Kodak Poly Lighting Group CEO Jeff Jackson
good afternoon. I am very grateful to the Seventh Printing Conference Organizing Committee and the China Printing and Printing Equipment Industry Association for providing me with this opportunity to meet with the elites of the printing industry.
I am very honored to come to Beijing to meet with everyone through common business ties and my dedication to the printing industry. When I came to China from my hometown of the United States, I could say that it was thousands of miles away, but the feeling of being with everyone at the moment was as cordial as at home.
I think you are very interested in the status quo and future prospects of the global printing industry. Before that, let me briefly introduce our company: Kodak Polystar Photographic Group. Knowing our products and what we do will help you to better understand my views on the printing industry.
Kodak PolyStar Group is the world's leading pre-press supplier. The products include Kodak's printed film, traditional printing plates, thermal plates and CTP solutions. We are also the world's leading supplier of digital proofing products to support the ever-increasing number of digital printing technologies.
We are a truly global company; we have more than 130,000 users in more than 85 countries, including those who are constantly increasing in China. We have production bases in North America, Europe, and Asia, and our distribution network covers all countries on 6 continents. We have 4 research and development centers around the world.
We are a fairly new company, but we have a long history to trace back. In 1998, Eastman, Kodak and Sun Chemical Company established a joint venture company focusing on the printing industry: Kodak Polystar Photographic Group. Today's advantage is that we integrate the resources and expertise of two great companies.
When talking about the future of the printing industry, I would like to express my views on the following three aspects:
Comparing the printing industry to a giant is not an exaggeration, and the printing industry's global scale and application are well known.
The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that in 2000 the global printing industry had more than $800 billion in output value, and it increased from 1% to 3% each year.
* The printing and publishing industry consists of more than 675,000 companies and at least 4 million employees.
* The general trend in the world is that the total number of companies is decreasing, and the printing companies have grown steadily over the past five years. This situation will continue in the next five years.
* In the printing process, most companies still use lithographic offset printing, accounting for 46% of the industry's output value.
* Digital printing has risen rapidly in the on-demand printing and short-run market. It is now estimated that it has accounted for 7% of the industry's total output value.
* The proportion of gravure and offset printing in the entire output value has slightly decreased. However, because the total output value has increased by 1-3% year-on-year, the absolute value of offset printing is still increasing in the next 5 years.
Light printing as a terminal product is still in its infancy, accounting for only 3% of the output value, but it is also growing.
The premise and foundation for the healthy development of the printing market is the economic growth and its impact on advertising printing in a free market economy. In the past ten years, we have witnessed that the world is on the path of a free market economy and free trade. This will benefit the printing industry in the new century, although many regions now face the pains and challenges of economic transformation.
When the new century begins, despite the regional economic difficulties that have occurred globally, the world economy as a whole remains stable.
According to the forecast of Wharton Economic Forecasting Association (WEFA), the GDP growth rate of the global economy in the next five years is only 1-3%. The facts also prove this point: the world economic growth began to slow down at the end of 2000.
However, the entire value chain of the printing process, from the creative development of prepress processing to the final printing itself, is undergoing tremendous changes and will accelerate.
Because of its large scale and wide range of applications, the printing industry is affected by many powerful and important factors: technological change, global economy, regional political and economic development strategies, and consumer behavior patterns.
In order to survive and develop, printing companies and their suppliers need to be aware of the new market situation.
- A globally reputable multinational company such as McDonald's, through the simultaneous printing in different countries and regions, and adhere to the use of a unified logo and the same style to increase their brand value.
- Further integration of printing and other media approaches.
- Trends toward personalization, short-run printing and faster printing turnaround.
First, the globalization of media competition has led to the globalization of printing. We have now made printing a "giant" in the global industry. Now, printers everywhere are being asked by customers to meet their worldwide needs. The development of the Internet has made the earth smaller. This has a profound impact on the printing industry. More and more organizations are seeking to globalize their business. They are pursuing a seamless production, packaging, logistics and distribution process. E-business must adapt to this demand.
This new competitive environment requires human resources and resources all over the world. Of course, small and medium printing companies and even many large printing companies may not be able to create such conditions. Therefore, the establishment of a joint and strategic partnership between printing companies and their suppliers has become very important and far-reaching. An extremely successful example is the Star Alliance.
Second, printing is no longer a completely independent entity. Digital files are used in printing, the Internet, multimedia applications, etc. These files sometimes also contain digital audio information. The same image is not only printed on the cover of the product information, but also on the same website and CD-ROMS.
