EFI’s Global Print Industry Customers Gather at a Sold-Out Connect

A capacity crowd of EFI customers, partners, employees and industry media attended this year’s EFI Connect users’ conference. The Jan. 20-23 event at the Wynn Las Vegas offers one of the best lineups of print industry leadership sessions, technical education and business management workshops ever offered at a graphic arts technology users’ group gathering. This year’s conference also serves as the launch for a new evolution in EFI’s workflow software strategy.
 
EFI recorded a double-digit increase in the percentage of customers registering for this year’s conference, which was expected to draw more than 1,500 attendees. Printing companies from 25 different countries attended to gain key insights on how their EFI print technology investments fuel greater productivity, greater efficiencies and better business results.
 
This year’s conference featured more than 200 educational sessions on business management, sales, marketing and production technology, as well as special keynote presentations from Thomas Quinlan, CEO of RR Donnelley & Sons; Avi Reichental, CEO of 3D Systems; and Andrew Paparozzi, chief economist of print industry association AMSP/NAPL/NAQP.
 
EFI Connect featured a preview of the EFI Productivity Suite – the next step in the company’s productivity software portfolio evolution. The suite expands on EFI’s existing offerings with an even stronger focus on how customers can generate revenue and enhance efficiency and profitability using the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of print and packaging software. It is available this quarter.
 
EFI Connect’s solutions center includes a complete portfolio EFI workflow and digital print production software. Attendees will also see an exhibit of versatile, energy-efficient LED inkjet technology with 3.2-meter roll-to-roll and 2-meter, 7-picoLiter UltraDrop hybrid roll/flatbed EFI VUTEk printers, along with an entry-level, 1.6-meter EFI Wide Format production printer. At the conference, 3M Commercial Graphics exhibited a vehicle wrapped in graphics produced using a co-developed EFI and 3M ink that offers increased flexibility and elongation characteristics traditionally not seen with UV inkjet inks.
 
EFI Connect also features numerous exhibits from partner companies, including the conference’s platinum sponsor, Xerox; gold sponsors Canon and Kodak; and bronze sponsors 3M Commercial Graphics; AccuZIP; BCC Software; Esko; ESP/SurgeX; Honle UV America; Heytex Corp.; Konica Minolta; MBM Corp.; the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation; Ricoh Production Print; and Zünd.
 
“The thing that works best about EFI Connect is the fact our customers are very engaged, and they foster collaboration with EFI employees and partners better than any other industry event I have attended,” said EFI’s CEO, Guy Gecht. “With over 200 classes and the line-up of keynote sessions, technology exhibits, and networking opportunities taking place, this event brings our customers and staff together for an important, face-to-face opportunity to learn, strategize and re-fuel to go after even greater business success in 2015.”