Sheetfed Offset--Running With The Big Dogs

The stakes are high and the iron-producing players are few in the world of 40˝ and larger sheetfed presses. Today, manufacturers are looking at what printers want in a press tomorrow.

BY ERIK CAGLE

The crystal ball is working overtime at manufacturing facilities around the world.

While you make your way at DRUPA 2000 through the hundreds of thousands of people cramming the aisles of the 18 buildings at Messe Dusseldorf, the R&D people, the tech heads and marketing gurus are looking past the present. They're thinking DRUPA 2004. Phrases float through their brains: increased automation, but what's left on the press?...what is the future for CIP3 and standardization? . . . on-press direct imaging is here, what's next?