Rahul Kumar's Top Five Drupa Products

PrintWeek India's Delhi editor, Rahul Kumar, picks five products which are expected to make waves at Drupa., Business

15 Apr 2016 | By Rahul Kumar

Esko at Drupa
Esko which has been very tightlipped about its Drupa outing has announced two new additions to its Kongsberg cutting table range at Drupa alongside a new flexo platemaking system and a software update.

During the Esko Open House in Mumbai, the word was, the new Esko Kongsberg C24 will be on display at Drupa.
 
The Kongsberg C24 is aimed more at short-run production, building on the existing Kongsberg C line, which has been extended with smaller table sizes.
 
The new 1.68x1.27m Kongsberg X20 cutter runs at up to 50m a minute while the 1.68mx3.22m C24 can operate twice as fast. They feature automatic tool adjustment for fast job changeover. The Kongsberg X can also be upgraded to add more cutting, creasing and milling tools as business needs develop.
 
Esko along with X-Rite, Pantone and Enfocus will be located at Hall 8B at Drupa.
 
Flint at Drupa
The Flint Group is using Drupa to assert its position as global leader in consumables.
 
The Flint Group with sizeable traction India will demonstrate its range of inks, coatings, pressroom chemicals, flexographic plates and equipment, mounting sleeves, printing blankets and print services and solutions. Plus the spotlight will be on its Digital Printing Solutions Division.
 
The Group will have presence in three distinct spaces at the Messe show ground. These are Hall 3, Hall 8b and Hall 8a. Other than print consumables there is a lot of buzz about the Flint Group and Thermoflex, who joined up with Xeikon, and is part of the digital printing solutions division.
 
Komori at Drupa
Komori at Drupa includes a surprise offering of post-press kit, a new cloud solution, a revamped litho presses plus its co-development on the Landa Nanographic B1 digital press. 
 
Komori's Indian representative Insight Communications informed this scribe that the Japanese manufacturer will showcase job matching across litho and digital output at its 2,200sqm booth in Hall 15. on show will be the H-UV L (LED) drying option - a first time showing at Drupa. 
 
Komori in partnership with Konica Minolta has had already launched its Impremia IS29 B2 UV inkjet press.
 
Interestingly enough, Komori will show a comparison of output on the IS29 with the eight-colour Lithrone GX40RP, running a mixed job containing elements from both presses.
 
Pantone at Drupa
Meanwhile Pantone has launched 112 new colours after doing an audit of missing shades from its portfolio.
 
As of now, Pantone has 1,867 colours in total.
 
During product development, Pantone, which is owned by X-Rite, surveyed hundreds of designers across graphics, packaging, print and web design.
 
The most recent finding was that Pantone was missing blushes and blues and neutrals, according to a company spokesman.
 
Blues are often representative of a clear, clean design aesthetic while oranges and browns have a different effect, according to Pantone.
 
Pantone will be present at Hall 08b / A23.
 
Quadtech at Drupa
QuadTech, the world’s leading innovator of advanced colour and inspection technolog will unveil four new products at the show. The interesting thing is, Quadtech will unveil one product at 10.30 am on each day from 31 May to 3 June. Product one will permit press operators to collect and process colour measurements, which will facilitate the correction of ink formulations. Day two shall see a new defect detection product for packaging and converting. This ensures that defective product will not go out the door. Day three is all about a new colour measurement product for that provides accurate inline L*a*b* measurements, which reduces make-ready time and ensures printed products are within the customer’s colour specifications. And finally on day four, there is a colour-to-colour register product for newspaper printers that will simplify operation and provide a high quality, low-cost solution.
 
In addition, Quadtech will host some of the best minds in the world to speak to an invited audience for a Print Performance Speaker Series at the QuadTech booth. If you are genuinely interested to achieve superb print quality and consistency, then contact your Indian representative. 
 
Conclusion: In addition to the official day visits, many stalls will have a Schrebergarten concept in the evenings each day of the fair, excluding 10th June. Most of these evening parties are on invitation. This informal space, just outside the official exhibition site provides a wonderful place to relax before moving on to the restaurants and bars of the Altstadt. Enjoy.