While Xerox flanked by Canon and Konica Minolta continued to be the biggest stalls in terms of size, Ricoh ramped up their presence this time and HP for the first time displayed their star performer "Indigo" at their stand.

PrintExpo 2016 inauguration

The exhibition held at Chennai Trade Center saw a flurry of sales. The big ticket sale of the Canon C10000VP to Bengaluru-based SV Color Graphics in the first hour of the show was the show stopper.

Chennai’s own Monotech made a statement of intent with a fleet of their own and represented products on display while another Chennai company ePrint Machinery put on an impressive debut show at the expo with their digital finishing equipment from Horizon.

“After talking to several print buyers we realised that even the big offset printers were keen to supplement their units with digital presses and the overall mood in the market was inclined for more digital press choices and that is reflected in the occupation,” said Ashok Neelkant, managing director, Intel Trade Fairs & Exposition, the organiser of PrintExpo.

Packaging also was adequately represented by Zhongke India, Suba Solutions with their meet and greet set-up to interact with the visitors and Esko who demonstrated their platform 16 for packaging pre-press systems.

Team SV Color Graphics finalising the deal at Canon stall

The printers’ printers increased in numbers with Chennai-based Rajam’s digital making a comeback to offer their hybrid solution and joined Printexpo regulars like the Coimbatore duo, Zig Zag Printers and Shree Maruthi Printers.

The eighth edition of the exhibition held between 12 and 14 August 2016 recorded total visitors of 11,739 and generated business worth over Rs 150 crore, according to the organiser.