NAGASA welcomes your news and special announcements
for the Industry News section of our web site. Please add NAGASA to your
press release mailing list or drop us a fax or email. We'll immediately
get them posted.
Send to: Email: information@nagasa.org
- Fax: 202-328-8513
Mail: NAGASA, 1604 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington DC 20009
NEW NPES STUDY
GAUGES IMPACT OF DIGITAL PRINT OPTIONS ON LITHO PRESSES
Variable data and direct imaging presses will have a minor impact on revenues
generated by traditional litho presses in the short term. But these new
digital print options will continue to spread quickly through the marketplace,
and the factors driving this growth will have large implications for the
industry.
These are the key findings of a newly completed market research study conducted by NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies. The study is entitled The Changing Dynamics of Print: The Near-Term Impact of New Press Technologies—The Variable Data Press and the Direct Imaging Press. It was conducted for NPES by Arthur S. Goldberg & Associates. The study task force was co-chaired by Tim Combs, Vice President, Marketing and Product Development for Fuji Photo Film USA and Susanne De Paepe, formerly Director of Prepress Equipment and Supplies for Multigraphics.
The study is the latest in a multi-year series of original research projects NPES has executed to provide a clearer picture of how such new technologies as variable data printing (VDP) and direct imaging (DIP) will affect markets, revenues and growth prospects throughout the printing, publishing and converting industries.
As its key conclusion, the study reports that "the near term impact of these new types of press on traditional lithographic press revenues will likely be small, but the factors driving their acquisition have large implications for the industry."
Revenues deflected from traditional litho presses to variable data presses will total about two percent by 2002, the study reports. Revenues taken from traditional presses by direct imaging systems will rise to about five percent by that time.
These modest redirections of revenues will take place despite four- and five-fold growth in the installed base of these systems. The NPES study predicts that:
- The number of sites with VDP presses in the United States will grow about 350 percent between 1998 and 2002;
- The number of presses installed at these sites will rise nearly 375 percent in that time;
- The number of sites with DIP systems will increase more than 360 percent during the same time period; and
- The number of DIP presses at these sides will increase nearly 560 percent.
The report explained the relatively modest revenue impact of these new systems on traditional presses by noting that "the traditional lithographic press remains a source of substantial revenue at many of the sites that have these newer presses.
"Second," the research report adds, "only a portion of the work done on these newer presses could reasonably have been done on a traditional lithographic press. Indeed, about one-fourth of the work done on the VDP would, in the absence of VDP, never have been done at all, and therefore in no way constitutes ’lost revenue’ from the perspective of the traditional lithographic press."
The factors underlying the adoption of VDP and DIP, however, have profound long term implications, the NPES study found. "The major factor driving the acquisition of both types of press is their quick turnaround capabilities. Even the VDP derives a much larger portion of revenue from quick turnaround than from variable data capability."
Companies acquiring VDP and DIP systems do so chiefly with fast expansion in mind, the study found. Even when current customers have little or no need for variable data printing, for example, the existence of this capability can be a competitive advantage for the owner. By any of several means, the study found, "those who seek to survive will address this issue of more rapid turnaround time."
The new study has been distributed to NPES members, and will be made available to non-members at a later date. NPES is a U.S. trade association representing more than 450 companies engaged in manufacturing and importing for sale or distribution of machinery, equipment, systems, software and supplies used in every printing, publishing and converting process from desktop design and image generation and processing to multiple output options and targeted dissemination systems.
NPES is a co-sponsor of PRINT®, GRAPH EXPO® and CONVERTING EXPO“, the leading expositions of printing, publishing and converting technologies in the Americas, and the regional exhibitions MIDWEST GRAPHICS® in Minneapolis, GRAPHIC ARTS THE CHARLOTTE SHOW® in North Carolina and THE GUTENBERG FESTIVALSM, Long Beach, California, and the VUE/POINTSM conference.
Information about NPES, its programs and its member companies is available on the Association web site at http://www.npes.org.