Anyone who shops - for anything - has seen first hand the new wave of eye-catching and compelling packaging, springing from the strong new links between packaging and high quality color printing. And any industry professional who visits this September’s PRINT 01 in Chicago will see first hand all the latest and most productive technologies being used to create this new generation of high powered packaging. PRINT 01 comes to McCormick Place on September 6-13. It will be the world’s largest showcase of printing, publishing and converting technologies this year, and will draw visitors from more than 100 nations. Complete details are at www.print01.com. The growing interconnection of packaging and printing will be a major theme of the show and its associated education programs. Indeed, PRINT 01 will be the only show this year that thoroughly explores converting technologies side by side with a comprehensive display of digital prepublishing, pressroom and finishing systems. Converting displays at PRINT 01 will total more than 120,000 net square feet, divided between the north and south halls of McCormick Place. The distribution of converting exhibits throughout both halls mirrors the close connections among package printing, folding, die cutting, printing and other finishing technologies, according to the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), PRINT’s organizer. "We have long believed that the specialties of packaging and high quality color printing would grow steadily together, and our goal in planning PRINT 01’s show floors has been to make it easy for visitors to see closely related processes and tools in as ‘side by side’ a manner as possible," said GASC President Regis J. Delmontagne. Most of the leading vendors serving folding carton, label and other package printing segments will be represented at PRINT 01. Indeed, many will be among the show’s largest exhibitors. The roster of large converting exhibitors includes MBO America, Korber Paperlink and Jagenberg with more than 5,000 square feet each, as well as booths of more than 1,000 square feet each mounted by Brausse Group, Longford Equipment, Bobst Group, Hunkeler, Moll Group, KEPES, Rollem, Presswerx, Bielomatic, American International Machinery, GBC and Renz America. These displays will encompass such product categories as box and folding carton production systems, coating machines, creasing and die cutting systems, hot stamping, embossing, gluing, laminating, slitting, folding and process control systems. Converting displays have been increasingly prominent at GASC events since the mid-1990s. This strategy was guided by two major market trends: First, that high quality printing was becoming a key competitive advantage in the packaging industry; and second, that many experienced commercial printers were viewing package printing as a major potential growth area. Moreover, the ongoing development of all-embracing digital workflows meant that printing and converting increasingly shared tools throughout the design, prepress and other stages of the production process. Converting "special sections" were featured at GRAPH EXPO exhibitions in 1995 and 1996, leading up to the first U.S. edition of the international CONVERFLEX™ show, which was held with PRINT 97. GASC launched CONVERTING EXPO together with GRAPH EXPO 1999, and repeated this highly successful event in 2000. At PRINT 01, a special packaging and converting track in the seminar program will offer visitors nine targeted converting seminars, outlining key trends in every specialty from gravure to foil stamping. In addition, attendees can choose among related seminars on finishing technologies, production operations, and sales and business management topics. Up-to-date information about PRINT 01 can be found at www.print01.com.