drupa 2012: Much Ado About Presses

At the official drupa 2012 International Media Conference held Feb. 27-March 1 at the Messe Düsseldorf Congress Centre in Düsseldorf, Germany, more than 100 media delegates (representing some 120 publications) eagerly awaited to hear about the latest drupa product launches that were going to be revealed during the three-day press briefing.

Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO and president of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, noted in his welcome address that he was happy to report the show is sold out, with all 19 halls reserved by more than 1,850 exhibitors coming from 50+ countries. He added that more than 350,000 visitors are expected to attend the international printing equipment expo during its two-week run next month (with the majority coming from outside of Germany).

Heidelberg then took the floor and announced its stand will feature close to 60 new innovations under the banner "Discover HEI." One of the major highlights will be the launch of the Speedmaster SX sheetfed press series, which includes the SX 52, SX 74 and SX 102 models. Heidelberg also announced that it has expanded its digital printing portfolio through a partnership with Ricoh, with all of its offerings now bundled under the Heidelberg Linoprint product name. The digital lineup includes the Linoprint C 901 and C 751 (for commercial printers), and the Linoprint L (for label and packaging printers). The next stage of this partnership will see Ricoh digital presses integrated with Heidelberg's Prinect software.

Heidelberg will also unveil the DryStar LE UV (low energy) dryer that is specifically designed for commercial printers, as well as the DryStar dryer for the Speedmaster XL 75 press delivery. In addition, it will exhibit a new and improved version of the Eurobind 1300/1300 PUR adhesive binder, along with the new Diana X 80 folding carton gluer, Varimatrix 82 CS diecutter and Dymatrix 106 Pro diecutter.

In its own stand, Ricoh will be showcasing its TotalFlow workflow portfolio, the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition and Pro C751 color cutsheet digital presses, as well as the InfoPrint 5000 VP continuous-feed color inkjet press, which prints at speeds up to 722 fpm.

Ricoh will also present the newest addition to its wide-format color inkjet printer range—the Ricoh Aficio MP CW2200SP—which is designed for the growing CAD market, as well as corporate and quick printing operations. It features Ricoh's Liquid Gel ink for high productivity and improved line printing accuracy.

Tools for Business Success

Canon Europe's drupa plan, which will incorporate Océ, will highlight customer success stories, new industry research, innovative print applications and illustrate new ways in which customers can enhance their businesses. Canon will also introduce a new Essential Business Builder mentoring program, through which independent industry experts will work with printing businesses to help them achieve their goals. In addition, the company will use drupa as a platform to release its fourth Insight Report, "The Bigger Picture."

On the equipment front, the full range of Canon and Océ technology will be on display. Headlining the event will be the Océ ColorStream 3700 inkjet web press.

Pitney Bowes will demonstrate the "Art of Success" by highlighting ways to maximize the productivity, quality and efficiency of mail production with end-to-end solutions. Among the products shown will be the DFWorks White Paper Factory software for co-mingled job processing, and the new Mailstream Wrapper that replaces the envelope with a personalized "wrap."

Pitney Bowes will also feature its Volley Secure digital delivery service, a cloud-based digital mail communications platform that allows consumers to receive, view and manage bills, statements, direct marketing, catalogs, coupons and other content from multiple providers using a single application.

Under its "Power to Succeed" banner, Fujifilm will have its largest-ever presence at drupa. In its Commercial Print Zone, the company will be showcasing the Jet Press 720 sheeted inkjet press running live. The new Brillia HD PRO-T3 plate will be launched, and major updates to its XMF Workflow and Production Management Suite, including a new cloud-based color management system called XMF ColorPath, will be demonstrated.

The new Acuity LED 1600 hybrid inkjet printer will make its debut in the Wide-Format Print Zone, which will also feature the Onset S40, Acuity Advance and Uvistar II inkjet printers. In the Package Print Zone, Fujifilm will show a new B2-format inkjet press—based on Samba print head and Vividia UV ink technology—for folding carton applications.

