When a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road. And in today's slowish economy, driven by ever-sophisticated consumers, nothing speaks louder than new technology or innovation. While it promises better days and faster ways, new technology also represents change—a word guaranteed to provoke resistance and invoke costs. Unfortunately, we are now in an era where rapid change and innovation is the status quo.
For the print manufacturing and publishing industry, nothing has exerted more transformation power than technology in the form of digitization. Consider the practice of e-mailing PDFs and posting files to FTP sites: it has become so prevalent that we wonder how we met those project deadlines not so many years ago. Converting everything into bytes and pixels and elevating processes to push-button and point-and-click simplicity, is now de rigueur. High-level skill sets—and even the much-touted craft in printing—seem, oh, so yesterday.
There's no arguing that the present print manufacturing industry is highly commoditized, with the same merchants peddling equipment, paper and ink anywhere between Abu Dhabi and Zanzibar. Differentiation is moot. Price has, to a large extent, become a differentiating factor; and in any industry conversation, China's status as the price-setter is always just a sentence away. But, as one major Hong Kong supplier opined, "Competing on price does no one any favor. There'll always be someone somewhere promising lower prices. It's better to innovate and think of ways to add value to products and services, give clients more bang for their bucks, retain their loyalty and, in the longer term, improve on margin."
Price, fortunately, is not the sole qualifying factor used by publishers. Just look at Singapore suppliers: they are not the cheapest kids in the block, but they are holding their own in the game. Factors like quality, reliability and innovativeness also come into play. But quality has ceased to be a selling feature, because the present crop of equipment is capable of delivering reasonably high quality standard. The onus is now on suppliers to maintain high quality consistently (make that great quality 99.99% of the time), meet every publishing need and play nonstop technological catch-up. The race to grab a bigger slice of the manufacturing pie depends on how quickly a new technology can be assimilated and incorporated into the existing workflow, offered to the customer and made part of the service and value chain. It has come to this: survive the rigors of change or risk rigor mortis.
From Bytes to Pixels
Technology is the great enabler in the prepress department. Desktop publishing software has facilitated page layout, copy checking, near-instantaneous revision and automated job approval. Digital color photography, document management software, online file exchange and digital proofing have collectively shortened the publishing process. Advances and price reduction in prepress equipment—think flatbed scanner, inkjet proofer and digital camera—have enabled publishers and designers to bring these technologies in-house and take over some front-end processes. Precise image capturing and accurate color reproduction are now made almost foolproof. (Now, do you recall those days of T squares, greeked dummies, cow gum and paste-up galleys with fondness or shudders?)
To print suppliers, providing a streamlined digital workflow has taken on a do-or-die urgency. But the buck doesn't stop there. Providing prepress support is becoming an integral part of the value-added service as well, and this is seen in the establishment of sizable prepress departments under the same roof as printing and postpress facilities. The point is to be able to say to publishers, "Yes, we can handle whatever files and demands that you can think of."
In recent months, soft proofing—aka monitor, virtual or online proofing—is gaining acceptance for content checking and, increasingly, as contract proofs. By utilizing ICC-profiled applications such as Remote Director, MatchPrint Virtual and DiALOGUE, production cycle is shortened, rework eliminated and costs (especially of shipping contract proofs) significantly reduced. It stands to reason that the same production directors who used to insist that peace of mind is priceless—ergo the press checks and press proofs—are now shifting their stand. Obviously, the economics of soft proofing is hard to ignore, and harder still to deny.
Between the Sheets
If there is one goal on the press side, it would be this: cheaper and faster make-readies. It means keeping labor costs down (yes, even in southern China), reducing manning of equipment (ditto), improving quality and increasing throughput by using newer and more advanced machinery. For publishers, skipping warehousing costs by cutting excess inventory with just-in-time manufacturing is no longer enough. Trimming book size and page count, and lowering basis weight with substitute stock, is the in thing, so as to reduce freight and, ultimately, postage and handling fees.
