With drupa in full swing, we have asked Andy Tribute to provide his commentary each day for our readers. Andy will be attending for fourteen days - May 5 until May 19. So watch this space daily as Andy will break news and provide insightful commentary on all the happenings at drupa. Please offer your feedback to Andy via email: tribute@attributes.co.uk.

Archives: May 6-10 | May 11-15


May 20, 2004


Closing Down

That's it. Finally after fifteen days drupa is over. I am now back home enjoying the delights of the wonderful English weather (really) . It appears drupa has been a success in terms of business for the vendors. I have not heard from any vendor who was disappointed by the event. Let us hope progress continues in recovery of the industry at the next major event at GraphExpo in October in Chicago.

I have really enjoyed making use of this new form of publishing using the blog format.

I am now signing off, and this is the last entry on this site for drupa. Thank you to Randy and his team at WhatTheyThink.com for the opportunity to write this over the duration of drupa. EDITOR'S NOTE: Premium Access Members at WhatTheyThink.com can read Andy's frequent commentary within eXpert Row.


Messe Düsseldorf

This is a brief thank you to a group of unsung heroes. I have spent the last fifteen days in Düsseldorf, and apart from my hotel room, my home from home was the Press Club at Messe Düsseldorf. For journalists this is without any doubt the finest press facility we have to work in anywhere in the world of graphic arts events. The staff was very helpful and friendly and there is an excellent and very reasonably priced bar and restaurant facility. In fact I am sure a number of the 2,500 plus journalists who attended never left the lounge to visit the show. (There are surely not this number of journalists in this industry, but it is worth getting accreditation by fair means or foul, in order to use the Press Lounge). Not only is it a great facility for meeting, eating and drinking (mainly coffee with the occasional stronger item), the working facilities are again the best anywhere. This year free broadband WiFi Internet connectivity meant I could write the blog easily throughout the day.

On behalf of the press who were there may I say a very warm thank you to Manuel Mataré, drupa Project Director, Monika Kissling, who runs the press and PR facilities, and all her team.


Ink Jet drupa

In the digital print arena one of the key trends for the future that became increasingly apparent at drupa, was that ink jet will be one of the key technologies for the future of the printing industry. Admittedly many of us have believed that for some time, but it became more visible at drupa. In this I am not really talking about the specialty printing areas where ink jet has already taken over. This was first of all with the wide and very wide format printers for posters and signage. At this drupa it was the battle of the flatbeds for point of sale and displays. This latter development has all happened since the last drupa. What I am really talking about is ink jet moving into the offset production space, and also in starting to challenge laser or LED xerography in digital printing.

Highlights in this have to be the Kodak Versamark VX5000e at the top end of the market, and the RISO Orphis HC5000 at the entry level of the market. The Versamark uses continuous ink jet and the RISO piezo drop on demand technology. According to Homi Shamir, the CEO of Kodak Versamark, the future is in continuous ink jet, but after seeing a number of approaches in piezo drop on demand I think it is a very open question. Just looking at the prototype FastJet from Inca Digital and Sun Chemical, which uses Spectra heads, the Miyakoshi continuous feed engine using Panasonic heads, and the Agfa Dotrix using Toshiba Tec heads, one can see there is an alternative. If you then look at the future ink jet head development coming from Spectra (M Series) and Xaar (Omnidot), it is predictable that in a few years time that drop on demand single pass engines will be very fast and very good quality. Kodak is however not sitting back on what it has done. Future combined Kodak Versamark and Kodak technology using their Stream technology will move the barrier forward.

If drupa 2000 was Digital drupa, and drupa 2004 was JDF drupa (which it wasn't, it was workflow drupa), I give advance notice that drupa 2008 will be Fast Ink Jet drupa.


