The increasing impact of digital workflow in traditional printshops was an often mentioned trend by speakers at the Melbourne drupa unwrapped breakfast seminar this week.

More than 100 early breakfast starters packed the Glen Waverly Novatel Hotel as the roadshow made its second stop around Australia.  

Trevor Hone, Managing Director of Avon Graphics, said that there was little doubt that digital work flow would find a place in what we now regard as conventional commercial print shops.

He said it was hard not to notice the extremely short run digital inkjet solutions that involved a range of suppliers in collaboration to create an inline solution to a range of printed product – from books to packaging.  

“Also on show were new UV spot coating units, driven by digital inkjet technology which are ideally suited to the short run market.”  

Mr Hone said drupa also provided a valuable insight into new developments in the embellishment industry.  

“One such development is holographic casting of an image into UV varnish, using a polyester carrier to transfer the image into a varnish which is set using UV lamps. This transfers the full holographic image into the UV coating. An added benefit is that the polyester carrier can be used up to 15 times before any loss of definition,” he said.  

GEON’s Group Process & Operations Improvement Manager, Shane Smithe, said workflow, digital printing and the environment dominated drupa.  

“Workflow software was in abundance at Drupa 2008 and it was virtually impossible to ignore. In particular Heidelberg’s 'Prinect' was a standout and featured very highly.  

“Although Workflow affords a business a certain amount of automation, we were disappointed at the lack of additional automation on display – which was of particular interest to us.   

“I felt the event, and the sheetfed industry as a whole, only displays limited automation capabilities when compared with web printing and packaging for example. The industry must look to other industries and adopt automation practises – potentially removing some manual or mundane tasks; reducing costs and improving quality and tracking.”  

Mr Smithe said he believed that the stand-out exhibitors were HP, Xerox, Kodak, AGFA, OSAG and Xercon.    

“Generally there was a large degree of similarity in the digital space but occasionally there was a point of difference. In particular HP’s stand was the most impressive in terms of depth and they seemed to be ahead of the curve.”  

General Manager of Print Bound, Mark Randles, said his drupa visit included research on MIS to improve the productivity of print jobs.  

“Customers are expecting shorter lead times than ever before in all facets of the printing process from quoting, proofing and delivery,” he said.  

“Heidelberg stole the show – they had a real environmental emphasis. We attended the Heidelberg ‘Eco Friendly Tour’ which highlighted their alcohol reduction initiatives, energy reduction and reduction in make ready times in many of the new machines.   

“We were also fortunate to attend the Heidelberg factory tour and we were amazed at the size, automation and cleanliness of the factory.”  

Mr Randles said he visited two German printing companies and were very surprised to see one of the two still throwing away cartridges and putting blankets into landfill.   

The major suppliers presented the hands-on technology and equipment overviews with presentations from: Heidelberg - Glenn Plummer - General Manager Marketing and Product Management; HP/Curry - Phillip Rennell - General Manager Digital Division Currie Company Group; AGFA – Garry Muratore - Regional Marketing Manager; Tharstern Australia – Napil Abdel - Regional Manager; Océ – Herbert Kieleithner - Marketing Manager - Production Printing and Fuji Xerox – Brett Maishman - National Commercial Print Business Manager.    

Drupa unwrapped moves on to Perth on Wednesday 23 July from 5.30pm at the Hopman Tennis Centre, Burswood and then to Sydney for Tuesday 29 July.  

Bookings can be made for either event by calling 1800 227 425, via  www.printnet.com.au (fax registration forms available) or online via these links: 

Perth online bookings
Sydney online bookings