Following Sign and Digital UK, the exhibition for the sign-making, display solutions, and digital printing industry, confirmed a 12 percent increase in visitors from last year following the successful event which took place earlier in March.

Rudi Blackett, portfolio director, says: “This year’s Sign and Digital UK has been excellent, with a huge range of product launches, a wealth of sales across every day of the show and high volumes of good quality visitors.”
The show saw more than 200 exhibitors flock to the NEC, welcoming 6,800 unique visitors and 350 visitors who attended the show more than once, beating 2014’s visitor total of 6,115. With kit demonstrations, free seminars, and workshops, world firsts, and product launches, there were plenty of sales made throughout the duration of the show.

Perfect Colours sold over 20 HP Latex 300 printers, PrintMax sold over 20 printers before the end of the show, and Inktec made a sale of its brand new wide-format Jetrix roll-to-roll UV inkjet printer, the RX3200, within the first hour of opening of the show, though sadly Darren McMurphy of PFI Solutions in Cheshire was not around to shake hands over the machine. Radecal also sold over 20 CNC and laser machines, while Resolute DTG confirmed sales of over £100,000.

Launches of new kit and media also dominated the halls, which were humming with the sounds of printers busy at work. On day one, the talk of the exhibition was the launch of Agfa Graphics’ latest addition to the i-Series, the Anapurna M3200i RTR. The 3.2m roll-to-roll UV printer on display had a dual system that can print jobs on two rolls simultaneously.

Over at Hybrid Services’ stand, there was an abundance of Mimaki launches including the CJV150 Series, CJV300 Series, CFL-605RT, which was available in a combination package with the popular existing UJF-6042 flatbed LED UV printer. Josero was giving the new Ricoh Pro L4160 its first test drive in the Sign and Digital halls to much acclaim, and in the finishing department, Complete CNC Solutions was demonstrating some of its biggest, newest technology, the Unico TT 3020 Routing and Print Finishing System from Protek and the Tekcel VSR 2000 x 3000.

The growing field of textiles printing was certainly making ripples, with MTEX displaying two of its sublimation printers, the MTEX 1800 and the MTEX Vision, which claim to provide all-in-one print and fixation solutions, allowing sign-makers to produce everything from backlit banners and flags to soft-furnishings and clothing, in one pass.

In media news, Premier Paper announced that it will be distributing Vivid Laminating Technologies’ Boss range of laminating films, and a Smart car wrapping race at William Smith’s stand showed off new colour ranges of 3M and Arlon’s films. Soyang also launched a range of new media, from SoNetic a polyester magnetic wall lining, and Sealwise, a rigid, waterproof, and recyclable substrate, while on Antalis’ stand, an installation graffiti artist was showing off the versatility of Drytac's Protac Anti-Graffiti film.

For digital signage, Fairfield Displays and Lighting, demonstrated the versatility of Pixalux’s first frameless LED light panel, and, in software, Nth Degree Sales manager, Ian Prosser, recorded huge interest in its augmented reality app, the first of its kind in the industry.

Blackett says: “I’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all our exhibitors, visitors and supporters who have made this year’s show such a success. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2016, on the later dates of April 26th to 28th.”

For the full series of in-depth show reports and our extensive broadcast news video coverage head to www.signlink.co.uk and www.sign7tv.com and search ‘2015’