drupa at ESMA's InkJet Conference 2016

During drupa 2016 inkjet printing was on the top of everyone’s list, even in the commercial printing and packaging industry. Although it was already the third in succession to be called the “inkjet drupa”, inkjet printing was among the key conventional printing processes for the first time. The organization WhatTheyThink gives more detailed insights into the development of inkjet printing at drupa within the last 8 years.

But drupa was not the only obligatory date for the inkjet industry in 2016: In October drupa had the honor to support The Inkjet Conference 2016 (TheIJC) organized by the European Screen Printing Association (ESMA). drupa is more than happy to see the success of the the event: 400 international attendees came to Swissôtel Düsseldorf for TheIJC. The participants took the opportunity for professional exchange at 66 tabletops in the TheIJC’s networking area and listened to 52 keynotes.

drupa as InkJet Conference’s Enabling Partner

drupa director Sabine Geldermann opened the session tracks with a keynote on drupa 2016 and post show industry and technology trends. “drupa has supported TheIJC since its inauguration in 2014 and since then we observe how the core technology and knowhow presented at the conference evolves into world leading digital presses displayed at drupa,” summarizes Steve Knight, co-founder of TheIJC.

ESMA’s CEO Peter Buttiens underlines drupa’s role as TheIJC’s enabling partner: “Just as the significance of inkjet grows for the world’s biggest printing fair, the cooperation between TheIJC and drupa thrives. Once again, drupa supported the conference as the enabling partner and with that support TheIJC has established its strong position in the tight agenda of so many printing events.”

Networking with drupa Exhibitors at the InkJet Conference

“The technological approach of the conference is an excellent breeding ground for networking, new ideas and projects. While drupa 2016 welcomed all who wanted to ‘touch the future’, those present at TheIJC are those who build the future”, states Steve Knight. In fact, many drupa exhibitors came to TheIJC such as delegates from Ricoh or Caldera.

So, true to the motto of drupa 2020 “stay connected”, the conference was once again an ideal opportunity to network with industry experts from different market sectors in what has become a rapidly growing billion euro business.

Forecasting the Future of Inkjet Printing at InkJet Conference

Additionally, “[t]he unique blend of ESMA past experiences in industrial printing applications enabled by screen techniques has built a solid foundation for a conference at which we learn about inkjet entering new industrial segments,” explains Peter Buttiens. And this is exactly what TheIJC did. Here is a short overview of some panels:

Smithers Pira’s Print Technologist Sean Smyth gave a session on “Inkjet Market Developments in Print and Packaging”, in which he focused on drupa 2016. But he even went beyond by providing an outlook on how inkjet is about to shape the future of print and printed packaging with better quality, productivity and economics.

Fujifilm, which registered this year its largest drupa presence to date, sent three speakers to TheIJC. European Sales manager Shane O’Neill talked about “Providing the Durable and Robust SiMEMS Products”, Integration Manager Dr Barry McGregor presented the “The MEMS Rethink” and Global Technical Promotions Manager Dr. Hamid M. Shirazi described “What Makes a Successful Aqueous Ink”.

Wearing the limited, inkjet printed Agfa sneaker from this year’s drupa Business Development Manager Dr. Marc Graindourze explained how to use “Inkjet inks for industrial applications”. During his presentation he demonstrated the benefits of UV curable inks for certain inkjet printing processes.

Kodak’s Director Partner Business Development Dan Denofsky introduced the 4th generation of their “ULTRASTREAM technology”, which features a higher resolution, a smaller drop size, expanded substrate range and lower production and capital costs.

Kenji Mawatari, Mechanical Engineer at Konica Minolta, informed about the “Newly developed UV-curable inkjet technology” that his employer developed for its digital inkjet press Accurio Jet KM-1 in order to realize high-speed and high quality recording process in the system.

On the basis of real life examples Product Manager Digital UV Inks Roland Visotschnig showed how they developed a “Holistic Approach for Industrial Projects” at Marabu in order to face all possible parameter and effect interdependencies.

The Future of Inkjet Printing in the Upcoming Years and at drupa 2020

All in all, TheIJC showed that inkjet printing is an important future technology that drupa has to bear in mind for 2020. In particular, there were two concepts emerging during the event: water-based and UV curable inks. If you are further interested in these topics have a look here or here.

Save the date: The Inkjet Conference will return on 24-25 October 2017.