Did you hear that? It was a collective sigh from the Hong Kong print manufacturing industry the moment the U.S. economy started recovering and the greenback strengthening. Of course, now the Chinese juggernaut is slowing, pockets of Europe are suffering, and the forecast for Australia is rather dismal. But most of the signs out there, print manufacturers agree, point to a sunnier 2015.
Over at Regent Publishing Services, first-quarter sales have been encouraging. “I remain optimistic of the industry and of Regent’s future,” says managing director George Tai. “The world, by and large, still requires ink-on-paper products, despite the popularity of e-devices and e-books. In fact, there have been indications that people are going back, in significant numbers, to buy printed books, and that is really very promising for both print manufacturing and publishing industries.”
Another positive sign is the strong and still-growing children’s market across the world. “A few years ago, there were concerns that e-books and digital devices would replace traditional print titles even in the children’s segment,” says Leo Paper director Alvin Lai. “But the current market situation clearly indicates that the concern was overblown.” Lai adds that his R&D team has been focused on edutainment elements through launches of Leo Touch secondary processes and Haptic Magic (“sense of touch”) applications to support product development and market differentiation.
Seeking Balance and Profit
Still, smaller print runs, shorter turnaround times, and lower inventory levels in the whole book supply chain remain harsh realities challenging publishers and print manufacturers alike, says Kit Wong, assistant general manager of C&C Offset Printing, pointing out that these have pushed supply chain efficiencies to the limit. “China remains one of the best places for top-quality book manufacturing, despite escalating costs driven by higher wages and environmental protection measures,” Wong says. “The appreciating Chinese yuan has also eaten into printers’ profit margins. But good things have come out of these: more automation and less waste throughout the whole color management and manufacturing processes, for instance. It calls for a change in thinking and modus operandi.”
For Lai, “the euro fluctuation and unstable European economy is a striking contrast to the comparatively healthy growth in the U.S. and U.K., which are our biggest markets. Having said that, we are expanding our business with several big Italian publishers on licensed books.” Lai now leads Leo Paper, together with general managers Henry Woo and Andy Lau, following the retirement of former directors Kelly Fok and Henry Tang last December.
“Hikes in wages are the most significant issue of all,” says Samuel Chung, sales and marketing director of Chang Jiang Printing Media (and formerly of Millenium and Excel), who has spent almost 40 years in the industry. “Back in 1988, Excel production workers in Guangzhou earned $30 per month. Now, the minimum monthly wage in China has hit $580, and that does not include employer taxes and insurance coverage, which are both very costly.”
But even at higher wages, the labor market remains tight, because the younger generation prefers to work in nonmanufacturing industries. Increasingly, automation is a proven way out. “Last year, we were able to deliver the same output with significantly less manual labor, and we are automating even more while further improving our processes this year,” says Matthew Yum, executive chairman of Hung Hing. “But automation only goes so far, which is why our team is also putting more emphasis on planning efficiencies and looking at concepts such as sheet pooling, optimum runs, and overall equipment effectiveness.”
Advancing Digital/Hybrid Printing
Senior management at publishing houses is the primary driver of digital ink-jet printing adoption, according to CTPS global business director John Currie. “Procurement teams from large publishing groups or companies, especially, understand the business proposition of reduced inventory, which automatically resulted in increased working capital,” he says. “But now we are seeing SMEs, who have even more reasons to control their inventory levels and manage operating costs, joining the adoption drive.”
Digital ink-jet printing, Currie adds, is the right fit for higher education and STM publishers, for whom print quality needs to be acceptable and ink-jet-optimized stocks—for short-to-medium runs ranging from 40 to 1,000 copies—are available in the market. “Trade publications, which require heavier ink coverage on glossy stocks, are less amenable to digital ink-jet printing,” he says. “Still, we are seeing more orders of full-color short runs ranging from one to 50 copies on our HP Indigo presses.”
