To Fend off China's Low-priced Printers, Try Going Green

Which of these stories is true? a) North Korea prints billions in counterfeit $100 bills to fund its nuclear program; b) The New York Times abandons its Edison, NJ plant because the presses print too wide; c) The largest U.S. exports to China, by volume—old newspapers and cardboard—are returned as competitively priced newsprint; d) Wal-Mart hires a former nun to guide it, vowing to use green packaging and sell organic food; e) Google now sells print ads, as it runs out of search words.

They're all true, as readers of Graphic Arts Monthly's free online e-GAM newsletter already know. Big stories with direct and indirect impact on print supply and demand—the spin-off of MAN Roland and its huge press sales to print the Book of Mormon in color; Quebecor layoffs of 200 in Depew, NY, as work heads to lower-wage Mississippi; RR Donnelley's formula for return on capital investment: two sheetfed presses out for each new one in—are now found exclusively online.

Readers can decipher from these reports key trends on which to capitalize. When e-GAM reports on wind-powered print at Sandy Alexander, or China and Thailand's massive government-led plans for expansion of print capacity, for example, you know it's time to take notice of both the domestic demand for sustainable print, and of these Asian competitors. Readers who connect the dots will see opportunities in Wal-Mart's green initiatives, as well as the retail giant's newfound concern for sustainable print and packaging. Though once viewed as a threat by printers, the “Greening of America,” as Newsweek terms it, may set a barrier to Asia's competitive printers. How so?

With the rise of the global economy also come international mandates on corporate performance—increasingly beyond the ability of even the most business-friendly U.S. agencies to mitigate. When France tells Apple to open its iPod software to competitors; or the European Union fines Microsoft $450 million for not following its rulings; or Google is told by the Chinese government to censor searches—U.S. rules hold no sway.

This principle has special significance when governments set environmental impact standards to which multinationals and, ultimately, even their supplying printers must conform. On matters of sustainability, it means printers will be called upon to provide an auditable trail of the “carbon footprint” their operations leave on the environment, accounting for all job inputs and outputs. Hiding waste, remakes and excessive makereadies will no longer do, even if you are willing to eat the cost.

At its most essential, going green means moving to sustainable platforms, i.e., using VOC-free inks, chemistry-free plates and reducing waste. Next comes seeking Energy Star ratings; then using Forest Stewardship Council approved papers and becoming FSC certified—54 Donnelley sites in North America have done so; as have 80 other U.S. printers. Visit www.fsc.org and www.pneac.org to get started. But these are steps printers anywhere on the planet can follow, while they also take advantage of low labor scales and subsidized government financing and exchange rates.

A more difficult chore for printers in developing markets, and for China in particular, is to erase the massive impact on the environment of intercontinental transport of goods, of notoriously polluting power grids, and of legendary chemical dumping. Purchasing carbon offsets and winning ISO 14000 certification are challenging in nations with primitive infrastructures. Because GAM reader surveys show your rising interest, and because of its potential production advantages, we will devote increased coverage to sustainability, which, we believe, will give North American printers a competitive edge in the years ahead.

bill.esler@reedbusiness.com