"In five years' time, digital and offset will be so merged that they will be one," according to Heidelberg Australia MD Richard Timson, speaking at Tuesday night's LIA drupa roadshow event at the Mulgrave Country Club in Melbourne.
An inquisitive crowd of a couple of dozen local printers turned out to hear guest speakers bring up to date those who missed drupa 2016 on where the market is headed and what's on offer - with a focus on digital or hybrid solutions.
The line-up included Currie Group's Phillip Rennell, Henryk Kraszewski from Ricoh Production Print Solutions, Richard Timson of Heidelberg Australia and Print21 magazine editor Andy McCourt, who presented a general drupa overview including snippets from an exclusive Landa Nanography video update.
"It was a good night as [LIA federal president] Luke Wooldridge and the LIA start the re-invigoration of the LIA Vic arm with the capable commitment of local Garry Muratore," says McCourt.
"Garry Muratore did the intro about his many past drupa experiences then Henryk from Ricoh made a great presentation and brought samples printed on the new Ricoh V6000 high definition digital web machine. He said: 'We have expanded from transactional and direct mail into mainstream graphic arts with digital web.'
"Phil Rennell delivered a very comprehensive wrap not just on Currie's lines but HP in general and he honed in on the new Indigo B1 digital.
"Lastly, Richard Timson of Heidelberg presented a very good session with lots of general market data and the fact that Heidelberg took over 500 million euro in orders at drupa. He explained drupa 2008 came right before the GFC and many orders were cancelled; drupa 2012 was at a time of massive industry consolidation, so presses from acquired printers moved over to the buyer, but drupa 2016 was a watershed, at the right time. He also noted the passing of 1,000 Primefire digital (Ricoh OEM) installations right after drupa, so Heidelberg is firmly in the digital space.
"PS - a great quote from Richard Timson: “In 5 years’ time, digital and offset will be so merged that they will be one" He used the Amazon tributary rivers as the metaphor. They flow alongside each other for miles before becoming the greatest river in the world. Digital will definitely become mainstream."