Industry Trends Emerge During On Demand Show
In the June edition of its newsletter, GAA Update, the Graphic Arts Association, Trevose, Pa., listed top trends for printers to be aware of according to the market research and strategic consulting firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, Weymouth, Mass.--one of the hosts of the On Demand Show, which took place May 17-19 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Among the top trends identified are the following observations:
• By the end of 2005, the printing industry will be halfway through a fundamental transformation. The changes are expected to result in 50 percent fewer firms in business and a drastically altered market environment.
• The impact of the Internet and open file formats is tipping the balance away from production, and giving more power to creatives and print buyers.
• Printers are becoming business communication service providers, and those who stick with business models from the past will have a short life span.
• JDF (job definition format) will vanish from marketing checklists. The emphasis will shift to intra- and inter-vendor interoperability. Customers don't care about what is under the hood--they care about ease of integration with existing business product systems.
• A continued focus on efficiency and added-value offerings will drive growth.
• PDF will continue to push production decisions to the document owner.
• The on-demand world, which has been dominated by toner-based equipment, will see more ink-jet products.
• Digital technology is the trigger for the transformation of the printing industry, and digital production color is the strongest growth area.
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