drupa 2008   

Donald Rumsefeld roiled diplomatic circles with his infamous reference to "old Europe" and "new". Could there be an old drupa and a new drupa? 
How visitors choose to arrive and traverse the many halls of drupa, arranged as they are in clock-like order from 1 through 17 at this massive printing trade show, may tell something about their world view on print, and how they are charting their immediate futures. It also says something of exhibitor positioning in relation to the market. 
Drupa has nord (north), sud (south) and ost (east) gates. The streetcar (ubahn) approaches these differently, with No. 78 dropping passengers directly at the nord entrance, between halls 8a and 8b--filled predominantly with digital printing press suppliers--HP and Xerox the largest of them. In here are also Agfa, Screen and ...Read More

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Had a chance to see the industrial strength flatbed inkjet printer printers at Agfa and EFI--machines built with heavy carriages and superstructures so there is no vibration when they get moving. 
Also wowed by HP's 36 inch web press with the Scalable Inkjet Technology.
Also was wowed by the live demosntration of the Folia sheetfed 'alternative' Goss is demonstrating--M600 press units using sheetfed inks with a roll feed and a VITs sheeter with spray powder and slow down mechanism. For the right applications it could be very interesting, especially at its delivery speed, the equivalent of 30,000 sph. They say the inkers weren't modified, but I've got to dig deeper here; inkers are the heart of the ink milling and delivery on sheetfeds, the consistency of the ink is entirely different than a normal web. Will let you know.
Also learned more of Ry...Read More

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First few headlines from the day before drupa opens:
-A 250 ppm Konica Minolta b&w digital printing
-An embossing unit for the 41inch Speedmaster XL105
-A a 96-page 2.86 meter manroland short-grain offset web to Mohn
-A four-up sheetfed digital inkjet press from Fuji
We'll have more details and expand on these and other stories as the day progresses. Additional details and continuous reports from the halls of drupa in Dusseldorf, Germany will be posted at  graphicartsonline.com/drupa

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On the eve of drupa 2008, as 400,000 converge on Dusseldorf, Germany, the industry can take measure of itself. Perennially approaching one crossroads after another, printing adapts and grows, passes one challenge and undertakes the next. 
From a global perspective, printing has never been more indispensible. Developing markets are developing a growing taste for printed products....Read More

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