Interpretation of the depth of the CTP market

Who is the next CTP sales target? Presumably no one will question this answer - small and medium-sized printing companies

price

A printing company that intends to purchase CTP has selected three suppliers in several rounds. For this single business, each salesperson visits dozens of times. Finally, the company arranges three suppliers to sit down at the same time and place. At the talks, the atmosphere was tense, which was the competitive situation of the CTP equipment sales market this year.

The tightening of the competitive environment in the CTP market has been particularly severe in the coastal areas. The drastic downslide in overseas businesses has led to cash flow problems for many printing companies. At this time, some funds with the ability to withstand risks have become the most important ones, and CTP's purchase plan is thus the first one. Shelved. However, there will also be printing companies that consider how to make themselves the customer's preferred printer in the face of declining business and tightened demand. CTP may be one of their answers.

Although CTP as a new product has been relatively weak due to market downturn, printer vendors who are more saddened by their relatives around the world have not been so nervous. However, increasingly fierce competition has caused suppliers to take action. . Affected by the economic environment, some manufacturers adjusted their expectations for the market. Plate media dealers slowed down the pace of new line horses, equipment manufacturers lowered sales targets, and equipment prices fell quietly.

Although prices are not the only factor valued by printing companies when making CTP decisions, printing companies are paying more and more attention to efficiency and the development prospects that CTP can bring, but prices are still a very sensitive factor. Nearly the same plate-making cost of CTP and traditional plate-making, just like the two sides of the balance, a slight increase in weight loss, will immediately tilt the balance to one side, just like the printing companies faced with different situations, whether the CTP means increased costs. There is a completely different interpretation. In a second-tier city printing plant, the owner relishes how much cost savings the CTP has helped him, but at the same time, he also emphasized that because of the high degree of matching of his printing equipment and CTP format, the CTP can become a unique tool for competition and change to others. You can't make money.

We always love to take the traditional PS version from the import to the domestic distance to see the development of today's CTP. The domestic PS version material companies have already released their own CTP products in recent years. Some of them are helpless, just like a domestic media manufacturer said: “Looking at the traditional media, the risk resistance ability will be poor, sooner or later to be Eat." So the domestic brand CTP plate looks "hundred flowers" there is still a "false prosperity" component. The technical threshold of CTP plates is high, and the stability of domestic plates has a certain distance. In particular, the PS line is upgraded to a CTP line. The quality of the plates produced in different batches is still relatively large.

Take a look at the two scales, the PS version of the price drop can not be reduced, the film's cost is actually growing, the decline in silver content makes the past can rely on recycled silver to make up for the profits have become less and less. CTP's price reduction space is expected by everyone. However, the maturity of domestic media manufacturers is not enough, and sales volume is not enough to support the rapid reduction of costs. The domestic plate cannot have a strong impact on the market, and the international brand's plate prices will not be shaken for the time being. Therefore, the pace of CTP's slow down, has been testing the patience of the printing company.

The most concerned about the speed of the CTP plate to catch up with the price of the PS plate, I am afraid that the number of manufacturers of PS plates directly plate equipment. Now the price difference between the thermal and PS plates is between 15 and 20 yuan per square meter. Under normal circumstances, the price of the thermal plate is 55 to 60 yuan per square meter, and the price of the PS plate is about 35 yuan per square meter. It is normal for a four-color printing press to use a 20,000-square-meter plate every year. If a printing plant has two machines, it is 40,000 square meters. The difference in the cost of several hundred thousand yuan a year is the biggest selling point of the PS plate-making equipment.

The PS plate direct plate making technology has not been popular because of the high equipment price and the plate speed and accuracy. However, due to the rapid development of laser diodes in a variety of applications including civil applications, the PS plate direct plate making technology has also been continuously improved. Some manufacturers claim to solve these problems. The PS version is a fairly mature and reasonably priced product in China. The use of the PS version for direct plate making has always been a technology that has paid great attention to the costs that the company has never stopped paying attention to. The PS plate-making direct mode will not be added to the competition in the next year. The new products have reached an unexpected height, and whether China's CTP market can create a distinctive path. In the Chinese market where CTP has just begun, it is still too early to be conclusive.

