Welcome to a special edition of In The Balance - dedicated to drupa 2008
Whether you’re attending the show or not, please join us as we talk about what’s happening on the show floor, at the booths, and across the industry. We welcome your reactions, opinions and comments on the posts below.
Stay tuned for regular updates and insights! For more information about drupa, go to drupa 2008.
Blog Entries
June 12, 2008
Solving business problems at drupa
One thing I noticed really taking off at drupa 2008 is the ability of the exhibitors to frame their solutions not from the perspective of the speeds and feeds of the big iron—though clearly there was lots of big iron there!—but rather in the context of a business problem the print service provider can offer its customers. More specifically, these are being portrayed as specific applications. Many are running those applications live on the show floor, and provide materials that help visitors understand what infrastructure—hardware, software, media, etc.—is required to successfully produce each application.
This is a critical business approach that should be adopted by print service providers as they work with their customers. Hanging out a sign that says “We Do Print” is just not cutting it anymore. And adding “Value-Added Services”, while a start, is not the answer either. Customers don’t necessarily think in terms of mailing or fulfillment or web-to-print. They think in terms of getting orders to their customer quickly, or making materials available for easy access by franchisees, remote sales personnel or agents. And they are always looking for new, different and better ways of getting their work done.
From a truth-in-lending perspective, I need to disclose that I spent ten years at Xerox, and was lucky enough to be involved as a sales person in Silicon Valley when the DocuTech was launched in 1990. One thing the company did very well with that product was to position it in the context of the applications it could produce more efficiently, or new applications that could not have been produced until the advent of the technology. Being in Silicon Valley, I—and my customers—benefited from the work behind defining the best way to execute print-on-demand manuals. By the time I moved, on, we had installed some 150 DocuTechs running about a half a billion pages of tech-doc on demand each year! We solved a business problem for these companies, and they ate the dogfood, big time!
At drupa, I saw that Xerox had taken this concept to a new level. The stand was organized around 50 real customer applications. Not only were they showing HOW they were produced, but they provided a nice spiral bound booklet where each page identified the goals the customer was trying to achieve, the workflow that was used to produce the application, production notes, sales tips and green advantages. These 50 applications were divided into several application areas: Books and Manuals, Collateral, Digital & Offset Together, TransPromo and New Business Applications. This made it easy for visitors to quickly migrate to the area of most interest to them for their business. And each area was equipped with a comfortable Conversation Station where visitors could speak one-on-one with experts to get their questions answered. I spent time in the Books and Manuals area and spoke with John Conley, who ran the books on demand operation for RR Donnelley prior to coming to Xerox. So these were truly experts!
I am pleased to see suppliers to the industry making this shift, and congratulations to Xerox on its benchmark performance at drupa!
Cary Sherburne
Whattheythink.com
Sherburne & Associates
www.SherburneAssociates.com
If They’re Smiling, You’ll Know I Bought It
A long-time business friend of mine, Harry Mennen of De Budelse, is in the Xerox stand at drupa demonstrating a personalized chewing gum wrapper application. I bumped into him one evening in our hotel lobby, and after briefly catching up, he offered to drive me to the show the next day to continue our conversation. Most mornings I’d been making the hour-plus commute by bus, so riding in an air-conditioned German car sounded heavenly.
On the way in the next morning, Harry said he was going to make a decision at a mid-day meeting about possibly buying the new packaging system from Stora Enso Digital Solutions N.V. that also was on display in the stand. It had a number of advantages over the system De Budelse is currently using in its fairly substantial personalized promotional packaging business — including that it’s faster and runs in-line.
He said he hadn’t decided yet whether or not to buy the system. “But if the people from Stora Enso are smiling this afternoon,” he told me, “You’ll know I bought it.”
I checked the Stora Enso display later in the afternoon, and sure enough, Managing Director Pekka Tommola was smiling. It was their first sale.
Shelley Sweeney
Vice President, Data Processing Service Bureau and Direct Mail Segment for the Worldwide Graphic Communications Business, Xerox Corporation
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Pekka Tommola, Managing Director, Stora Enso
June 11, 2008
Industrial Printing at drupa
While most of the attention at drupa was on both the new high-speed continuous feed color printers and the new sheetfed electrophotographic and inkjet products, there were also a significant amount of announcements in the field of industrial printing. Industrial printing is printing in areas other than on sheets or reels of paper. It is an area of printing where flexo and screen printing has been the principal technology, but is now one where different digital technologies are now coming to the fore. In fact the preview of future Xerox inkjet technologies show technologies that are predominantly destined to be for industrial printing applications and packaging. The following are a few of the interesting announcements I found during the drupa show.
Plastic bucket printing - One interesting announcement that shows the size of a segment of the market came from Xeikon. Jokey Plastik GmbH, a world leader in the manufacturing of plastic containers, has purchased no less than seven Xeikon digital color presses. The company took its first Xeikon press into production in September last year. This press is currently being used at full capacity, operating three shifts per day and seven days per week. An additional six presses will provide the capacity required to meet the sharp increase in demand for short runs of printed plastic containers. These plastic containers, often called buckets, are used for among other industries the paint trade and are used for holding industrial paints. The Xeikon presses print adhesive transfers for putting around the containers. Jokey Plastics employs 1,200 employees at 12 production plants in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Canada, serving customers worldwide. This order only covers a small proportion of the sites so no doubt if this is successful Xeikon can expect many more orders in future.
Xennia and Industrial Inkjet - Xennia is a UK organization specializing in the implementation of inkjet technologies mainly on an OEM basis. At drupa they were showing two developments using the new Xaar 1001 print heads built into substrate width arrays. The first of these was the XenJet X-plore 8000 single pass inkjet narrow web printer. This provides photo quality images for narrow web applications such as packaging labels and product decoration. The printer is supplied as a self contained unit comprising printhead module, re-circulating ink management system, control electronics, PC and software. The printhead module can be supplied with up to 16 printheads to print with an apparent resolution of over 1,000 dpi in widths up to 280 mm. The total system was be shown as the EcoJet by ALS Engineering from Germany and is offered mainly for label printing with ALS developed finishing equipment for laser cutting allowing labels, business cards, booklets, boxes etc to be produced.
A further product development from Xennia is their XenJet X-treme 9000 printer. This is high performance single pass wide print array product with a print width up to 1120 mm (44 inches) and with a speed of 24 meters/min at 360 dpi resolution. This is widest single pass print array I have yet seen. The print engine is designed for product and packaging decoration and manufacturing applications. The first implementation of this print engine is now entering production from Xennia's partner Creta Print a leading manufacturer of ceramic tile printing equipment.