New Gravure Technologies

One of the key developments at drupa is in new and enhanced technologies for cylinder preparation for gravure printing. This area of printing has been digital for a long time with digital cylinder engraving, but at this drupa there have been major advances in other cylinder preparation technologies, plus enhancements in diamond engraving systems. In this area we now have three different technology approaches. The first of these is the very well established diamond head based engraving systems from Hell Gravure and MDC Max Daetwyler. The second is direct laser engraving of cylinders from Daetwyler, plus something new at drupa from Hell. The third approach is a mix between laser imaging of a mask material, followed by a cylinder etching or reverse electrolysis system. In this there are a number of suppliers. The major new developments at drupa were the Exactus system from Creo and Acigraf, and the new Think Laboratories system that uses Creo imaging. In this area there are also systems from Sheppers, a Daetwyler company, Applied Laser Engineering, and Hertzog Graphics.

The Exactus system which links a full Acigraf reverse electrolytic copper removal system with Creo SquareSpot imaging, and a thermal resist developed initially for Creo's attempts to enter the direct PCB imaging market, is claimed to be the fastest cylinder preparation system in the market. This appears a somewhat dubious claim as the Think system is just as fast, and the Daetwyler two channel DLS laser system appears fastest of all in total throughput. All of these however challenge the latest 16 channel diamond engraving systems for throughput, but add greater process control and continuity.

The Exactus and Think systems rely on chemical processes for creating the cells in the cylinder. Because of the high resolution of the imaging head, significantly higher quality in areas of line work and text can be achieved than with diamond engraving. Screening values are also higher giving improved image quality. It is however still a mix of digital and analog processes. It also does not allow for individual cell processing to enhance cell shape and depth. The Daetwyler DLS system appears to offer greater flexibility as it allows unique shaping of cells to optimize ink transfer and improve image quality. It also allows high image quality in text and line work alongside screen values of 175 lpi. This is a purely digital process that produces the finished cylinder. The only subsequent processes are a cleaning and chrome plating if required.

All these systems will enhance and improve gravure printing and allow it to challenge offset in shorter run lengths. I believe Creo in their press event totally oversold this aspect of the business claiming it made gravure competitive against offset at around 90,000 impressions. Since the savings in time against existing cylinder preparation systems are only limited, it appears Creo has misunderstood how this industry operates.


May 19, 2004


Esko-Graphics Extends Lead in Flexo

Esko-Graphics, the world leader in flexo imaging, has extended its leadership in this area. Its major competitor Creo, added new units to its line-up with a Lotem based unit for smaller format, and a dual function larger unit to image both plates and sleeves without having to remove the imaging cylinder. Lüscher entered the market with an interesting new system using an as yet unknown material from Japanese company Toyobo. It is too early to assess how successful this will be.

Esko-Graphics range of CDI imagers however have also moved forward. First is they maintain their speed lead with the fibre laser system with up to 16 imaging beams. It images a maximum size plate of 50 x 18 inches at full resolution of 2540 dpi in 19 minutes. This is faster than the fastest downstream process system in the flexo process, so it can always keep ahead of processing sections.

The major new system designed for high volume users (Esko-Graphics largest user has eight machines), is their autoload and semi automatic load feature. They are the only supplier to offer this. The full autoload shows just how well Esko-Graphics understands flexo imaging. They invented the market and continue to make it a major part of the product portfolio. It is not surprising they claim to have in excess of 70% of the market.


Yet Another KPG Workflow

KPG has added another workflow solution to its product portfolio. It is buying Bell Microproduct Solutions BV and picking up the PageComposer software. The benefit of this software is that it is an add on to other workflows sold by KPG like EFI Velocity OneFlow and Artwork Systems Nexus. It is a file format converter, converting standard prepress file formats like PostScript, PDF, PDF/X-1a, Scitex Native, Handshake CT & LW, and TIFF/IT-P1 into any standard file format. It also delivers data for gravure applications and performs fast anti-aliasing of line work for output to proofers and printers, with high-quality small text, fine lines and close-cut masks. Obviously KPG has found that the world still uses lots of file formats and we have some time to go before PDF rules supreme.