Money is not saved but earned. As long as you can achieve the goal, the cost is not important. "The CTP step is definitely going to go. It's nothing more than walking early and walking late. This step has been going for quite a few years. Since you want to do a good job, you can't put the cost to that extent." On the CTP boss's view of the cost.

application

Who is the next CTP sales target? No one doubts this answer - small and medium-sized printing companies.

The characteristics of this group are completely different from those of the major printing companies in the previous round of purchase: They are in an ascending stage of development, and they hope to borrow CTP to compete for competition. They are not necessarily so attached to the brand and will have different prices and poor performance in different brands. Measured between them; they are quite dependent on the service, because compared with the large-scale printing companies, they do not have the prepress team composed of dozens or even dozens of people.

Domestic brands of CTP equipment and CTP plates have more opportunities in this change. Manufacturers have also shown the momentum of ramping up: Kranda invests heavily in new production lines, Founder Electronics, and Korray at All In Print. With the launch of new CTP equipment products, Second Gum Huaguang will also present its own chemical-free CTP plate products at the All In Print Show.

In the past, because the level and scope of competition were not closely related, the CTP of an international brand may also turn a blind eye to domestic CTP, but when the market competition develops to a new stage, domestic CTP equipment will bring more and more pressure to competitors. From directly lowering equipment prices to launching low-level CTPs and changing sales channels to reduce costs, international CTP vendors are constantly making moves to adapt to this new market.

From the equipment to the plate, what adjustments must be made to win this group's order? This may be a question that every manufacturer is thinking about. A large part of this group is made up of private companies who are very smart and have the most dynamic business minds. What they value most is the actual effect of investment. Perhaps it is them that can make CTP return to the "apply" the right way.

Today, the overall utilization rate of CTP printing companies in China is not optimistic. Some jobs are not suitable for themselves. For example, in the printing houses of large newspaper companies, those newspapers with large circulations that must be printed by multiple printing machines at the same time are obviously more cost-effective to use the PS version. The CTP has to look on the wall. Some of them do not adapt to the CTP equipment's changes to the traditional prepress workflow. Compared to film, CTP's error costs are too high, so they do not dare to use CTP. Some talents are not in place. CTP technicians are scarce talents. They have a high turnover rate and are difficult to train.

Therefore, in the past year, various manufacturers have been trying hard to cultivate the feelings between printing companies and CTPs who are afraid of difficulties, and those who already have CTPs will help them to increase their CTP usage. Heidelberg's media center in Shenzhen is busy establishing contact with the major printing universities and setting up a CTP training room. Kore teamed up with printing companies in Beijing and Hangzhou to establish a training and demonstration center. Founder Electronics has established cooperative relationships with well-known training institutions in various regions. Customers can go there to receive training. Students from these institutions can also work with Founder's clients. There are many efforts made by manufacturers to increase the use of CTP. In order to reduce the technical barriers for customers entering the CTP era, Paulette, known for leasing CTP, even offers a full range of services in the form of a fee-based method. Customers can directly enjoy CTP.

When CTP first came to China, manufacturers misunderstood each other. When printing companies considered CTP purchase, they first focused on the heat-sensitive and photosensitive disputes. Their buying power came from expecting to buy a screen CTP to become Yachang and buy one. Heidelberg CTP became Qiliang Haide, and "CTP for CTP" is also a common occurrence. The eyes of printing companies always seem to be outside CTP.

In the past year or two, more and more companies have taken their eyes back to the CTP itself and recovered it. Buy a CTP and treat it honestly. Excluding high expectations, as long as it can improve efficiency, it is really increasing the number of completed jobs per hour, even if the purpose of purchasing CTP. This mentality will make the application of CTP easier.

Dust returns to dust, soil returns to earth, and everything returns. We are pleased to see more and more CTPs working almost 24 hours. In 2006, the production volume and sales volume of CTP plates in the country increased by 255.6% and 277% respectively from the previous year. This rate is much higher than the increase in the number of CTP equipment. In addition to the contribution of exports, it also shows that the domestic CTP The degree of application and use of plates are all increasing.

When everything returns to the application, the printing companies pay more attention to the role of the process in the use of CTP. The deeper role of the CTP is also more abundantly manifested, and the CTP may slowly move away from the status of the “Advanced Printing Machine”.