES Membership Advantages....................................18 Epicomm Reaches Out...................25 Exhibitor List................................. 30 Exhibitor Map ................................32 News Print –Newspaper Pavilion Report.............................. 54 Creating a Value Proposition Ifor Today’s Workforce n January, Ken Garner became Chief Executive Officer of what was then AMSP/NAPL/ NAQP, succeeding Joseph P. Truncale, Ph.D., who had led the organization for 12 years. Garner is former President and Chief Executive Officer of AMSP, a former Chairman of NAPL, and former President of a major printing and mailing company. Shortly thereafter, AMSP/NAPL/NAQP was formally named Epicomm, representative of the “epic communications” industry it serves. Garner sat down with the Show Daily to talk about Epicomm’s mandates and what he hopes to accomplish. Show Daily: What are your top mandates moving forward? Ken Garner: In the short term, we have to continue to effectively integrate and coalesce our three legacy associations – AMSP, NAPL, and NAQP - into a single organization. This requires balancing the unique needs and expectations of our five distinct member segments with the need to, when appropriate, speak and act with one Epicomm voice. Adding some level of complexity to the task is the generational transition that is taking place at the indeed, all across the industry itself—the watchword is “transformation.” Companies in the industry are told they have to transform themselves, that the old ways of running a print business, from the products and services they offer, to the way they interact with and sell to customers, has to change. Companies need to transform their business in ways that are more in sync with today’s business trends. GRAPH EXPO itself has transformed, as show veterans can tell you, and the focus on production inkjet, wide format printing, functional and industrial printing, and even multi-/omni-channel marketing, is the result of that transformation, and foretells future transformations. “Today’s show floor looks different than any previous GRAPH EXPO show from a technology perspective,” says Mike Salfity, VP and General Manager, Graphics Solutions Business, HP (Booth 1202). “Customers need to offer innovative, value-add applications to stay competitive in a market that is consolidating. There are vast digital printing opportunities in graphics from postage stamps to building wraps for those who are willing to adopt digital printing technology to transform their businesses.” Along those lines, HP announced yesterday that Kennesaw, GA-based Parallax Digital purchased an HP Latex 3500 Printer at GRAPH EXPO 2015. On Monday, HP had announced that Baltimore’s Cavanaugh Press purchased an HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press. Transforming your business model and/ or the services you offer can open up new opportunities. One example is specialty printing. Mutoh’s ValueJet 426UF tabletop UV-LED printer can help companies—such as a trophy shop like Phoenix, AZ’s HJ Trophies & Awards—expand the products and services they offer. Instead of sending out trophies and awards to be custom engraved, HJ Trophies can now print directly on physical items—and in fact aren’t limited to traditional trophies. “We helped them transform their trophy business into something that makes them more money,” says David Conrad, Director of Sales and Marketing for Mutoh (Booth 4241). “We’re giving customers opportunities in new markets they haven’t been involved in before.” You can see striking examples of HJ Trophies’ specialty printed awards in Mutoh’s booth.
GraphExpo Show Daily September 16, 2015
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