Showtime's Over

I left going to the HP Indigo show until the last presentation of drupa. By this time there is a degree of anarchy and celebration in that the event is almost over. I have been now to every one of the Indigo events since they started. They are all over-the-top and great fun. I must congratulate the two key players, Richard de Boissezon and Robin Walton, both HP Indigo execs for their enthusiasm, stamina, and ‘bad' acting. They have appeared multiple times per day for fourteen days, and also for three drupas in a row. They deserve an Oscar! The final performance, and let's hope it is not the real final performance, was even more wild than usual. They even included me in it as the print consultant that advised them how to make money.

drupa events like this are good for generating attention. HP Indigo's stand was always busy, more so than almost any other supplier. The big question is does this level of attention convert to future business? I fear it may not, which is why I wonder if this was the last ever performance.

Thanks again for the good fun and for increasing the awareness of digital printing now over the past nine years.


PrintCity PDF

In a recent posting on the blog I was critical of PrintCity. In this I stated that I thought PrintCity as a concept for integration did not work for the main vendors. Today I went back for another look. I still have the same opinion overall, but have a changed view as far as the JDF workflow presentation and how it shows good integration between the different systems from a range of suppliers. Unlike the excellent Heidelberg Prinect demonstration, where most of the component elements were from within Heidelberg, in the PrintCity approach all components were from different suppliers. Heidelberg admits that some of their components are as yet not fully running in JDF, but all soon will be. In the PrintCity demonstrations everything has to work in JDF to allow the demonstrations to take place. I am advised they have run specific demonstrations of the whole workflow targeted by visitors on an average of one every six minutes throughout the event.

The demonstration includes a number of suppliers. (I apologize if I miss one, but I am writing from memory and I have been here for 15 days.) Optimus for MIS; ppi PrintNet for scheduling and managing the processes; Agfa for work control and reporting, plus preparation of printing forms and output to CtP; Global Graphics Harlequin for proofing; MAN Roland for printing; and MBO and Wohlenburg for bindery operations.

It was a very effective demonstration of the power of JDF in terms of interoperability and system to system communication.


Heidelberg's New Trendsetter

Have you looked at the new Heidelberg Supersetter CtP device? It looks like a Creo Trendsetter perhaps would look if that product had been updated. It also looks like the planned Trendsetter II product that was being developed in the days when Heidelberg and Creo worked together before their breakup in 2000. I understand the product was well developed and possibly would have been shown at drupa 2000. It has taken Heidelberg nearly four years to develop its own thermal imaging system to replace the Creo SquareSpot head that would have been in the original machine. In the earlier plan I believe Heidelberg would have been the sole manufacturing source of the product.

It also perhaps explains why the Trendsetter from Creo is looking rather old fashioned these days and apart from a more powerful SquareSpot head has hardly been updated since it was introduced more than eight years ago. It also perhaps explains why Creo rapidly put the SquareSpot head on the Lotem product from Scitex, and has made the Lotem Quantum its premier 8-up CtP device. This is because of the superior plate handling, plate punching and automatic operation that came as standard with the Lotem and which were not on the Trendsetter. The Supersetter has all of these things in its package.

Interesting to see history play out in front of one's eyes!


Hell's Laser Gravure Unit

One of the most eagerly awaited gravure developments was being shown to invited guests in a closed area of the Hell Gravure Systems stand. This is the prototype Hell laser engraver for gravure cylinders. This differs in a number of ways from the MDC Max Daetwyler DLS laser system. The first it images directly to a copper or chrome cylinder, whereas the Daetwyler unit images to a zinc coated copper cylinder. The second difference is the Daetwyler unit uses a pulsed laser where pulses of laser energy are used to ablate cells in the cylinder. The Hell unit uses a new laser, the specification of which I have asked not to disclose in writing, which uses a very high power continuous modulated laser beam. It is stated that very high power has the instant effect of vaporizing the copper before the high conductivity of copper can dissipate the laser's energy. Hell believes that a continuous laser beam where the timing of the exposure can be infinitely controlled, gives them more control over cell shape and depth.

There is obviously lots of technical “stuff” here that is beyond the understanding of all but the physicists and engineers involved. Naturally Hell says their technology is better. I am sure Daetwyler will say "prove it in the market", which is where currently Daetwyler has more than a dozen systems working.

