Printers making the trip to this year’s drupa will see software head into the cloud and inkjet printing move centre stage, according to major vendors speaking to the world’s media at the drupa Media Week, writes Wayne Robinson from Dusseldorf.

Some 15 major exhibitors briefed trade press editors, almost all said they were taking their software into a software as a service (Saas) model, much like Adobe has done, citing benefits of cost, compatibility, eliminating upgrades, and security. Some such as HP and Kolbus said they were going to have open systems in order to facilitate industry progress and collaboration.

Inkjet presses will be the hardware focus, with a raft of both sheetfed and webfed inkjet printers on the show floor. Software developer Global Graphics said it would launch a software that would enable inkjet printers to reach offset quality levels.

[Related: Print 4.0 at drupa]

EFI, Kodak, Canon, Fuji Xerox, Fujifilm, Ricoh, Epson and Konica Minolta will all launch new inkjet printers, sheetfed, webfed or both, even Bobst will have an inkjet press for carton printing, although that won’t be at the show. Fuji Xerox is launching both cut sheet and webfed solutions, using technology from its Impika purchase two years ago.

Printers attending drupa will be in little doubt that the print industry is making an irrevocable change. Process digitisation will be a key theme as developers aim to persuade printers that any human intervention in the production process is costly.

The dominance of English as the language of business and technology will be evident at the show which runs May 31-June 10, with the organisers expecting all educational presentations to be in English with no translations.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter