Printing Machinery & Equipment Manufacturing
Description
Companies in this industry manufacture printing machinery and equipment, including printing presses and binding machinery. Major companies include HP, Presstek, and Xerox (all based in the US); Canon, Komori, and Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho (all based in Japan); and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Koenig & Bauer, and manroland Goss web systems (all based in Germany).
Annual growth for the global printing equipment industry is projected to reach about $20 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. Top countries for printing machinery production include the UK, China, and India, according to Future Market Insights.
The US printing machinery and equipment manufacturing industry includes about 280 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $1.9 billion.
The industry does not include manufacturing of textile printers or photographic and photocopying equipment. Home and office printers that connect to a PC are covered in the Computer Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing industry profile.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Demand is driven by commercial print volume, which depends primarily on advertising and other business needs for printed material. Profitability of individual companies depends primarily on manufacturing efficiencies. Large companies enjoy economies of scale in purchasing and manufacturing. Small companies can compete effectively by serving niche markets, such as envelope printing. The US industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate about 80% of revenue.
Imports account for about 60% of the US market. Major printing machinery import sources for the US are Germany, China, and Japan.
PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY
Major products of printing machinery and equipment manufacturers include other printing trades (about 20%), parts, attachment, and accessories for printing presses (about 20%), and printing presses, flexographic, sheet-fed and roll-fed (accounted for about 10%). Other products include parts, attachments, and accessories for other printing.
The predominant printing press technology used is offset lithography, but the industry is rapidly transitioning to digital presses for many applications. Other types of printing technologies include rotogravure, flexography, screen printing, and letterpress. Rotogravure is used for high-quality printing and is expensive. Flexography is used primarily for printing on packaging materials. Screen printing has applications ranging from art prints to stationery. An ancient printing technique, letterpress remains popular among hobbyists, but virtually no new equipment is being manufactured.
The offset printing process begins by transferring the image to be printed to a set of plates, usually made of aluminum, plastic, or paper. This preparation of plates is known as the prepress operation. In most instances, digital imaging is used to transfer the image to the plates using negatives. The latest prepress technology uses a direct "computer-to-plate" (CTP) process.
Printing presses are designed to feed paper stock in one of two ways: sheet fed (pre-cut sheets) or web (continuous rolls). As paper is fed into the press, a series of rollers apply water and ink to the plates; ink is applied to the imaged area while water keeps ink off the non-image areas of the plates. The plate transfers the image to a rubber blanket, which in turn, transfers the image to the paper. The term "offset" is applied to this process because the plates containing the images don't directly contact the paper. After the ink is applied, the paper passes through a gas-fired oven and a series of metal "chill rollers" to quickly dry and cool the paper and ink, preventing smudging. For color printing, color control and registration is achieved through computer-controlled alignment and release of inks.
Printing presses are precise instruments: some presses may weigh several tons but contain parts made to tolerances of thousandths of millimeters. Quality control checks are performed on parts frequently during the manufacturing process to ensure performance specifications are met. Some manufacturers build their own sub-assemblies to ensure quality control; others rely on outside vendors that specialize in manufacturing precision parts.
Inputs for printing machinery include steel structural components, rollers, cylinders, pneumatic parts, electronics, and computers. Material costs represent about 50% of revenue. Some offset presses may have 100,000 parts being controlled and synchronized by electronic processors and computers. Machining, structural fabrication, assembly, electronics and computer integration, and system testing are the most common manufacturing processes. Lead times for delivery of custom equipment may exceed one year, while some presses, especially standard digital models, are essentially off-the-shelf items. R&D expenditures amounting to 5% of revenue are not unusual.
Annual growth for the global printing equipment industry is projected to reach about $20 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. Top countries for printing machinery production include the UK, China, and India, according to Future Market Insights.
The US printing machinery and equipment manufacturing industry includes about 280 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $1.9 billion.
The industry does not include manufacturing of textile printers or photographic and photocopying equipment. Home and office printers that connect to a PC are covered in the Computer Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing industry profile.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Demand is driven by commercial print volume, which depends primarily on advertising and other business needs for printed material. Profitability of individual companies depends primarily on manufacturing efficiencies. Large companies enjoy economies of scale in purchasing and manufacturing. Small companies can compete effectively by serving niche markets, such as envelope printing. The US industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate about 80% of revenue.
Imports account for about 60% of the US market. Major printing machinery import sources for the US are Germany, China, and Japan.
PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY
Major products of printing machinery and equipment manufacturers include other printing trades (about 20%), parts, attachment, and accessories for printing presses (about 20%), and printing presses, flexographic, sheet-fed and roll-fed (accounted for about 10%). Other products include parts, attachments, and accessories for other printing.
The predominant printing press technology used is offset lithography, but the industry is rapidly transitioning to digital presses for many applications. Other types of printing technologies include rotogravure, flexography, screen printing, and letterpress. Rotogravure is used for high-quality printing and is expensive. Flexography is used primarily for printing on packaging materials. Screen printing has applications ranging from art prints to stationery. An ancient printing technique, letterpress remains popular among hobbyists, but virtually no new equipment is being manufactured.
The offset printing process begins by transferring the image to be printed to a set of plates, usually made of aluminum, plastic, or paper. This preparation of plates is known as the prepress operation. In most instances, digital imaging is used to transfer the image to the plates using negatives. The latest prepress technology uses a direct "computer-to-plate" (CTP) process.
Printing presses are designed to feed paper stock in one of two ways: sheet fed (pre-cut sheets) or web (continuous rolls). As paper is fed into the press, a series of rollers apply water and ink to the plates; ink is applied to the imaged area while water keeps ink off the non-image areas of the plates. The plate transfers the image to a rubber blanket, which in turn, transfers the image to the paper. The term "offset" is applied to this process because the plates containing the images don't directly contact the paper. After the ink is applied, the paper passes through a gas-fired oven and a series of metal "chill rollers" to quickly dry and cool the paper and ink, preventing smudging. For color printing, color control and registration is achieved through computer-controlled alignment and release of inks.
Printing presses are precise instruments: some presses may weigh several tons but contain parts made to tolerances of thousandths of millimeters. Quality control checks are performed on parts frequently during the manufacturing process to ensure performance specifications are met. Some manufacturers build their own sub-assemblies to ensure quality control; others rely on outside vendors that specialize in manufacturing precision parts.
Inputs for printing machinery include steel structural components, rollers, cylinders, pneumatic parts, electronics, and computers. Material costs represent about 50% of revenue. Some offset presses may have 100,000 parts being controlled and synchronized by electronic processors and computers. Machining, structural fabrication, assembly, electronics and computer integration, and system testing are the most common manufacturing processes. Lead times for delivery of custom equipment may exceed one year, while some presses, especially standard digital models, are essentially off-the-shelf items. R&D expenditures amounting to 5% of revenue are not unusual.
Table of Contents
- Industry Overview
- Quarterly Industry Update
- Business Challenges
- Business Trends
- Industry Opportunities
- Call Preparation Questions
- Financial Information
- Industry Forecast
- Web Links and Acronyms
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