Material Deposition - One of the most interesting areas for inkjet technology is material deposition and one example of this is in printed electronics. In this systems are very different and are designed to operate in clean room environments. A printer in this market is usually built around state of the art motion stages with solid granite bases, high performance air bearings and linear motors guaranteeing repeatability down to +/- one micron. Again Xennia is a player in this area using piezo printheads from Xaar and Dimatix. Dimatix were showing the first implementations of their new Samba inkjet platform. At drupa these heads were used in the Fujifilm JetPress 720 B2 format inkjet press. Dimatix indicated that these new heads are also being aimed at the materials deposition markets and they anticipate that in 2009 they will be able to image drop sizes as small as 0.1 picoliters. Today the smallest drops one sees from any printhead are around 1.5 picoliters.
FFEI Emblaze - Another inkjet product being shown at drupa came from the UK company FFEI and was being shown by Fujifilm. This is the Emblaze UV coater. This product uses the Xaar 1001 printhead in a 28 inch wide array and is used to spot or flood UV coat printed sheets. This system can also print a textured image. This could be the first of a range of such coaters and I would anticipate that Xaar could easily make a version to fit the B3 format digital presses such as the Xerox iGen3, iGen4 and Docucolor products. It takes a digital file to define the coating area and this can easily match the printed image. It also does not need an extraction system as the UV flood coater on the Xerox iGen3 requires.
Industrial printing is an area that does not draw the attention of major suppliers in the same way that both sheet and continuous feed color digital printing does. This area however has been a very good one for HP Indigo with its 4500 label press that now dominates the digital label printing market. It is a major area for growth and many of the inkjet companies are seeing it as one of the major business areas to concentrate upon.
Andrew Tribute
Managing Partner
Attributes Associates
Truro, UK.
Has the Inkjet Train Left the Station?
The doors have closed at drupa now, and the last trains are leaving the station. As I've noted previously, this show has been about many things. But from the presentations I've listened to and the technologies I've seen, drupa 08 is really about how virtually all types of printing are becoming more closely integrated and that applications will continue to drive the choice of press, while increasing the scope of what can be done.
As my colleague Cary Sherburne noted on WhatTheyThink.com, applications have been everywhere at drupa, showing what can actually be done with the latest technology rather than just talking about potential and leaving the "how to do it" up to the imagination. This approach has been growing over the past few years and goes a long way towards helping print providers see how they can get a return on the substantial investment most modern digital presses require. After all, people buy what products do, and what a digital print engine is supposed to do is make money for a printer and help him or her grow their business.
The type of device on which the applications shown at drupa will be run is another matter. For the time being it's still going to be predominantly toner and there is nothing the proponents of inkjet can do about that. With only Kodak, InfoPrint, Océ, and Screen actually having production-class products available in the market, and there being numerous concerns and skepticism about exactly where inkjet fits for all but a handful of applications, IJ has a ways to go before it is widely accepted as a real alternative to electrophotography. This is okay, because it is a new technology, and just as EP took a while to get going, IJ will take a while to gain traction. Just remember one thing: no printing process is perfect and each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Meanwhile, a couple of industry pundits have been bickering over which one first dubbed this the "inkjet drupa," as if it matters. The fact is, to my mind drupa 08 is many things, but the lighthouse show for inkjet it is not. Sure, inkjet machines littered many stands, but even in large format where IJ is the de facto standard, some machines were smoke and mirrors and not even running. In almost every case at drupa, the IJ boxes getting the most hype won't be available until sometime next year and even then will be going to a very limited number of customers.
There are those who say the inkjet train has left the station while others, like me, say it is still loading --and that some of the passengers are missing their luggage. And moreover, inkjet will not become this magical replacement for offset that some claim it will be. This is not to imply that inkjet won't become an important printing technology, but no printer should bet the farm on inkjet anytime soon. Although a technology can be an enabler, it is the application ultimately drives how something is printed, not the other way around. The print providers who are successful five and ten years from now are going to be the ones who use an intelligent mix of offset, EP and IJ systems and do so based on the applications they need to run. What this drupa showed beyond all doubt is that the digital printing train has left the station and among the cars and engines being added at each stop are inkjet printers that will ultimately help the train go faster and be able to do more.
Noel Ward
WhatTheyThink.com
Brimstone Hill Associates
Drupa reflects the world
Every time I come to Drupa I like first to take the overall sense. I mean, despite seeing specific questions I try to realize what is beyond the whole set of machines and technologies exposed in the show.
This Drupa reflects what we see in the world today in terms of the printing markets.
In one hand we could see a strong visitation and expositors coming from the emerging markets where the questions about volume are still updated. On the other hand the search for value added and lean and automated manufacturing coming from the mature markets visitors.
Both markets reflecting the competition today where emerging markets are growing faster while the mature markets are declining in real terms.
Anyway, for both markets the same reality: printing industry is definitively depending on IT solutions. All workflows, MIS, CIM, processes integrations, etc. are on that way. This is the IT era. This is the IT Drupa. Not a surprise at all. The surprise is still seeing printers being surprised.
Hamilton Terni Costa
AN Consulting
A Look at Inkjet
I normally don’t cover the digital print engines in my work with WhatTheyThink, preferring to focus on the front end stuff, which I generally find more interesting. But at drupa, I did spend some time looking at inkjet offerings. Well, after all, it was supposed to be the inkjet drupa. What’s a girl supposed to do?
There certainly was inkjet everywhere you looked. Even Heidelberg is bringing an inkjet offering to market! Screen was showing the prototype of a sheetfed inkjet press that looks to be pretty interesting, perhaps an easier way for sheetfed printers to take advantage of this approaching freight train of a trend. But what I found most interesting were the inks various suppliers were touting, from HP’s Latex inks to Océ’s CrystalPoint technology with TonerPearls, to Xerox’ toner gel technology demo.
U.S. Public Printer Pursuing Digital Printing and Sustainability
I had the honor — and pleasant responsibility — of hosting the Public Printer of the United States and his small entourage at the Xerox stand on one afternoon of drupa — and again that evening at a reception for North American members of the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners.
Robert Tapella became the nation’s 25th Public Printer last fall, overseeing one of the largest print buying operations in the world, ordering as many as 1,000 printing jobs a day from private vendors, on behalf of federal agencies. At drupa, his agenda includes investigating the latest digital printing solutions and sustainability initiatives to support his vision for the U.S. Government Printing Office of the future.
We had plenty to show him. One of our longer sessions in the stand was a demonstration of our new web-fed color and black-and-white devices (the Xerox 490/980™ Color Continuous Feed Printing System and the Xerox 650/1300™ Continuous Feed Printing System, respectively) that are good candidates for the books that are his primary product. We had another good conversations in the innovation area, where some of our future technologies are on display.
That evening, his team joined us for drinks and dinner at the Hotel Schnellenburg, a pleasant setting overlooking the Rhine River. About 75 of our top North American customers were there, and many told me they were absolutely thrilled to meet him.
