Future printing technology development forecast: software or overwhelming hardware
We are a big printing company in Shenzhen China . We offer all book publications, hardcover book printing, papercover book printing, hardcover notebook, sprial book printing, saddle stiching book printing, booklet printing,packaging box, calendars, all kinds of PVC, product brochures, notes, Children's book, stickers, all kinds of special paper color printing products, game cardand so on.
For more information please visit
http://www.joyful-printing.com. ENG only
http://www.joyful-printing.net
http://www.joyful-printing.org
email: info@joyful-printing.net
In the printing industry, the InterTech Technology Award (the GATF Technology Award) issued by the US PIA has always been regarded as a compass for the development of the printing industry, and it is also an important indicator of the industry's direction. On July 16, 2009, the winners of the 2009 InterTech Technology Awards were officially announced. Among the nine products that won the final prize, the digital printing press, which was once considered to be the most cutting-edge printing, occupied two seats. The remaining seven seats were all occupied by printing and related software, which seems to reveal a trend: future printing technology, Software development will exceed hardware. So is the truth really true?
As early as December 2008, InfoTrends INC published a survey report on software in the printing industry. The report shows that several software categories occupying a large share of the global print production software market are expected to continue to grow in the coming years, with high-efficiency and value-added services as the main target areas. Especially in variable data design and production, multi-channel communication, e-commerce printing and professional printing MIS software, these software categories. The survey report predicts that by 2012, these categories of software will maintain double-digit growth. The region will drive growth in the global print production software market, from $8 billion in 2007 to $12 billion in 2012.
Compared with hardware products, the software development cycle is shorter, the investment is less, and the development space is larger. Taking an offset press as an example, under normal circumstances, an offset press product takes at least 4 to 5 years from project establishment to take-out of the prototype, and it takes 4 or 5 years to achieve mass production, so the entire cycle is calculated. It takes 8~9 years. If it is a relatively simple product, such as a paper cutter, die-cutting machine, perhaps the development time can be shorter, but it also takes 4, 5 to complete the process from project to production. The development of software is based on the weekly and monthly development cycles. The development cycle of several years is unimaginable in the software industry.
In terms of R&D investment, software development investment is also cheaper. Although there are too many investments in software development, this is a minority, and most of the investment is not so big. In contrast, the development of hardware equipment, investment will be much larger.
Software is playing an increasingly important role in the development of the printing industry
More importantly, the development space of software is far greater than the development space of hardware. Most of the equipment in the printing industry has been accumulated for many years, the technology has matured, and there is little room for upward development. Software products are developed along with the development of computer technology. On the one hand, the development of software itself is short, and there are still many aspects that need to be further improved in the future. On the other hand, due to the continuous improvement of the performance of computer equipment, software needs to be fully improved. Taking advantage of computer hardware to provide faster operation and more functions; moreover, with the pursuit of automation, integration, and product quality, more software products are needed to help people realize these needs. Therefore, software products have greater customer needs.
Taking these factors into account, in the next period, the development of software products from variety to update speed is bound to exceed hardware products. The 2009 InterTech Technology Awards in the United States is the best commentary on this trend. If you make a prediction, in the next few years, software products are expected to continue to maintain a high proportion in the InterTech Technology Award-winning products, and printing software is expected to become a new source of power for the printing industry.