Speech Bernhard Schreier, drupa 2000 Press Conference
05/18/2000
Bernhard Schreier, Chairman of the Management Board of
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Press Conference drupa 2000
(The spoken word applies)
Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Internet is a real stroke of luck for the printing industry.
A fact that is true for the industry in general and for Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in particular. This may seem a surprising thing for a passionate advocate of the printed word to say. But if we take a closer look behind the scenes, you will see that it really is the case.
There are three main trends that are driving the Internet and will create new impetus for Heidelberg and the publishing industry:
Firstly, there is more to print. Just take a look at the flood of Internet magazines, for example. Even information providers that were previously only to be found on the Internet are now beginning to produce printed editions. Jobs&Adverts - one of the key online job markets in Europe - is just one example. Only a few weeks ago, Jobs&Adverts launched the career magazine job-pilot.de onto the market. Claims that the Internet is threatening the printed product are poorly founded. What we are seeing instead is a new media mix where the existing media complement each other through their specific strengths. According to a study we commissioned from the Emnid opinion research institute, 73 percent of Germans prefer the regional newspaper as their primary source of information.
However, and this brings us to our second trend, media content is now being generated and stored in an entirely new way - using digital, networked and integrated technology. The media house of the future will generate and store content using media-neutral solutions. Only then, in a second step, will the content be used to create books, magazines, CD-ROMs, Internet sites, TV programs or hybrid products. This has been made possible by the fact that the content is digitized, a process which is virtually universal apart from a few exceptions. The German news magazine "Der Spiegel" has its flagship, the printed edition, a highly topical online service, an archive CD, publishes its Spiegel discussions in book form and also has Spiegel TV. Most of the content is still generated in parallel. But this will change radically over the coming years. In future, it will only be possible to manage and publish a portfolio of this type cost-effectively if the content is generated in integrated and networked form from the outset. If the competitive pressure between different publishers becomes even greater - as it surely will do - the only solution will be to harness the reserves of productivity that exist.
And this brings us on to the third trend - a new type of printing that is more individual, colorful and faster and can also be performed on the spot. We already know the different needs of different customer groups. And we also know how to use preparation and logistics to ensure that customers' needs can be met quickly whenever and wherever they arise. Printing-on-Demand is exactly what it says. Only the content which the reader actually wants is output. And this is best done close to the actual user. Just as isolated data centers are dying out in the computer industry, so printing centers will also fade away in time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, these mega trends represent a fundamental change in our customers' - namely the printing industry's - business processes. We are pleased to provide our customers with active support as our industry undergoes this process of change. Working in close cooperation with partners, we are looking to establish an open Internet standard for the print media industry. I believe that today's proprietary technologies will fail to win through on the market.
In order to achieve our goal, however, it is important that we recognize this change and find the right answers to the challenges that confront us. In essence, this means that printers in the future will not only require an outstanding flatbed scanner, a powerful data management system, and a high-quality offset, gravure or digital printing press and innovative stand-alone components. They will also need the best possible solution, the most flexible solution, the most efficient solution and the most cost-effective solution for their own particular business and specific order mix.
This ties in exactly with our new market positioning which we would like to introduce to you today. We will be showing you machines that are at the very cutting edge of technology. And we will also be showing you how we use these innovative components to create integrated, fully comprehensive solutions.
To read the complete speech, please click on the download link on the top right hand corner.
Press Conference drupa 2000
(The spoken word applies)
Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Internet is a real stroke of luck for the printing industry.
A fact that is true for the industry in general and for Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in particular. This may seem a surprising thing for a passionate advocate of the printed word to say. But if we take a closer look behind the scenes, you will see that it really is the case.
There are three main trends that are driving the Internet and will create new impetus for Heidelberg and the publishing industry:
Firstly, there is more to print. Just take a look at the flood of Internet magazines, for example. Even information providers that were previously only to be found on the Internet are now beginning to produce printed editions. Jobs&Adverts - one of the key online job markets in Europe - is just one example. Only a few weeks ago, Jobs&Adverts launched the career magazine job-pilot.de onto the market. Claims that the Internet is threatening the printed product are poorly founded. What we are seeing instead is a new media mix where the existing media complement each other through their specific strengths. According to a study we commissioned from the Emnid opinion research institute, 73 percent of Germans prefer the regional newspaper as their primary source of information.
However, and this brings us to our second trend, media content is now being generated and stored in an entirely new way - using digital, networked and integrated technology. The media house of the future will generate and store content using media-neutral solutions. Only then, in a second step, will the content be used to create books, magazines, CD-ROMs, Internet sites, TV programs or hybrid products. This has been made possible by the fact that the content is digitized, a process which is virtually universal apart from a few exceptions. The German news magazine "Der Spiegel" has its flagship, the printed edition, a highly topical online service, an archive CD, publishes its Spiegel discussions in book form and also has Spiegel TV. Most of the content is still generated in parallel. But this will change radically over the coming years. In future, it will only be possible to manage and publish a portfolio of this type cost-effectively if the content is generated in integrated and networked form from the outset. If the competitive pressure between different publishers becomes even greater - as it surely will do - the only solution will be to harness the reserves of productivity that exist.
And this brings us on to the third trend - a new type of printing that is more individual, colorful and faster and can also be performed on the spot. We already know the different needs of different customer groups. And we also know how to use preparation and logistics to ensure that customers' needs can be met quickly whenever and wherever they arise. Printing-on-Demand is exactly what it says. Only the content which the reader actually wants is output. And this is best done close to the actual user. Just as isolated data centers are dying out in the computer industry, so printing centers will also fade away in time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, these mega trends represent a fundamental change in our customers' - namely the printing industry's - business processes. We are pleased to provide our customers with active support as our industry undergoes this process of change. Working in close cooperation with partners, we are looking to establish an open Internet standard for the print media industry. I believe that today's proprietary technologies will fail to win through on the market.
In order to achieve our goal, however, it is important that we recognize this change and find the right answers to the challenges that confront us. In essence, this means that printers in the future will not only require an outstanding flatbed scanner, a powerful data management system, and a high-quality offset, gravure or digital printing press and innovative stand-alone components. They will also need the best possible solution, the most flexible solution, the most efficient solution and the most cost-effective solution for their own particular business and specific order mix.
This ties in exactly with our new market positioning which we would like to introduce to you today. We will be showing you machines that are at the very cutting edge of technology. And we will also be showing you how we use these innovative components to create integrated, fully comprehensive solutions.
To read the complete speech, please click on the download link on the top right hand corner.
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