But trade publishers are in for a big surprise with HP’s newly launched High Definition Nozzle Architecture (HDNA) technology. “HDNA, with its new printhead, software, firmware, and electronics, allows book and journal printers to print with breakthrough quality and speed,” explains David Murphy, worldwide director of marketing and business development for HP’s ink-jet high-speed production solutions. He adds: “The new printheads have twice the native resolution at 2,400 nozzles per inch—up from the previous 1,200—with dual drop weight per color. This means sharper text, finer lines, smoother color transitions, wider printable color gamut, and enhanced highlight and shadow details with accurate skin tones on print. The productivity, as tested on HP T400 ink-jet Web press, has also increased, from 600 to 800 feet per minute, marking a 33% increase in speed.” Additionally, built-in nozzle redundancy in HDNA enables the printheads to print longer at higher quality. “But the best part,” Murphy notes, “is that these new printheads are the same size and shape as the ones used today—which means that the technology is fully upgradable on current HP presses.”
The new HDNA technology “enables printing of full-color trade books and journals, commercial materials, and other publications that include or require high-quality photographs,” Murphy says, pointing out that HP has more than 250 types of stock (standard coated and uncoated as well as ink-jet-optimized) tested in its media certification and ColorPRO programs.
While printing digitally may or may not be cheaper than offset printing, Currie of CTPS points out that “one cannot deny that by matching print to bookstore order, for example, there is no return stocks and therefore less wastage, clearer invoicing, and no re-warehousing issues.” He adds, “Such benefits in time, money, and resources have resulted in a continued uptake in CTPS digital printing business and services.”
As a result of these developments, savvy publishers are taking a hard look at where digital printing can best fit each book’s life cycle. If, previously, digital printing was used solely to revive out-of-print and backlist titles through on-demand production, today it is applicable at every stage of a book’s life: it can be used to produce limited quantities of bound galleys for events or for test marketing prior to main rollout (prelife), to print promotional copies for market launch (new life), or to release customized versions of popular and proven titles (midlife). So print manufacturers such as CTPS are offering hybrid offset/digital printing capabilities to give publishers the best of both worlds and the opportunities to further unlock the full value of their titles.
Investing in the Future
Consolidation within the Hong Kong/China printing industry will persist in the foreseeable future, says Yum of Hung Hing, “and firms that add value or are more fully integrated will stand a better chance in gaining market share.” He adds: “For us, it is about staying at the forefront of innovative print technology, and seeking alliances and partnerships that will further expand our product offerings. At the same time, we deliver more value with services such as foreign rights assistance to international children’s book publishers looking to sell in China, and integrated logistics solutions so that clients can increase their revenues from existing content and lower their total costs.” Hung Hing’s paper-trading business, for instance, helps clients by offering bulk purchase and distribution of stock to appointed printers.
Chang Jiang’s Chung, on the other hand, finds ample opportunities by becoming a reliable partner to mainland Chinese printers that are seeking overseas clients. “These printers are very good at utilizing new machineries and printing technologies to supply to overseas market but their knowledge of CTP [computer-to-plate] and prepress processes is still lacking,” he says. “So we help them—and, by default, their clients—by ensuring quality prepress, which leads to better work efficiencies and cost effectiveness.”
Then there is 1010 Printing Group, which took over Australian print group Opus barely two years after acquiring Asia Pacific Offset. Such inorganic growth automatically brings about new clients and market access beyond the Hong Kong/China shores.
Collectively, the industry is now talking more about solutions than print, per se. And that is because while the aesthetics of a printed product can always be enhanced with various techniques and new technologies to justify its cost price, engaging the client (and getting them to come back repeatedly) brings in the money (and profit). Client loyalty comes through rewarding experiences and collaborative efforts—and that has the printers scrambling to form alliances, build partnerships and be an extension of the client’s operations.
