Inauguration of Media Expo 2018 took place in presence of a host of industry stalwarts, including Thyagaranjan Iyer, COO, Technova Imaging Systems; Rajeev Bhaskaran, CEO, B&R Digitals; Atul Gandhi, Managing Director, Macart Equipment; Vikram Bhatia, Managing Director, Apsom Technologies; Deborshi Poul Choudhury, Country Head, Apsom Infotex; and Samson Simon, Group Head, Media and Creative Exhibition, Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd.

Crowd pullers

Among the crowd-pulling showcases at the expo, ColorJet transcended the conventional way by showing its range of products and technologies, revolving around ‘green’ printing with future sustainability as a major highlight. Crowd that gathered at the company’s stall were enthralled to the printers on the showcase—Polo, Vulcan and SoftJet.

Ravi Agarwala, Director, Apsom Infotex Limited said the main focus of what all ColorJet’s showcases at the expo was of soft signage and ‘green’ technology. The company’s stall was themed on ‘Switch to Green Printing’. In addition, Apsom Infotex showcased its Roland DG portfolio including Roland Versa UV LEF-300 as well as others including Dilli Neo SIRUS HB 1654-W2 LED, quite attractively.

Crowd that buzzed at the stall of NEGI Sign Systems & Supplies Co was lured by the company’s showcase of a sheer range of products, which included NegiJet, Mutoh ValueJet and Brother GTX T-shirt printing systems. Girvir Singh Negi, Director, Negi Sign Systems & Supplies Co said their key product at the expo is the NegiJet UVR RTR equipped with the advanced Kyocera or RICOH Gen- 5 printhead. Among the products being demonstrated and pulled crowd at the company’s stall was NegiJet Starfire. A line of Yongli CO2 laser tubes for laser engraver machines were what Kheizer Sign demonstrated at its stall during the show. Jason Liu from Jilin Yongli Laser Technologies Co Ltd said they are happy to find trade visitors showing positive reaction to their products. Products that pulled crowd at the company’s stall consisted of K-Bend channel letter bending machines. On other side, Canon was another crowd puller on the show floor. The company showcased its large-format portfolio of inkjet printers, which included Canon PRO- 5605, IPF 8410SE, IPF671 and LPR C650 cut-sheet system.

JX Enterprise showcased a line of its crowd-pulling GZM (Gongzheng) printers with Dimatix Starfire 1024 printhead. Varun S, manager, JX Enterprise said the line of GZM printers the company put up on display are designed for diverse applications for both indoor and outdoor applications. Arrow Digital, an authorised distributor of Efi-VUTEk and OKI printers in India showcased an array of UV printers and applications. Sam Patel, MD, Arrow Digital Pvt Ltd said their focus is now totally on non-PVC soft signage market, as UV is the future of the graphic art applications.

Sun Sign & Technologies, alongside a range of its existing key products including Starflex, pulled crowd to the newly introduced SUBLIMIS by Decoprint, a revolutionary product for direct and transfer printing. “This innovative product provides a go-to solution for sublimation printing,” said Deepak Gupta, Director, Sun Sign & Technology. SUBLIMIS requires no ink migration, non stick and the media is quite light and has excellent light diffusion. The other products that pulled crowd at the company’s stall included SENFA from Decoprint, McCAL colour vinyl, Starflex backlit textile. Sterling Sign Systems showcased a range of Mean Well LED power supply systems. “More than 5000 standard Mean Well models are selling through 200 authorised distributors all over the world,” said Rajesh Chrarla from Sterling Sign Systems. AXYZ International demonstrated its line of CNC routers, plasma and knife solutions. Vinod Srinivasan, Director-Sales & Marketing, AXYZ International said visitors shown keen interest in the products they showcase. As always, EPSON gathered crowd at its stall where put up on display some select printers including SureColor S80670 and SureColor P10070/P20070. Devendra Arun Kothurkar, Senior Executive-Photographic Products, EPSON India Pvt Ltd said the SureColor Series the company demonstrated are game changers for photo printing segment.

