Manroland AG, the biggest maker of newspaper printing machines, filed for insolvency on Nov. 25, threatening the jobs of more than 6,000 workers.
Germany Goes Out of Print as Manroland Files for Insolvency - Bloomberg
Farshad, even though the article was two week old news, it did comment on some very interesting issues with the press manufacturing industry in general in Germany. The total press manufacturing industry is not only shrinking but I would add that I suspect their confidence is also shrinking to the point where they are not able to develop the innovation required for them to compete against each other. They are all going down together.
Over the years, these well established press manufacturers have supported other graphic arts organizations and events. They have been viewed as the experts and this allowed many others to be a bit lazy in their thinking about printing issues because one could always go to the press manufacturers for the ultimate knowledge.
Of course they don't have that kind of knowledge but their respected position in the industry tended to give them the benefit of doubt in that respect. But with the shrinking of the market and downsizing of these companies, there will probably not be the support available from them as was enjoyed before.
So in the downsizing process, many engineers and scientists are let go. Some of them might actually have innovative abilities and this could lead to a new industry of aftermarket development of technology to improve productivity. Engineers that were restrained from taking chances due to restrictive cultures might now be able to follow through on ideas that they have been thinking about for years.
Large press manufacturers might have a hard time selling new equipment but small agile and smart engineers could develop small but effective technologies that make existing presses and other related processes work much better.
That model might work better in an environment where the volume of printing is going downhill year over year. The large dinosaur press manufacturers would shrink while the after market technical industry could grow. Small companies that would "pimp" a customers existing press so it would run better than a new press.
If you wanted to add performance to your car, you would not tend to go to your local dealer. You would go to guys who upgrade and do performance tuning. They have specialized knowledge. The same model could be applied to presses. If the press manufacturers won't do that kind of work, then maybe these out of work engineers will get together and fill a need.
Just a thought.
