The industrial print segment – printing technology that is used to decorate manufactured objects or add functionality into item – is set for significant growth. A recent Smithers report estimates the segment will grow to over $137 billion by 2024. Is there opportunity for you to join the boom and expand your business in this space?

No one knows better than industry expert and Smithers consultant, Sean Smyth. Sean Keeps a finger on the pulse of the print industry, providing critical forecasts and market data to help businesses grow. In his keynote session, Sean will set the stage for the day with a big picture look at the latest developments and market drivers for the industrial print segment, with a particular eye on how a commercial printer can capitalize on it. You’ll come away from this session with a better understanding of the key markets, technology and trends that make industrial printing a real potential growth area for your business.

In business, a pivot is to change the direction of a business, often to move into a new market space altogether. Some commercial printing companies are breathing new life into their business by pivoting away from “marketing services” and toward industrial or specialty printing. In this session, Bret Riecke, Konica Minolta’s Senior Director of Business Development in the industrial print space, talks with printing company leaders who have done just that. They will share how they did it, and what kind of success they’ve found. This session will serve as a blueprint for anyone who is considering a pivot into new markets.

In this session, industry expert Craig Reid, provides a brief overview of some of the integration challenges involved in industrial inkjet decoration, along with some examples of success and where the technology is headed. The components are commercially available, with now proven results, and sometimes for less cost than people believed possible.

Are you considering making the leap into one of the hottest market segments? Without question, home décor is growing fast and furious. The online décor market alone will grow by USD 52.95 billion (Source: Technavio). As a print industry professional, you have the technology and solutions to be successful, but before you craft your business plan, you also need to learn what not to do. Join Rachel Nunziata, industry expert, as she shares her first-hand knowledge, top ten tips and resources to help you grow your décor print business.

Tom O’Brien knows how to follow the money and grow new customers; he’s been doing it since he started his company, Acculink, when he was just 25. Several years ago, he saw the opportunity to get into the “print on demand” business to supply product for a major e-commerce company, and he built a streamlined production workflow to support the thousands of daily orders that come from that client. Building on that success, Tom looked at the dynamic areas of flexible packaging and together with Tim Mages, built AccuFlex Packaging, bringing sustainable options to small and mid-sized food and coffee manufacturers. In this session, Tom and Tim talk discuss their new venture and share ideas and best practices for finding new viable markets and grow business.

Today, commercial printers must look at new avenues to expand its services. One way to do that is to create additional products that they can offer to both new and existing customers. Offering digital embellishments with textured and raised spot UV coatings and raised metallic foils is one way to do that. These products can include posters, small POP displays and table tents that grab customer attention, personalized invitations and greeting cards using digital foils, personalized direct mail with tactile textured surfaces, and much more. Join moderator Jeff Peterson, executive director of the Foil & Specialty Effects Association with printers and embellishers as they explore options and new opportunities that digital embellishments can offer.

Kary Radestock is a true entrepreneur. She recognized the enormous opportunity the cannabis industry could bring to a packaging business early on and took the leap to build Hippo Premium Packaging from the ground up to serve it. The company quickly became known for bringing exceptional branding and professionally-crafted packaging to the industry, and Kary is a recognized as an industry pioneer and leader.

In this session, Kary discussing the significant opportunities to make money in the booming cannabis industry, along with a realistic look at its challenges (can anyone say, “government regulations”?) Be prepared to be enlightened and inspired by this award-winning business leader who is happy to share her blueprint to success in offering packaging and branding services to the cannabis industry.

Do you find that your production workflow has too many bottlenecks? Too many places where projects slow down to move from one process to another? Do you have the opportunity to take on new work but you're not sure how you'd produce it? In this session, Debbie Nicholson talks with Todd Murphy, president of Engineered Printing Solutions, a company that specializes in building custom solutions for unique production challenges. When you're printing products in quantity, you should think like a manufacturer, with automated processes in a streamlined workflow. Debbie and Todd will discuss how and why it makes sense to invest in customization, whether it be a marking device for a very specific product, or a streamlined workflow to enhance your existing production line.

Our culture is constantly being influenced by fads, trends and occasionally truly disruptive technologies that find their way into new and maturing markets. It raises the question: how do we integrate these new technologies into our current sales and marketing strategies? While some are pricey now, we have seen the cost of many tools (some only a few years old) become affordable and a part of day-to-day life very quickly. Some of these new technologies may only have a few providers now. But as we have often seen, if there is market demand there will

be more and more suppliers—many coming from the most unexpected places including the graphic arts industry but especially the print community and related supply chain manufacturers. We’ll cover new technology such as image recognition as a link between ink-on-paper and digital marketing communications; OLED (organic light emitting diodes) paper thin monitors being incorporated into unique direct marketing and publishing campaigns; the ability to print electronic and digital circuitry directly on substrates to be used for new products including packaging, interior design, greeting cards and more. Join the discussion on how the printing industry is incorporating new technology to evolve in ways we would not have imagined only a few years ago.