At the time of publishing this first part of our two-part interview today (16 May), Drupa was expecting 1,637 exhibitors at Messe Düsseldorf from 28 May to 7 June, appearing under the tagline ‘we create the future’.

Geldermann said exhibitors hailed from 50 different nations and that visitors were also expected to attend from all corners of the globe. She added several of the show’s largest exhibitors began the build-up of their stands and the deliveries of their kit to the Messe at the end of April.

Richard Stuart-Turner: How is everything going and how are preparations going for the show?
Sabine Geldermann: From what we understand, given the continuous dialogues with customers [exhibitors] and their technical requirements about workflows, machinery, and so on, I think the worldwide audience and participants can expect another amazing and certainly highly relevant event, showcasing highlights and underlining the creativity and power of innovation of a lot of our customers.

They are showcasing 11 days of outstanding innovations and expecting return on investment. At the end of the day, that’s what counts. So we are trying to offer the best business circumstances and the best business environment in order to enable investments and sales activities to generate new leads, and to take care of existing customers.

I think they all need a dedicated point to showcase their innovations. Many of our exhibitors have come up on a shorter cycle with some innovations, but the really big, let’s say groundbreaking innovations, are obviously reserved for or are a focus for Drupa.

It’s an opportunity to really share technology and highlight innovations with the audience. Drupa is going to again be a very important focal point for the industry, a landmark event where not only exhibitors, but I think the whole industry will have a unique opportunity to underline again the relevance of our industry on a global scale. Everybody is talking about what the future of the printing industry is going to be.

At the pre-Drupa press conference [in March] everybody was talking about packaging production entirely alongside the entire value chain; corrugated, folding carton, labels, and flexible packaging.

And I think that you will discover many more applications and solutions from a visitor perspective than you would have seen at 2020 [the previous in-person event was cancelled due to the pandemic].

So there’s certainly a big shift towards industrial print, functional print, and major applications given by the opportunities that inkjet and digital technologies deliver when it comes to printing on every single material you can imagine. I think that’s the beauty of our industry, that Drupa will reflect the evolution of print in a very positive way.

You touched on the situation with the pandemic, and when we all had to go virtual for some time. Obviously, you held the virtual Drupa in 2021 but you've now returned to in-person events like most people. Is there anything you would say that you learned from that virtual event that you fed into this physical event?
Yes, absolutely. I think we have all learned a lot. We have increased our digital competencies in many ways, given the four-day Virtual.Drupa conference. And I think, again, virtual opportunities or events can be a very positive synergy effect. However, what is reflected by our customers – speaking not only for Drupa, but for our overall portfolio and different industry segments – is that as long as we can organise face-to-face and on-site meetings again, exhibitors and even visitors would rather concentrate purely on face-to-face meetings and on haptic experiences, especially when it comes to making investment in capital goods like machinery.

On the other side, we still can offer our exhibitors any kind of digital formats but our exhibitors prefer to concentrate on live performances and networking with customers on a personal level.

Moving on to the economy and the supply chain issues that we’ve seen, has it been any more difficult to fill the halls this year compared to previous editions? And how much preparation have exhibitors had to go through to make sure they’ve got everything on site in time? Have they had to do any early shipping and is it any different to usual?
Yes, I think so. Because we are reflecting the whole global market and, needless to mention, there has been consolidation in our industry as well. When you look at figures from associations for Germany, we have unfortunately seen a decline in the numbers of print service providers. So there has been a continuous change, not only due to the pandemic, but it already started 10 years ago.

It's not only the print service side that has seen that consolidation but there are also suppliers that have changed their portfolios entirely, or that stepped out of the market, and we have seen mergers and acquisitions. So I think it's a continuous transformation and change.

[It has been a] challenging economic situation and difficult geopolitical circumstances, if we’re talking about the effects of the pandemic, increasing prices, inflation rates, interest rates and so on. And, given the Houthi attacks, shipping routes from Asia to Europe are getting a very dangerous bottleneck and that has increased shipping route timings by roughly a week to 10 days, which suddenly creates very big challenges for our customers. We have a huge number of very important Japanese customers who bring equipment via shipping routes, and it’s not only the Japanese but also the Indians – the number of Indian exhibitors nearly doubled.

These areas that mainly use these world trade routes have seen huge challenges, not only given the enlargement in terms of time, but costs as well. And so we had discussions with our customers that started earlier to make sure that their equipment is going to be here on time. Certainly our customers have been challenged to plan accordingly, and to make sure that their equipment will arrive in Düsseldorf [in time for] when the show starts.

How long is the breakdown period after the show?
It takes approximately two weeks after the show – dismantling goes much quicker than construction. And shortly after Drupa we have some of the first games of the [UEFA Euro 2024] European championship in the football arena next to our fairground, and so Düsseldorf will transform into a big football event. [The first game of five scheduled to be held in Düsseldorf, Austria v France, will take place on 17 June – 10 days after Drupa concludes.]

Are you pleased with the exhibitor numbers?
I think it’s a very promising and positive result, as we have seen all the challenges and consolidation in our industry. So we are a little bit lower in comparison to the reference show in 2016. But, again, if you consider that some companies disappeared or even shifted their portfolio, I think we can be more than very proud.

And even comparing the very big players in terms of net space, we are again happy that we have 50 companies with a net space size of more than 500sqm, and 20 of those are occupying more than 1,000sqm. Companies like HP, Koenig & Bauer, and Canon are occupying between 3,600sqm and more than 5,000sqm, so these are amazing net spaces.

And we can only highly appreciate what these companies are planning in terms of excellent performances. As is said in French – chapeau; it’s adorable to see how much energy our exhibitors are putting into their performances and their stand construction.

I think it’s a very important platform and it’s a unique opportunity to again underline the relevance of our industry and to be proud as well to be a part of that industry.

The industry skills shortage was a hot topic at the pre-Drupa press conference. How important is the show to addressing that?
In Europe we are obviously more or less considered as an ageing population, certainly in comparison to China, India, and many of the Southeast Asian countries, where the average [age of an industry worker] is between 25 and 30 years.

Everybody is lacking skills and young talent and it’s like a big competition for the best. And I think Drupa is, again, a unique opportunity to convince young people and students to have a look at the print industry, and to really showcase the opportunities in many ways and profiles – not only being a technician, but also in marketing, design, media production, and so many more aspects, because obviously everybody is eagerly looking for recruiting opportunities.

Drupa is cooperating with a lot of university partners on a national and international level, and our exhibitors certainly pushed us in a positive way and recommended that we were making sure we were getting young talents. Because they are proud to showcase their innovation and the opportunities to work for many of the big players, as well as mid-sized companies or even startups. It’s a huge opportunity to fascinate young talent and students and to guarantee important employer branding to a certain extent.

For the UK we’re working together with the BPIF in terms of apprenticeships, and we are encouraging and inviting young talents to come to Drupa. We have already supported that initiative for many editions. I think every single country is eagerly looking for talent, and for skilled workers.

And when you focus on artificial intelligence, as everybody is lacking talent and skills, how can artificial intelligence support the supply chain and bring more efficiency?

Part two of the interview will be published on Printweek.com in the coming days.