Show Time! — Polischuk
The Fall trade show season begins, as usual, early in September. This year, it is being kicked off by Labelexpo Americas 2010 being held in Rosemont, Ill. at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Following close on the heels of Labelexpo, Graph Expo takes center stage in early October and then just three weeks later, Pack Expo/CPP Expo will be front and center. Both of these shows will be held at Chicago's McCormick Place.
Now, I know Chicago is a great place to hold a trade show—being in the middle of the country and in the heart of the industrial Midwest—but three trips to Chicago in six weeks is going to be torture for this Philly boy. I'm not the least bit upset that Chicago is the hometown of President Obama (remember, he spent tons of money just so he could move away from there). What really rankles me is that Chicago is the current home town of Lord Stanley's Cup. Let me make this clear: that Cup belongs in Philadelphia. There's still a good number of people in this fair city that don't believe the Patrick Kane's shot ever went in, although I'm not one of them. I just don't want to see any Chicago Blackhawks hockey sweaters when I'm in town for these trade shows. Fat chance!
But for all these trade shows coming up, especially starting with Labelexpo, I'm hoping that Chicago's winning touch continues. Labelexpo has a real nice niche, primarily targeted at the narrow-web label industry. It held its own back in 2008 at the beginning of the Great Recession (Lehman Brothers went under just days after the 2008 show ended). And, now all of us in the package-printing industry are hoping the show reinforces the notion of a slow, but steady climb from the depths.
If the number of pre-show press releases is any indication, the show should be quite lively. Exhibiting companies are gearing up to display many new product introductions and upgrades. One area that I will be paying close attention to is digital printing, especially inkjet technologies. Based on the current size formats of these digital printing offerings, narrow-web labeling and flexible packaging is a natural starting point for these technologies in the packaging arena, and there's no doubt that they are coming on strong. Our coverage of Labelexpo begins on p. 32.
Also in this issue, beginning on p. 16, is our coverage of packagePRINTING's 24th annual Excellence Awards competition. Congratulations goes out to all the award winners in this year's competition.
Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief
We welcome your comments regarding any part of packagePRINTING. They can be addressed to Editor, packagePRINTING, 1500 Spring –Garden St., 12th Flr., Philadelphia, PA 19130, or tpolischuk@napco.com.
