By Cassandra Balentine
New trends and technologies are driven by industry and consumer demand. For example artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are needed to reduce or eliminate human labor, which access to is increasingly limited.
Print providers are also contending with higher costs across the board, investing in digital printing and finishing equipment and workflow solutions to cost-effectively produce shorter, higher value print runs.
Sustainability, security, and regulatory considerations are also drivers for advanced printing, finishing, and workflow tools that support just-in-time printing and traceable, trackable print.
Tonya Powers, senior director of marketing, Production Print Solutions, Canon U.S.A., Inc., points out that increasing postage rates make direct mail more expensive for print buyers, high interest rates make capital investments more challenging, inflation and the rising cost of materials and labor are cutting into profit margins, and the need to justify print return on investment to print/media buyers and brands are all key challenges facing print providers today.
“There is also a shift towards more short-run print jobs. These challenges come at a time when clients demand higher quality and faster turnaround times at lower costs,” notes Terry Antinora, SVP, head of product and engineering, Xerox Corporation.
“Being creative with automation that leads to efficiency and the ability to do things much faster is critical to meeting expected turnaround times,” offers Craig Powell, GM, North America, printIQ.
The Labor Challenge
One of the biggest challenges facing print providers today is access to labor.
These challenges are not limited to the number of employees, but also the skill level of the available workforce, notes Rodney Pennings, sales director, Print & Packaging, BW Converting.
Andy Fetherman, president and CEO, Muller Martini Corp., agrees, noting that the biggest challenge for the printing industry is an aging workforce, the unavailability of a skilled labor pool to replace them, the rising costs to do so, as well as political and economic uncertainty.
“We’re seeing aging staff retire from the industry without being replaced, which is creating a ‘brain drain’ in the sector. It’s proving difficult to replace these experienced staff because, frankly, the print industry has a bit of an image problem among younger workers and is struggling to attract new talent. Despite all the advances it’s made in recent years, print is still seen as archaic and analoge in an increasingly digital world,” exclaims Piet De Pauw, head of marketing, Enfocus.
“In our view, skilled manpower remains the biggest challenge for the industry,” stresses Santosh Mulay, VP, business development, InSoft Automation Pvt. Ltd.
“Human capital seems to be the single largest concern we have heard about from our customers in 2024,” shares William Longua, senior director, Digital Print Group, Quadient. “The industry faces current staff aging out and there are not enough younger professionals available who are coming up behind them, learning and growing into the roles being vacated.”
Julie Brannen, director of sales and sustainable solutions, Monadnock Paper Mills, admits that many companies are still feeling the effects of the ‘Silver Tsunami’—the mass retirement of seasoned professionals—accelerated by the pandemic. “This transition highlights the difficulty in replacing not just skills, but the deep sense of craftsmanship and loyalty that these individuals brought to the industry.”
“In many communications-orientated printing sectors e.g. newspapers and publications, we continue to see a long-term decline in demand, as consumers move to electronic and more instant forms of communication such as social media,” admits Philip Easton, managing director, Industrial Inkjet Ltd (IIJ).
Dino Pagliarello, VP, product management and production print, Sharp, agrees, adding that it is still challenging to find the right talent with strong background in technology and knowledge to build and run print equipment properly.
“Younger workers are seeking roles that offer more flexibility and work-life balance. This makes it harder to attract them to positions that are more hands-on or operationally demanding,” shares Brannen.
“For printers, the position of press operator is no longer seen as an attractive professional vocation,” shares Aron Allenson, product manager, high speed continuous-feed inkjet, Screen Americas. “The industry is forced to find talent outside the print industry to run the machines and this necessitates a move towards an ‘easier-to-operate’ printing press.”
On the label side, based on feedback from converters, Steve Lynn, director of Labels and Packaging, Durst North America, feels the biggest challenges in the industry are rising costs, primarily labor and materials. “Staffing challenges are discussed regularly, it is a challenge to find staff willing to do manufacturing jobs.”
The problem isn’t limited to press operators. “In 2024, staffing and training were the biggest challenges—not only among printers, but also for agencies, brands, and designers—as they sought to deal with what is possible in both conventional and digital print. Staffing and training are major issues for industry suppliers as well,” comments Mark Geeves, director of sales and marketing, Color-Logic Inc.
“Because of this, automation has become so important for commercial printers. They need to be able to do the same level of work that was done a few years ago, but with less people,” says Pagliarello.
“With recent staffing shortages and movement, we have also seen an increase in demand for professional services. Finding and keeping technical resources has been challenging and we have been asked more and more to fill those gaps for our clients,” adds Ryan Semanchik, president, Transformations, Inc.
