The third edition of InPrint in Germany was held last week, from 14 – 16 November 2017, at the Munich Trade Fair Centre. The exhibition was, once again, able to attract some 3,000 high-profile industry professionals, including inventors and integrators as well as printing and production specialists from various industry sectors. A comprehensive conference programme provided insight into the latest developments and market potential of this emerging industry sector. In an official awards ceremony, prizes for innovative product developments and outstanding partnerships were awarded to four exhibiting companies. The organisers, as well as the large majority of the 153 exhibitors, were highly satisfied with the outcome of the show.

“With its specialist community coming together to drive emerging markets for innovative print technologies, InPrint has now firmly established itself as the seminal event for print applications in industrial production. While the exhibition is an important platform for the exchange of ideas and innovative thinking, this time a large number of concrete solutions have been demonstrated by exhibitors on their impressive stands. What we can see as a result of this year’s show, is that InPrint is clearly evolving from a developmental networking event into a networking and trade exhibition, with increasing sales activity on the show floor”, explains Nicola Hamann, Managing Director at the organisers, Mack Brooks Exhibitions. 

At InPrint 2017 in Munich, a total of 153 exhibitors from 19 countries showcased the latest technology in speciality, screen, digital and inkjet printing for printing on metal, plastics, textiles, glass, ceramics, wood and other surfaces. The applications demonstrated at the exhibition are designed to be integrated into production lines and thus allow mass customisation of a wide variety of industrial goods. 

“While individualisation of many products and materials was previously mainly possible for small individual batches or on a made-to-order basis, innovative printing applications now enable long-term mass customisation within the industrial production process. Many manufacturing sectors see huge market potential in these printing applications, as they allow companies to enhance their value chains and gain competitive advantage,” says Frazer Chesterman, Co-Founder of InPrint. 

The variety of industry sectors represented by visitors to InPrint 2017 ranged from the automotive industry, interior design, fashion, electronics production and white goods to toys, sports, pharmaceuticals, food & drinks, ceramics and many more. The list of visitors at InPrint 2017 included delegates from renowned brands such as adidas, Audi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Continental, Daimler, EVONIK, Fischersports, LEGO System, Marc Cain, Mercedes-Benz, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing, Ravensburger Spieleverlag, Rodenstock, Swarovski, Swatch Group and uvex sports group.   

A total of 2,951 visitors from 63 countries came to Munich to discover the latest equipment, to exchange expertise or find business partners for developing market-ready solutions. In addition to the highly specialised visitors from the industrial print community, InPrint attracted 1,834 visitors from productronica, the world’s leading trade fair for electronics development and production, which was, once again, co-located with this year’s InPrint. 

An initial analysis of the exhibition survey shows that half of the InPrint visitors came from outside Germany. Top visitor countries besides Germany were Italy, Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Poland and Russia. While 60% of visitors were printing specialists, a third of visitors were from different sectors of the manufacturing industry and some 7% came from the packaging sector. According to the visitor survey, a great majority of all visitors to the show came from Executive Management, work in Research & Development, or are marketing professionals or production specialists. Visitors mainly operate in the digital printing sector (38%), in inkjet (26%), screen printing (20%) or speciality printing (9%). The main areas of interest of all visitors to the show were machinery and printing systems, inks, fluids & chemicals, print heads, screens & other special parts, materials & substrates and hardware & software as well as integrated & customised parts. 

In addition to the activities on the exhibition stands, a supporting programme in two conference theatres within the exhibition hall offered visitors valuable insight into prevailing trends and the latest developments in functional, decorative and packaging printing. The sessions included keynote speeches and expert talks as well as a podium discussion and were well received by the attendees.

The InPrint 2017 Innovation Awards, sponsored by Ricoh, acknowledged innovative products and partnerships between companies driving advancement in industrial printing and manufacturing. On the first exhibition day, InPrint Co-Founder Marcus Timson and Graham Kennedy, Head of Commercial Ink Jet Business at Ricoh, handed the prestigious prizes over to four winning companies. Winners in the category ‘Innovative partnerships’ were CEFLA, Italy, and Tonejet Ltd, UK. Prizes in the category ‘Extraordinary Products’ were awarded to Sioen Chemicals, Belgium, and Thallosjet, Italy. A special award acknowledged the lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution to the development of print technology made by InPrint ambassador Sophie Matthews-Paul.

InPrint will come back to Munich from 12 - 14 November 2019. Next year InPrint will return to Milan, Italy, from 20 – 22 November 2018. The next InPrint event in the USA will take place from 9 - 11 April 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky.