Printing’s Real Rival Isn’t New Technology—It’s a More Efficient Competitor

Some customs that appeared 50 years ago might survive for another 50. Chinese chess and mahjong have already lasted hundreds of years and could remain for hundreds more. Printing, invented over a century ago, now faces the same question: can it continue for another hundred?

Today, the printing industry is looking to new technology for change. When people consider printing’s future, discuss e-commerce for print, or introduce phrases like “new functional printing,” how will these new terms shape the industry?

In reality, whether printing survives does not require endless debate. What matters is understanding the nature of new technology’s impact, rather than letting media headlines set the agenda; headlines are often designed to attract attention. If a new technology compensates for what is inefficient in a traditional practice, it will replace that traditional practice.

Visit a gang-run printing plant and see tens of thousands of orders handled in a single day: the colorful web features and computer-managed automated production process should not be the whole focus. Visit a digital printing operation with 60–70 digital presses running nonstop: press brands and specifications alone should not hold your attention, because those details are not the core function of the technology.

The more useful question is: which inefficient part of other printing plants did they replace, and how did they replace it?

Total printing output across regions has not shown major swings. The extra business won by these stronger printing plants originally belonged to other plants. They did not gain efficiency simply by buying new technology; they first found an inefficient stage in the overall business flow that was worth fixing, then brought in new technology to fix it. That stage could be print sales, delivery, or of course print production.

Whether the technology is digital presses, mobile devices or e-books, its impact on the development of the printing industry cannot be all-encompassing. A printing plant will not be replaced by new technology itself, but it can be replaced by another printing plant if its business efficiency—or its digitalization—does not make sense. We expect too much from new changes, while overlooking an interesting phenomenon in recent years: the shorter the time a new thing takes to alter the status quo, the shorter its stay tends to be. An online game may change the daily gaming schedule of millions within three months, and may be abandoned by millions within three months. Group-buying websites helped many restaurants find new customers who would never have dined there within a year or two, and within just a year or two, those websites were regarded by many restaurants as unwelcome partners.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361791.html