Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India, the organisers of Media Expo, has announced that the 43rd edition of the expo held in New Delhi broke all previous visitor attendance records. The expo recorded an attendance of 15,338 trade visitors, which is a 21 percent increase over its 2017 New Delhi edition. Attracting marketers, print buyers, graphic specialists, product distributors and retailers from seven countries and 371 cities of India, the expo tracked notable increase of visitors from key regional markets such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Patna, Raipur, Varanasi and others. The record-breaking attendance was further fuelled by exhibitors reporting business closures and leads for orders.

Key crowd pullers

Apsom Infotex was one of the key crowd pullers at the expo. “In the range of Roland systems we are showcasing at our stall, we found visitors pulling to the VersaUV LEF- 300 direct-to-object UV LED flatbed printer with printable primer,” said Nikhil Dogra from Apsom Infotex. The flatbed printer is designed to print onto varieties of substrates including acrylic, wood, board, plastic, fabric, leather, etc. Other printers on showcase included TrueVIS VG and SG Series printers/ cutters designed with user-friendly cuttingedge features. Moreover, Apsom Infotex’s key showcase was the Dimense 3D digital wideformat printer as well. The printer is made of two major components—an inkjet printer and a digital calendar, for printing digital embossed images in the application areas like digital 3D wallpapers, POSs, roll-ups and others.

Another crowd puller at the expo was FUJIFILM India whose stall was filled with a host of passionate customers who were keen to transform their business with the wide-format inkjet systems the company showcased—Acuity LED 3200R and Acuity LED 1600R. Pradipta Chowdhury, Manager Sales - Graphic Arts Division, FUJIFILM India said the printers are designed for PSPs gearing up todiscover the new landscape of UV flatbed applications. Acuity LED 3200R is a 3.4 m RTR printer and Acuity LED 1600R is a 60 inch RTR UV printer that has completed more than 50 installations in India. Keizer Sign showcased a line of crowd-pulling Yongli CO2 laser tubes capable to cut metal and non-metal materials. The tubes are available in AS Series, R Series, DLT Series, RLT Series, ALT Series and T Series. Riyaz Siddiqui said the Yongli Series of laser tubes for laser machines are new generation products that comprehend new strength.

The colossal stall of Rex-Tone Digital was a crowded one where trade visitors were smitten by the range of PrintDelta (PD) materials. Based out of Mumbai, PD is PD is the subsidiary of Rex-Tone Digital Ltd with its focus on supplying and servicing hardware/consumables and printing media. The product portfolio that put on display by the company during the expo included an array of self adhesive vinyl, clear adhesive lamination and one-way vision for diverse applications, such as vehicle wrap, floor graphics, window displays and many others. MIMAKI India, showing its new print & cut model UC JV300-160, guided the trade visitors with new way to leverage business to a new level. Yoshimoto Sugiyama, Managing Director, Mimaki India Pvt Ltd said that they are coming up with new policy for the Indian market in April next year.

Applejet at its stall showcased a range of UV, eco-solvent, sublimation, DTG, solvent and customised printers with RICOH Gen-5 and XAAR 1201 printheads. The company’s printers are available in different hybrid models for RTR and flatbed applications.

“Our printers are engineered in such as a way that PSPs can gain stability, efficiency and easy-operation,” said Vijay Chavan, Managing Director, Applejet. ESKO presented its ever popular Kongsberg-X Series cutting table, pulling huge crowd during the expo. “Technologies change in rapid pace. So, you can invest in equipment you need today with the confidence that you can easily upgrade your business. For that Kongsberg-X Series is here to add new materials, new applications and more capacity,” said Arnab Maiti, Sales Director- South Asia, ESKO. Kongsberg-X Series is an overall solution for complex manual tasks with ‘automation’.

Showing a line of Gongzheng (GZ) printers including the ever-demanded models such as GZC 32022SG with two Starfire printheads for speed upto 1200 sq ft/hr and GZM hybrid with Dimatix Starfire 1024 printhead, JX Enterprises pulled huge crowd to the printers they showcased.

