In addition to the hardware and software, there are interesting trends which shall unfold from 3 to 16 May 2012.

For instance, cheap cross-media solutions for SME printers in India, that’s a big thing. I think Indian print firms can leverage this. For example with software as a service (SAAS). Our colleagues in UK sent us a link of MindFire. This software solution allows print firms to offer email campaigns, Twitter, FB and sms integration.

I've had a quick preview of some of the halls in the past 36 hours. The key devices on my radar are:
– FujiFilm’s JetPress 720 B2 sheetfed inkjet presses for the folding carton market.

– Heidelberg which is premiering with the Speedmaster SX press platforms (between their SM and XL range); plus the digital launch of the Linoprint.

–  Ricoh enters the wide-format market with a four-colour device aimed at CAD, construction and quickprinters.

– Canon has announced that the Oce Colorstream 3700 high-speed inkjet and the Arizona 318 GL UV flatbed will be launched.

– Epson will show the SurePress X single-pass digital label press, its first UV ink product, and enter into the digital dry labels with the SureLab SL-D3000 for on-demand photo and card printing.

– Holding centre stage at the FFEI stand will be the Caslon digital inkjet web label press, that will incorporate a new digital spot colour printing unit that prints digital UV-curable white ink.

– Xerox will demonstrate the waterless inkjet press at Drupa, which can print on ordinary offset papers without any coating.

B2 digital show
The buzz on the floor is, it seems Drupa will be the B2 digital show.  Fujifilm and Screen said they’d give their inkjet machines long-awaited commercial launches. Then, when we all started to think ‘team toner’ had no intentions of seriously straying outside its SRA3 heartland, HP unveiled a family of B2 products that will be commercially available early next year, and Xeikon alluded to its own most-likely web-fed offering, the evocatively named Quantum.

One of the dark horses of the show is: the French manufacturer MGI which has revealed it would be demo-ing a working prototype of its take on inkjet B2.

This is set to be joined by another toner-based machine, which looks deceptively like an offset unit-style press, jointly developed by Ryobi and Miyakoshi. Within hours of those two firms going public,  Benny Landa has said what he will be showing: B1, B3 and – yes, you guessed it – a B2 digital press utilising his ‘Nanography’ process.

Meanwhile according to my colleague Samir Lukka, the online editor, HP has bolstered its burgeoning imprinting business with the addition of a 244m/min print module to take on market leader Kodak’s Prosper S5 and S10 printheads. The thermal inkjet C800 technology was primarily developed to be retro-fitted to conventional web printing lines, for single-pass, hybrid offset-digital print production. According to HP, the technology is suitable for monochrome or process colour applications and has a print swathe of 108mm, with up to five heads capable of being stitched together. Each of the 600dpi, user-replaceable printheads feature 10,560 nozzles.

Fantastic time to be at Drupa
“It is a fantastic time to be at Drupa; and it is an incredibly fantastic time to be a part of the Indian print industry.

Despite our solid growth comfortable position in the market, we are well aware of all the changes in behaviour around the world and in India.

In this age of innovation, it often pays to look outside the usual print bubble. CEOs of print firms are so totally disinterested in what the rest of the world is doing to generate innovation and ideas for our consumer product innovation projects.

Drupa is a great platform to monitor the real specialists in 3-D printing, nano technologies and printed electronics, among others.

Drupa zindabad. Print zindabad.