No one has posted this item from Chicago. Although it mentions PRST, it also counters some of the bulls arguements about the size of the market being addressed by PRST.
September 6, 1997
Heidelberg partners to address changing markets
"Those who resist change will lose what they
want to keep. Those who only print will be under pressure."
With this warning, Wolfgang Pfizenmaier,
member of the Heidelberg Management Board,
summed up the challenges facing printers in a
communications marketplace that's fast
transitioning to alternative media.
Pfizenmaier predicted that by 2010, print's share of the overall communications market will shrink by one-third. The overall marketplace will grow steadily, but competing media will command ever-larger shares.
"What we need is a universal solution," he said.
"In all areas in which our own technological
competence is not strong enough we are looking
for partnerships with the market leaders."
He cited Heidelberg's partnerships with
Microsoft, PressTek, Adobe and Kodak (the
latter announced only yesterday at PRINT
97/CONVERFLEX-USA) as examples.
Although the Heidelberg/Kodak partnership will
work toward creation of a new non-impact
digital printing system, Pfizenmaier said the
company still views the short-run color business as a small part - only one-tenth - of the total graphic communications marketplace.
For the foreseeable future, he said, "we will
concentrate on the evolution of more or less
conventional technologies." |
