Traders and Flexo Markets (I)

“Companies need more modern and effective ways to expand their customers to meet the long-term health needs of the economy.” Larry Keeley, president of Image Systems, Matthews International, Pittsburgh (Matthews International Corp., Graphic Systems Division, Pittsburgh, PA) Say. “The biggest challenge now lies in the communication between the customer service company and the printer, that is, allowing the customer to understand and appreciate the effective services we provide. Otherwise, the communication will affect the customer’s understanding of the program and thus complain that your service is not In place."
Since the invention of flexographic printing (now known as flexographic printing), traders have been an important part of the flexographic printing industry. They mainly play the role of an "intermediate", that is, telling customers how to convert images from blank raw materials or unfinished plates into a variety of printed materials. In the 1980s, traders guided the overall development direction of the image industry, with an output value of US$200 billion, which is an indispensable link in the global packaging industry. In fact, traders are also one of the most important leaders in the rapid growth of the entire packaging industry.
The rapid growth of flexographic printing in the printing industry is often attributed to the constant innovation of printing experts and product developers, while the services of traders are often overlooked and even considered dispensable. However, traders have always been the source of original data (design), and now there are many links to ensure the quality of various flexo editions in print production.
In the past, traders mainly controlled the principle of printing machinery and various parameters, and supplied matching printing plates according to each type of printing machine. Today, traders need to further provide value-added customer services for the packaging industry, understand and respond to customer needs to meet the needs of designers for continuous innovation, and provide appropriate services based on the processing capabilities of the cooperating printers.
“Traders as service providers need more advanced professionals,” said Neil Saunders, president and CEO of Container Graphics Corp. (Cary, NC). “They need to continuously invest in, develop and learn new technologies, This is their commercial work. Flexographic printing brings more options, options and opportunities to the printing and packaging industry, reducing costs. Saving human resources is the driving force for the development of flexographic printing.”
Economic Profit Financial knowledge is an important prerequisite for understanding trade in any industry. Logic tells us that any business activity must use part of the income to hire staff, purchase production tools, research and develop new products.
Some traders specialize in providing basic information on process positioning and market value for flexo companies. From the largest companies (such as Matthews, Southern Graphics Systems, and Schawk) to medium-sized private companies (Container, Mark Tréce), to smaller companies (Mastergraphics, Midwest Images and Cots), It is true that the pursuit of profit is the driving force behind the development of the entire industry.
In recent years, these companies have received some shocks. Of course, the development of the entire flexographic printing industry has also been impacted. However, several companies have developed very well because they have met the requirements of industrial scale in controlling production costs. They divided their profit goals into three main components: high-tech innovation in hardware and software, the cost of rapid technology updates, and the cost of training workers.
The survival path of traders is to make technology products effective by serving customers and providing return on investment. Price is the key factor. Don McCaughey, president of Mark Trece, said: “We are trying to set prices for services and products above cost to ensure our investment is rewarded. But we have to face down those prices for one-off orders and there is no long-term investment plan. The challenges of companies that reduce management costs. Unfortunately, the overall price of the industry is not normally reduced due to the influence of these companies."
Kethey of atthews said that in our industry, there are often some major commercial mergers and acquisitions.
“An important reason is that in the past few years, the integration process has developed very rapidly, which has led to an increase in the automation and intelligence of many products. As a result, the number of necessary service items before printing has decreased.”
In the past two years, although most traders are profitable, they have failed to achieve the ability to reinvest, even for large traders. The main reasons now affecting corporate profits are: economic globalization has led to the development of personalized and medium-sized businesses; the reduction in production scale has reduced profits; and the rapid growth of the packaging industry in the past 20 years has brought in many practitioners. Therefore, Facing the pressure of market prices.
The key value of traders is to steadily lead the technological innovation and support the research and development of major equipment suppliers. As some prepress managers point out: Technological innovation is the most valuable for the development of industry. It can quickly guide the upgrading of products and enable printers to maintain the technical advantages of equipment and software. Although the integration process makes the investment more risky, it can bring greater profits to large traders.
The annual economic report published by the International Prepress Association’s IPA (International Prepress Association) will help traders find their own economic growth points. For most traders, the cost of equipment and raw materials is not significantly different from those who make a small profit (as a percentage of total annual sales). The gap in operating costs between large traders and small traders is also narrowing. According to IPA, the main profit-making method of a profitable dealer is to obtain distribution rights on less favorable terms and reduce the cost of sales.
The survey shows that, unlike other industries, the profit target and investment return of flexo printing are relatively fixed. Large corporations have higher guidelines to guide the achievement of profit targets (especially those that can affect the stock market), control investment costs, and ensure that the reinvestment of new technology has hired high-level employees. As mentioned earlier, such large companies can conduct business operations at a lower percentage of distribution costs.