Drupa ramp up #1 – all round printers need not apply; Patrick Howard in Germany

In front of a gathering of more than 130 industry journalists in Düsseldorf, Bernard Schreier, CEO Heidelberg as well as president of trade fair, drupa, gave traditional commercial printers with no specialisation little chance to survive. Complex customer demands, high competition and price pressure along with deadly margins mean “all-rounders barely have a chance to survive.”

His call is in line with a determinedly up-beat yet serious approach to a 2012 drupa where equipment suppliers are hoping for a break in the weather, and a resumption of industry investment. After three years when capital equipment investment all but vanished in the developed markets of Europe, USA and yes, Australia, Schreier’s combination of cautionary advice and optimism set the tone for what will be a smaller trade show in numbers as well as exhibition space in May.

In a quest for a defining description of this year’s show he proposed two …the drupa of successful business models, and… the drupa of integrated technologies. It neatly illustrates the reality that this time around there is no new salvation technology to transform the industry and save it from long-term decline.

The demand for printing has plateaued in the developed world with global growth of an anaemic one to one-and-a-half per cent per year predicted to 2016. Mainly confined to developing countries that have to catch up and dominated by packaging printing, it is a future that demands smarter business practices and cleverer use of existing technology from printers.

Schreier introduced the notion of classical as opposed to new forms of print. Electronic media is part of the new, while presumably print media is now part of the classical. If this is the beginning of an age of nostalgia for print’s good old days, then we are really in trouble.

This pre-drupa ramp up is beset with the feeling that print’s best days are behind it. The spectre of e-books and social media linger over many of the discussions here in Düsseldorf with many a grateful reference to the notion that at least packaging cannot go electronic.

The fate of manroland and Kodak hang in the air. People talk of business closures and falling volumes of print. There is a structural change shaping the industry in a manner that may make this drupa a watershed to look back on.

Schreier finished his opening address with the enigmatic take that since print is in transition it means the sector is alive. Let’s hope that drupa, when it comes around, does not shut down the life support systems.