500 EXHIBITORS AT FESPA GLOBAL

Global wide format show Fespa has been running this week, but with fewer numbers of ANZ print people, and without some of the leading exhibitor names, missing due to Fespa’s proximity to drupa, which opens in just two months’ time.

All the major players at Fespa, apart from Agfa, will also be at drupa, but some of the usual leading names were missing from Fespa, including the likes of HP and Fujifilm, as they chose to focus on drupa instead.

The Fespa organiser said 80 per cent of Fespa exhibitors do not exhibit at drupa, but these are mainly the multitude of small European exhibitors that would not be of interest to ANZ printers. 

Some 500 exhibitors had stands at Fespa, held this time in Amsterdam, 80 of them new to the show, which was co-located with European Sign Expo, Personalisation Experience and Sportswear Pro.

Fespa Global 2024 ran under the strapline of ‘New opportunities’. Organisers said there were in excess of 100 new global product launches during the four days of the expo. Agfa launched a trio of new printers incuding the 5.2m wide Jeti Condor, EFI showed upgrades to its Pro 32r+ platform, Zund had a new semi-automated board feeder for its G3 cutting table, Mimaki had a new flatbed printer and new flatbed cutter, while Elitron, which is now represented in ANZ by Currie Group, showed its multi-function Kombo SDC+ conveyor cutting system with Kumula, the new Elitron Stacking System.

Next year’s Fespa Global will be back in Berlin, and will run 5-9 May, two weeks prior to Australia’s PacPrint expo, which is scheduled for 20-23 May in Sydney.