Newspaper printers at DRUPA appear caught in a bind: the 'n-word' isn't mainstream - to say the least - yet many specialist exhibitors here will apparently give the WAN-Ifra World Publishing Expo a miss.
Press giants KBA and Goss, mailroom vendors Ferag and Müller Martini, and press controls specialists QIPC/EAE and QuadTech are among those here in Düsseldorf, but not expected to exhibit in Vienna. And in future years, the situation may be perpetuated with DRUPA's shorter three-year cycle unless a different format emerges.
The reason of course, is that in many countries of the world - India is a shining exception - printed newspapers are in decline, and manufacturers see packaging production as an attractive alternative market in which to diversify.
And packaging, along with wideformat and other digital printing forms - and the two frequently coincide - is huge in the aisles at DRUPA and a recurring theme at the press conferences I attended.
For a company like KBA, once best-known for its newspaper and commercial web-presses, packaging is an easy fit. It is already a market leader in folding carton printing with its giant Rapida sheetfed presses. To that it is currently adding the Iberica flatbed diecutting technology, which it is buying from flexo/gravure press maker Cerutti.
KBA has already acquired Italian flexo press maker Flexotecnica, and Kamman, which uses screen and offset technologies to print on awkward substrates such as glass bottles.
Because while print is dwindling as a newsmedia technology, it is growing apace in packaging.
And as KBA - newly restructured and consolidated - continues to grow, print for media has shrunk to ten per cent of its business... and that's with a clutch of recent newspaper press orders, mostly from domestic publishers. Others "we could have won if we had wanted," chief executive Christophe Müller says. "But business without profit doesn't make sense in the long run."
KBA is also increasing its commitment to digital printing, adding a partnership with Xerox to create a new hybrid sheetfed press to that it already has with HP on an ultrawide version of its RotaJet for packaging preprint.
Goss, too, has moved to diversify and protect itself from the effects of the shrinking newspaper market, recently adding a deal with flexibles press maker Thallo - for which it had a Russian order to announce - to an offset-focussed offering which already includes the V-Pak packaging press.
A logical partnership for Goss has been with Presstek, since both are owned by American Investment Partners, and at DRUPA the two announced collaboration on prepress and plate products. Other announcements - such as a new embedded colour bar control and Contiweb fluid applicator technology - crossed segment boundaries.
Register and colour control specialist QI Press Controls maintained its commitment to newspapers at the show, but also has a new inspection system to take into the digital print and packaging segments. Rival QuadTech had updated its own inspection system for packaging and converting, based on its Icon platform, but had a new simplified colour register system for smaller single-width newspaper applications - the LED-based Register Guidance with MultiCam Trim - which will pitch into key country markets such as India.
The influence of digital was everywhere to be seen at mainstream newspaper mailroom vendors Ferag and Müller Martini, while they stick with newsmedia on their diversification journey.
Ferag has a lot more than the newsmedia industry in its sights with the One2Out insert-in-insert processing system it showed, a modular concept which can package personalized mailings for home delivery creating an opportunity for publishers to move ahead of potential competitors such as mailing houses and major retailers.
Familiar to publishers was the form of the EasySert inserting technology, teamed with new modules and the company's Navigator control system for a focus on selective inserting at its standard 30,000 cph.
At Müller Martini, almost every element had been tailored to provide for growing personalization needs, change quickly from job to job - sometimes taking half a second for a switch which may previously have taken several minutes - and combine offset and digital production. Again opportunities are created for news publishers which will otherwise be taken up by competitors: "The good days will not come back, so we have adjusted," says managing director Bruno Müller.
In the same vein, manroland is a company which has "adjusted", a euphemism which barely describes the reorgansation of the company which has seen this and the sheetfed business separated following an insolvency. Web chief executive Jörn Gossé - who is about to leave to spend more time with his family after a three-year stint driving rightsizing measures and restoring customer confidence - has much to be proud of, reporting profitability and increased market share. Factory capacity is now booked to mid next year, and will probably be committed to 2018 before the show closes.
Here a major contributor has been manroland's new high-speed digital finishing systems, unique in their ability to keep pace with today's 300 metres/minute inkjet webs and beyond; 20 of the FormerLine and FolderLine systems have been sold.
As for newspaper presses, while the company's best systems run at 110,000 cph, a new 90,000 cph Geoman e:line is a pragmatic answer to the needs of a newsmedia industry with less (or no) money to spend on print. At about 20 per cent lower capital cost, it looks a very direct pitch for the upcoming News Corp Melbourne project, where a decision on vendor is apparently still to be taken.
Alexander Wasserman, who came in as "second managing director" earlier this year, takes charge of a web-focussed business in good shape because it has responded to the realities of the industry.
So it is around the aisles. The companies I have mentioned are a fraction of those represented in Düsseldorf, but a large proportion of the newspaper industry's majors. DRUPA 2016 is in no way a newspaper show; the pity is that the more-focussed World Publishing Expo in October will be diminished - and for that matter, more digital publishing-orientated - as a result of it.
Pictured: manroland web's FoldLine digital finishing systems have opened a new avenue for the company
On our homepage: Diversifying: WRH Global head - and former Ferag Australia chief - Thomas Klumpp and Ferag chief executive Jürg Möckli