Digital press manufacturer Domino reports that its Digital Printing Spectrum 2017 was a great success. Taking place May 23 and 24 at the Holiday Inn Gurnee Convention Center in Gurnee, IL, just outside Chicago, the one-day event was packed with activities and presentations while living up to its mantra of allowing attendees to “See more. Learn more. Do more.”

There were 20 presenters and 46 table-top exhibits, and over 300 registered visitors came to Gurnee, choosing one of the two days that worked best for their schedule. Presentations were from market research experts, label converters, supplier partners, industry trade associations and technology experts from Domino. There was also a Q&A Panel Discussion that included five successful label printer/converters that represented companies of small, medium and large sizes. L&NW editor Steve Katz was also on hand, presenting in his view some of the best practices he’s seen at highly successful label companies.

Plenty of audience participation and interaction was encouraged and took place, as the attendees asked questions in one of three ways: from emailing questions in advance; asking their question live at the event; or by writing their question on supplied cards during the Q&A sessions for the moderator to ask. Digital Printing Spectrum 2017 was moderated by Dan Muenzer, the vice president of marketing at Constantia Flexibles and the soon-to-be president of TLMI.

To accommodate the various activities, the convention center’s 10,000 square feet of meeting space was divided in two. The right side of the room was set as a theater with full audio/visual production showcasing not only the presenters’ PowerPoint presentations, but several Domino-driven videos including those from market research experts. Professional 30-second voice-over video bios introduced each presenter to the stage.

One highlight in particular was LPC Inc. discussing the “past, present, and future of label printing.”  LPC is a market research and technical PR firm dedicated to the label and packaging industries. At Digital Printing Spectrum, LPC’s David Walsh and Jennifer Dochstader revealed their latest findings regarding the proliferation of digital print technology within the label industry. Notably, the duo reported that 43% of North American label converters are “specialists,” serving three or less end-use markets. Flexible packaging, shrink sleeve and extended text labels are key areas of opportunity for today’s converter, LPC said, and added that converters are citing excessive short run work as a main reason for press downtime. They also said that digital presses are no longer considered a complementary technology, but rather a replacement for conventional printing equipment.

A new Outlook Group video made its debut and it bridged its previous K600i video with a brand new N610i testimonial from Kevin Hayes, the company’s executive vice president. Testimonial videos from Smyth Companies, Argent Tape & Label N610i and McCourt Label highlighted their successes with the Domino N610i UV inkjet label presses. 

The left side of the room had 46 table-top exhibitors on the perimeter of the room. In the middle of the room is where the evening receptions, networking breakfasts and lunches were held, thus allowing attendees to easily visit with the vendors representing every facet of the digital label printing workflow.

The afternoon agenda included three shuttle bus visits to Domino’s headquarters down the street for demonstrations of the N610i and K600i.  Philip Easton presented the demonstration of the N610i and Matt Condon presented the K600i demo. In addition, representatives from AB Graphic and Delta ModTech demonstrated the abilities of their respective finishing systems that are installed at Domino headquarters.

Bill Myers, Domino’s marketing manager, commented, “Our goal is to create and provide the environment, platform, and information to deliver to you an exceptional networking and educational experience. This event is about bringing together all facets of the industry – a wide range or “spectrum” of industry leaders, market research experts, and companies looking for answers to help their business succeed, be efficient, and be profitable with digital printing. This event celebrates with you our Domino “do more” attitude, our culture, our people, our year-on-year growth, and our continued investment in world-class digital printing solutions.”