PrintCity: Connection of Competence
TEGERNSEE, GERMANY—More than 50 worldwide journalists and 10 major manufacturers, all representing the graphic arts industry, teamed up to attend the PrintCity Alliance 2008 pre-Drupa Media Event held February 13-14. PrintCity members—MAN Roland, Océ Printing Systems, Sun Chemical, Sappi, UPM-Kymmene Corp., Procemex, MEGTEC Systems, M-real Corp., MacDermid Printing Solutions and Leonhard Kurz—announced the alliance’s “Connection of Competence” theme for Drupa, which will be held May 29 to June 11 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
It was also announced that seven new Competence Centers will be featured in the PrintCity exhibition, located in Hall 6, where visitors can see the latest technologies explained and get comprehensive information that covers the whole value and process chain. These seven Competence Centers will focus on Brand Protection, Food Packaging, Value Added UV Printing, Value Added Web Offset, Workflow Integration and Networking, Digital TransPromo and Print Meets Electronic Media.
Also unveiled was the new PrintCity Alliance project Print + X, a presentation focusing on the latest capabilities of print and the benefits of value-added printing, as well as the new Print4Life Lounge, which will show brand owners, advertising agencies and print buyers the opportunities available through the technologies and knowledge of the organization’s members.
What’s In Store for Drupa
Each alliance member shared its pre-Drupa news during the PrintCity Media Event. Following those presentations, MAN Roland hosted its own pre-Drupa press conference in the MAN Museum in Augsburg, Germany. The following are some of the highlights of both events.
MAN Roland’s motto “We Are Print” will once again be the focus of its Drupa stand, emphasizing such themes as Value Added Printing on Sheetfed Presses, Applied Innovations on Web Offset Presses, and PrintValue for everything concerning services (printservices), pressroom products (printcom), networking (printnet), consulting (printadvice) and energy efficiency for sustainability efforts.
MAN also showcased sheetfed press offerings, including the Roland 900 XXL in perfecting mode (in formats up to 50.7x72.8˝), ProcessPilot as a standardization tool suitable for achieving ISO 12647 process control, InlineColor Pilot for color measurement inside the press to reduce waste and makeready time, and the Roland InlineFoiler Prindor.
New developments in MAN Roland’s web offset press line include the introduction of the 96-page Lithoman with fully automatic plate loading (APL), DynaChange for making plate changes at full press speed, and the HYCON system that reduces waste after reel splice and job change.
MAN also announced that QuickChange modules are now available for the Roland 700 DirectDrive and HiPrint presses.
Sun Chemical, with its new strap line “Working for You,” reported that Drupa will provide the perfect opportunity to showcase its latest innovations, including low-migration products for packaging, new technologies for newspapers, environmentally friendly sheetfed inks for the commercial market and products for very large format presses. Sun will also be unveiling its most recent developments in color management, such as its SmartColor offering.
“Innovation Beyond the Ordinary” will be Océ’s theme for Drupa, and, to emphasize that message, the company announced that it will showcase solutions for digital book production, personalization, promotional printing in color and technical document printing. Other news included its Drupa introduction of the high-speed Océ JetStream 1100 single-engine and JetStream 2200 twin-engine color ink-jet printing systems, both of which feature its DigiDot piezoelectric drop-on-demand ink-jet technologies. Other new launches include the Océ VarioStream 8000 continuous feed family of printers, as well as the Océ VarioStream 9000 Series for monochrome output.
Océ also announced the Drupa debut of its new ColorStream 10000 continuous-feed, full-color digital press, developed specifically for the graphic arts industry.
Sappi announced that its breakthrough product Tempo will be featured at Drupa. The coated paper for reportedly allows print to dry twice as fast. PI
—Cheryl Adams
