Preview of What’s to Come at the drupa 2012 Printing Trade Show

By Julie Greenbaum

drupa 2012 Highlights

Among the special features of drupa 2012 shared by the event organizers were:

• drupa innovation park 2012—presented by digi:media, dip 2012 will be showcasing the latest innovative, trendsetting solutions and applications for the entire media industry in hall 7.0. drupa attendees are right to expect the very latest innovations and ideas for the markets of tomorrow when they visit the world’s leading trade fair for the printing and media industry. This is exactly what the drupa innovation park offers in concentrated form with its nine theme parks all located in one hall.

• drupa cube—A highlight of the world’s largest print and media trade fair will again be the drupa cube. Staged over 13 days, everything here revolves around the trends in printing communication. Invitations have been extended to print buyers, marketing decision makers, advertisers, publishing houses and creative people.

• Highlight Tours—drupa 2012 will offer 10 different Highlights Tours covering the latest industry developments. The tours range from production control and Web-to-print through offset and digital printing right up to packaging production and finishing.

• drupacity—Every four years, the entire metropolis on the River Rhine paints itself red—in time for drupa in Düsseldorf. This is when the city turns into drupacity. This year, the center of attraction will certainly be the shopping malls around Königsallee Boulevard, along with the drupaperboat anchored at the Kö-Graben canal.

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.

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Julie Greenbaum Author's page

Julie Greenbaum is a contributor to Printing Impressions.

Preview of What’s to Come at drupa 2012