Trends and Opportunities

Business Trends

Lower Cost Per Page
Advances in both digital and conventional offset printing technology are lowering the cost per page for new printers. InfoTrends projects that the decline in cost per page will average 10 percent per year through 2010. As the cost of color printing has dropped, spot color is starting to replace previously all black and white print jobs.

Digital Image Storage
Because of the increasing conversion of images to digital format before printing, some commercial printers now provide digital inventory services. Some printers, in an effort to expand services, are capitalizing on their new expertise in the transfer, manipulation, and storage of digital images, especially in the front-end Computer-Aided Design (CAD) process, Web page design, CD production, and generally in document and information management and distribution.

Mass Customization
Commercial printing is moving toward imaging for "an audience of one." Use of variable data and selective binding capabilities is key to mass customization of printed products. Market research firm InfoTrends projects variable data revenue growth to continue at an annual rate of 37 percent through 2010. Already, three of the largest printing companies, RR Donnelley, Quad/Graphics, and Fry Communications, are benefiting from selective binderies.

New Printing Technologies
With the introduction of digital plate-making, the entire printing process can now be handled most effectively using digital technology. The traditional printing process relies on cameras and photographic film as an intermediate step in the photochemical production of the plates used in printing. New processes can make film from digital images without using a camera.

Industry Opportunities

Technology Broadening Geographic Market Areas
Increased use of digital files and low-cost courier services, and the increased ability of modern presses to accurately reproduce digitally prescribed colors, allow printers to solicit and fulfill orders from distant customers using the Internet. Online print production management solutions can save money on reworks, late fees, and obsolete materials. Online print shops like FedEx Kinko's, Mimeo, and NowDocs specialize in printing and binding electronically prepared materials that can be delivered overnight. Commercial printers able to invest in this technology will supplant many traditional operations.

Value-Added Services
Front-end design services and back-end inventory and distribution services are often as valuable as press operations. Electronic prepress, finishing, binding, packaging, database management, Web page design, CD services, training, and consulting are services that provide extra value for customers.

Online Print Production
Innovative commercial printers are using the Web to allow clients to track jobs. FedEx Kinko's, Mimeo, and NowDocs have online print shops that enable customers to submit and monitor jobs online, print at the vendor's site, and receive overnight delivery. New online services have transformed the printing industry, eliminating the costly and time-consuming prepress stage.

Security Document Printing
Printers are busy developing innovative new products to meet tighter security demands for printed documents. Numerous types of inks, including UV and fluorescent, infrared (IR), thermochromic, photochromic, and magnetic, can be used. Some industry experts believe that IR ink printing will be a growth area.

New Inks, Equipment Technology
New ink and equipment technology can improve commercial printing operations and reduce long-term costs. Interest in single-fluid inks has increased. Single-fluid inks, which are waterless and water-washable, provide faster startups and wider temperature latitude, with no solvents required for cleanup. And a new, low-cost computer-to-plate (CTP) system targeting small commercial printers might save up to 50 percent in material costs by eliminating waste.