For those visiting Drupa this year to evaluate what’s new in the field of digital print and workflow automation, the range of products on the market, and therefore the possibility for confusion, has never been greater.

The year is only three months old, but already Ricoh has announced the launch of its C900Pro, a 90ppm digital press, Canon has added the ImagePress C6000 and C6000VP to to its existing range and Konica Minolta has introduced a 250ppm black-and-white print engine, the Bizhub Pro 2500P. And although HP Indigo and Xerox have yet to launch new kit this year, announcements are expected very soon.

Also at Drupa, for the first time, Kodak will be driving its digital NexPress range and Versamark products with its own Creo Colour servers, thus offering workflow servers for the NexPress, iGen3 and HP Indigo presses.

In many cases, the same products are available from a number of different commercial partnerships, something that is becoming more common, particularly with web-to-print and variable-data products. Canon, Konica Minolta and Ricoh, as well as EFI, for example, all sell EFI’s web-to-print product, Digital StoreFront. Similarly, Konica Minolta, Océ, Xerox and Transeo Media all sell Press-Sense iWay and, in the UK at least, look set to be joined by Presstek and HP Indigo.

And there are more such partnerships in the offing. Screen, for example, will be focusing on digital products, such as the Truepress Jet520 driven by its own workflow Trueflow, but will also be driving some of Canon’s ImagePress range, and maybe even selling them.

Fujifilm will also be putting more emphasis on digital and will certainly be driving a number of Xerox DocuColor presses with its Adobe Print Engine-based workflow, XMF.

The partnership between Océ and Konica Minolta is growing. Not only will there be Konica Minolta engines on the Océ stand, but probably Océ print engines on Konica Minolta’s stand. It is also likely that Konica Minolta will be using some of Océ Prisma’s workflow products.

Unfortunately, equipment and software suppliers have a habit of focusing on the intricacies of the technology at the expense of explaining the potential return on investment. So when evaluating new products, and particularly workflow products, make sure the supplier explains exactly what the benefits are to you the commercial printer or service provider, and how these products can help generate new business.

The wide range of products and supplier partnerships at Drupa will require careful study in order to identify what products will best help you automate your digital print workflow. The suppliers will tell you in technical terms, but you have to know in advance what you and your customers need.

Chris Jordan is an independent business consultant working in graphic communications. Email: jordanjordan@clara.co.uk