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Bill Esler

Top 5 Drupa Trends
June 6, 2008

So here is the inevitable list, before Frank Romano, Andy Tribute and Noel Ward can collect their thoughts--and still days away from the final day of drupa in Dusseldorf, Germany. This list is indicative, but not exhaustive--there are plenty more examples, and that's what the Talkback feature is for at the end of this blog.

Death of standard press formats
Digital color web & sheetfeds
Fully integrated finishing systems
Press curing and value added advances
Optimized premedia and print workflow

1. Offset press formats are no longer as simple as 2-up, 4-up, 6-up, 8-up--we have plus sizes, extra inches, and divergences in widths and circumferences on both sheetfed and web presses. We are seeing sheetfeds in inch measurements of 20, 28, 29, 31, 33, 40, 41 etc. Web presses (Goss Sunday 5000, manroland) are exceeding 110 inches in width--once unthinkable outside gravure. We even have developments in sheetfed gravure (Windmoeller, Moog), web offset-to-sheetfed crossovers (Goss Folia) and a new tandem (Mitsubishi) and upgrades on dual-sided sheetfed 'perfectors' (Komori and Akiyama). New jumbo sheetfeds (Heidelberg) and jumbo perfectors also appear (manroland and KBA). Thanks to Tony Kinney for reminding me of this emergent trend.

2. Digital newspaper, book and direct mail (and transpromotional) presses are running live at Agfa, HP, Infoprint, Kodak, Oce, Screen, Xeikon. These first-line-of-attack markets for digital presses trend toward uncoated stocks, and arenas where the initial demands for quality aren't exorbitant. We also have the hybrids, with Kodak Stream inkjet technology in two colors wedged into a Muller Martini Concepta press at the Kodak booth; and Muller Martini integrating an Oce print engine to finishing system.
     On the sheetfed side Screen offers a sheetfed version of an inkjet press, and Fuji shows the non-operating, tentatively named four-up JetPress 720 sheetfed inkjet press powered by Fuji Dimatix (formerly Spectra) four-color inkjet engine.  Which brings us to 3. . .

3. Fully integrated finishing systems linked inline to digital (Hunkeler, Roll Systems/Lasermax, Zecchini, Muller Martini) and conventional web press lines (Scheffer, Goss, VITS) and electronically through JDF in its many manifestations and agents (Prinect, Prinergy, Muller Martini's Connex) and EFI, Kodak and Press-Sense (OEM branded at numerous stands) on the digital side. This allows Xerox to feed Kern and Megaspirea integrated mail finishing systems, and HP, likewise, to deliver roll-to-offline finishing from Pitney Bowes and other systems providers.

4. Press coating and curing sees advances in reduced energy usage from one extreme to the other. MEGTEC provides manroland and under its own label a system for fueling the heatset web offset oven through the VOCs in the ink itself. Once coverage exceeds 1.6% on the substrate, the dryer can run without external fuel sources. UV printing and curing spreads from newspapers through small sheetfeds (see KBA, manroland) including Presstek's new UV curing system for its larger format 52DI direct imaging offset press.
     Unique emerging entrants are LED curable inks and curing lamps, as seen mounted on a Ryobi press using Panasonic LED lamps and Toyo inks. This combo reduces energy usage 75% versus regular UV curing and emits no ozone. INX offers a digital LED curable ink and Atlantic Zeiser shows an inkjet marking system employing LED curing in the digital environment. Value added discoveries include Heidelberg's inline embossing sleeve technology demo on the XL105, foiling (and also in some cases embossing) at Komori, manroland, Heidelberg and Ryobi (xpedx stateside).

5. Trends in optimized premedia and print workflows run the range from Kodak Unified Workflow, Agfa :Apogee, an updated Fuji Taskero (and for Europe the XMF) workflows, and Prinect and EskoArtwork Systems, which also encompass digital packaging premedia workflow offerings. There are also, within this broad category of trend, smart links from premedia through finishing--Muller Martini driving JDF through its Connex agent; video inspection from AVT (and its integrated GMI offerings), Komori, manroland and KBA--the latter inkjet barcoding out-of-spec sheets to be kicked out of the stack by the folder (at MBO) or other subsequernt, compatible finishing systems.

If you are among the more than1,700 suppliers not mentioned in this blog, feel free to post your information in talkback and we'll continue to update our postings.
See them at at www.graphicartsonline/drupa

Posted by Bill Esler on June 6, 2008 | Comments (3)

Industries: Digital Printing, Drupa, Graph Expo®, Postpress, Premedia, Press

June 12, 2008
In response to: Top 5 Drupa Trends
Noel Ward commented:

Hey Bill, nice to have you jump in. Frank, Andy and I have been putting out our thoughts pretty regularly on WhatTheyThink, PrintCEOblog, and In the Balance. You, being more of the offset persuasion than I(!), note things I don't really think about, but it certainly was a fine drupa and there was a lot going on. But don't forget that most of the new production inkjet devices shown won't be commercially available for some time. Still, it's a cool time in our industry!

June 25, 2008
In response to: Top 5 Drupa Trends
Tom Wetjen, VP, Xerox WW Graphic Comm commented:

Hi Bill! Now that drupa is in our rearview mirror, I finally have a minute to reflect. There was a lot going on in Dusseldorf and you came away with some great observations. For me, another big trend was that it wasn't just hardware that received attention from drupa attendees. Everything from prepress to finishing, including automation software, drew a crowd with increased emphasis on print applications and demonstrations about how to produce them. At the Xerox stand, we created more than 50 real-life customer applications live right on the show floor to illustrate how customers are using digital technology and the advantages of workflow automation to increase their profits. Another trend we tried to capitalize on was to showcase technology and solutions that are available for print providers right now. There was some exciting future technology on the show floor, but Xerox has a commitment to meet the business needs of the industry today. Along with the emerging technologies we demonstrated, like cured gel ink and the ConceptColor 220, we showcased a number of hardware and software solutions that help grow page volume and revenue immediately.

June 25, 2008
In response to: Top 5 Drupa Trends
Bill Esler commented:

No.6--Here's one more that comes to mind: the direct drives on sheetfed machines, and generally proliferations of servo motors to power and integrate print and finishing systems. This is a very important trend.