Machine Launches and Ribbon Cuttings at drupa

Many companies waited until drupa to launch all their latest products in one fell swoop meaning there was an abundance of technologies to explore. In this article, we look at just a handful of the new innovations introduced at the exhibition.

Digital Printing Solutions

Landa Digital Printing used the show to launch its new S11 and S11P presses. Landa’s Nanography technology was actually introduced at drupa 2012 and since then, Gil Oron, chief executive officer of Landa Digital Printing, told Print Monthly the company has been focusing on maturing this technology.

Highlights of the new technology include higher speeds moving from 6,500sph to a level of 11,200sph and the use of AI and machine learning which Oron says Landa has been working on for quite some time.

“This enables us to reach very high levels of quality in a very precise and continuous way with much less dependency on the operator to eliminate human errors,” he explains.

On the first day of the show, Landa announced a multi-press partnership with global printing company, Cimpress. The two companies have shared a relationship for almost a decade, however, Benny Landa explained that now Landa’s technology has evolved to a point where it’s ready to be rolled out within a company such as Cimpress.

As a result, two to three of Landa’s brand-new S11P presses will be installed in the next quarter initially across Cimpress’ locations.

Oron comments: “Cimpress is maybe the biggest commercial printer in the world, they know very much what they need and they’ve been working with us for quite a long time to make sure that we are reaching very high levels of OEE [overall equipment effectiveness].

“They were excited by the technology and knew that they would go for it back in 2016 but they waited for us to reach that level of OEE and whoever knows Cimpress knows that they are very demanding in that regards. Once they were sure that we were there, they decided to start to install systems. We are honoured to be a partner of such a company.”

Elsewhere in Hall 9 and EFI announced a partnership with Packsize with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on its booth. The companies have partnered to produce the Packsize EFI X5 Nozomi, the world’s first full-colour, on-demand, right-sized box system.

Fujifilm made several announcements in the first week of drupa including the new Acuity Ultra Hybrid Pro; the new Jet Press 1160CFG high-speed continuous feed colour inkjet press for commercial printing; and the FUJIFILM Dimatix SKYFIRE SF600 printhead featuring the new PDS-2SF600 drive electronics and software from Meteor Inkjet.

The company produced the latest issue of its Women 4 Women magazine live using the brand new Jet Press 1160CFG featuring ‘The Paper Stabilizer’, a newly developed pre-drying unit, and finished by Horizon International on its stand.

The company also previewed its new AQUAFUZE solution on the 1.6m-wide Acuity Triton was previewed at drupa with the hardware manufactured in Japan by Mutoh.

In the Revoria Range, Fujifilm launched the Revoria Press EC2100S and Revoria Press SC285S featuring five-colour printing in one pass, and the Revoria Press EC2100 and Revoria Press SC285 four-colour presses.

HP announced the launch of its HP PageWide PLUS package and revealed Advantage 2200 advancements. For wide-format, the company has expanded applications for its HP Latex 2700.

Under its theme ‘The Power to Move’, Canon had an unmissable presence in Hall 8A, next to an equally unmissable presence by Ricoh and its ‘HENKAKU’-themed booth.

Making its European debut on the Canon booth was the new varioPRINT iX1700 sheetfed inkjet press, available in 2025, as well as the launch of the new heavy-duty, B2 sheetfed press, the VarioPRESS iV7.

Canon demonstrated the possibilities and impact of its elevated printing technology through ‘The Core’ area of its booth. This provided visitors with a moving, immersive, multi-sensory experience bringing to life the ‘World Unseen’ initiative in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Finishing Solutions

Vivid Laminating Technologies launched its new patented Veloton cutting solution. Launched in collaboration with and powered by Fiery, Vivid provided live demonstrations across its entire portfolio of laminators, cutters, and foiling machines during the 11-day show with the stand packed with visitors.

The company also announced that DBC Group had purchased a Veloblade Volta 69 on the stand as well as celebrated winning an EDP award for the patented VeloTaper.

In addition to Duplo’s portfolio of newly launched solutions such as the iSaddle SENSHI and its first B2+ flatbed die-cutter, the DSM-1000 B2 die-cutter, three prototypes were introduced on its booth. These included a Robot Stacker on the end of the DC-746 which picks up, jogs, bands, and boxes using the robot arm; the PFI Blade PRO B1 cutting table; and an automatic B2 folder gluer.

Plockmatic Group’s booth was filled with new innovations and technologies with the company launching over 20 new products at the show across its three brands: Plockmatic, Morgana (including Watkiss), and Intec.

Gavin Blakemore, sales manager at Morgana Systems provided us with an overview of the new technologies being launched on the booth: “We have around 23 new products being shown ranging from enhancements to creasing and folding and we are showcasing a concept idea for our new binders which will be out at the end of the year.”

A star of the show highlighted by Blakemore was the DigiFold Ultra, described as the “next generation of DigiFold”. Within this machine, Morgana has increased the level of automation it offers with a dual system enabling creasing and perforating in one pass.

