Preview of What’s to Come at drupa 2012

At the official drupa 2012 International Media Conference held 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 product launches planned for drupa that were going to be revealed during the three-day 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 this May (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. This series is said to offer the leading technology of existing Heidelberg presses in a new performance class to meet the changed market requirements, including heightened pricing pressure.

Heidelberg also announced that it has expanded its digital print portfolio through a partnership with Ricoh, with all of its offerings now bundled under the Heidelberg Linoprint product name. Its 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 delivery dryer for the Speedmaster XL 75 press. 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 gluing machine, 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 cut-sheet digital presses, and the InfoPrint 5000 VP continuous-feed color inkjet press, which prints at speeds up to 722 fpm. The company will also launch the new Ricoh Carbon Balanced Printing Programme (initially just in the European market), which helps print providers reduce the environmental impact of printing, and the next generation of the Ricoh Business Driver Programme for the European market.

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

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 paper rolls to finished books will be demonstrated in combination with a Timsons T-Press inkjet press.

For conventional production, Kolbus will feature the KM 600.C perfect binder, an improved version of the machine designed for industrial-scale postpress environments with it shorter makeready times and running speeds up to 9,000 cycles/hour. Other highlights of its stand will include the BF 530 book production line capable of completing 70 cycles/minute and the premier of Kolbus’ solutions for automated packaging production.

Canon Europe’s drupa plan, which will incorporate Océ, will highlight customer success stories, introduce new industry research, feature 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 print 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 one display. Headlining the event will be the Océ ColorStream 3700 inkjet web press.

This May, Pitney Bowes will demonstrate the “Art of Success”—the on-stand message behind its display of the latest in communications management technology. The goal is 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 and will exhibit a wide range of new printing technologies, products and services. In its Commercial Print Zone, the company will be showcasing the Jet Press 720 sheeted inkjet press running live, launching the new Brillia HD PRO-T3 plate, and demonstrating major updates to its XMF Workflow and Production Management Suite, including a new cloud-based color management system, called XMF ColorPath.

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

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 without manual cleaning).

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 POS, display, signage and décor applications will also be shown. It features the latest Epson TFP Micro Piezo printhead and uses Epson’s new UltraChrome GS2 ink-set.

In addition, the company will demonstrate the six-color Epson SureLab SL-D3000 digital dry lab for high-quality photo print production. Designed for mini-lab retail environments, it can print on glossy, matte and lustre media up to 12˝ wide to produce photos, greeting cards, invitations, flyers and promotional leaflets. Other developments on display at drupa will include next-generation aqueous and dye inksets to support its range of new printing systems.

Goss International will emphasize a number of world firsts for the commercial, packaging and newspaper markets. 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 printing units will debut in the Packaging Zone. The next generation of the 16-page M-600 web will highlight the latest features for enhanced efficiency.

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

“Offset 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 new 41˝ Lithrone GX40 Carton press equipped with Komori’s non-stop delivery and automatic plate changing, which will make its worldwide debut at drupa. Also making its debut will be the Enthrone 29P, a 20-7/8 x 29-17/32˝ convertible perfector press available in configurations with up to five units and offering a maximum 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 also will demonstrate a print-on-demand device in its Offset OnDemand theatre

Screen will showcase its automated Web-to-delivery, 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, and the Truepress JetSX sheetfed inkjet press, previewed at Ipex 2010, will receive its commercial launch sporting several enhancements of its own. The company will also reveal new solutions for the wide-format inkjet and label printing segments.

The company remains committed to providing computer-to-plate solutions as well, continuing to offer 26 models ranging from four- to 48-page configurations. It will expand the PlateRite FX family of thermal platesetters for the flexo market at drupa.

Lastly, Hybrid Software will highlight its “Order Lifecycle Management” concept, which provides tools to manage orders through the entire production lifecycle. Its products include FrontDesk, ContentControl, FaceLift, FileForce and PipeLine. 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 for digitally held information. All of Hybrid’s products operate via Web-browser technology and provide vendor-independent solutions based on industry standards, such as JDF/JMF and SQL.

In a departure from the other presentations, EFI elected to keep the focus on the positive growth the company has experienced in the past two years, with CEO Guy Gecht remarking, “Don’t stop me now because I am having such a good time.” Gecht highlighted some of the key areas where the company continues to innovate, such as labels and packaging, ceramic printing, digital front-ends, business process automation, online store fronts, tablet/mobile/cloud printing and office publishing.

Although it is holding release of the specifics until April 3, EFI did reveal it will introduce a range of new products at drupa 2012, including advances in Fiery technology, MIS capabilities and wide-format inkjet printers.