Converting Magazine

Mark Spaulding

drupa photo gallery #4
June 12, 2008

Some parting shots and observations on the every-four-years-extravaganza that is drupa, which ended yesterday.

Show organizer Messe Dusseldorf says 1,971 exhibitors from 52 countries reported numerous contacts and successful purchase deals. Something like 391,000 visitors from 138 countries attended. The biggest number, though, is the €10 billion ($15.6 billion) of sales transacted. That seems a little optimistic, according to the exhibitors I spoke to (granted, they are more package printing and converting).

International visitor participation increased by 4% compared to drupa 2004. And even with the weak US dollar, North American attendance was reportedly level with four years ago at 6%. I just know that when visiting some stands, the staff said to me, "Holy Cow, an American! Grab him, don't let him get away." Fortunately, after they realized I wasn't there to buy something, they still wanted to talk...about their products, of course.

Package printing and converting truly came into its own at this drupa. The best evidence of that was Heidelberg's devotion of half of its Hall 2 to the full range of processes. In its Integrated Packaging Production section, it showed Prinect packaging workflow; a 6-color-plus-coater Speedmaster XL 105 sheetfed-offset press; a Dymatrix 108 Pro diecutter (9,000 sph); a Varimatrix 105 CS diecutter (7,500 sph); a Polar LabelSystem label cutting and bundling unit; an EasyGluer 100 folder/gluer (1,000 fpm); and a Jagenberg Diana X115 folder/gluer (16,000 sph).

Between well-attended demos, an operator makes adjustments to the Nordmeccanica SL 600 super duplex coater/laminator. Sold to Russian converter Con Flex, the unit is reportedly the fastest, solventless, emission-free system on the market, commercial director Giancarlo Ciammi tells me. The supplier will soon host an open house at its Piacenza, Italy, HQ to introduce its latest unit--the triplex SL 1 Shot, a three-play, single-pass, solventless laminator that should appeal to converters seeking an economical configuration as well as sustainable converting. Widths on that system run 51-59 in. with speeds to 1,300 fpm and a rewind diameter of 40 in.



Windmoeller & Hoelscher's stand held the new Miraflex C CI-flexo press (left), originally introduced at interpack 08 in the exact same spot, says technical sales mgr. Klaus Kleeman, and the Heliostar S gravure press. The Heliostar, says Kleeman, was the only totally working gravure press at drupa. That may be true as far as I could find only standalone gravure units and non-printing miniature gravure presses (with three print stations, for example) at other supplier stands. See  my post, "drupa: you need to be here," for details on these two presses.

LED UV-curing was a hot topic at drupa. One cool example was Atlantic Zeiser's Smart Cure 36i system on its Omega 210 digital foil and label printer. It has a print width of 36 mm and a high-resolution of 720-dpi for detailed VIP, pharma and RFID label applications. Also, the company's Braillle Jet™ reportedly makes variable-information, braille-character printing possible with raised UV inks dried again by LED UV equipment.

Finally, my vote for the coolest booth display goes to WEKO's "waterfall-in-front-of-Jumbotron" thingy. Look closely at the photo and the "K" in WEKO is actually formed by computer-driven drops of water as they're timed and dispensed by a 12-ft sprayer above. 

OK, that's it from drupa. If you went, let me know of anything else you thought was a trendsetter. Write a comment below. And for the several hundred package-printing related exhibitors I left out, my apologies.

Posted by Mark Spaulding on June 12, 2008 | Comments (0)