EFI's CEO Guy Gecht called drupa 2008 their workflow drupa with announced updates to its Fiery platform, and the Hagen and Prograph MIS products receiving JDF certification from PIA/GATF. EFI will market all of its workflow products under the family name Advanced Workstream Solutions.

Guy also called it their inkjet drupa with the preview of the VUTEk DS Series digital screen printer being the company's big announcement. The VUTEk DS Series digital screen printer is listed at printing up to 557 square meters (6,000 square feet) per hour utilizing a newly engineered UV curing system. The system uses up to 8 ink channels and images at up to 1200 dpi.

After attending the EFI press conference and hearing a lot of buzz about the new printer from others in the media I made the trip over to EFI's booth to see the printer in action.

The printer was a big hit with attendees, with many stopping to watching the speed of the system. After watching the printer move the vacuum table back and forth a few times I realized no ink was being transfered to the substrate - a pre-printed board was traveling back and forth. I later learned the system was not setup to print at all.

You can see the same thing attendees at drupa saw in this WhatTheyThink.com video of the DS Series printer.

At trade shows we typically see products that are months and sometimes years away from commercial availability. Most vendors show these new products as "technology demonstrations." These demonstrations allow us a glimpse at where companies are going with new product and service offerings. Visitors that made their way to EFI's drupa booth to see a "revolutionary printer" walked away only seeing an industrial art exhibit.

I hope by this October's GRAPH EXPO we will see the DS Series printer in all its glory; in full operation.