Echoes of Drupa-2000. Have the technologies of the graphics industry of the new millennium been considered

The graphics industry has redefined itself to compete with guarantees of success with other media of communication, by defending its traditional fields and obtaining new ones. Prepress, press, and postpress, that is, the three sectors that shape the graphics chain as a unique medium by which to spread information, are not the only medium. Nevertheless, printing still has and wilt have a future, although many things will probably change in the industry. Our lives have been, are and will be determined by printed matter. Only in the last decades of the 20th century have other media been experimented with. The digital revolution has made obsolete in a few years many of the conventional methods in prepress, press, and postpress. The manufacturers for the technologies of the graphics arts industry are following two routes. They are perfecting existing work procedures by automation and creation of continuous processes, paying attention to computer-to-plate (CtP) and computer-to-press (CtPress), among others. They are developing new digital printing methods suitable for special applications. In this sense, Graficas visited Drupa 2000 [Düsseldorf May 18-31, 2000] to obtain opinions and responses to these considerations for Spanish representatives. The discussion covers the observations given at the various exhibitor stands at the fair.