The SA sign and graphics industry gathered at the Adelaide Bowls Club for the third annual Asga Social Bowls event, with 35 participants enjoying a night of friendly competition and networking.

The relaunched National Print Awards will run under the theme ‘Elevate + Celebrate’ with the gala awards event being held during PacPrint, on the evening of Thursday 22 May, in Sydney. It will be the 40th anniversary of the industry awards.

Epson was exhibiting under its 'sho sho sei' spirit of innovation mantra, which translates as precision, compact and energy saving, manifest in a host of new technologies on its stand.

The inaugural Visual Connections Victorian Golf Day at Melbourne’s Sandhurst Golf Club served as a platform for industry networking, and to celebrate the contributions of outgoing CEO Peter Harper.

Ball & Doggett represented several of the leading exhibitors at drupa, including HP, Roland DG, and Kornit, and was taking time to get to know the latest equipment it will be bringing to Australia.

The industry’s women in SA and WA took the opportunity to make new connections and enjoy extended conversations with their peers, at Women in Print ‘Print & Prosecco’ events.

Zünd launched its new Q-Line generation of cutters – with Board Handling System BHS180 and integrated Undercam optical capturing system – on the global stage for the first time.

XMPie showed its new Open XM technology, which it says gives marketers the freedom to fully leverage the latest web, email and mobile technologies, all while ensuring print and digital are in sync.

Screen launched a new roll-fed digital inkjet press, the Truepress Jet 560HDX, aimed at the commercial print sector, and showed the latest version of its Truepress Jet digital label press.

Smartech represents several leading exhibitors at drupa, including Canon, HP, Epson, and Jwei, manufacturer of digital die-cutting and finishing solutions, where Print21 caught up with Brett Wark.

Morgana had several new launches at drupa, as its parent company Plockmatic celebrated 50 years in business as a manufacturer of finishing solutions for the graphic arts industry.

This was the first drupa for Miraclon, which says it is developing modern flexo systems for packaging printers, and had nine new Flexcel NX technologies on its stand.

Sustainability is central to the Mimaki, with the company using drupa to show how it is supporting the sustainable development of the industry, and improving its environmental footprint.

Landa showed new versions of the two presses it has been installing, with the new S11 for folding carton printing and the S11P for commercial printing. No word on when or if they will be available in ANZ.

Kurz had its biggest-ever stand at this drupa, in fact 50 per cent bigger than last time, and showed the full range of its embellishing options, including foils, dies and digital embellishing systems.

The Koenig & Bauer stand included offset, flexo and digital presses, with growth areas for the company identified in postpress, in digital printing, in corrugated printing, and in flexibles.