Welcome back to Wide Format Online’s magazine and twice-weekly newsletters- hope you all had a good well-deserved break. 2024 is shaping up to be a positive year for the Inkjet-driven Sign, Display, POS and digital Packaging sectors, following the patchy recovery experienced in 2023. Late in the year, we saw a flurry on installations of mostly flatbed printers and suppliers indicate that 2024 order books are looking good.
Trade shows, such as the FESPA Global Print Expo, are in abundance in 2024
Businesses can only hold off investing for so long, before a frantic catch-up has to take place and this can pace suppliers in a hard position to forecast and fulfill demand. Supply chains continue to be stretched and not helped by the Houti/Yemeni attacks on legitimate international shipping into the Red Sea and Suez. Re-routing vessels via the African Cape of Good Hope adds time and cost – we’ve been there before.
First half of 2024 events loom large, kicking off with the FESPA Australia summer BBQ socials in Melbourne and Sydney, then the March FESPA international trade show in Amsterdam, plus Melbourne's APPEX Packaging show, closely followed by the first drupa expo in eight years in Duesseldorf.
In July we have our own regional trade expo in Brisbane – Visual Impact. Here’s the run-down for your Google calendars:
February 15th – FESPA Australia social BBQ, Melbourne
February 29th – FESPA Australia social BBQ, Sydney
March 12th to 15th - APPEX Packaging show, Melbourne
March 19th to 22nd – FESPA Global Print Expo Amsterdam, The Netherlands
May 28th to June 7th – drupa 2024 in Duesseldorf, Germany
July 17th to 19th – Visual Impact Expo, Brisbane, Qld
That’s your first-half ’24 travel sorted! There will be more events and gatherings as the year draws on, we’ll keep you posted on these.
Here’s wishing you all a positive, successful and enjoyable year ahead.
