Drupa 2012 – A ray of hope, for the Printing World

The wait is finally over… Drupa 2012, the biggest printing trade show we’ve been anxiously looking forward to, is just around the corner, ready to define the future of the print world.

Ever since the last Drupa in year 2008, the printing industry has seen some real hard times; difficult economic conditions supplemented by remarkable rise of digital media. These factors have resultantly led to the decrease in global print volume which is found to have lost 20 percent of print since year 2000. With the coming of the latest smart phones and enormous upsurge of social media networks, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that digital media is without doubts in direct contest with traditional print products.
Drupa 2012 is precisely what is required at this time for the print world. A forum to bring together all providers of integrated solutions from the pre-press, software, digital printing and web-to-print sectors to define a way forward for the print world. The printers have to understand that digital media cannot sweep off their existence, instead will augment them by offering new ideas and strategies… The hope lies with print providers who have already started to combine digital and offset printing, and are merging the two with the latest trend of Web-to-print.
From the viewpoint of the President DRUPA-2012, Bernhard Schreier, trends that will steal the grand print industry fair are:

•  Increase in the significance of digital printing
•  Environmentally friendly production of print media.
•  The combination of digital and offset printing to provide profitable applications for everyone involved.
•  Embracing Web-to-print and automation of workflows by the increased number of print houses to address their business needs from online job submission to production and shipment as a one-stop shop solution.
•  Finishing work and special applications for printshops to clearly differentiate themselves in challenging print markets.

These megatrends will bring positive effect not only on print quality and profit margins, but also focus on winning new businesses for the print providers and online print stores.
So follow Drupa 2012, the mother of all trade shows, to see what future holds for the Printing Industry….

P.S: Fear not, the Gutenberg world………You are here to STAY!!