The printing industry is shrinking, there’s no doubt about it. Without a clear-eyed acceptance of that central fact we are unable to make sensible decisions about the future. Printing paper consumption in Australia declined 300,000 tonnes since its peak of 1.5 million tonnes in 2008, a fall of 20 percent.

The 15-year-old EFI users conference turns up trumps this year with the largest attendance ever at the seminal printing industry technology conference in the gambling capital of the USA.

Less than one year after launching its locally-produced Vantage brand from the Boyer mill outside Hobart, the local manufacturer is joining the push to lift prices with a 3-5% increase on new orders.

On occasions, it’s difficult to recognise the printing industry Steve Edwards is talking about. It’s an industry where his Snap franchise, one of the largest print providers in the country, has ambitious strategies to evolve into a marketing services enterprise. He talks with Patrick Howard about how the next 12 months will see the start of a major transformation in one of the industry’s highest profile brands.

Dan Blackbourn, PrintNZ president and GM Operations at APN is aiming to increase industry participation to ensure the Association retains its premium representation status.

The call to arms went out last year, exhorting those with ink in their veins and a flair for excellence to join fellow print professionals at the front line of the battle for print at the 2015 National Print Awards.

The events in France over the past week have highlighted print media for all the wrong reasons. The journalists and cartoonists so savagely murdered were simply going about their daily routines of writing, illustrating and publishing a magazine, Charlie Hebdo.

The New Year began brightly for Garth Austin at All Kinds of Signs, Shailer Park, Queensland. He is the winner of the Spandex $20,000 prize drawn on Christmas Eve and credited to his account this month to spend on anything with Spandex. All Kinds of Signs has been a Spandex customer for over 20 years, mostly for sign vinyls. Owner-operator Garth Austin sub-contracts his digital printing work out to printers local to his southside of Brisbane shop.

2014 was a big year for the printing industry in Australia and New Zealand, filled with moment and movement. Printing volumes held up even as the number of off-set printing establishments fell. Rumours of the death of print proved highly exaggerated… again.

The two major supplier organisations are exploring ‘models of working together, one of which is a possible merger.’ As first reported here at Print21, talks are underway that may result in a radically changed landscape for the graphic arts industry.

Digital printers are increasingly targeting the label and packaging markets with quite a few available or just about to launch. The great strength of digital printing has been its ability to handle very short runs, not something that you'd immediately associate with labelling or packaging.

At drupa 2012 the printing world was bedazzled by the showing of the first all-new technology to hit the market for decades – Landa Nanographic Printing. There followed a virtual lock-down period as Landa’s team has worked to re-engineer the presses and get ready for the next drupa, in June 2016.

There was a time when the printing industry was recognized for producing calendars to give to its customers at the end of year, but few printers or suppliers carry on the tradition. KW Doggett Fine Paper is a notable exception.

From a high of more than parity with the US dollar to its current 82 cents the falling Australian currency is pumping price rises into many parts of the economy and paper is no exception.

A new generation is setting its own expectations about how printing businesses are put together and what is the right technology mix to grow the market.