Simon Enticknap’s drupa blog #6 – My Last Post
After three days of press conferences, it was great to finally hit the halls and see some equipment in action (after all there’s only so much anyone can take of listening to senior management types explain their business strategies; if I hear the words ‘customer-focused innovation’ again I’ll scream).
Meanwhile at the Messe, Heidelberg, HP and Xerox have the biggest and busiest stands while out in the wilds of the print finishing halls, the sight of acres and acres of Müller Martini’s chattering away at breakneck speed is something to behold. Agfa usually has the classiest stand and this show is no exception; original artwork by installation artist, Daniel Ost, features prominently and there’s a cool hologram-type presentation that’s like something out of Star Trek. Now if only they could perfect it so they really can move people from one hall to another without all the foot-slogging (OK, so there is a Messe bus if you really want it).
Inkjet is everywhere as expected in all sorts of formats, sizes, speeds and applications. Generally the quality is very good although it’s noticeable, too, how many technicians are swarming over some of the machines, and some of them don’t seem to be running for very long periods. Print samples can be hard to come by in some cases too, kept under close guard or under glass. The HP inkjet web press (can’t they come up with a punchier name than that?) looks like the best of the bunch at the moment, combining speed, web width and quality – plus it has three beta sites lined up which brings it one step closer to the real world. If Kodak can get its Stream press to work and develop a wider web then it too will be a contender because it has the speed.
What is clear though is that finding the right blend of cut-sheet toner and webfed inkjet will be the major technology challenge facing printers in years to come.
Inkjet is everywhere as expected in all sorts of formats, sizes, speeds and applications. Generally the quality is very good although it’s noticeable, too, how many technicians are swarming over some of the machines, and some of them don’t seem to be running for very long periods. Print samples can be hard to come by in some cases too, kept under close guard or under glass. The HP inkjet web press (can’t they come up with a punchier name than that?) looks like the best of the bunch at the moment, combining speed, web width and quality – plus it has three beta sites lined up which brings it one step closer to the real world. If Kodak can get its Stream press to work and develop a wider web then it too will be a contender because it has the speed.And the rest … the following are a few random observations gleaned from several days of wandering through, around, in and out of the greatest show on earth.
UV or not UV?
That is the question. And generally the answer is yes to UV
– it’s everywhere in sheetfed offset (and a static display on a Colorman tower at manroland). Metal foils, holographic effects and lenticular offset print are commonplace too. In fact, the closer that digital print seeks to emulate standard CMYK, the further offset print moves away from it into ever more fantastic combinations of inks, coatings and inline finishing. The results are pretty amazing tobehold although somebody seems to have forgotten that less is sometimes more.
Ahead of the pack.
Digital presses have discovered the packaging and labels market. Short run packaging and digital labels are being touted as the next big thing. Even Xerox is showing a range of packaging solutions incorporating anti-counterfeiting and security measures as well as personalisation, all finished inline.
How low can you go?
There is an air of unreality about the competition between the major offset press manufacturers to reduce their make-ready times. It wasn’t that long ago that a 15 minute make-ready was considered pretty darn good but now five minutes seems to be the norm. KBA demonstrated a Rapida 106 producing three jobs of 500 sheets each and 24 plate changes in about 12 minutes; Komori did three jobs of 100 sheets and two make-readies in nine minutes and there were similar displays at Heidelberg and manroland. At this rate, the make-ready will have disappeared altogether by the time the next drupa rolls around.
Whatever happened to CTP?
Of course it is there, on the stands of the major vendors and with the likes of Lüscher and ECRM but it is nowhere near as prominent as it used to be. Screen, a major player in thermal CTP, has almost no CTP on its stand and what was there is pushed to the edges by the omnipresent inkjet presses. This is not too surprising really; CTP is a mature technology these days with a well-established installed base, but it’s still sobering to consider how fast things have changed that a technology regarded as revolutionary not too many drupas ago now barely rates a second look. And remember JDF? No, nobody else does either (with the exception of Heidelberg).
That’s new, that’s different.
The Goss M600 Folia press has generated a lot of interest. It looks a bit odd at first, like a web press that changed its mind halfway through and decided to become something else instead, but when it starts running it makes perfect sense. It prints back-to-back colour so there’s no turning of the web or sheet and, in the demonstration at the booth, it was printing OK sheets after about 250 copies at which point the operator put the foot down and away it went: 30,000 4/4 B1 sheets per hour. A quick changeover of plates and off it went again. At twice the speed of a conventional perfector, it makes an interesting alternative.
All the news that’s fit to read.
Newspapers are everywhere, coming off digital presses, sometimes in monochrome but increasingly in colour too. Screen set the early pace with its Truepress Jet520 printing a range of world papers, but Océ won the local honours with its ability to print the daily edition of the Sydney Morning Herald. It’s amazing to see how the colour of this paper has improved over the course of the show and while it’s still not offset quality, it’s certainly good enough. Now if only they could personalise the footy results so that I get to win the tipping comp each week.
Let’s hear it for Hunkeler.
With the digital press manufacturers deciding that what matters is not what you print but what you produce, inline finishing is everywhere, and that means Hunkeler is everywhere too – winding, unwinding, folding, chopping, gluing, stacking and generally helping out with the difficult task of transporting paper at high speed from one
place to another.
Proof that the HP marketing department spent all of 30 seconds thinking up the name of their new press.
The presses may get all the attention but Hunkeler must be one of the hardest workers at the show, so it’s hats off to Hunkeler!
And at the going down of the sun, this is my last post for drupa 08. I’ve slogged my way around every hall and while nobody can ever claim to see everything, I’ve tried to take in as much as possible. Apologies to anybody who I was meant to visit but didn’t make it; as is the case with most drupa visitors, the mind is usually willing but the body can only take so much foot-shuffling on hard exhibition floors.
A special thanks to my guide and mentor, Andy McCourt, for introducing me to the best roast pork knuckle, without which any trip to drupa would be incomplete.
The Final Flash Drive
Grand total of flash drives five. Much less than I expected although the total is probably much reduced due to me occasionally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A couple of points: Fujifilm, a digital company, delivered only paper press releases while Bobst, in typical fashion, handed out a die-cut card listing a website address for its press information. And there is a rumour that one software company is handing out iPods containing all their news. Nice. As it is, I now have about 30 times more portable memory to take home with me than I had on the hard drive on my first Apple Mac 15 years ago. Anybody want a byte?
For older drupa blogs click here.