3-D Printing eyed by HP

It seems that printing giant, Hewlett Packard (HP) is setting its sights on 3-D Printing. Wired.com reported a deal between HP and Stratasys, a company specializing in 3-D Printers.

3-D printing is specifically applied to creating prototypes for different products. In the past, the process of coming up with one prototype is tedious and very expensive. With a 3D printer, a prototype is created just like an ordinary printer marks a paper with ink or toner.

Confined within a minority composed of hobbyists and industrial designers, 3-D printing would be introduced to more people if HP really embraced the idea. Although, HP intends to offer this to the more lucrative automotive and aerospace industry initially, it is not so far fetched that HP would want to push a device like this to mainstream businesses.

A further venture into the crystal-ball and this is the future of 3-D printing that I would love to see: receiving a new device or gadget at the comfort of one's home, wherein the design is just sent via the internet and came into being through a 3-D printer.

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2010 Challenges for the Printing Industry

It is a new year. A fresh start for the printing industry to face its challenges. For 2010, I can think of three major issues that the industry will contend with.

Battling back from recession

Like in almost all industries, printing is aching to bounce back after being hit heavily with the recession of last year. Some analysts see minor recovery only at year-end. Last year, IT spending was put on hold. Thus, it is projected that this area will have a significant increase this year. As printing is included in the IT budget, the industry would be pulled as well. The demand for printing services and printing consumables like paper, replacement ink & toner cartridges is forecasted to increase.

Shrinking Market, Tougher Competition

The need for traditional data-printed-on-paper is continuously under attack by online media and gadgets that allow data transfer/presentation. This shrinks the printing market. Competition in the industry, already cut-throat as it is, will be much tougher. Companies under this industry should be more creative and tap in new markets. An example of which is the Managed Print Services.

Environmental Compliance and Perception

With businesses getting more involved with pro-environment advocacies, the industry is also impacted. Aside from environmental regulations that should be adhered, the industry is being asked of its social responsibility activities like toner cartridge recycling, etc. On the outside, going green can win a company some PR points and be accepted by eco-conforming business circles. However, doing so entails additional costs without guaranteed returns.

Printing industry players that can overcome this challenges will continue to thrive while those who can't may not be around the following year.

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