But it seems newspapers may have been the last thing on visitors’ minds.
Sheetfed press makers – among them newspaper giant KBA – reported double-figure order books from the event, held cross a total of 19 exhibitions halls.
Komori said customers had signed for 50 presses at the end of the first day, and the tally had topped 120 presses by the end of the show. For KBA ten presses on the opening day and 45 in total was still a very satisfactory outcome.
But digital press orders remain elusive for these ‘traditional’ makers, Komori saying one Impremia C80 colour digital system was among orders. KBA had opted not to put its RotaJet inkjet web on its 1000m2 stand, but worked with Muller Martini to process samples printed on the press.
Other digital print specialists including HP – which has a number of inkjet web installations in China now – said results from China Print were amazing. “I don’t think I am alone in saying that it is quite likely that next time the show is held it will be bigger than DRUPA,” Asia Pacific vice president and general manager Gido van Praag said afterwards. A new compact Fujifilm Jet Press 540W also made its debut at the show, ahead of a showing at Australia’s PacPrint.
For newspaper visitors, however, the excitement was the launch of Goss International’s new Magnum Compact, a single-width replacement for the ubiquitous Community with automatic plateloading and shaftless drives leading a raft of automation and productivity features.
Chris McPherson, joint managing director of longstanding Australian Community user Shepparton Newspapers was among those who took part in a launch event, and Asia-Pacific sales vice president Peter Kirwan says it was non-stop from then on.
“The interest was huge, not only from China but across the whole of southeast Asia,” he says. “There was certainly no shortage of sites who wanted to be first with the new press.”
At China Print, a single tower was on display, with live demonstrations of its auto plateloading technology and slide-apart inkers. The radical press design is the result of a cooperation with input from newspaper and commercial web press teams in the UK, USA and China.
Kirwan says the next stage will be to set up a press at Goss’s factory in Shanghai to provide customers with an opportunity to see it in operation from September this year.
Pictured: A formal handover ceremony during the Beijing show (Photo KBA)