Out of an abundance of caution for employees, customers, prospects and partners, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has canceled its planned exhibit at the drupa 2021 tradeshow taking place in Dusseldorf, Germany, next April. “Our company has a long, positive history with drupa, as do I personally, having also run two companies that have been major drupa exhibitors in the past,” said Jeff Jacobson, chairman and CEO, EFI™. “The show has always represented some of the best of what can be accomplished at an in-person event for the global print industry. “But, with the limited amount of knowledge anyone can have right now about what conditions will be for public gatherings early next year, withdrawing from drupa 2021 is an unfortunate albeit prudent decision,” Jacobson added.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has set up a dedicated business unit for the industrial development, manufacture, and sale of printed and organic electronics. The company has also started production at its Wiesloch-Walldorf site, investing some five million euros in a complete production line for printed sensors. Sensors developed at InnovationLab (iL) in Heidelberg for use in dental technology are set to be printed first. These innovative printed sensors make it possible, for the first time ever, to digitally record the distribution of masticatory pressure during occlusion, that is to say when the upper and lower jaws come together. 3D visualization on a tablet and data archiving enable malocclusions to be identified and subsequently corrected. Looking further ahead, Heidelberg is to use state-of-the-art printing technology at its high-tech campus to produce sensors for other digital applications – in particular in healthcare and logistics, and also in the retail and automotive sectors.

Despite all that 2020 heaped on the printing sector, the book manufacturing segment is going strong, driven by an isolated public renewing its connection to reading and, perhaps, by the multitudes of home-bound media experts frantically stocking their “credibility bookcases.” Book manufacturers are managing new ways of serving publishers and the broader market, and embracing new technology where it is advantageous. The segment underwent a drastic shift during 2020, particularly with the divestiture of Quad/Graphics’ book plants from the segment, and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of LSC Communications. These two developments effectively changed the playing field for U.S.-based book manufacturers, and left numerous book publishers scrambling for available capacity. This article features the insight of four book manufacturing professionals, to provide a better sense of the segment as it is today, and the factors driving opportunity and success. more at: https://www.piworld.com/article/book-manufacturing-outlook-balancing-demand-capacity/#ne=a0dae8603d00a659dbe7da5388ef196c&utm_source=today-on-piworld&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2021-01-12