Printing industry to emerge stronger!

Global investment in the print industry will be stronger in the next 12 months as confidence returns says “drupa Global Trends” report. The results are based on answers provided by a representative panel consisting of leading executives from printers, suppliers and print purchasers from around the world, recruited primarily from the drupa 2012 visitor and exhibitor database. Excerpts. Despite reporting significant regional variations, the “drupa Global Trends” report does reveal a number of critical – and sometimes surprising – trends that are shared by all economic regions and across print segments (publishing, packaging and commercial). As was to be expected, the report confirmed that the global printing industry’s structural transformation is still ongoing, with increasing costs coupled with declining prices and shrinking margins. However, three other major findings of the study are more pivotal:

1. There are clear signs that economic conditions are improving. As a consequence the printing industry globally is planning increased investment over the next twelve months. Efficiency gains and the development of new services are driving investment in the industrialised countries. North America is leading the way by gearing up for major transformation with high levels of investment in printing technology, IT and new services. In the emerging countries growing demand is the main driver.
2. The printing industry is in the midst of a transition from a product-driven industry to a service-driven one. The demand for new solutions and business models that better reflect the customer needs is clear.
3. As expected, digital printing plays an increasing role in the technology mix deployed. Among print services providers, 65 percent produce using both conventional and digital methods and one-third of commercial printers already gain a quarter or more of their turnover from digital printing. But conventional printing (especially sheet-fed offset) continues to be an important pillar for the print sector. Planned investment reflects this point as 29 percent of all printers say they intend to invest in sheet-fed offset printing.

Some 2,500 decision-makers from across the globe (119 countries) participated in the survey in the fourth quarter of 2013 and answered the extensive questionnaire. The majority (58%) came from print services providers, followed by suppliers (21%) and print purchasers (21%). drupa will publish another report “drupa Global Insights.” The results will be based on answers provided by a representative panel consisting of leading executives from printers, suppliers and print purchasers from around the world, recruited primarily from the drupa 2012 visitor and exhibitor database. Messe Düsseldorf, in its role as drupa organiser, has appointed two independent consulting and market research companies Printfuture (UK) and Wissler & Partner (Switzerland) to conduct these two report series. The first “drupa Global Trends” report is now published. The complete English-language report in PDF format is now available from Messe Düsseldorf (www.drupa.de/2131) for EUR 249.00.