drupa is the world’s largest printing show, meeting every four years at Messe Dusseldorf in Germany. This year’s edition will run through June 10, and recent technologies such as digital printing are headlining the show, which will likely be visited by more than 250,000 attendees covering the 1.8 million square feet of exhibit space.

For the printed electronics industry, drupa 2016 is an opportunity to build on the industry’s gains while also showcasing the capabilities of the technology. Many leaders in the field were on hand at drupa this year to display their products and services.

In terms of actual printed products, Xerox introduced its Xerox Printed Memory, which adds low-cost intelligence to objects or packaging through thin circuits printed on a label. Xerox is working with Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm) on this project.
    
Equipment manufacturers showcased their systems during drupa. NovaCentrix’s stand featured a wide range of equipment, including the company’s PulseForge Photonic Curing systems.  
    
“This is the first drupa that we have brought our portfolio of tools, including our PulseForge 1200 roll-to-roll configuration with flexo printing, as well as the multi-head 3-D fabrication tool we designed in collaboration with nScrpt,” noted Elise Alkhafaji, marketing specialist for NovaCentrix.

Thomas Kolbusch, VP, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, discussed Coatema’s equipment offerings as well as the joint venture with Temicon.

“We are showing new developments here at drupa,” Kolbusch said. “We have improved our systems by working with Offcode on registration and added flash light curing with Heraeus.

“Temicoat is a joint brand between Coatema and Temicon,” Kolbusch added. “Temicon specializes in polymer sleeves for nanoimprinting, and we are specialists in equipment. The polymeric sleeves can be processed seamlessly. We can now supply customers with turnkey systems. There is a lot of interest from the medical, photovoltaic and lighting industries.”

Nicolas Bernardin, deputy managing director for CERADROP, a MGI Company highlighted CERADROP’s X-Serie inkjet printer as well as the ways that CERADROP and MGI are collaborating.

“We are showing how we can bring together all of the MGI building blocks for our customers,” Bernardin said. “For example, we are highlighting solutions where we print the package on one side and a chipless antenna on the inside. We are showing the printing community the future of printing.”

Martin Doherty, sales director, digital printing for Adphos, said that his company is expanding in printed electronics.

“We have a technology to not only drive off the liquid phase of ink but also to sinter it,” Doherty said. “We are showing all of our capabilities here at drupa, including our modules, which come in different sizes ranging from R&D to industrial.”

In addition, the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association), a working group within VDMA, presented two sessions at drupa 2016, in order to showcase the capabilities of printed electronics.  The first session, held June 2, covered Printed Electronics & Smart Packaging. Prof. Reinhard Baumann of Fraunhofer ENAS served as the moderator of the session, which featured the following talks:
• “Packaging of the Future: How to Enthuse Consumers by Multi-sensual and Smart Packaging” – Martin Glatz, Karl Knauer.
• “Printed Electronics Enables Interactive Packaging for Internet of Everything” – Wolfgang Mildner, MSWtech.
• “Printed Flexible OLED Displays for Low Cost Applications” – Dr. Jeremy Burroughes, CDT.
• “Ready for the Packaging Market: Printed, Reliable and Wireless Identification of Versatile Products” – Dr. Ralf Zichner, Fraunhofer ENAS.
• “Printed and Hybrid Electronics as Enabler of Digitalization in Packaging” – Antti Kemppainen, VTT.

Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, Stephan Kirchmeyer Pioneering Work, moderated the second session, covering Printed Electronics – Technologies & Applications. The presentations included:
• “A New Energy Storage Technology for Internet of Things” – Dr. Michael Korell, Evonik Creavis.
• “Process Technologies for Printed Electronics: An Overview of the Latest Trends and Developments” – Dr. Martin Busch, Coatema.
• “Opportunities and Challenges of Inkjet Expansion” – Dr. Edward Holland, Fujifilm Dimatix.
• “Advanced Conductive Inks and Photonic Curing: Enabling Functional Labels and Packaging on Paper and Plastic Films” – Dr. Kurt Schroder, NovaCentrix.
• “Challenging Developments for Advanced R2R Printing Application for Organic Electronics” – Andrea Glawe, Kroenert.
• “Printed Electronic Applications: From Concept to Pilot Production” – Milan Saalmink, Holst Centre.