After two successful days, the InPrint Industrial Inkjet Conference, held May 1-2 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, closed, providing the industrial print community with insights on adopting digital technologies to develop new business opportunities.

Registrants from companies like Avery Dennison, Xerox, Apple, Konica Minolta and Procter & Gamble heard from industry thought leaders on the successes and challenges of adopting digital print. Focusing on packaging, decorative and functional print applications, presenters shared their expertise highlighting trends, case studies, and the latest technical innovations in industrial inkjet. 

“The content of the InPrint Conference was focused on where the industrial inkjet market is headed and how manufacturers can implement the technology into their production to drive business growth,” stated Kevin Jackson, InPrint USA Exhibition Manager. “For example, Heidelberg presented a case study about their customer Ritzi Automotive, who are successfully using inkjet applications. Implementation has its challenges, but our goal at InPrint is to help the manufacturing community learn from each other and provide access to the information and technology they need to succeed in their business goals.”

Some of the highlights of the conference included:

• The keynote presentation “Rebirth of Industrial Inkjet” presented by Mark Hanley, President, I.T. Strategies. Hanley shared his projections for realistic market development potential across all market segments – decorative, functional and packaging. Each sector was examined in terms of the opportunities for growth and the introduction of new print technology.

• The General Session, “Merger & Acquisition Activity in the North American Industrial Inkjet Market” presented by Kenneth D. Stack, President, Proximus, LLC M&A, Venture Capital, Advisors; James Hirchak, Director, Business/Corporate Development Dover Engineered Systems, ‎Dover Corporation; and Liz Logue, Sr. Director Corporate Business Development, EFI. Together they shared the latest data and market trends related to M&A activity in the industrial inkjet industry, as well as their experience and learned best practices in M&A strategy, execution and integration for their organizations.

• Ron Gilboa, Group Director, Production Technology Advisory Service, Keypoint Intelligence—InfoTrends presented the closing keynote session “Growing your Inkjet Printing Business.” In his session, Gilboa highlighted what companies need to consider as they embark on adopting digital technologies in their operations, urging attendees to consider not only the technology itself, but rather how integrating new digital technology forces a business to rethink production and business processes to meet evolving client demands.

Presentations are available for download on the InPrint USA Conference website, http://www.inprintshow.com/usa/conference.

The next InPrint USA show, co-located with ICE USA, the International Converting Exhibition, will be held in Louisville, KY April 9-11, 2019. For information about InPrint USA, visit www.inprintshow.com/usa/exhibition/ or contact Mack Brooks Exhibitions at 866-899-4728.

INX International and Kao Collins are platinum sponsors of the InPrint Industrial Inkjet Conference. For a full list of conference sponsors, visit http://www.inprintshow.com/usa/conference/sponsors/conference-sponsors/.