In other words, the boundaries between the roles and responsibilities of a printer and those of a publisher are shifting. For the publisher, letting the printer do more makes sense as it allows them to focus on their core competencies. For the printer, taking on more of the publisher’s responsibilities builds loyalty, and that, in the long term, translates into money. What drives everything is the goal of having the agility to thrive and survive through economic (and industry) highs and lows.
To find out more on what is working and how the plan goes, PW sat down with several major export printers, listed below in alphabetical order:
C&C Offset Printing
Standardizing book formats, building Web-based estimating systems, and using more environmentally friendly materials will go a long way toward improving efficiencies, reducing costs, and lowering the carbon footprint, says assistant general manager Kit Wong. “Our fully developed ERP system is periodically upgraded to cover all functional areas, and it offers complete transparency. It provides our clients with more control over their print projects and increases their confidence in the whole manufacturing process.”
The consolidation in the U.S. book industry isn’t negatively impacting C&C’s market share, observes Wong. “On the contrary, we are seeing an increase in our share due to strong support from many long-time clients. Given that we have worked closely with American publishers for nearly 30 years now, we do have a strong foundation to meet new challenges coming from both the publishing and printing industries.”
But some challenges, such as the West Coast port congestion resulting from strikes, are beyond C&C’s control. “Some of our titles were delayed up to four weeks earlier this year, and we immediately set up a taskforce with our freight forwarders and U.S. sales personnel to inform clients, monitor the progress, and update the status accordingly,” Wong says. “Open and constant communication with clients is very important in such situations.”
As for maintaining its competitiveness, careful investment is a must. Wong notes: “We need to tread carefully around capacity expansion. We look for capital investment that produces higher work efficiencies and quality products while simultaneously reducing dependence on manual labor. Last year, this strategy won for us a total of 388 international awards given out by experts such as those from the Printing Industries of America [PIA], Printing Impressions magazine, and the Binding Industries Association.”
Diversification of the printing business is gaining steam. “Our stationery business has picked up in both China and Asian markets after we tested the waters over the past couple of years,” Wong says. “Winning the top award at the London Stationery Show last year has given us the confidence and encouragement to delve further into the segment.” Wong’s sales team has been distributing notebooks in the Chinese market, while expanding its Hong Kong business with a new line of decorative masking tapes. “Since July 2014, our masking tapes—distributed via physical and online stores—are available in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. There are more than 30 designs, and they are very popular. We aim to become one of the biggest masking tape design houses in Hong Kong in the near future.”
Chang Jiang Printing Media
A primary production facility in Chengdu, in Sichuan province, with 400 staff, and three offices—in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shanghai—form the operational base of Chiang Jiang Printing Media, which is focused on complex pop-ups and hand-assembly titles. Sales and marketing director Samuel Chung, who has a 30% stake in the Chengdu facility, likens the company to a print brokerage firm with considerable in-house production capabilities. “We have a sales office in New York to support our American clients, while we work exclusively with two printers in Shanghai,” he says. “In general, we manufacture pop-ups and complex jobs in Chengdu, and conventional titles with various types of binding are done in Shanghai.” The company’s main communication hub is its Hong Kong office, whereas production and quality issues are dealt with at the Guangzhou and Shanghai offices, due to their proximity to the manufacturing sites.
The idea of having a Shanghai liaison office, Chung notes, came from the realization that many printers in China have little experience in dealing with overseas publishers. “The day-to-day communication, the printing jargon in different languages, the need to be transparent in their production workflow and processes: these are areas that are murky to most mainland Chinese printers and are sometimes ignored. At the same time, overseas publishers would lose out if such lack of communication or transparency detered them from using these printers, because their pricing, especially in the case of those located further north from Shenzhen, is very attractive. We are stepping in to bridge that gap.”
Recent months have seen Chung and his team working on complex titles—including Star Wars, One Red Dot, Blue 2, Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, 600 Black Spots, The Jungle Book, and Pesci Tropicali—by pop-up masters Robert Sabuda, David A. Carter, Matthew Reinhart, and David Hawcock.
