Last Odds and Ends From drupa
* One of the concerns about inkjet production printing is the durability of the printing heads. Maybe that’s why every vendor of said equipment was certain to mention their machine’s robust heads. For some reason that made me think of sturdy plumbing in a Navy bathroom.
* You can’t really say some vendors were green-washing their offerings, but some did go out of their way to slap a green tag on everything but the kitchen sink. Our industry is based on putting marks on paper, so the real green is energy efficiency, sustainability, and recycling. The latter might put inkjet at a disadvantage since some substrates can’t be recycled and inkjet ink is more difficult to deal with than other inks—at least for now.
* In the attempt to attract the attention of attendees, some vendors blasted loud music and broadcast loud demos. Couple that with the noise of the various machines, and in some halls, talking to someone was like trying to hold a conversation during a Led Zeppelin concert.
* The biggest non-news news item came on the first day of the show when the front page headline of the show daily breathlessly announced that MAN Roland had changed its name to manroland. I was so overcome with emotion that I went to the beer tent to recover.
* I have to wonder how many pounds of printed materials wound up being left behind in hotel rooms by departing trade journalists. Sure, we work in an industry that prints stuff, but those memory sticks certainly are more convenient for travel than any nice, embossed, pocket folder full of press releases.
Bob, Selling and supporting sheet fed printing has been my only career. But, truthfully, I look for ways to avoid anything “paper”. It’s a much more efficient, organized world without it. I’ve noticed when trends get to me here in Alabama, it’s already affected the world. Much of printing/copying today is habit only, I’m afraid.