Frequently referred to as the “world’s most important and largest B2B trade fair in its sector,” Drupa 2012 in Dusseldorf, Germany was attended by more than 314,500 people – two of them from HardingPoorman Group.
Taking place every four years, over 1850 exhibitors presented at the 13-day German-English program, which featured 80 speakers. Attendees came from 130 countries.
The big question? What is the next technological breakthrough in the print technology sector? Drupa addressed this question at Innovation Park, where many new companies showed their version of the future of print.
Nanographic printing got the lion’s share of attention, promising to revolutionize the printing industry by providing ultra-thin (500 nanometers) laminate ink coverage with the ability to bond to any substrate. (Click HERE for a video.)
Aside from Innovation Park, Drupa was dominated by automation, package printing, digital printing, hybrid technologies, web-to-print applications, and environmentally sound printing.
Automation was a big theme, with presses that ready five sheets at a time and offer full inspection control for print defects. There were lots energetic high-tech takes on packaging as well. The packaging segment of graphic arts is still very strong and there was a lot of effort by many vendors to highlight their creative and imaginative offerings in this growing field.
The bottom line for HPG? Staying in step with the industry and challenging our knowledge and understanding of what print can do.