Fespa has closed its doors with ringing endorsements from the organisers, exhibitors and visitors to the show in Berlin. But then it would be difficult, if not impossible, for those involved not to praise the show for setting new benchmarks in all kinds of areas. I cannot comment; I was not there. In technology terms […]

There has been a lot of commentary and celebration at news this last week that author Julia Donaldson and illustrator in arms Axel Scheffler are working on a new Gruffalo story to be published in September next year. According to columnists and commentators (most of an age where they grew up with the book as a […]

The Trump tariffs are a challenge to comment on and a challenge to cope with. Like a real life game of Whack a Mole, no sooner has one reality set in than another takes its place. This week, a huge tariff barrier designed to stop any trade between China and the US was in place […]

The introduction of PrintGreen is a black mark against the printing industry. Such bodies should not be necessary if printers and others were doing their jobs. It ought to be beholden to brands and agencies to understand the channels that they use, the advantages and disadvantages of digital as much as it would seem the […]

Get ready for an avalanche of stories, pictures and memories about Heidelberg as the press manufacturer spends at least the first half of this year celebrating its 175th anniversary. That this makes the world’s leading printing press manufacturer second to another German company will not get so much attention. However, this is Heidelberg’s moment to […]

Two exhibitions open today, one at the NEC dedicated to the sign and display print sector, the other in Lucerne with an absolute focus on the future of print itself. Perhaps. Certainly those taking space in Switzerland are participating in a competition to be considered the leading manufacturer of inkjet presses in the world, the […]

The first Printing Outlook report of 2025 is a series of contradictions: confidence has nose dived says the BPIF, but the survey’s participants report that business increased during the last quarter of last year and that  order books were in a good place at the start of the year. The uncertainty relates to the increasing […]

There are two weeks to go before Hunkeler Innovation Days opens in Lucerne. For printers in document processing, transactional print and book printing this is an unmissable event. Almost everybody that touches these sectors will be in Switzerland, from press suppliers, all kinds of roll finishing (and increasingly sheetfed printing) equipment, closely associated technology, mailing […]

The new Trump era began officially last week with his inauguration as President of the United States of America (and soon to be beyond). If this has already been a time of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) without Donald Trump, we can only imagine what it will be like with him at the controls. […]

The most recent issue of Print Business had landed on doorsteps a few hours earlier when the phone rang. We had published a list of ten of the oldest printers in the country and the caller’s business (Johnsons of Nantwich) was not included even though at 198 years young it ought to have been included. […]

The wind of change will be blowing through the printing industry in 2025. Increased automation, a further shift to digital, especially inkjet, printing is on the cards for packaging as much as commercial printing and customers will be demanding ever more details about sustainability, provenance of materials and carbon content. These are the hot tips […]

Christmas is upon us and a few days’ rest at the end of another eventful year. From Drupa, to general elections, conflicts in different parts of the globe, further consolidation across the industry and continuing shifts in the products that are experiencing growth and those that are continuing to shrink. To have survived this and […]

The Independent Printing Industries Association is to be congratulated for commissioning a leading research agency to understand the conversations around attitudes to print. As these conversations largely took place in the digital realm, the findings are up to date in terms of people for whom print has either never been on the radar or where […]

The UK, Europe and especially China, can look forwards to the imposition of tariffs on goods entering the US following the presidential election won by Donald Trump. These are not new: Trump road tested tariffs in his first term as President and there are already tariffs on litho printing plates following protests from Kodak. Tariffs […]