Gita & Company presented a whole gamut of premium printing media, offering choices for diverse applications. The range included the HeyTex coated backlit, Pioneer diamond black canvas. The HeyTex range is available in super-wide formats. Shown at the stall of FUJIFILM India was the company’s Acuity Advance printer and they also presented a Uvistar Studio where showcased the sample applications printed on the super-wide UV printers. “Our idea is that visitors who wish to explore more about our machines and technologies, we lead them directly to our Mumbai demo centre,” said SM Ramprasad, Assistant Vice President, FUJIFILM India.

MStronics, Mono Sign’s subsidiary, showcased its range of LED products and alluminium LED light boxes. The range in its product portfolio comprises LED strips, LED modules, LED rigid bars, and switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) available under UNO and MONO brands manufactured in the company’s state-ofthe- art manufacturing plant in Delhi. “In- Store Asia 2018 running concurrently with Media Expo 2018 this year is an added advantage. The two expos reciprocate visitors to each other,” commented Saurabh Aggarwal from MSTRONICS.

ADS LED, another leading manufacturer of LED modules and power supply systems, also pulled crowd to its LED modules for signage, which consisted right from the injection moulded with optical lens to cap type modules that are ultrasonically welded.

Overall presentation at Mimaki India’s stall was focused on UV textile printing technology. Yoshimoto Sugiyama, Senior Sales Manager, Mimaki India Pvt Ltd, said they have developed a good rapport with their customers in the Indian market over the last two years, as their Mumbai and Delhi demo centers are now well attended. Products the company put up on display included the popular UV textile printers like JV360-160, UCJV-300-16. CJV300- 160BS and UJF6042.

HP India pulled crowd on all three days of the expo for they demonstrated unique innovations in textile printing using HP Latex technologies. “Our overall showcase here represents the whole scope of HP Latex printing, exploring the possibilities in textile applications,” says Bhavana Saluja, Country Market Development Manager, Graphics Solutions Business Asia Pacific & Japan, HP India Sales Pvt Ltd. Crowd that swarmed around the stall of Patel Enterprises was for the machine the company demonstrated—OM Sticker (Self Adhesive Label) Half Square Cutting Machine. RM Graphics, at its all-time crowded tall at the show, demonstrated a stunning range of 3M materials, such as IJ36 with changeable adhesive. Manish Tanneja from RM Graphics said they always aim at providing premium materials to those handling corporate projects.

New products launched

Media Expo 2018 witnessed a handful of landmark product launches from some of the leading machine manufacturers and distributors. Apsom Technologies launched Sovikaa Micro 2000, a heavy duty hybrid UV printer capable print on roll and flat media. Supplied by Xenons, variable dot printing technology of the printer creates smooth colour tone and less graininess. Vir Vikram Bhatia, MD, Apsom Technologies (India) Private Ltd said, “Sovikaa Micro 2000 is equipped equipped with Toshiba grey-scale printheads and it is upgradable to 12 printheads in future.” Newclear Technologies also introduced its Allwin E320UV roll-to-roll printer, with KM1024i printhead, and capable to run at 90 sq m/hr. Ajeshkumar AK, MD, Newclear Technologies said the printer adopts high resolution, mute double rail and carriage running more stable; and they are targeting now the Mumbai market.

A big announcement from Monotech System was their tie-up with Massivit 3D, as they will distribute the Israeli company’s flagship Massivit 1800 super-fast large format 3D printer in India. TP Jain, MD, Monotech Systems said the 3D printer will dramatically enhance the ability of PSPs creating eye-catching added-value visual communications. Massivit 1800 runs at 39 inch per sec in x & y-axis and up to 35cm of object growth per hour (z-axis). Sun Printable Fabrics pulled huge crowd to its newly introduced Sunfabric PP 190 Gloss printing material, which is designed for high-quality backlit graphic prints. AT Inks launched PoColor Vista ink, which is low smell, and UV Multi+, which is available in six colours + white. Manish Agarwal of Mono Sign Systems, representing AT Inks, said UV Multi+ is a UV curable universal ink suitably designed for rigid and flexible materials. UV Multi+ is also said to be one ink for Spectra, KM, Hitachi, T-TEC, Seiko and RICOH printheads. Another attraction at the company’s stall was the HP Print Delta material. Infinity Digital Solutions also introduced a new IDS-3300 solvent printer with KM 512i printhead.

