The Expo: What Was Hot This Year
Integration and digital imaging continue to change and influence the market
 With the largest show floor in history, the Expo hall was the perfect stage for new technologies, excellent presentations, and complete imaging solutions.
Johnny Shell, SGIA’s Vice President of Technical Services, said one trend he saw on the show floor, from companies hoping to expand, was new integrated printers, such as one with the ability to use both dye sublimation and solvent ink, or one that adds a digital component to an established screen printing system.
“Integration allows companies to expand their product range without having to buy another printer,” Shell said.
Shell added that the “print-anything” ideology, which has long been present among screen printers, will soon become true for digital, given all of the current research and development taking place.
Dan Marx, SGIA’s Vice President of Markets and Technologies, agreed, and also shared an interesting concept: No matter the output, digital continues to change and shape the industry.
“The show has definitely evolved in the last four or five years and has become more digitally prominent,” said Don Ross, Roland DGA Corp.
Perhaps most impressive this year is the relatively new competitiveness of high production digital printers with traditional screen printing and short-run litho. About two years ago, digital printers were most efficient and cost-effective for runs smaller than 150 to 200 pieces.
With some of the new technology featured at SGIA ’07, this number could go much, much higher and the output wouldn’t lose any of the inherent digital benefits: Full color, lower cost, customization and ability to print on larger sizes of substrates.
The cause of the dramatic increase in number in such a short time, said Marx, is in part due to the development of UV-curable printers, print heads and inks.
UV Curable, LED and cationic inks move to the forefront
Although UV-curable inks have been used since the 1980s in the screen printing industry, it’s a fairly new trend in the digital market. This was clear on the Expo floor with EFI VUTEk’s new QS3200r UV roll-to-roll printer, and Gerber Scientific Product’s Solara Ion flatbed and roll-to-roll wide-format UV inkjet printer, to name a few new UV printers introduced at SGIA ‘07.
 “UV is a revolution in the industry, and you can clearly see that here on the trade show floor,” Bruce Butler, MacDermid ColorSpan Inc. said. “It’s a relatively new technology that is used more and more because of the benefits and upgrades in the inks and equipment.”
Other industry professionals agreed that the move to UV is a growing trend. “Overall in the industry, other companies are joining the UV market, certainly with the roll-to-roll systems,” said Mark Packerman, NUR America Inc. “Many of the customers are those we’ve had that are upgrading their equipment, but we’ve also had customers that were more solvent-based coming to us.”
Equally important is the development of new cationic inks and LED technologies such as Sun LLC’s LED UV-curing system. This system provides intense UV light without the heat of traditional UV lamps. The LED curing system reportedly uses less energy and lasts significantly longer than UV lamps.
“Cationic inks and LED UV-curing are the initial offerings of significant developments that may become commonplace in the future,” Marx said.
All of this, however, is only the beginning of the process. Without high-powered and intelligent finishing tools, this new printing technology might be wasted. SGIA ’07 also was home to many of the newest cutting and finishing technologies available today.
New cutting + finishing technology = new revenue sources
 While the market has been hot for roll-to-roll cutting systems for some time now, the increase in cutters for rigid media used on flatbed systems was evident at SGIA ’07.
Using the same digital file that was used for the print, these cutting systems were using blades, lasers and routers to efficiently and effectively cut through a variety of substrates. The integration of printing and finishing systems as one combined unit also was featured strongly on the show floor.
“We have some new cutting systems that are receiving excellent feedback [at SGIA ‘07],” said Greg Weeks, TheMagicTouch. “The attendees aren’t just curious. They’re seeing systems they want to pick up.”
Today’s industry shows imagers must invest in better finishing tools to build more revenue. To this end, SGIA recently created the Post Print Manufacturers Alliance, which is dedicated to expanding the knowledge, value and possibilities of print finishing within the specialty imaging community.
“The end product you wish to produce defines the equipment you purchase,” Marx said. “The printer makes the print, but it’s really the finishing technology that makes it a product.”
Finding your niche: Digital apparel customization and direct-to-garment
In an industry that is constantly upgrading and changing, the way to survive is to look for new, innovative ways to be creative, Robertson said.
 Chris Bernat, Vapor Apparel/Source Substrates reinforced this idea during his SGIA ’07 educational session, “Profiting with Customized Apparel — From Performance Apparel to Fashion Tees.” He reiterated the theme of creating profitability by identifying the trends (in this case customization) and finding your niche market, and capitalizing on them to become profitable.
“Customization is a massive trend that is happening everywhere,” Bernat said. Knowing the equipment needed, both in screen printing and digital, is key. “You have to know your software, technologies and capabilities,” he said.
On the direct-to-garment side, attendees saw new developments in existing technology. There was a new router for decorating garments with rhinestones — a much lower-cost solution for a typically high-priced product — and at least two automatic pre-treatment devices for dark shirts present on the show floor.
“I’d say [SGIA ’07] is the best show worldwide,” said Rex Knofsky, Just Right T-shirts Inc. (Fort Lauderdale, Florida). “I’m interested in direct-to-garment printers. There is definitely enough representation of that here on the show floor.”
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