It is all good news for gravure printers to see developments that will enhance the quality of gravure cylinders giving better quality ink transfer on the press, and finer text and line work detail. There is little additional speed from this apart from in smaller format packaging gravure, where speed is not the major issue. Hell plans to have a pilot site in packaging gravure next year. After that they will look into publications gravure. Daetwyler is now moving its technology into publications gravure.


Last Day at drupa

Well finally we've made it. It is the last day of a two week extravaganza in print. It is amazing that some exhibitors would like the show to be longer. Come on, give us a break. When most of the world's shows go for a maximum of a week, two weeks is a long time, and for vendors a tremendous cost.

drupa is being seen as a great success. As Bernhard Schreier, the Chairman and CEO of Heidelberg stated, “business is back". Many vendors are saying that this has been a good show. Not all however is sweetness and light. The big question at drupa is what happened to the Germans? Germany is the major print center for Europe, but attendance from German printers is down. In the first week more than 60% of attendees came from outside Germany. Last drupa it was only around 50%. Overall attendance however is not up. It is just far fewer Germans are coming.

It will be interesting to see what the attendance figures are like when they are published. If it is close to 400,000 it will show that drupa has been a real success. If it is close to 350,000, then it will not be so good.

The President of drupa 2004, KBA CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, indicated that print and paper rediscovered their forte, possibly at the expense of prepress. That is good news for KBA. He was particularly pleased to see the increase in numbers of visitors from Eastern Europe. This is obviously a good market for new presses, when markets in Western Europe are swamped with an over-capacity of modern offset presses.

The big question following the apparent success of drupa is will this recovery in buying continue and will we see strong demand at GraphExpo in October? Early reports that printing is in recovery are good. We await the ongoing prognosis.



May 18, 2004


KBA, Succeeding with New Technologies

In the sheetfed offset market KBA is perhaps seen as the most innovative of the suppliers. It is also an innovator in its other market areas of web offset and gravure. At drupa it is showing a number of products using its GravuFlow inking system. This is a system first seen on the 74 Karat DI press. This was perhaps the first almost lights out offset press, as all color control is from the front end prepress system. You cannot adjust color on the press as there are no ink keys. Only by changing the temperature and viscosity of the ink can color values be changed on the run. It is just like a digital press. At drupa the new B3 format Genius, the Rapida 74G B2 press, and the Cortina newspaper web press are all using this new inking approach.

As skill levels in the industry are dropping, innovations like these are likely to help with new press implementations. Major benefits like minimal set up waste are being seen. These presses are not designed for specialty materials in areas like packaging, but for normal color printing they are causing a great degree of interest. In newspapers the ability to run the press from the prepress set-up is likely to be beneficial in running to standard ink densities, and matching the proof which has been sold to the customer.

KBA is doing well at present and this may be due to its progressive working with changing technologies. In the USA, I am advised that in 2003 the company saw a 27% growth in turnover. In 2004 they are expecting 40% plus growth. They must be doing something right to grow like this in such times.


Ink Jet Flatbed and Super Large Format

This is an area of the market that did not exist at the last drupa, but here this year there are an increasing number of suppliers entering the market. There was actually one sort of product last drupa from an inventor called Ernst Etlin, who show a concept unit working with Zunt. It has never been seen again. The flat bed market started at Easter 2001 when Inca Digital launched their Eagle press. This market is where large sheets of board or other solid materials for markets like point of sale and displays are printed. If I recall Inca was followed by Durst. Others like Vutek, Scitex Vision, Océ and other followed suit. The initial size of units covered a print area up to 1.8 meters wide by 3.1 meters deep. Newer machines like Inca's Columbia increased the speed of imaging, and Durst was first in increasing the imaging width up to 2.3 meters. Inca followed. At present I believe Inca has the largest market share with 100 units, but no doubt someone will tell me I am wrong.