This is an era of convergence of electronics and printing. The world's top business and media schools are teaching this theory to the next generation of marketing managers and advertising directors. Successful printing companies will act as "integrated communication service providers."
Third, the printing cycle and print volume have shrunk with the advent of more advanced digital technologies and personalized printing. In such a fashionable age, personalized products are constantly increasing to express different consumption and lifestyles. This is a global trend.
For consumer product manufacturers and other products, more personalized products are used to cater for increasingly narrow consumer markets. These individualized features are not only reflected in the product, but also in product packaging, design style, and delivery methods. So, what impact will these trends have on the printing industry?
While important regional differences will always exist, the following three key factors are the experiences of most parts of the world:
Direct mail advertising business and growth in ordering business with specific requirements.
As packaging becomes a brand asset and distinguishing sign, product packaging flourishes with the large use of color.
The other is short printing with specific materials.
Of course, the fourth is the driving force of all these trends - an increasingly rapid update of technology. In fact, if there is no astounding technological development in the dissemination and printing industry, as I mentioned just now, such as the impact of globalization Z printing and electronic media aggregation Z personalized products, etc. can not be achieved.
Therefore, one of the biggest challenges faced by printing companies in the next few years is that no matter where you work, make the right decisions when making technological investment decisions. In general, global technological change is taking the same path. The difference is only the speed of adoption. Technological development can be "leaping", that is, without intermediate steps, but in the end it can still reach the same goal. For example, the United States has gone through a long process from analog color separations to digital photocopying films before it reached the CTP step. In some parts of the world, printing companies can skip the photojournal and enter the CTP. In China, some printing companies can jump directly from analog color separation to direct plate making, and even a variety of direct printing or imaging technologies.
Before concluding my speech, I will share with you our predictions for the printing industry over the next five years.
I should note that the global printing industry will not be able to cover several trends, just like the other 10 countries in the world, because various factors affect the future development of the printing industry, and the Chinese printing industry will be in its own market. The driving force advances at a specific growth rate, which includes.
Technology that can create this trend.
Market demand varies by region.
Global and regional economic environment.
A country or region that has been prepared for the success of globalization of information technology.
Based on the above perspective, we will summarize some of the recent development trends:
Today, the printing industry all over the world is still dependent on workers. They are highly skilled experts in printing technology. However, with the progress of technology, more and more processes have been digitally controlled, and printing is increasingly moving toward the stage of large-scale industrial production. Skilled workers are still needed, but their skills will be different, especially in information technology (IT).
Not long ago, printing was a popular service for the mass reproduction of thousands of users. Now, as we just discussed, everything is in development and change. Printers must be prepared for personalized and unique future printing trends.
The demand for high-quality prints Nowadays, the printing of 4, 5, and 6 color groups has become common, and there are some businesses that require sophisticated services, and in particular, some of the activities of packaging and printing require that there may be 10, 11, and 12 color groups for printing.
At the beginning of the new century, the printing industry was mostly composed of local and regional suppliers and printing companies. With the acceleration of the globalization process in the future, the merger will bring us more global suppliers and printing companies.
Today, people in the industry see digital printing as a threat to their business. In the future, we need to eliminate this hostility. Successful printers will use digital technology to gain new added value, add more power to their traditional businesses, and prepare for the ever-increasing number of digital businesses in the future.
Some things will not be changed in the next five years. Print the core of past communication and information dissemination, and will continue. All branches of printing will continue to grow in business in the coming years. Of course, in terms of the entire media market, the market share of printing will fall due to the growth of electronic and wireless media business.
In the United States, the saying that the printing industry is a sunset industry has recently risen. Some people think that digital media will soon replace the printing business. The printing industry will withdraw from the stage of history. Contrary to these predictions, industry experts believe that printing continues to develop.
In the new century, the printing industry continues to grow with the development of a country like China. Electronic media and alternatives for printing are slowly entering the market, but facts and figures clearly show that paper ink printing still has its inherent advantages and the strong vitality of the printing industry. This is why we are optimistic about the outlook of the printing industry.
As the world's leading supplier of printing consumables in the printing industry, I am very pleased to be here, and driven by the enthusiasm and eagerness of the printing industry, I will elaborate on the unparalleled future of our printing industry.
For all of us in the printing circle, the key to success is to adapt to new market changes and needs, to meet the various changes that are constantly occurring, and to take advantage of new technologies to inject new vitality into our business and printing industry.