The irony wasn’t lost on us, that our top North American print providers were meeting with one of the leading print buyers in the United States — in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Tom Wetjen
Vice President, Worldwide Graphic Communications Business
Xerox Corporation
Robert Tapella, the Public Printer of the United States, right, and Tom Wetjen of Xerox at the Xerox Premier Partners reception at the Hotel Schnellenburg during drupa.
June 10, 2008
Smart Communication
During my visit to the Xerox booth at drupa I stopped by the Xerox Business Development Seminar center where Xerox was hosting eight daily sessions on digital business opportunities.
In between sessions I had a chance to speak with Andreas Weber, one of Xerox's Business Development Seminar speakers. Andreas is principal of Andreas Weber Global Communication GmbH, CEO of Mainz, Germany based magazine VALUE Verlag AG and founder of German-based digital printing online community Digital Druck Forum.
Andreas shared with me his white paper on Smart Communication: Reaching Engaging Communication Beyond Ourselves. In the paper Andreas states "Communication in this age should be easier. Technology abounds to ease the process of communication. But as in other areas of technology, the various systems are not completely integrated for seamless use." Andreas suggests tools need to be developed to facilitate the search for information, and facilitate peer-to-peer transparent discussions.
The concepts Andreas presents in his white paper follow the "mega trends" Xerox has been speaking to for a few years: Personalization - the ME generation; Collaboration - about us working with each other; and Digitization - the realization of it all coming together.
Adam Dewitz
WhatTheyThink.com
Print CEO Blog
June 10, 2008
Embracing the Digital Photo Books Opportunity
A group of executives from Stevens Printing of Portland, Ore., came to drupa to investigate digital photo specialty products applications for their Xerox iGen3® 90 Digital Production Press. In just one afternoon, they found much of what they needed in three stations at the Xerox stand.
Their afternoon began with an hour-long presentation, “Digital Photos: how to break into the digital photo products market and take advantage of a $2B opportunity,” by Chris Jordan of Jordan & Jordan (to listen-in click the podcast button at the top of the page.) It's one of eight sessions in the Xerox Business Development Seminar series that runs throughout drupa, offering insights on key business opportunities.
In his talk, Jordan referenced a Xerox business tool that helps print providers initiate a photo products business, with a sample marketing plan and sample applications, templates and source files. Stop No. 2 for the Stevens entourage: the station where that Xerox ProfitAcccelerator Picture Me Profitable Kit was on display.
Their third and final stop was the photo specialty products section of the stand, where they saw the binding equipment and electronic creation and ordering systems they would need.
In the course of just a few hours, the Stevens team learned from an expert about the photo books opportunity, saw the equipment they would need to build a solution and perused the support tools that would help them establish the business.
Their mission to build a profitable new application was off to a smooth start.
Gina Testa
Vice President, Channel and Customer Business Development
Production Systems Group
Xerox Corporation
June 09, 2008
Sustainable Marketing Is As Important As Sustainable Offerings
It’s great to see all the conversation about sustainability at drupa. But as a marketer, I think we have a lot more work to do to “green up” the way we present our offerings and communicate our brand value propositions. Xerox issued a news release today that summarizes some of what we’re trying to do. And we put together a factsheet that talks about how we tried to build our stand in an eco-friendly way.
It involves everything from the materials we use in our exhibit, to the lighting, collaterals and carpet – all the things that surround our products and services (which themselves are pretty green.) We also showed a video talking about sustainability through the eyes of the next generation of Xerox people. Check out the green gene here.
As proud as we are of the efforts we made to design a green booth, they are small steps that need to turn into greater leaps moving forward. In a related blog post, Andy Tribute pointed out similar efforts by many other leading printing companies at drupa. But more needs to be done. The International Consumer Electronics Show is America’s largest annual trade show of any kind. This year, CES made an effort to produce a carbon neutral show, working with CarbonFund.org to invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy and reforestation projects to offset the emissions created by every inch of CES space. The printing industry has spent a lot of time focusing on creating sustainable technology and services. And that’s the right place to start. Now we have to put additional focus on sustainable marketing. That means working with creative agency partners and printing partners – every link in the value chain – to ensure that we are marketing our offerings in ever-more sustainable ways. There’s no doubt that the next drupa will be even greener. And even though I’m barely over the jet lag from this year’s show, I can’t wait for 2012.
Ed Gala
Vice President
Corporate Marketing Services
Xerox Corporation
Note: to listen-in on Andy Tribute's comments on the "greening" of the print industry, click on the videos link to hear more.
1:1 Lab Data Hits Sweet Spot for Family-Run Business
Family-Owned Cadillo Comunicación Gráfica of Lima, Peru, produces direct marketing about real-estate investments that requires great trust from customers, because of the confidential nature of tax and property data. So when Cadillo tries something new with their clients, they document their case as well as possible.
That’s why they were so impressed by the detailed cost and benefits included in the Xerox 1:1 Lab case studies I presented at the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partner meeting in Dortmund, Germany - as part of Xerox's drupa activities. The meeting was for members of the Premier Partners — leading Xerox-equipped print providers — from developing markets.
The 1:1 Lab
For a business whose success is based upon the reputation it has built over two generations, having access to this type of hard data is extremely valuable. So much so, that brothers Elio and Percy Cadillo tracked me down at drupa the next day to get my presentation. I assured them it would be posted on the Premier Partners Web site within the next few days.
But that wasn’t good enough. They wanted it now. I paused. Then I grabbed my laptop, copied the files to a thumb drive, and waited while they transferred the material to their computer.
I understand. When something’s that valuable, you want to be able to go home with it.
Shelley Sweeney
Vice President, Data Processing Service Bureau and Direct Mail Segment for the Worldwide Graphic Communications Business, Xerox Corporation
Shelley Sweeney (below) presents to Premier Partners during drupa activities.
June 08, 2008
Taking the wraps off new digital packaging efforts
Xerox is certainly making a lot of news at this edition of drupa. I think one of our earlier announcements could wind up being one of our most enduring -- our move into printing digital packaging.
In the run-up to the show, Xerox and Stora Enso announced a packaging solution that uses our iGen3® 110 Digital Production Press to print variable data cartons and other packaging in short runs for the pharmaceutical market. It consists of an Epic CTi-635 varnishing unit with both aqueous and UV-coating options from Xerox, a KAMA die cutter with 580 x 400 mm sheet size and a stacker-conveyer unit from Stora Enso. That system is on display in the stand.
The system will help drug companies get new medicines to market faster and boost profits. Also on display - other packaging solutions, from boxes for contact lenses to chewing gum packages. Such applications point to a growing revenue opportunity for digital print providers. Why are these applications appealing?
First, they make a strong impression. Consumers are pleasantly surprised to see their name on a chewing gum pack or special targeted information about their prescription on a box.
Secondly, on-demand printing allows packing to be printed when needed, eliminating the need to keep large and costly inventories. And variable data can print individualized batch codes and other information allowing for an extra level of security for applications that require it.
Watch this space for more developments to come!
