Why This Year’s PRINTING United Expo is Essential

These are doubtless interesting times for today’s graphics producers, because our industry is changing.

While consolidation, which can be seen because of the success of the segment, has shrunk our numbers, the segment itself is far from stagnant. It continues to grow in opportunity and expand in reach.

The Challenges

As the development of wide-format print engines has slowed and improvements in that area are incremental improvements instead of Earth-shaking innovations, developments in software, materials, and finishing technologies have stepped forward to expand the segment’s boundaries.

Amid the commoditization of many bread-and-butter products (I’m looking at you, vinyl banners!), and while much of that core work has moved to smaller, localized producers, other opportunities outside that core have continued to expand outward, offering great opportunities for producers willing to pivot, redefine, and take advantage.

These factors loom large among the many challenges facing wide-format producers today. While opportunities and margins are still strong in the segment, navigating toward success requires careful planning, thoughtful strategy, and deep knowledge of the industry’s myriad choices. And the wide-format segment today, for some, has become more “interesting” than “exciting.”

The Opportunity

And this reality speaks to the imperative need for graphics producers to attend the 2026 PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas (September 23-25) because it offers the best opportunity to learn, explore, and set a course toward what’s next. You may not be in the market for a new printer this year, and that’s fine: we’ll get to the fact that you might.

The segment-changing influences of greater finishing capability, improved workflow and automation, and expanding application opportunities, mean it is important for producers to see and understand new technologies and their implications, while at the same time exploring adjacencies that may be their next opportunities. Industry convergence has transformed the printing industry from a series of discreet silos into something resembling a Venn diagram, and the challenge at hand for today’s wide-format PSPs is to find the right mix of technologies utilized and applications produced, of markets served and opportunities to consider.

And it will all be there, on display, in Las Vegas, along with the knowledge base of numerous industry experts, and the shared experience of more than 25,000 printing professionals, all seeking what’s next, all questing to add or refine their technologies. They are simply not staying up to date. They, in the absence of a set roadmap for their businesses, are seeking clarity on their path forward, and PRINTING United is the place to gain it.

Your Challenge

But, you say, you’re not looking for a printer this year. I get that. But, if that’s the case, are you instead looking to streamline your operation, to improve quality, to finally get color under control? Are you looking to enhance or expand your product mix to differentiate or make your company more valuable to its customers? Are you looking to reduce spoilage in, or increase the complexity of, your finishing activities? Because all the solutions you seek will there, all at North America’s biggest and most comprehensive print-focused event.

Now, about that printer you say you don’t need. Marco Boer, president of I.T. Strategies and perennial keynoter for Wide-format Impressions’ annual Wide-Format Summit, explains it this way: Your wide-format printing device may work just fine. It’s reliable, right, just as it has been for the last five, even ten years? But is it up to date? Does it offer the throughput, the quality, the color capability, and the quality control of the newer systems your competitors are using? While you’re printing with “what works,” are your competitors gaining an advantage? Does it not behoove you to find out?

The Solution

As stated, the wide-format segment is far from stagnant. Staying competitive requires both insight and action. It requires learning what you don’t know, and then acting with intention. And doing that requires the robust technologies, strong expertise, unprecedented networking, and on-point insights that are found at PRINTING United Expo. So, register, book your travel, reserve your room, and do your research. I’ll see you in Las Vegas!

For more information, and to register for PRINTING United Expo, visit printingunited.com