Label personalization market calls for digital printing

Labels are suitable for digital printing

Highlights: Label printing, digital publishing, direct mail, etc. are all suitable areas for digital printing. What is exciting is that with the rapid advancement of digital technology, book printing is facing a strong challenge of online reading and the trend is sluggish, while label printing will grow synchronously with the expansion of the total market, and the prospects are promising.

Digital publishing is suitable for digital printing because this move effectively solves the problem of the backlog of pre-printed books that has plagued publishers for a long time, and it will not be because of pre-printing. According to the data released by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in July this year, China ’s Xinhua Bookstore and Publishing House alone issued 6.122 billion books (sheets, copies, boxes) and 88.09 billion yuan in backlogs. This situation has been since 1999. Since the beginning of the year, it has been in a continuous rising state, and it is a heartache for publishing houses that implement enterprise management. If the book can implement digital printing, it not only solves the problem of backlog of pre-printing, but also printing near the network can also greatly reduce transportation costs.

Direct mail is suitable for digital printing because it can provide targeted advertisements according to different ages, preferences, occupations, and other classified objects, and can organize printing according to actual needs to provide efficient publicity.

Labels are used in a wide range of fields. In addition to the large-scale label printing that is still suitable for traditional offset printing and flexo printing, digital printing can be produced according to the requirements for labels with small numbers, large batches, and personalized requirements to improve the quality of the goods. . Since digital printing equipment and consumables have basically relied on imports so far, even if there are products launched in China, they are still in the trial production stage, and their own core technologies are not many. The high unit cost of digital printing directly leads to the final product price. The high level objectively restricts the rapid development of digital printing. Nevertheless, there are two typical companies in Shanghai that use digital printing or a combination of digital printing and traditional printing to print labels.

Shanghai Xiaolin Government Printing Co., Ltd. specializes in the printing of apparel tags. In view of the large number of apparel tags, varieties and specifications, they use the same batch of products to be completed in batches by traditional printing equipment, and then digital printing equipment according to actual needs. Several methods of printing models and specifications not only reduce waste, reduce the chance of errors, but also greatly improve work efficiency.

When Shanghai General Manager Lu Tong presided over the work, Shanghai Shenglong Printing Co., Ltd. started to develop personalized bottle labels for wineries in Xinjiang. In addition to inviting Spanish designers to design trademarks for wineries, digital printing equipment was used to print according to the number of customers. Personalized bottle stickers, or to show the sincerity of the wine giver, or highlight the use of designated brand wine, such as weddings, opening ceremonies, etc., has a special commemorative value.

There are certainly a number of printing units that have achieved outstanding results in the use of digital printing equipment to complete label production nationwide. The difference between commercial printing and label printing using digital printing equipment is only the difference in the materials used. The former mostly uses a variety of coated papers, and the latter mostly uses adhesive paper. In the current digital printing The printing process of the two papers on the equipment can be completed, the difference is only the post-press processing, the former uses more book binding technology, and the latter uses die cutting and pasting technology.

Practically speaking, when the unit cost of digital printing is still too expensive, it is most suitable to use digital printing equipment to complete the proofing before mass production. After the increase in personalized market demand and the further decline in the price of equipment supplies, more The time it takes to complete the printing of labels using digital printing equipment has become more mature.

Current lack of digital printing tasks

Aspect: The development status of digital printing in China is still unsatisfactory. Judging from the operating conditions of enterprises that have already intervened in digital printing, units with a stable enterprise and customer base (B2B) have a relatively good life, while retail-oriented enterprises (B2C), which are dominated by social retail investors, have insufficient business.

Although there is no accurate statistics on the total annual output value of digital printing in China, there are two data for reference. The first is the data released by the Printing and Distribution Management Department of the General Administration of Press and Publication in November 2012 during the Tianjin Exhibition. The annual output value of 799 units issued with digital printing licenses was 3.97 billion yuan (according to the data released by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in July 2013, the digital printing output value completed by 738 digital printing companies in 2012 increased to 62.9 RMB 100 million, which is 0.66% of the total printing volume of the year); Second, Lampe Consulting believes that the annual output value of digital printing in China is roughly 10 billion yuan, even if calculated according to the high value of 10 billion yuan, compared with 2012, China ’s up to 9510.13 With a total output value of RMB 100 million, digital printing is currently unlikely to have a status that will cause the printing industry to change. Of course, according to the data provided by Benny Landa at the Druba Printing Exhibition, only 1 trillion of the total annual 50 trillion prints in the world were printed by digital printing equipment, accounting for 2% of the total. . Although the report provided by the global professional consulting company Parno believes that digital printing should account for 33% of the total printing by 2015, China has also proposed to reach the target of 20% by then, but from a practical perspective, it is necessary to achieve this There are still many difficulties with one goal.

