Japanese newspaper printing industry is facing new changes

The newspaper printing company - as the name implies - is the company that produces and prints newspapers as its main body of production. Its appearance has a long history, and today's printed newspapers are rich in variety, the number of different distributions and frequency of distribution. To date, the Japanese newspaper printing industry has continued to develop steadily along with the development of informationization and the increase in the number and types of newspapers. However, there have been major changes in the environment in which newspaper customers, such as newspapers, companies, government agencies, associations, and social organizations, have recently been printed. In addition, as far as the industry itself is concerned, the production and printing environment is also moving forward due to the changes in customer demand for quantity, exquisiteness, and rich paper production, as well as the shift in structural ideas such as digitization and networking. Against this background, the newspaper printing industry, like other industries, has entered an era of fierce competition and great changes, and is facing adjustments in the entire industry. Here, the author will discuss the status quo and future of the Japanese newspaper printing industry through eight major members of the Tokyo Newspaper Printing Industry Association. I. Outline of Newspaper Printing Company The Tokyo Newspaper Printing Industry Association (Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo) was established in Japan in 1947. Now, 20 newspaper printing companies, professional newspaper companies, and newspaper and magazine transport companies have become the Association members. In addition, in the metropolitan area, there are a large number of companies engaged in the printing of national newspapers, local newspapers, sports newspapers, and other related publications; also in the local area, there are many offset printing factories engaged in such business. Divided by type, newspaper printing companies generally include the following categories: 1. Newspaper printing. Relevant printing organizations and departments established by newspapers that publish general newspapers, sports newspapers and periodicals, professional newspapers and periodicals, and industrial newspapers and periodicals (such as: Nikkan Sports Printing, Dongri Printing, sankei Printing, Newspaper Printing, Nikkei Printing, Nikkei General Printing, Aquatic Economic News, Japan Journal Autocar News, etc.). 2, publishing houses, printing companies. Publishers of magazines, books, and companies involved in commercial printing (such as: Dejian Printing Center, Guangjitang News Printing, etc.). 3, independent printing company. Printing companies established in independent capital forms (such as: quarterly magazine, Xiao Xiao printing, etc.). The business content of a newspaper printing company can be roughly divided into the following categories: 1. Newspaper production and printing. Receive news events, photos, advertisements, etc. from newspapers, and conduct newspaper production and processing. 2, the newspaper commissioned printing. Based on the layout data sent by the newspaper, it is processed, printed, and sent. 3, commercial printing. Produce, print, and distribute printed publications, promotional tools, company presentations, etc. requested by customers. 4, information services. Provide technical support on CD-ROM, DTP, homepage, etc. Second, the change of the living environment of newspaper printing companies The printing and printing companies of the newspapers have maintained a sustained growth in their output and profits until 1997, and have stagnated after 98 years, and then have seen negative growth. The main reason for this result is the deterioration of economic conditions and changes in the customer environment. 1. Keep away from newspapers and magazines. Due to the tendency of single families and young people to stay away from newspapers and magazines, the number of newspapers issued declined. 2. The popularity of PCs and DTPs among customers. With the development of informatization by companies, government agencies, local governments, social organizations, etc., PCs, digital cameras, and DTPs are rapidly becoming popular, and text, photo processing, layout production, etc. can be carried out by themselves. As a result, there has been a drop in the revenue generated by the newspaper printing industry and a surplus of equipment and personnel. 3, reduce the fees. Due to the participation of government agencies and local self-government organizations in bidding and the fierce competition among commercial printing companies, the fees charged by newspaper printing companies have been forced to decrease. 4. The diversified trend of customer requirements. Faced with diversified customer needs such as colorization, high quality, high speed, on-line input and correction, CD-ROM, and Web commands, equipment needs to be upgraded and updated. 5. The burden of equipment investment increases. The obsolescence of the machines, the continuous increase in customer requirements, and the increasingly fierce competition have prompted manufacturers to speed up the upgrading and updating of web offset presses, newspaper production systems, and DTP. Due to less income and increased investment in equipment, the company's profitability was further reduced. Third, new measures taken by newspaper printing companies. Newspaper printing companies are actively facing the changes in the living environment and have adopted some appropriate measures to avoid being eliminated in a competitive society: 1. The newspaper production system has been updated. Introduce the latest newspaper production system, build an integrated workflow from entry to printing, achieve time-saving, efficient operation, and meet the needs of customers with vivid colors, large capacity, and high speed (Japan News Sports Printing Co., Ltd., Tosun Printing Co., Ltd.) Sankei Integrated Printing, Nikkei Printing, Dejian Printing Center, Guangjitang Newspaper Printing, etc.). 2, CTP. Introduce CTP to replace the original plate-making equipment, and achieve efficient operation (Nikkei Printing) with less labor and engineering. 3. Adding and setting up a web offset press for newspaper printing. In order to satisfy customers' needs for color, large capacity, high speed, and high quality, additional offset presses and new factories (companies) were added. 4, to strengthen the DTP environment. In order to implement the production of a wide variety of products such as newspapers, small advertisements, company profiles, and catalogs, the DTP environment must be perfected. And in this way, colorization, quality improvement, and online input have been realized, customer satisfaction has been improved, and sales channels (companies) have been expanded. 5, information processing services. Facing customers' information processing requirements, we provide various services such as DTP technical support, education of employees, CD-ROM production, homepage production, market research, accounting software development, etc. (Quarterly Journal, Sankei Integrated Printing, Nikkan Sports Printing Co., Ltd., etc.) ). 6, planning proposal, drawing pen. Provides planning solutions for companies, stores, and chain stores, and undertakes a full range of services from drawing, writing, printing, and distribution to expanding new customer needs (sankei integrated printing). These are the findings of the author's investigation of the main members of the "Tokyo Newspaper Printing Industry Association." In addition to continuing to show readers their "news" (timeliness, diversity) and "printing characteristics", newspaper printing companies have begun to gradually display the "characteristics of the IT era" (database, Web, portable terminal, digital delivery). ). This provides newspaper printing companies with a broader development path in the future, and it also prompts them to pay more attention to other media around them. In the era of multimedia and information, in order to seek common development with customers, it is necessary for each newspaper printing company to change to a newspaper printing and information company. This is a newspaper printing company that has been using rotary offset as its main production method for a long time. It is a new opportunity and a new challenge.