The optimum size for a printing company

[GeorgeA]

A recent study by the German consulting company Pier 18 suggests that medium-sized printing companies (100-500 employees) are surviving the best in these difficult times. The report looked at the period between 2004 and 2008, a period when the number of German printing companies decreased by 10%. Most of the troubled companies were very large or very small. The only size group that increased was the 100-500 employee group. The report concludes that this is the best size for a printing company. (From: What’s the ideal size for a printing company?)

On the other hand, Heidelberg’s second-in-command, Jürgen Rautert, thinks many medium-sized firms are doomed to disappear. He says: “There will be a structural change in the direction that the medium-sized printers will form a substantially smaller percentage of the industry in two or three year’s time. The big ones will grow and the small ones will maintain profitable niches, offering special services or servicing local business mostly. The medium-sized printers, I think, will either shrink or grow by consolidation. So this hourglass effect will happen: the industry will no longer be a pyramid – it will be an hourglass, more larger printers and smaller printers and the medium-sized printers will thin out.” (From: printweek.com | Latest Print Industry News)

One analysis or the other has to be wrong. Does anyone have an opinion about which is correct?

[OutSourceD]

Printing is DEAD.

[Morning Flight]

Printing is DEAD.

Mark Twain would disagree.

[OutSourceD]

Mark Twain is DEAD.

[rbailleu]

guess I should not have bought the new presses, ctp, folder and cutter. also I see a lot of 50 employee firms with old 40 inch presses going under.

[ondemandbindery]

I would not say printing is dead. But there is now a significant impact in the industry since the downturn of the economy and where it ends up when the markets stabilize is absolutely looking through a Crystal Ball. I am a very proactive owner of my company in regards to Client relations. I am constantly in shops ranging from the mom and pop duplicator business to huge magazine web printers. There is a new world order to how people think and what they want. It is an On Demand business now and people have gotten smart about printing in general. The Internet is absolutely the reason for this and that is reality. It is also a cut throat business and the margins have always been tight so when you have multiple printers fighting for the same project it just makes the problem that much worse. What I see typically is Digital is moving along but the capacity on big equipment is just not there. Sure, you will have some exceptions to the rule and some printers are connected with markets that have not suffered as bad as other in this economy so this group is not feeling the effects as much. There really is no certain recipe for each and every printer. If your machines are older and just are not as productive as the printer down the street then don't turn a blind eye to the situation. The loyalty factor is changing and long term customers have changed their agendas. My end of the business is the most turbulent in my opinion. I could probably write a book about what I have seen in 2 years going in and out of shops constantly and I would not advise any young person go into this field. The best way to gauge the market is the paper companies. But that is just my opinion.

[Keith]

Printing is dead? Then why am I so darn busy? It may be dead as printing patriarchs may know it; the industry is just going through an evolution. I think we are centuries away from a paperless society (I am basing that assumption on the fact that Star Trek takes place in the 24th century). Then again, I'm young, so what do I know.

Keith

[GazKL440]

Printing is dead? Then why am I so darn busy? It may be dead as printing patriarchs may know it; the industry is just going through an evolution. I think we are centuries away from a paperless society (I am basing that assumption on the fact that Star Trek takes place in the 24th century). Then again, I'm young, so what do I know.

Keith

hehe good reply...if printing is dead why are we runnin 3shifts, 24hr operation on our 40 and 2 shifts 19hr prod on our 26, with our 3 multi col GTO's flat out all day ?? and we are a small company too... well less than 50 employees...

[Lukas Engqvist]

hehe good reply...if printing is dead why are we runnin 3shifts, 24hr operation on our 40 and 2 shifts 19hr prod on our 26, with our 3 multi col GTO's flat out all day ?? and we are a small company too... well less than 50 employees...

In a world where zombies, vampires and other undead are the heroes what can I say
I think people have been charmed by new technologies. Are we using print the right way? Today many unprofesionals create print, but they will leave design and implementation of animations and the like to professionals. This means we do end up fixing jobs that should not be let through on account of bad design. It is the bad design that kills us, in the end many just stop caring what the job looks like.
But without death there is no re-birth, it is the nature of things. Evolution takes generations, and we tend to forget for every evolving step there is a death of the "dinosaurs".

[Morning Flight]

Printing is dead? Then why am I so darn busy? It may be dead as printing patriarchs may know it; the industry is just going through an evolution. I think we are centuries away from a paperless society.

Bullseye, Keith. Distilled to its essence, printing is putting an image on paper. Doesn't matter whether that's ink or toner, or by what process the image gets there. And putting an image on paper will be with us throughout our lifetime.

This isn't the first time reports of its death have been "greatly exaggerated." In 1967, McLuhan wrote in The Medium is the Massage: "Purely visual means of apprehending the world are no longer possible." To prove it, he wrote a dozen books. Years earlier, in 1959, the Haloid Xerox company introduced the Xerox 914 in my hometown of Rochester, NY. Xerography didn't kill printing, as many had predicted. Contrary to popular belief, the new technology spawned a whole new industry.

Not only is printing not dead, it's alive and well in shops all over the planet. I'm betting my future on it.

Hal Heindel
www.morningflight.com