Oh for a time machine. If it were possible to travel forward in time to the next drupa, in 2012, I wonder what we would find?

The future is a closed book, but what's written large in the latest results from Heidelberg is that life will never be the same again for our press manufacturers.

The wounds inflicted during this extraordinary period of economic malaise are going to take a long time to heal. The Asia Pacific market provides a glimmer of hope for big H, comparatively, but it's significant that Heidelberg is now saying that it doesn't expect any real improvement in sales overall right through to the end of its financial year in March 2010. That brings us right up to the cusp of Ipex, of course, and the show's owner IIR must be reading such runes with close attention.

We've already come close to one mega-merger among the press makers, and there have been shifts in ownership structure and sales channels at others. It seems highly unlikely that such moves will be put on the back burner forever, and the next 12 months or so will surely be significant when it comes to the shape of our printing press suppliers of the future.