What’s in Store at drupa 2012?

It's hard to believe four years have passed since the last drupa. In less than a month (May 3-16) some 350,000 visitors from around the world will converge on 19 halls and 1,850 exhibitors (a sellout) at the Düsseldorf Fair Grounds in Germany. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 Americans will be on hand (though most will not be from in-plants).

We've lined up a an assortment of industry pundits and prognosticators to help you sort out the substance from the hype, and separate the pedestrian from the arcane. They don't agree on everything and, generally speaking, it's tough to slap a label on a worldwide trade show, anyway. But our concern is with how technologies are impacting U.S. printers, and vice versa. (This is a short version of a story that originally appeared in Printing Impressions. To read the full story, click on the link under Related Conent.)

David Zwang, Industry Consultant, Zwang & Co.

What to Expect: I'm interested in seeing the new 28˝ equipment that's going to be shown. And I am sure there will be other surprises…there are still plenty of manufacturers who are keeping things in their back pocket.

The Skinny On: Offset. These guys will probably be relegated to a lower position of interest in the scheme of things. I give the offset manufacturers a great deal of credit for trying to squeeze as much efficiency as they can out of offset equipment. Companies like Kodak with its S-Series inkjet units (and HP with its print module solutions) extend the life and add value to web offset presses. I'm sure we will also see some sheetfed inkjet solutions from offset press manufacturers. I don't think offset is going away, but if you talk to people, that's not what many of them are coming there to buy.

High-speed web inkjet and, now, sheetfed inkjet are going to start really challenging the requirements that offset currently has a stronghold in providing. Even flexo is being impacted by inkjet technology now. Take a look at some of the inkjet products coming out, including narrow web. They're going right for flexo's jugular, at least in the short-run market.

Exciting Stuff: I'm looking forward to seeing what Benny Landa (founder of Indigo) has been working on, because he has a history of interesting developments and always puts on a good presentation. Some of the other companies he's been funding have some neat stuff out there as well. There's a sheetfed laser die cutting system that is pretty amazing. I'm also curious to see what is being done to extend the life of electrophotographic (digital printing) equipment. They are starting to be impacted by inkjet as well. One printer told me he put in one production inkjet machine and retired nine iGens. That's a pretty significant change.

Don't Forget: Digital finishing. I'm sure there will be many types of varnishing and lamination units. While inkjet is starting to offer better printing, offset is more durable in most cases. Even electrophotographic has a lot more print contrast, and a lot more shine than most production inkjet output, so coating solutions will help bridge that gap. I'm looking to see more (varnishing and lamination)—both in-line and off-line.

Jim Hamilton, Group Director, InfoTrends

What to Expect: There's enough excitement with Benny Landa being back at the show in a different operation. Given that it's inkjet, it ties into the overall theme. There are questions about the economy and the whole move toward electronic delivery. Also mobile and social media, which don't have a huge place at drupa, but do have the potential to impact it pretty seriously.

The Skinny On: Inkjet vs. offset. I'm not going to say inkjet will take it all over, not by a long shot. But the writing is on the wall. Not all of (offset's) competition is from inkjet; it's from electronic delivery of information, which cuts out so much more of the longer-run, non-personalized type of work that is the bread-and-butter of offset.

The offset press manufacturers will be talking about automation and everything they're doing to make offset presses able to do shorter runs, quicker turnarounds, drying, etc. I don't think that's the big story. The question is: What are the document needs of end users? So much of that is through electronic delivery. All of print is under fire; that's a theme that overlays the show. If we come back from drupa and say it was the "social media drupa," then it will be the last drupa.

Exciting Stuff: You've got to wonder about acquisitions and market consolidations. We've certainly heard enough about the troubles of manroland and Kodak prior to this show. I wonder if components of Kodak will be sold off in that time frame. There may be stories about companies leaving certain businesses.

Don't Forget: Workflow. The impact of mobile technology is very clear here; you're detaching operators from having to stand next to the machine, so their user interface becomes their mobile device. That's interesting. Everything around workflow automation is central to the success of any kind of print service provider. When I think of what digital printing brings to the table, a lot of it is being able to have one operator perform multiple functions, to have as many tasks automated as doable and to come as close as possible to lights-out (production). Those are themes that have applied previously to transactional printing types of environments, but they've now expanded to commercial printing environments.

Noel Ward, Managing Director, Brimstone Hill Associates

What to Expect: What's most interesting to me is how the balance of inkjet, toner and offset play against electronic books or electronic presentment of documents. You look at e-books (and the perception is) everyone's reading on a Kindle or Nook, etc., and they aren't going to read paper books anymore. People in the business of printing paper books are seeing their run lengths go down, but they don't seem to have any trouble keeping their presses full with short runs of paper books.

What does this mean? That's one of the things I'm looking forward to seeing at drupa: Where is this crossover between electronic media and printed media? If you look at cross-media, there's plenty of room to play for both electronic and print.

Exciting Stuff: I'm hearing rumblings about some cutsheet, really high-speed inkjet coming out of China. Smaller stuff, at the copier level, a 14x18˝ sheet or something like that. We also might see surprises in packaging, which has a lot of room to grow.

Don't Forget: There's momentum toward "good enough" print quality. For about 10 years, people were saying digital is O.K., unless you compare it to offset. Now the digital presses are pretty good (quality) and the customers don't care as much. You don't see many people looking at samples with a loupe anymore. "Good enough" quality will work for a lot of applications.

Bill Lamparter, President, PrintCom Consulting Group

What to Expect: I'm debating whether 2012 should be called the "multipurpose" or "multifunction" drupa. This is an international show, and the entire world is not enthralled with inkjet or toner as is the United States. There's lots of offset, lots of gravure; there will be a whole flood of (new) products there.

The Skinny On: From the digital side, Benny –Landa's nano particles and Memjet should be looked at by everyone. Even printers that don't have any digital equipment still need to understand where that technology is headed. Right now, the only place that you're going to get that is at drupa. A better understanding of what can be accomplished in the finishing end of the business can offer those printers who know how to harness it some distinctive products and separate them from the rest of the crowd.

Exciting Stuff: I'm a digital guy in many respects. It will be interesting to see KBA, and what—if anything—it shows based on the Donnelley platform. I also want see what direction Heidelberg is taking, and want to get a better handle on manroland, now that it's two separate pieces, owned by companies we don't know a lot about. I'm curious to know where these (offset press) manufacturers may be headed and what they're going to do about digital and finishing.

Don't Forget: If you look at Graph Expo, sheetfed (offset) has virtually disappeared from the show floor. Web offset isn't there. The finishing/postpress end, except for some digital equipment, doesn't make a strong appearance at Graph Expo. But all of that stuff will be shown at drupa, in spades.