New Customer-oriented Industrial Strategies

Platforms and other web-to-print solutions have led customers and printers to think about new industrial strategies: printing on demand and unit printing at the end of Industry 3.0, thanks in particular to the lower cost of technology and digital printing; mass personalisation with the arrival of the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, which aims to respond to the new behaviours of customers and to the concept of the “long tail” introduced in October 2004 by Chris Anderson (editor of Wired magazine), which aims to offer a large number of niche products (figure 1).

Figure 1 - The Long Tail adapted from Anderson, C. (2012).

Through the "Long Tail" in the case of publishing, for example, publishers have realised that they can now monetise titles often dedicated to niche markets for which, until a few years ago, it was unimaginable to want to print due to such low demand. Thanks to web technology and digital printing, with no stock and no inventory, these on-demand or single books are printed, bound and shipped in response to an order placed and paid for online. It is the volume of all these titles that becomes attractive provided that the costs of these very small series are close to mass printing (figure 2). This concept of the long tail is very often put forward in the case of book markets, but it is also true for magazines, printed objects or textiles, etc.

Figure 2 - The long tail and the printing press

Print on Demand
The introduction of print-on-demand has opened the door to tremendous new opportunities, including the move from a push to a pull strategy. Forecasting is no longer a prerequisite and it is possible to produce exclusively the immediate demand of customers. Even though the production cost per copy is higher with print-on-demand, the overall cost drops as storage and work-in costs are reduced or eliminated.

In academia, for example, print-on-demand has proven to be ideally suited to meet the demand for esoteric materials and economically niche products (Wilson-Higgins, 2017).

Print on Demand able to compete with digital books in a world where inventory is increasingly limited and customers expect to be able to get books how they want them and when they want. It enables simultaneous publishing on a global scale, with books printed close to the market (reducing inventory and carbon footprint) and supporting multiple formats simultaneously. It also simply enables books to remain viable, regardless of their sales rate, wherever they are in the world, and whoever their customers are (Wilson-Higgins, 2017).

Unit Printing

Just like the famous Dell computer custom-built model, when the customer orders their printed product, it doesn't exist. One of the first and most beautiful examples of the use of this industrial strategy, combined with the Internet and a digital press, was the photographic book in the graphic industries. It is only when the order is validated on a web platform that the printing process is triggered. It is, moreover, with this type of printed matter (impossible to realise technically beforehand and especially to sell by the unit under economically acceptable conditions) that the first big actors of the web-to-print developed in a fulgurating way.

The new print medium uses the interactive platform of the Internet to harness the power of personalised production, the potential of information technology and targeted distribution to make print a much more efficient vehicle and deliver the value actively desired or demanded by the consumer.

One of the perfect examples of single-unit printing is the “Espresso Books Machine” (EBM). The EBM, founded in 2003 by Jason Epstein, President of On Demand Books, is a patented, fully integrated book making machine that can automatically print, bind and cut library quality books on demand with four-colour covers (indistinguishable from the factory-made original) in a few minutes (about 5 minutes to print a 300-page book while the machine is hot), the time it takes to make an "Espresso" at the point of sale. The books are produced from digital or scanned files and transmitted via the Internet by the company's web software to a nearby EBM where it can be retrieved in a few minutes by the customer.

Printing machines in bookstores, universities or even supermarkets have sought to physically bring these books and other products closer to potential buyers.

Mass personalisation

Figure 3 - Changes in the modes of production of manufactured goods

In the days of Industry 3.0, many printers start to personalise their print runs, but in a mass production environment, which is slow and expensive. This disrupts production and compromises the quality of so-called "standard" prints. Industry 4.0 promises high levels of product personalisation at costs comparable to mass production and thus promotes the concept of mass personalisation. Printers can thus focus on the individualisation wishes of their customers in their traditional markets of publishing, packaging, visual communication and to differentiate their prints and other printed products with more variants, but also in potential new markets such as interior design, furnishing and fashion, thanks to the progress of digital printing.

“Industrial production will be characterised by a high degree of personalisation of the products under the condition of highly flexible mass production, the deep integration of customers and business partners into the value chain processes and the coupling between production and high value-added services” (Plattform Industrie 4.0, 2015).

Mass customisation refers to the ability to deliver customised products or services through flexible processes in high volumes and at reasonably low costs. It is about providing products and services that better reflect the real choices of each customer. The concept emerged at the end of the 1980s and can be seen as a natural follow-up to processes that had become increasingly flexible and optimised in terms of quality and costs. In addition, mass customisation appears as an alternative to differentiate companies in a highly competitive and segmented market such as those of the graphic industries.

This new way of manufacturing has many advantages over mass production. These include, but are not limited to, more efficient elimination of waste, greater flexibility in manufacturing processes, lower overall costs, reduced inventories and a greater variety of products and services. In terms of R&D, mass customisation differs from mass production by the frequent search for innovative products that can meet customers' wishes and needs. In terms of marketing, mass customisation means seeking niche markets, the ability to respond more quickly to changing customer needs and to respond not only to national but also to international markets.

Successful mass personalisation systems can bring major improvements in competitive strategy and performance, especially for the customers and principals of tomorrow's printing companies such as: (1) the trend toward the elimination of finished goods inventories; (2) the reduced need for forecasting and market research as products are designed based on actual customer choices; (3) the opportunity for companies to earn revenue from personalised products; and (4) the increased customer loyalty and the trend toward value chain integration as the links between manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and customers improve.

With an artisanal print, customers got exactly what they wanted, but usually after a fairly long time, and at a high cost. Print on Demand allowed customers to get their print at a low cost, right away, but not always what they really wanted. With mass personalisation, customers get exactly what they want, right away and at a low cost.

In the graphic industries, the first experiences have been in packaging with multinational companies such as Coca-Cola and its famous bottles marked with the first names of its customers, Nutella or Kronenbourg able to invest large sums of money to adapt their production (Nutella financed an additional cost of 30 cents per jar in its last campaign of 2, 6 million unique jars distributed, i.e. 780,000 euros in total), these mass customisation operations aim to establish or develop the brand's image for some, and to generate a return on investment for others (Kronenbourg recorded, during its operation, a 20% increase in sales of 50 cl cans compared to 2016). 

Mass personalisation then becomes one of the pillars of Industry 4.0 and thus of Print 4.0 and its derivatives, emerging as a new manufacturing and management philosophy for many printing and manufacturing companies.