Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 12 May 2010

Once more, James Cryer stirs the pot with his article calling for more industry leaders to help us through the tough times. Paul Daley also delivers a passionate take on the state of printing. Let us know your thoughts on this, or any of our other articles.

Re: Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 5 May 2010

Phil Heaton's instant reply to my cryptic comment to his 27/4 letter indicates I obviously hit a raw nerve! But I am more than happy to enlighten him, and the "us," and the "all," he refers to as persons who need my input as to the drivers of print 2010. It is no trade secret! Let's cut to the chase and name just a few to whet Heaton's appetite.

Web to Print. WTP is the front-end that delivers print-ready files without human intervention. In 1995 we had a talented 16 year old young man from the U.S. script version 1 of a proprietary pagination system that eliminated 75 per cent of our desktop publishing needs, and morphed graphics to other products. Fifteen years later our front end is the cornerstone of our business, and that person is the managing director of our company. He's a driver!

WTP drives the world’s fastest growing print company, VistaPrint, the driver being that as soon as you have human interaction it costs you money. The extension here is that you require a lower loyal workforce. Check out Sydney Morning Herald 29/1/2010 and Vista's second quarter profit shot up 45%, revenue up 40%, and the WOW factor is that they have interacted with 7 million clients through WTP. Vista's web site is now ranked at 102nd for traffic in Australia. That's a driver! We've gone one step further and also take gnostic files as a driver.

Next driver: value-add through the web print-based products. Nearly five years ago we pioneered e-mags, and today put up in excess of 4000 pages a week. Go to our publication realestateweekly.com.au for a taste. We're committed to stay ahead of the pack with value add drivers, and now have a strategic foothold interstate.

Although you touched on digital (remember, Fuji Xerox popped in nearly 500 presses in Australia over the past 12 months) and the heavy metal count was about nil, Heaton missed the real driver as to why printers are getting only shorter runs. There're the crumbs! It's the C factor . . . yep, China. Take a look at printedinchina.com and you will see why one iconic Melbourne company is bemoaning its loss of a greeting card contract to China. Most long runs and lead time contracts are subject now to the C driver, as I'm sure Chippy's were, and you can't blame management. Combine that with the price check factor when businesses fail and you have the vapour driver as margins evaporate. The V driver is a critical driver for Heaton and the gang to get their heads around.

Mobile phones, yes you can now use them for boarding passes on Virgin and Qantas (bye bye print), but what about the obvious tsunami that's on the horizon.

Although a month away from Australia the iPad has already claimed one million scalps in the US. The Australian newspaper 5/5/2010 reports that Apple has already downloaded more than 12 million applications, and that newspaper will launch its own app when the iPad goes on sale here. That's a real driver, and its called the Apps Store. Touche.

Finally, Heaton's opening sentence placing management virtually in perdition when a business fails cannot be left unchallenged. Try that line with the 100s of printers who wanted to invoke change and placed orders at the last drupa and were denied finance because of the GFC! Heaven help the printers in Greece at the moment as their nation faces bankruptcy, or doing business in riot torn Bangkok, let alone Europe that has a currency crisis and an Iceland volcano blocking business arteries! Don't talk about any type of business in Haiti as force major will get you out of jail.

So why then is there so much noise at a reality check from someone who Googles as a print professional?
Paul Daley

 

Re: Follow the leaders to the future: James Cryer’s commentary

Excellent comments from James and right on the money.

The drive for cost down rather than value-added and the skills associated with incentives for your workforce are non-existent in many of today’s business models.

The skill set lost to the industry with the drive to youth over the last 15 years has been staggering in its magnitude.

Put me in the bank.

Russell Robertson

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Interesting article James, but the industry is a melting pot and we observe companies run by “printer’s” succeed and fail as well as companies run by “business people”!  If it was easy all would succeed. As someone once said “it’s the economy stupid!”; but other factors need to be considered.  As my brother always said- “nothing happens until a sale is made”!
 
We are observing a market economy at work.
Bruce Sinnott

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A great article about the unused experience. I would like get involved in setting something like this up.

Mike Schrafft

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James Cryer’s article shows us another example of his irrelevance to the real issues facing the printing industry.

I think he would share somewhat of a different opinion if he were on the board of Helmsman Press.
David Schultz