At drupa there are lots of units. Lüscher has upped the format size to 3.5 x 3.1 meters, although I am not sure if any company currently supplies board in that size. The emphasis now is on speed, as quality is fine for the purpose. Again it appears in terms of real demonstrable speed the latest Inca Columbia Turbo is fastest of all. I timed a 1.8 meter x 3.1 meter print at 2 minutes 20 seconds. Speed is the continuing differentiator at the top of the market. At the entry level it is price, and probably, that is until the Chinese arrive, Océ's Arizona products are cheapest.

That brings me to super large format products that print a roll of paper up to 5 meters wide. I have almost given up assessing these since it is now a mass market, with multiple Chinese vendors. Here it appears differentiation at the top of the market is both speed, functionality, downstream processing and special material handling. At the other end of the market it is a cheapest price model.

Ink jet printing is becoming easier to get into. The principal elements, apart from a paper or board handling system, are the ink jet heads. Here nearly every system uses heads from either Spectra or Xaar. There is major competition on specs for the future between these two companies, with both announcing new series of heads for the future. There are other heads but they hardly have any market acceptance.


drupa Innovation Parc

One of the key innovations at this drupa has been the drupa Innovations Parc. This is important as it gives the opportunities for a number of small, often near start-up companies, to exhibit at the event. The Innovation Parc is a separate area in its own pavilion. There are no large trade stands. Instead it is like the old Seybold Seminar events before Seybold became a trade show company. This is with what are little more than tabletop areas in which to demonstrate their products, which are often very new, and all are innovative. Many of the companies are in the software area doing special things with PDF, workflow and content. Others have sophisticated color proofing products. Others are in telecommunications.

The Innovation Parc is an ideal way for companies to exhibit and become known. The fee to come includes the stand area, and a high-speed Internet connection. In the Parc there is a theatre where continuous presentations are being given, and in which many of the Parc participants are speaking. There is also a nice small café to build a feeling of community.

I think that this facility is one of the highlights of drupa. It is the “seed” area for future key players in the industry. It gives a dynamic feeling in a market that is relatively static and where there are few innovations. Messe Düsseldorf must continue with this in future. It is the basis for something much larger. There is a demand for it as can be seen by the number of visitors that have been through the facility, and by the time visitors spend looking at the different products.

I am not mentioning the names of any of the companies involved as this would imply a degree of favoritism. I think everyone has been a winner, including Messe Düsseldorf. Bernt Zipper, an industry consultant, whose concept this was, and who organized and promoted it for Messe Düsseldorf, has to be thanked and congratulated.


Creo's Comments on Service Costs

Following my blog item on service cost comparisons between visible light and thermal CtP systems, I received the following comment from Daryl Spencer at Creo. In this he comments as you will see that perhaps I am not comparing like with like in this situation. It is certainly true that Creo's service revenues cover much more than just the cost of servicing thermal imaging heads. It also supports what everyone accepts is a superb 24/7 online support service to keep systems up and running anywhere in the world at any time. What the reply doesn't challenge however is the assessment from another vendor that in their service situation the cost of service of thermal systems costs around $1.80/sq meter more of plates imaged for thermal than visible plates.

Daryl Spencer at Creo: I just saw your note about Creo's service pricing on your Drupa blog. I'm not going to call you anti-thermal (as you were concerned about) but rather I'd like to suggest the facts you cite don't support your conclusion.

You mentioned that 25% of Creo's revenue comes from service and this shows that thermal CTPs have a very high cost of service. I don't think the logic flows completely. Let me explain:

1. The % of Creo's revenue that comes from service is a function of many things. Most notably, it will relate to the size of our active system installed base vs the current rate that we're selling systems. Creo has been selling thermal CTP for longer than any other company. We have, by far, the largest installed base of machines. Creo's machines have very long service life, so many customers continue to buy service contracts on machines they have had for many years. The fact that 25% of our revenue comes from service demonstrates the success that we've had with our thermal CTPs and the longevity that these machines see in the field.

2. Creo's service revenue is made up of many components. Some of it comes from CTP, but a lot of it comes from service contracts on our workflow systems, ink jet devices and other products that Creo sells.

3. For the portion of service costs that can be attributed to our CTPs, only a fraction of that is related to the thermal heads. All CTP machines, regardless of their imaging technology, require service.

