With some major exhibitors – including Heidelberg and Xerox – withdrawing from drupa 2021, there is a rethinking in the printing and ink industries. There may be further aftershocks coming.

Some quick background on drupa: Every four years, the drupa trade show, held in the entire Messe Dusseldorf complex, is the go-to show for the printing industry. Hundreds of thousands of attendees come through the 19 halls of drupa during its 11-day run, to see the latest in presses, inks and more. More than 260,000 people attended drupa 2016.

Drupa was originally scheduled to run in June 2020, but concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic correctly forced the postponement of the show to April 20-30, 2021. In retrospect, the show would have been impossible to hold, as government and company travel bans are limiting the ability to go to trade shows.

The move to 2021 makes sense, as the hope that the COVID-19 virus is contained and/or an effective vaccine is found and distributed gives the idea that daily lives can go back to normal. No doubt there will be health guidelines and procedures in place.

However, what is the state of normal, or the “new normal,” that we live in?

Large-scale trade shows have been in decline in recent years. Even drupa itself has come down from 15 days. Also, companies have suffered financially from the economic downturn.

This brings us to the news that some major printing equipment manufacturers are stepping away from next year’s drupa. In May 2020, Xerox (a sizable presence in Hall 8b) and Bobst (in Hall 11) announced their departures. Here is Xerox’s statement:

“The drupa 2020 Trade Fair was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a new event scheduled for next April. Given continued uncertainty around holding large events during a pandemic and our own schedule for product introductions, Xerox has decided not to participate in the drupa 2021 Trade Fair.”

And Bobst issued this statement on May 26, 2020:

“We have started to virtualize the customer experience with live streaming demonstrations – across all equipment in our existing Competence Centers, providing an engaging customer experience with less traveling constraints.

“Bobst is reducing its presence at industry tradeshows and thereby dramatically reducing the environmental impact. As a result, we have decided not to attend drupa and other industry tradeshows in 2021, while maintaining limited participation in Asia.”

Heidelberg, long a staple of Hall 1, issued this statement on July 8:

“COVID-19 has accelerated the move towards digital and local events. Although there is no way of knowing what the impact of corona will be next year, Heidelberg has to make a decision now. So the company has decided to not participate in international trade fairs next year and will thus not be taking part in drupa.

“In 2021, drupa will be a very different event – global travel restrictions and hygiene regulations mean significantly fewer visitors and constraints on communication. Traditional international trade fairs with busy booths and halls will very probably be difficult to implement and will likely lose their status as global meet-up events for customers and manufacturers.”

In a very interesting interview in Print Week, Heidelberg CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer offered these thoughts, adding that the company spent more than €10 million on drupa 2016:

“We all love Drupa. it used to be a festival but this is not going to happen next year with distance and masks. Our customers say they will most likely not come, and what sense does a festival make if the guests are not coming?… I can do probably 50 in-house shows for the same money.”

On July 14, 2020, Manroland Sheetfed GmbH (Hall 14) withdrew as well, with this statement:

“Exhibiting at drupa, or any other trade fair for that matter, makes absolutely no sense during the current COVID-19 pandemic. ….it is regrettable, as we would have been exhibiting with live demonstrations of both our recently launched ROLAND 900 Evolution press and the new ROLAND 700 Evolution Elite, but unfortunately, it is just not practicable in the current circumstances. Instead, we will be holding a series of live webinars in the fall,” group managing director Rafael Peñuela-Torres said.

And on July 15, 2020, Komori announced it too was withdrawing:

“Komori today announced its decision to cancel its participation in the drupa 2021 exhibition planned for April of 2021 due to ongoing concerns over the novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19). The decision to suspend attending the exhibit is made in response to the continued spread of COVID-19 and the potential risks of a second or third surge of the pandemic. Komori puts the highest priority on ensuring the health and safety of its global customers and employees.

“While these unpredictable circumstances prevent Komori from participating in drupa 2021, its plan is to launch an array of new products and services in the days to come through open house events and active participations in regional exhibitions.”
 
This leads to some questions, beginning with ink industry participants. I reached out to a few ink industry leaders to gauge their thoughts. An INX International Ink spokesperson said that while INX is still planning to exhibit as of press time, no final determination has been made. Flint Group/Xeikon is still planning to exhibit.

The other questions spring up from Hundsdörfer’s comments to Print Week. If he has heard that customers aren’t going to be traveling to drupa, that is a huge concern. And the cost of a major trade fair, including hotels and meals, shipping, booth set-up, transportation and more, can pile up quickly.

Now, there is a lot of time between now and drupa 2021, and exhibitors do drop out of shows or scale down booths. My first drupa was in 2000, and Heidelberg had Halls 1 and 2. I don’t recall if HP had a presence. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact in all facets of our daily lives, and this bears watching for the foreseeable future.