中文Durst used this year’s FESPA Global Print Expo to place a bold bet on automation, artificial intelligence, and industrial intelligence. The Austrian-Italian manufacturer showcased an ambitious new production management system called Kyveris alongside a refreshed P5 Core hybrid printer, while also announcing plans for a major new textile development center in Italy.
The Kyveris system is the most significant strategic move. Described by Durst as a software integration layer, Kyveris is being developed as a separate company within the Durst Group and is designed to knit together printing hardware, robotics, workflow software, and analytics into a single automated environment. At FESPA, Durst demonstrated the Kyveris Sandbox, a development lab that combines existing workflow building blocks, such as job queuing and RIP software, with a robotic automation layer that includes autonomous mobile robots for loading, unloading, and moving materials around the factory floor.
Christoph Gamper, CEO and part-owner of Durst Group, told journalists that artificial intelligence has moved beyond the browser and into the print shop. “I’m convinced that the next 20 years belong to industrial intelligence,” he said. He added that the industry will move toward lights-out and autonomous production, although he was careful to note that this does not mean eliminating operators. “Lights-out doesn’t mean that we don’t need the operator anymore, just that we can do more with less.”
Michael Deflorian, vice president of Kyveris and software solutions, described the platform as a way to make machines more intelligent. “You might not need higher productivity but more intelligence can give you higher quality,” he said. The system includes open APIs and documented interfaces intended to allow integration with MIS, workflow, and finishing systems from other vendors. Deflorian emphasized that interoperability is essential: “If not, you have a challenge to use that data.”
Durst has also incorporated a digital twin concept into Kyveris. Common in additive manufacturing, digital twins create virtual models of physical products using real production data, allowing operators to predict behavior and compare predicted outcomes against finished output. This sits on top of Durst’s existing analytics platform, which already supports predictive maintenance.
On the hardware side, Durst introduced the P5 Core, a mid-range 3.5-meter hybrid printer that builds on the existing P5 platform. Wolfgang Knotz, Durst’s chief technology officer and managing director of Durst Austria, called it “a good way to get your first Durst.” The P5 Core uses Ricoh Gen5 printheads with a native drop size of 7pl and offers resolutions from 700 x 1200 to 900 x 1200 dpi. It can print boards up to 3.5m wide and rolls up to 3.47m, including dual rolls up to 1.6m each. Production speeds range from 125 to 170 square meters per hour, with a maximum of 325 sq.m/hr.
The P5 Core adds ten ink channels compared to the previous eight, doubles the UV-LED curing capacity, and improves roll-to-roll capability. Reinhard Moser, project manager for the P5, said the redesign aimed to simplify operation and reduce setup time. A new vacuum belt improves material flexibility. Importantly, the P5 Core is the first product to be Kyveris-ready, meaning its software architecture is designed to feed data into future automated workflows.
Durst also showed the P5 350 HSI with Digital Substrate Alignment and the 5m-wide P5 500 Tex iSub dye-sublimation printer paired with a Hassler cutting system. The company says it has installed around 855 P5-series machines to date.
Beyond FESPA, Durst announced a €20 million investment in a new facility in Como, Italy, to develop digital textile printing technology. The site will become Durst’s third major R&D center after Brixen and Lienz and will focus on fashion and home textiles. It follows Durst’s 2025 acquisition of Aleph and reflects a renewed push into textile printing after earlier optimism cooled.
This year marks Durst’s 90th anniversary. Gamper noted that the company is entirely private and has no external investors. Durst reports revenues of more than €430 million and aims to double that figure within five years. Gamper acknowledged pressure from lower-cost Chinese hardware but argued that European manufacturers can differentiate through intelligent, integrated production systems.
The message from Durst is clear: the future of wide-format printing is less about raw speed and more about connected, intelligent, automated production. Whether that future arrives in five years or twenty, Durst is positioning itself at the center of it.
Source: WhatTheyThink
The implications of Durst’s strategy extend beyond its own customer base. If Kyveris succeeds, it could establish a reference architecture for how wide-format, label, and packaging production lines are managed in the future. Other manufacturers may be forced to accelerate their own automation and software roadmaps to remain competitive. The risk for Durst is that Kyveris is still early in its development, and customers may be reluctant to bet on a vision that is not yet fully productized.
Looking ahead, Durst’s ability to integrate Kyveris with third-party equipment will be critical. No large print operation runs entirely on one vendor’s machines. A production management system that only works with Durst hardware will have limited appeal, regardless of how advanced it is. The open API strategy is therefore not just a technical detail; it is a commercial necessity.
