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As the eighth World Print and Communication Congress opened in Cape Town, South Africa, yesterday, Xerox Corporation called for a transformation in the commercial printing arena, urging the industry to develop a new order where innovation and services move commercial printing out of the marketplace fight of a commodity business. At the congress, where delegates meet to understand the challenges and opportunities facing the graphic communications industry, Frank Steenburgh, senior vice president, business growth, Xerox Production Systems Group, says, "Innovation moves you up into the creation of new businesses, new markets and new possibilities. Digital printing is a complement to offset, not simply a replacement. Unlike offset, digital printing is about much more than just printing. It’s about helping customers compete and communicate more effectively with customised content and colour on-demand".

Frank Romano, professor emeritus of Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Print Media, estimates the worldwide revenue generated from graphic communications, including everything from content creation to production and distribution, amounts to a US$1.2 trillion market, which is more than double the global printing market.

"If we go beyond the traditional view of printing and align with those who want to do business in new ways, then we are on our way to new opportunities for revenue and profit", says Steenburgh. "Today Xerox is working with customers who are leading this transformation in the graphic communications market. It involves a combination of the right business model, the right technology and the right workflow.".

Steenburgh adds that the industry is moving from a manufacturing model to a services model, where digital technologies enable print providers to deliver a broader set of communications services that meet the needs of their customers. "It is a change that takes us from make-then-sell to sell-then-make, from mass marketing to mass customization, and from a primarily paper-based world to a Web-based world", he says.

Research from Interquest shows that one-third of digital colour work will be personalised by next year. RIT research contends that by 2010, 20 per cent of all print jobs will be turned around in 24 hours. And today, 78 per cent of four-color jobs are shorter than 5000 pages, as indicated in a study done by Dr. Joe Webb of Strategies for Management.

Studies of print operations show that the majority of printing costs and revenue opportunities are locked inside workflow.
InfoTrends/CAP Ventures reports that 80 to 85 per cent of the cost in printing operations is in non-printing activities, such as preparation work and customer approvals.

Digital workflow is about reducing these costs and capturing the additional revenue opportunities, from creation to distribution. It is for this reason that Xerox is expanding partnerships with Adobe, Creo, EFI and others as part of its FreeFlow Digital Workflow initiative to combine workflow tools based on open, industry standards.

For example in Spain and Mexico, Publidisa, a print-on-demand publisher, is capturing increased market share in short-run books by using a Web-based e-book store and Xerox automated production operations. Xerox helped them develop not only the application but also the marketing strategy that supports it.

Steenburgh concludes: "The right business model combined with the right technology and the right workflow can reposition the printing industry to meet customers’ needs and to become more strategically relevant to their businesses. In the process we can breathe new life into an industry that otherwise faces a tough road of cost reduction and price pressures".

The eighth World Print and Communication Congress (WPC8) marks the first time that the international graphic industries have met on the African continent. WPC8 delegates are made up of major national and multinational printing organisations and suppliers that are interested in the long-term health and success of the industry globally. The congress also attracts producers and users of printed media as well as publishers, advertising agencies, printers, converters and suppliers.