LABELEXPO 2014 was held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, U.S., for three days, from Tuesday to Thursday, September 9–11, 2014.
LABELEXPO is an event held in various places around the world as the exhibition of the label-making industry where a wide range of materials and equipment – compared to an ordinary printing show – such as package printing presses, digital printing systems and packaging/finishing equipment is gathered together. Not only can visitors directly see demonstrations using the latest equipment and materials, this event allows show-goers to learn about global trends and technologies in the industry and hear from leading companies.
This exhibition has become the largest event in the U.S. as a result of the brisk activity in the label market and was significantly larger that the previous show in 2012 (number of exhibitors: more than 400 companies, total exhibition space: approximately 17,000 square meters, number of visitors: 14, 335). In the field of labels, production in short runs of many different items based on marketing is advancing; there are needs for the reduction of materials costs and the use of special materials, and the trend of a growing interest in system configurations that can handle these is clear. Perhaps reflecting this situation, many visitors came to the rearmost booth, which gathered together many different materials, and engaged in serious give and take.
Komori America presented a booth jointly with INX International Ink Co., the overseas subsidiary of Sakata INX Corporation, exhibiting the NW210 narrow web UV label press bearing the Komori emblem.
The exhibit machine was a white + CMYK UV inkjet NW210-E equipped with a Spartanics laser die cutting unit. Demonstrations of printing labels on 21 cm wide tack sheet and film with an output resolution of 360 x 360 dpi at a printing speed of 23 m/min were carried out. The NW210-E exhibited at this show, the most compact and space-saving of all digital UV inkjet label presses with an internal laser unit, was observed and asked about by visitors continuously, and it received nearly 200 inquires over the three days. As a series, ten presses have already been installed in the U.S. and Europe.
Further, many makers, including efi, Screen, Domino, Durst, Epson, Fujifilm, HP, Mark Andy and Xeikon, exhibited digital printing systems for label production. The equipment of AB Graphic, the de facto standard in postpress finishing units, worked in concert with many systems.
LABELEXPO EUROPE 2015 will be held in Brussels, Belgium next year.
www.komori.co.jp