Tom Wetjen
Vice President, Worldwide Graphic Communications Industry
Production Systems Group
Xerox Corporation
June 07, 2008
Publidisa Outlines Book Opportunity for Xerox Premier Partners
Patricia Pasada of Publidisa (see photos below) came to the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners meeting in Dortmund, Germany, as part of drupa, to tell the story of her company’s success in meeting the needs of publishers and authors.
She left with more than a dozen potential business partners. That’s what happens when you ask a room full of 75 leading digital print providers to be partners in an innovative, international business.
Publidisa, based in Seville, Spain, and with additional presence in Mexico and Argentina, provides a unique collection of publishing offerings: digital book manufacturing, e-book file generation and e-commerce outsourcing. “No one was offering solutions in these areas, so we went for it,” Pasada said. The result: rapid growth the last few years.
Pasada described three paths of future growth for the company: expanding its regional reach for publishing in Spanish, building a capability for publishing in English, and then taking on the rest of the world’. The firm’s preferred approach: growth through local partnerships. In the face of rapidly escalating energy costs, she said, “We want an international network to produce books close to the point of need, and avoid high shipping costs and delays.”
That’s when she gave an open invitation to attendees — Xerox Premier Partners from developing markets, such as Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East — to explore becoming a partner of Publidisa. By evening, she had business cards from 14 companies.
The Xerox Premier Partners — a global network of 727 leading, Xerox-equipped print providers — is dedicated to developing new business opportunities through knowledge sharing, networking and business sharing.
At the meeting in Dortmund, Publidisa had the trifecta.
Randy Swope
Developing Markets Organization Premier Partner Coordinator
Xerox Corporation
Patricia Pasada of Publidisa during and after her speech at the Premier Partner Event in Dortmund on May 28, 2008.
June 06, 2008
The "Greening" of Print
One of the key themes at drupa has been the environment. Almost every supplier has a green or sustainability approach and all have a document outlining what they are doing. This is a real difference from drupa 2004 where the green issue was hardly covered.
The following shows some of the things that are happening in this area at drupa. On June 5, 2008, World Environment Day, Heidelberger offset the environmental effects of all print products created in the course of the day at drupa. This included prepress, press, and postpress. All CO2 emissions generated indirectly on that day were offset by investing in a climate protection project complying with the internationally recognized Gold Standard through the Swiss charitable foundation myclimate. This will ensure that unavoidable emissions are offset by climate protection measures elsewhere. In concrete terms, in a region of India, electricity and heat will be generated from biomass that was previously burned on the fields as waste. This will benefit the environment and boost the income of local farmers.
The level of CO2 emissions calculated on World Environment Day was based on the amount of paper printed for demonstration purposes (over 70 tons), the total electrical power required by the equipment used (three MWh), printing plates, ink, coatings, alcohol, dampening solution additive, and cleaning agents.
So Much to See. So Little Time.
To see everything being shown at drupa requires a disruption of the time-space continuum. There are something on the order of 1900 vendors showing their wares here at drupa over the 14 days the show runs. That means you would have to see 136 of them each day, and spend a bit over 4 minutes at each stand. And that assumes you can instantaneously transport yourself from one place to another, such as from the new buildings of 8a and 8b to the remote reaches of building 15 instead of making the trek across the complex, dodging trucks, shuttle buses and weaving through the herds of attendees.
Fortunately, no one has to see all of drupa and visiting a relative handful of companies will satisfy your needs. But what to see? It's truly a case of so much to do, so little time, even if you actually dedicated two full weeks of your life to the event. What is important is an individual matter, so the trick is spending time in the right places.
What this digital drupa clearly demonstrates is that digital printing is here to stay --and growing. It is not a curiosity or a pretender to the throne of offset. It is a powerful, effective and above all profitable way to put words and pictures on a page and is perfectly compatible with offset printing. It is proven to be an ideal way for printers to extend what they do and generate new business for both offset and digital presses. That makes this drupa a place to think about what all the elements of digital printing mean for your business, especially if you have both offset and digital technology. I've seen a lot here over the past week and there are two areas of products and technologies to see that can help a print business be more agile, more responsive to customer needs and more competitive.
First, look at lots of print engines, both those that fit the way your business works today and ones that can help transform it into what you'd like it to be tomorrow. There are no longer any significant quality concerns with digital printing. While not all digital presses produce "offset quality" images (a truly arbitrary term), they all produce sellable images that satisfy customer needs, which is what's important at the end of the day. As you examine them, look beyond image quality and even speed to overall productivity and finishing capabilities. Most of the new systems shown here at drupa can increase the volume of work you produce each day, raising your topline even as greater efficiency increases the bottom line.
Also helping the bottom line, especially for printers with both offset and digital operations, are many ways to better integrate your workflows so that jobs can easily be switched between offset and digital devices. Nearly all the makers of both types of presses have rolled out new software that enables jobs to be routed all but seamlessly between types of machines. Check this stuff out: Some it has a real "Wow factor." Many printers I've been talking with do this already, but all have areas where they need greater efficiency and are looking for answers. Many of the solutions printers need today are here in the stands of offset and digital vendors alike.
So for most printers at Planet drupa, there are not 1900 vendors but maybe a couple dozen --easily seen in just a few days. And by spending a generous amount of time at each one it is easy to see how the products and technologies being rolled out here can help change their businesses.
Good shopping!
Noel Ward
Managing Editor, WhatTheyThink.com
Director, Brimstone Hill Associates
Creative Ways to Call on Creatives
How does a print provider approach a corporate brand owner without alienating their agency?
That question was posed to me during my presentation in Dortmund, Germany to about 75 leading Xerox-equipped print providers from developing markets who are members of the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners. They were participating in a daylong meeting on business development as part of our drupa activities, and I was presenting on creative agencies, a great, but oft- overlooked opportunity.
The question, from Eduardo Achach, chairman of the board, Mega Direct, Mexico City, typifies the hesitancy print providers feel about approaching creative agencies. In North America alone, creatives buy $26 billion in print annually, yet 85 percent of print providers don’t call on them.
I recommended to Achach that he approach the brand owner’s agencies with concepts for working together to increase awareness of digital printing. Get on their team.
In fact, my entire presentation was relevant to his question. I offered advice on identifying the agencies that are most likely to work with you, on the research you should do on them, on the applications that resonate with them, and on techniques for building relationships outside the traditional sales cycle. I told attendees to become insiders by getting involved with the local chapter of an ad association or creative tools users groups. Go to their meetings and speak at their events. It’s an excellent way to make contacts and build trust.
With this preparation, when you do approach an agency, you’ll be sure to bring a relevant, creative concept to the table.
Bob Wagner, Vice President
Xerox Creative Services Business
and Premier Partners Program
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Eduardo Achach, chairman of the board, Mega Direct, Mexico City, asks his question of Bob Wagner: How does a print provider approach a corporate brand owner without alienating their agency?
PODCAST: Case Study - Building Relationships with Creatives
Xerox's Bob Wagner gives tips direct from the customer on what it takes to earn their print business.
June 05, 2008
PODCAST: Sweet Spot - Target Ad Agency and Design Services Market
Andreas Weber, Global Communications GmbH, talks about joining print services providers who are growing their digital business by targeting the lucrative untapped ad agency and design services marketplace.
Agent Finds Next Step in Client’s Sales Development
Horst-Rainer Kehmeier of PSG GAI GmbH, Hamburg, Germany, stopped by the Xerox stand at drupa to see what was new — and left with a new plan to help one of his clients better sell digital printing.
Horst, a concessionaire (sales agent), spoke with some of us at the Xerox exhibit about how he’d used the Xerox ProfitAccelerator Digital Readiness Assessment tool to assess the relative strengths of one of his Xerox DocuColor 5000 Digital Press clients, Hamann Kolling Gmbh. The result: they identified an opportunity to improve the firm’s digital sales skills.
Subsequently, Hamann Kolling agreed to have Kehmeier work with them to hire and train a new sales rep to focus on digital printing and marketing services. Eventually they selected a candidate who was a novice in printing, but who had a wealth of marketing experience. Horst says the strategy is paying off, and digital sales are growing.
Which brings us to what’s new in the Xerox booth: six of the core business development tools in the Xerox ProfitAccelerator Digital Business Resources have been translated into six languages, including German. Horst quickly recognized that one of the tools, the ProfitAcccelerator Digital Sales Management Kit, was a good resource for taking their business to the next level in digital print sales.
What’s new at the Xerox stand turned out to be what’s new in his client’s business development plan.
Susan L. Weiss
Manager
Worldwide Customer Business Development, Xerox Corporation
Greener than we think?
Industry analyst Andy Tribute weighs-in on the "green" efforts of print! Click here to view the video.
Green drupa? Not really. . .but it should be
Searching desperately for the next big thing, or the latest word-bite, commentators will attempt to label drupa the [fill in the blank] drupa, hoping for their 3 milliseconds of google fame. (That’s the wait time for results after which searchers are said to get bored.)
While this may indeed be a “green” drupa, it’s tough to lay that nickname on a two-week event that has the carbon footprint of small country.
But visitors will be searching for greener solutions, to be sure. And the energy involved in reproduction of images will weigh on the balance scales of many visitors.
Shades of green
Looking for the sustainable print solution, really looking, will mean examining the total package. That’s the energy used by the print device, its inherent power demands and resource consumption. But a more “nuanced” green will look further, at the envelope around the print process—the conveyance of raw materials (paper) to and from the print center, the delivery of finished goods. So a print operation in a LEEDs certified building on a machine that uses more energy, but provides finished goods close to the point of usage may end up greener than a product printed with less energy during manufacture, but trucked around afterward.
Check out the total package as you search for your green drupa. You may be surprised at the results.
Bill Esler
Editor in Chief
Graphic Arts Monthly
June 04, 2008
"Sparks" at drupa
Xerox has been telling customers to visit them at drupa to see the “hottest” applications. This took on a new meaning Tuesday, and I’d like to set the record straight on what happened. The exhaust system on the UV coater that is part of our new integrated, inline cut-sheet digital packaging solution caught fire.
The exhaust system, while not the set-up used in a customer setting, was configured to operate safely in a trade show. Accidents happen. At drupa. At customer sites. Everything was handled quickly to ensure the safety of those in the booth and there were no injuries and no need to evacuate. In fact, the fire inspector was fine with us starting up the system again Tuesday evening.
While this is certainly not the way we intended to “spark” interest in our new digital packaging solution, I do encourage you to stop over and see this application and others.
Tom Wetjen
Vice President, Worldwide Graphic Communications Industry
Production Systems Group
Xerox Corporation
PODCAST: Digital Photos
Chris Jordan, Jordan & Jordan, spends 50 minutes talking about how to break into the digital photo products market and how to take advantage of the $2B opportunity. Is the 6 x 4 photo market dead? The digital photo explosion has opened up new opportunities for printing. Photo books are set to revolutionize the photo print market and it's all happening on digital color printers.
The Sweet Smell of Success. And More is Better
I've talked with several equipment vendors over the past couple of days and the word from them is that after five days this drupa is proving to be a successful one in terms of sales. HP, Kodak, Océ, and Xerox are all reporting strong orders for both single and multiple machines and some have also sold much of the equipment shown in their stands. All have also received plenty of interest in the new technologies they are showing. In addition to the new machines being rolled out here, vendors are showing technology demos or works in progress while others are measuring interest in concept machines the vendors think may fill a need --or niche-- in the market.
If One is Good, are Two are Better?
One of these is duplex printing, or perfecting, as offset printers call it. While continuous feed print engines have long been joined together when two-sided printing is needed --primarily on transactional documents and books, cut-sheet machines have typically been solo performers, printing both sides of a page. Yet in the past year or so, joining two monochrome devices as perfecting presses has become an option for effectively doubling the throughput of a given machine. Xerox began this shift with the melding of two monochrome Nuvera 144 production presses to create the Nuvera 288 and Kodak has announced a tandem monochrome system for 2009. Others will no doubt follow, probably from Japan.
But these days, color is what is important to customers and vendors alike. The tandem approach is showing up here, too, as evidenced by the iGen3-based ConceptColor 220 being shown in an alcove of the Xerox stand here at drupa, partly as a demonstration of what could be done, but also as a way to test customer interest. According to Xerox, response to the concept machine has been positive, especially among existing iGen customers, a goodly number of whom have two or more machines already. I'm betting this the first of other tandem color boxes from other suppliers, simply because of the technical barriers in getting the needed color quality at substantially higher speeds in a single cut-sheet device.
Although I like such configurations in principle, I'd still rather have more speed in a single box. Tandem cut sheet systems seem like a complex and less than elegant way to deliver greater throughput, but the upside to too good to ignore. By doubling throughput capability, a print provider better can meet the demands of ever tightening print windows, take in more jobs and add value for their customers. And they have redundancy when one of the engines is down. So even if tandems are only place holders until faster systems are available, they help meet today's production needs and let printers take on jobs they might otherwise have to turn away.
Speed is good. More is better.
Noel Ward
Managing Editor, WhatTheyThink.com
Director, Brimstone Hill Associates.
The Sweet Smell of Success. And More is Better
I've talked with several equipment vendors over the past couple of days and the word from them is that after five days this drupa is proving to be a successful one in terms of sales. HP, Kodak, Océ, and Xerox are all reporting strong orders for both single and multiple machines and some have also sold much of the equipment shown in their stands. All have also received plenty of interest in the new technologies they are showing. In addition to the new machines being rolled out here, vendors are showing technology demos or works in progress while others are measuring interest in concept machines the vendors think may fill a need --or niche-- in the market.
If One is Good, are Two are Better?
One of these is duplex printing, or perfecting, as offset printers call it. While continuous feed print engines have long been joined together when two-sided printing is needed --primarily on transactional documents and books, cut-sheet machines have typically been solo performers, printing both sides of a page. Yet in the past year or so, joining two monochrome devices as perfecting presses has become an option for effectively doubling the throughput of a given machine. Xerox began this shift with the melding of two monochrome Nuvera 144 production presses to create the Nuvera 288 and Kodak has announced a tandem monochrome system for 2009. Others will no doubt follow, probably from Japan.
But these days, color is what is important to customers and vendors alike. The tandem approach is showing up here, too, as evidenced by the iGen3-based ConceptColor 220 being shown in an alcove of the Xerox stand here at drupa, partly as a demonstration of what could be done, but also as a way to test customer interest. According to Xerox, response to the concept machine has been positive, especially among existing iGen customers, a goodly number of whom have two or more machines already. I'm betting this the first of other tandem color boxes from other suppliers, simply because of the technical barriers in getting the needed color quality at substantially higher speeds in a single cut-sheet device.
Although I like such configurations in principle, I'd still rather have more speed in a single box. Tandem cut sheet systems seem like a complex and less than elegant way to deliver greater throughput, but the upside to too good to ignore. By doubling throughput capability, a print provider better can meet the demands of ever tightening print windows, take in more jobs and add value for their customers. And they have redundancy when one of the engines is down. So even if tandems are only place holders until faster systems are available, they help meet today's production needs and let printers take on jobs they might otherwise have to turn away.
Speed is good. More is better.
Noel Ward
Managing Editor, WhatTheyThink.com
Director, Brimstone Hill Associates.
June 03, 2008
David Watson
It is a sad day when one of the key members of the digital graphic arts communities dies. David Watson, the founder of Ultimate Technographics and the inventor of digital imposition died of a heart attack at drupa on Saturday May 31. I have had the privilege of knowing David for many years and found him to be a true gentleman, a real innovator and a person happy to share his knowledge and vision with others in the industry. His development of Impostrip the first digital imposition product in the early 1980s was perhaps the key development in changing prepress from a manual to an automated computer operation. Prior to Impostrip, imposition of pages into film flats for printing was a skilled, time-consuming manual task. Digital imposition changed the industry by both improving the quality of printing through totally accurate imposed output and allowing printing to become both more productive and more cost effective.
Andrew Tribute
Attribute Associates
PODCAST - Developing a Profitable Digital Business
Industry analyst Peter Muir, president, Bizucate, Inc., delivers a 50-minute presentation on developing a profitable digital business. He shares how to transform a company from a print provider to a marketing communication service provider -all to increase sales, volume and profits.
June 02, 2008
The Game Changers
So OK. after cruising drupa and seeing what's going on in inkjet outside of the usual large format and desktop stuff, this toner-head is willing to admit that inkjet has a lot going for it and is going to be a real force in the industry. Just as electrophotographic (EP) printing before was a disruptive influence, and has gradually changed the printing game, IJ will do the same. But what is really being shown here at drupa is the potential IJ has to provide a compelling alternative to analog printing and some digital technologies. It will be especially interesting to see how early adopters of the new production class systems fare as they adapt their workflows --and their customers-- to IJ technology. Those are the ones to watch.
Yet for some of the IJ market --notably a large chunk of the large format segment-- it is business as usual, aided and abetted with incremental improvements in speed, quality, reliability, and durability of the prints. Still, there are some game changers here at drupa that will disrupt both digital and analog large format markets. There's one new large format printer that's poised to offer screen printers one of the first real digital alternatives to their time-honored processes. Likewise, some new ink technologies offer environmentally friendly alternatives to solvent printers for a number of applications. Such advances add value to their respective segments, and some of their success will be because they changed the playing field while adding value for their users.
The adding of value part is vitally important. Over this first drupa weekend, I spent a couple of hours with top level executives of two major digital press manufacturers. Both stressed that while digital technology will gradually account for a greater share of all printed materials, the actual percentage share of all printing that is done digitally is not all that big a deal. What is important, though, is digital print's share of the total value of print, whether this is measured by retail sales or some other metric. That's the goal that these and other digital equipment makers are going after. What all these firms are selling is the promise of their technology to either add value to the document (so it has a higher price and greater margin), deliver profitable new applications, or offer a more efficient means of production at more cost effective print volumes.
These have always been the goals and promise of digital printing, but EP has often fallen short of delivering the promise across a truly broad swath of the print market. It is still being refined, and will capture more of the total print volume even as it competes with IJ over the next couple of decades.
And inkjet's day is still to come. Technical issues will be resolved, just as they continue to be for EP presses. And with a couple years before the newly announced machines reach the market, there is time to figure out many of the gotchas. Then a whole new adoption cycle has to take place, and as it does, new potential applications --and more value-- are waiting to be found and tapped.
This still isn't the inkjet drupa, but it is a great time to be in the printing industry.
Noel Ward
WhatTheyThink.com
Brimstone Hill Associates
June 01, 2008
Needed: ROI Proof Points for Selling 1:1 in Egypt
Variable-data printing and one-to-one marketing services have been slow to catch on in Egypt, according to Islam Mahmoud (see photos below,) who runs four Kwik Kopy franchises there. But he believes he has an opportunity to target these services for specific market segments, such as tourism / hospitality, which is big not only in Egypt, but in other Middle Eastern countries he plans to expand into soon.
To gain insights on how to best approach that market, he attended the May 28 Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners meeting in Dortmund, Germany for companies from developing markets such as Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. When he heard Thilo Reichert of RheinMail Service Boppard GmbH, Boppard, Germany (www.rheinmqil.de), speak there about the way his company targets certain market segments and has had success with the likes of American Express and BMW, well — Islam just had to ask.
“This event is to strengthen our partnerships, right?” he said to Reichert during the Q&A. “So, can we use your idea examples with American Express and BMW in our country?”
Yes and yes. The Xerox Premier Partners is a global network of 727 leading, Xerox-equipped print providers who develop new business opportunities through knowledge sharing, networking and business sharing. And the two Premier Partners, from Egypt and Germany, exchanged business cards following the meeting.
“I wanted to not only ask a question but to get something tangible to help me break through in the market,” Islam explained later. And that’s how leadership one-to-one marketing programs in Germany will soon help to lead a new generation of marketers to success in Egypt.
Tom Wetjen
Vice President
Worldwide Graphic Communications Business, Xerox Corporation
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Islam Mahmoud, general manager Kwik Kopy, Cairo Egypt
Tom Wetjen of Xerox speaks with Islam Mahmoud, general manager Kwik Kopy, Cairo Egypt, left, and Ahmed Shaheen, chairman, Premier Services and Recruitment, which owns the Kwik Kopy franchises.
May 31, 2008
Xerox Talks Inkjet
At this so called Inkjet drupa where all sorts of new production level inkjet digital presses are being introduced or previewed, Xerox is sticking with its xerographic technology. At their drupa press conference however Xerox lifted the curtain slightly to preview how it is working with inkjet and to outline what we may expect to see in future. At the press conference Steve Hoover who is VP in charge of the Xerox Reseach Center in Webster NY, outlined some of the developments where Xerox is working with inkjet. He indicated that in the past few years Xerox had filed more than 500 inkjet patents.
In his initial comments it appeared that Hoover was telling us all the reasons why inkjet was not a suitable technology for production printing. These centered around the use of water in the inks and this he stated caused problems with paper as all the water had to be removed from the ink when it hit the paper. This could cause serious problems with the finishing operations for the paper and also it needed great amounts of heat and waste extraction to eliminate the water. He also indicated that aqueous inks had limitations and tended to sink into the paper if there were not special agents to prevent this.
He indicated that Xerox was working on alternative approaches for inkjet that would make the technology more suitable for a wide variety of applications. The first of these was the existing solid ink technology as used in many of the Xerox Phaser printer products. Solid ink is supplied like wax crayons and it is melted in the print head to become a liquid that can be jetted from the long-life stainless steel print heads. The liquid changes back to a solid on hitting the paper. The image quality however is not offset like but does give vibrant color on a range of low cost substrates. Xerox is working on technology to speed up the operation of this technology and Hoover showed a video of a prototype web press running at high speed. The impression given was that this technology could perhaps enter the market within a two year period. He also indicated that Xerox was already linking its print heads to build page wide arrays.
Hoover then described a newer technology Xerox was working on and he referred to this as Gel inks. This is a similar approach where the gel changes to a liquid for jetting and solidifies on hitting the substrate where it is heated and cured. It can work with a wide range of substrates including plastics, foils and other packaging materials. The image produced is very offset like and of potential high quality. So far Xerox has not built a press to test this out and research is still at bench level. This technology however appears to have great promise in terms of quality, speed and the range of substrates that can be imaged.
My assessment of this presentation was that Xerox is getting ready to make a major move in the new few years into the inkjet space but obviously maintaining and extending its position in the xerographic space. I think for Xerox drupa 2012 will be their inkjet drupa.
Andy Tribute
Attributes Associates
HYPE AND TRUTH in Graphic Arts Era
With Drupa 2008 on everyone's mind it is good to remember that it takes in reality at least two Düsseldorf cycles for new developments to show up in the majority of GA business operations.
Drupa 2004 had been declared JDF-Drupa. And where is JDF now in reality? Just in nappies, being able to talk a few words: dada., mama, and maybe copy ...
Only mature organisations have proven to be up to the enormous task of implementing the big dream. For the rest of us automated, CIM is on the investment program for the next couple of years. It is not only a matter of money but more important resources and internal and customer adjustment.
So, in reality it will take 7 years in total for this new thing to be applied across industry and regions:
* 2-4 years after the Hooray Days for the manufacturers and developers to comprehend the potential, produce and prove really reliable tools and equipment.
* At least another 2-3 years to have all organisations make the investment, digest the organisational changes and walk their own implementation paths.
That makes seven years to get to mainstream ...
This year two topics are as much hyped as JDF was last time. The Greening of the industry - and our planet - plus Inkjet technology for production printing.
Although "green" issues are important, I believe that in 4 years time the environmental conditions do not change that much of we all would produce the green way. It's the marketing and thus perception for which green issues make the difference. When all possible equipment choices are equal, then Green may be one of the decision points. But compare it to the option of extra airbags in a car and you will see how Green is different. It does not save your kids life as an airbag would do. Nevertheless, the environmental friendliness of vendor A may make a good impression. Just like I prefer a good Italian Roast of coffee over a run of the mill American brand. It sets the mood.
Production Inkjet Printing is something else. That is about new technology and most manufacturers are called to action. Whether it is their own development or a repackaged and improved system from a
colleague they called competitor not long ago. Inkjet is hot. It is the new promise of profit for print.
Having seen a number of innovations in that area it always boils down to changing the business model and that is something you do not overnight. Changing culture, customerbase, client service operations take time. From 2-7 years.
It is good that it coincides with the Drupa cycle. Look today and you know where you have to bring your business tomorrow.
Hans Andriese
Industry analyst and business consultant to medium sized printers
May 30, 2008
THIS is the DIGITAL drupa
The first day of drupa was a predictable avalanche of press conferences, thoughtfully scheduled back-to-back so that it was necessary to leave one still in progress in order to hike to the next one. To the credit of most firms holding these sessions, they tried to keep them more or less on schedule, but it would seem that a little coordination and cooperation would go a long way. I generally avoid these opportunities to hear companies sound off on how wonderful they are, but I do make an effort to get to those of the major players.
In the Heidelberg conference Wednesday afternoon and those of HP, Kodak, Xeikon and Xerox today, all said (not unexpectedly) that digital print is here to stay and is a growing and expanding part of the printing industry. Moreover, most were in accord that one of the most important issues in the industry today is integration—refining how digital and offset printing can coexist at the same print providers and how the strengths of each can be leveraged to drive a company's business forward. Many of these vendor's customers have both digital and offset presses and say they need better integration across print technologies. Happily, most of these leading firms are working in this direction and here at drupa there are plenty of examples of workflows and software tools that make it easier and faster to shift jobs between offset and digital.
This proves the maturation of digital as a mainstream printing technology. To be sure, offset is in no danger of being supplanted by any digital printing system any time soon, but neither is it any longer the only game in town. Back in 2000, the hypesters dubbed this event the "digital drupa," because it was the first time digital presses were shown in any number. (Some of them even worked.) While that sounded good, it was little more than a label to celebrate the first puffs of a change in the wind.
This drupa is far different. Xerox's Anne Mulcahy pointed out today that the overwhelming representation of all types of digital printing technology at drupa 2008 is proof positive of what her company has been describing as the new business of printing. The number of digital print engines (of all types) now making money for print providers, the many digital technologies being shown here, the continuous evolution of all digital printing systems, and the promise of faster and more powerful machines to come show that digital --in all its forms-- will forever be as much a part of printing as words and pictures.
That makes this the DIGITAL drupa.
Noel Ward
WhatTheyThink.com
May 29, 2008
What drupa is this?
Some would say it is the biggest drupa ever since the show first launched in 1951, and they would be right. With over 1.8 million square feet (170,000 square meters) of exhibit space, 1,800 exhibitors from more than 50 countries, and 400,000 visitors expected over the two weeks, it is indeed a grand show.
Others are calling this the inkjet drupa, or the workflow drupa or the digital drupa. Two new buildings, Halls 8A and 8B, are dedicated to displaying the latest and greatest digital technologies, and the Innovation Parc, debuted at drupa 2008 in a tent on the fairgrounds, is substantially bigger this time, with more than 160 exhibitors in eight different sections.
