The drupa 2016 committee has added seven global players from the international manufacturing sector: Effective immediately, Baumann Maschinenbau, bielomatik, Electronics for Imaging/EFI, Hewlett Packard International, Leonhard Kurz Stiftung, manroland web systems and technotrans will have a seat on the most important drupa panel. "With this decision we're taking into account current developments in the printing and media industry - above all the following aspects: the growing significance of digital printing with the resulting demands on post-press operations, continually increasing automation across all process stages and the mega trends value-added printing and packaging. I'm delighted that we were able to secure the involvement of these global players in the drupa committee," said Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, about this important decision. "We are delighted about the strong commitment of industry representatives on the drupa Committee. The involvement of these manufacturers underscores drupa's central role in the sector worldwide. The variety of technologies proves that drupa is the world's leading trade fair for printing and media technology", said Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director Markus Heering of the VDMA associations Printing and Paper Technology as well as Security Systems.

The 26-member committee - together with Messe Düsseldorf, which has organised drupa since 1951 - makes key policy decisions about the print media trade fair, including, for example, the recent decision to shorten the length of the trade fair to eleven days while maintaining the Olympic four-year cycle. It is comprised of representatives from the exhibiting industry and represents drupa's entire technology spectrum - from pre-media to printing to post-press processing or packaging production and paper processing, respectively, as well as the paper and printing ink industry. The user side is also represented on the Committee by a diverse range of media service providers. Also represented are the five most important industry associations, specifically:

? Printing and Paper Technology Association (Fachverband Druck- und Papiertechnik) within the VDMA (German Engineering Federation), Frankfurt

? German Printing and Media Industries Federation (Bundesverband Druck und Medien e.V), Berlin

? Paper-Processing Trade Associations (Wirtschaftsverb?nde Papierverarbeitung), Darmstadt

? German Pulp and Paper Association (Verband Deutscher Papierfabriken e.V.), Bonn

? German Printing Ink Industry Association (Verband der deutschen Lack- und Druckfarbenindustrie e.V.), Frankfurt

The drupa 2016 steering committee consists of the President, Dipl.-Ing. Claus Bolza-Schünemann (CEO of Koenig & Bauer AG) and the Vice-President and Chairman of the Admissions Committee Dr. Jürgen Vutz (CEO of Windm?ller & H?lscher KG). Second Vice-President is Rolf Schwarz, President of the German Printing and Media Industries Federation.

The drupa 2016 Committee at a glance:

? Baumann Maschinenbau Solms, Volkmar Assmann, Managing Partner

? bielomatik Leuze, Dirk V??ing, Managing Director

? Blase Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Thomas Struckmeier, Managing Partner

? bvdm - German Printing and Media Industries Federation , Dr. Paul Deimel, Managing Director

? Druckzentrum K?lnWest GmbH, Dipl. Wirtsch.-Ing. Wolfgang Brügelmann, Managing Partner

? Electronics for Imaging/EFI, Frank Tückmantel, Vice President Corporate Marketing