Morgana has also added a slitter and a cutter meaning no operator intervention is needed and there is no need for another device such as a guillotine.

The BM7000 was another star product mentioned by Gavin as the next generation of Watkiss products. The new 7000 is a landscape format and it has the function of having an in-line creasing solution for the covers.

Morgana has been producing the DigiBook range for a while in the form of PUR binders with closed tank technology meaning no ventilation is required. The company has now moved to a new POR technology offering much quicker drying times.

“The concept machines we’re showing here have far more automation,” Blakemore explains. “This allows us to do automatic book loading, cover feeding, all in one device, and we offer a range of solutions for different price brackets and automation levels.”

The concept idea was fully running at drupa but won’t be launched until October and there will also be the option to have it as an in-line solution for Plockmatic’s partners.

Speaking on the Intec side of the group was general manager of Intec and product manager of the cutting division of the Plockmatic Group, Mark Baker-Homes, who walked us through Intec’s launches.

“It’s an exciting drupa for us because this year we’re launching over 11 new products. Plockmatic has a goal to really dominate and own the entry- to mid-level of the digital cutting market, the same way that it does with bookletmakers, creasing, and folding devices.”

Up until now, Intec’s best-selling machine has been the SC6500 digital cutter, a very small and compact machine that uses a cutting head with two tools enabling creasing and cutting at the same time.

Building on the success of this, Intec has launched the SC7000 Pro model which has a stronger feed system and rollers. Baker-Holmes explains that a unique feature is the machine’s cutting head which uses a tangential creasing wheel capable of delivering 2.5kg worth of pressure, allowing users to crease and cut much thicker card up to 450gsm.

Intec has also launched an extra-large version of the SC7000 Pro model in the form of the SC7000 Pro XL in response to the launch of a B2 digital toner-based press at drupa by Fujifilm.

Whilst the SC6500 and the new SC7000 Pro models are aimed at customers with small footprints, Intec has also launched the FB9500 which is the evolution of the existing FB9000 table featuring an upgraded feeder.

Also on show were three newly launched label devices: LC330 label cutter for entry-level users; the LC700 hybrid and modular cutter introducing the 7” display featured on several other cutters; and the LF700 frame.

Baker-Homes says: “When most people start cutting labels, they’re thinking about sheets but as your label business grows, what you really want to do is have the ability to expand to roll-to-roll production.”

Users are able to lift one half of the LC700 and add it to the new LF700 frame enabling them to switch to roll-to-roll format. This, Baker-Homes describes as “possibly one of the industry’s first modular sheet label and roll-to-roll label cutting systems”.

Offset vs Digital

Kodak used its large booth to demonstrate its PROSPER ULTRA 520 press which launched officially at Hunkeler last year. New for drupa was the addition of Kodak’s own finishing solutions in the form of a cutter/folder/pre-coater. These features, Kodak says, make the manufacturer an end-to-end provider for inkjet web printing. The technologies are only currently available in the US.

Launching on the Kodak booth was the Optimax pre-coater which is said to transition more offset pages to inkjet as well as the new Kodak Prosper Printbar available in increments of 4” in width depending on requirements.

Celebrating 20 years of Sonora plates, Kodak also launched the new Sonora Ultra Process Free plate which is described as being “ultra clear and ultra productive” with 9 times stronger image contrast than competitive process free plates and 1.5 times stronger than Kodak’s own Sonora XTRA solution.

Enhanced Embellishment Options  

Scodix launched two new presses: the Scodix Ultra 2500 SHD and the Scodix Ultra 6500 SHD, as well as brought its total application range to 16 applications with the introduction of its Multi-layer Enhancement (MLE) technology. The company also introduced the first automated embellishment creator tool, Scodix AI.

Amit Shvartz, general manager of Scodix Israel and COO of Scodix, explains told Print Monthly: “We have many new launches here at drupa, the two major ones are the two new systems. We are presenting Scodix Smart High Definition [SHD], which allows us to do things that really match quality that was difficult to achieve before.”

Commenting on Scodix’s new MLE technology, Shvartz says: “MLE allows us to do multi-layer embellishment and through that, we now offer an additional four applications. The major one is uncoated. This is a big story in our industry as we know that about 40% of the pages that we are printing are uncoated.

“We run the sheet first using micro-priming where we prime only the pages that need to be enhanced. After we do that, we run the sheets under the table again and now we are jetting only on the places that we want, and MLE allows us to print onto uncoated papers but keep the paper texture.”

According to Shvartz, this is popular amongst high-end customers wanting to keep the luxury feel of uncoated paper as well as when talking about the topic of sustainability. 

As we explored the halls and experienced the many launches being presented, some themes that were evident were a boost in automation, an increase in the versatility of substrates and applications, as well as partnerships between manufacturers to broaden their respective offerings to the market as printers widen their own scope.