Apex Digital Graphics, which is hosting the event on 1-3 and 8-10 October at its Hemel Hempstead showroom, hopes to better last year's show, which drew some 148 companies. The event includes demos and seminars and is themed on industry, innovation and inspiration.

Apex managing director Bob Usher said: "The event is one of the largest kit installations in the UK at the moment: it's a massive site with a lot of showroom space and a huge variety of equipment from image creation to output devices that range from inkjet to litho.

"We have also added peripheral suppliers to the mix at the front- and back-end. This is one of the largest shows this side of Ipex."

He said more than 50 companies had registered to attend but the build up was accelerating and the organisers hoped to "mirror or exceed" last year's figure. The last show was at IFS in Perivale, but this year's venue is more easily accessible, near the M1 and M25 motorways.

This year marks the third outing for Print Efficiently, following 2011 and 2012, and is focused around five zones: pre-press, MIS, web2print and workflow; CTP and litho print; digital print; post-press and mailroom; and photobooks and value-add.

Usher said: "We deal with Ryobi and Konica Minolta: many customers who go digital find it hard to match colour output with their offset kit. We will be presenting software from CGS enabling the two machines to be calibrated to give similar outputs, so printers can sell both to the same account."

Major highlights include the arrival of the UK's first Ryobi 760E press, unveiled at Drupa 2012. Kodak will demonstrate a Nexpress SX digital colour Press and Prosper inkjet heads, while Horizon will demonstrate its quick and cost-effective PUR perfect binding alongside its new entry-level BQ280 kit.

Kodak marketing manager for the UK and Nordics, David McGuiness said: "This is the only real working print show, or open house, that is being run this year, so you can see jobs from start to finish, from filing through to finishing. Visitors can see our Prosper heads, which can be blended with litho kit.

"That said, not everyone wants to go to shows to buy kit. But people do want to learn, and you can do so here without feeling pressure to buy thanks to seminars on every day. Everything that goes on in the print room comes under the spotlight including recycling and humidification."

Prepress, press and post-press suppliers will be on-hand to show off technology across key sectors of the short-run, commercial printing sectors. The seminars this year are focusing more heavily on interactive Q&A sessions.

Speakers include Kodak digital print marketing director Erwin Busselot, PIRA strategy consultant Neil Falconer and Paul Sherfield of the Missing Horse Consultancy.

Partners include Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), Vpress, Shuttleworth Business Systems, Meler, KAS Paper Systems, Perfect Document Creation (PDC), Lake Image Systems, Cyan X, Roland DG and Antalis McNaughton.

Usher said the event was a "collaborative exercise" offering a unique platform to demonstrate hands-on working solutions and production efficiencies on multiple devices in a relaxed atmosphere.

Show manager Vic Fletcher said: "We are not just showing processes in isolation, from web-to-print to the mail room, but how everything works together. From a business perspective, it's a great way to learn how to squeeze the most from not only each in-house process but how to make them all work together more smoothly.

"For demonstrations and hands-on experience it is probably the best event of the year in the UK."

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