Wednesday 17th April saw Jenrite and HP host a Technology Expo at Auckland’s Waipuna Conference Centre to showcase their range of wide format printing technologies and application solutions. Over 100 printers and sign writers attended the expo which ran from 2pm to 7:30pm and included live demonstrations of HP latex and UV printers, mounting and laminating equipment, software workflow solutions and vehicle wrapping.
Jenrite Product Manager, Craig Simmons, says of the event “We wanted to show people how our extensive range of equipment and supplies work together to deliver quality solutions that enhance and grow our customers business. We put a strong emphasis on new applications for this expo and what the equipment and supplies we sell can be used to produce. I think we achieved that and I’ve 
received very positive feedback”.
Two of the biggest growth markets are textile and decoration graphics and Jenrite’s range of textiles and wall coverings dominated the applications area. On show were a range of new printable textiles that amazed people with the colour intensity and print quality previously only achieved through dye sublimation printing. The HP Designjet L26500 latex printer was continuously printing textiles during the show showing off the punchy colours from the latest generation of ink and textiles.
The Digital Wall Covering market is growing rapidly and five new printable wall papers were on display. Jenrite Business Development Manager, Andrew Simpson, provided demonstrations of HP’s new Wallart online digital wall covering template driven design solution. This service is free to owners of HP Latex printers and provides a simple intuitive method for designing wallpaper layouts. Users can upload their own images or select from a range of existing templates, add obstructions such as doorways and light switches and then output the print ready file complete with a panel map for easy installation. The ability to link customers into each project with editing and approval rights is a great feature.
Among the other products on show were a range of new items that attracted a great deal of interest. Two new floor graphic products featured heavily and were used to identify each of the demonstration stations. Simmons says “we used TexWalk, a removable self-adhesive textile designed specifically for applying graphics to carpet, across the entrance and in front of each piece of equipment instead of traditional rollup displays. This provided an eye-catching result that helped separate the different equipment and grabbed people’s attention as they looked to see what they were standing on”. Other floor graphics were produced on G-Floor Graphic, a clear durable product that is printed on the reverse side protecting the graphic underneath for very long life. Simmons goes on to say “G-Floor provided another eye-catching solution for us at the expo which we used as mats to cover up power cables running across the floor to equipment. Jenrite will stock G-Floor in two different textures, a wood-grain and the diamond tread pattern that we had at the expo.
All of Jenrite’s display systems were assembled at the expo and their new Curvorama system was the flagship in this area. The Curvorama is a 3 meter wide by 2.2 meter tall display that consists of 3 straight panels and 2 curvable panels, so the display can take on a range of shapes from straight to S-shape or U-shape.
Avery Dennison Technical Manager, Peter Wright, was on hand to answer questions about printable vinyl products and provided a live demonstration of vehicle wrapping, covering a Mazda in pre-printed graphics.
GMG Production Suite was also being demonstrated, showing how significant ink savings can be achieved and production bottlenecks avoided using this workflow solution.
The owner of Ezy Taper, Warrick Pye, flew in from Australia for the event and provided demonstrations on the Ezy Taper mounter/laminator.
The event was full of interesting products and applications and the room was a buzz of activity throughout the day. At 5:00pm the bar opened and canapés served shortly before the door prize of an HP Envy x2 tablet PC was drawn, which was won by Andrew Csuport of Omnigraphics.
Jenrite
www.jenrite.co.nz
