Communicating Clearly Washington DC

I have to admit getting laryngitis is not the best way to start a major trade show—the first wide-format one of the year, too. For those of you I may have spoken to—whispered to or croaked at—during the ISA Expo in Las Vegas, I apologize. It's always challenging to try and communicate when your primary mode of communication is not working correctly—or not at all.

In this day and age, email communication, mobile phones, and digital technologies have made the process of communication easier and much more efficient, allowing us to communicate with colleagues and business associates with the push of a button or even a brief verbal command. Printing technology also continues to evolve, allowing print providers to produce signs, graphics, and images much more efficiently, enabling these firms to better communicate their customers' messages.

ISA this year provided an opportunity for many manufacturers to showcase new products at the first major wide-format show this side of the Atlantic—and they didn't disappoint. What were some of the highlights for me? Fujifilm's push into the printer market was impressive and so was its array of products—the Vibrant series of solvent printers and the Acuity HD 2504 UV flatbed printer. Inca Digital also showcased the new Spyder, the Spyder 320-8 Series. Agfa Graphics debuted its 63 inch wide :Anapurna M industrial wide-format inkjet printer at the show, giving ISA attendees a sneak-preview of the printer that was officially launched world-wide a week later. Hewlett-Packard unveiled the HP Designjet Z6100 printer series which will replace the widely installed HP Designjet 5000 and 5500 units. HP also released the new HP Designjet T610 and T1100 for the color CAD market, as a replacement for its older Designjet 1050 units. The newly created Innovative Solutions INX debuted the ISIJet BlueStreak UV, an upgrade for NUR Blueboard printers. Roland DGA featured two new products in its VersaCAMM printer/cutter line—the 30-inch VP-300 and 54-inch VP-540. At the show, EFI announced that its VUTEk 3360 superwide-format printer can now switch in minutes between dye-sublimation and solvent applications with the 3360's Fusion option. Additionally, NUR's new Tango solvent-based inkjet printer also has a similar ability to print with either solvent or solvent-based dye-sublimation inks.

And on the subject of ink and media, 3M, MACtac, and Avery all released new media at the show and updated their warranties and performance guarantees to include some of the newer technology, media, and inks. New media and inks were also available from InteliCoat, 3P, Fisher Textiles, EFI, Fufjifilm Sericol, and HP to name a few.

But no matter what equipment or supplies you're using, providing the best solution to communicate your customer's message effectively and efficiently is the key.