Is competition from trade-printers getting more fierce when it comes to wide-format print production? At the Widthwise 2013 Round Table discussion last autumn, those print companies discussing the sector’s state of play, felt – on the whole – that they had not seen the levels of new wide-format trade print entrants that they had expected (via litho printers getting into wide-format etc). Has another year made much difference do you think?
Editor's Blog
Where’s the margin growth?
As large-format printing companies continue to diversify to match their services offering with the ‘solutions provider’ tag now used by so many, where do you see the biggest opportunity to grow margin? Is it actually developing new print and associated services, in finding more in-house efficiencies, or in thinking much wider than that? If you would like to debate the question, please get in touch.
Fighting an uphill battle
Two Sides is doing a fantastic job in promoting the environmental credentials of paper. But are we in the wide-format sector doing enough - or in a position of having enough knowledge on the subject - to fight our corner when it comes to environmental arguments on what we produce – not just on paper, but on other substrates and by various inkjet technologies? If you have opinions on how we could strengthen our story let me know.
Buy, buy, buy
Having had conversations with a number of MBO teams of wide-format print businesses over the last few weeks, and now with Tharstern’s news, it seems that 2014 is fast becoming the year of management buy-ins. If you’ve been involved in an MBO this year please get in touch.
How graphic do you want it?
Fespa has produced a post-show infographic of Fespa Digital 2014 which can be found at http://www.fespa.com/news/features/post-show-report-fespa-digital-2014.html. My question is, how useful do you find information delivered in this way, and would it help you if Image Reports produced more charts of this nature in stats heavy reports such as Widthwise? Or do you think simple graphs are the way to go? Let me know – the planning for the 2015 is already underway.
Get seen
It’s great to see companies thinking outside the box and raising their publicity game to attract attention to the sector – in this enews we see Astley and Brook International doing just that. What projects are you working on that will attract new talent into the industry or spread the word about what can be creatively achieved with wide-format print?
Onto a winner?
Display Wizard’s good fortune has me wondering how many of you have ever won a bit of wide-format print kit, and if so, what was it and was it worth having?
Standing out from the crowd
Can small really be beautiful? We’ve become well versed in the arguments for and against diversifying into new niche markets and experimenting with low volume bespoke applications yet, as the Widthwise 2014 survey highlighted, it’s the big, established wide-format print markets like posters, signage, display graphics etc. that continue to have the strongest pull and top the list of areas where companies are still looking to get newly involved over the next two years. That’s great in a way – it signifies that people still see plenty of life in these areas. But what does it say about today’s attitudes towards innovation and risk in the wide-format market?
I’m back and don't I know it
Heck, we editors can usually go away for a couple of weeks in the post-show early summer season knowing that it will be quiet on the news scene for a bit. But today I came back to 1200 emails! OK, a lot of them were rubbish, but you’ll see from the stories below, that this is no quiet summer – so far. How are you finding it?
Ottimo Digital expand
Ottimo Digital continue to expand increasing capacity to cope with increased demand. Have you bought new kit lately or are you running at full capacity and looking to invest?
Think Bigger
Wide-format print has a myriad of possibilities from bespoke surfboards to printed furniture. Despite the enormous scope for creative development, not everyone in the design community is aware of the potential, and it can be difficult for printers to communicate the message.
Therefore Image Reports has released the Think Bigger campaign which aims to stimulate a dialogue with creatives about how wide-format print can be harnessed as an innovative medium within mainstream communications projects, as well as for less well-established — indeed absolutely new — areas of design.
To find out more about Think Bigger please head to our new website at: http://www.thinkbigger.co/
What did you think of Widthwise?
So now we’ve all had time to digest the findings in the Widthwise Report, what do you think? Does this represent your business in 2014? 50% of you said that profit margins had improved in the past year and the majority of you will be buying more print equipment soon, so it’ll be interesting to see how things continue to improve over the next year. If you haven’t read the report yet, grab your copy here.
Don’t forget, there’s also an opportunity to network with fellow printers tonight at the St Bride Foundation on Fleet Street in London, full details can be found here.
Hybrid Thinking Bigger
It’s good to see the wide-format suppliers doing their bit to encourage new talent into our sector especially as the talent are creative types and likely potential print buyers of the future so keep up the good work Hybrid! Here at IR we would love to hear from any more of you especially from suppliers or printers doing your bit to encourage new talent into our sector or engaging with the creative’s.
Congrats to Macro Art team
I just want to take the chance to say congratulations to the management team at Macro Art now that its buyout of the business is final. John Walker was well regarded, so you have a lot to live up to! Good luck with your plans for continued growth.