12.03.09
TWGA Offers Report on Printing and Packaging
According to TrendWatch Graphic Arts’ (TWGA) report, Printing and Packaging 2006, as the commercial printing market has become increasingly competitive, printers and trade shop are looking to new services and markets to boost their bottom line.
One of these approaches is packaging. According to TWGA, the packaging market can be approached in one of two ways: the “toe in” approach, using existing capital investments, or the “full body” approach, adopting packaging-specific workflows, output options and skill sets. This report answers the question, “Where are printers and trade shops along this continuum?”
The report takes a look at who is offering packaging services, their attitude toward those services what volume of their overall services they comprise and what print processes shops are using to output this work, as well as what types of work they are producing.
According to the report, almost all (95 percent) of the commercial printing establishments that print packaging print it on an offset press. TWGA has consistently seen that expanding into new markets is high on graphic arts firms’ priority lists, and yet it has also seen that printers are not moving into or investing aggressively in packaging. What opportunities they see come from doing double duty on existing equipment, not making a deliberate, calculated move to break into a new market. This results in only limited opportunities, since growth in this market requires investment beyond what most printers are willing or see the benefits to make.
Highlights from this report include:
• Despite the popular “talking point” of using toner-based presses for short-run packaging, shops with digital printers were among the least likely to be involved in the packaging market;
• Quick printers were among the most likely to see opportunities in the packaging market, but they were also the least involved in this market and the least likely to be making packaging-specific investments;
• Trade shops are solidly vested in the packaging market, but the most popular output method is not offset or even toner-based printing. The plurality–43 percent–are utilizing wide-format inkjet printers;
• While the overwhelming majority said that packaging comprises 25 percent or less of their overall mix, 1 percent are doing 50 percent or more of their volumes in packing.
TWGA’s Printing and Packaging 2006 analyzes who’s doing packaging work, for what applications, in what volumes and on what devises.
TWGA specializes in the assessment of trends and changes in graphic communications markets by providing timely and strategic information, hard-hitting market analysis and concise expert opinion. For more information, contact TWGA at (866) 873-6310; e-mail: info@trendwatchgraphicarts.com; web: www.trendwatchgraphicarts.
NAPL Debuts Business Review
The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) has published its premier issue of the NAPL Business Review, which contains informative articles on a host of important and timely issues.
“In today’s challenging and ever-changing business environment, information is power and the NAPL Business Review provides our members with a convenient and comprehensive resource for the information and insights they need to move their organization forward,” said Joseph P. Truncale, NAPL president and chief executive officer.
To be published bimonthly, the NAPL Business Review couples in-depth analysis of industry trends with actionable information members can use to advance their business.
Included in the pages of the NAPL Business Review are in-depth articles on critical industry trends, informative case studies, function-specific sections developed to sales and marketing, production, technology and financial management and columns by noted industry experts on industry trends and economic developments, digital technology applications as well as finding and capturing sales.
To request a complimentary copy of the NAPL Business Review call (800) 642-6275 and choose option 4 for the NAPL customer service team.