Attendance up 7% from 2015

Charlottesville, VA and London, U.K. - INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, today announced record attendance for its 2016 London Digital Book Printing Forum, which was held June 28 at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). One hundred forty (140) book industry professionals attended the event—up 7% from the year before.

"The event happened during a very difficult week for the country, but we are very pleased with the turnout and the very positive comments we received from participants on the content, format and venue." said Gilles Biscos, President of INTERQUEST, who kicked off the program.
Mr. Biscos provided an overview and analysis of the key trends and developments that are occurring in the book market, and presented the findings of his organisation's latest research on the current and future use of digital printing in the book market globally, in Europe, and the U.K. He noted that according to his company's most recent surveys, book printers in Europe and North America similarly rank the move to shorter runs, the growth of POD, and an increase in colour digital printing, as the top three trends they see in the market. He also indicated that in both regions, publisher surveys show that over 80% of the respondents currently have some of their books produced on digital equipment—with colour continuing to have a much higher penetration (about one-third of book printers' digital print volume) in North America than in Europe.

His presentation was followed by a panel of industry experts who discussed the impact of drupa 2016 developments and announcements on the book market. Panelists included Eddi Oliver, Customer Service Director at Ashford; Arjen Jansen, Production Director at Collins Learning; Andy Cork, Managing Director of Printondemand Worldwide; and Richard Fidczuk, Production Director, at SAGE Publishing. Participants cited the inkjet developments demonstrated at the show, the tighter integration of print and finishing equipment providing a more automated workflow, and the new spectacular print embellishment solutions as the key highlights of this drupa.

After the morning break, forward thinking international players—printers and publishers—shared their experiences and insights into the market. Emile Kranendonk, Team Leader Production & Distribution at Brill from the Netherlands said that Brill publishes about 1,000 book titles and 250 journals (on topics related to humanities, social sciences and international law) annually, and currently 90% of its volume is printed on-demand via two print partners in the Netherlands and the U.S. He indicated that when Brill moved to POD three years ago, it had to standardize its products (mainly case/hardbound books). He also said that POD has provided the company with tremendous cost savings in terms of logistics and warehousing, and the benefit of never being out of stock.

Ivo Odak, Managing Director Sales & Marketing at Kösel GmbH, a leading German book printer that produces 30 million books annually, spoke about the recent move of his company to digital printing through the installation of a KBA RotaJET inkjet press. He stressed the capability of the inkjet press to run lightweight paper (down to 33 gsm) with less show through than with offset equipment.

Luis Hedo, CEO of Gomez Aparicio Group, introduced his company—the largest bible manufacturer in Spain—which produced 14 million books in 2015, including about 10% on digital equipment. Over the past two years the group has smoothly integrated inkjet technology with its conventional printing and finishing equipment and processes. Then, Enrique Diaz, Co-founder (along with Luis Hedo) of Liber Digital—the digital printing arm of the group—provided more details concerning his entity which recently added a second Canon high-speed inkjet line. Liber Digital mainly produces books with a high percentage of color on its inkjet equipment. Their primary markets are school, higher education, and professional/STM. According to Enrique Diaz, the digital platform is gaining substantial volume from offset runs of 800 to 1,200 copies.

During the last session of the morning, executives from leading digital printing equipment vendor companies discussed their most recent developments targeted at the book market and showcased at drupa 2016: Reinhold Frech, Sales and Marketing Director, Commercial Printing Group at Canon EMEA discussed the developments undertaken in the past two years in the area of print head, ink, and paper, to enable inkjet presses to produce high print quality on a broader range of papers including offset coated papers. Oliver Baar, Director Business Development & Marketing Digital Web Presses at KBA, highlighted the advantages of the inkjet digital printing and in-line finishing workflow compared to the traditional offset workflow. Benoit Chatelard, Vice President, Production Printing Business Group for Ricoh Europe, presented his company's view of the book market and opportunities, and he pointed out the unique aspects of the Total Flow Book Suite Workflow solution unveiled by Ricoh at drupa in the area of logisti cs optimization.