“We are focused on getting better value and producing high-quality products for our clients,” Chung says. “And to do that, we are actively sourcing and training more manufacturing partners that can offer great prices and services to overseas publishers.” Chung notes that his clientele is mainly composed of medium and small publishers. “The search for reliable clients is always on,” he adds. “As it is, a printer, by default of the credit terms, finances the whole manufacturing process until payment is made 60, 90, or even 120 days after completion. That puts a lot of stress on the print manufacturer’s cash flow—but that’s the nature of the industry. I don’t see that changing. All we can do is reduce the cost burden by being more effective and efficient, and bringing in more projects to defray the overhead.”
CTPS
The print manufacturing business, says global business director John Currie, is constantly evolving and bringing new opportunities to add value for clients. Oxford University Press, for instance, originally engaged CTPS solely for digital printing. However, its contract has since been expanded to include mailing solutions for journals to subscribers in more than 50 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. “This opens up warehousing and inventory management opportunities,” Currie notes. “And so we are embarking on smart partnerships with various warehousing and logistics companies specializing in B2C e-commerce, allowing us to offer unique and customized storage sites with commercial tracking linked to our cloud-based DigiAsia portal.” Additional warehousing sites in China and Hong Kong are being planned.
Selling the business concept of reduced inventory coupled with rapid replenishment to regional publishers takes center stage, adds Currie. “We have been involved in a few RFPs that specifically focused on consolidation of print suppliers within a specific region. It is obvious that big publishers are scrutinizing their overall print and supply chain, and this is good news for CTPS; we are expanding our services to meet new needs. By using us, publishers would essentially eliminate three different parties in reaching their end consumer.”
CTPS’s Singapore-based company DigiAsia now offers scalable business modules to fit each publisher’s needs, size, and budget. “Often, it boils down to short runs or the print-on-demand proposition, or integrated print/stock management distribution in B2B or B2C,” Currie says. “For SMEs who want the same solutions but not the budget for a full-run SAP, we can scale it down accordingly. We can also interface our portal with the publisher’s inhouse system for real-time transparency and control. This portal is the same one used for our commercial print clients, and therefore it is very robust and always changing to reflect market needs and innovative ideas.”
With shifts in business have come changes in CTPS’s management. “Our senior management team has to drive the new initiatives that are reshaping CTPS from a pure book printer into a solutions-enhanced service company,” says CEO Peter Tse, whose company is now in its 51st year of operation. “As such, we now have professional managers in finance and production from nonprinting multinationals—from the automotive and electronics sectors, for instance—with deep knowledge of business processes and supply chain systems. They understand the inventory and supply chain management in the new economy far better than those with traditional printing background. It is definitely a transformation from a family business management style. Another issue that I am addressing is succession planning to better prepare the company for the future.”
Hung Hing
The soft launch of Meet the Animal, the world’s first Bridging Book technology–enabled publication, at the recent Hong Kong Education Expo perfectly showcased Hung Hing’s diverse expertise and collective capabilities in merging print with digital elements.
The brainchild of BelugaBloo (a Hung Hing subsidiary) and cocreator I-Square Education, Meet the Animal is a “smartbook” that combines storytelling with tactile pages to deliver a multisensory learning experience. General manager Yee Yu notes: “Each page introduces children to a number of popular animals living in different habitats—the farm, the jungle, the sky, and under the sea—and is synchronized to a custom-made mobile app. Flipping a page of the physical book triggers the corresponding content in the app, which works on Apple iOS and Android devices. It delivers 30 minutes of fun and discovery through visual and tactile elements with professional narration.”
The project took about six months from conceptualization to mobile app development. Early reviews from educators and parents have been positive, and executive chairman Matthew Yum, whose company owns the IP rights to the book, is open to working with publishers in different markets who are interested in using this new high-tech format for their own titles or to distribute the new BelugaBloo title. “I see a promising future and expanding market for products combining conventional printed books with digital elements,” he says. “With Bridging Book technology, and ideas from BelugaBloo and various partners, our strength in printing has been elevated to new levels.”