Meanwhile, falling run lengths and ever-shorter turnaround time have some suppliers advocating POD (print on demand) as an alternative to conventional printing. But maintaining cross-platform continuity—between the ink-based lithographic process and the toner-based computerized process—is easier said than done. Such a solution, offered under one roof, is still a rare commodity. This either-or scenario (the so-called hybrid print manufacturing) is mostly viewed as a value-chain enhancement intended to retain and cultivate customer loyalty.
On press, however, it isn't just about the efficiencies of presses; ink and paper are part of the indispensable trio. Here, technology has given us the latest ink formulations, which, for example, tout higher runability, faster drying, higher scuff resistance, higher gloss and greater compatibility with coatings, foil stamping and lamination. Some even promise increased color strength with improved ink mileage. Thus, in-house ink laboratories are commonplace, especially since ink technology is no longer just about replicating shades of the rainbow but has extended to heat conductivity, scratch-and-sniff, glow-in-the-dark and more.
Paper-wise, print buyers are now more concerned about the chain of custody than recycled content. FSC-certified, PCW (post-consumer waste) and TCF (totally chlorine-free) are just a small part of the paper-buying lingo. Thanks to technology, recycled paper is getting cheaper and de-inking techniques are improving. New grades are getting thinner while offering better runability on press (even on offset) and higher tensile strength.
Still, paper and ink are mass-produced commodities available to anyone; print manufacturers can hardly lay claim to these components as their differentiation features. (Did we say that the print manufacturing industry has it easy?)
Foiled and Stamped
When it comes to adding value to print, nothing beats postpress processes in supplying the "wow" factor. Publishers invariably want their products to stand out like a jewel scarab in all its multihued glory, with glittering, flocking, stamping, embossing, fancy die-cutting and all the works. High-gloss or matte-finished coatings as well as the creative use of metallic and holographic substrates continue to win the day. That means these finishes promise the highest growth—shall we conclude that anything additive is, well, simply addictive?—and most suppliers have acquired the capabilities themselves instead of outsourcing them.
Meanwhile, the demand for high-volume casing and faster wire-o has automated much of these processes and significantly improved the basics of stitching, binding and laminating. Stitching is not the only guarantee that pages will survive several generations of grimy fingers; say hello to PUR (polyurethane reactive) adhesive, which has a 40%—60% better page pull than traditional adhesives and can withstand temperature extremes without glue failure. The need for shorter cycle time has also given thermal lamination a boost. What has it to offer? It gives the pages or covers a classy feel, a luxurious finish and better color rendition, besides protecting and strengthening them. At the same time, scuff-free matte film means that soon, ugly scratches on book covers will be a thing of the past.
Combining a variety of substrates and finishing techniques—think matte laminate with spot UV, or foil stamping of holographic logos—provides that extra zing demanded by publishers. But the responsibility for getting the sequence right to ensure that everything—especially the coatings—withstands the multiple processes lies solely with the print manufacturer. That means experience counts more than technology in producing the desired result. So perhaps there's still something to be said about craft in printing after all.
Getting the Right Mix
In the contentious print manufacturing business, harnessing of technology is crucial. But it must also be accompanied by the intangibles—focused client-relationship management, 24/7 customer support, reliability and innovativeness, to name a few—which differentiate supplier A from supplier B or the next one in the list. That, mind you, is the reality of print manufacturing today: with costs creeping up, manufacturers have to juggle operating efficiencies and profitability, and pepper the process with a dash of marketing moxie and a shake of creative mojo. It's brutal out there: the past doesn't count for much, and customer loyalty is as fleeting as the first snowflakes hitting the ground. Gaining mind share is tough; slicing a bigger piece of the manufacturing pie tougher still.
As for the future, what is certain is increased North American presence in the Asian print manufacturing scene through M&As and strategic alliances, and the imminent rise of hybrid print manufacturing combining the best of offset printing with on-demand solutions. Meanwhile, prognostication of a rising printing hub (consider India) or the plotting of a new one (think Dubai) makes lively dim-sum conversations. But if there's one particular group of suppliers best equipped to survive the Darwinian test and to evolve stronger, then PW certainly places its bet on these Hong Kong and Singapore print manufacturers.
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