Following lunch, leaders in book publishing, distribution, and manufacturing spoke about important changes occurring in print procurement and book distribution, and on the impact of digital printing on the streamlining of the supply chain. Commenting about his new Group Procurement Management function at Oxford University Press, Paul Major said "It now seats under the COO alongside of the supply chain, and it includes; gathering requirements, managing issues, and working closely with supply chain colleagues to manage the cost of ownership of the products; no longer is it about unit cost, freight, or redundancy stop cost; it includes the cost of warehousing, the cost of service, the risks of orders, the cost of capital, and managing service expectations." According to David Taylor, Senior Vice President, Content Acquisition International at Ingram Content Group, POD has totally changed wholesaling by providing an infinite stock range and ensuring that companies never miss a sale. It has also dramatica lly changed distribution by minimizing inventory and enabling printing closer to the end consumer. Richard Fidczuk, Production Director at SAGE Publishing U.K.—which publishes about 250 academic books and 500 journals annually—indicated that most of his company's new titles are still printed litho, however the majority of their reprint and some type of books (primarily reference works) are being produced digitally. He noted that while most of his digital print volume is monochrome, he is seeing huge growth in colour, particularly in the journal area—thanks to inkjet presses that have helped driving down the cost of digital colour printing. He said, "The impact of digital printing on our supply chain has been significant: we never need to put a book out of print any more, we can print ultra short runs to manage warehouse stocks (particularly of imported titles, where sales volumes can be low), we have reduced cost and increased productivity through auto stock replenishment (ASR) options, and we have increased availability of titles from multiple partners (who can print locally in various regions) in the supply chain worldwide."

During the next session, which was focused on the growth and opportunities related to distribute and print. Danielle Riendeau, Vice President Sales & Business Development at Marquis Book Printing in Canada, presented to U.K. publishers the many benefits of having their books targeted at the North American market directly printed in Canada. She also announced a new program that will be available from Marquis in the fall that will offer very aggressive printing costs by grouping orders of similar products from different clients for print runs of 25 to 500 copies. Frédéric Mériot, Managing Director of Presses Universitaires de France (PUF) spoke about their successful distributed printing project unveiled in March when PUF reopened a bookstore in the Paris Latin quarter. The store has no inventory, but it features an Espresso Book Machine, which enables customers to have their book produced on demand in the store. Although the solution is not new, a unique aspect of the project is that—unlike most book stores and libraries that have installed an Espresso—PUF, a publisher of social sciences and philosophy owns its titles.

After the afternoon break, medium and small U.K. publishers shared their experiences with digital printing, and reacted to the day's presentations and sessions. They discussed topics and issues that are key to the growth of digital printing—including the impact of digital printing on the supply chain, the move to distribute and print, the growth of color, personalisation/customisation, and the synergy between print and electronics. Panel participants included: Michelle Jones, Production Manager, IWA Publishing; Claire Watts, Production Manager, Oldcastle Books; Anne Beech, Managing Director Pluto Press; and Daniele Och, Production Director, Zed Books.

The final session of the seminar focused on the current and future of digital printing to produce high quality colour books and customised publications. Gary Peeling, Chief Executive Officer at Precision Printing in the U.K. stressed the importance of having a fully automated workflow to take advantage of the personalisation opportunities enabled by digital printing. He highlighted the success his company is enjoying in photo book and customised gift printing applications. Jane Hyne, Production Manager at National Gallery Company spoke about her experience with digital printing—which is still very limited for books. She said that her team is looking very closely at the latest technology, media, and finishing developments to try to increase their use of digital printing for books. Finally, Dominique Auzias, President of Groupe Petit Futé France—the leading vendor of tourist and practical guides in France and French speaking countries—presented his company's latest innovation that lets Internet users produce their own customised guides on mypetitfute.com and have them printed on demand.

The 2016 London Digital Book Printing Forum is sponsored by leading players in the market, including Canon, CPI, Crown Van Gelder (CVG), Hunkeler, Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), KBA, Marquis Book Printing, Precision Printing, Ricoh, Tecnau, and Xerox. It is supported by The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), British Association for Print and Communication (BAPC), Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), European Publishers Council (EPC), Federation of European Publishers (FEP), Independent Publishers Guild (IPG), International Association of STM Publishers (STM), The Publishers Association (PA); as well as The Bookseller.

For more information regarding the Forum, please visit:
www.inter-quest.com/focused-forums/2016London