A good show was had by all at the Gold Coast.
The show certainly seemed smaller this year but when talking to some of the exhibitors, they said the hall was smaller and the show was not smaller, just more compact due to the smaller hall.
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| Dave West from Anitech making an adjustment to the Jetrix flatbed |
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| Tommy Mita from Seiko Japan doing the Anitech draw |
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| New exhibitor, By-Ray with thei range of routers. |
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| Colourgrafix took may enquiries for the Anapurnas |
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| The Acuity Advance HS on the Fujifilm stand |
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| Mimaki guys in red shirts handling enquiries |
Wide Format again dominated the show, as it does at most sign shows across the globe. There were some exceptions with LED as well as engraving and routing machines on display.
One of the primary benefits of these shows is just the networking value that they offer to meet with friends, clients and others.
ColourGrafix was a first time exhibitor and will probably be a regular from now on since they have become quite a force with the success they have achieved with their range of Agfa :Anapurnas, Epson printers and GMG colour management systems.
Wayne Macintyre from Celmac is always a regular at these shows, keen to show off their range of HP Latex printers and their new Mutoh products. Wayne told us that they were having huge success with their Colorgate RIPs and the ink savings that they could offer clients.
Richard Dodd from Corel, a firm favourite with Aussies in the sign industry, was back demonstrating Corel's latest X5. Richard resigned early last year to set up his own photographic studio (http://www.richardwindeyer.com.au/) but he is currently retained by Corel for exhibitions and other functions.
Peter De Maagd of Mimaki was proud to be showing off the new UJF-3042 UV-LED flatbed printer and its ability to print onto just about anything with very high scratch resistance. 3D shaped objects can be printed and Peter showed us golf balls as a good example. Needless to say Mimaki's stand included virtually the whole range of Mimaki machines.
AGS and Power Digital combined for their first joint exhibit with the lovely and knowledgable Zoe McSkimmings showing off the dye sublimation kit that has made Power Digital a force in the Queensland dye-sub market. Power Digital will in future operate out of AGS's Capalaba premises in Queensland.
The ubiquitous EzyTaper was there with Maree and Warrick demonstrating how easy it is to operate the EzyTaper and of course how fundamental it is to any wide format printer. Maree and Warrick were the only Australian exhibitors at the recent ISA show in Florida and have promised to make several announcements in coming weeks following their huge success at the ISA show.
Peter Maginn of Budde International explained the benefits of the high speed Italian Fotoba cutters and trimmers and how essential they are when finishing becomes a bottleneck in high production environments. Peter was also showing the Swedish RollsRoller that has proven a huge success around the world.
Anitech had a sizeable presence at the Gold Coast show with their huge range of equipment. The Jetrix flatbed printer is proving a firm favourite due to its unique ability to lay down a primer to ensure ink adherence to impermeable substrates.
Anitech also conducted the draw of the Seiko watches. Seiko printer division’s international sales manager, Tommy Mita did the draw and produced eleven lucky winners. Ten winners took away one of these famous watches simply by being present at one of the earlier Seiko demonstrations. An additional draw took place at the end to produce a winner of the Seiko Classic watch.
Roland DG were omnipresent with printers and their own booth and told of several orders and many leads taken at the show. Their metallic ink printers seemed to be making a sizeable impression, especially with their LA trip as an incentive.
Well known Tatjana Ferguson of Fujifilm Sericol was doing a great job with her Euromedia range and Patrick Koen said a lot of interest had been shown in the Acuity Advance HS.
Océ Australia had the latest Arizona model, the big 550GT on display and Dale Hawkins of Océ went to great pains to explain the advantages, including the impressive speed of the machine. They have already put one of these machine into Flash Photobition.
Arrow Systems had the latest Gerber IonZ on display coupled with the Gerber M3000 series cutter/router. John Allen had a busy stand as the machines attracted many delegates during the demonstrations.
It was difficult to talk to all the exhibitors as they were extremely busy with clients, so apologies to those that we have omitted here.
VIIE
www.viie.com.au