According to relevant statistics at the end of 2010, the total number of digital printing machines in China has reached 36,000 units, of which 29,000 are color printing machines, accounting for 80.56%. In other words, what is lacking at the current stage is not digital printing production equipment, but a relatively sufficient digital printing production task.

Why hindered the development of digital printing

Aspect: To explore the reasons for the unsatisfactory development of digital printing in China, and to effectively solve it is the key to promoting the development of digital printing: the unit cost of digital printing products still needs to be reduced, and companies in the fields of digital publishing and direct mail have not yet Actively choose digital printing, investment risks greatly affect corporate decision-making.

At present, China's dependence on overseas digital printing equipment and consumables makes digital printing products expensive and difficult to compete with traditional printing.

After several years of promotion, coupled with the continuous improvement of the quality of digital printing, consumers have recognized the characteristics of digital printing. In terms of few prints and short cycles, the advantages of digital printing are unparalleled, but under the premise that the total printing price remains unchanged The number balance between digital printing and traditional printing is still low. In other words, consumers who only print hundreds of copies will choose digital printing, and consumers who print a little more will still choose traditional printing. If the unit cost of digital printing continues to decline and this number balance point continues to rise, the task of digital printing from traditional printing ports will be even greater. Moreover, in China, traditional printing, especially small offset printing, is The competitiveness of cyclical products cannot be underestimated.

For this reason, promoting domestic printing machine manufacturers to intervene in the manufacture of digital printing equipment as early as possible may be the fundamental way to drive down the price of digital printing. CTP equipment that has entered our country has not entered the printing industry quickly until a few years ago. The fundamental reason is that thanks to the large number of domestic CTP equipment manufacturers, digital printing companies sincerely look forward to that day as soon as possible.

Mass printing customers such as digital publishing and direct mail have not actively selected digital printing. There is no doubt that digital publishing is an important source of customers for digital printing. Although the data from the relevant parties believe that China ’s digital publishing has surpassed traditional publishing since 2009, the proportion of real conversion from traditional publishing to digital publishing has been less than one. If publishers, printers and distributors cannot reach a consensus on this issue, it may be empty talk to promote digital publishing and digital printing. In other words, the country must not only have a goal in advancing the development of digital printing but must have specific measures that can be implemented, step by step, and move forward steadily.

Increased investment risk makes investors hesitant. In addition to high costs and insufficient business volume, the short update cycle of digital printing equipment is also an important reason for investors to choose to move forward cautiously, and they are still choosing the right investment time. According to the data provided by the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau, 33 companies in Shanghai that mainly engaged in digital printing achieved sales of RMB 372.6028 million with assets of RMB 53.414 million in 2010. The result of a year of operation was a loss of RMB 13.52 million . Investment is for profit, and it is understandable to wait for the time to face this situation.

Steady advancement of digital printing applications

Aspect: When China's economy has changed from high-speed growth to low-medium growth in the past, the fundamental requirement for the transformation of printing is to change from the previous processing and production type to production and service type. Lead the market development by actively exploring potential customers in the market.

To enter the field of label printing in digital printing, printing companies must do everything possible to develop products that users like and must be completed using digital printing processes. In recent years, the stickers that have become popular in the children's consumer market are aimed at the sticker printing market that is highly valued by parents and loved by children. These products are almost accompanied by the endless stream of TV programs. So, can there be more such products?

In the field of label printing, electronic tags have their own advantages. With the decline in the manufacturing price of electronic tags, one day, it will definitely enter our lives at a faster speed and bring us more convenience.

After affirming that printing companies, including label printing companies, should pay attention to the development of digital printing technology and list the existing problems in the development of digital printing, it must also be pointed out that there is a cost to lead, and it is still being cultivated in the market When entering a new field in the period, companies have to pay for the new costs. With this thought preparation, they can withstand the storms. On the contrary, if they have not been prepared accordingly, then you may wish to observe for a while, avoid people and clouds Rush up.

China is a special market, with a vast territory, many demands, and large regional differences. The digital printing of label printing products should be tailored to local conditions, start carefully, and move forward steadily. We look forward to the day when digital printing will shine in the field of label printing.