Views of industry giants on three major trends in printing trends and opportunities

On the eve of a trade show, we will conduct an interview with senior managers of well-known companies in the industry. But in 2007, with the exhibition of Graph Expo, we apparently had no reason to ask these busy experts to answer the dozen questions we raised as usual, but in any case, they could still take the time. Answer three questions for us. So, I presented three similar questions to the executives of InfoPrint Solutions, Kodak, Océ and Xerox, to see how they led their companies to the show and the difficulties the printing industry is currently facing. Here are the answers from these executives.

Reporter: What key digital printing technologies do you think will bring the greatest advantage to today's printing service providers? How should the printing industry seize these valuable business opportunities?

Chris Reid, Global Solutions Manager, InfoPrint Solutions

In the field of monochrome digital printing, we saw that the output of direct mail, transaction documents and books and magazines increased by 4-7%, 2-3% and 10-15%, respectively. The growth rate of color digital printing in all fields is very fast, but its foundation is relatively weak. The biggest growth point of digital printing is in the production of books and booklets. With the ever-decreasing number of prints, digital technology will win more business from offset printing. Of course, we can also see a dramatic increase in color technology in the billing market because it can help users reduce the number of repetitive forms and pass on comprehensive marketing information.

Greg Gresock, Global Product Marketing Manager, Digital Printing Solutions, Kodak Graphic Communications Group

Advanced digital printing technology has created a printing product that we could not have realized before. These include web-based, customizable brochures and marketing materials, variable data direct mail and personalized reports, brochures, books, transactional documents, and similar documents. Photo services such as desk calendars, cards and photo albums will also grow. Providing customers with a Web-to-print solution with electronic storage is the most effective way for printers to capture business opportunities.

Eric Wilson, Product Marketing Manager, Inkjet Printing Solutions, Kodak Graphic Group

In the area of ​​billing and declarations, transactional promotional documents are still a major opportunity. Another area that has grown faster is inkjet/offset hybrid printing. With the continuous improvement of commercial printing, commercial printing companies also need to provide customers with more personalized products in order to stand out from the market and find ways to save inventory and wear out costs. Printers adopting inkjet printing technology, especially those with online postpress equipment, will gain more competitive advantage because they look at the cost structure and the production and production cycle of personalized offset materials. Both are significantly higher than other companies.

Guy Broadhurst, Vice President of Product Marketing, Commercial Printing Division, Océ North America

First of all, we regard the digital printing of books as a wonderful opportunity. The book publishing industry is undergoing a revolution. Book printers and publishers have shifted to the production mode of digital printing of books and periodicals based on the quantity of orders, and have abandoned the original business model of printing and resale. Please don't forget that the scope of books is very extensive, such as manuals, reports, catalogues, training guides, etc.—any kind of document that binds multiple pages together belongs to the category of books.

Another important application area is direct mail. The printing plant can either use the existing offset printing equipment to print the color cover, then use the digital printing machine to print the personalized content, or only use the digital printing machine to complete all the printing work. Regardless of which production method is used, direct mail will achieve substantial growth and will be the ideal communication tool between the company and its customers.

Transactional promotional documents are also a market that cannot be ignored. Its core is personalization and can transform a customer-facing transactional document into a marketing material with variable data printed in monochrome, high-gloss, or colored inks. This is really a new feature of transactional documents and can bring innumerable business opportunities to print service providers.

Quincy Allen, President, Xerox Production Systems Group

For many years, Xerox has been developing products from the perspective of applications. The customer's needs determine their choice of digital technology and software. The biggest difference between us and the company is to provide customers with a truly end-to-end one-stop solution that will cover the entire printing process, involving technology, DFE, workflow, Postpress processing, service and technical support.

Xerox will focus on four specific application areas: digital books, transactional promotional documents, materials, and direct mail, which will bring more than $50 billion in annual revenue to the printing industry.

Xerox hopes to help its customers grasp these opportunities. We can provide the industry's most comprehensive product portfolio and application tools for print shops of all sizes, and let them learn how to use these tools to achieve profitable growth.

Reporter: In recent years, environmental issues have been an important topic for us to talk about. In simple terms, what are the major contributions your company has made to the sustainable development of the printing industry?

Chris Reid, Global Solutions Manager, InfoPrint Solutions

InfoPrint Solutions has consolidated its leadership in environmental protection through a series of measures. For example: comply with the "Regulations on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment" (RoHs), the use of recycled paper, and the recovery and reuse of engines and parts of printing presses. In addition, we also attach great importance to the impact of production technology on the environment, including: energy consumption, heat output, ventilation requirements and noise emissions. We also help customers reduce the amount of paper they use. In addition, we also recommend that customers use non-destructive paper to avoid paper waste.

