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Editor’s Note: The Print Education Research Foundation (PERF) teamed with BFMA International (an association of end-user forms and systems professionals who control large print budgets), Clemson University and California Polytechnic State University to survey print buyers. The results are revealed here in the first of a three-part series.
The survey conducted by PERF and its partners included 23 open-ended questions. The answers reflect not only buyers’ attitudes, but the very future of the forms industry. Eighty-six BFMA members responded to the survey.
The survey suggests that hard-copy forms usage is in steep decline and there are new opportunities in the online world. Additionally, buyers expect more of manufacturers and distributors.
“It’s a matter of time before web-to-print is the norm in large corporate environments. The question is, who will host the interface—the customer or the manufacturer?”
Eliminating Products
Forms manufacturers and distributors are focusing on products to eliminate, and hard copy orders are being replaced by online ordering methods—PDFs, templates or other electronic documents.
While buyers keep some products in hard copy (at least for now), their ultimate goal is to eliminate warehoused inventory completely, replacing it with just-in-time, print-on-demand production.
All but two respondents targeted hard copy forms for immediate elimination. “We want to eliminate any form that can be placed on the Web, initially with PDF and later with full electronic forms,” one respondent said.
Corporate buyers indicated they are actively removing these products:
• Booklets
• Continuous forms
• Items that require manual fulfillment
• Message books
• Multi-color forms
• Multi-part forms
• Payroll checks
• Purchase orders
• Single-part forms
• Snap-out business forms
• Tablet forms
Don’t Oversimplify
Buyers aren’t just getting rid of paper. They’re consolidating forms into templates that can be customized by location or division to eliminate redundancy, reduce warehousing costs and facilitate a just-in-time environment. This process is known as “web-to-print,” even if corporate buyers aren’t formally using the term.
When buyers were asked which products they were eliminating, they cited tablet forms that can be converted to PDF and hosted online, forms that have redundant information resulting in duplicated effort and products that can be automated. One respondent said, “We are trying to move as many business forms online as possible so that we eliminate print and storage costs. We want to not so much eliminate but standardize, as we have many duplicate forms that are manufactured in different ways.”
The Internet is a tremendous opportunity for manufacturers and distributors since one of the top requests from corporate print buyers is the ability to do more business online. This includes storing, customizing and ordering print jobs; tracking orders, accessing reports, managing inventory, digital proofing and monitoring billing.
Flip-Side Opportunities
At a recent industry seminar, a distributor told his peers that “If you don’t offer your customers online ordering capability, someone else will.” Most often, the one who sets up the web interface gets the business. For manufacturers, this is a new market with many cost-effective solutions to explore.
For digital printers, the variety of output options is growing tremendously. One of the biggest trends shaking the commercial printing world is the use of RIP-driven color copiers like the Xerox 250 or KonicaMinolta 8500 for handling ultra short-run work and 1-to-1 personalized jobs. These devices have extremely high resolution (1200–2400 dpi) and can handle a wide range of stocks, including coated, and cost less than $50,000.
For those who are skeptical about copiers’ ability to handle the quality and demands of sophisticated color work, TrendWatch Graphic Arts recently published a 119-page report on the growth in the use of color copiers in professional production environments. The data shows that RIP-driven copiers are being used by printers of all sizes, at all levels of sophistication.
In fact, 37 percent of “digital printers,” defined as those who already own high-end toner-based or direct imaging (DI) presses, see “short-run color with color copiers” as a top sales opportunity for their businesses. Because they already have high-quality, production-volume presses, these shops are not using color copiers because they have to. They are using them because they want to. In some instances, they are simply the best tool for the job.
Short-Lived Opportunity
Manufacturers must move quickly. The window of opportunity may be open only for a short time. Print buyers understand the benefits of setting up these interfaces. Already, BFMA buyers overwhelmingly indicate that they are moving to web-based administration and distribution of forms (as well as much of their commercial print), if they haven’t already.
What, exactly, defines web-to-print? These solutions work from a central repository of forms or other documents. Simple versions centralize everything, allowing employees to access and print documents from anywhere. More sophisticated versions can be set up with templates, making documents customizable. Typically, branding is locked in and there is administrative oversight to monitor and approve changes, but users can choose from an array of graphics, text and other elements to fit specific needs and print only as many as needed. From their desks, they can use web-to-print solutions for different output options, including short-run digital print, PDF output and long-run offset.
This is a big difference from simple web-based distribution, which is just scanning or converting forms to PDF, leaving the same volume and redundancy that exists with paper-based forms and limited output options. True web-to-print offers the opportunity for a completely different and more flexible and effective business model.
It’s a matter of time before web-to-print is the norm in large corporate environments. The question is, who will host the interface—the customer or the manufacturer?
Forms manufacturers and distributors should be aware that commercial printers embrace this model now. Web-to-print is one of the fastest growing applications in the industry. Even by 2004, 30 percent of commercial printers offered some type of web-to-print system. Of these, 38 percent used an ASP-type system, such as Printable, according to a July 2005 report by TrendWatch. Once one of these systems is set up for commercial printing, it’s a matter of time before it’s also used for forms. In terms of the window of opportunity, you compete not only with your customers but also with commercial print vendors. If you’re going to compete in this environment, you must be aggressive.
Trends in Run Lengths
Run lengths are shrinking to the point that even small-format offset presses are not always cost-effective. When asked, “What trends do you see developing in regard to run lengths for printed products,” only three of 40 corporate buyers said their run lengths were increasing.
Among the reasons given for the decline were the move to web-based administration and distribution, consolidation of forms, shifting to reduced inventory and warehousing through print-on-demand, the move to fillable Internet forms, and regular changes in the organization that continually necessitate new or updated forms. Notes one buyer: “Our run lengths are significantly reduced from past years. We spend millions less on printing than just five years ago. If people have access to our products electronically, then we tend not to send paper to them.
Another reason for shrinking run lengths is the shift to targeted marketing and 1-to-1 print (personalization or “variable data”). Notes one buyer, “Run lengths for most conventional products are getting shorter, while marketing items that are targeted 1-to-1 are getting longer as companies develop better marketing databases via data mining. Instead of having multiple forms, a single form style is acquired and then modified on the fly with variable data to make it do many different things.”
All of this is known as digital printing. Whether high-speed black-and-white, 4-color toner-based printing, or high-quality digital copier/printer technology, the trends point to a radical shift in production output. From this and other industry data, manufacturers (and even distributors) not considering investing in digital presses, printers, or copiers are showing lack of vision that could seriously affect their future business.
This article is reprinted from the April 2006 issue of PERF Report, a newsletter focused on industry-specific research. Visit www.theperf.org.