Heidelberg's Dunn Talks GRAPH EXPO, Digital Future

PI: As the U.S. economy slowly crawls out of recession, have you seen any market improvement in sheetfed offset press sales? And, for those printers that may be considering a new press purchase, is difficulty in securing the needed financing still a problem for them?

DUNN: It's a split story—one for the commercial print market and one for the packaging market. The commercial market remains sluggish as print shipments have not yet begun to improve. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, commercial print remains at approximately 77 percent of the level of 2006. Securing financing is challenging for three reasons: 1) the banks have the "red flag" up on the printing industry, 2) used equipment values are very depressed and 3) many print shops are upside down on their existing equipment loans. Having said that, we have seen a number of very strong establishments take advantage of this situation by leveraging their stronger financial positions to leap frog the market and invest in new, peak performance presses. In doing so, they have a huge competitive advantage.