“Covid-19 has accelerated the move towards digital and local events,” says Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) in a statement. “Although there is no way of knowing what the impact of corona will be next year, Heidelberg has to make a decision now." Heidelberg said it would focus instead on new virtual trade fair concepts and regional events.
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| Smart Printshop: Heidelberg Print Media Center Commercial at its Wiesloch-Walldorf site |
The German press manufacturer says it has cancelled its participation in next year's global print expo due to "unforeseeable effects of Covid-19.”
In March, the drupa trade fair scheduled for 16-26 June 2020 was postponed to 20-30 April 2021, following a recommendation by the crisis management team of the German Federal Government.
Heidelberg’s shock move to cancel its usually imposing presence at the iconic industry event was revealed in a press release on the company’s website titled Customer communications to become "individual and digital."
“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. As a long-time partner to drupa, Heidelberg will be happy to continue to offer its experience when it comes to bringing future trade fair concepts into line with new digital possibilities and customer requirements.”
Heidelberg said it would now focus on new virtual trade fair concepts and regional events, including its “Innovation Week”, both digital and face to face, to take place in October.
“The trend towards ever shorter innovation cycles in the print media industry has accelerated very quickly. Data-based digital business models are emerging in very short time intervals and are constantly being modified to align with current specific customer requirements. Customers thus need to be informed about the latest trends quickly, flexibly and on an ongoing basis. This trend also affects customer communications at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg): The company will focus on offering more new, digital options to present products and innovations."
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| Heidelberg Print Media Center Packaging at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site |
The kick-off will be at the “Innovation Week” from 19 to 23 October 2020. Under the slogan “Unfold your potential”, Heidelberg will be presenting product innovations that focus on packaging and commercial, including autonomous printing, end-to-end solutions, Smart Print Shop and Push-to-Stop. The Innovation Week will take place via livestream as well as face-to-face at the Wiesloch / Walldorf location. "Heidelberg has already had positive experience of using digital channels in its presentation of the innovations that had been planned for this year’s drupa," it said.
“We will be investing more in new, virtual trade fair concepts to ensure closer and more individual customer communications as well as in regional events in our growth markets.
"This means we will be able to consistently align ourselves with our customers’ expectations”, says Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg. “The Innovation Week will now enable us to communicate with our customers as soon as possible and to present our innovation offensive.
"Face-to-face dialogue will continue to be the focus at the unique Print Media Centers in Wiesloch/Walldorf, Atlanta, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Tokyo, where we can engage with our customers specific needs directly on-site. At the centres, Heidelberg offers all of its customers and other interested parties market-specific access to product and solution demonstrations, a multitude of possibilities for direct communications with applications specialists as well as extensive training courses. The Print Media Centers have already become established locations for customers to experience live demonstrations and for validating investments. Heidelberg generally welcomes several thousand customers annually to its own demo spaces around the world."
8-drupa veteran Andy McCourt comments:
This is very sad news indeed as it will be the first time since Drupa's inception in 1951 that Heidelberg has not been present. In Australia, the past two PacPrints have been without Heidelberg and they have still gone ahead, so can drupa - Covid-19 permitting. This is the great unknown - as we have seen in Victoria, pandemics can flare up again in what the virologists call a 'biphasic' upsurge - second wave to you and me.
With Heidelberg joining Bobst and Xerox in pulling out of drupa, it's a little redolent of the penultimate Ipex in 2014 where one-by-one major exhibitors dropped out, the show still went ahead but could not recover from the move from Birmingham's NEC to London, so it moved back to Birmingham for 2017 but was cancelled forever soon after.
The next few months will be pivotal in the future of drupa, both from a Covid perspective and also the ability of international visitors to attend. Exhibitors are expected to pay deposits well in advance, with stage payments along the way - visitors used to book accommodation 4 years ahead at the end of a drupa cycle.
We're in the lap of the gods from here on... change is the only constant.
