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Drent Goebel looks back at successful drupa

At drupa, Drent Goebel presented a VSOP 850 with UV and EB curing capabilities four times a day, showcasing the capability of the press to change over to a new order within ten minutes. The introduction of the VSOP at drupa 2004 already impressed printers of flexible packaging, folding carton, labels and commercial work. More than 90 machines were sold worldwide in the various web widths of 520, 850 and 1250mm.

Offering the Vision and Novaprint presses next to the VSOP presses in their product range, Drent Goebel received orders for a total of eight presses during the drupa 2008 show. GPS, a flexible packaging and label printer in Italy, being one of them. They bought their 5th and 6th Drent Goebel offset machine. GPS, once a typical flexo printer, successfully migrated from flexo to web offset.

Although the initial capital expenditure for an offset machine is heavier than for gravure or flexo, the costs of solvents, the VOC abatements and environmental issues will enforce the use of offset which is 100% solvent free. With the new food safety compliance for the VSOP press in all available energy curable processes, Drent Goebel is certain that variable offset will grow strongly over the next five years. ‘There seems to be a tendency among machine builders to introduce offset in their flexible packaging lines, the ‘me too effect’ is clearly visible’, says Rob Schellekens, Drent Goebels’ director of marketing & sales.

Drupa 2008 turned out to be even more successful for Drent Goebel than drupa 2004 was, with eight machines sold and a lot of solid leads gained. ‘So we can surely speak of the most successful drupa exhibition ever’, concludes Schellekens.