4. Creo invests a lot of money to maximize customer up-time. We have a well-staffed remote response centers providing technical experts 24/7. We have developed a very comprehensive remote support infrastructure that allows us to “talk” to our machines over the internet or via a telephone modem connection and we achieve a remote resolution rate of about 70% for Europe and North America. We back this up with a geographically diverse field team who we can dispatch very quickly to customer sites who require hands-on support.

5. Creo's service contracts also include product updates and proactive service. Again, committed to customer up-time, we do preventative maintenance and implement engineering changes on our machines in the field.

We have done detailed analysis of the cost of ownership of thermal vs violet CTP and we remain convinced that we are offering the best possible value per cost to our customers. While you can isolate certain components like a thermal laser diode and make a claim that it is more expensive, the real answer lies in a much more detailed analysis of the complete system.

I was wondering if you have done an analysis of other CTP companies that sell visible light CTP systems to see if their ratio of service revenue to total revenue is higher or lower than Creo's?



May 17, 2004


Canon's Non-Disclosure Agreements

A non disclosure agreement is a piece of paper you sign to say if a vendor shows you something that is a future product, you will say nothing about it. If you do you are liable to have your head cut off! I have signed thousands of these in my time, and as far as I know I have never disclosed. My head was still above my shoulders when I last looked. Normally only consultants and very important customers are asked to enter the inner sanctum of non-disclosure.

At drupa Canon is getting some of its customers to sign a non-disclosure agreement to see a future digital printer. This is somewhat unusual. Normally only very few important customers sign such agreements. Here only Canon customers are seeing this equipment, but no press or consultants. I think it is mainly unhappy Canon clients.

I believe Canon is showing (I can only guess since I was not invited) the digital press that was expected to be at drupa, but was not ready in time. Canon has invited these key customers for such a preview of the future, as they are very worried that such customers will finally give up on Canon in its ability to produce a digital printer of comparable quality to those of HP Indigo, Kodak Nexpress and Xerox, and switch to one of these suppliers. Desperate times involve desperate measures.

For those who have not been invited, it is easy to work out what they are seeing. Just look at the Canon CLC 3220 and stretch it. Don't go too far or it will be like a Kodak Nexpress. This cannot happen as Kodak has an agreement with Canon for a future product that fits above the Canon CLC 5100 and below the Nexpress 2100. The spec on that means around 60 ppm, 600 dpi, and chemical toner. The duty cycle will be around 250K images/month.

I am only guessing as Canon won't let me in their presentation, but I have spoken with some Japanese Canon execs last year. I bet I am pretty close in designing their new product.


Heidelberg Prinect and JDF

This is I think the first time at drupa I have mentioned the term JDF. This has been substantially over promoted at drupa. JDF is very important, but for the buyer the only thing they need to know for buying a product is if it is ‘JDF enabled and certified'. If it is, then it is likely to be easily interface-able to other products.

Heidelberg has put a huge investment into its full industrial workflow, Prinect. This is in my opinion the most complete workflow in commercial printing. In comparison, Esko-Graphics is the most complete workflow in packaging printing. The benefit of Prinect is that it extends from MIS and creative working, right through all the print processes and into the bindery.

I appreciate that if you own most of the elements of the workflow, as Heidelberg does, it is easier to have an integrated workflow. What is impressive about Prinect is Heidelberg's commitment to open interfacing using JDF. So far there are a limited number of external systems, mainly MIS, inter-connected via JDF, but what I saw showed that the system is totally open for such inter-connectivity. Most of the elements of Prinect are connected via JDF, and the remainder are due to be upgraded to this. Heidelberg has around 100 engineers working in this area, so I expect full JDF compliancy soon.

I am looking forward to day when Heidelberg decides to open up their workflow selling, and push it as an independent industrial workflow for print. Prinect could be one of the core tools for Heidelberg to expand its market share by linking in non-Heidelberg presses and other products. Prinect may well be Heidelberg's secret weapon to increase its overall market share in the industry.


Does PrintCity Work?

