Our regular column building up to drupa (May 6-19, 2004, Düsseldorf) looks at the information services provided by the show organizer
Use drupa 2004 as your gateway to new business!
Fourteen full days of roughly 1,800 exhibitors spread over just under 160,000m2 of exhibition space, plus world premieres from all areas of the print and media industry – no other event in the printing world comes close to drupa (May 6 to 19, 2004 in Düsseldorf, Germany) in offering such tremendous potential for new business. It goes without saying that exhibitors are eager to take extra orders or win you as a new client. As a visitor, you too, should be laying the groundwork for new business at the upcoming World Market Print Media, Publishing & Converting. See how far you can expand or optimize your service portfolio with the help of the innovations showcased at drupa 2004.
Nowhere else can you sow the seeds for new business as effectively as in Düsseldorf. Not only are today’s newest products, solutions and systems on show, but most importantly, so are the innovations of tomorrow. That goes for converting in particular – starting from trimming, through folding, all the way to slitting and rewinding. Finishing will in future play a bigger role than ever in determining how much money your company will get out of a job at the end of the day.
“In the coming years, whenever talk turns to production increases, cost cutting and labour saving, converting will come to the fore,” emphasizes Michael Neugart, managing director of Polar-Mohr. “In this segment of the printing industry, labour costs have shot up disproportionately, as printing houses need to complete more orders in the same amount of time, while having to turn out products of ever greater complexity and higher quality.” The result is that converting processes in particular are crying out for the integration of manufacturing steps and further streamlining of the value chain. The objective is to achieve networked printing.
If until now you have been outsourcing finishing work to external service providers, why not consider whether the time has come to expand your operations for end-to-end production next year at drupa. That way, you can run off your clients’ orders faster down the line. With the latest technology, such as stack lifts or jogging tables with automatic rollers for the preparation of sheets, the previously inevitably high labour costs in converting can be significantly diminished.
The same applies to the transfer of production data directly from prepress to converting. Those able to use CIP data, including sheet layout, as well as cut and fold marks, from the prepress workflow can slash and even virtually eliminate set-up times, not only in printing, but especially in finishing.
So make drupa 2004 your gateway to new business. Surprise your clients with new converting services previously left to other companies. And if you work in a company specializing in converting services, then rest assured that at the upcoming drupa you will find a wealth of modernization options for your production technology.
What is more, you should also use the printing industry’s summit meeting in Düsseldorf to expand your portfolio of converting services. In this segment, innumerable new business opportunities will continue to emerge in the future. Because the tougher the competition in individual markets becomes, the more manufacturers want their products to stand out. An excellent opportunity to achieve this is through printed products that boast superior quality.
Converting Today’s Countdown to drupa – previewing converting exhibitors at the show – commences in the March issue. Make sure you are included by sending details to Mike Taylor, at mtaylor@wilmington.co.uk to arrive by Monday, February 3, 2004.