MicroDynamics Thoughts on Drupa 2024

Brent Zurcher, Director of Operations, and Larry Ridgeway, President/CEO, attended Drupa 2024 as a co-exhibitor with Apex International. In this blog, Brent discusses his experience at Drupa 2024 and the ideas and technologies presented.

Drupa 2024: A City of Innovation

This was my first time at a Drupa exhibition and, I believe, the first time anyone from MicroDynamics has attended. My initial thoughts were ‘WOW!’ The sheer size of the show is mind boggling, yet it’s still a ‘small world’ in print. It’s an industry paradox that was exciting to see. Though many new faces stopped by, it was amazing to get to shake hands and meet face-to-face with connections we’ve had for years. The atmosphere was energizing, and the conversations and ideas shared were immeasurable. Drupa was the first international tradeshow we’ve attended in over eight years and it won’t be our last.

Veritas & MicroScan at Drupa 2024

We got to demonstrate the Veritas and MicroScan systems at the Apex International booth. It was exciting confirmation of the need for the Veritas as we saw visitors’ eyes light up again and again watching the demos. There were three main reasons we developed the new inspection system: accuracy, speed and ease of use. Being able to showcase these features, live at Drupa, captured people’s attention for sure. By using the Apex calibration plate and measuring with different Veritas microscopes, we were able to demonstrate the device-to-device consistency and really show people it can provide accurate measurements, right out of the box!

The industry has made a lot of progress in that most printers now understand why measuring aniloxes in-house is necessary for quality printing. But most technology doesn’t have the accuracy or intuitive features to capture, measure and analyze anilox data effectively. As visitors watched the demos, it was satisfying to show the decision-making and operation features they asked for, already incorporated into the software. Features like automatic tagging, analyzing change over time and other simplified, practical features really captured their attention and showed this full inspection system is built for their needs.

Though the 3DQC Classic has had recognition in the industry over the last decade for its accuracy and reliability, it was exciting to show the new Veritas system has all the information and work flow you need as a printer, in a simple and straightforward format that visitors understood quickly. Overall, showcasing the Veritas and MicroScan system at Drupa gave us confirmation from printers that this is what they have been looking for.

Partnerships at Drupa 2024

While MicroDynamics didn’t have its own booth at Drupa, we were fortunate to partner with Apex and showcase their rolls and calibration plate using the Veritas and MicroScan system. With their large booth and presence at Drupa, Apex had a multitude of global customers stop by and see the power of anilox quality control. It was a great match. Our systems allowed their team to offer an interactive experience for visitors and show the integrity of Apex anilox cells and construction. With the simple, intuitive interface, we trained their team the first day and they were able to give demos throughout the whole exhibition.

Apex has been a phenomenal partner from day one, providing feedback and testing of our new systems along with spreading the word of Veritas and the need for standardization in anilox quality control. They truly want to set their customers up for success and always go the extra mile to make that possible.

Ideas & Innovation of Drupa 2024

I think the most eye-opening thing for us was the exchange of ideas at Drupa 2024. There were multiple new press technologies dominating the spotlight and the biggest theme across all was automation and efficiency. We spoke with so many people and the recurring topics discussed were efficiency, automation, intuitive technology and simplicity. Today, these things are less of a luxury and more of a requirement in the market. We discussed, for Flexo to be competitive printers are required to be efficient and need processes, standardization and data to do that properly. Anilox quality control has been a big gap for many, holding them back from true automation.

“It’s crazy how printers invest in presses with end-to-end automation, then have operators guessing and swapping anilox rolls for color correction, completely destroying efficiency and productivity. To make such a great investment in automation and not invest in an anilox quality program just doesn’t make sense. It was affirming to see visitors discuss it time and time again. All of the inputs into an automated press must be controlled in order for automation to work to full potential, and aniloxes are among the most critical of these variables. We’re excited to see more printers take control of their anilox inventory with the Veritas system and to see these new presses really show what they can do.”