Meanwhile, Hung Hing UK, which originated from a partnership with MacLehose Associates, is seeing renewed interest in original paper engineering ideas, cost-saving solutions, and in-house innovations. It was recently involved in YouTube’s 10th-anniversary A-Z promotional video; the team developed a large pop-up book with moving mechanisms for the video’s opening scene.
As for its partnership with shareholder Rengo Japan, Yum says: “They have been very supportive, especially in the expansion of sales promotion tools and the point-of-sale [POS] display business in China. We now have a Japanese design director, as well as marketing experts based in Hong Kong, and this has allowed us to propose the latest trends in POS display designs from Japan to local markets. At the same time, we have developed a supply chain strategy that includes nonpaper materials, including aluminum and wood, in our POS display offerings. I am very upbeat about this particular business segment.”
Leo Paper Group
Coloring books are in vogue, and, for Leo Paper director Alvin Lai, “viewing it at a broader scope vis-à-vis our client’s product development strategy is the key.” He adds, “We ask ourselves: Why is this segment growing, what is needed from the markets, and how can we support our clients and boost their market share?” Lai has seen coloring books become popular in Europe and then in the U.S. “Promoting mental health via learning and education is becoming more important, and coloring books are a growing part of combating stress for adults. Our team emphasizes two key elements—‘edutainment’ and health—when developing such products and promoting innovative ideas.”
The company is accustomed to adding special touches to clients’ products and offering other extras. “Take a lifestyle product such as a cooking or gardening title: we can enhance the value by combining related accessories and packing it in a nicely designed gift box, thus allowing it to be sold as a gift item at a higher value rather than just as a book by itself,” explains general manager Andy Lau. He points out that Leo Touch secondary processes have been around for more than 10 years and notes, “We are now applying these processes to product design, manufacturing, packaging, and even displays. At the same time, our strong sourcing capabilities have given us a huge range of accessory items for clients to choose from to match their budget, design, and safety concerns.”
Then there’s Haptic Magic. First introduced in 2012, it was relaunched last year as a specially designed four-volume box set showcasing the technology with different secondary processes. “More new ideas and innovative approaches in print will be showcased in Frankfurt,” promises general manager Henry Woo, whose team has also created different sets of books—including Leo Touch Five Elements (on various bindings and secondary processes) and Touch-and-Feel—to help clients with product development.
In terms of structure, the group has reorganized itself into four key areas: original equipment manufacturing (OEM), packaging, sustainable business, and new business development. In packaging, a dedicated team now maximizes the company’s resources in providing a total packaging solution. “Productionwise, as part of our vision, we have been implementing lean manufacturing since 2007. We also initiated production automation back in 2012 to enhance production efficiencies and reduce dependence on manual labor. We are making great progress and are on the right track toward our long-term goal of progressively shifting from labor-intensive to capital-intensive production,” adds Lai.
Recently, Leo Paper became the first printing company to achieve the Hong Kong Certification Body Accreditation Scheme’s ISO14064-1 certification in carbon management and reporting, and scored the highest mark on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) index in Hong Kong’s industrial sector.
Magnum Offset
“Togetherness” is the motto of 29-year-old Magnum Offset. “We believe in treating clients like friends and looking after them as though they are a part of our family,” says Vicky Chan, the company’s manager for overseas sales development. “Our concern is not just about problem-solving but also on how to grow together with our clients. And during hard times, we trust and look out for one another in order to stay competitive. This philosophy has worked very well for us based on the fact that we have clients that have been with us for more than 15 years.”