Alongside the GZ printers, the company also presented its Perestroika 1600 hybrid UV-LED printer. Sun Sign & Technologies, unveiling credence of green media, pulled crowd to its showcase of newly introduced TEXTILE-250 fabric material for digital printing. The added advantages of the fabric media include soft and delicate printing appearance, great water and weather proof and high-resolution print. Deepak Gupta, Director, Sun Sign & Technologies, said the TEXTILE-250 is totally PVC free, recyclable and 40 percent lighter that PVC. The fabric media is available in 1-3.20 m.

As always, Caldron Graphics attracted crowd with the showcase of its range of widely popular high-speed Crystal CJ, QI, K5 and F Series printers. The company’s K5 Series are RTR systems, while F-Series are textile printers with Seiko industrial printheads. Also, showcased at the company’s stall included HP DesignJet Series production printers and HP PageWide XL printers. In addition, the showcase consisted of versatile range of Crystal CS lager engravers and CNC routers, among others.

On the other side, SMK Digital showcased its crowd-pulling printer with Starfire printhead, designed to churn 600 sq ft/hr. The company is an authorised India distributor of textile printing machines and textile materials/ consumables from Shenyang Century Star Textile Digital Technology. The expo witnessed a range of crowd-pulling products from the Chinese company.

Key highlight at the stall of Arrow Digital was EFI H1625 LED. Sam Patel, MD, Arrow Digital said that the EFI is a mid-level hybrid production printer, offering fast-turn, high-margin graphics on roll and rigid media and it’s perfect for the Indian market. Products that attracted the crowd at the stand of KARTAR Corporation were 1608 UV printer, IPS S9701 channel letter bending machine and TigerTec TR 40BAD/51AD CNC routing machines. Pashupati Enterprises was also a crow puller. Trade visitors thronged to their stall innovative outdoor promotional items that included Grand Tambu, Super Gate Frame and Flags. HP Inc demonstrated Latex printing possibilities at the expo, demonstrating a gallery full of applications churned on HP Latex 315, 335 and 570 printers at the company’s well designed experience zone. Vitesh Sharma, Head of Sign and Graphics, HP Inc said, “Printing can play a pivotal role in helping brands drive incredible experiences with consumers. HP is here to help them on the journey to create magic and embrace the limitless possibilities of our Latex solutions.”

New launches

Among the new launches at the New Delhi edition of Media Expo 2018, NEGI Sign Systems & Supplies Co unveiled the latest Mutoh ValueJet 1638UR, an UV-LED RTR system equipped with dual printheads. The system’s staggered dual printhead design provides fast print speeds and the dual UV lamps on both sides of the printheads giving exceptional curing time. Other products on showcase alongside the newly launched ValueJet included the company’s ever popular Negijet Polaris Plus 3000, Negijet flatbed, Brother GTX, among others.

After a successful launch in Australia, Colorjet India introduced its Verve Hybrid UV printer at Media Expo 2018 in New Delhi. Other Colorjet printers showcased at the expo included Vulcan, Polo HQ, Verve Mini, Softjet Grand and Irisjet Pro. Verve Hybrid is capable to run as flatbed (3200x2000mm) as well as RTR (3200mm in roll form). The printer is equipped with V8 processor to deliver unmatched print quality at high speed. “Verve Hybrid is perfect printing solution for complex and technical or industrial printing applications where accurate and repeatable print geometry is critical,” mentioned Smarth Bansal, DGM (Product Management), ColorJet India.

Pioneer Polyleathers Limited, a leading flex banner manufacturer in India, introduced Pioneer Color Vinyl. The newly launched colour vinyl from the company is a high adhesion extra virgin film available in gloss and matt in 1.27 m with roll length of 45m. “Media Expo is the right platform to introduce this new product as the expo pulls right crowd for the new product,” said Purnendu Kashryap, Vice President (Sales & Marketing), Pioneer Polyleathers Limited. Mehta Cad Cam Systems introduced a handful of printers at the expo, which were RasterJet RJ 7500 UV flatbed, RasterJet RJ 3200R UV RTR high performance industrial printer and RasterJet RJ 2030/2513 UV flatbeds for high speed and high quality printing. Showcased alongside the new RJ range was the company’s Gloria Series for fibre laser/ metal cutting available with 300W/500W/ 750W/1000W/1500W/2200W.