Rick Mazur, Vice President Commercial Marketing, Kodak Graphic Group

Kodak believes that the printing industry should have extensive discussions on this topic. In order to help commercial printing companies achieve "green" printing, we have collected a lot of information related to sustainable development. At Graph Expo recently held, we released a tool kit called “From You Towards Sustainability”. It is designed specifically for our one-on-one interaction with customers. Through it, customers can understand What impact sustainability will have on their businesses. This set of tools allows printers to understand the trends in the printing industry and the best solutions, and help them find the best opportunities for the development of the enterprise.

It is understood that Kodak’s launch of this kit contains a white paper that defines sustainability and summarizes the impact of consumer and business behavior on the way print is designed, produced, and used. In addition, it also contains articles related to sustainable development, case studies related to environmentally friendly printing plants, technical terms, and guidelines for industry and government resources.

Guy Broadhurst, Vice President of Product Marketing, Commercial Printing Division, Océ North America

The biggest challenge we face today is carbon black, the basic component of toner and ink. We are always looking for ways to improve toner efficiency and reduce waste from both printer hardware and chemical composition. We have started a toner cartridge recycling program that not only allows customers to easily return empty toner cartridges to us, but also encourages them to adopt environmentally responsible production methods.

Looking ahead, we believe that everyone will see our hard work in reducing paper waste. The transactional promotional file we discussed earlier is a good solution - because it replaces the separate transactional files and color inserts, you only need to send a page to meet all the needs of the recipient. With the continuous development of short-run personalized printing, the paper that we need to use in the production process is also decreasing.

For more than 50 years, sustainable development has been part of Océ's business philosophy. In 1958, we introduced a new production process that reduced the use of solvents by 80%. Since then, in 1975, we have won Europe's first environmental award. Since 2002, many of our products have met the standards of the UN Global Compact. In addition, we have also become a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Dow Jones Global sustainability index) in 2004 and won the Federation last year. McCormick's award for best performance in sustainability and environmental protection. We are partners of "Energy Star" and many of our products have won the Blue Sky Award from Germany.

Quincy Allen, President, Xerox Production Systems Group

We think it is easy to implement "green printing" at Xerox. We can not only enable our customers to easily achieve “green printing” by providing environmentally friendly products, but also have a positive impact on the sustainability of the environment. We took the lead in launching remanufacturing measures in the industry, and we have always maintained a leading position in the development of non-rejected product development.

Recently, we introduced Xerox's High Yield Business Paper, which is a mechanical fiber paper specifically used for digital printing in the industry. This lightweight, low-cost paper can help print service providers save on shipping costs while reducing the impact of production on the environment.

In terms of hardware, half of our company's products can meet the latest requirements of the US Environmental Protection Agency for "Energy Star". In addition, on September 17th, Xerox’s $59 million construction of the EA Toner production facility will officially begin operations, which will increase the capacity of EA Toner worldwide by 175%. EA Toner has a long service life, consumes less energy in production and does not generate large amounts of waste.

Reporter: The following is a question related to predictions. What are the major trends that you think will have a major impact on the printing industry in 2008? In addition, what do you think will be the theme of Drupa?

Chris Reid, Global Solutions Manager, InfoPrint Solutions

The transition from offset printing to digital books will further promote the growth of digital printing production. Color printing will grow in various fields, and in the field of transactional printing, transactional promotional documents will become the biggest bright spot. In addition, we will also see an increase in market demand for automated production tools based on open standards.

Kevin Joyce, Kodak Graphic and Video Group Manager in the United States and Canada

An important trend in 2008 was the change in the way printers think about services, products and business models. As the printing industry moves forward, printers will be more focused on providing customers with integrated communication services than mere print. In the multimedia campaign, print will still be the most important communication tool, but it is not the only one. The changes in the nature of printing companies will be reflected in the Drupa show. Visitors also hope to find new applications, technologies and solutions at this exhibition to help them build their own businesses. The following areas will attract people's attention: the progress of inkjet technology and workflow.

Guy Broadhurst, Vice President of Product Marketing, Commercial Printing Division, Océ North America

Color, color, color! The main trend in the printing industry is to achieve faster, more economical and higher quality color printing. Color printing is becoming ubiquitous and has become a core topic for people. I think