We could also call this the "Green" drupa, with companies from all sectors touting their environmental sustainability initiatives.
Perhaps this is the "print buyers" drupa. Messe Dusseldorf has constructed a new building for use only during the show to house drupaCube, a display highlighting the value of print in modern communications, complete with live examples and in-depth seminars for buyers of print.
Regardless of how you categorize drupa 2008, this show is all about making business more efficient in the printing industry. Whether visitors spend their time looking at new, highly automated presses and bindery gear; the latest and greatest toner and inkjet presses; or solutions for leveraging the now-defacto-standard JDF process automation, all eyes will be focused on taking time and steps out of the print manufacturing process and opening up opportunities for new applications and new businesses through the application of technology.
A week is a long time to spend at a trade show, but having made those plans long ago, I am now worried about being able to take it all in during such a brief period in light of the flurry of announcements we have seen in the weeks leading up to the show, and those that we expect to see during this mega-event.
As an industry, we have been struggling to find our footing in this rapidly-changing business communications environment in a shaky and uncertain economy. For those with vision and an open mind, this drupa will be Future drupa ... an opportunity to follow a print job through the process, from concept through delivery by making the journey from Hall to Hall to uncover the new developments that can be leveraged to build a more profitable business and gain a solid foothold in the printing industry of tomorrow. With persistence and perseverance, visitors will be able to find the puzzle pieces--large and small--that will help them complete the picture of what can be.
For my part, I will, as usual, focus on the softer side of print--web-to-print, variable data, workflow, applications such as Books on Demand, and Print MIS and production management solutions. I will especially be looking at how the suppliers to the market are making it easier to manage hybrid offset/digital workflows, and what the paper and consumables suppliers are doing to help ensure our environmental sustainability. And even though it is more "big iron" than I usual focus on, I will be paying special attention to the new products, technology demonstrations, and strategy announcements related to inkjet technology, from wide- and superwide format, to industrial, to production--a potential game-changer for the future as we migrate to an increasingly digital manufacturing process.
Welcome to drupa 2008, Future drupa, where you can see it all in a way that is unmatched by any other industry event! I will enjoy sharing in this space some of my thoughts, conclusions and discoveries as I wander from Hall to Hall in the coming week. Cary Sherburne Senior Editor, WhatTheyThink
May 28, 2008
What kind of drupa is this?
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
May 27, 2008
The Waiting is Almost Over
Well the waiting is almost over and drupa is just about to start. Tomorrow, Wednesday May 28 is the pre-opening day at which the different press conferences start. It used to be a slow start for the press with just Heidelberg having their press conference to start drupa. Now the first press conference is at 9.15 am for Konica Minolta and then the first of the big iron companies, MAN Roland has their event at 10.30 am. Then on the opening day of drupa, May 29, it is a press conference almost every half hour.
One of the events that’s being really looked forward to is the Xerox press event at 3.00 pm German time (9.00 am East Coast USA) when Xerox will finally pull the covers of their new announcements. Xerox has been very quiet about what it will be showing unlike most of the other vendors. We have heard a lot from HP Indigo with its new 7000 Digital Press and from HP inkjet operations with its Inkjet Web Press, Xeikon has announced its new 8000 press, Kodak has announced a new drop-on-demand inkjet Versamark, the VL2000, as well as its future STREAM Concept Press, and there have been a raft of high-speed inkjet announcements from all sorts of companies. So far Xerox has announced its 490/980 Continuous Feed Color System and the 1300 monochrome system, but nothing else. When Anne Mulcahy steps up to the podium at 3.00 pm Thursday there will be a great feeling of expectation.
In the past few days there has been one really interesting announcement from one of Xerox’s partners Fujifilm. This is a new 28 inch wide (B2 format) sheet fed inkjet press that is actually being made by Fuji Xerox sing inkjet print heads from the Fujifilm subsidiary Dimatix. The question this raises is how will this be sold and through which channels. Already a number of Fujifilm channels sell Xerox presses such as Fujifilm Graphic System in North America and Fujifilm UK. Will they now be selling the new inkjet press alongside the Xerox iGen3 and Docucolor presses?
The big buzz at drupa up to now concerned the range of high-speed continuous feed color presses. The questions raised by these are what are the markets for these presses and are there going to be buyers ready to take them. The new trend of transpromo printing is relatively new and one has difficulty finding too many companies already operating in this space. I am sure there will be great interest in these presses at drupa but will there also be buyers ready to purchase them?
I will be there tomorrow morning before 9.00 am having the first of a huge number of coffees and perhaps even a few beers over the next fourteen days. I really look forward to drupa and the opportunity to network with so many people. I also look forward to the hospitality of Messe Düsseldorf where their support for the press is second to none. I will be seeing an awful lot of equipment but also be speaking at various events. If you are at drupa I hope to see you.
Andy Tribute tribute@attributes.co.uk Managing Partner, Attributes Associates
Drupa... The Olympics of Printing
Drupa... The Olympics of Printing, and I'm sure 2008 will be a gold medal performance. Drupa is derived from the German words "drucken" (to print) and "papier" (paper) and has a history of bringing out the best and most innovative products from all who exhibit at the show. I think one of the questions on everyone’s mind is, “What will be the big trends we will see at drupa 2008?”
Here’s what we think are some of the biggest:
First, a dramatic expansion of digital solutions. Digital printing solutions will continue to be big news in this industry – in fact in 2008, different from past drupas, there will be 4 halls dedicated to digital solutions and, according to the Messe Düsseldorf board chairman, Werner Dornscheidt, this entire exhibit space is booked and expected to be jam-packed. You can expect to see all the latest digital technology advancements and demonstrations at the show including continuous feed, production color, inkjet, and wide format solutions. There is also a lot of interest around the co-existence of offset and digital technologies and the seamless integration into hybrid environments.
The second trend we’ll see and hear a lot about at drupa is the increased emphasis on workflow. As print providers continue to deal with the challenge of generating greater margins and profits for their business, workflow and automation tools that help reduce costs, connect with customers, and enable new applications and new revenue streams become increasingly important. You’ll also see an increased focus on producing applications and print jobs more easily as well as business development tools, resources, and services to help print providers grow their business and address this challenge.
The last trend I think you’ll see is the growing awareness of the social and environmental impact of print. This will include both what technology vendors are doing to promote “green” in their business operations and products, as well as how print providers can capture new opportunities by being more green.
According to PIRA, the digital printing opportunity is 54B Euro and is expected to double in the next 5 years. Our goal for drupa 2008 is to help print providers truly connect with this amazing opportunity, in a 3500 square meter stand with the theme "Connect with Opportunity". What's more, our stand is built from recycled or remanufactured materials wherever possible - so it's very green.
Drupa 2008...it's finally here and we're very excited about the demonstrations that we have planned for the show.
Tracy Yelencsics Vice President, Marketing Communications Production Systems Group Xerox Corporation