China Print now attracts more visitors than Ipex. Wayne Robinson ventured north for his first visit to this rapidly growing event, and assesses its likely impact on print down under
For the first time ever, in Q1 this year, more cars were sold in China than in the United States. Walking around Beijing last month on the eve of China Print, it is easy to see why the middle kingdom is perceived with such fear and awe in various parts of the world.The scale of the place is remarkable, more people live in Beijing alone than in the whole of Australia. The size of the buildings and the streets is immense, in direct contrast with the old cramped Hutongs that used to dominate the cityscape. These are now all but wiped out. The Beijing roads were like adverts for top notch German cars, whoever is selling Audi and VW there must have made a fortune in commission, with the cashed up Chinese showing no scruples about buying the best. Consumerism is rampant, communism is nowhere to be seen, although of course it must be a strong force under the surface, but when Deng Xio Ping unlocked the door to capitalism after consigning Mao’s successors to exile he can hardly have imagined the tidal wave that would occur.
The nervousness now emanating within Washington and Moscow about the inevitable rise of China and its impact on their hegemony is well placed, things will never be the same as they were when a succession of emperors, regional warlords and finally the madness of chairman Mao kept the country isolated and stultified for centuries, the winds of change currently blowing through the vast land are simply unstoppable.
With a quarter of the world’s population within its borders China has a huge internal market, and the economies of scale to call on. This is resulting in a wave of manufacturing the like of which the country, has ever seen before, nor indeed the world, as it is all happening so quickly. This year the first Chinese cars will become available in Australia. Chinese printing equipment manufacturers are growing in strength each year. There were at least a dozen Chinese press manufacturers displaying their wares at China Print that are completely unknown outside the red empire. And these are not manufacturing two bit one-colour offset low spec machines, they have everything up to the giant 162cm multi-colour presses. The consistent quality is not always to the standards coming from Germany or Japan, and those presses tend to be straight four-colour configurations but it surely won’t be long before the established players feel the challenge. And already China Print is bigger than Ipex in visitor numbers, and right now more important to the vendors.
All this leaves us pondering how best to engage with our northern neighbours, for engage we must because before too long they will begin to engage with us. Already there are many printers in China who only print for the export market, and several Chinese printers now have offices in Sydney and Melbourne in particular. The sheer size of China can be overwhelming, but size isn’t the primary determining factor in any relationship, as the stories of David and Goliath or the elephant and the flea make plain.
The question printers must ask themselves is how to use China to their best advantage. For some in the commodity printing business it may be to partner with a Chinese company, and effectively act as a print manager or broker or own-brand manager, and indeed there are more than a few leading Australian printers who have already gone down this path, large and small. It may be to have a close hard look at the areas of print that Chinese companies cannot impinge upon, and of course these primarily come under the time sensitive umbrella, and the print solution umbrella – an agency or marketing director is going to be unlikely to deal with a Chinese company for their new campaign with which it will be using variable data, integrated multi channel marketing and the like.
The inexorable rise of China will forever change the world’s landscape, and that of the printing industry, but Australian printers need not be nervous, they will still have plenty to offer if the focus is clear.
Australian printers walking around China Print will have noticed two unmissable indicators of the current state of the Chinese printing sector. First very, very, few people there spoke English, and why would they. With a market of 100,000 printers to go out Chinese equipment manufacturers have little incentive to set up expensive overseas operations. There will always be foreign entrepreneurs who will sense the opportunity and bring Chinese equipment into western countries, and there are already a few people doing that in Australia. But the focus from the domestic manufacturers is squarely fixed within the boundaries of their own country. This means there is unlikely to be a flood of Chinese equipment coming into markets such as Australia’s, because for many of these companies its simply not worth the effort right now. Chinese print companies of course are setting up overseas offices all over the place, but funding an office and a few staff is a very different proposition to setting up a sales, distribution and service business for capital equipment.
And then there is the quality issue. The people bringing Chinese equipment into Australia are very keen to point out the quality credentials of the presses or finishing kit they supply, and they have a point, the companies here currently using Chinese built machinery may not be printing Vogue but they are doing a good job of general commercial and packaging work, and it is very doubtful that their customers notice any difference between these machines and the more established brands.
The second unmissable image from China Print is the sheer number of manufacturers. There are at least a dozen serious home grown offset press manufacturers, several CI flexo and gravure press companies, and probably 50 companies with some kind of finishing equipment on their stands. While the patents officers from Germany, Italy or Japan would probably have a field day the explosion in home grown manufacturing is remarkable. China Print had at least three full size wide width CI flexo presses running, several B1 offset machines, a whole heap of 102cm die cutters, and more folder gluers than you can shake a stick at. There was no shortage of domestic plate manufacturers and consumables vendors.
What you don’t see at China Print though is much in the way of innovation, from the domestic players at least. They are busy playing catch up with the west, and not surprisingly are not looking to reinvent the wheel, or invent something that may or may not take off. And they play to the lowest common denominator, so for instance the presses virtually all tend to be straight four colour machines.
China is a big issue for the entire world right now, as the old gives way to the new and the country begins to work free from the shackles that have bound it for so long. For Australian printers, like everyone, there will be much to be gained from engaging with China, and much to be lost by carrying on as before and hoping it will go away.
