May 25, 2004 -- Duplo has completed a successful fortnight at drupa 2004, coming away with numerous worldwide orders for products from its portfolio of digital and offset print finishing solutions. Dominic Quennell, vice president of marketing at Duplo Corporation comments: “We are genuinely delighted with the results from the show. We have taken orders from five continents and will be following up on a host of sales leads. For example, 10 per cent of sales leads came from the Americas and we also had a strong level of interest from Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Our most sought-after product has been the new DC-645 Slitter/Creaser/Trimmer, with an order book which will easily sell out the first months’ production.” The SCC bookletmaker and the System 5000 bookletmaker with two-knife trimmer also attracted a great deal of attention, not to mention the existing range of Duplo folders, binders and booklet-making solutions for the offset market. The functionality and modularity of Duplo’s products – benefits that set them apart from anything else on the market – drew a glowing response from potential customers. Dominic Quennell observes: “Drupa 2000 was hailed as the ‘digital drupa’. But, at that time, it seemed that it was mainly the product manufacturers who understood the potential impact of digital technology on the printing business. It’s only now, at drupa 2004, that customers have started to visualise the potential impact of digital technology on their businesses and, more importantly, what they need to do strategically to benefit. They have realised there is no point printing on demand if you can’t deliver on demand.” Partnerships also played a major part in Duplo’s success at the exhibition with Duplo equipment in operation on the HP, Nexpress, Océ and Xerox stands. Dominic adds: “We really benefited from our partnerships with these market-leading digital printing equipment manufacturers at the show and we will be looking to pursue similar opportunities in the future. These collaborations are an excellent way of illustrating the end-to-end print production solutions that are achievable today. Our equipment created a buzz all around the show.” As a driving force in the UP3i consortium, which in turn is a participant of the JDF industry standard, Duplo was also an active contributor to the JDF debate which left its mark on drupa 2004. For example, the System 5000 bookletmaking and collating solution with three-knife trimming, designed to meet both offset and digital requirements, is Duplo’s most advanced addition to the bookletmaking family and has been developed to meet UP3i standards. As the industry evolves and JDF becomes more widespread, Duplo sees cross-platform compatibility as a key requirement for future technology development. Duplo’s Peter Dyson, presenting UP3i on the JDF stand at drupa says: “Duplo’s proactive involvement in UP3i is strategically sound and has definitely put Duplo on the map in the discussion over standardisation. The ability to fully integrate finishing equipment into digital print production workflows is critical in ensuring that customers can truly profit from digital print. In this area, Duplo is gaining a reputation for defining, rather than simply following, industry best practice.”