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  June 9, 2008— Greetings from Düsseldorf, Germany! As I write this, I'm here at the drupa trade fair, the largest print and graphics show, held every four years. This has been my first drupa, and I'm pleased to confirm all the rumors: by day three I realized it's a whole lot bigger than I expected, even with all the hype and warnings from colleagues.
That being said, the massiveness of the show isn't just in the square feet of booth space, or the number of halls. It's also in the announcements and technology demos. It's not only a look at the cutting-edge equipment, software, and media available today, it's a preview of what this industry could look like one, two, five, or 10 years down the road. It just doesn't get more exciting than this, folks.
Here are a few basic statistics to give you some perspective:
- 1,971 exhibitors from 52 countries
- 1,884,000 square feet of exhibition area spanning 17 halls
- An anticipated 400,000 attendees over the course of the two-week event, from countries around the globe
"What the Olympic Games are to sportsmen and women, drupa is to the print media industry," said Werner Dornscheidt, president and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.
The Digital Drupa
Before the show, it was touted in many places that this was going to be the "inkjet" or "digital" drupa. And while traditional print technologies were present en force, digital definitely gained ground, and was making the most and largest waves.
The digital exhibitors expanded by more than 100,000 square feet of floor space this year, for a total of 366,000 of the total square footage devoted to it.
A few of the largest announcements in this area were glimpses into the future by some of the major manufacturers. Some of the biggest technology demos that were making big waves came from Xerox, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, and EFI Vutek.
Inks, Presses, and iGens—Oh My
While still in the early stages of development, and probably several years out from any kind of commercial product, Xerox was talking about a new ink technology it's working on for the next generation of inkjet. Calling it a "cured gel" ink, the goal is to combine the best features of solid toner inks and water-based inkjet inks.
The new ink will be able to print on a much wider variety of substrates, with much higher quality than many inkjet inks today. The company was displaying samples printed with an early version of the ink on substrates such as aluminum and thin sheets of plastic, with very crisp lines and nice density. While still in the R&D phase, this product has a lot of potential, and is definitely something to keep an eye on as the firm refines and perfects it.
Xerox was also showing what it dubbed the ConceptColor 220. This machine is not yet a production model—hence the concept in the name—but it incorporates two iGen3 engines with a variety of other technology to create a duplexing machine with a footprint barely larger than a single iGen3.
For now, the company was looking for feedback from visitors to the booth as to what other features they would like to see if this was to be sold commercially, as well as other bells and whistles that might be needed.
While the possibilities for the future were definitely interesting at Xerox, one of the big stars of the booth was the debut of the iGen4. The new press was kept in a closed room available to only small groups at a time, by appointment, but the specs are encouraging.
The company notes that it is photorealistic print quality, and that it will provide as much as 25-30 percent more productivity compared with the iGen3. The company believes this machine will once more narrow the gap in the break-even point between digital and offset. We'll have more on this press in the future as additional information is available.
A New Direction
Epson had a very interesting machine in its booth as well. While it was also just a demo of a technology that is not yet ready for prime time, it has interesting implications for the direction the company is headed.
"Drupa 2008 is being talked about as the show where inkjet becomes mainstream. Visitors to the Epson stand can see for themselves how Micro Piezo inkjet technology has developed to such a high standard that we are now able to broaden its use into commercial, production-oriented applications," said Duncan Ferguson, director of Pro-Graphics and New Business Development, Epson Europe.
While the company had a variety of new products, the concept label printer was getting some good attention. This machine uses all proprietary Epson technology, and the output the firm was creating on it was very impressive. The blending of colors was almost seamless, and the level of detail was outstanding. The model Epson was showing was running a bit slow for a production environment, but as this is still in the development stage, that wasn't a cause for concern yet. This is another product to keep an eye on, since, if launched, it could bring the company into a more firm position in the commercial print market, as opposed to the fringes it occupies in this space today.
Larger Than Life
One of the first things you notice when walking over to the new Hewlett-Packard Web Press on display is that this thing is a whole lot bigger and more impressive in person than the pictures would lead you to believe.
The HP Inkjet Web Press, scheduled for release in late 2009, will be a 30-inch press; at the show, HP was showing a wider 36-inch configuration to demonstrate how it can be built into wide arrays. Like the 30-inch, the 36-inch device has a maximum speed of 400 feet per minute at 600x600 dpi. While pricing could change, right now HP is anticipating it will sell in the United States for around $2.5 million, for a twin-engine model. The targeted consumables pricing will be less than $0.01 for a four-color, 4/0 letter-size page, and less than $0.0015 for a black-only 4/0 letter-size page.
Wide-Format Preview
EFI Vutek was showing an early R&D model of its new DS series of wide-format flatbed printer. While this model was not actually printing at the show, the company noted that it has working models in its research facilities back in the United States. The decision not to bring those versions was based on not wanting to set back development by several months.
According to the company, the press "is a new category of high-speed digital flatbed printers representing a tipping point in productivity, image quality, and flexibility... [It] produces saleable output at up to 6,000 square feet per hour, and uses a unique high productivity UV curing system, newly engineered from the ground up, to provide full curing at the fastest speeds."
There are some interesting innovations on the machine, such as a zoned vacuum table which will allow printers to be make more efficient use of the area, an automatic feeding system, and a unique head-cleaning system that allows the machine to perform the operation with very little user interaction, and the waste is cured by the UV lamps on an absorbent pad, so clean up should be much easier. Expected to be ready in 2009, we'll have more information on this machine once it is available.
And Miles To Go...
These are just a very small sample of some of the innovative machines that we'll be seeing over the course of the next year or more. Next week, we'll look at more of the technologies, machines, and materials making news at drupa 2008.
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