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LABELS&LABELING |81<br />
EFI launched the Jetrion 4900 at Labelexpo Europe<br />
Cloud, social, mobile<br />
are print’s opportunity<br />
DANIELLE JERSCHEFSKE attended EFI’s Connect Users Conference in Las Vegas where the company<br />
demonstrated that print is not dead<br />
EFI’s users conference was a great success with over 1,000<br />
professionals attending from the wide format commercial<br />
printing sector to the packaging and label printing market. The<br />
event kicked off with a keynote presentation from EFI CEO Guy<br />
Gecht, who was eager to dispel the gloom that is hovering over<br />
the greater printing industry.<br />
While the publishing sector continues to battle the shift<br />
to e-content from the likes of Encyclopedia Britannica and<br />
Amazon, the US printing industry experienced growth in each<br />
quarter of 2010 and 2011. Signage and packaging cannot be<br />
replaced and EFI reports that its total ink volume is up.<br />
‘There’s opportunity to be had in printing.’ Gecht said. ‘It’s<br />
about hitting the window of opportunity. We must be able to<br />
shift with the window. As print providers, you want to sell the<br />
future, and as your supplier, we’re trying to predict opportunity<br />
for the printing industry. Think: what will Drupa 2016 be like?’<br />
EFI has performed well in recent years by following this<br />
principal with just under 700 US dollars million in annual<br />
revenue and expansion planned. The provider moved into<br />
the digital inkjet wide format and narrow web print packaging<br />
markets with the acquisitions of Vutek and Jetrion respectfully<br />
in 2005, spends 20 percent of revenue on R&D and is a leader<br />
in innovation and streamlining options for the greater digital<br />
printing industry.<br />
Gecht points out that while conventionally printed pages are<br />
down 11 percent, digitally printed pages are set to increase<br />
98 and a half percent and that UV inkjet wide format printing is<br />
set to grow 156 percent. He said, ‘If you look at the total of the<br />
printing industry, it is growing. The industry is in transformation<br />
and the opportunity has shifted to personalization.’<br />
Following his promising picture of the printing industry, Gecht<br />
hosted an informal Q&A with Jeffrey Housenbold, the CEO<br />
and president of Shutterfly, the vertically integrated web-based<br />
publishing firm with an estimated 60 or above percent market<br />
share since acquiring Kodak Gallery in April 2012. Housenbold<br />
explained why Shutterfly is experiencing such success, and<br />
drew out lessons for the wider print industry: ‘We look at<br />
the lifetime value of the customer. With the advent of social<br />
networking and the phenomenon of mobile adoption, photos<br />
have become a daily consideration for much of the world’s<br />
population. There’s more content, more people capturing life's<br />
memories.<br />
‘People want to tell their stories. There’s an intrinsic human<br />
desire to pass memories on for generations and to connect<br />
JULY 2012 | L&L
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