Buyer Orders Container Load of Supplies at First Event in 16 Years

A visitor attending the first trade event for printers and imaging supplies has told organisers he placed a container-sized order for supplies at the RT VIP Imaging Expo in Santiago, Chile.

Comexposium Recycling Times (C-RT) ran the one-day event there on June 17. A total of 132 visitors, all buyers and importers of imaging supplies, attended the event from 71 companies in Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia. There were 28 exhibitors from China, Korea, Chile and Brazil.

All visitors were personally invited on the basis of recent customs data. Of those who attended, 65% had never attended an industry exhibition before or visited Zhuhai, China, where many of the exhibitors are based.

“This is the eighth VIP event we have run so far in the past 12 months,” said David Gibbons, C-RT’s Director of International Event and Communication. “We have two more destinations in June as well.”

So far, the successful one-day VIP events have been held in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina in the Americas, as well as Nigeria, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates in the Africa-Middle East region. To date, almost 900 individual buyers and distributors, representing 623 companies, have participated in the events. Two more one-day events are scheduled for Lima, Peru, on June 20 and Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 25, 2024.

“There was a lot of business being conducted at the expo,” said Gustavo Molinatti, C-RT’s International Event Manager. “I come away from these events feeling very satisfied. It has been a win-win-win opportunity for the manufacturers and suppliers, the buyers and distributors, and for the industry itself. There was a lot of networking taking place among the attendees, some of whom had not met each other before. This has been good for an industry that continues to transform itself to meet the changing needs of end-users.”

Molinatti ran the only previous industry events in Chile with the last one held in 2008.

These newly modelled events are run in 5-star hotels, with a working lunch and cocktails offered to provide an unparalleled event experience for exhibitors and visitors alike.

Awards

During the evening cocktails function, three awards were presented to individuals and companies that have made an excellent industry contribution. Awards were presented to:

Creative Cartooning Pioneer Award:presented to Humberto Valenzuela (pictured), better known as Berto, for his monthly commitment to pioneering the creative drawing of cartoons that focus on printers, copiers, toners, inks, chips, and imaging supplies. For 12 years, he has drawn 134 separate cartoons that poke fun at the industry and have been enjoyed worldwide in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic. At 82, he has no plans to hang up his crayons and looks forward to producing more cartoons for years to come.
Best Service Award:This award was presented to Laser Imaging Chile. Marcelo Gomez (pictured) accepted the award for the company founded in 1997 to manufacture remanufactured printing supplies. Laser Imaging Chile focuses on sustainability and the reuse of materials. Today, it offers cartridge recycling plans to all its clients. In 2017, the company introduced Document Management services, reaffirming its commitment to modernization and operational efficiency.

Industry Leader Award:Rodolfo Arias Tutera (pictured) accepted the award on behalf of Importadora Pacific Color. This company has, for 25 years, supplied a range of thousands of products to become the main supplier of alternative supplies for printers throughout Chile. Headquartered with more than 100 employees in the Curauma Industrial Park in Valparaiso, the company also has a commercial office in Santiago.

Lucky Draw Winner: Marco Garrido from Insumix won the lucky draw conducted during the cocktails function. He will receive free accommodation in Zhuhai during the RemaxWorld Expo in October 2024. All visitors who attended entered the draw for free accommodation at the world’s largest printer and imaging expo.

Following requests from many international visitors, the RemaxWorld Expo has brought back the offer of free accommodation for the October 2024 event. RT has carefully selected hotels capable of providing comfortable hospitality and accommodation, guaranteeing a pleasant experience for guests.

Free shuttle buses will also assist visitors to travel to the expo. Attendees who register online before August 5th will automatically be entered into a draw for free accommodation.

Images and videos of the event