Passport to profits

Got your bags packed? Your E-ticket on file? Your passport up to date? If not, you've only got a month to prepare for the year's biggest travel opportunity for converting professionals.

Think of CMM International 2005, set for April 18–21 at Chicago's McCormick Place South, as a great destination for the savvy bargain hunter. Where else can you travel to six different "worlds of converting solutions" in only four days? How else can you meet more than 700 exhibitors—all within walking distance?

Bring along your souvenir list. Whether you need flexible packaging, labels, tags, folding cartons, inks, coatings, substrates or prepress capabilities, CMM 2005 is the international marketplace. Vendors of presses, coater/laminators, slitter/rewinders, components and accessories eagerly await your visit.

To help prepare for your trip, think of our CMM Show Preview as a kind of Fodor's travel book on what to expect. Following are concise looks at each "world pavilion" on your itinerary. But don't pass up the hundreds of other exhibitor destinations along the way.

Sponsored by the Flexographic Technical Assn. (Ronkonkoma, NY), this solution center brings together 11 exhibitors (as of press-time) of narrow-web presses and equipment in about 2,300 sq ft of display space. While CMM is often thought of as a "wide web" converting show, 22 percent of attendees at CMM 2003 came to find tag and label solutions, and this world represents only a small portion of those narrower-web related exhibitors.

For the first time, flexo education also meets demonstration via the nearby Flexo Solutions Theater. Exhibitors will provide half-hour case histories or updates on how their products and technologies can help converters enhance operations. Some sessions will include real-world presentations by converters who are using the products.

Highlighting the resurgence of gravure printing at CMM 2005, this solutions "world" gathers nine exhibitors in 2,600 sq ft. Organized by the New Madison, OH-based Packaging & Label Gravure Assn., the center also features a Solutions Theater for product demos and education.

"Response to this new opportunity has been very enthusiastic," says Bill Klein, PLGA executive director. Association members will receive complimentary entrance to the exhibits and discounts on select conference sessions. In addition, many PLGA members will exhibit independently at larger booths throughout the CMM show floor.

Sponsored by the Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters & Laminators, Ft. Mill, SC, this solutions center has grouped about 20 exhibitors in 2,800 sq ft. If you're like the majority of CMM 2003 attendees in search of flexible-packaging technology as well as coating materials, this "world" is likely to provide the answers. Need to meet in a more relaxed setting? A special hospitality area has been added this year to ease business discussions.

"Our members were so pleased with the results of CMM 2003 that they're coming back and taking bigger booths for 2005," says AIMCAL executive director Craig Sheppard. Between the solutions center and stand-alone booths, AIMCAL will have well over 100 members exhibiting across CMM 2005.

Promoting the benefits and latest developments in ultraviolet- and electron-beam (UV/EB) curable technology for package printing and converting, this "world" is organized by Chevy Chase, MD-based RadTech International. Nine exhibitors will occupy about 1,000 sq ft of display space in the specialized solutions center, along with dozens of other exhibitors at CMM 2005 offering UV/EB products at independent booths.

"CMM provides current and prospective users of UV and EB technology with an opportunity to stay at the leading edge of developments and trends impacting their businesses," says Gary Cohen, RadTech executive director. While visiting this "world," take a side trip to the UV/EB Superstore, where you can walk through a virtual store filled with consumer packaged goods manufactured using UV and EB technologies.

Perhaps the most impressive stop on your travels through CMM 2005 will be this greatly expanded "world" of prepress technology. Designed to help converters, package printers and their supply-chain partners achieve more effective end-to-end workflow solutions, the center features 16 exhibitors filling almost 14,000 sq ft.

As with other "worlds" at CMM, a Solutions Theater awaits you with presentations from industry experts on computer-to-plate options for offset, flexo and gravure; color management; digital asset management; PDF workflows for packaging; digital proofing; and screening technologies. Nearly a third of CMM 2003 attendees were on the lookout for digital workflow products to make their prepress operations more successful, so this exhibit area is eagerly anticipated.

Consistency and repeatability are essential to package printers as inks continue to evolve from "art to science." So, to assist your visit to CMM, this solutions "world," sponsored by the National Assn. of Printing Ink Mfrs., Woodbridge, NJ, includes nine exhibitors in 1,000 sq ft.

If your souvenir list includes inks, you're in good company. Three-fifths of travelers to the last CMM were interested in inks, and they were able to choose from the 14 percent of exhibitors two years ago that displayed a broad range of substrates and process materials such as inks and coatings.

Along with dozens of internationally based suppliers of converting machinery, equipment and materials exhibiting separately across the CMM show floor, several international pavilions are offered. The two largest groups—the Latin American Pavilion and the Brazilian Pavilion—will gather 23 exhibitors in 2,400 sq ft. Collections of vendors from Italy, India and the UK will also be in attendance.

Organized by CONLATINGRAF—The Latin American Printing Industries Confederation, the Latin American Pavilion's activities extend to hosting a special seminar. "Business Opportunities in the Latin American Converting Industry" will be held April 19 at 2:00 p.m. The presentation covers macro-economic indicators of the major markets in the region as well as a summary of converting-industry imports into Latin America.

Now that you've got your Fodor's overview, it's time to register, reserve that hotel room and take off for another valuable trip to "CMM: Where the World of Converting Solutions Comes Together."

Finally, don't forget to stop by Converting's Booth 806, where we'll not only have issues of the magazine available but will also be producing the official CMM Show Daily newspaper.