During the expo, Apsom Technologies introduced four new printers—Skyjet SDL- 3300 UV roll-to-toll, FH 3208 industrial textile printer, Micro V4-K/R roll-to-roll UV printer and Mimaki UCJV 300 Series. Skyjet SDL-3300 is a double-side UV printing system that revolutionises the UV back-to-back printing. FH 3208 is perfectly designed for soft signage and it has three options to take directly on fabric, paper and dual roll. Meanwhile, Micro V4-K/R is high speed model capable to run at 60 sq m/hr in 6 passes with 4 Kyocera 3pl UV industrial printheads. And Mimaki UCJV 300 Series print & cut UV curable inkjet printers lead the future of graphic art to a new level as the systems require no drying time. Vir Vikram Bhatia, Managing Director, Apsom Technologies (India) Pvt Ltd, said their overall approach is to provide their customers complete digital printing solutions under one roof.

Next big thing in T-shirt printing was at the stall of EPSON where unpacked SureColor SC-F2000 DTG printer. It is engineered with the company’s Micro Pizo TFP printhead and UltraChrome DG ink technology. SureColor SC-F2000 delivers quality, versatility and reliability for direct-to-garment printing. Alongside the SureColor SC-F2000, the other SC Series showcased attractively at the expo by EPSON included S C-80670 and 40670. ADS LED at the expo launched a new range of LED modules, which included Rigid Bar Series for cotton fabric solutions, Lumina 2835 Series (Powered by PHILIPS LUMILEDS) and Power Max 3030 with Lens. ADS LED modules are most reliable and cost efficient.

Introduced at the expo from JN Arora Group was HT 3200 UV RTR printer for a gamut of printing materials, such as banner, backlit film, backlit fabric, vinyl and many other kinds of backlit media. Vimlesh Arora, Managing Director, JN Arora & Co Pvt Ltd, said the machine is the right option for PSPs to hook on fabric printing while flex is getting banned in many parts of India. Yet another HandTop machine announced at the expo from the company was an 8x4 m HT system designed with 3 rows of RICOH Gen- 5 greyscale printheads. Alongside, Mimaki UCJV 300-160 was a crowd puller. Also at the company’s stand were eco-friendly films from its channel partner PaperLam. The PaperLam products are economical, durable and highly flexible.

AT Inks launched two new products at the expo—Hexxa, one ink for multiple printheads (6) and Quattro, yet another single ink for multiple printheads (4). Manish Agarwal from AT Inks said that they offer two-year outdoor warranty on Hexxa, which is compatible with a range of printheads including FUJIFILM Dimatix (Spectra), Konica Minolta, RICOH, Seiko, Toshiba and XAAR. Similarly, Quattro is with FUJIFILM Dimatix (Spectra), Konica Minolta, Seiko and XAAR. Distributors of Yaselan, Unilami and other products, UNIQUE Sign Innovations attracted waves of visitors during the expo. The company launched new line of high-end UV systems, viz. Yaselan UV true flatbed G2513 and Yaselan UV RTR 180R/3200R.

LISCO used the New Delhi edition of Media Expo 2018 as launch pad to introduce its indigenously manufactured ‘Lisco’ brand of printers and a Scorpio (hot & cold) laminator. The three printers unveiled at the expo were: Lisco LS-1902 RUV roll-to-roll printer with XAAR 1201 dual printhead; Lisco LS-1902 eco-solvent with XAAR 1201 dual printhead; and Lisco UV flatbed printer with 900x600 mm working area, alongside the Scorpio laminator. Yatinsinh Vaghela, Founder/Director, Lisco Systems Pvt Ltd said the new Lisco UV flatbed printer is featured with rotary attachments and it is a four-colour system with white and varnish options.