Mixing Chinese culture with a Western mind-set—prioritizing values such as teamwork, flexibility, open-mindedness, creative thinking, and environmental awareness, for instance—has also resulted in better understanding clients, both local and overseas. “Our 24-hour response policy, regardless of time differences, pushes the envelope even further,” says overseas sales manager Alice Fan, whose team has seen increasing demand for digital printing in recent months. “We also encourage our staff to respond to environmental concerns and to propose FSC-certified paper, soy-based inks, and recycled materials wherever appropriate. But our digital printing services are still mostly used for marketing collaterals and event programs such as graduation booklets, presentation kits, promotional leaflets, price-
lists, and catalogues. In instances where client requires 300 copies or fewer, which constitutes 2%–3% of our new orders, we would consider proposing digital printing, or a combination of digital and offset processes, as it would be much more cost effective and faster.”
Overall, about 40% of Magnum’s business comes from overseas. Its Wong Chuk Hang facility in Hong Kong has remained more or less the same size throughout the years. Its Dongguan facility, on the other hand, has the production capabilities to handle large orders for both domestic Chinese and overseas markets in luxury packaging, books, and other consumer products.
Furthermore, project inquiries are now coming from countries such as Chile, Panama, Peru, Saudi Arabia, and Tanzania. Janet Yau, account manager for overseas markets, says, “It is fair to say that printing is not a sunset industry as many had prognosticated in the past. New opportunities are constantly being created by the marketplace and consumers, and by our own experienced sales team. Grabbing those opportunities and turning them into profits through stable relationships is about finding alternative ways to meet clients’ budgets and exceed their expectations. Such win-win situations will carry the day.”
Regent Publishing Services
For a print broker, price and delivery are negotiable, according to managing director George Tai of Regent Publishing Services. “But quality is absolutely nonnegotiable, and that is how Regent has survived and continues to serve many long-term clients across the world,” he says, adding, “Flat management hierarchy helps too, because clients have direct access to me at all times, and that makes for strong and lasting supplier-client relationships.”
For Tai, profitability is a direct result of helping each other out. “We look out for our clients’ interests by giving them competitive pricing, providing the best service, and ensuring reliable and good quality products. And when their businesses are profitable, they will come back with repeat orders, and that will make us profitable, too.” Talking about issues—be they production, pricing, schedules, or shipping—openly and solving them together makes a huge difference as well: “Honest and open communications ensure repeat customers. Clients are comfortable with us and our services, and that support means a lot to our longevity and reputation in the business.”
Persistence, reliability, and partnership are Regent’s hallmarks, says California-based national sales manager Valerie Harwell. “This year is our 30th anniversary, and our long-standing reputation is something that we are really proud of. So, in celebration of this major milestone, we are planning to produce a revision our resource book, which serves as a sample of our printing, binding, and hand work capabilities, and our marketing materials. Clients can find paper samples, a glossary of industry terms, a conversion chart, and a variety of stocks and materials used to create books.” Harwell and her team distributed more than 4,000 copies of the previous version, as “it was very popular among our clients and within the industry, and we expect the same reception for the new edition, which is coming out in a few months.”
Trendwise, Harwell sees significant growth in adult coloring books, “which are not difficult to produce at all, and their popularity is not fading any time soon. Overall, we have been fortunate to not be too adversely affected by the West Coast port strike, and our customers remain faithful. Business is not bad, which is encouraging, but we continue to push harder for great quality, better prices, and faster delivery on behalf of our customers.”
Project Showcase: Forty Sights of the Old Chinese Summer Palace
This unique project, licensed by the National Library of France to Shanghai Far East Publishers for publication, was manufactured at C&C Offset’s Beijing plant. “Our team carried out on-site color calibration twice at the library, and they had to put the original case material under the microscope in order to match the shade and pattern of the Chinese cranes on silk cloth,” explains assistant general manager Kit Wong, pointing out that antiforgery measures were applied using an embedded RFID tag. “This book—reproduced using the same texture and in the same extra-large format as the original, with each of the 40 spreads measuring 85.2 cm × 148.4 cm—is the culmination of conventional printing expertise, hand-binding skills, new color-management technologies, and antiforgery and RFID tracking capabilities.”
