Drupa ‘resounding success’ despite attendance drop

The organizers of Drupa have said the quadrennial printing show, featuring a heavy presence from the packaging market alongside commercial and other printing sectors, showed how print still has potential and the sector is investing heavily in its future, despite the attendance figure shrinking from 2008.
 
Bernhard Schreier, president of Drupa 2012 and board chairman at Heidelberg, said: ‘Drupa was a resounding success for the sector. The trade fair sent out key impulses. Numerous business ideas and innovations were showcased here that all led to high investment.
 
‘What the 1,850 exhibitors presented here over the past two weeks will strengthen the development potential of the print and media industry long-term. Here in Düsseldorf business was done and points were set for the future of the sector.’
 
314,500 visitors from more than 130 countries came to Drupa 2012, 75,500 less than in 2008. Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, president and chief executive officer of Messe Düsseldorf, said: 'This drop does not come as a surprise for us and the sector as a whole. In Germany alone the printing industry lost some 3,900 operations with over 61,000 employees between 2000 and 2011. In the USA over the same period more than 7,700 printing operations closed.
 
‘Against this backdrop it is not surprising that fewer visitors came to Drupa 2012. However – and this is the key point – customers now no longer come to Drupa as large delegations or on group corporate trips; it is much more top managers who travel to Düsseldorf. Drupa is clearly the decision makers’ trade fair and the trade fair for business.’
 

'Offset and digital print solutions complement rather than compete with each other here’

More than 190,000 visitors attended from overseas, with Messe Düsseldorf saying the international focus of Drupa continues at a very high level. Trade visitors from India reached 15,000; the second largest visitor nation after Germany with 123,000.
 
The dominating themes at Drupa 2012 were automation, packaging printing, digital printing, hybrid technologies, web-to-print applications and environmentally sound printing. Some 40 percent of visitors said they were interested in digital printing machinery and digital printing systems.
 
‘Technologically, Drupa 2012 was a fair of superlatives. It demonstrated that printing is more alive than ever,’ said Rolf Schwarz, president of the German print and media association Bundesverband Druck und Medien. ‘There were impressive innovations in all printing processes.

'I was particularly excited by suppliers and machinery manufacturers from upstream supplies, printing and further processing who jointly convinced visitors with workflow and production solutions and outstanding products. Offset and digital print solutions complement rather than compete with each other here.’
 
The next edition of Drupa will be held from June 2-15, 2016.
 
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