Even more striking was the clear fall in the number of Web to print installations globally down from 26% in 2015 to 23% in 2016. This decline was not universal eg in Asia it rose, but in some regions eg North America and Australia/Oceania, the fall was decisive.
Turning to capital investment plans, 42% spent more over the last 12 months and just 11% spent less, a net balance of +31%, and there was a net balance of +41% in respect of plans for 2017. This positive story was true for most regions, the exception being the Middle East where there was a new low for the report series of just +5% in 2016. For the first time the No. 1 priority globally was Finishing, followed closely by new Presses. That in turn was closely followed by PrePress/Workflow/MIS; a sign that automation is being taken seriously.
As for press investment plans, Sheetfed litho led the global race followed by Digital toner cutsheet colour. But what was another first for the report series, each of the four markets had a different No. 1 press investment priority – Commercial, Digital toner cutsheet colour; Publishing, Sheetfed offset; Packaging, Flexo and Functional, Digital inkjet rollfed colour.
The full report will be released in English in a few weeks; the Executive Summary will be available in seven languages (German, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Chinese) at www.drupa.com
A FONDO