Sabine Geldermann, director of drupa, has been an active force in the trade shows organized by Messe Dusseldorf. We caught up with her at the recently concluded All in Print China show in Shanghai.
Sabine Geldermann says, “I think All in Print 2016 has highlighted the same topics and areas which drupa 2016 has focussed on—inkjet applications, digital applications, packaging production and, of course, new materials along with industrial applications and functional applications. Even 3D printing, which is a new form of printing, was a highlight at the show, and we organized a special conference on 3D printing during the exhibition to attend to the growing interest on this topic. The show tried to put in perspective the future course of printing and helped the printing fraternity chart their growth in times to come. Of course, All in Print is a platform to showcase new technology and applications to the industry and this year it has been no different.”
All in Print 2016 coincided with drupa this year, which is generally not very good news either for exhibitors or the organizers. Some big names in China such as Canon and Heidelberg were missing from the show’s exhibitor list apparently because their entire exhibition budgets were already utilized at drupa 2016 in Dusseldorf. “Even so, more than 700 exhibitors over an area of 80,000 sq. m participated in the show,” she says.
Although the majority of visitors were expected from China itself, Sabine emphasized that All in Print has always received visitor interest from across the region including South-East Asia, the Far East and countries like India including active participation from Europe and other Western countries and this year it has been no exception. “We have seen a lot of Indian people as well as people from Europe and the Far East in this exhibition. A lot of decisionmakers are here and we expect much business to be generated from the exhibition.”
Print will have a significant position in our lives in terms of communication and trustful content in the future, believes Sabine. “There is certainly some kind of anxiety related with the future of printing. However, print is going to stay in our lives. People still believe in print and this is apparent in a show like All in Print where you can see the demand for good printing. May be the form changes, but print buyers and users are not going to reduce in the imminent future. Print has always been a reliable form of information and people believe in print because it can be trusted upon compared to any information on the internet which you never know is authentic or not.”
With drupa now reverting back to a four-year cycle, Sabine considers it to benefit the exhibitors and meet their needs. She says, “Big exhibitors such as HP, Canon, KBA or Bobst want to maintain the size of their exhibition spaces and wish to come back with the same sort of zeal and enthusiasm with an updated fleet in terms of technology being offered as well as efficiency. These sort of things require a certain amount of preparation time and we respect our exhibitors’ wishes. We want to maintain the spirit and level of the show and would like to ensure the success of the show.”
