Those themes include process automation and digitisation in offset with JDF, MIS and even CAM, the emerging emphasis on inline finishing, UV applications and green printing, the huge potential of modern large-format presses for printing commercials, displays and packaging, current options for brand protection, book, directory and waterless printing in sheetfed and web offset, and much, much more.

Looking ahead, KBA president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann says, "The list is almost endless. It would be a mistake to affix just one label to drupa, as some have tended to do in the past."

But big trade fairs are no longer the only showcase for innovation. Increasingly, new products and processes are unveiled as soon as they have proven their market maturity.

In September KBA unveiled a new high-automation compact wet offset press, the Commander CT, and, with a nod to shorter print runs, DriveTronic SPC dedicated plate-cylinder drives for its high-tech medium-format sheetfed press, the Rapida 105. The benefits of both are illustrated in KBA Report.

But KBA's 3400m² stand in hall 16 at drupa will be showing a lot more than the innovations described in KBA Report 31. As Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann says in his editorial, "Print is alive – and kicking!"

KBA Report is available free of charge from KBA dealers or can be downloaded as a PDF file here.

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