Labor shortages led to higher wages to attract skilled workers, and escalating prices of essential materials like paper and ink squeezed profit margins, offers Dmitry Sevostyanov, CEO, Customer’s Canvas.
Uncertainty and Inflation
Along with labor challenges, print providers struggle with rising costs across the board.
“Economic uncertainty continues to loom over the business environment in most areas of the world,” shares Nimrod Cohen, head of strategic marketing, HP Indigo.
“Balancing the need to invest in new machinery and automation with maintaining profitability became challenging, especially with rising interest rates on loans increasing the cost of financing these investments,” says Sevostyanov.
Eli Grinberg, CEO, Scodix, says the print industry grappled with two major challenges this year, rising operational costs and shifting market demands. Global supply chain disruptions led to significant price increases for essential materials like paper and ink. Simultaneously, we observed an accelerated digital transformation across industries, pushing businesses to reevaluate their print needs and explore digital alternatives.
In 2024, the industry faced intensified cost pressures due to inflation and fluctuating costs, especially for paper and labor. “While rate hikes have abated, economic conditions remain challenging and have squeezed profit margins, prompting print businesses to seek efficiency improvements and operational automation,” shares Nir Zarmi, SVP, growth and strategy, Landa.
Zarmi points out that supply chain unpredictability added to these concerns, requiring companies to adopt flexible production methods and diversify supply sources to reduce dependencies. “These trends have underscored the importance of adopting technology that streamlines production and minimizes waste.”
Inflationary pressures are also reducing discretionary spending by consumers, which, in turn, places price constraints on industries like book publishing. “This prompted a renewed search for cost reductions, reigniting the trend of offshoring production to lower cost locations. However, this shift has also heightened concerns about supply chain disruptions. The industry came close to a significant setback with a potential port strike, narrowly averted, which brought back unsettling memories of the pandemic-era supply chain crises,” notes Rolando Martinez, head of HP PageWide Commercial Products and Solutions, HP Industrial Print.
The printing industry, like many others, is dealing with ongoing threats of supply chain disruptions and cost increases due to inflation. One of the biggest challenges is securing essential raw materials such as paper, offset inks, and other traditional printing supplies. “Many suppliers faced delays, price hikes, and shortages due to global logistics issues exacerbated by the residual effects of the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and fluctuating demand. As a result, print companies have had to navigate rising costs, which put pressure on margins and led to delays in production,” comments Martinez.
The holy grail of the print industry was hit hard in 2024—paper, postage, and wages. “All three increased substantially which forced print service providers to increase prices to their customers. The end users had decisions to make as the increases had a negative impact on their budgets. The decision made was to print less, meaning the run lengths were cut by as much as 50 percent,” shares Jesse Heindl, marketing manager, RISO. “The shorter run lengths led to an increase in number of jobs. What was a one million copy run became two runs of 500,000 and in some cases, three runs of 350,000. Same volume but two to three times the number of jobs. Like anyone looking to stretch the dollar, the idea was to spend half the money now and keep the balance in your pocket … ‘just in case the economy turns or our business dips.’ Playing it safe was the knee jerk approach to the short-run reality but has now become the new standard in these post-Covid times. Those who were capable and nimble enough to move to multiple light-production units are now able to print multiple jobs simultaneously and meet the more demanding service level agreements.”
Ernie Crawford, M-EDP, president/CEO, Crawford Technologies, agrees, noting that rising costs impact every company involved in printing, mailing, and customer communications, with paper prices seeing double-digit increases, higher energy costs for equipment, and significant hikes in insurance and healthcare for employees. Combined with the difficulty of finding skilled workers in an aging workforce these factors are pushing many organizations to accelerate their shift to digital channels, which are cost effective and offer real-time responses.
Similar to last year, Semanchik says inflation and higher interest rates continue to influence how both service bureaus and in-plant operations function and invest. “The cost of capital, employee retention/recruitment, and supply chain/material costs all remain impacted. The multidirectional pressure has pressed our customers to analyze every aspect of the workflow to identify areas of waste or inefficient processes and determine ways to further utilize automation. Streamlining operations is a key component of our customers’ strategy and future investment.”
“Inflation has eaten the profitability of printing companies as the cost of raw materials and energy has increased. That means printers are facing some tough decisions about when those costs can be passed on to customers,” says De Pauw.
“In the high interest rate environment, it’s been hard for businesses to execute the plans they had to invest in new equipment and technology,” stresses Simon Lewis, SVP marketing, strategy and business development, Highcon. “Typically, investments are higher in Olympic years since they are also drupa years. In the prior year, investments slow and decisions are put on hold. While there were some impressive headline investments at drupa, it seems that overall the bounce didn’t occur. All in all, very challenging. Yet, as always, pioneers, visionaries, and those with a clear sense of direction have been able to prosper, in spite of it all. Individuals can buck the trends, and prosper even in difficult times. The takeaway is simple—lead, don’t follow. Adopt a clear vision. Follow a clear sense of direction. And move forward with a sense of purpose.”
Overall, Dario Urbinati, CEO, Gallus Group, feels that the primary challenges faced throughout this past year are those that print and packaging business have seen for some time now, given the volatile and unpredictable landscape we’ve all been navigating. “Geopolitical factors have continued to impact supply chains, material costs, and availability of raw materials throughout 2024. Not just that, but these disruptions are compounded by demographic shifts that are increasingly resulting in labor shortages, particularly in skilled workers, causing further issues for businesses industry-wide. This uncertainty over the future, often combined with a lack of available funding, means that businesses are increasingly cautious about committing to capital purchases—so we are also seeing changes in buying behaviors as a result. These are complex waters for businesses to navigate right now.”
Return to Normalcy?
There has been a lot of uncertainty in the market over the last few years due to supply chain challenges, inflation, and staffing concerns. “This year, we saw the industry return to a level of normalcy. While supply chain, prices, and staffing are still a concern, many printers we spoke with are focused on growing their businesses and making them more profitable,” comments John Henze, VP, marketing and sales, Fiery.
Randy Hardy, representative, North America, locr GEOservices and MAPS, says that while inflation is slowly decreasing, it is still relevant, and not only that but postal costs are still high and/or rising. “Cost efficiency on all possible levels is still essential.”
Postage rates remain a challenge. “Costs going up everywhere else didn’t help when it came to postage,” admits Longua. “Like filling your car with gas, the increases for postage directly affect the cost of production for printers that mail. While the end customer pays for this cost, it directly affects the amount of mailing volume that companies are willing to commit to when they are under pressure to cut budgets and reduce expenses. While mail is incredibly resilient, even it has its limits as to what the market will bear.”
“Every day we hear from print providers about the need to control costs, to be competitive. Manufacturers need to do more to develop new technologies that drive cost out of every step of the production process. The industry needs systems that are easier to service and maintain. We need to leverage machine learning and AI or predictive technologies so they can still compete with workers who maybe are less skilled or at a minimum less experienced. Overall costs continue to rise, but our print service providers have not been able to increase prices at the same level so they are getting squeezed,” shares Dean Kenan, VP of sales, Screen Americas.
Digital Transformation
Many segments of the print industry see declining volumes, in favor of shorter, more complex work. Digital print allows this to be done cost effectively, when the proper infrastructure and processes are in place.
“The biggest challenges for the printing industry in 2024 are competition from digital media, creating decreasing print run lengths, and increased breakdown of print jobs into smaller production quantities along with decreased margins that printers worldwide face today. In addition, there are growing customer demands for more sustainable print products with a smaller carbon footprint,” says Andrea Connor, worldwide solutions marketing manager, Kodak.
Sevostyanov feels that increased competition from both large-scale printers and local competitors intensified market pressures, making it more difficult to retain market share.
Generally speaking, common challenges encountered in the print industry center around high-speed production needs, the overall throughput of today’s printing systems is very high and makes for difficult real-time inspection, notes John Butler, senior director, North America Sales, Teledyne DALSA. “Substrates vary and range from paper to cardboard to plastics. Recycled materials are also seeing greater use and can present other challenges. Design complexity is also increasing. Graphics and other symbology are becoming more detailed—and can consist of text, barcodes, and other features—and demands to include this more informative content are also on the rise.”
While inkjet may have been around for a while, Dustin Graupman, senior director, inkjet division, Kyocera Document Solutions America, Inc., sees customers still evaluating whether inkjet printing can offer a solution to their challenges. “In our experience, inkjet can not only solve challenges but take companies to the next level,” he advises.
The growing demand for variable data printing, including barcodes, QR codes, batch numbers, and expiry dates added a level of complexity, especially when personalization is required on high-speed lines, notes Pat Harnett, director of portfolio and development, HP Specialty Printing and Technology Solutions.
The industry must also adapt to changing customer demands and preferences for digital content over printed materials. De Pauw points out that Canva has grown significantly from 50 to 190 million monthly users. As a result, printers are getting in more Canva PDFs, which often have quality issues, such as no bleed set and low-resolution images. Other challenges include rising costs, labor shortages, sustainability demands, cybersecurity threats, adapting to hybrid work models, market consolidation, shifting customer expectations, and competition from digital media.
