TWGA study evaluates impact of overseas printing on domestic printing industry

• In Winter 2006, 31 per cent of U.S. corporate design departments said they had worked with an overseas print provider in the past 12 months;

• In Summer 2006, 42 per cent of book publishers said they had worked with an overseas print provider in the past 12 months;

• In Fall 2005, 9 per cent of domestic print providers said they had partnered with an overseas print provider in the past 12 months;

TrendWatch Graphic Arts has released its special report, ‘Offshore Printing: The Market for Overseas Print Providers,’ which quantifies the extent to which US content creators are outsourcing their print work to overseas providers. The 135-page report pinpoints exactly who is outsourcing print work; who is increasing their outsourcing; and how much work is being outsourced. The report also looks ahead 12 to 18 months and provides a forecast by graphic arts market of how much print work will be sent overseas.

The fundamental questions answered by ‘Offshore Printing: The Market for Overseas Print Providers’ are, does the off-shoring trend represent a threat or an opportunity for domestic printers? Or both? And how much of a threat or an opportunity is it? What types of print products are domestic content creators outsourcing? Is it for domestic or foreign distribution? Why are they outsourcing print production? Are there other mitigating factors that can lessen the threat or impede the opportunity? And what are the implications for printers, creatives, suppliers, and manufacturers?

The report looks at off-shoring in the context of each of the graphic arts markets TWGA regularly surveys-graphic designers, ad agencies, corporate design departments, book publishers, catalog publishers, magazine publishers, and print and prepress establishments. For each of these markets, the report asks, ‘Have you worked with an overseas print provider in the past 12 months?’ ‘Does your company have any plans to work with an overseas print provider in the next 12 to 18 months?’ ‘What percentage of your print work have you sent to an overseas print provider?’ ‘How do you expect this volume to change in the next 12 to 18 months?’ ‘What types of print work do you send to an overseas print provider?’ ‘What are the primary reasons you chose to work with an overseas print provider?’

‘Offshore Printing: The Market for Overseas Print Providers’ draws on a variety of sources, including TWGA's regular surveys of the graphic arts markets, TWGA's voluminous 10 -year historical database of trends and changes in the industry, as well as US government data and secondary research sources to provide a comprehensive look at the past, present, and future of off-shoring.  

TWGA reports are available for online purchase at the TWGA eStore in PDF format: http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com/

According to the report:

• In Winter 2006, 48 per cent of the corporate design departments that off-shored print work said they did so for foreign distribution;

• In Winter 2006, 30 per cent of the design and production firms that off-shored print work off-shored packaging;

• In Summer 2006, 86 per cent of publishers that outsourced print work cited ‘cost’ as the most important reason for doing so.

 Availability

 The TrendWatch Graphic Arts ‘Offshore Printing: The Market for Overseas Print Providers’ report is available for purchase by visiting the secure TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore online at http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com/ or by phone at 1 866 873 6310. The price for the 135-page report is $995. TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase. An Executive Summary of this report is available for $25.