drupa 2016 Wraps Up: 260K Visitors from 188 Countries; 29% Placed Orders at Show

The mood at drupa 2016, the world’s largest and most important trade fair for print and crossmedia solutions, could hardly have been better: the investment climate is extremely good and has by far exceeded all expectations. After 11 days, the 1,837 exhibitors from 54 countries unanimously reported excellent business deals, extremely promising contacts and a positive outlook for the global printing industry. The re-positioning of drupa and its focus on future themes with strong growth potential – such as 3D printing, functional printing and packaging printing – proved to be the right decision. Be it publication, commercial, packaging or industrial printing – printing technology offers matching solutions for all of these applications while opening up new lines of business and business models at the same time.

“The print industry is constantly re-inventing itself and offers a wealth of high-potential facets. And this is precisely what drupa 2016 has very impressively shown. We were able to experience a highly innovative industry here in the 19 exhibition halls, one that has succeeded in moving out of the “valley of tears” and grasping the future by the neck,” explained Claus Bolza-Schünemann, Chairman of the drupa Committee and Chairman of the Board at Koenig & Bauer AG.

drupa 2016: trade fair of decision makers
Some 260,000 visitors from 188 countries and about 1,900 journalists from 74 nations travelled to Düsseldorf, Germany to learn about technology innovations, further developments and new business lines. Visitors’ decision-making competence was very high: approximately 75% of all attendees are executives and either make or are involved in purchasing decisions. The visitor survey also underscores that drupa is a pure B2B trade fair and platform for business decisions:

• 54% of visitors came to drupa 2016 with concrete investment intentions
• 29% placed orders during drupa
• 30% are planning to place their orders after drupa
• 60% found new suppliers at drupa

The development in visitor attendance (2012: 314,248) reflects the worldwide consolidation occurring in the industry. This is why visitors’ high decision-making competence had a particularly positive effect, all the more as every second visitor expected their company’s business to develop very well over the next 12 months. “Customers – with very few exceptions – no longer come with large delegations or as part of a company outing to drupa. It is rather the top managers who travel to Düsseldorf – and from 188 countries to this drupa,” states Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, president and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.

drupa 2016: global No. 1 trade fair
With 76%, the participation of international visitors at drupa 2016 increased by 16% compared to the 2012 staging. Attendees from Asia accounted for the largest foreign contingent with 17% (2012: 13.6%), particularly from India (5%) and China (3%). The majority of the European visitors came from Italy, France, the Netherlands and the UK. “This means that drupa has enhanced its global market significance and its international rating even further. It is the unrivaled global No. 1 trade fair for the print and media industries,” commented Werner Matthias Dornscheidt.

Positive ratings for ancillary program
The drupa ancillary program consisting of the drupa cube, drupa innovation park, 3D fab + print, touchpoint packaging and Printed Electronics and Solutions was well accepted. One in two drupa visitors were interested in the various special shows and lectures. Especially popular was drupa cube - almost 3,500 drupa visitors participated, particularly in the keynotes by Frans Johansson (founder and CEO of The Medici Group), Silas Amos ‎(founder of Silas Amos Design Thought) and Shane Wall (CTO, HP, and global head of HP Labs). The Creative Day organized by Messe Düsseldorf in cooperation with W&V, addressing marketers and creative workers in particular, was sold out. The C-Level Sessions specifically geared towards executives were also fully booked.

The drupa innovation park (dip) with its focus on innovative business models in addition to technology innovations from renowned exhibitors was another highlight at drupa 2016. On display were ready-to-market applications for Augmented Reality in field service and in advertising as well as successful examples for multi-channel campaigns.

A special feature at drupa 2016 was the successful U.S. Pavilion with 15 exhibitors, organized by Messe Düsseldorf North America (MDNA) and co-sponsored by NPES – The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies. Overall, 100 U.S. companies displayed their products at drupa 2016.

drupacity: an experience for all
With a special program, the city of Düsseldorf presented itself as an attractive trade fair destination. Whether an exhibition or 3D event, discussion forums or a “rolling lab,” drupacity gave thousands the opportunity to experience the trade fair themes live and hands-on right in the city center. “Our concept of bringing the drupa themes to the city thereby making it possible for people to understand and experience technology has paid off 100%. Thanks to numerous city-center activities, visitors and Düsseldorf citizens were able relate to the trade fair themes. drupacity was an experience for all. The many guests from all over the world felt welcome in Düsseldorf and will return to their home countries with these positive impressions,” remarks Boris Neisser, GM Destination Düsseldorf, the organizer of the drupacity program.