“The trends of less pages printed, paper mills reallocating assets, extended competition, increased margin pressure, scarcity of labor, and a reduced carbon footprint, all continue to apply pressure in the commercial print market. These trends are not new to the market and show signs they are accelerating. To remain relevant, printing technology must evolve to meet all of these challenges,” says Lance Martin, VP product marketing, Komori America.
Regulatory Considerations
The introduction of global track and trace regulations such as GS1 and CFR on product labelling, traceability, and serialization, especially in industries such as pharmaceuticals and food and beverage, led to the need for robust coding systems to ensure consistent print quality and regulatory compliance on a variety of substrates, shares Harnett.
For many years, traditional print providers have been shielded by laws and regulations, but changes—especially around environmental regulations—are continuing to nudge recipients toward digital options. “In the U.S., the USPS implemented two major price increases for First-Class Mail, totaling a 7.35 percent rise. These challenges are forcing the entire print industry to become more efficient, adopt leaner operations, and leverage automation in new ways,” notes Harnett.
Semanchik feels that data security and privacy remain a challenge as compliance and navigating the current regulatory landscape continue to take their toll on the industry. The cost of audits and the risk of negative exposure and potentially crippling penalties are concerns that all service providers and enterprises are focused on avoiding. “This clearly remains one of the top-rated areas to invest in right now.”
Sustainability
Sustainability is still influencing consumer behavior and buying decisions. “Transparent, trustworthy communications of business values and sustainable options are important,” recommends Hardy.
The push for sustainability has also led to mounting pressure to reduce the environmental footprint of printing technologies, including the use of eco-friendly inks. “Progressing the development of water-based and solvent-free inks that do not compromise print quality,” says Harnett.
Environmental concerns also emerged as a major challenge this year. “Customers, regulators, and stakeholders are increasingly demanding sustainability in printing practices. This push for “greener” operations has required significant investment in eco-friendly materials and processes, adding to the financial and operational pressures already present,” offers Martinez.
By Market
Specific challenges also vary by market segment. “For example, postal and logistics, pharmaceutical, and food and beverage industries face similar challenges in a general sense but each have individual challenges within the greater context based on regulatory compliance, health and safety, and other needs unique to their industries,” admits Bulter.
Martinez points out that in direct mail and general commercial printing there is more scrutiny over the ROI of marketing spend, which leads to a greater need for more targeted and differentiated visual and printed communication vehicles.
For flexible packing it is supply and demand. Jeff Leto, VP, NBi FlexPack, says the demand is high since customers realize flexible packaging is more economical, ecologically better, and protects the product inside as good or better than other options. Mega brands dominate flexible packing capacity in the industry leaving midsize customers with long lead times and high minimum order quantities (MOQs). “So, the biggest challenge for many customers is managing long lead times and dealing with customer service representatives who have to deliver frustrating news,” says Leto.
Over the last year, Michael Matthews, product manager, DP Color, Domino Printing Sciences, says print companies faced challenges on two fronts—following the supply chain issues of recent years, high costs for substrates, fluids, and energy remain a challenge for many converters and commercial printers, while lower overall demand for print increased competition between businesses, with pressure on prices mounting.
“Companies are turning to technology that will help them be more efficient to stay profitable, with automation of both software and hardware emerging as popular options to help converters streamline production processes,” says Matthews. “Digital printing is another option considered by printing businesses, as the capability to print on demand can help to mitigate cost pressures and offers faster turnaround with higher press availability. On-demand print also reduces setup waste and excess stock produced by overrun, helping to reduce costs.”
To mitigate the impact of decreasing print volumes, Matthews feels that businesses have started to take steps to diversify their offering—a trend gathering momentum. Label printers are branching out into printing flexible packaging, corrugated converters are moving into folding carton print, and commercial printers are adding wide format applications to their services. There’s a lot of diversification going on right now to future-proof operations and secure new business.
Allenson points out that in general, print shop owners have to contend with print buyers who are younger and often more digitally focused in their own lives. “These are cost-centric print buyers as opposed to working on the goals of their company, such as increased sales, improved name recognition, etc. The downstream effect is a declining perceived value of print—to buyers of print.”
“Last, we still see an overall push to become less reliant on physical print and mail processes due to production costs, less reliable labor, and customer demand for digital delivery options. Additionally, our customers just experienced the largest postage increase in recent memory, which will only continue to accelerate electronic adoption,” adds Semanchik.
Challenge(s) Accepted
The print industry continues to face economic uncertainty.
This past year, Marc Raad, president, Significans Automation, says the challenge of maintaining profitability topped the list, along with acquiring and retaining skilled talent; rising substrate, energy and labor costs; adding new customers; and a reluctance to invest in new technology.
Mar2025, DPS Magazine
