Whether you call this drupa thing a circus, the Olympics of printing, or the mother of all print shows, there's no denying that Planet drupa has way of focusing the attention of the printing world. Pundits and hypesters to the contrary, I'm going to say it right here: the only way this 15th iteration of drupa (it's been taking place since 1951) will come down as being the drupa of some particular technology is if the loudest pundits proclaim it to be so. There's just too much in flux, too much in play, to claim that any single technology is in a position to dominate.

What it will do, though, is show that technology is once again poised to reshape the printing business, while giving us a glimpse of the future. Inkjet is going to have a huge presence from several companies, but when the drupa shuts down on June 11, inkjet will still not be positioned as the replacement for offset and vanquisher of toner-based printing that so many people seem to think it is. There are still too many unresolved issues surrounding workflows, substrates, reliability, durability, print quality, and a host of cost metrics for inkjet to be really close to a final answer. But that's not news. Toner based digital print also took some years to gain traction so there is little reason to think inkjet will be much different.

All that said, however, I think inkjet has a lot going for it and it's going to be a fascinating few years while the technology is refined and prepared for market. For that reason, any printer coming to Dusseldorf needs to take a close look at all the inkjet engines here at drupa, but more especially the technology demos and machines for which a hard release date is not available. Some of those may be a bit further off, but those are also among the machines that can be the real game changers when they roll out. Then, once you've had your look, go spend the rest of your time in Dussledorf looking for the equipment and software tools you can use to make your business more profitable this year, so you'll be ready to make the investment when the time is right for inkjet in your business.

Noel Ward
Brimstone Hill Associates