Whilst many of the leading printing press manufacturers still appear to be keen to suggest to you that the good times will be making a comeback sometime soon, we all know the reality. Digital has changed many markets, and print is one of them.
The Internet has totally revolutionized the way we get our news: this has meant a swift decline in newspaper sales. OK, they may not have hit rock bottom just yet, but many leading titles must be sinking towards the kind of numbers that make it just too expensive to print. Printed books have also found little to enjoy in the world of smartphones, tablets and Amazon.
Traditional printing equipment suppliers are suffering from a number of challenges, many of which are well highlighted in the white paper recently released by the Ipex 2014 team. The Internet itself is changing the way that many people consume previously printed information, and also the ways in which they distribute their words and spaces.
The ability of digital equipment to produce printed product that incorporates variable information is having an effect. Yes, this has been slow to catch on. It certainly hasn’t reach the dizzy heights anticipated by the digital pioneers back in the early years, but the personalisation package is growing and is having an effect on traditional print requirements. A printer recently explained to me that whist his business was now 50/50 in terms of digital v. litho output, the digital work was contributing 80% of his profits because of the complex, personalised nature of the work, and the “cheap as chips” attitude of far too many litho printers.
Digital engines have also eaten up the litho market from the bottom end: these printing systems are very good at the efficient production of small quantities. The sales effort from digital service providers is also focusing on making a customer’s orders smaller. You don’t need X,000 copies today – you only need a few hundred. This plays to the strengths of their products.
Where does that leave the big German heavy metal merchants? One has this week explained how a 2.5% price increase in its presses is going to solve everything; a second, at the end of last year, proudly boasted that orders placed for the year had just topped 100 machines (worldwide!); whilst the third is trying to convince the us all that its Q3 figures are wonderful, despite it still showing a big red 32 million Euro’s year-to-date.
The good news to focus on in the print machinery market is surely in the shape of our close friends from the land of the rising sun. Mitsubishi and near neighbours Ryobi are seeking consolidation and the pooling of smart ideas to create the type of press that the market will need going forward. Results of the Japanese giants discussions will become clear half way through the year. Would it be fanciful to imagine these two great companies coming up with something game-changing? Watch this space.