The hottest view on the development trend of print

Editor's note: like other international printing exhibitions, IPEX exhibition is also a treasure worthy of continuous exploration. People can use it to prospect and predict the future. In the first part of the article, we will evaluate the market from a historical perspective

like other international printing exhibitions, IPEX exhibition is also a treasure worthy of continuous exploration. But what beneficial experience people can get from this exhibition mainly depends on his perspective and his ability to foresee the future. Heidelberg's offset press sales this year and before may reflect the situation of the printing market, but it does not tell us what will happen in the future

today is a unique moment in history. We should evaluate the current situation of the printing industry from the perspective of the future. With the reduction of the use of print media in the process of marketing and communication and the continuous emergence of new generation printing technology, the standard we now evaluate a printing exhibition is mainly to see that it can reflect the future development trend. The future mentioned here does not only refer to the year when the exhibition is held. Perhaps now many printing plant managers are busy dealing with the challenges of the market and the pressure of survival, while ignoring the outlook for the future. However, the future market demand of financiers (shareholders, banks and securities traders) and new chemical materials in the industry is 10 points huge. "Their customers (buyers of printing services) have made prospects for the future before making new financial decisions

improvement or transfer

if Heidelberg does not announce its sales performance at the exhibition, the exhibition it participated in will not end. The same is true of this year's IPEX exhibition. Although no specific data are given, the ideal sales performance of Heidelberg company still brings great confidence to people

Mr. Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberg, said in the official release of the IPEX trade show, "we have seen an improvement in the investment environment." However, he later pointed out that this improvement in the investment environment was mainly driven by the Asia Pacific market, including China

the increase in sales of printing presses in China or other Asian countries cannot fully explain the improvement of the overall investment environment. It just reflects the transfer of investment hotspots from the west to the East. With a large number of Heidelberg equipment and high-quality products from other companies, Asia has become the biggest competitor of printing houses in western countries. In terms of orders, the sales situation of printing machinery in China is still very good, but what will be the sales situation of these equipment in the European and American markets? In other words, what is the development of the European/American printing market for a long time in the future

the new atmosphere of the printing industry

historically, IPEX, like other international printing exhibitions, is often full of the tinkling sound of web printing machines. In fact, many trade fairs will be postponed due to the need to install and transfer large web presses. This year, we only saw four web presses in the whole IPEX exhibition. One is made in China, one is made in India, and the other two are equipment for special printing fields

web printing machine is no longer the symbol of the printing industry. It is a symbol of changes in the printing industry. The future of the printing industry belongs to short edition printing, digital printing, "the transfer of office imaging equipment" to "printing production" and inkjet printing technology. These technologies and printing fields create the future of the printing industry. The reduction of web printing machines simply reveals this development trend for us

booth size

the comparison of booth size has always been a major feature of international trade exhibitions. It is often battery extrusion experimental machine is the contraction between the two flat surfaces of the battery, which has become the focus of attention and discussion. Many observers regard the booth size of participating companies as a signal of whether they will participate in the next exhibition. If a company's booth in this exhibition is reduced, it means that they do not intend to participate in the next exhibition. This year, it was reported that Xerox's booth was larger than Heidelberg's, but some analysts claimed that if the area of the conference hall, lounge and bar were included, Heidelberg's booth would be larger. It doesn't matter. Many similar companies have announced that they will also expand their booth size at future exhibitions

in the first part of this article, we discuss the success of Heidelberg in IPEX and the problem of booth size from a historical perspective. Now, let's take a look at the views of customers and product distributors on the future of the printing industry

property, credit and click through

Andy distribute, an analyst of the printing industry, once mentioned in a recent article that IPEX is not only a printing trade show, but also a platform released by various companies. Agfa announced at the exhibition that they will provide a large number of CTP systems and printing plates to international companies, one of the world's largest newspaper publishers

of course, from the traditional concept of sales, this is not sales at all, not even orders. It is just an agreement, indicating that international companies have the intention to use AGC printing plates. Agfa will install and use its own plate making machine and use it to process its own plates. International companies will pay for the printing plates they use. Under normal circumstances, they will choose the "pay per click" method. In the field of copying and high-speed digital black-and-white printing, the "pay per click" method has been used by people for many years, but as far as I know, in the field of printing plate production, no major customer has adopted this method of payment

