People, Process and Technology: Trends That Are Transforming the Printing Industry

People, process and technology continue to both influence and facilitate the trends that define the future of the print industry. Here are three powerful and far-reaching industry shifts that cannot be ignored.

1. Declining craft skills: the shift to optimized automation. Unlike outdated fears that automation would replace workers, today’s machinery is designed to enable them to do their jobs both effectively and efficiently. Consider the steady depletion of once tried-and-true craft and mechanical skills within the industry, skills possessed by a now aging and retiring workforce who possessed a seasoned and intuitive understanding of how to produce a quality book or magazine.

Today’s plant employees are simply not as mechanically-adept as their fathers and forefathers were, many who grew up on rural farms with a keen sense of machinery, how to run it, and how to repair it. Conversely, today’s workers are much more technology-oriented, and highly adaptable to varying graphical interfaces, the computer screen being one. Which is why equipment manufacturers are making machines that are more automated and less dependent on mechanical adjustment and worker know-how.

The good news is these techno-savvy operators often lessen the learning curve. Today, if you’re comfortable with a computer, you’re apt to be comfortable with the automation interface that manufacturers are creating.

However, total automation is probably not in the near future, in particular, when manufacturing hardcover books. Here a certain amount of craft know-how is still a necessity. But making the adjustments that achieve that end is considerably more automated than it would have been in the past.

Take, for example, a client that recently installed the Muller Martini Diamant MC hardcover bookline. The operator was running it close to top speed and producing excellent quality. Just three week’s prior, he had started work with the company. The two key factors that led to such adeptness? He was highly motivated and computer-savvy.

To further support and enable this migration to more automated machinery, manufacturers have greatly expanded and intensified operator training, making it an integral part of the selling cycle. Moreover, today’s customers are looking to equipment manufacturers to provide this additional support and direction.

2. Reduced risks: the shift to digital printing. This is, arguably, one of the most pervasive trends in print manufacturing, spurred on by publishers’ demand to reduce forecasting risks, lower inventory costs and decrease obsolescence waste. Today, more than 3 percent of all books are printed digitally, and that number is projected to grow to 10-15 percent in the next three to five years. The reason? The onset of the no-inventory or short-inventory life cycle, with books being manufactured digitally in much shorter run lengths.

At Muller Martini, we’ve coined this trend “offset substitution.” Initially, digital book manufacturing was considered a complementary alternative to offset, in that it creates a better inventory cycle turnaround and is green-friendly, with considerably less throwaway books. However, the trend has also created a demand shift that’s no longer directed only by offset printers, print manufacturers and finishing manufacturers. The publishers are now also setting the course, since digital printing eliminates risks in sales forecasting and delivers a more prudent, cost-efficient model for printing and distributing books. But there’s definitely an upside for printers: Digital printing produces a near or total makeready-free environment, while providing the ability to turn jobs around immediately while optimizing cost-effectiveness.

What’s Ahead?