Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition ARTJET 2025

I. Chinese partners who visit every year _Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

1. Last Year KOSIGN _Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

Nicky, my Chinese partner.

We hadn’t seen each other in a while, but in November, I came to Korea to see the Kosign exhibition and visit a Korean business partner.

Rather than focusing on business, we have a casual dinner together, discussing family matters and sometimes work.

Last year, we had dinner together during Kosign.

The day before I left for China, I suggested we have lunch near the Kosign exhibition hall, so I visited COEX.

So we met in front of the exhibition hall.

“Nicky, did you see the exhibition?”

“There’s nothing to see. I just left after about 30 minutes yesterday.”

“Right, now… I know someone there, so we chatted for a bit, took a look, and then left.”

“Let’s go eat!”

2. This Year KOSIGN _Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

The CEO of ARTJET called me today.

“Team Leader, are you coming to Kosign?”

“No. I’m just not going.”

“If you were coming, we could have a meal together, at least…”

“I just don’t think there’s anything to see. ㅠㅠ”

“Okay, I understand.”

After hanging up, I was still curious. “What else might be there?”

I looked online to see which companies were participating, and decided, “Let’s just not go.”

II. 2 nights and 3 days business trip to China _Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

1. Schedule _Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

To minimize the amount of time I spent during the week, I scheduled my departure on Friday morning and arrival on Sunday afternoon.

Upon arrival on Friday, I visited the laser company’s factory, and after the meeting, I had dinner with the representatives.

Then, on Saturday, I visited the printer company (currently an ARTJET partner) and had dinner.

I returned on Sunday.

2. Laser company _Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

They produce various OEM models, and their main customers are the US, Mexico, and Europe.

They demonstrated cutting directly using a ball screw model with an RF source in the US. As I’m not a laser expert, I don’t know what the sample below means.

However, the representative of the laser company that visited with me seemed to approve. (He’s been working exclusively with lasers for nearly 20 years.)

Laser sources

• The famous American RF brands are said to be ordered from countries that prioritize cutting quality, even at a high price.
• The RFs produced in China are primarily low-power, and this is also customized to meet customer requirements.
• As you’re probably familiar with, CO2 vacuum tubes are also available.

Laser sizes

• range from large to small.
• They also produce soldering equipment,
• and direct cutting equipment. A customer using this equipment was making the following items.
• This is a year-long calendar. If you tear off a piece of paper every day, by December 31st, the year would look like this.
• It seemed like they produced almost every laser, from large to small.

3. Printer company_Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

We visited three locations, all within the same company.

At headquarters,

• we were testing sample rooms for special applications,
• and testing a variety of equipment, from small to medium-sized.

Some of the factories

• specialized in producing textile printers
• we produced single-pass inkjets or custom-made equipment for our factories
• and UV flatbed or UV belt printers, which we know of

and another factory farther away

• only produced small equipment,
• which we know of as DTF printers, UV DTF roll-to-roll printers, and various small UV flatbed printers.
• The remaining building focused on large equipment, specializing in packaging equipment.

III. And, Thoughts on the Korean Signage Exhibition

I only saw two companies, but I saw a wider variety of products than I’d seen at a Korean sign advertising exhibition.

The variety of lasers was impressive,

but seeing the diverse products from our Chinese inkjet partner…

I started to wonder what direction Korea should take going forward.

What’s the significance of a Korean sign advertising exhibition showcasing Chinese products?

I thought, “Wouldn’t it be better to visit a Chinese sign advertising exhibition instead?”