There is a definite feeling of back to the 1970s in the air. There are shortages in the supermarkets and cars are queuing for petrol, though without the four gallons per vehicle limit that was in place almost 50 years ago. The fear of inflation is back and newspaper commenttators are muttering about a winter of discontent. But there are so many ways that we are a long way from those grey-tinted years. While there may be paper shortages, print is not going back to the past.
This is not to say that some aspects of a forgotten way of life would not be welcome. Among the factors exacerbating the current wave of shortages are ever tighter supply chains and expectations of instant gratification, particularly in the UK. British printers are expected to deliver the next day, or certainly within 48 hours. This has been used as a competitive edge by online printers, with a healthier margin for the instant turnaround. Outside the UK, however, buyers are happy to wait a few days for their job to be delivered. In Germany it seems, a designer is unlikely to wake up one morning declaring “I need a print job I haven’t completed yet on my desk tomorrow”. His British colleague, it seems, works in this way. This is clearly not the way to get the best from print. Some delay, some breathing space, works better, especially when the options printers can offer are so numerous. Back in the 1970s these options did not exist. Phototypesetting was new; litho printing was more frequently two-colour than four-colour and four-colour perfecting was unheard of; colour separations, if available, were probably produced on a camera.
Any print job needed some discussion. Every job was a project, with negotiations about papers, delivery times and, of course, costs. Nobody would want to go back to that way of working, even if it were possible. But some loosening of the supply chain, print in anticipation rather than print on demand, would be welcome. So too would a return to thinking in terms of the print project. There is an opportunity for printers to head upstream in the decision making process. Involvement at an early stage will help avoid problems further down the process. It will not eliminate them because something will always go wrong or have to be changed. A little slack in the supply chain will, however, help it to avoid snapping. And will result in a print job that may actually deliver what the customer intends.
Back to the future is not the answer for print
There is a definite feeling of back to the 1970s in the air. There are shortages in the supermarkets and cars are queuing for petrol, though without the four gallons per vehicle limit that was in place almost 50 years ago. The fear of inflation is back and newspaper commenttators are muttering about a winter of discontent. But there are so many ways that we are a long way from those grey-tinted years. While there may be paper shortages, print is not going back to the past.
This is not to say that some aspects of a forgotten way of life would not be welcome. Among the factors exacerbating the current wave of shortages are ever tighter supply chains and expectations of instant gratification, particularly in the UK. British printers are expected to deliver the next day, or certainly within 48 hours. This has been used as a competitive edge by online printers, with a healthier margin for the instant turnaround. Outside the UK, however, buyers are happy to wait a few days for their job to be delivered. In Germany it seems, a designer is unlikely to wake up one morning declaring “I need a print job I haven’t completed yet on my desk tomorrow”. His British colleague, it seems, works in this way. This is clearly not the way to get the best from print. Some delay, some breathing space, works better, especially when the options printers can offer are so numerous. Back in the 1970s these options did not exist. Phototypesetting was new; litho printing was more frequently two-colour than four-colour and four-colour perfecting was unheard of; colour separations, if available, were probably produced on a camera.
Any print job needed some discussion. Every job was a project, with negotiations about papers, delivery times and, of course, costs. Nobody would want to go back to that way of working, even if it were possible. But some loosening of the supply chain, print in anticipation rather than print on demand, would be welcome. So too would a return to thinking in terms of the print project. There is an opportunity for printers to head upstream in the decision making process. Involvement at an early stage will help avoid problems further down the process. It will not eliminate them because something will always go wrong or have to be changed. A little slack in the supply chain will, however, help it to avoid snapping. And will result in a print job that may actually deliver what the customer intends.
Gareth Ward
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