Letters, feedback, get it off your chest - 25 October 2007
What readers had to say about last week's news.
To The Editor,
Re: Drowning in dosh - Print 21 magazine article
An industry in crisis or on the edge of a new dawn?
Simon's interesting article on the state-of-the-heart of the printing industry highlights the massive, but almost un-seen, structural changes going on under our feet.
An industry experiences such a shift in its tectonic plates, only
once in a lifetime. From my perspective I see the human cost of
such re-adjustments, with the vast numbers of older, trade-
qualified offset printers being forced out (on the one hand), and
the crying need for digital operators (on the other) yet most
traditionally-trained printers are unable to make the transition
across to software-based devices (presses?).
Another paradox is that while the area (sheet-fed offset,
which we usually regard by default, as the printing industry
may be shrinking, there is growth occurring all around it in
previously marginal segments such as DM, transactional printing and even junk mail_. These are all areas where printing has evolved
into a more flexible, customised format and can offer solutions not
hitherto possible.
Traditional sheet-fed is also under attack from the trend towards
high-quality heat-set web, where the new-generation web-presses can equal the quality of sheet-fed - at a lower price. This is not a case of margins being eroded, so much as improved allocative efficiency leading to a lower cost-base. This is ultimately good for the industry as lower prices generate bigger volumes, as print
now has to compete against other media.
Another threat/opportunity is the trend towards web-to-print, where the printer, client, and designer can all create, edit and approve content according to a common-format platform. Currently more suited to business cards and stationery, it is quickly expanding like an amoeba to include more complex, customised printed matter, and will favour printers with digital-print capability (because of the capacity to print-on-demand and personalise). A UK report suggest a 68% growth in W2P over the next five years.
Part of the problem in measuring the growth (or shrinkage) of our
industry is that print embraces so many diverse, and often un-
related sectors (newspaper production and self-adhesive labels have absolutely nothing in common, for example) which muddies the true picture. The answer is that we are many industries, each driven by its own dynamic, each searching for its own solution.
From my anecdotal observations, however, the greatest hot-spot is in the wide-format ink-jet arena where suppliers aided by an avalanche of new substrates for vehicle-marking, building-wrap, and the like, and digital presses that will print onto cork-board and
corrugated-iron are creating their own demand, which seems insatiable. They cannot get enough operators, finishers, account
managers, sales reps or technical-support people.
We have become an industry with two faces. The onset of digitisation (not just print, but workflow, etc) has driven a
wedge between the older, mature, sheet-fed offset - and - the
digital-colour segment which is capable of offering an increasingly
exciting range of customised and on-demand options to an eager
audience. The recent Fuji-Xerox-sponsored Innovate 07_ seminar,
and the current GASAA-sponsored PODi_ seminar, are testament to
the capacity of digital print to actually expand the frontiers of
print by enabling personalisation and other party-tricks, to become
an active marketing tool for the client. Instead of asking if they
can quote on existing print, they actually expand the opportunities
for print to be used (as a marketing/promotional medium).
Interestingly, during one entire seminar, at no stage did I hear
print quality mentioned as being a key driver in the buyer's mind. This is to visit the future of print.
Regards,
James Cryer
JDA Print Recruitment