FESPA 2010 will be the biggest and most comprehensive FESPA exhibition ever, mirroring the wide format market’s consistent growth, and its optimism for the future. Filling five halls at Messe Munich, the show is clearly ‘zoned’ into areas focussing on digital, screen and textile.
Digital
The FESPA 2010 floor plan reflects the market’s rapid progress towards digital production, with three halls at the show now dedicated to digital technologies. This compares with just one digital hall at FESPA 2005, the first year that digital impacted visibly on the show’s exhibitor profile. The Digital zone of FESPA 2010 will be far and away the largest event for digital wide format production in Europe this year, and nearly 30% larger than FESPA’s own European FESPA Digital 2009 event, which wowed exhibitors and visitors in Amsterdam. The major digital wide format players are recognising FESPA 2010 as the market-leading show in the sector, many with their most substantial presence to date, and most using this show as a platform for global product launches.
Screen
The screen printing area of the show is smaller than in 2005, highlighting the evolution of screen printing as a solution for niche industrial and higher volume printing applications in the face of the rapid migration to digital. Despite this market shift, the Screen zone of FESPA 2010 will be the biggest and best representation of screen printing worldwide for the next three years, and FESPA events continue to be a magnet for screen printers from around the globe. By presenting screen and digital side by side under one roof, FESPA aims to show visitors how successful print service providers can blend digital and analogue processes to deliver a broader scope of products for customers and optimise productivity and profitability.
Textile
The trend towards textile substrates for a range of sign, graphics and industrial applications will be in evidence throughout all zones of FESPA 2010. In particular, the dedicated Textile zone - under the new FESPA Fabric banner – harnesses the size and success of the diverse garment exhibits at FESPA 2007 within a focused event.
Concentrating these exhibitors within an entire dedicated hall, FESPA Fabric will shine the spotlight on the latest developments and trends in garment printing and embellishment, straddling both digital and screen processes (see launch press release, 5th February 2010).
FESPA Managing Director for Events, Frazer Chesterman comments: “2010 is expected to be a landmark year for many businesses. For entrepreneurs who guided their organisations through the economic crisis, the direction they adopt for the latter half of 2010 and beyond could define their future success. FESPA’s own Economy Survey conveys cautious optimism, focused towards the second half of 2010. What’s more, our own and third-party research underlines the importance of prudent investment in digital technology as a survival factor for businesses competing in a changed economy. Against this backdrop, FESPA 2010 will be a springboard for further change in our community in the decade ahead.”
Chesterman concludes: “The conditions are right for the FESPA community to cast off the negativity of the last 18 months, pursuing new techniques, applications and business models to take their businesses to the next level. Process and efficiency are necessary, but the best wide format printers thrive on bright ideas and a ‘can-do’ attitude to solving their customers’ problems. Our industry is colourful, creative, exciting, interactive, challenging and thought-provoking. As a reflection of the community it serves, FESPA 2010 will be all that and more.”
To find out more about FESPA 2010, or to register for the event visit www.fespa.com
