My plane touched down at 11:30am in Düsseldorf and I decided that I felt good enough to go straight to Messe Düsseldorf (this is the name of the exposition center where DRUPA is held) despite the fact that I had almost no sleep and it was actually 5:30am for me … I was feeling a second wind coming on. Once I got my bags I went about finding my way to the show.
There was a DRUPA information booth in the airport and the attendant was very helpful in directing me to the underground railway to the Messe. After a cup of coffee (a good one, too) I was on the platform and shortly thereafter arrived at DRUPA at about 12:30pm. Wow, the place was mobbed with people on a Saturday afternoon!
I selected digital printing as the first order of business because I knew from the pre-DRUPA literature I had been receiving that this was an important area of development. According to the directory there are 55 exhibitors with digital printing presses. The term “press” is being used very loosely here. In fact, that is one of the problems with technological development, printing or otherwise: the advancements are stressing the concepts and words that we have used historically.
Broadly, I would define digital printing presses as printing machines that are capable of (1) accepting a digital file directly into the system and (2) producing full color pages. These systems can be categorized into three groups:
1. Offset lithographic presses that digitally image plates on press
2. Toner-based printing presses (similar to office color laser printers)
3. Inkjet-based printing presses (similar to desktop inkjet printers)
I decided to focus on the last of these as this is the technology that is the newest and is showing significant advancements … I must say I wasn’t disappointed. The DRUPA directory lists 57 exhibitors of what they categorize as “ink jet printing systems.” This didn’t really help me very much, so I went looking and I found what I would call inkjet printing presses at the following booths:
1. Hewlett-Packard
2. Agfa
3. Kodak
4. FujiFilm
5. Screen USA
The most striking thing about this list is that the latest and most exciting area of development in the process of putting ink-on-paper does not include any of the traditional manufacturers of lithographic press equipment. Where is Heidelberg, KBA, Komori, Mitsubishi, etc.? I don’t have an answer to this question yet … but I will find out.
By far, the most important piece of equipment at DRUPA is HP’s Inkjet Web Press. This is a thermal inkjet device that, according to the product literature, “enables fast, four-color double-sided printing at 600 dpi with speeds of up to 400 feet per minute and inline process control. With roll-to-roll production at widths of up to 30 inches you can get high speed, high volume color print production in quantities up to 70 million per month.”
Now this is something entirely new. This machine is capable of a continuous stream of variable copy in a web press-like configuration. The implications of this machine for printing and publishing are significant. According to Andy Tribute, an industry expert: “The HP Inkjet Web Press is a ‘transition press.’ By that I mean it is a press that will be a major agent for change within the industry. It will be the first digital press that really will challenge offset color printing in areas other than short run color printing. … I think it can have the same level of market impact on offset printing as desktop publishing had on changing the structure of the prepress business in the 1980s and 1990s.”
The device is aimed at the following markets: direct mail, transaction printing, books and newspapers. Some may say that the quality isn’t there yet, that 600 dpi is not sufficient to compete with lithography. I remember a time when some said desktop publishing software couldn’t compete with phototypesetting because it lacked kerning of type. Well, desktop software is kerning type now and phototypesetting doesn’t exist any more.
May 31, 2008
KRD
MULTIMEDIAMAN 
Fabulous! Since we all can’t be there to share that really good cup of coffee with you, we will have to follow your daily investigations on the blog.
Keep up the good work and don’t forget to sample the Bier, Wurst and Kuchen also!