The Printing United Alliance, the organisation which both protects the interests of print businesses in the US and organises the annual Printing United exhibition, says that its members do not have a clear view of where the economy or their businesses are headed.
The organisation polls almost 200 active members each year to create the State of the Industry Report and says that a clear message emerges from this years findings: businesses must continue advancing their strategies, even amid the uncertainty caused by unstable tariff policies.
This uncertainty has already hit trade. Many are postponing capital investments and many are suffering either flat or declining sales and profitability. The biggest threats to a business (in the UK this is about undercutting prices) are reckoned to be the chance of recession, the impact of tariffs and “uncertainty created by Washington”.
However, to counter balance this the report highlights how artificial intelligence, automation and robotics can drive a rise in productivity and will it says help to reshape the industry in the second half of this decade.
The only fly is that in answer to a question about plans to introduce robotics, just 9.5% say that there is currently a budget for this and 10.2% says that they intend to budget for it in the next 12 months. More than half, 54.7% say they do not intend to budget for robotics.
However, the organisation says that waiting for the fog to clear amounts to a risky strategy and that businesses should use scenarios planning tools and AI forecasting to understand rhetorical risks ahead and take action to minimise these.
Looking at other manufacturing industries where the momentum towards robotics is building fast. “Companies that begin preparing now will be best positioned to lead this technology shift,” says the PUA in the executive summary to the report. The full report is available to members.