New LGP Sheets, which are designed for high-tech laser dotting 3D engraving, were the new product that City Advertising announced at the expo. The largest size of the sheet will be 8x4 ft with 2-10 mm thickness. AIPL launched MN Tech Conspicuity Tape, which is a reflective tape specially designed for applications like airport security graphics.

Two new products unpacked at the stall of Monotech Systems were PixelJet miniRTR and PixelJet eco X. Akash Kumar, Senior tape specially designed for applications like airport security graphics.

Two new products unpacked at the stall of Monotech Systems were PixelJet miniRTR and PixelJet eco X. Akash Kumar, Senior UV printer. “This 6 ft UV LED RTR system is designed for PSPs looking for entering into the UV printing world,” he mentioned. Likewise Infinity Digital Solutions launced Docan high resolution UV RTR printer at the expo.

Big deals

ColorJet India announced that the New Delhi edition of the expo marked the highest ever booking of their UV printers in any Media Expo till date. It was led by the company’s Verve Hybrid UV flatbed/ RTR printer, which was launched at the expo. “The ColorJet India team is very happy with the overwhelming response we received during the expo, especially for our UV printers. In fact, we have recorded the highest number of UV printer sales, particularly of Verve Hybrid during the show. This kind of response gives us an immense confidence to go more beyond expectations,” commented Smarth Bansal, DGM (Product Management), ColorJet India.

Bhavesh Patel, Country Manager – Graphics, Print Delta, confirmed that their brand has grown with Media Expo. He shared, “We started our participation as AT Inks and are now looking at providing 360 degree solution for inks, media, machines and hardware solutions. We have got a list of hot prospects from this edition and are identifying potentials who we can partner with. Media Expo is the best platform in the industry and our brand has grown with it. We will be back in Mumbai edition in a bigger way.”

Other attractions

Britomatic India pulled crowd during the expo to its showcase of Digital KM Series. The two versatile printers presented at the company’s stall were C4 with KM 512i printhead of 30 pl and C8 PLUS with KM 512i with 13pl/30pl. Benson Polymers also demonstrated its Polyfix, instant glue cyanoacrylate adhesive, for industrial use in various applications including display banners. Similarly, Satyam Plastic enthralled the visitors with its new Strip Mesh demonstrated during the expo. CDI (Colors Digital India), an importer and manufacturer of all range of printers (solvent, eco-solvent, textile, sublimation, etc) showcased its complete product portfolio. An alternative to flex, Gita & Company introduced 100 percent PVCfree material. MSTronics put on display its LEDs and components produced in its state-of-the-art facility in Delhi. Sourabh Agrarwal from MSTronics said that their 55,000 sq ft facility is equipped with world-class machines and equipments.

Innovative interior and in-store display solutions galore at SIGNSUTRA and Flexitech. SIGNARIUM showcased choices of aluminum profiles for signage and art. TY Inks offered wide varieties of inks for UV, eco-solvent, solvent and sublimation technologies.

German Kallmeyer, International Sales Manager, NESCHEN, at the stall of Jindal Specialty Textiles Ltd during the expo said their partnership is going to hit a new ground soon in the Indian signage and graphic art market.

While the international exhibitors at Media Expo have gone up by 10 percent, many new entrants were seen this year that are looking for more brand visibility. First time participant from France, Caroline Bonnafoux, Marketing Manager, Encres Dubit shared, “We are exhibiting for the very first time and it has been very exciting meeting printers, distributers from across India at Media Expo 2018 in New Delhi.

The last, but not the least, mention of other exhibitors with their products and technologies that attracted trade visitors during the course of the three-day expo included Flexibond, Aludecor, Southern Agencies, Crossbond, Virgo, Citybond, INIDOS Insta Print, Taneja Digital, Tanusa Enterprises, Bharat Textile and Proofing Industries, PV Media, Nilkamal, RM Innovations, Aditya Impex, Timexbond Industries, among others. With a series of new launches, product displays and some exciting new highlights, the next edition of the Media Expo will be held from February 21-23, 2019 at Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC), Mumbai and it will return to New Delhi on September 06-08, 2019.