Cattle cardboard rose to 3,800 yuan/ton, and corrugated base paper rose to 3,400 yuan/ton. Compared with the first quarter of this year, this price increased by 200 yuan per ton. If compared with 2009, the increase would be more than 50%. At that time, the price of kraft paperboard was only 2900 yuan/ton. "Faced with the reporter's interview, the person in charge of a well-known private printing company in Huludao City complained. "The reporter learned on the 26th that the current situation of private printing companies in Huludao City is not optimistic. Under the general trend of increasing labor costs and decreasing printing prices, private printing companies can be said to be seeking development in the cracks. .
To survive, market segmentation, specialization and specialization
According to Section Chief Xie of the Press and Publication Section of the Culture, Radio and Television Bureau of Huludao City, there are about 100 printing companies in the city, most of which are private enterprises. After years of development, a relatively complete production system has been formed with high, medium and low-end matching, with an annual output value of 60 million yuan and more than 20 enterprises above designated size. The level of printing equipment has been significantly improved. At present, the city has more than 1,000 sets of various equipment, including 12 sets of four-color printing presses, and more than 3,000 employees. But the overall scale is small and comprehensive, and the cost is high.
As a private printing company, Jianning Color Printing Company has paid great attention to the upgrading of equipment during the development process of more than 10 years. The company's equipment has reached the domestic first-class level. Now we have two international and domestic most advanced four-color offset printing machines, single color 08 machines, domestic advanced plastic packaging production lines, paper cup machines, paper cutters, die cutting machines, hot stamping machines, laminating machines, etc. Sophisticated auxiliary equipment.
According to the person in charge of the company, the company’s current orders include book printing, children’s textbooks, color books, commercial advertisements, etc., including high-end picture albums, desk calendars, wall calendars, business cards, paper cups, bidding books, handbags, etc. , High-end paper printing products. The person in charge said, “Our victory lies in the quality of hard enough, good equipment, and complete functions. It is with these advantages that we can ensure the company’s business volume. Some urgent, large-volume orders and high-end printing orders in the city are basically Will find us."
Although other printing plants did not have such a large investment, they were vying to be the first to install various equipment. Even a small printing company basically has three to five equipment. Some people say that the printing industry is all about equipment. But this is not entirely true. With the increasingly fierce competition, some printing companies can last forever, some are short-lived; some can continue to develop and grow, and some fall in the middle. Section Chief Xie analyzed that one of the important reasons is that the cost pressure of the equipment is too great. Printing equipment is relatively expensive, usually in the hundreds of thousands of yuan, often millions of dollars. After some small printing plants buy a piece of equipment, they can't do much work, resulting in financial constraints and operating difficulties. In fact, the printing industry in the South has already divided labor. There are special plate-making companies, printing companies, and binding companies, that is, various processes are broken down into different companies, which virtually reduces production costs.
Faced with the problem of low-level and medium-level redundant construction of private printing companies in China, Section Chief Xie suggested vigorously implementing a differentiated development strategy for enterprises. For printing companies that are relatively comprehensive, have a certain strength and scale, because they already have a comprehensive development foundation, they should focus on establishing corporate brands and strengthening technology research and development to ensure the differentiated status of the company’s strong players; for those with average strength Small businesses should give full play to their professional expertise and take a differentiated development path of expertise, precision, and speciality. Operators should subdivide one or several products from the numerous printing product categories classified in different ways as their own. The target market, the more finely divided and refined the market, the more unique advantages can be formed.
There are many difficulties and challenges to develop
Despite the outstanding performance of Jianning Color Printing Company, Manager Xu of the company does not seem to be optimistic. "Our advantages are only relative to this city, and our competitiveness is still very weak nationwide." According to reports, at present, Most of the major printing companies in the country are concentrated in some southern cities, with high degree of specialization and low prices. At the same time, some large paper production companies are also located along the coast. Therefore, although local companies have advantages in proximity, they lack price advantages. "Because we also have to bear the cost of transporting paper." She said that if they want to compete with southern companies, they must come up with better quality and the same or lower prices in order to win the favor of local companies. "Now that labor costs are getting higher and higher, but printing prices are getting lower and lower, the private printing industry is facing the dilemma of squeezing at both ends. Therefore, we must seek development in the cracks, strengthen internal management, and introduce international advanced corporate management concepts. Continuously improve the degree of professionalization and mechanization of enterprises, reduce costs, and ultimately win by quality."
For the printing industry, the cost of paper can account for more than 70% of the cost of printing. The soaring price of paper has caused headaches for many printing companies. In the face of turbulent paper prices, the main response of the Northern Printing Plant is to expand the scope of procurement, find some relatively low-priced paper sources, and continue to increase inventory. But this is not a long-term solution, because once the pressure of rising costs further increases, the upstream paper industry will inevitably face the choice between reducing production or increasing prices. “In fact, a large part of the reason why paper prices continue to rise this year is that several leading domestic paper companies have reached a consensus and no longer do business at a loss. In addition, some paper companies are in the stage of capacity adjustments, and they have long been supplying more than There has been a subtle change in the market relationship of demand." An industry insider said.
In fact, for printing companies in the middle reaches of the entire industrial chain, what is most worried about is not the increase in upstream paper prices, but the changes in downstream order volumes. The person in charge of Huludao Printing Company said that stagflation has become the main feature at present. "On the one hand, the pressure of rising raw materials has forced paper companies to raise prices; on the other hand, insufficient downstream demand has led to rising costs that cannot be transmitted to the end of the industry chain." Most printing companies can only sacrifice their own profits in order to keep customers. , Even operating at a loss. "Because once the order is lost, the loss of the company for a day's shutdown is about tens of thousands of yuan." Manager Wang of the marketing department of a small printing plant told reporters that from the same period last year to now, corporate profits have fallen by 15% to 20%. %, "We have also proposed price increases with customers, but many customers immediately reduce orders or postpone orders as soon as they hear that they are about to increase by 10% to 20%." However, for the "two-sided" printing industry, blindly It is not realistic to sacrifice profits to keep orders. Some printing industries are also taking active actions to absorb part of the cost pressure by reducing the transportation radius and strengthening internal management.
In addition, Mr. Lu, who has been immersed in the printing industry for decades, told reporters that the excessive competition of printing companies has led to low profits in the current industry and long-term low employee salaries. As a result, the brain drain rate has increased and young people cannot be recruited. Even if they are recruited, they will quickly change jobs. It is reported that the printing industry in our city has developed relatively late, with insufficient talent reserves and a serious shortage of senior operators. Some companies bought four-color printing presses, but couldn't find a suitable operator, so they could only dig around corners. Printing companies do not require work experience when recruiting auxiliary workers, and they cannot attract young people. "Basic work cannot get stable support from skilled workers, and printing quality is bound to be affected." Mr. Lu said. In view of the current lack of talent attraction and retention capabilities, some printing companies are actively thinking. For example, adjusting the salary structure, increasing supplementary pensions or using insurance to incentivize and retain talents.
The Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Party clearly put forward the goal of building a socialist cultural power. Only by making full use of the current advantages of the country's vigorous development of the cultural industry, and seizing the opportunity to actively promote transformation and upgrading, the private printing industry in our city can effectively enhance the market competitiveness of enterprises and win long-term sound development.