Products sold

Many exhibitors reported selling of their products during the expo. JN Arora, an exclusive distributor of HandTop, Mimaki SmartJet and other systems, has sold its HandTop HT3116 UV Gen-5 Series UV printer to New Delhi-based Adwings Advertisers. “This system can deliver unsurpassed quality print at variable drop sizes of 7, 14 and 21 pico litres using RICOH Gen-5 printhead. It’s built on a proven flatbed and hybrid technology for simplicity, durability and ease of operation,” commented Aashish Arora, Director Marketing, JN Arora. The company pulled crowd to its separate stall showing Siser and Polyprint systems.

On the other side, Macart Equipment sold its newly introduced UVision UV flatbed system to Unique Doors, a widely popular company in Hyderabad known for its innovative wood works. UVision is highspeed system equipped with 3 inch swatch KM UV printhead. The system can take up materials such as wood & MDF, alumunium sheets, acrylic, ceramics, among others. City Advertising, with the showcase of its range of LED solutions and application samples, showcased its new UV flatbed machine, which was sold to Dhanbad-based Naman Offset. In the meanwhile, Digital Vision sold its Dika brand DK-2613XUV with XAAR 1201 printhead to Surat-based B Lieve Furniture.

Other key showcases

The mention of other key showcases at the expo would include DCC (Dhaval Colour Chem), which showcased a complete textile printing solution. The company deals in the world’s leading brands of machines, consumables and workflow solutions, such as EPSON, Kotnit Digital, Union Ink, WASATCH and others. Suraj Singh of DCC said their partner companies are truly world class and sufficient to escalate business of the industry people. Another key showcase at the expo was by Ajit Industries Pvt Ltd (AIPL) presenting a range of strong, smart and stable adhesive tapes and die cut solutions.

UNIC Alutech in a unique manner showcased its products, which primarily included a line of portable POP and display solutions. Viva Composite on other side of the show floor showcased a string of its existing aluminium composite panel sheets designed for wall paneling, cladding, facades, signage, cabinets, doors and others. Likewise, debutant to the expo, Nilkamal presented its line of bubble guard materials available from 250 to 3500 GSM. In the league showing materials, Alstrong displayed applications of its highend aluminium composite panels, which corporate companies demand the most.

Among the debutants, AlpahChem from Korea showcased their dye-sublimation inks. Kyu-Oh Cho, President, AlphaChem Co Ltd said they are happy with the feedbacks of visitors to their products. “We like to present in the Indian market. Now, we are looking for our partner distributors in the country,” he mentioned.

Among the exhibitors showing materials, Arvind showed a range of fabrics designed for both indoor and outdoor advertisement and promotional applications. Likewise, PV Media presented a line of materials including window films, colour vinyl, radium, etc. Arihant demonstrated a range of LEDs from some of the leading brands, including Rishang, Union, Samsung, GOQ and others. Similarly, Southern Agency showcased its LED product line, as well as other materials like Starflex.

Katar Corporation, the authorised distributor of TigerTec CNC routers, TPS channel letter bending machines, and Senfeng laser cutting machines, attracted crowd at its stall during the three days of the expo. On other side, Goldtech Graphics also demonstrated its crowd-pulling inkjet printers. Likewise, Pal Associates showcased the line of its machines comprising all kinds, UV flatbed, hybrid machine, eco-solvent, roll-to-roll, directto- garment, sublimation printer and inks & materials. Aaartist (Signage & Graphics) showcased complete range of advanced indoor, outdoor and POP systems.