drupa will continue its four year cycle and the next staging is scheduled from June 23 – July 3, 2020 in Düsseldorf, Germany. For further information on visiting or exhibiting at drupa 2020, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit the website http://www.mdna.com; Subscribe to the blog at http://blog.mdna.com; Follow MDNA on twitter at http://twitter.com/Printing_MDNA
For hotel and travel information, contact TTI Travel at (866) 674-3476; Fax: (212) 674-3477; E-mail: info@ttitravel.net; www.traveltradeint.com

drupa 2016 Exhibitors Statements:

Asahi, Dr. Dieter Niederstadt, Technical Marketing Manager
“With drupa 2016 we see our efforts confirmed that visitors, prospects and customers changed their point of view in the flexo printing area completely. In today’s surrounding, stunning graphical quality is a given. Customers are more looking for productivity advancements of a product such as the improvement in overall equipment effectiveness, e.g. to reduced make ready waste and fewer press wash-ups. We were happy that we had the opportunity to explain the perfect solution of fixed color palette printing in reference to extended color gamut (ECG) and drupa was a good podium for that. These OEE benefits create significant improvement at the print converter and has been a hot topic in our conversations at the booth.”

Bobst, Jean-Pascal Bobst, CEO
“The industries we serve today are searching for drastic productivity improvement through innovations, services and people relationship. Moreover the digitalization of the packaging supply chain is paving the way for the future. This year´s drupa has again been a great platform for us to demonstrate that we deliver the right solutions for our customers´ applications – whether folding carton, flexible material, labels or corrugated board.”

Canon, Jeppe Frandsen, Executive Vice President Canon Europe
“Canon came to drupa 2016 with the aim of demonstrating the range and depth of our capabilities in a way that reflected the real business of our customers. We set out to give visitors fresh ideas about how they could expand their capabilities and to inspire them to unleash print in their own individual ways. We’ve surpassed that objective on multiple levels. The response of visitors to what we’ve shown and discussed with them has been hugely positive. The deciding factor for so many Canon customers here at drupa 2016 has been the inspiration they have taken from the live print applications we have shown – so much so, in fact that for us it has been the ‘applications drupa’. Our many applications, offering significant added value particularly in the areas of commercial print and publishing, have given them confidence in the immediate business potential of our end-to-end solutions and, through their investments with Canon, they’re looking to ensure the long-term future of their businesses. In turn, our commitment far beyond drupa is to give them the long-term support to achieve their goals.”

CHILI publish, Kevin Goeminne, CEO
“drupa 2016 gave us the opportunity to show that CHILI publish has evolved a lot since its first drupa participation in 2012. With not only the launch of a new product but also the numerous partnerships, CHILI publish wants to emphasize that our company is growing and is becoming an important player in the industry. At the booth, we wanted to create a casual and cozy feeling where people were welcomed to learn more about CHILI publish and its products, which has certainly paid off as the number of visitors on our booth exceeded our expectations! drupa gave us the opportunity to meet people we have only been in contact with via mail or telephone and to strengthen existing contacts in real life. CHILI publish is looking forward to the next edition of drupa and will make sure to show many more innovations by then!”

EFI, Guy Gecht, CEO
“The USP of drupa is clearly the production plants in operation. This allows visitors to follow and assess the complete workflow. An asset no other trade fair in the world has to offer.”

Enfocus, Fabian Prudhomme, Vice President
“Again, drupa managed to attract visitors from all over the world, which gave us an extraordinary opportunity to touch base with our existing Enfocus community as much as with new customers. People who were not familiar yet with Enfocus had the opportunity to discover our solutions and the value for their respective companies. We showcased the endless possibilities of the Enfocus solutions during the 800 live demos at our booth. We are absolutely delighted with the feedback and votes of confidence we received from our visitors. Not only is this the result of our customer centric approach in everything we do, but I also believe that we succeeded in convincing our visitors that it is possible to not only touch the future but also automate it! This drupa was the most successful edition for Enfocus yet and we are already looking forward to drupa 2020.”

Epson, Duncan Ferguson, Executive Director, Professional Printing & Robotics, Epson Europe
“This drupa is Epson’s biggest ever showcase for our most complete range of inkjet printers for prepress, signage, photographic, textile and label applications. We have had a very successful show with significant orders from companies around the globe, particularly for the SureColor SC-S signage range, which has led us to increase production to meet demand. Interest in our SurePress L-6034UV digital label press, commercialized at drupa, was high with orders taken at the show from Germany and the UK. Our Print Shop Zone was also extremely busy and attracted huge interest from visitors discovering how our desktop solutions enable them to offer a collaborative design-and-print service to produce personalized products.”

