Complementary Future of Offset, Digital Printing to Be Seen at Drupa

Traditional Suppliers Going Digital
One of the key trends to be seen at Drupa is some of the leading offset press suppliers entering the digital marketplace. Heidelberg’ partnership with Ricoh has already been announced and the first systems have already been installed. manroland has announced a partnership with the Canon-owned company Océ to sell high-speed inkjet presses into its markets. KBA will also enter this market through a partnership with the world’s largest printer R.R. Donnelley. R.R. Donnelley has developed its own inkjet presses and is licensing its inkjet technology to KBA for building its own presses. These manroland and KBA inkjet presses will be aimed at the traditional high-volume offset printers in books, direct mail, magazines and newspapers with the aim of changing the business models for printers in these markets.