The largest hall at drupa is Hall 6. This is the location for all the member companies of the PrintCity grouping. This is a strategic alliance of 40 so-called best in class vendors to show inter-company integration. It is also for a degree of joint marketing. Among the key members of PrintCity are Agfa, MAN Roland, Océ, Muller Martini, Sun Chemical, Sappi, Wohlenberg, MBO, Shinohara, Global Graphics and many others. One of the key intentions of PrintCity is to show how different companies can work together and integrate their products to show viable production operations in different scenarios. PrintCity is also one of the main locations at drupa to see JDF in action.

I personally think PrintCity does not work, especially for larger companies like MAN Roland. I, and also a number of my fellow journalists, find the whole PrintCity layout confusing and a mess. There are huge banners breaking up the center of the hall into separate production areas, defined for segments like Packaging & Labels, Web Publishing, Small Commercial, Industrial Commercial, and PostPress. These link up different suppliers equipment to show workflow. The problem is it is very difficult for visitors to follow this approach, and to most people who have not had a detailed explanation of what is happening, it looks like a random dropping of equipment together. Unless you actively seek it out and have it explained, the JDF element is difficult to understand.

One problem is that PrintCity states that all its members are best in class suppliers. That is not necessarily true. Take packaging for example. The prepress workflow here is from Agfa, and while Agfa is an “as good as others in the class” commercial print workflow supplier, it is not a best in class workflow supplier for packaging. If a packaging buyer is thinking of buying a MAN Roland press, he will want to see it working with a workflow from a packaging supplier like Esko-Graphics or Artwork Systems. There is also no flexo or gravure prepress or printing member of PrintCity.

This is the problem. Because of the membership structure of PrintCity, it prevents other competitive suppliers from joining. It is rather like NGP, where Creo is the only prepress member. This is however mainly because no other prepress supplier wants to be in the same organization as Creo.

I personally think that companies like MAN Roland get lost in PrintCity, and that their strong market messages do not get through. Some of this is caused by the layout and set-up of PrintCity, but I believe it is mainly due to limitations in the structure of the PrintCity organization.


May 16, 2004


Weekend at drupa

It is the second weekend at drupa. By now only the most committed press are still here (perhaps we should be committed!). Most senior staff at vendors have gone home leaving just the sales and demo staff. We are in weekend mode at drupa. The visitors are now the printing industry workers, not the company owners and decision makers. They come in the week, as they are allowed to treat a visit to drupa as business. At the weekend it is workers time. When I worked as a vendor a thousand years ago, I always advised my team to hide all their brochures and anything moveable on the stand at this time.

The weekend is even more dangerous than other times at drupa (see my previous comment Dangerous drupa). Weekend visitors typically have at least two huge tubes of samples on their shoulders, plus two or three bags in their hands, or possibly the Océ wheely box. The sun is out and drupa is like a festival. The beer tents are doing great business, as are all the food tents and restaurants. The amazing thing is the best location at the show is the Lowenbrau beer keller and restaurant. Here the stars of drupa, The Bruno Griss, are still going strong. All day, every day, these old guys are playing real fun music.

You know, even though I have been coming here since the early 1970s, I still love drupa.

Archives: May 6-10 | May 11-15

------------------------------------------------

Attributes Associates is an internationally oriented consulting company specializing in marketing and technology issues for the printing, publishing and media markets. The Managing Partner of Attributes Associates is Andrew Tribute, who is recognized internationally as one of the world's leading authorities on these industries and subjects.

Attributes' client base comprises a large number of publishers and printers as well as a significant number of industry vendors. In most cases consulting is carried out at high level to assist such organizations in the selection and adoption of technology, or to define ongoing business strategies covering the likely future directions of the markets.

Attributes have been in the forefront of technology changes and market developments from the time it started in 1984. It has been involved in assisting both users and vendors through the changes in these industries since then. This has included desktop publishing; PostScript imaging; changes in working practices in newspaper and magazine publishing; adoption of digital printing and computer to plate imaging in commercial printing; and more recently the impact of the Internet on publishing and printing markets.

Become a Member

Join the thousands of printing executives who are already part of the WhatTheyThink Community.