Esko, Udo Panenka, President
“At drupa 2016, Esko exhibited with its sister company X-Rite Pantone and subsidiaries Enfocus and MediaBeacon. Spread out across six Inspiration Zones, visitors experienced the combined innovations to improve the steps of a typical packaging production workflow. Bringing that message and demonstrating the added value of a connected and integrated workflow has come across really well for the many visitors we welcomed at our stand. This drupa helps us to reconfirm our leadership position in all domains of packaging and labels workflows; the overwhelming amount of visitors from all over the globe exceeded our expectations both in closed orders as well as in new contacts.”

Goss, Eric Bell, Marketing Director
“Achieving More Together’ was undoubtedly the right theme for Goss at this drupa. We’ve had a very successful show, working side-by-side with our partners, and this will be continue to be the most logical way going forward to support not only our existing customers but also new prospects. Our drupa 2016 successes include significant product orders, signed right at the stand; the sale of the first Goss Thallo system since acquiring of this product line from DG press ServiceS; and the launch of another Goss industry-first, the embedded color bar for web offset packaging production. All in all, drupa 2016 far exceeded our expectations and confirms that our approach to business, with our customers and partners at the forefront of our strategy, is the right direction for Goss moving forward.”

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Gerold Linzbach, CEO
“We are very satisfied with the outcome of the trade fair. Thanks to drupa, Heidelberg starts into the new business with a positive outlook. Our motto Simply Smart was a success with visitors. We received a high demand for our industrial printing ranges and exceeded our own targets. The further automation of offset printing produced a high number of contracts signed especially for our high-performance presses. Together with our partner Fuji we have set new standards in industrial digital printing. The debut and market launch of our new digital printing machine Primefire 106 was extremely promising prompting worldwide sales for packaging applications. With drupa tailwainds we are on course for growth.”

Highcon, Aviv Ratzman, CEO and Co-Founder
“drupa 2016 has been a tipping point for our business. We launched our technology at drupa 2012, but this one has been a real reinforcement of our vision. Sales to both new customers and existing customers have surpassed our expectations by far. drupa has been confirmation that digital technology, and finishing in particular, has reached the point where it is becoming mainstream. Many of the customers we met during drupa have realized the need to start investing in technology rather than continue to expand capacity, adding value to their products instead of competing on price.”

HP, Francois Martin, Worldwide Marketing Director of HP Graphics Solutions Business
“drupa 2016 has been a landmark show for HP. It is clear that digital has arrived as mainstream, with HP experiencing the best attendance at any drupa ever and with sales not only surpassing 2012 results by 20%, but exceeding our 2016 ambitious goals by 25% overall. drupa continues to be the most relevant industry event for innovation, and HP is committed to keep reinventing to help our customers reinvent their own possibilities, ensuring that drupa 2020 is better than we could imagine.”

Ink Router, Robert Godwin, Director of Business Development
“Our first time exhibiting at drupa was a great success. It made it possible for us to introduce our dynamic new product, InkRouter to visitors from all over the world. One of the largest trade fairs in the world brought us in contact with leaders in the printing industry, which offered us the opportunity to network and to create more brand awareness and brand recognition. Sabine Geldermann, Global Director of drupa and the Messe Düsseldorf team did a great job. I’m glad we were part of this event. drupa 2016 has exceeded our expectations and we are already looking forward to the next edition!”

Kodak, Olivier Claude, Worldwide Director of Sales and Customer Operations
“drupa 2016 completely exceeded Kodak’s expectations. Tens of thousands of high caliber visitors, customers and prospects from around the world visited our stand to do business and see the more than 20 products and technologies Kodak launched at this year’s show. The fact that we hit our sales target on Day 7 – and having reached 168% of our sales target on Day 9 - is testimony of the industry’s trust in our cutting edge technology, which helps our customers deliver on profitability, sustainability and growth.”

Landa, Benny Landa, Chairman
“drupa 2016 will be remembered as the inflection point in the industry’s transition from mechanical printing to digital. In the past, digital printing vendors had to try to convince the market that digital is the way to go. Previously it was a ‘push’ selling motion. Now, for the first time, the situation has reversed. There is a very strong ‘pull’ from the market, driven by both customers and brand-owners, who are now demanding digital printing. It seems that the market leaders – in packaging, commercial printing and in publishing – have come to the realization that they simply must go digital. For Landa Digital Printing, this market awakening has been particularly rewarding, as reflected in the substantial number of orders which we took at drupa. Customers are telling us that no one comes even close to matching our quality, speed, substrate independence and print cost, which combine to create a tremendous value proposition.”

