Agfa and the Printing Industry

Recently, Agfa conducted a study and discussed the prospects of the printing industry with printers, scholars, and consultants around the world. The results of the study pointed out that there are eight important trends in the industry. Understanding these trends helps us formulate strategies that are more suitable for the market.

01 Impact of Information Technology Prepress and printing processes will tend to be fully networked and driven by software, which means that IT experts will become more and more important in this regard. Agfa also needs to have the latest technology, so we hire more employees with IT knowledge to cater to internal and external needs.
02 The Problem of Insufficient Technology Cutting-edge technology requires professionals to cope with the current fierce competition. Therefore, human resources are a top priority for printing companies. This is why Agfa provided more professional training and support programs than before. The new Agfa Online Academy offers more than 300 courses on server systems, data management, internet, vocational training and software applications. Our global support center provides round-the-clock support to customers around the world.
03 Unclear digital printing prospects Digital printing is the ultimate way forward. This is very clear. But when and how to switch from direct computer to digital printing? Many people still do not know. Agfa believes that in the short term, computer direct plate making will not be fully converted to digital printing. From the Agfa's investment plan, it can be seen that the computer-to-plate market is still growing rapidly and is very important.
04 is evolution, and the speed of non-revolutionary technological revolutions has begun to slow down, and software improvement is the most important change. Agfa gradually transformed itself from a “system manufacturer” into a knowledge-led company with a focus on software development and consulting services. A workflow management system such as Apogee or IntelliNet cannot be sold without understanding the customer's production process. Agfa Graphics Group has set up an expert group for software, hardware and consumables to provide customers with the most professional advice. This clearly shows the development direction of Agfa.
05 A large number of individuals have finally realized that newspapers and packaging printers can personalize content and create new business opportunities. We continue to develop new prepress and printing technologies and continue to create opportunities and stimulate personal communication needs.
06 The intersection of business evolution has no doubt: The range of services provided by the graphic arts industry is becoming more and more extensive. But the problem is that this goal should be achieved through mergers and acquisitions or strategic partners. Medium-sized companies face the crisis of being squeezed out of the market. Agfa needs to change its sales, service and training strategies to suit the working styles and structures of multinational companies, but at the same time, it will not ignore localized work methods. For example, in Europe, Agfa takes a centralized and unified approach. It handles marketing, sales and customer service in Europe, and its Graphic Communications Center provides the same training, education and services for global subsidiaries to cope with the globalization trend.
07 The Internet as a tool The emergence of the Internet has broadened the range of services provided by printers and facilitated communication between printers and customers. Agfa has to show printers the opportunities offered by the Internet and anticipate the latest needs. The recent launch of Agfa's Delano software is a set of software that can manage printing through the Internet.
08 Impact of consolidation activities in the industry The trend of consolidation of companies may slow down the application of new technologies. Agfa's promotion and development of open standards simplifies cooperation between different agencies, which helps to counter the delay in the adoption of new technologies by the graphic arts industry. Taking three years ago as an example, the company introduced the PDF workflow system as a standard for exchanging content. Today, the company also introduced the Job Definition Format (JDF) as a job definition standard. The combination of PDF – JDF clearly indicates what and what to print, no matter what document or what printing system is used.

Eight important trends in the printing industry and Agfa's corresponding actions.


Agfa's goal

In addition to hardware and software, the prepress product market includes consumables. The global sales of the prepress market totaled 8.2 billion euros per year. Agfa is a leader in the prepress market. According to statistics, as many as 40 percent of the world's commercial prints are printed using Agfa products. In terms of revenue, the Graphic Arts System is Agfa's largest business.

Agfa offers a comprehensive suite of products and services for the traditional CtF (Computer Direct Film) technology and the rapidly growing CtP (Computer to Plate) process. In the process of the market leading from CtF to CtP, it will affect the earnings of Agfa in the short term, but with our market share in the computer-to-plate market, the profitability will soon return to normal. . In terms of production, the first phase of the investment plan, which costs 40 million euros, has been implemented. The second phase of about 30 million investment will be launched before the end of 2002.

At present, Agfa has three major goals:
- Expand Agfa's market share in global newspapers, packaging and printing, and actively develop the potentially rich Chinese market;
- Leading market prices in prepress CtF and CtP products;
- In the long run, long-term growth will be achieved by investing in enterprise software.

Packaging and newspaper printing are all high-growth markets. Agfa will continue to expand its business through targeted investments in the coming years.

In the Chinese market, we are now launching several investment projects, including the opening of a printing plate production plant in Wuxi. Our goal is to expand the film and plate business in China.

Today, Agfa is an expert in the workflow of print arts. Through Apogee and IntelliNet products, the entire prepress process is under control. However, the relationship between production processes and business management is getting closer. Agfa can properly manage the printing process in the printing factory. Therefore, it is the best candidate for integrated production and business management. These integrated solutions are called "Enterprise Software" and combine order processing automation, resource management, and invoice development. In the future, Agfa will strive to develop this fast-growing market. This strategy is consistent with our policy of “serving customers for customers”.
Agfa's unique computer-to-plate product has allowed it to grow rapidly in the market

Agfa's advanced technology and diversified solutions (see details below) occupy the leading position in the pre-press industry's fastest-growing CtP market. Marc Elsermans, general manager of Agfa Graphics Systems, pointed out that the strategy was successful. He explained: “Our market growth rate is twice that of the overall market. More importantly, we provide customers with the latest and best products.”

