Printing United Discusses Latest Trends and Launches at Expo 2026
Last month’s Printing United Expo 2026 featured more than 850 exhibitors spread across about one million square feet of show floor, and about 27,000 registered attendees from 100 countries.
Held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the event brought together commercial print, wide-format, labels and packaging, apparel, industrial print, promotional products and more.
Printing United identified several important trends, including the use of artificial intelligence and automation to embellishment and diversification. Here are the five important trends:
Artificial Intelligence
Perhaps the most noticeable development was not simply the amount of AI being discussed, but the increasingly practical nature of its applications.
HP Inc., for example, introduced new AI capabilities for its PrintOS Production Hub, including AI Order Intake, which is designed to turn incoming customer emails and files into orders, and AI Upscale for improving low-resolution images. Its new Latex R530 AI Printer features an Automatic Print Mode Selection feature, designed to recommend the appropriate balance between image quality and throughput.
Fiery’s JobFlow Pro, meanwhile, uses AI to analyze job content, apply appropriate presets, and route files through production, alongside the company’s broader range of digital front ends, color management and automation tools. Xerox also stressed AI and automation.
At Adobe, the company highlighted the loss of experienced prepress personnel as one of the problems automation can help address. Its Print Services technologies are intended for integration by OEMs and DFE developers, using automated analysis and correction to tackle problems in incoming files before they reach production.
The event’s Printing AI programme also focused on the need for print businesses to capture institutional knowledge currently held by experienced employees.
Automation Becoming Workforce Strategy
Automation at Printing United went beyond simply making equipment run faster, and instead becoming increasingly focused on reducing the amount of specialist human intervention required to keep work moving.
Examples include automated file preparation and job routing, to color management, press set-up, and unattended production.
Ultimately, automation isn’t being developed for its own sake, but for the ability to increase output without necessarily increasing staffing at the same rate.
HP’s new workflow developments similarly aim to connect stages from order intake to printing, while Fiery’s JobFlow Pro uses AI-assisted automation to analyze jobs and route them through production with less operator oversight.
Increasing Value
Another theme was about making work worth more. For instance, specialty color printing and embellishment appeared repeatedly.
For instance, Xerox’s newly announced Proficio PX700 FLX supports up to six colors inline and adds Fluorescent Green to its specialty toner capabilities, while enhancements to the Xerox PX300 and PX500 introduce further Beyond CMYK options including Gold, Silver, and White.
Konica Minolta, meanwhile, introduced Embellishment Forge in collaboration with Adobe, intended to make it easier for designers to explore and specify print embellishment.
There were also signs of demand beyond individual product launches, too. The show’s guided Embellishment Technology Tour expanded to include separate Digital Production and Wide Format tracks this year, with the Digital Production track selling out ahead of the event.
Manufacturers are increasingly trying to make print embellishment easier to design, sell, and produce, potentially moving it from specialist knowledge towards a more routine part of digital print production, and increasing margins along with it.
Overall, automation is helping printers reduce cost and labor, while embellishment is being positioned as a way of putting value back into the finished product.
Boundaries Between Markets Continue to Blur
Convergence has been part of Printing United’s proposition for years, but the 2026 show demonstrated just how broad that idea has become.
Packaging was a particularly prominent diversification opportunity, but dedicated areas also targeted apparel decoration, promotional products, and installation. The new ASI Pavilion, for example, was explicitly intended to connect print service providers with opportunities in promotional products, while the Apparel Zone provided hands-on access to garment decoration technologies.
The same crossover was visible among exhibitors.
Companies traditionally associated with one area of print increasingly presented technology applicable across several. Wide-format portfolios stretch towards industrial and direct-to-object applications, while commercial printers are being encouraged to take on packaging and embellishment. And software suppliers increasingly want to connect multiple production processes rather than occupy one isolated part of them.
Inkjet Expanding
Xerox provided one of the show’s more significant production print announcements with a substantial expansion of its portfolio.
The new Xerox Proficio Jet CS1100 is a B3 cut-sheet inkjet press rated at up to 300 ppm, supporting media up to 350gsm, including coated stocks. It was joined by the Proficio Jet CF1200 continuous-feed inkjet press, which is rated at up to 525ft/min.
Xerox also introduced the six-color toner-based Proficio PX700 FLX and expanded the specialty color capabilities of its PX300 and PX500.
Inkjet continues to push into a wider range of applications, while toner presses are simultaneously becoming more automated and adding capabilities intended to increase the value of their output.
Summary
The industry’s technology suppliers are tackling both sides of the profitability equation: reducing the labor, time, and expertise required to produce a job, while simultaneously providing more applications, effects, and markets through which commercial printers can generate revenue.
The industry’s technology suppliers are tackling both sides of the profitability equation: reducing the labor, time, and expertise required to produce a job while simultaneously providing more applications.
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