Views from drupa: Allied Printing Shares Thoughts on Innovation, Automation

Last week, Printing Impressions traveled to Düsseldorf, Germany, to attend drupa 2024. While on the show floor, we caught up with a few U.S.-based print service providers to find out what brought them to the show, how they viewed the event, and what technology or applications they were most excited to see. This is just one of those stories.

John Sommers, President and CEO

John Sommers
President and CEO
Allied Printing Services, Manchester, Connecticut

Printing Impressions: How many drupas have you been to?

John Sommers: This is my fourth drupa. My first drupa was in 2008 when I was a rising senior in college. And I remember it was not only my first drupa, it was my first print trade show ever. I hadn't even been to a Graph Expo yet. So I was blown away by the scope of the industry. This is my fourth, but it would have been my fifth had it not been for COVID.

PI: What are your thoughts on this year versus years past that you've been here?

JS: I've been really impressed by the innovation this year. I think we sort of expected to see a lot of the B2 and 40″ inkjet new-to-market products out there and of course, inkjet web, but I think the innovation on that side has been really impressive.

I believe the theme of this drupa is robotics and automation. Being located in Connecticut, and everywhere, there's non-transitory inflation, which is wage driven, and [affects] availability of labor. So, we're looking very closely at automation and how that can be a big part of our future. Not so that we can get rid of people, but so that we can grow in a scalable and profitable way.

PI: So what technology or applications have you seen that are exciting to you?

JS: In December, Allied Printing went through our first ever acquisition. Before that, it was all organic growth. We acquired a company called XL Color and they were in the digital wide-format market. We've added that capability and very quickly are making a lot of progress and see ourselves in a position where we'll need to add capacity, not only in wide-format printing, but more specifically in finishing. So, personally, I have learned a lot about about the cutters and also seeing synergies. For example, we'll be able to cut our own Cyrel plates or flexo plates for our sheetfed offset presses. Some of those synergies just make one plus one equal three.

PI: Is there any thing in particular that you came here to see?

JS: Our intent is to put a drupa deal together for a blanker. Another area that has been growing for us that we'd like to see continue to grow is packaging, specifically folding cartons. So, we're looking to add a blanker and also evaluating automation on the packing end so that we can add to our capacity and be more efficient for our customers. ... We just went through a digital web install, however, we're already looking at what's next. Believe it or not, our last priority here is that we're evaluating web offset presses and trying to figure out what our next web press configuration will be.

Andy Halley
Prepress Manager

Andy Halley, Prepress Manager

Printing Impressions: How many drupas have you been to?

Andy Halley: Two.

PI: What are your thoughts on this year versus the last one you went to?

AH: 2016 being my first, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size and the stamina required to get through a show like this. It was a different experience being with a different company at the time. So now, being at Allied, going through this time and being exposed to some things that I'm not normally exposed to given my role as prepress manager. I don't get involved in a lot of press and diecutting, but I'm learning a lot about that. Having the diverse team that we have at Allied at this show, I'm really learning a lot.

PI: So what technology or applications have you seen that are exciting to you?

AH: I have a background in large-format inkjet printing. So given the acquisition we had in December, looking at some of that equipment and seeing how that's evolved over the years, that's really excited me. I'm looking at the SwissQPrint machine, and just the gamut that they're able to achieve, I've been really impressed with that.

I've been impressed with a lot of the automation and robotics. ... It's been entertaining and informative.

Alex Holmes
Vice President of Operational Development

Alex Holmes, Vice President of Operational Development

Printing Impressions: How many drupas have you been to?

Alex Holmes: This my first year.

PI: What are your thoughts so far?

AH: It's been great seeing all the different technologies in one area, being able to talk to all our suppliers in one spot, and be able to bounce back and forth and see who we need to see. It's a big time saver for us not having to go see this set of suppliers one week and another during another week. Being able to see everyone in one spot is really big for us.

PI: What technology or applications have you seen that are exciting to you?

AH: We're looking more into the automation in the bindery and the mailing areas. So just seeing new companies that we haven't been exposed to and seeing that there are a lot of different options with palletizing, even automatic mail sorting, that's a big part of our business and it's been great to look into that.

Gerry Dugan
Sheetfed Manager 

Gerry Dugan, Sheetfed Manager

Printing Impressions: How many drupas have you been to?

Gerry Dugan: This is my first one.

PI: What are your thoughts so far?

GD: I'm kind of blown away. It's very overwhelming. There's a lot to see and learn.

PI: What technology or applications have you seen that are exciting to you?

GD: I've seen ways and equipment to enhance efficiencies in the pressroom. That was really what I'm trying to work on right now.