Living in the [print] City

Against the spectacular backdrop of the Bavarian Alps, the PrintCity alliance celebrated its 10th birthday and unveiled plans for its next drupa exhibit. Print 21 editor, Simon Enticknap, was there.

Located once more in Hall 6 at Messe Dusseldorf, this year's exhibit will feature the slogan 'Connection of Competence', highlighting the focus on networking which, in the past, has been the principal activity of the alliance of more than 30 suppliers.

However, despite the slogan, this year's exhibit will mark a significant new departure for the organisation and its members with the focus less on the process of networking and more on the types of print services and products that can be delivered to end consumers.

The exhibit will feature seven Competence Centres, only one of which will focus on workflow integration, with the others dedicated to the presentation of new technologies in areas such as brand protection, food packaging, transpromo and UV printing.

A new Print4Life Lounge will be created in the centre of the PrintCity plaza to act as a focus point for print media users and to demonstrate what can be achieved through the collaboration of alliance members.

Introducing the new Competence Centres, PrintCity MD, Rainer Kuhn, (pictured) said the hype surrounding JDF connectivity had "cooled down a bit in recent years" and that, as a result, the focus on the 'how' of networking had now shifted to demonstrating what benefits could be delivered to end users as a result of suppliers co-operating together.

In the spirit of this co-operation, the PrintCity drupa launch featured presentations from a number of alliance members including UPM, Sun Chemicals, Océ, MAN Roland, Megtec, Sappi and Leonhard Kurz. New products due to the be released at drupa were unveiled across a range of different areas including media, consumables, press technology and ancillary equipment. Full details in the March/April issue of Print 21.