PRINTING United Expo 2024 Delivers Unparalleled Volume of Industry Insights

PRINTING United Expo 2024 in Las Vegas buzzed with a dynamic energy from the 24,969 registered attendees, 800 exhibitors, and industry thought leaders from 115 countries sharing their thought leadership. Attendees explored a captivating blend of product launches, live demonstrations, high-powered networking opportunities, immersive education sessions, and market-segment-specific forums such as the Packaging Impressions Forum.

140-Plus Total Educational Sessions

Of PRINTING United Expo’s 146 educational sessions and forums, more than 20 sessions were part of the labels and packaging track. This track provided a comprehensive overview of the packaging converting and printing markets from operations to business management. Key sessions included “Trends Driving an Evolving Label Industry,” “The Future of Profitability,” “The Flexible Packaging Convergence Opportunity,” “Navigating the Path to Sustainable Reporting,” and “How Generative AI Is Redefining Packaging Creation.”

While not the only speaker to tackle the ever-changing subject of AI for manufacturing, Hector Garcia, founder of MBN Creative, has been at the forefront of the generative AI for business revolution. With a career spanning more than 25 years in the printing industry, Garcia has seen firsthand the transformative power of AI.

Garcia’s extensive experience in the printing, marketing, and branding industries, combined with his pioneering role in integrating AI into creative and business processes, make him a leading voice in the industry.

In his session, “How Generative AI Is Redefining Packaging Creation,” Garcia emphasized AI’s benefits for label and packaging printers, including:

Speed to Market

Generative AI significantly reduces the time required to produce finished printed packages and labels. Garcia shared examples of projects that previously took weeks but now can be completed in days, thanks to AI.

Enhanced Productivity and Capabilities

AI amplifies human productivity and capabilities, empowering label and package printers — and the designers they work with —to explore more creative possibilities and execute complex tasks in shorter time spans.

Cost Efficiency

By automating labor-intensive processes, AI helps lower production costs, making high-quality design accessible to label and package printing companies of all sizes.

Consistency and Quality

AI ensures consistent quality across multiple designs, maintaining high standards — no matter what type of printed sample the print buyer provides.

Generative AI Can Fuel Convergence Opportunities

Garcia showcased several compelling examples of how generative AI can drive convergence opportunities in printing, from commercial and packaging to wide-format visual displays.

Historic Image to Product Extension

He demonstrated how a distressed, historic image derived from a commercial printing job could be transformed into a product extension for a consumer packaged goods brand. This process preserves the brand’s heritage and creates new revenue opportunities for the brand and the printer.

Annual Report to Modern Label

Garcia illustrated how generative AI could quickly turn an image from an annual report into a label for a bottled product. This capability eliminates the barrier for printing companies that want to sell their services both to the commercial and packaging markets.

Multi-Media Brand Experiences

He further explained how AI could transform a bottle label into a corrugated shipper, a wrap for a semi-truck, and other printed products, ultimately creating a cohesive multi-media brand experience. These examples showcased how label and package converters can leverage the convergence trend by expanding into different packaging segments, the wide-format visual display markets, and commercial printing.

Bustling Exhibition Halls

“With the many concurrent events taking place, as well as 2024 being a ‘drupa year,’ we were really pleased with the crowds, but even more so with the impressive volume of groundbreaking equipment running live on the show floor and, not surprisingly as a result, the sales being reported,” says Mark J. Subers, president, Events and Exhibitions, PRINTING United Alliance. “We had nearly 5 million pounds of equipment on the floor this year. Many attendees were able to see the newest technology for the first time ever in North America, which was a huge high point for them.”

This year’s event had more square footage of printing and converting technology than in 2023, encompassing 385,600 sq. ft. Furthermore, PRINTING United Expo 2025, to be held Oct. 22-24 in Orlando, Florida, is already at 267,700 sq. ft. (67% of the floor) sold.

Clearly, the success of PRINTING United Expo 2024 sets the stage for an even more exciting 2025 event. Attendees can look forward to another PRINTING United Expo filled with innovation, education, and community building, and hopefully, a less crowded industry events schedule in Oct. 2025.

PRINTING United Alliance is offering free passes to the next PRINTING United Expo to qualified attendees through its Notify Me program. To check your eligibility for a free pass to the event, fill out the form found here. 

To learn more about the event in general, visit PRINTINGUnited.com.