The next drupa will be held from 23rd June to
3rd July 2020. A lot of things can happen
between
now and then – reading habits can change,
advertisers
may seek more customised offerings, suppliers
may
feel more pressure. Whatever it may be, there
is no
doubting the fact that there is a positive
spirit for
the global print industry today. Investments
have
picked up, albeit slowly. The 11-day drupa fair
drew
1837 exhibitors from 54 countries. A drupa
release
says the exhibitors “unanimously reported
excellent
business deals, extremely promising
contacts...” So
what are some of the key takeaways from drupa
2016
and the sidelights?
The re-positioning of drupa and its focus on
future
themes with strong growth potential – such as
3D
printing, functional printing or packaging
printing –
proved to be a real asset. Be it publication,
commercial,
packaging or industrial printing – printing
technology
offers matching solutions for all of these
applications
while opening up new lines of business and
business
models at the same time. Claus BolzaSchünemann,
chairman of the drupa Committee and chairman
of the Board at Koenig & Bauer AG summed it
up rather well: “The print industry is
constantly reinventing
itself and offers a wealth of high-potential
facets. And this is precisely what drupa 2016
has very
impressively proven. We were able to experience
a
highly innovative industry here in the 19
exhibition
halls, one that has succeeded in moving out of
the
‘valley of tears’ and grasping the future by
the neck.”
The release says some 260000 visitors from
188 countries and about 1900 journalists from
74
countries travelled to Düsseldorf for drupa.
The
percentage of international visitors was up 16
per
cent from four years ago. About 75 per cent of
the
visitors were executives and in a decisive
and/or codecisive
capacity, as far as taking decisions on capital
expenditure was concerned. The visitors’ survey
underscored clearly that drupa was a flawless
B2B
trade fair and platform for business decisions:
54 per
cent of visitors came to drupa 2016 with
concrete
investment intentions; 29 per cent placed
orders at
the event; 30 per cent planned to place their
orders
after drupa; and 60 per cent found new
suppliers. One
in two visitors expected their companies’
business to
develop very well over the next twelve months.
According to Werner Matthias Dornscheidt,
president & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH,
customers (with very few exceptions) no longer
visit drupa with large delegations or as part
of a
company outing to drupa. Today, it is rather
the top
managers that travel to Düsseldorf for the
event.
Seventeen per cent of international visitors
were
from Asia. India accounted for the largest
share with
5 per cent, followed by China with 3 per cent.
The
leading European countries were Italy, France,
the
Netherlands and the UK.
Technical events scored and there was a lot of
interest in drupa cube, drupa innovation park,
3D
fab + print, touchpoint packaging as well as
printed
electronics and solutions. The drupa innovation
park
focused on innovative business models in
addition to
technology innovations from renowned
exhibitors.
On display were ready-to-market applications
for
augmented reality in field service and in
advertising
but also successful examples for multi-channel
campaigns.
Here are some pertinent observations:
Jean-Pascal
Bobst, CEO, Bobst, says the industries we serve
today
are searching for drastic productivity improvement
through innovations, services and people
relationship.
Eric Bell, marketing director, Goss, makes the
point
that customers and partners should be at the
forefront
of a business strategy. Benny Landa, Chairman,
Landa,
says drupa 2016 will be remembered as the
inflection
point in the industry’s transition from
mechanical
printing to digital. And perhaps the most
significant
observation, made by Aviv Ratzman, CEO and
cofounder,
Highcon: “Many of the customers we met
during drupa have realised the need to start
investing
in technology rather than continue to expand
capacity,
adding value to their products instead of
competing
on price.” Clearly, there is every reason to
look to
the future with optimism, and print definitely
has a
future.
Editor
Rind Survey
Sunil Varghese
www.HeveaEngineers.com
Hevea
Rollers for trouble free Printing
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