Due to receive more than 30,000 visitors, the show covers all major print markets, with manufacturers from all over the world showing off machinery and software for commercial, label, apparel, wide-format and transactional print.
Returning to Las Vegas after 2023’s Atlanta show, the show is taking place a month earlier than usual, after scheduling constrains pushed it forward, putting it into competition with the US’ Labelexpo Americas trade show in Chicago.
Mark Subers, president of events and exhibitions at organiser Printing United Alliance, told attendants at a pre-conference media day that despite the unfortunate – and unwitting – clash, and 2024 falling on a Drupa year, this year promised to be bigger and better than ever before.
Despite Drupa’s drag on manufacturers’ marketing budgets, the show has 817 exhibitors – up from 810 in 2023 – who will welcome visitors over the three-day show, running 10-12 September.
“We’re back in Vegas, and we’re running with the theme,” said Subers.
Celebrating the quirks of its host city, the show has taken on its light-hearted party spirit, with the apparel decoration zone even featuring a mini-chapel – and its very own Elvis impersonator as emcee.
“And Elvis actually has a license to marry,” added Subers: “So who knows, maybe we’ll see a Printing United first in that respect too!”
Among the more serious attractions are two notable absences from Drupa: Agfa, which decided instead to focus its attention on May’s Fespa wide-format show with multiple product launches; and Xerox, which quietly withdrew from the show in September 2023.
Most major manufacturers have taken up presence at Printing United, including headline sponsor Canon, Fujifilm, Epson, Ricoh, EFI and Mimaki.
Heidelberg and Koenig & Bauer, both of which exhibited at 2023’s show, are absent from the show’s exhibitor list following their major investment in Drupa 2024.
While the expo itself is the major event of the Printing United Alliance’s year, as a non-profit the Alliance reinvests its revenues right back into the industry, according to Ford Bowers, president and CEO of the Alliance.
He told press that the trade association had been especially busy in recent years advocating for the industry within politics, establishing a printing caucus within the US Congress in 2023. Originally formed of a bipartisan group of four congresspeople, the group has now grown to nearly ten, with Bowers hoping for a 20-30 strong group within a few years.
Already, the Alliance’s increased focus on political matters has helped it overturn a proposed law in New York state that would have seen the state outlaw all use of carbon black pigment used in nearly all black inks; Washington state likewise almost banned the use of chlorinated inks, frequently used for process yellow and process blue. On both counts, interventions from the Alliance helped to spare local printers from difficulty.
“Everything we have goes back into the industry,” Bowers said.
“We have a great economic engine here, but this engine serves a purpose. Collectively, we have a lot more weight, and a lot of authority, if we speak with one voice.”
