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drupa 2008 |
With over 1,800 exhibitors spread across an exhibition area of more than 170,000sq m, 400,000 visitors expected and some 3,500 journalists from around the world, drupa 2008, (29th May to 11th June), will be bigger than ever before. "These figures once again underscore drupa's status as the World's No. 1 trade fair for the Print and Media industry," says Werner M. Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. "No other event has as profound and all-encompassing an influence on the economics and technologies of the print media industry as drupa.
In our age of Internet and digital media, the competitiveness of print is a recurrent theme of discussion. But the facts show print to be as solid as ever. "Today, more paper, cardboard, foil and other materials are printed than ever before with an annual global total of almost 500 million tonnes," points out Albrecht Bolza- Schünemann, president of drupa and president of Koenig & Bauer AG. At drupa 2008, the international supplier industry will present an abundance of innovations, integrated solutions and market-ready refinements that could give printed products the edge in competition between the media. "The feel, emotional power and high quality of printed products provide a substantial competitive advantage over electronic media, for example, at the point of sale, in brand communications, personalised mailings and large-format advertising," adds Bolza-Schünemann. On top of that, new growth markets are opening up thanks to electronic printing (the keywords here are security printing and brand protection) and networked communications (e.g. interactive campaigns).
For more than 50 years, drupa's heart has been printing. It is with good reason that drupa is known as the world's biggest printing house. Whether sheet-fed or web-fed offset, gravure or label printing, digital or screen printing - all the tools of the trade will be highlighted in XXL format. With over 30,000sq m of space reserved, this product category will be the biggest, followed by bookbinding and print finishing with more than 11,000sq m, prepress and premedia (over 9,000m2) and packaging production/paper converting (over 7,500m2).
What is immediately noticeable is the pick-up in commitment by suppliers of digital solutions - again, a reflection of current technological developments. Compared to drupa 2004, this area has expanded by about 10,000sq m of exhibition space. The two new halls, 8a and 8b, at the northern end of the fairground, will play a central role in this sector. Together with Halls 5 and 9, this will be the stage primarily for exhibitors with a focus on this product category (e.g. Agfa-Gevaert, Canon, Eastman Kodak, Epson, Fujifilm, Hewlett-Packard, Konica Minolta, Ricoh Company, Xerox Corporation). • Halls 1 and 2: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Polar-Mohr • Halls 3 and 4: printing, materials, services (e.g. Presstek Europe Ltd., Sakurai Graphic Systems Co.) • Hall 6: PrintCity with MAN Roland, its network partners and other international exhibitors active in print finishing • Halls 10 to 12: paper converting, packaging production (e.g. Bobst S.A.) • Halls 12 to 14: bookbinding, print finishing (e.g. Horizon International Inc., Müller Martini) • Halls 15 to 17: printing machinery, bookbinding and finishing (e.g. Cerrutti Officine, Ferag AG, Goss International, Koenig & Bauer AG, Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG, Komori International, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ryobi, Windmöller & Hölscher KG) |
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