for those enterprise customers who do not regard printing as their core business, this method has many advantages. Pay per click can help customers reduce the number of equipment in the purchase list, so that they can spend more money on basic business investment. This approach can also enable enterprises to access new technologies faster and use them more effectively when needed. If a newspaper's core business is printing, it can choose to buy appropriate equipment. As for the future, the operational risk will be transferred to the manufacturer or the manufacturer's financial company. The huge cost of fixed equipment - Agfa's business involves 20 sets of Polaris xcv-s violet laser CTP system of AGFA - are all provided by financial companies. If the newspaper office does not make full use of these equipment or stops production, the supplier or its financial company will have to pay this part of the cost. Customers only have to pay for the products they consume. People should not tie capital or credit accounts with the cost of printing equipment. Printing equipment is not a reliable asset

digital "printing press"

Heidelberg may have achieved good sales performance at this year's IPEX exhibition, especially the great progress in the Asian market they mentioned at the press conference, but the observers of this exhibition cannot judge the company's sales performance according to the actual situation at the time of the exhibition. Common beeps, crowded crowds, familiar smiling faces and frequent meetings seem to have disappeared from the Heidelberg booth. Few people gathered at the booths of other offset printing products, including those companies advocating the advantages of plate printing or plate making machines and the booths of large groups

the booths of Xerox, HP and Canon have become the focus of attention. Although we don't know whether the sales situation of these companies is directly proportional to the audience they attract, from the perspective of the future, we can still find some valuable signals. The biggest highlight of this exhibition is the "production" digital printer. They are special printing equipment, usually with their own operators, and can achieve high printing speed and production capacity. This kind of production printer is suitable for paid printing or internal printing environment. In short, they are all new "printing presses"

as the eagle recently mentioned, production-oriented digital printers are specially designed for short version printing of moving parts, and short version printing happens to be the fastest-growing field in the printing industry. Nevertheless, the number of prints does not limit them. In fact, as we have discussed before, the printing quantity is not the decisive factor in the selection of printing equipment. There are many other factors that affect the future development of printing equipment, the most important of which is their compatibility with digital imaging technology. In addition, they will become easier to operate, cleaner and more adaptable - because they have customized functions - so the demand for them in the field of communication and marketing will continue to expand

upcoming shock

looking back on the past and looking forward to the future, we can foresee a fierce battle between Xerox, HP and Canon through this IPEX exhibition. Konica Minolta entered this market by launching its own production-oriented digital color printing machine. These manufacturers have established their own business models around "pay per click". Many people say that these enterprises are selling toner, not equipment. They send the equipment to customers through discounts, leases or other ways, so that they can start using toner. With the inevitable decline of toner prices, this business model will be under greater financial pressure. Just like printing plate companies, they will change with the change of printing plate prices and fixed equipment costs. In the field of printing plate production, 3M, Hoechst, DuPont, anitec, Lastra and Corio are all outstanding companies. Although we now see the arrival of a new era of production-oriented digital printing equipment, we should know that nothing remains unchanged, especially in this rapidly changing field of digital printing

with the endless emergence of new companies and the increasingly fierce competition, industry leaders such as Xerox have become the goal of people to catch up and compete

recession and emerging channels

Robert Fitzpatrick of Eagle once made a speech entitled "state and future of graphic arts dealers" at the IPEX exhibition. He mentioned in this speech: "traditional independent dealers will gradually decline. They are involved in the protracted war of analog products, old geographical location and personal relationships, and do not meet the needs of the digital market."

in Europe, Canada and the United States, the number of printing dealers is declining sharply. Last year, Charles Openshaw Sons Limited, one of the oldest and largest printing dealers in the UK, declared bankruptcy due to poor management. In the United States, the three major dealers of F, uji/enovation, pitman and xpedx, have occupied two-thirds of the entire market

however, with the decline of traditional dealers, digital dealers slowly