Massivit 3D Printing Technology, Lilach Sapir, VP Marketing and Business Development
“This drupa is Massivit 3D first presentation at an international trade fair. It was a great possibility for us to present our 3D printing solutions made for printers in an exhibition for print service providers. Our expectations are more than fulfilled. We had some nice sales mostly to large/wide format printers who understand that the use of 3D printing is their future and enables them to add another dimension to their business and grow their services and business in the visual communication world.”

Mimaki, Mike Horsten, General Marketing Manager EMEA
“drupa always gathers visitors from all around the world and from all different segments of the printing industry. Our 295 sq. booth was a success and attracted a large audience during the 11 days of show! The drupa organization was as impeccable as ever, and it manages to keep up with the trends in an evolving industry. We had the chance to talk to our customers and discuss how Mimaki can support them with future opportunities. Our Design Book was a big hit, as it shows what kind of applications Mimaki customers have already developed in the past and it thanks our clients for their creativity. This portfolio also inspires people and shows the amazing results that emerge when we create together with our clients.”

QuadTech, Karl Fritchen, President
“drupa 2016 has been a fantastic show for QuadTech! We wanted to reach specific printing markets with the launch of four new products. There is no better place than drupa to connect with those markets, and take advantage of the bright spotlight. Not only was the quantity of show visitors very high for us, but also the quality. It seemed that almost all were customers or potential customers of our print technology. We experienced very high interest and extremely positive response to our ColorTrack, DeltaCam, Inspection System and MultiCam TRIM introductions. After investing heavily in new technology innovations, drupa gives us the opportunity to meet with our markets directly, and show them the fruits of our labor.”

Ricoh, John Blyth, Market Development Manager and Production Printing Business Group
“For us drupa 2016 has been all about enabling Ricoh to open new worlds of opportunity to new and potential clients alike. We have been delighted by the strong and steady flow of visitors on to our stand. There is nothing else like drupa for bringing decision makers in our industry, from all corners of the globe, together. Most notable of all for us has been the relative seniority and influence of so many of those we have been proud to host on our stand. They seem to have appreciated the warm open welcome and the way Ricoh has set out a clear narrative that covers the full, integrated breadth of services and solutions that we offer. In production printing and beyond. From multi-drop inkjet to additive manufacturing, end to end workflow to neon toner and lean and green consultanc. drupa 2016 has been eventful. - but overwhelmingly in a positive way and we are already looking forward to drupa 2020."

Scodix, Amit Shvartz, Vice President of Marketing
“Gaining over 100 new customers in 11 days, Scodix had an extremely successful drupa 2016. The largest exhibition for the printing sector provides a hugely popular forum and within this buzzing environment we saw sales doubling and doubling with each coming day. With an incredibly fruitful launch at the show in 2012, we saw our company grow from 12 to over 200 customers and drupa played a vital part in that accomplishment. We hoped for similar success in 2016 and the show has exceeded all expectation. Scodix’ vision to ‘enhance your competitive edge’ and drupa’s message of ‘touch the future’ went hand-in-hand for us at the show and we saw these synergies demonstrated by phenomenal business results.”

VDMA, Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the Printing and Paper Technology Association within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA)
“Not only our own VDMA stand got an enormous response, our member companies also gave us the feedback that the quality of conversations they had and the number of lead and new orders were extremely positive. Our manufacturers have made use of the lately difficult years to develop custom-fit solutions for the changed needs in the print industry. We have every reason to look to the future with optimism. Print is an industry with a future!”

Xeikon, Danny Mertens, Corporate Communications Manager
“drupa 2016 was a special edition for us, as it was our first major show since we were acquired by Flint Group. The booth, including a number of Xeikon technologies and Flint Group presence, made this collaboration visible for our visitors. With the theme “X marks the spot”, we wanted to mark our position in the market. We are pleased to say that once again, drupa 2016 has been a successful edition for us. We aimed to create an open and welcome atmosphere at our booth and this was more than visible by the amount of visitors on our stand every day. It gave us the opportunity to get in contact with partners, competitors, existing customers that we have known for years and new, future customers from all over the world. drupa is a unique experience, not only by its size but most of all by its diverse participants. Countdown for the next edition in 2020 has started!”

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Source: Messe Düsseldorf.