Converters Look for Safe Harbor Amid Choppy Waters
- Published: April 01, 2002, By Yolanda Simonsis, Associate Publisher/Editor
A steady flow of press releases focusing on US economic pressures has heightened my awareness of how converters, their suppliers, and allied industries are nervously looking toward improving their bottom lines as the year plods forward. While news initially sounds glum, opportunities may offer a safe harbor ultimately.
First out of the news floodgate was an announcement late in January quoting National Assn. for Printing Leadership (NAPL) VP and chief economist Andrew Papparozi: “This recession has been broad as well as deep, hitting printing companies of all sizes from the top line to the bottom line. I see weakness continuing through the first half of 2002, with a meaningful upturn beginning after midyear and accelerating rapidly in 2003.”
NAPL, which focuses on the $88 billion commercial printing industry, made its official observations as an update on the printing industry since Sept. 11th (which coincidentally occurred during Print '01, that industry's biggest quadrennial show). With commercial printers on the prowl for new business, converters in the folding carton and litho label sectors will likely find them stiff competition.
Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) issued a mid-February report from Regis J. Delmontagne, president of The Assn. of Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies, expecting “the total value of printing equipment shipments in 2001 to be 7.5% lower than in 2000.” The upside? “It's a buyer's market and now is the time to buy that new press,” says GATF senior technical consultant Ray Prince.
The NPES continued its news stream with twin releases in late February announcing its disappointment Congress had not passed an economic stimulus package. Said H.A. Brandtjen III, NPES government affairs committee chairman and president of Brandtjen & Kluge: “We can expect to see improvement only by recreating lost jobs and providing needed incentives to boost economic momentum that was lost during the most recent decline.”
In the same vein, NPES's Delmontagne publicized his efforts in concert with a multi-industry group of business and association executives in a meeting with Christie Whitman, Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Whitman emphasized the driving ethic at EPA under her stewardship will insist that environmental policy is based on sound science. She also said New Source Review rules and a multi-pollutant bill will be addressed in 2002.
Two separate communiqués point out that in difficult times companies need to look inside. Take stock in your sales force, says the Assn. of Independent Corrugated Converters, to land new accounts with help from its course on Advanced Sales Training. And Financial Times advises: Boost organic growth with existing customers in a new approach called “customer share marketing” as described in its book of the same title published by Prentice Hall.
Lastly, a survey from Impact Marketing Consultants, Manchester Ctr., VT, predicts packaging materials consumption will lag behind the economy at 2.2%/yr growth to 2005. However, gross domestic product is estimated to rise 3.5%/yr, and plastics packaging will lead growth at 3.8%/yr. It's not exactly smooth sailing, but it's a start.
