Margie Dana

After two weeks of speaking abroad, I'm back in the saddle. Our BPB conference is less than two weeks away, and registrations are still coming in. See you there!

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Going Global with Print

In my role as writer, speaker, and head of Boston Print Buyers, I need to have perspective on the printing industry. Talking with printers and their customers is how I prefer to get this perspective.

I'm always interested in learning about the state of the industry elsewhere. Is what I'm seeing here in the US global, I wonder? Are other countries ahead of us - or behind? My recent, two-week trip to the UK and then to New Zealand ("Margie's World Tour!" as PrintYorkshire called it) taught me a few things.

In no particular order, here are my observations about the industry, based on my trip.

Printing is global. Aside from different terms based on national cultures, we're all in this together. We have access to the same technologies and equipment. The Internet has changed the way we buy, sell, manufacture, promote, and talk about print.

In England and New Zealand, concern for the environment is primary. PrintYorkshire's Showcase had just 5 seminars - and one was devoted to the environment. At New Zealand's "Focus on the Future" Conference, produced by PrintNZ, one of the four keynotes was "Environmental Sustainability." Speaker David Perchard also delivered another session on this topic, focusing on the paper sector. I don't see the same emphasis here, in US trade conferences and association events. Why is that?

At both events abroad, packaging was a partner in the printing sector. Maybe it's just that both trade associations (PrintNZ and PrintYorkshire) were set up to include print packaging in their business model. Maybe the size of the US is a factor, or perhaps here, in the US, print packaging is a totally different industry from commercial printing.

Attracting talent to the printing industry is difficult everywhere you go.

Competition is very tough. Most print customers still work with local printers, but sourcing work off-shore is an option more buyers will consider as time goes by.

People are talking about China, everywhere I go. It's mostly books that are being outsourced to China, not short-run, short-turnaround commercial jobs.

Face-to-face meetings with buyers still work best, say the printers in New Zealand.

The US and the UK are experiencing very similar trends in the commercial printing industry. It also appears that, technologically, we're on the same page. From the sessions I attended in New Zealand and the audience questions I heard, I would say that technologically, the industry's a few years behind us.

Bottom line? We are more alike than different. If you're in printing or print buying, you would feel at home in England and in New Zealand. Two days in the UK was too short a trip: I'm a bona fide Anglophile. (Yes, it drizzled.) A week in New Zealand wasn't enough, either - as it is half a world away. But if you get a chance to spend even a week there, fly straightaway. It is the most beautiful place I've ever seen, with stunning scenery. I'll count this trip as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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