How should we go our own way in 2006

Editor's note: with the rapid development of digital printing technology, many people believe that offset printing technology has come to an end. No matter whether the fact is as serious as people think, it is always right for printers, equipment suppliers and customers to prepare in advance. Let's take a look at what we should know and do in 2006

the stock market in 2005 seemed to be a bit of a failure. This news is very bad for the suppliers of digital prepress equipment. Clio, which acquired saiangel earlier and is about to become a part of Kodak, also suffered a failure. In this year, the four giants (Agfa, Fuji, Kodak, Konica Minolta) occupied almost all the printing markets. Michael Evans, a consulting economist at NPES (National Association of printing, publishing and paper processing technology suppliers), pointed out that the demand for major equipment in 2006 was not very optimistic because the utilization rate of equipment was only 75%

Ronnie Davis, chief economist of PIA, believes that the market has a bright future in 2006. He points out that the good times continue. We believe that traditional printers have seen some good news. Economic growth has led to an overall increase of 3.8% in the GDP of printing. For the end of the offset printing era, we have not heard too much discussion from printers. We can see from the following content that they are more inclined to find a way to develop again. Even those printers who were selected by NPES and discussed their successful experience on print outlook are very interested in the market of value-added services such as digital printing, packaging, mailing, data management and market services, rather than just focusing on offset printing

in addition to these complex situations, we can also see that some good aspects are beginning to develop. For example, the recent statistics of it strategies indicate that large format printing technology will continue to grow at an alarming rate in the market, and will grow at an annual rate of 48% in the next three years

there will be no more pessimism

at print 05 last September, the pessimism that often appeared at printing exhibitions in previous years finally eased, and traditional printers also began to understand how to give full play to their strengths in color management, workflow, customer service and other printing related work, so as to grasp the market. They are trying to use these advantages to sell additional products to customers. Many offset printing plants eventually turned to the field of large format and short version printing, so as to sell more products to existing customers and expand the scope of customer base

we can also see many hybrid devices, which have the functions of offset printing, narrow format digital offset printing and wide format digital offset printing, so as to provide customers with products that satisfy them

for many years, Eagle has been encouraging manufacturers to come up with ways to sell more products to existing customers. It will be much easier to sell more products to old customers than to find new customers. Last year, they finally began to take advantage of this advantage, as can be seen from Fuji's acquisition of seleco, screen's acquisition of Inca, NASDAQ (3) the producer of food related products, Stark's acquisition of Witt, Kodak's acquisition of Cleo, and day's acquisition of NDI

at SGIA (international silk printing and Imaging Association) digital exhibition, we also saw great progress. Pitman company, the second largest printing machine dealer in China, has now entered the field of wide format printing, and has been trying to sell printing machines for printing rather than proofing. We tell those traditional offset printers to buy a wide format printer from Inca, and these printers are also providing customized packaging services for existing customers

"why not?"

they often say, "why not? Since we are ready, why not try to customize the printing and packaging that customers need?" Not only provide binding and mailing, this printing machine can also automatically generate drawings, cut according to the design, fold corrugated boxes and product packaging. This multi-function printing opportunity saves customers a lot of money compared to buying a short printing machine from a traditional packaging printer

in the past year, we can also see that many stations are changing from a "complete" way to a way complementary to printed products. For example, WebMD has introduced a magazine, which invites customers to write down the questions they consult with doctors in the process of seeing a doctor (by filling in the access page in the magazine). This free magazine will be sent to thousands of waiting rooms, where patients will read these magazines while waiting to see a doctor

eagle also believes that enterprises should pay attention to the competition from China and other regions. China will continue to tap its potential in the traditional offset printing market and accelerate the pace of change. However, we do not believe that this will impact the following printing markets: short edition printing, limited time printing; Professional magazine printing with small demand; Printing without too much manual operation and mixed printing in various ways (networking, mailing, radio/television/printing advertising, printing manuals); Printing that requires professional connection. These markets still leave a lot of room for those who know how to get them

reform is inevitable

through five years of research on the printing market, we feel that manufacturers, dealers and printers are gradually maturing and ready to continue to survive. This is not an easy thing, but they will not be replaced by fully digital communication technology, non printing communication technology and long-distance printing technology. This change is 1 Add shims in the fixture; Change will bring a new and revitalized industry

in addition to the advantages we saw at the beginning, for the printing industry, real restructuring is very necessary to meet the economic and technological challenges. This is a reconsideration of the traditional cooperative relationship. After years of debate, the relationship between manufacturers and dealers will be redefined as partners through the word "channel"

the acquisition of Fuji's "channel" officially ended the old model of manufacturers selling products to "channel", in which all parts are independent and consumable entities. At present, people's main task is to expand the definition of "channel" to include printing 3 Samples and clamping parts. Once this becomes true, it will greatly improve the efficiency of printing production; The team composed of manufacturers, dealers and printers will also be revitalized, and once again focus on the real customers - the buyers of printing machines, and meet their needs

it has become an old idea to make profits by squeezing sellers, rather than by providing value-added services for customers. Only by eliminating this old idea, can printing channels be truly established and improved, and printers meet great challenges more calmly

information source: must win