Dusseldorf, 19 January 2008. From 13 to 18 January 2008 a combination of important and interesting drupa exhibitors put on a preview for more than 130 trade journalists from 40 countries. Formal presentations of the new technologies and products were interspersed with the usual mixture of show concepts, secrecy and hints. Some of the revelations were held back for special preview events that will be held in the next couple of months. Speaking as an Asian journalist one can only say that the exhibitor sponsors of the media event contributed to the democratization of information about new technologies and products, which is vital to an industry that is extremely diverse, complex, and fast changing.

The official preview presentations included Heidelberg, Domino,Creo POD, Screen, Dalim, Ricoh, Fuji, drupa Innovation Parc, drupa Cube, EFI, Xerox, Presstek, and Kodak. Heavy metal mostly missed its chanced to speak to the large and diverse gathering of world trade journalists. In this category, apart from Heidelberg saying that it will be launching its XL162 press at the show ready for sale, Screen and Presstek talked about their Digitally Imaged (DI) offset presses.

Many of the exhibitors acknowledged the strong growth of packaging and their offerings in terms of technology and equipment for this segment and also made a point of saying that they will be present at Interpack inApril end which is also in Dusseldorf.. This included Heidelberg, Kodak, Domino, and Xerox.

From the drupa preview one could sense that at drupa there will be a wider and deeper level of technology and printing for what can be very broadly now called digital printing. Right from the DI Presses, to newtoner based colour and monochrome presses from Ricoh and Kodak, there will be several new inkjet based presses that will be shown From Domino, Screen, and Kodak.

Domino will launch its new third generation drop on demand inkjet K150 head for narrow webs at drupa08 in addition to its newL400 thermal 600 dpi head developed with Lexmark. Ricoh will launch its new Pro900 and C900S digital colour presses based on a new engine that comes from the company’s acquisition of Hitachi. Screen will show three TrueJet inkjet presses at drupa including the 5200, 2500 and 50models in addition to its digitally imaged offset TruePress 344.Xerox will not only show the continuous feed colour press announced inOctober but also the new monochrome 650/1300 dry toner presses.

From the Indian point of view the drupa preview was a great opportunity to keep up with industry thinking and to communicate some of the interesting highlights of the coming drupa. We believe that both the Indian exhibitor and visitor participation will be much greater than at the last drupa in 2004.We hope to share our drupa insights from this and other preview events with our readers both in these newsletters and in the print edition of Indian Printer and Publisher.

Kodak at drupa
Kodak made the most comprehensive preview announcement and spoke of 32 new products at drupa08. In the digital printing realm, apart from several models of the NexPress and the Versamark, Kodak will demonstrate a “concept” continuous feed inkjet press capable of printing colour at 500 feet per minute at its stand at the show.

Kodak’s drupa stand,D01, inHall 5will showcase a wide range of hardware and software across prepress workflow, computer to plate, plates, and digital printing both drum and toner and high speed inkjet. Drupa will show how well Kodak has really integrated its acquisitions of Versamark, Creo andNexPress and if it is able to project and sell these with some measure of elegance. I believe that Kodak is currently a difficult company to describe comprehensively and it may in fact benefit more from exhibitions precisely because of this. It is likely that at drupa many products and technologies will visibly communicate with each other in a situation that is impossible or unlikely to be created in the real world. This could be an exhibition in itself and a new experience even for Kodak employees.

The Kodak workflow and prepress products are very strong.At drupa the Indians will most likely appreciate the unveiling of the Kodak Magnus 800 platesetter line which can image up to 60 8-page plates per hour at the highest image quality available in the industry. The new Kodak Magnus 800Z Quantum is the fastest CtP offering from the company with a new advanced thermal head that generates double the laser power of its
Magnus platesetter predecessors. The new thermal head not only increases the speed of plate production, but it also provides broader imaging latitude and higher stability in case of plate sensitivity variations
that allow it to easily achieve 10micron Staccato FMscreening.When used with Kodak Thermal Direct non-process plates, the 800Z platesetter produces plates at the rate of 35 per hour.

The NexPress S-Series, namely the S3000 and S2500 Presses, as well as the NexPressM700 (based on the Canon ImagePress 700V) will be on display. Glossing, fifth color option, and software and substrate flexibility make these effective for applications from annual reports to photo books.NexPress machine will also benefit from Kodak’s unified workflow solutions along with new versions ofNex-Press V, Vp, and Vcs front-end systems that will be demonstrated. The NexPress V and Vp Front Ends, using the Adobe PDF Print Engine, and the NexPress Vcs front end, using software from Kodak’s Print On Demand Solutions (PODS) Group, fit seamlessly within the wide range of workflow applications. It was clear during the media week that Kodak intends to increasingly if not exclusively use its own front-ends for its NexPress machines.

New print production software improves workflow efficiency by providing support for JDF capability, while expanded support for the integration of the Kodak Prinergy Workflow System 5.0 extends connectivity to all digital production systems with a range of powerful new features designed for the specific demands of digital applications. New features include “smart lists,” a revolutionary job queue management tool designed to optimise productivity and provide operators with total bi-directional job visibility down to theNexPress colour production presses.

Versamark VL2000 and Concept press
At drupa for the first time a drop on demand (DOD) higher resolutionmid-volume V-Series ink jet printer will be shown for the first time. Kodak’s Versamark VL2000 printing system targets data centres with volumes of more than 1 million per month of transactional, promotional and TransPromo documents, such as billing, account statements, and direct mail. It employs drop-on-demand print technology with image resolution of 600 x 600 dpi and operates at maximum production capacity of 1,090A4 (letter sized) impressions per minute.

Kodak actually has several key technologies that will increasingly be turned into products and services in the future but at drupa08 it plans to project (and to demonstrate) its high quality full colour ink jet Stream technology printer that it says will come tomarket only in the 2010 time frame.

Kodak says that its Stream inkjet technology is a continuous inkjet system that enables offset class quality, productivity, reliability and cost with the full benefits of digital printing for high volume commercial applications. It allows continuous inkjet printing to expand beyond
the core base of transactional printers and secondary imprinting and into high volume commercial applications. The Stream inkjet technology is envisioned by Kodak as an entrée for continuous inkjet printing into commercial printers that want the benefits of variable data, short run, personalization or versioning on their jobs traditionally produced using offset presses. To demonstrate its commitment to Stream and its ability to meet the needs of high volume commercial printing, Kodak will demonstrate the Stream Concept press at drupa 2008.