Bill Esler

Rumsfeld's drupa
June 3, 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 Fuji, prepress firms with a strong stake in digital inkjet printing press offerings. Of the big three plate suppliers, Kodak is in Hall 5; the hybrid digital offset supplier Presstek is in Hall 4.
Heidelberg is always in Halls 1 and Hall 2--these are approached from the east gate, which one reaches by Ubahn 79 and a three block walk, or short final hop on a city bus. 
So we might say, that  those who like to visit drupa linearly, beginning at the beginning, will enter at Hall 1, through the Ubahn to bus connection, and thence proceed circularly through Hall 17. Those who seem intent on the most direct connection arrive on ubahn 78, jumping into the middle of the Hall 8 digital stands as their first point of arrival and exploration. 
Perhaps there is an old drupa and a new drupa. But clearly, this time, drupa is integrating the old and the new ever more closely--Heidelberg Prinecting to digital presses, and Xerox and HP festooning webs through turnbars and into highly automated finishing systems.
See more at the drupa channel

Posted by Bill Esler on June 3, 2008 | Comments (0)