By Raphael Ducos, www.reviewofprint.com 

“I am optimistic for the years to come,” says Mr. Coquard, head of Industria, a Parisian print service provider with a passion for all things “tailor-made” and right now on the verge of switching completely to digital printing. “There are fewer and fewer print experts within the customers we engage with. Our contacts are coming more often from higher up in their organizations, in marketing or communications, and they are facing broader challenges. They do not have a pure print problem, but more a communications challenge. And those with a print problem alone often don’t know how to manage it. So, if a print service provider can offer relevant communication proposals, ensuring top quality within the required delivery schedule and with a positive communication result (outcome), then there is definitely business to be made!"

Printing has not changed as rapidly as it could have, as new technologies based on toner and inkjet have worked alongside the older ones (offset, rotogravure, screen printing, flexography). It certainly has benefited from all the advantages brought by IT and software, whether in traditional or digital printing and finishing equipment (small and large formats), in process management, or in marketing with multichannel or cross-media communications. We shouldn’t forget the numerous embellishments now available for all technologies and in all markets. In short, the print impression has been transformed, re-muscled, adapted, and developed, while meeting a fundamental, necessary trend for reduced environmental impact (control of rejects, less waste, better inks, sustainable papers, etc…).