Project Showcase: Happy Valley Phonics
(book/sticker/CD combo)
Essentially, this three-book series was a test print run of 500 copies used for a soft launch in Japan and was printed digitally at CTPS’s Dongguan plant. “Unlike with offset printing, where a fixed quantity of each title needs to be set, we have the flexibility to mix it up here,” says Simon Moran, owner and CEO of franchise school and ELT publisher Modern English. “So we printed 250, 100, and 150 copies of the first, second, and third books, respectively.” Digital printing on wood-free stock, he adds, “allows us to produce titles where students can write on our full-color combined student/workbook with pen or pencil—something that is not easily doable on glossy paper. Additionally, and fantastically, we can also personalize each book with school, teacher, or student names. And given our business’s seasonal nature, the flexibility that comes with digital printing means that we can plan ahead and minimize inventory, which is very cost effective. We are definitely considering moving more titles over to digital printing.”
Project Showcase: Suntory Premier Malt launch with Bridging Book
Japanese brewer Suntory was one of the earliest adopters of Hung Hing’s Bridging Book technology. Marketed under its BelugaBloo subsidiary, this technology gave Suntory’s premier malt beer launch a cutting-edge and innovative feel that was especially appropriate for high-end consumers in places such as Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills. “The glossy brochure pages are synchronized with on-screen content to provide a novel way of communicating the qualities of Suntory beer, and illustrating the company’s beer-brewing history,” explains commercial director Richard Lim, adding that the client only decided to implement Bridging Book technology three weeks prior to the launch. Aside from fast-tracking all processes, the team partnered with a Tokyo-based app development company to work on the digital part, and it was able to deliver the product within the given time frame. “The end product worked beautifully at all launch sites, and consumer feedback was positive,” Lim notes.
Project Showcase: Minecraft Blockopedia
This 312-page case-bound book, conceived and developed by Egmont Publishing UK, gave Leo Paper Group its first challenge manufacturing a hexagonal product. With an initial order quantity of 300,000 copies for delivery within six months and reprints to follow, the team tried to uncover and anticipate all possible issues right from the start, the dummy-making stage, and then discuss them with Egmont. “The need to have all blocks and six sides aligned properly was the biggest issue of all,” says director Alvin Lai, whose team proactively arranged for pre-production samples while exploring myriad production tolerances. “We also proposed ideas for retail packaging based on our client’s preliminary requirements and concept. In all, a proactive customer-focused mind-set, close client collaboration, mutual trust, and a determination to anticipate potential issues were key in successfully delivering this title.”
Project Showcase: Touch, Feel, and Listen Series
The Leo Paper team produced four different board books for YoYo Books by combining innovative printing and electronic technologies with a lot of forethought. “Helping our clients to increase the perceived value of their products and to further differentiate their products from others on the market has always been our goal,” explains general manager Henry Woo. “So when the concept came to us, we immediately suggested that our client include Haptic Magic and various touch-and-feel elements to the pages. For us, it is important for children’s books to have attractive designs, colorful graphics, and elements such as sound, touch, and feel that will further enhance the reading and learning experience. Our suggestion was implemented, and we were able to produce the titles cost effectively, even with the additional elements, through lean and efficient manufacturing.”
Project Showcase: Beijing Tong Ren Tang Annual Report
Exposed section-sewn binding is not exactly new, unique, or innovative. But for this particular project it made sense. “First off, the client wanted a strong, specially made thread that was dyed red to match its corporate color,” says Vicky Chan, manager for overseas sales development, whose team has seen projects with exposed section-sewn binding making a comeback in recent months. “The striking color in itself meant we had to be particularly careful with the stitching process. And then the client specified a very unique way of stitching, giving the spine a pattern of its own. The lack of a proper cover means that our production team had to manually separate each copy of the annual report with a piece of paper before applying the glue.”
