From AI and workflow automation to new applications and expanding markets, PRINTING United Expo 2026 reflected an industry focused on turning innovation into practical opportunities for growth.
There is always a lot to see at PRINTING United Expo. New technologies, new applications, new ideas and, of course, a show floor filled with equipment.
But after three busy days in Las Vegas, what stood out most to the Tecnau | Sitma team wasn't any single technology. It was the sense of momentum throughout the industry.
This year's Expo brought together 27,000 registered attendees from 100 countries and more than 850 exhibitors across approximately one million square feet of show floor space. Hundreds of product introductions were featured, with artificial intelligence, automation, workflow optimization, workforce development, personalization and production efficiency among the defining themes.
Collectively, those themes point to something bigger: print providers are increasingly focused not simply on producing more, but on building smarter, more connected and adaptable production environments that can support what's next.
These industry trends closely reflect the conversations Tecnau | Sitma is having with customers every day, making this year's Expo particularly relevant.
Automation Moves from Opportunity to Imperative
One of the clearest messages coming out of PRINTING United was the growing importance of automation.
In its post-show analysis, The Trends That Defined PRINTING United Expo 2026 identified automation and AI as two of the biggest trends across the show floor. The common challenge behind both is familiar: printers need to accomplish more, faster and at lower cost to remain competitive.
That challenge extends well beyond the press.
Today's digital and inkjet technologies have transformed what is possible in print production. But achieving the full value of those investments requires looking at the entire workflow and asking an important question:
Where are manual processes, bottlenecks and disconnected steps preventing us from realizing the productivity already available to us?
Automation only creates value when it helps solve real production challenges. The objective is to reduce unnecessary touchpoints, simplify operations and help customers manage shorter runs, changing applications and increasingly complex production environments more efficiently.
Solutions such as the Revolution 50 AutoSetup illustrate this approach by enabling automatic job changeovers and on-the-fly imposition changes with minimal operator intervention. By reducing setup activities, waste and manual adjustments, automated finishing helps customers translate productivity into profitability.
It is a philosophy we have described as moving From Print to Profit, with automation playing a central role in helping customers translate technology investments into measurable business results.
The Workflow Is Getting Bigger
Another important takeaway from PRINTING United was convergence.
Printers are increasingly looking beyond traditional market boundaries and exploring new applications and categories, while seeking to get more from the technology they already own and diversify their revenue opportunities.
That evolution changes how we need to think about the production workflow.
The workflow no longer necessarily ends when a printed piece is finished. For many businesses, what happens next matters just as much: mailing, fulfillment, packaging, e-commerce and ultimately getting that product into the hands of the customer.
This is where the combination of Tecnau and Sitma creates an exciting opportunity.
Tecnau's expertise in paper handling, processing and finishing, combined with Sitma's expertise across packaging, fulfillment, e-commerce and logistics automation, enables us to look beyond individual production steps and toward a more connected value chain.
The e-Wrap solution showcased at PRINTING United is a good example of this evolution. Right-sized paper-based packaging is increasingly becoming a requirement for businesses seeking to reduce material consumption, improve sustainability and optimize shipping costs while maintaining a highly automated workflow.
From print to finish to package, the opportunity is to connect processes that have traditionally been treated separately, reduce manual intervention between them and create a more seamless path from a printed roll or sheet to a finished, packaged product ready for delivery. That becomes increasingly important as print providers look for new ways to expand their capabilities and serve customers across a broader range of applications.
Growth Is Coming from New Places
The conversations at PRINTING United also reinforced that growth in print isn't limited to one application or market.
The In-plant Forum, for example, shared research showing that more than half of surveyed in-plants reported increases in both revenue and print volume in 2025. Among the services that expanded most over the previous two years were production inkjet and warehousing/fulfillment, alongside flatbed printing. Growth was also reported across applications ranging from bills and statements to greeting cards, point-of-purchase displays, signage and stickers.
That's an encouraging picture of an industry continuing to evolve.
It also raises an important operational question. As an organization takes on more applications, greater variability and potentially more steps in the production process, how does it add capability without adding the same degree of complexity?
Automation can be an important part of that equation. Flexible finishing, automated job changeovers, connected workflows and packaging and fulfillment automation can help businesses support a wider mix of work while making better use of existing people and production resources.
The opportunity isn't simply to automate what we already do. It's to use automation to make new possibilities practical.
AI Is Part of the Automation Conversation
No conversation about PRINTING United 2026 would be complete without AI. The expanded PRINTING AI Pavilion focused on practical AI applications for how printing companies sell, produce, analyze and grow. During the In-plant Forum, examples included using AI to help manage operations, analyze production data, enhance graphic design and improve workflow. The session also emphasized responsible use, including protecting proprietary information, verifying AI-generated information and maintaining human review.
From our perspective, the larger theme isn't AI versus traditional automation. It's the growing importance of intelligence throughout production.
As production environments become increasingly connected, data provides greater visibility into how equipment and workflows are performing. That knowledge can help organizations identify inefficiencies, make better-informed decisions and continuously improve their operations.
In other words, the next evolution of automation isn't only about machines performing tasks. It's also about giving businesses greater insight into how their production environments are performing so they can act on that information.
Turning Innovation into Business Results
Perhaps the most encouraging takeaway from PRINTING United Expo was that the industry's conversations weren't focused only on technology. They were focused on what technology can help businesses accomplish.
The official post-show report described an industry investing in new technology, entering new markets, strengthening businesses and looking for new avenues for growth.
That's an important distinction.
A highly automated finishing system has value because of what it can enable. A connected workflow matters because of the inefficiencies it can remove. Packaging and fulfillment automation matter because they can help extend the services a business provides.
That's the philosophy behind Tecnau | Sitma's approach to From Print to Profit. Technology investments are important, but profitability is ultimately what enables sustainable growth. Our focus is on helping customers make the most of those investments by balancing productivity, flexibility and profitability.
The Conversations That Matter Most
Despite all the technology displayed in Las Vegas, some of our most valuable moments at PRINTING United Expo happened in conversation.
Customers and partners spoke with us about what's working, where they're experiencing bottlenecks, the applications they're considering and the opportunities they see for their businesses.
Those conversations matter because there is no single blueprint for automation.
For one organization, the next opportunity might be automating finishing to keep pace with an inkjet press. For another, it may be reducing manual touches in a book production workflow. Others may be thinking about packaging, direct mail, fulfillment, production visibility or how to build a more connected workflow from beginning to end.
What connects those conversations is the desire to simplify complexity and create room for growth.
That is exactly where Tecnau | Sitma wants to help.
From PRINTING United to What's Next
We left Las Vegas energized by what we saw, but even more by what we heard.
The industry is investing. It's experimenting. It's pursuing new applications. And it's looking closely at how automation, AI and connected workflows can help turn those opportunities into sustainable business results. The breadth of PRINTING United Expo, spanning commercial print, labels and packaging, mailing, in-plant, wide-format, industrial and other segments, made that evolution particularly visible.
As print continues to evolve, our focus remains straightforward: helping customers connect and automate the journey from print to finish to package, turning productivity into profitability and new possibilities into growth.
Thank you to everyone who spent time with our team at PRINTING United Expo 2026. We look forward to continuing the conversations that started in Las Vegas.
Ready to explore what smarter automation could look like in your operation?