News

manroland sheetfed, a leading provider of sheetfed offset presses, production automation and related solutions, will leverage drupa 2012 to communicate its excitement about the start of a new era for the newly structured company. Visitors to manroland sheetfed’s stand will see a fresh new spirit that reflects both innovation and the continuation of the tradition of excellence associated with the manroland brand and dating back nearly two centuries.

President of UPM Raflatac Jussi Vanhanen addressed the self-adhesive label industry with facts regarding the depletion of the world’s resources and the inevitable raw material inflation. “In these circumstances it is more important than ever for the industry to focus its efforts on the efficient use of raw materials and resources. Doing nothing is not an option.”

Phoenix Xtra Blankets is banking on climate-friendly printing blankets. At the drupa 2012 print media trade show (May 3-16, Düsseldorf) ContiTech Group will be presenting new products for the printing of packaging materials, heatset printing, and varnishing.

UV curing systems manufacturer GEW are launching a range of new UV systems designed to reduce running costs and extend production capabilities of both analogue and digital printing and coating machinery.

X-Rite and its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone will showcase their most advanced solutions for measuring and communicating colors in today's complex digital workflows for the prepress, print, publishing and converting industries at the drupa 2012 trade fair to be held May 3–16 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

PrintCity and the World Print & Communication Forum (WPCF) confirm the final speaker line up for their jointly organised Lean & Green International Environmental Conference taking place in the Congress Centre at drupa on Thursday May 10, from 9:00 to 15:00.

Pageflex is an international supplier of marketing and printing automation solutions since 1996 and has headquarters in Marlborough (USA) and Caesarea (Israel). Following its recent strategic initiatives to expand its presence in Europe, Pageflex is now addressing the increased demand for its products with the opening of a new office in Warsaw, Poland.

The German-based Kama, specialist for finishing equipment, will be presenting innovative solutions for commercial printers (both offset and digital) and packaging printers at their twin-booth in Hall 2 B 32 at Drupa 2012. The highly flexible new ProCut 76 die cutter will be the highlight in the “Commercial Centre” at the KAMA booth. Efficient off-line and inline packaging workflows will be demonstrated in the joint “Short Run Packaging Centre” with AB Graphic International.

True to the chosen slogan “sprinting ahead”, the second-largest printing press manufacturer in the world, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), has planned a veritable innovation firework to light up this year's drupa exhibition. A press conference on 20 March, at the opening of a special sneak preview for invited users at the company's sheetfed offset facility in Radebeul, announced many of the drupa highlights for offset and digital print to a wider audience for the first time.

The Encyclopedia Britannica made headlines earlier this week when it announced that it was “stopping the presses” and ceasing publication of its print edition after a strong 244-year run. From a business standpoint, one can understand why this inevitably needed to happen: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. has sold just 8,000 sets of its latest 32-volume, $1,395 print edition released in 2010, with another 4,000 sitting in a warehouse waiting to be ordered. When the last set is shipped, that will be that. Sales of Britannica’s print edition peaked around 1990 at 120,000 sets, with significant decreases in volume through the 1990′s and into the 2000′s. For the company itself, the print edition represented only a small portion of revenue, with the majority derived from selling curriculum products to schools, as well as online subscriptions and other digital versions of its content.