Manroland Sponsors WhatTheyThink Graph Expo Event with Dr. Joe Webb

More than 500 industry professionals register to hear the real story about the state of the printing industry

October 30th, 2008 -- WhatTheyThink.com today announced that more than 500 industry professionals registered to attend a free Graph Expo event featuring Dr. Joe Webb, Director of WhatTheyThink’s Economics & Research Center, and sponsored by manroland Inc. During the session, Dr. Webb provided deep insight into macroeconomic conditions and the current and future state of the printing industry, and offered sage advice to print service providers for navigating the rough economic waters of these challenging times.

"Government policies have likely lengthened what might have been a recessionary period of four to five months to a recession that could last four to five years," Webb stated. “The way to counteract this situation would be to raise interest rates and decrease capital gains taxes, but especially during an election year, no one is willing to step up and support that idea. But there is no reason for printers to be a victim of the economic conditions that are hurtling our way. They should view the origins of their production costs, many of which are the results of investment decisions made during vastly different market conditions. Industry profits are down because the capital base of the industry is not suited for today's marketplace and the one that is emerging.” In other comments, Dr. Webb recommended that printers inflation-adjust their financial reports of years past to get a better view of their internal business trends. In this way, they can not only survive the current slowdown, but be better prepared for strong growth as the economy recovers. Dr. Webb stated, “We need a revolution in the productive capability of our industry, greater emphasis on workflow technology, and an increase in entrepreneurship.”

Dr. Webb shared the Economics & Research Center forecast for the printing industry, predicting a 2% decline in U.S. print volume for 2009, and an overall decline from shipments of $97 billion in 2013 to $78 billion by 2013.  “This forecast should not cause excessive handwringing,” he added, “but rather should spur printing businesses to action in restructuring their businesses for future profitability. Just because total demand may be down does not mean that individual companies cannot have superior performance.”

“We appreciate manroland’s ongoing support for this event for the sixth year in a row,” said Randy Davidson, President of WhatTheyThink, “as well as the support from industry executives and professionals who attend this event each year.  This event is always a good opportunity to both catch up on the state of the industry and to see old friends.”

Dr. Joe Webb is the director of WhatTheyThink.com's Economics and Research Center, a recognized marketing authority and forecaster, and one of the best known speakers in our industry. In addition to his role in the Economics and Research Center, he contributes a weekly column at WhatTheyThink for Premium Access Members entitled “Mondays with Dr. Joe Webb.” The column offers timely analysis of recent economic data as well as management advice for senior printing and publishing executives.

About WhatTheyThink.com:

WhatTheyThink.com is the printing and publishing industry's leading online media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. Serving a membership base of more than 50,000, WhatTheyThink.com also hosts webinars and live events as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites and through RSS.

About manroland

manroland Inc., a division of manroland AG, is the world's second largest printing systems manufacturer and the world's market leader in web offset. manroland employs almost 9,000 people and has annual sales of some Euro 2 billion with an export share of almost 84%. Web and sheetfed offset presses provide solutions for publishing, commercial and packaging printing.

For more information visit www.manroland.us.com.

About Dr. Joe Webb

Dr. Joe Webb is the director of WhatTheyThink.com's Economics and Research Center, where managers, researchers and analysts can find free and premium content about industry trends, including forecasts and more. Dr. Webb is a 30-year graphic arts veteran, a recognized marketing authority, forecaster and one of the best known speakers in our industry. He is known for his ability to interpret the latest market conditions in the graphic communications industries and translate what they mean for executives and their strategic decisions.  Since January 2003, his "Mondays with Dr. Joe" column has been a must-read feature on WhatTheyThink.com.

He is a Ph.D. graduate of the NYU Center for Graphic Communications Management and Technology (1987) and serves on the Center's Board of Advisors. He holds an MBA in Management Information Systems from Iona College (1981) and was a magna cum laude graduate in Managerial Sciences and Marketing from Manhattan College (1978), and was a member of the economics honor society. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in marketing, market research, quantitative analysis, business policy, and organizational behavior. He started in the industry with Agfa's Graphic Systems Division and was later a marketing executive with Chemco Photoproducts, entering consulting full time in 1987. Among his publications is the controversial "Renewing the Print Industry: A Contrarian's Constructive Perspective." 

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