In the first half of 2001, Agfa’s total sales of CtP products increased by more than 60% compared to the first half of 2000. The sales of equipment alone have increased by more than 80% over the previous year, while the revenue from digital printing plates has increased by 60%, far higher than the market growth rate. In the past year, Agfa was certainly the fastest growing company in the CtP market.

Elsermans said: "Obviously, we are striving to become the leader of the CtP market. We have a huge advantage in this growing market. The thermal, photo-sensitive and photo-polymerization technologies we have developed and provided enable us to provide our customers with the most suitable The solutions that we produce include the violet laser imaging technology introduced by Drupa 2000, which also provides customers with different format and configuration of thermal systems and plates, which gives us an extraordinary competitive advantage."

Overall, there are three factors that contribute to the increase in CtP equipment revenue: (1) Galileo's global sales have increased significantly, especially sales of the violet laser system; (2) Sales of the Polaris product line for newspaper printing continued to be ideal, In particular, the European region performed best; (3) Sales of the Xcalibur VLF rose rapidly, most notably in the European market.

This proves that Agfa's purple laser system market strategy has been very successful. Since Agfa launched its violet laser system at least six months earlier than its competitors, it can gain a favorable position and now has a market share of more than 90 percent. We regard Heidelberg's joining the violet market as an affirmation of this strategy. Although this is a new competition, it is also a new opportunity for our plate sales because Heidelberg itself does not produce plates.

As for the Polaris product line specifically designed for newspaper printing, Agfa has excellent performance in Europe because the newspaper industry accepts the computer-to-plate workflow more quickly. Agfa has a market share of 50 to 60 percent in Europe. The success of Polaris also led to a significant increase in N91 plates, which increased by 60% in the first half of 2001 compared to 2000. As a result, Agfa took a leading position in the digital press market of European newspapers, with a market share of 90%.

Strive to become the leader of the CtP market

In order to further consolidate our position in the newspaper industry, Agfa has recently acquired Autologic, a major manufacturer of press workflows and equipment. This acquisition allows us to provide a broader solution to our existing newspaper customers, increase the global customer base, and increase our market position in the United States. This year, we will work hard to combine the advantages of Agfa and Autologic to provide our customers with the highest quality products and greater benefits. ”

Due to the limitation of production capacity, Agfa Thermostar thermal printing plate made slow progress in 2000. But now it has caught up with the needs of the market. Sales in 2001 have nearly doubled from the previous year.

According to the results of the first half of the year, Agfa expects the total sales of CtP's equipment, software, services and digital printing plates will increase by 60% compared to 2000.

The emergence of CtP is mainly due to the desire of printers to increase the productivity before printing, and to produce more plates in a shorter time. Therefore, ease of use and automation are the main reasons why customers choose CtP. Agfa Solutions is a perfect combination of equipment, software, and consumables that can continuously produce plates without the presence of an operator. This requires a reliable digital workflow, and Agfa has once again secured its market leadership with its award-winning Apogee workflow solutions. This system is the world’s most advanced workflow and can significantly increase productivity and profits. ”

Agfa Computer Direct Plate Solutions Overview

The computer-to-plate technology enables digital files to be exported directly to plates without going through the middle of the film stage. The use of a computer-to-plate machine can fully automate the prepress process. The advantages of exposing directly on the traditional film and directly exposing it to the printing plate are: saving time, improving printing quality, making processes more flexible and more environmentally friendly, and most importantly, reducing costs.

Each customer's workflow is unique. Therefore, we provide the most comprehensive computer-to-plate solution. Customers can choose the right solution based on their needs, such as output, format, technology, and throughput. Since we have a full range of options, we can configure the most suitable system for our customers.

The following is a brief description of Agfa's computer-to-plate products:

- Polaris photosensitive platesetter, designed for newspaper publishers/printers;
- Galileo thermal and photosensitive computer-to-plate system with Galileo's patented PlateStream technology for simultaneous plate processing, exposure and rinsing;
- Xcalibur VLF (thermal format) thermal computer-to-plate system, featuring high output, high quality imaging, automation and reliability;
- Digital plates (Lithostar, Thermostar, Thermolitite, N91 and Mistral).

Our solution covers the entire workflow: digital file preparation (IntelliNet for newspaper production and Apogee for commercial printing), raster processing (CristalRaster and Agfa Balanced Network technology) , And digital proofing system (Sherpa), everything. Finally, we also have 2,000 experienced technicians and consultants who provide support and professional advice to print customers around the world.


Press CtP Revolution

Agfa has been working hard to provide a comprehensive computer-to-plate solution for the newspaper industry for many years. This effort has not been in vain because many of today's famous newspaper publishers have chosen our solution. As the newspaper CtP market continues to grow, Agfa can further consolidate its market leadership.

As Agfa has been working closely with customers,

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