Epson will be showcasing its next-generation SurePress "X" label press, which incorporates new single-pass micro piezo inkjet head technology and is the first Epson product to utilize UV ink. Building on the success of the Epson GS6000, the four-color SureColor SC-S30600 printer for point-of-sale, display, signage and décor applications will also be shown. It features the latest Epson TFP micro piezo print head and uses Epson's new UltraChrome GS2 ink set. In addition, Epson will feature next-
generation aqueous and dye ink sets.

Goss International will emphasize serveral world firsts for the commercial, packaging and newspaper markets under the "See Things Differently" banner. A 96-page/112˝ Sunday 5000 gapless blanket web press unit will be the highlight of the Commercial Zone, while the Sunday Vpak 3000/Vpak 500 press units will debut in the Packaging Zone. The next generation of the 16-page M-600 web will offer the latest features for enhanced efficiency.

The Colorliner CPS (Compact Printing System) joins the Goss FPS (Flexible Printing System) press in the vendor's family of "true compact" newspaper presses. The tower on display in the Newspaper Zone will feature Autoplate automatic plate-changing technology. drupa 2012 will also mark the first global presentation of a Goss Magnum HPS single-width, one-around press capable of printing up to 70,000 copies/hr. And, lastly, following its acquisition of Vits Print, Goss will display its portfolio of Contiweb and Vits splicers, pasters, dryers, folders, sheeters and converting solutions.

"Komori OnDemand" will be the slogan for Komori's drupa presentation, which will feature nine different printing presses. Among them will be two offset presses—an eight-color Lithrone G40P perfector and a five-color Lithrone S29—equipped with H-UV curing systems. Demonstrations in the Packaging Printing theatre will feature the worldwide debut of the 41˝ Lithrone GX40 Carton press equipped with Komori's non-stop delivery and auto plate changing. Also making its debut will be the Enthrone 29P, a 207⁄8x2917⁄32˝ convertible perfector press with a top print speed of 13,000 sph.

Heralding Komori's entry into the digital printing market will be two new prototype inkjet printing machines, one sheetfed and the other webfed. The company will also demonstrate a print-on-demand device in its Offset OnDemand theatre.

EFI focused on the positive growth it has experienced in the past two years, with CEO Guy Gecht highlighting some of the key areas where the company continues to innovate, such as labels and packaging, ceramic tile printing, digital front ends, business process automation, online store fronts, and tablet/mobile/cloud printing.

Products launched at drupa will include advances in Fiery technology; MIS capabilities; the introduction of a new Orion industrial press to address the high-volume market; new enhancements to the Jetrion 4900 press for digital label printing and finishing; and the new EFI R3225 UV inkjet printer.

Under the theme "Take a Closer Look," Screen will showcase its automated print-on-demand solutions, driven by the EQUIOS universal workflow. On the output side, the latest enhancements to its Truepress Jet520 inkjet web press will be demonstrated, including the JetInspection JI-500 web inspection option. The Truepress JetSX sheetfed inkjet press will launch commercially sporting several enhancements. The company will also reveal new wide-format inkjet and label printing solutions.

Book production will be emphasized by Kolbus, with its Bookjet concept for digital post-print processing taking center stage. The system is designed to integrate with inkjet presses to sequentially produce books with different content and page counts. At drupa, going from blank rolls to finished books will be demonstrated working with a Timsons T-Press inkjet press.

Some Conventional Thinking

Kolbus will devote a large portion of its booth to conventional postpress machines, such as the new KM 600.C perfect binder with shorter makeready times and running speeds up to 9,000 cycles/hour. Other highlights will include the BF 530 book production line capable of completing 70 cycles/min. and the premiere of Kolbus' solutions for automated packaging production.

The three new inkjet printing solutions that attendees will see on the Domino Printing Sciences stand will include the N600i digital label press, K600i (600dpi) piezo inkjet module and the L100i thermal inkjet printer, all designed to enable variable data printing. The company will also highlight ActiFlow (for nozzle uptime), StitchLink (for rapid setup and no white stitch lines) and CleanCap (for maintaining nozzle performance).

Lastly, Hybrid Software will highlight its "Order Lifecycle Management" concept, which provides tools to manage orders through the entire production lifecycle. The backbone of its offering is FaceLift, which provides seamless integration between production workflows, MIS/ERP systems, third-party Websites, external databases and other sources of information. All of Hybrid's products operate via Web-browser technology. PI