Printing firms: “Numbers could halve” – the extinction of German printing firms | EUROtoday

Status: 07:36 am | Reading time: 4 minutes

EEleven days in May and June have been sufficient to considerably enhance the steadiness sheet of the world's largest printing press producer, Heidelberger Druck. Drupa passed off in Düsseldorf over these eleven days. This time, it was the main worldwide commerce truthful for the printing and print media business, with 1,640 exhibitors and 170,000 guests.

And Heidelberg has booked so many orders there that the just lately ailing order consumption has recovered, because the S-Dax group experiences. This will now additionally result in higher utilization of manufacturing capacities firstly of the brand new 2024/2025 monetary yr. “Short-time work at the German locations will therefore end in June,” the corporate says.

Since final autumn, Heidelberger Druck has been tormented by a slightly weak market improvement. The reluctance of shoppers can also be linked to the Drupa, which solely takes place each 4 years, because the business presents its new merchandise and improvements there. And many printing firms have in all probability been ready for this.

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The printing business is definitely doing properly, not less than globally. “The industry is highly relevant and it is growing,” says Thomas Schiemann, Managing Director of the Printing and Paper Technology Association of the German Mechanical and Plant Engineering Association (VDMA). He estimates world gross sales at virtually 840 billion euros. And by 2028, revenues are anticipated to develop by a very good two p.c yearly, adjusted for inflation.

This improvement is primarily pushed by label and packaging printing. “In emerging countries, prosperity is increasing and with it the demand for packaging,” explains Schiemann.

Germany is lagging behind considerably in worldwide comparability. “The market here is undergoing extensive consolidation,” says Kerstin Hommelhoff, the managing director of the German Printing and Media Association (BVDM). In 2023 alone, there have been 50 closures or takeovers of printing firms nationwide.

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There at the moment are 6,900 firms left with 110,000 workers and an annual turnover of 17.6 billion euros. The overwhelming majority of the remaining suppliers are small companies. According to the BVDM, 90 p.c of native printing firms have fewer than ten workers.

A big proportion of those may even disappear, business specialists predict. “The number could even halve,” believes Werner Drechsler, managing associate of the Düsseldorf-based Druckstudio Group, a premium supplier amongst German printing firms. However, the disappearance of firms doesn’t robotically imply a shrinking of printing quantity.

BVDM consultant Hommelhoff stays assured. “Print will always exist,” says the top of the affiliation. Nothing would work with out print. “Germany still has the largest newspaper market in Europe, mailings are the most important marketing tool for retailers and the packaging market is growing,” explains Hommelhoff. Every grocery store is a showcase for the printing business. She additionally sees a development in the direction of high-quality printed merchandise.

Sustainability as a assure of success

In any case, the Druckstudio group is doing properly, very properly in truth. “The last three years have been the best in the company's history,” says proprietor Drechsler. However, the household enterprise additionally has a singular promoting level that few others in the marketplace have. “We have been producing climate-neutrally since 2012,” explains Drechsler.

Back then, virtually no person was concerned with that, however at this time it’s a aggressive benefit.” And this despite the fact that the 50-employee company, which recently had an annual turnover of over ten million euros, has invested a high six-figure sum in sustainability and the corresponding certifications. “Companies corresponding to Telekom, Volkswagen and Porsche now come to us and have annual experiences, picture brochures and books printed right here, which may then be declared as climate-neutral. This is turning into more and more necessary for firms.”

It is therefore hardly surprising that sustainability was one of the key trends and topics at the recently concluded Drupa, as were digitization and automation. The latter is important because the printing industry is increasingly suffering from a shortage of labor and skilled workers. One in two printing companies is already complaining about personnel problems, according to a recent survey commissioned by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, in which around 700 companies took part.

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The industry leader now hopes that the increasing mechanization in the industry and the use of robotics and AI will make jobs more interesting for the younger generations. The modernization of the industry also leads to cooperation and partnerships. “Traditional business leaders offered a variety of digital options, digital pioneers built-in standard elements into their choices,” says Drupa organizer Messe Düsseldorf.

Heidelberger Druck, for instance, might be working with Canon sooner or later, as the 2 firms just lately introduced. A worldwide gross sales and repair cooperation for so-called inkjet sheet-fed printing machines was agreed. Orders within the mid-double-digit vary for the brand new Jetfire 50 system have been already obtained at Drupa.