Drupa is education and exposure to technology says Steven Schnoll at Print Summit 2012

“The Drupa held four years ago in 2008 was called the inkjet Drupa and this Drupa is also called the inkjet Drupa. I think it should be called cross-media Drupa,” said Steven Schnoll, managing director of School Media Consulting during his presentation on “What to look @ Drupa 2012” on the second day of Print Summit 2012.

“Drupa will redefine what a company that used to specialise in putting ink on paper is: “Cross media communication/content supplier”

Schnoll also moderated the panel discussion with manufacturers represented by Charlie Seccombe of FFEI, Hitesh Jobalia of Max Flex & Imaging System, Klaus Nielsen of Heidelberg India, Pradeep Shah of Manugraph and Vipin Tuteja of Xerox India.

Drupa will be filled with a mixture of digital and traditional technologies, said Schnoll and advised the printers to visit the DIP & Cube during Drupa. “The DIP innovation park will focus on up and coming cutting-edge technologies like printed electronics and is a place where all the action will be.”

The Drupa Cube is dedicated to print buyers, where a full range of digi-media, which covers an entire supply chain of media production and topics surrounding print, web and mobile. “It’s a place where you will learn to be a viable supplier to your clients,” he said.

Schnoll said that offset is not going away. “It will remain here for a long time. Key ingredient is to integrate it with other technology, get digital and offset together.” Discussing the offset trends at Drupa, he elaborated that there would be more press automation, application programming interface (API) integration, enhanced consoles and hybrid offset with inkjet technologies on display.

Listing out the technologies at Drupa, Schnoll highlighted some of them that printers should look out for. Inkjet technology has matured since the last Drupa, he said. “They have become more significant.” He specially mentioned that Delphax/Memjet grand-format machine will be the one to look for. Besides, there will be an enormous array of wide-format machine on show. He also said that it will be interesting to see what KBA-Donnelley tie-up will bring to the show. “The last time Donnelley tied up with Scitex, CTP emerged,” said Schnoll.

Besides the above, the other technologies to look for at Drupa according to Schnoll, are: cloud automation, QR/TAG codes, RFID, augmented reality, nanotechnology, tablets/mobile, digital publishing software, 3D printing, security printing, organic/printed electronics and paper.

Moderating the panel discussion with the manufacturers, he asked the panelists to tell the audience what’s on display at their stand.

FFEI: Seccombe of FFEI said that FFEI would showcase a suite production software, a inkjet label printer with UV capabilities and CTP.

Heidelberg: Nielsen said that Heidelberg is the largest exhibitor at Drupa and on display will include solutions for ecological printing, the digital anicolor, solutions for packaging, web2print and lean manufacturing processes.

Manugraph: Shah said that his company will showcase web presses and solutions that would be of interest to book manufacturers. The company has also entered into die-cutting and folding machinery for the packaging segment. The announcement of the tie-up with the Chinese manufacturer, MK Machinery will be announced at Drupa. According to Shah, the company has entered into low-cost web solutions, keeping in mind the growth in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Xerox: Tuteja informed the audience that Xerox will be present with a wide range of colour, mono digital presses and graphic communication solutions like content management, workflow solutions, finishing solution and specific solutions to address publishing and packaging segments, which are growing in India.

Jobalia of Max Flex, though not at Drupa, said that his first Drupa in 1986 was the stepping stone for his company. “I saw the technology like film for imagesetters, and decided to distribute it in India,” he said. The company forged alliance with Agfa and other suppliers in subsequent years.

Discussing the tradeshows, Schnoll said that Europe was the focus for many years, before it moved to US and now it’s Asia.The panelists agreed and were of the opinion that while these shows are relevant and will continue to happen, the size will shrink. “Tradeshows will scale down. They may also move to countries like China or India, where customers for most of the manufacturers are,” said Nielsen.

Schnoll concluded the session by saying that: Drupa is education, an exposure to technology that will enhance overall shop production and print quality. “Emerging technologies will continue to emerge, by the time this presentation is made some newer and more dynamic “technology” will have been created. Look for new technologies and partnerships at Drupa. Keep an open mind.”