A Preview of What’s Coming at drupa 2024

It’s been eight years — nearly a decade! — since the last drupa, but on May 28, the print industry’s largest international trade fair will open its doors once again. For 11 days, visitors will stream through drupa’s 18 halls, visiting more than 1,425 exhibitors from 50 countries.

Though U.S. visitors traditionally make up about 3% of the 260,000-plus drupa attendees, this year there is more reason than ever to make the trip to Düsseldorf, Germany. For one thing, much of the equipment introduced over the past eight years has never been on display at a trade show before. And with all the recent advancements added to the mix — including the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements — the halls of drupa are sure to hold an eye-popping array of high-tech surprises.

Then there’s the drupa experience itself: the opportunity to mingle with fellow printers from around the world, to enjoy a beer with the top brass from your key vendors, to stumble upon devices you never dreamed existed, to hear the drupa theme song over the loudspeakers — yes, there is a drupa theme song; there’s been one every year since 2000.

To offer a small taste of what’s to come, 18 top drupa 2024 exhibitors got together recently in Düsseldorf to preview some of their innovations for 70 trade journalists from all over the world, including In-plant Impressions. The new products ranged from web offset presses to cut-sheet production inkjet systems; from wide-format printers to embellishment devices. The parade of new products was dizzying.

Addressing Three Key Challenges

Throughout three days of presentations, several themes loomed large. Commercial and in-plant printers, exhibitors noted, are all faced with the challenges of sustainability, digitalization, and the shortage of skilled operators. The solutions being shown at drupa, these exhibitors said, have been designed to help printers better handle these three challenges.

Addressing sustainability, Dr. Andreas Pleßke, CEO at Koenig & Bauer AG and chairman of the drupa Committee, noted that it can work to the advantage of printers.

“We’re probably the only industry where sustainability means lower costs,” he told journalists. When equipment is more sustainable, he explained, processes become more cost-effective and the cost of printing comes down due to the need for less ink and less paper. Many of the solutions being shown at drupa will have been built with sustainability in mind.

Fueling the trend toward digitalization has been the infusion of machine learning and AI technologies. These features will be demonstrated on many of the systems being introduced at drupa.

To address the shortage of skilled operators and bring younger workers into the industry, Sabine Geldermann, director of drupa, talked about efforts to attract students to drupa and engage with them via design contests highlighting their creativity.

“We are a mirror of the market,” she said, emphasizing that drupa will focus on the same challenges printers face.

Landa Makes a Splash

Benny Landa, founder of Landa Digital Printing, kept the audience riveted as he explained the advantages of nanography over inkjet. He also announced two new Landa presses that will be shown at drupa.

One highlight of the three-day pre-drupa event was the appearance of industry icon Benny Landa, founder of Indigo and early proponent of digital printing. Now head of Landa Digital Printing, Landa took to the stage to explain nanography to journalists with the same passion — tempered only slightly by age — that he displayed in the 1990s when promoting Indigo digital presses. He explained how nanography places nano ink particles onto a heated blanket to be transferred to dry paper, where it instantly bonds, without leaving the paper wet like inkjet.

“Wet ink never contacts paper,” Landa said. He showed samples of what he called the superior quality of nanographic prints compared to inkjet.

Landa went on to introduce two new Landa presses, the S11 and S11P, which boast speeds of 11,200 prints per hour, embedded AI, seven-color printing, a continuous printing capability, and an optional in-line coating unit. They will be on display and commercially available at drupa.

Jennifer Kolloczek noted that Canon will show the new Arizona 2300 FLXflow flatbed wide-format printer with an enhanced media handling system, as well as production inkjet systems like the varioPRINT iX1700 sheetfed inkjet press, at drupa 2024.

Landa’s dismissal of inkjet technology aside, several other exhibitors at the pre-drupa event excitedly announced new production inkjet presses. Among them was Canon, which will present the European debut of the varioPRINT iX1700 sheetfed inkjet press at drupa, and introduce the ProStream 2000 series and the ColorStream 8200 continuous-feed inkjet presses. Canon will also show the new Arizona 2300 FLXflow flatbed wide-format printer with an enhanced media handling system and two new imagePROGRAF PRO series printers. Toner technology won’t be ignored at Canon’s drupa booth, which will boast the theme “The Power to Move.” Advancements to the Canon varioPRINT 6000 series TITAN will be on display.

The new Canon varioPRINT iX1700 B3 inkjet platform, printing at 170 A4 images per minute or 73 B3 images per minute, boasts a high-definition 2,400x1,200-dpi printhead and a new set of water-based polymer inks with highly saturated pigments, to produce high-quality print applications such as marketing collateral. It will be available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in 2025.

The new Canon ProStream 2000 series of web-fed inkjet presses comprises the 80-m./min. ProStream 2080 and the 133-m./min. ProStream 2133, which can print on standard offset coated, uncoated, and inkjet optimized media from 28 gsm up to 150 gsm. It is 20% shorter than the ProStream 3000 and consumes 10% less energy than the ProStream 1800.

Other New Inkjet Presses

Ricoh has inkjet plans for drupa as well. It will highlight the Ricoh Pro Z75 auto-duplexing B2 sheetfed digital aqueous inkjet press in its exhibit, which will have the theme Henkaku, the Japanese term for transformational innovation. It will be joined by the Ricoh Pro VC80000 continuous-feed inkjet press, which boasts AI capabilities, new generation Ricoh printheads, closed-loop quality control, and a high level of integration with finishing equipment.

