DUSSELDORF, GERMANY—The international graphic arts media is gathered for pre-Drupa presentations in Dusseldorf this week to hear what major exhibitors will bring to the trade fair in May. PrintCAN is here and this is a preliminary report from the first day of presentations.  

Heidelberg
Heidelberg, the first of the major vendors to present, announced it will bring a new series of presses to Drupa: the Speedmaster SX line. The new series takes the technologies of the XL line and applies them to the Speedmaster SM 52, 74 and 102 models. Those models will now come as new SX class of presses.

The company also announced its new digital portfolio branded Linoprint. There will be two lines: Linoprint C for the commercial market will include two models, the C901 and C751, built upon the partnership with Ricoh. Linoprint L is a drop-on-demand inkjet press for the labels and packaging market. This is the first step, says the company, in its emerging inkjet offerings.

Ricoh
The upcoming Drupa appearance will be the second for Ricoh, which is increasing its booth space. It will focus on several applications including marketing, packaging, publishing, transactional and enterprise. Specific offerings will include the Ricoh Aficio MP CW2200SP, a large-format printer primarily for the CAD market but also offered to corporate print shops and quick print operations.

Two new programs include updates to the Business Driver Program, an online business services package; and Carbon Balanced Printing Program, introduced initially in Europe, to help reduce the environmetal impact of printing.

Kolbus
Kolbus will come to Drupa with Bookjet, a new book printing system arising out of a partnership with press manufacturer Timson. It comprises a high-speed inkjet press, the T-Print, a folding system, the T-Fold, with new feeder and perfect binder from Kolbus. The company says it will bring mass book production to the digital arena with capability to produce 10,000 books per hour.

Drupa, the largest international trade show for the printing industry, takes place in Dusseldorf on May 3 - 16. More than 1,800 exhibitors and 350,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Stay tuned for more news over the next few days, followed by a full report.