Media Day sets the tone for PRINTING United Expo. Held Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the day before the show opens, it previews many of the conversations that will occur throughout the three-day event. This year, the tone was all about making printers’ lives easier, even when things are very much complicated.

Andy Paparozzi, chief economist for PRINTING United Alliance, discusses the state of the print industry during Media Day on Tuesday, Sept. 22, the day before PRINTING United Expo opens at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The American Printing Industry Outlook

PRINTING United Alliance led the event with presentations from Andy Paparozzi, chief economist for the Alliance, and Amy Servi-Bonner, head of printing AI at the Alliance. They spoke about the challenges ahead for the printing industry and how print professionals can face them.

Two main factors are affecting just about everything in the print industry right now: One, Paparozzi said, is uncertainty caused by “operating cost inflation created by war and erratic, no-one-knows-what’s-next tariff policies.”

The other is what he called the “fourth industrial revolution,” driven by the growing power of AI, big data, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and automation.

The first factor is a hindrance, but the other, in Paparozzi’s view, is one to be harnessed.

“The uncertainties and the cost inflation are depressing sales and profits industry-wide, and the fourth industrial revolution is not simply changing how we do what we’ve always done,” Paparozzi said. “It’s redefining what’s possible, creating an opportunity for the prepared and profound threats for the unprepared. And it’s also redefining who will be a profit leader in our industry.”

The modern profit leader, Paparozzi said, is diversifying. Citing Alliance Insights data, Paparozzi said more than 70% of print firms have diversified beyond their primary printing segment, whether it’s a large-format printer going into apparel, an apparel decorator adding promotional products or a direct mail printer adding signage and displays.

“Expect the next six months, and most likely more, quite frankly, to be as challenging as the last six,” Paparozzi said. “Because even if the war ends very soon, and even if we get stable trade agreements very soon – easing inflation, boosting business and consumer confidence, and creating much needed clarity – it’s going to take time for those benefits to work through the economy. And if we don’t get those treaties and the end of the war, the problems are only going to deepen.”

Preserving Human Intelligence

Servi-Bonner focused on how businesses can use AI tools to help preserve information that lives in their company.

She called it “tribal knowledge.” Think of the person on the shop floor who knows the most about how certain substrates and inks react to various levels of humidity, learned from years of experience. It might be the person who can see what a color analysis program doesn’t see: how a particular client wants a piece to look, even if a computer deems it “perfect.”

At a point in time when attracting and retaining employees is difficult, these industry veterans could retire, taking their wisdom with them. To help prevent this, companies need to achieve what Servi-Bonner called “knowledge sovereignty,” where a business’s critical knowledge is owned and distributed internally, built into localized AI tools, owned and built by the company, rather than living on third-party platforms.

The Latest & Greatest

Some of the biggest names in the print industry across equipment, apparel and software were on hand to present their latest innovations, whether it’s enhanced equipment automation, software that simplifies the job process or something else.

Rolando Martinez, senior director of marketing for production print at Canon USA, discussed how the company is positioning itself to PSPs as a way to help expand their portfolio across key categories like labels, packaging, graphic signage, home décor, book production and publishing, direct mail, transactional printing, photo printing and commercial printing.

On the software side, Adobe focused on using AI and other tools to alleviate some of the efforts that go into making print-ready images. AI-powered tools like Smart Select inspect jobs and diagnose critical issues, applying only required changes.

On the topic of convergence, Josh Hope, director of marketing at Mimaki USA (asi/16001), showed off some of the company’s flatbed printers, such as the JFX 220-2515. The printers allow operators greater control over special features such as texture embossing up to 5 mm thick. Increasing printable area by 5.3 square feet and maximum substrate thickness up to 4 inches on the flatbed also allows for more types of promotional products and branded display items to be customized, according to Hope. He also detailed a variety of ink advancements, including the addition of fluorescent yellow and pink inks for added visibility and wow factor.

Bella+Canvas (asi/39590), fresh off its acquisition by Counselor Top 40 supplier SanMar (asi/84863), discussed plans to debut more than 20 new apparel styles in 2027. Also within apparel, Stahls’ (asi/88984) focused on its Fulfill Engine print-on-demand platform, designed to streamline the fulfillment process for orders of all sizes and specs.

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