Eef de Ridder revealed Ricoh’s drupa plans, which include a focus on inkjet. Both the Ricoh Pro Z75 sheetfed inkjet press as well as the Ricoh Pro VC80000 continuous-feed inkjet press will be at Ricoh’s drupa exhibit.

Ricoh will also highlight its 135-ppm Pro C9500 and 95-ppm, five-color Pro C7500 digital presses, along with Ricoh’s brand-agnostic software solutions like the new Ricoh TotalFlow Producer, a SaaS solution that automates the submission and consolidation of incoming jobs from multiple sources into a web-based dashboard. And, of course, the Ricoh Auto Color Adjuster, shown with much fanfare at PRINTING United Expo last year, will be on hand, providing precise color management and matching capability.

Also showing production inkjet presses at drupa will be Fujifilm, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. The company wants visitors to “Discover the Difference” at its booth at drupa, where it will launch its latest continuous-feed inkjet printer, the Jet Press 1160CFG. With a newly developed water-based pigment ink, the 1160CFG can print on both coated and uncoated paper. It utilizes Fujifilm Group’s proprietary Paper Stabilizer technology, which controls the paper condition before printing, solving production issues such as ink adhesion on thick paper, waviness on thin paper, and quality fluctuations due to environmental factors.

Other Fujifilm drupa debuts will include Aquafuze technology, a new water-based ink that encompasses the functionalities of UV and solvent inks; and the Revoria Press GC12500, which can print up to six A4 sizes in a sheet at 250 ppm.

Inkjet Advancements

With the theme “See the Potential in the Future of Print,” Konica Minolta plans to showcase 20 European premieres. Among them will be the successor to its AccurioJet KM-1 inkjet press, the AccurioJet 60000, which employs in-line sensors and a spectrophotometer to automatically monitor printing conditions. Printing 6,000 sph, the UV inkjet press offers both-side printing capabilities.

On the toner side, Konica Minolta will show the AccurioPress C84hc for the first time. It uses high-chroma toner that prints bright, vivid colors consistently.

HP will launch the B2-sized HP Indigo 120K and 18K at drupa. The 120K can reportedly print 30% more sellable sheets per hour, which equates to about 2 million B2 sheets per month. Its AI-based automation system shortens training time and can allow one operator to run two presses. The Indigo 120K has an ECO mode option, which uses a thinner layer of ink, and an AI-based preflight tool that will learn preferences over time and can automatically predict which modes will be suitable for which jobs.

The HP Indigo 18K can handle an expanded gamut of media, including transparent media, thick duplex cards and tags up to 600 microns, and hybrid heat transfer substrates, enabling it to print applications like folding cartons, synthetics, heat transfer apparel, and lightweight collateral. It also has an Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM), which uses three colors instead of four to reduce click charges. HP is also expanding the capabilities of the HP PageWide Advantage 2200 web inkjet press by enabling it to run thicker substrates — up to 320 gsm. And HP will have its Autonomous Mobile Robot at drupa, optimized for the HP Indigo.

Offset Presses at drupa

Though digital printing systems will certainly be in abundance at drupa 2024, there will be no shortage of sheetfed and web offset presses, as well as flexo systems. Chief among the offset exhibitors will be Heidelberg, filling a big chunk of Hall 1.

With the theme “Unfold your Potential,” Heidelberg’s exhibit will focus on helping printers cope with challenges like cost pressures, a shortage of skilled workers, and growing sustainability requirements. Thanks to the innovations being unveiled at drupa, such as the new-generation Speedmaster XL 106, Heidelberg can support its customers with a holistic concept that delivers up to 20% higher productivity than previous solutions. With a higher print speed of up to 21,000 sph, AI-supported assistance systems, and enhanced Push to Stop functions, the Speedmaster XL 106 will be the center of attention.

Web offset printing will be on display at the manroland Goss exhibit, where the VARIOMAN — which it calls “the game changer” — will be running. With solvent-free EB curing and minimized ink consumption, it is an environmentally friendly option that offers fast job changeovers without compromising print quality.

The company will also highlight a predictive maintenance platform called MAINTELLISENSE that stays a step ahead of potential problems using smart data analytics. MAINTELLISENSE uses AI-based anomaly detection to optimize machine maintenance, detect impending machine downtimes at an early stage, and help solve problems. The intelligent software enables faster and targeted decisions for more efficient and sustainable print production.

At drupa, Esko, X-Rite, Pantone, and Enfocus will exhibit together. Esko will unveil sCloud, a multi-tenant cloud-native platform that delivers on a new technological reality based on cloud computing, data sharing, and AI. All existing Esko applications will connect to the new platform.

X-Rite will unveil Autura Ink at drupa, a cloud-based ink formulation software that streamlines all aspects of formulation, storage, approval, retrieval, and quality control for inks. X-Rite will also announce expanded capabilities for PantoneLIVE.

Hybrid Software plans to debut several products, chief among them MyCLOUDFLOW, a 100% cloud-based SaaS enterprise production workflow solution. It provides fast automation of prepress tasks.

These new technologies are only the tip of the iceberg, though, representing a mere handful of the 1,425 exhibitors expected at drupa 2024. Watch for more coverage of the show in the months ahead.