drupa 2012: Offsetting Digital’s Advance

Goss International's focus on the package printing market was a recurring theme for most of the offset press manufacturers exhibiting at drupa 2012. Just as striking was the emphasis given to standalone digital press and hybrid offset/digital offerings.

These two trends reflect:

1. That the packaging market is considered more recession-proof than commercial printing.
2. A desire to expand their digital product portfolios to meet the growing industry shift toward short-run, on-demand print production.

Nevertheless, although conventional offset still dominates the printing industry from a total printed page production standpoint, lithographic and digital printing technologies will coexist for years to come. Anyone who was able to actually trek all 19 halls within the massive drupa fairgrounds could readily see that. IPG