Sheetfed remains the mainstream technology

The outcomes of drupa 2012 for participating venders apparently show that the sheetfed offset will continue to be the mainstream technology in the future, with digital technologies complimenting it. Almost all major sheetfed technology providers presented their state-of-the-art solutions. Heidelberg: For Heidelberg, drupa 2012 expectations remained more than satisfied, with almost 2,000 orders from over 80 countries, including some 550 sheetfed offset presses, and over hundred printing unit orders and more from Heidelberg India itself.

The company drew a positive balance of the drupa 2012 trade show. As expected, the show delivered a significant stimulus to investment in the print media industry. “The level of incoming orders during the show indicated that confidence within the industry is returning. The investment backlog is continuing to unwind in many parts of the world. We have received almost 2,000 orders from over 80 countries, including some 550 for sheetfed offset presses alone. The volume of orders at the show thus stands as equivalent to around half of the production of printing units over the past financial year,” stated Bernhard Schreier, Heidelberg CEO.

Prem Gupta, Baldwin India and Yoshiharu Komori, chairman, Komori CorporationWith some 60 innovations for the commercial and packaging printing sectors on show at drupa 2012, Heidelberg has underscored its position as the preferred solution provider in the print media industry and successfully positioned itself. Customers have preferably invested in solution packages across the entire Heidelberg portfolio. Over a third of all printing unit orders were related to trade show innovations. Heidelberg India contributed to the companys’ success with sales above hundred printing units, including some big-scale packaging projects. What’s more; Heidelberg India sold several Varimatrix die-cutters, a double-digit number of Suprasetter CtP devices and also bagged orders for its digital press – the Linoprint C series, besides scores of Polar and Stahlfolder equipment.

The sales success reinforces the fact the Heidelberg remains the preferred partner of Indian printers and that sheetfed offset will continue to be the mainstream technology in times to come, with digital technologies complimenting it. “drupa 2012 has been an eye-opener for many printers with them showing great interest not only in our commercial print solutions but more interestingly in our packaging and post-press solutions,” said Klaus Nielsen, managing director of Heidelberg India. “I am very upbeat and humbled about the confidence that the Indian printers have shown in our drupa offerings,” he added.

Heidelberg India staff was also very busy addressing interest in their post-press range of equipment especially on the Eurobind Pro-perfect binder, Diana series folding-box gluers and Varimatrix die-cutters. While the Eurobind Pro is the first servo-driven perfect binder of its kind, the Diana series of high-speed folder-gluers are very flexible with the newly developed Braille-System and have individual servo-driven modules for the entire carton production. The Varimatrix 82 model launched at drupa is aimed at the pharma segment and has attracted great attention from the Indian printers dedicated in this segment.

Customers were also particularly attracted by the functionality of Prinect, the operating system software for print shops, which is specifically tailored to the growth segments in the industry. All customer demonstrations were booked out from the first day of the show to the last. Most of the demonstrations were devoted to the new Prinect Business Manager and Prinect Web-to-Print Manager.

Another highlight of the Heidelberg drupa stand was the very popular Services Area, where Heidelberg presented its portfolio of technical services, consumables, and performance services. Saphira ECO eco-friendly consumables had been extended again for drupa.

“We are overwhelmed with the response that we received and are happy to surpass the expectations that our printers had of us. drupa 2012 has been successful for us in many ways and will keep us busy looking after new customers and filing more orders in India. It has been a great start to the new financial year,” concluded Peter Rego, sales head of Heidelberg India.

KBA: In sheetfed offset, the biggest attractions on the KBA stand were the brand-new Rapida 145 – the most powerful litho press at the show, and for the biggest format – and the world makeready champion, the Rapida 106. Small-scale printers were drawn to KBA’s new, 18,000sph B2 (29in) Rapida 76 with dedicated plate-cylinder drives.

Komori: For Komori, drupa 2012 ended in success, with a huge number of visitors caming to their stand every time a demonstration on the exhibit machines started, and frequently the crowd was so large that it spilled out into the aisles.

Exhibited as a new product, the Lithrone A37 won a solid reputation. In addition, the Lithrone G40P, the only perfector that Komori exhibited at the show, was the most popular press among customers. In a demonstration that was filled with technical ideas were strongly conscious of the currents of the times, by being capable of completing three jobs in 11 minutes.

Lots of visitors were impressed by the Komori-style dynamic demonstrations that were run instead of the explanatory demos that seem to be the standard in Europe. As for H-UV-equipped presses, while Komori had already received orders for more than 130 such machines in Japan, with regard to overseas markets, since visitors closely watched the demonstrations at the Komori stand and gained an understanding of the characteristics and superiority of this system, The company anticipates that H-UV will further expand and penetrate into the markets in the future.

manroland sheetfed: With the new management – manroland sheetfed GmbH – hailed drupa a great success, showing that it was not only very much alive and kicking, but maintaining its reputation for innovation by unveiling several new developments to its 700 and 900 series machines. The company dedicated followers, especially with high end application and packaging print customers, many believing that when it comes to quality, speed and reliability, there is nothing to touch ROLAND machines and visitors came to their booth in good numbers.

The company reported over 3000 visitors and announced good press sales either confirmed or agreed at the fair, which represents over 30 percent of the company’s planned production for 2012. Together with existing pre-drupa orders, the firm says it expects to reach or exceed all of its targets for this year and with re-structuring largely completed during the short period of Administration, it is in line to post a profit within the current year.

Describing the company’s presence at the 2012 event as ‘a success in itself’, board member Rafael Penuela said that apart from showcasing its technological developments, the company had a special task to fulfil at this drupa: to show the world and the print community, that the company was back. Citing the firm’s drupa motto, “The legend goes on”, he said that that task had been firmly achieved and that the show had been a great success. He said that the company had settled down well in the first 100 days under new ownership and that it would not be going back to how the old manroland company was managed in the past, saying that the new company was being shaped in a different way, under the guidance of Langley, its new and highly experienced industrial shareholder, becoming more “Mittelstand” in style.

Mitsubishi: Taking center stage within the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery (MHI-P&PM) exhibit area was a five-colour DIAMOND V3000LS sheet-fed offset press. Among the innovations equipped on this press are the ecoUV drying system and the DIAMOND EYE-S inline quality control system.

Ryobi: demonstrated B1-size single-colour offset high-speed press RYOBI 1050-1 with UV casting & foiling system, B2-size high speed 5-colour offset press RYOBI 755G with varnish type LED-UV printing system, A1-size 8-colour offset press with convertible perfecting device RYOBI 928P with LED-UV printing system, and RYOBI 525GX with coating unit and IR dryer.