By Claus Bolza-Schünemann
Chairman of the drupa Committee and Chief Executive of Koenig & Bauer AG
Between 31 May and 10 June 2016, Düsseldorf will once again be the centre of the printing world. Everyone is getting excited about drupa, the world’s leading event in the printing industry, which gives exhibitors the perfect platform to present new products and services, network and nurture customer relationships.
This year’s tagline, “Touch the Future,” is particularly relevant to us as a machine and systems manufacturer. We see it as our job to build bridges to the future and translate technology trends into products for the benefit of our customers. drupa allows visitors to discover these innovations for themselves. For many users, it’s their first exposure to them.
drupa is growing into a showcase for the future of the printing industry, which is already a pioneer of Industry 4.0 with its networked process chains. In fact, we talk about Print 4.0., an end-to-end digital workflow made possible by the intelligent networking of our machines and systems. Print 4.0 is the enabler for individualisation and personalisation in digital printing. For high-quality packaging that makes the crucial difference at the point of sale. Our industry is opening up new markets with the fast-growing range of solutions in industrial and functional printing. And last but not least, 3D printing, with its seamless digital process chains, is part of a new world of printing that pushes existing boundaries.
The five letters of the word d r u p a represent the key technology trends in our industry:
D for Digitalisation of printing techniques and processes
R for Rapid Manufacturing and 3D printing
U for Utilities, i.e. new consumables, substrates etc.
P for the growth market of Packaging
A for new Applications in functional and industrial printing
