Viewpoint
August 2008
Impressions of drupa
The show was not revolutionary but it did reveal some surprising trends
First of all what drupa was not. It was not smaller than the last show in 2004. Some industry pundits and gurus back in 2000 said drupa would never get any bigger, the industry had peaked and its largest show would only shrink. It would be downhill after 2000. Well, they were wrong. drupa added two more halls, for a total of 19, and still sold out well in advance. It’s interesting to note that Messe Dusseldorf (the company that owns Drupa) has said it will not add any more buildings because the show will just get too big for visitors.

The other thing about this drupa: it was not a revolutionary but an evolutionary show. There was nothing that will radically alter the face of the industry. There were many evolutionary improvements and, yes, the theme of better, faster and less expensive was evident. Inkjet is starting to make it onto the main stage in the industry. Quality is definitely getting better but speed still has a ways to go. Many players such as Agfa, Fuji, Kodak and HP have become active in the inkjet market, but is inkjet going to replace offset or toner in the near future? No. Is inkjet going to foster new markets and deliver new capabilities to the printing industry? Yes.
One definite trend was evident at drupa: convergence in the printing industry is not going to happen. The opposite is becoming obvious. The industry is in the process of divergence. New technologies are pushing it in several directions and no single technology is as dominant as before. It used to be that offset was the main force and before that it was letterpress. Offset is still alive and well and growing but toner, flexo and now inkjet are helping to grow the printing pie. In fact, drupa had more diverse showings of different technologies than ever before.

Another interesting note was the growth of hybrid equipment using different technologies on one device. Flexo with offset, UV with offset, foil with offset and offset with inkjet. Someone probably had toner with inkjet but I just didn’t see it.

I also noticed more equipment with multiple in-line processes. Printing and foil, die cutting and gluing, printing and die cutting while a lot of toner and finishing equipment is becoming more specialized. If you have the right sort of work and lots of it, the new equipment is much more cost effective. A certain degree of advantage is going to the specialist not the generalist.
Used equipment dealers were more noticeable this time around. Instead of being hidden on the second floor in the back of a hall, they were front and center in one of the main halls. Most of the major European dealers were present and this looks like a trend that began at IPEX with the UPEX pavilion. It looks like used equipment is going global.

The offset market doesn’t look like it’s dying any time soon. Press manufacturers were expanding their lines not reducing them. Heidelberg has entered the jumbo press market with the Speedmaster XL 145 and 162. manroland came out with a 50cm/20" press and Ryobi introduced a 40" machine. Plus a significant number of Chinese press manufacturers were there.

Bindery equipment was there in full force, too, with more automation than ever and a real emphasis on finishing operations for digital equipment.

There seemed to be a wider variety of equipment from more manufacturers from more countries than ever before. drupa revealed that the printing industry is becoming more diverse and interesting than ever, but that’s only my impression, of course.
Alexander Donald is the publisher of Graphic Monthly Canada.
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