NPES First-Half 2006 Data Shows Strong Growth for Equipment

Graphic Arts Supplies
The first six months of data on supplies show that ship-ments are about level when compared to 2005. In a market that has been experiencing technological substitution for many years, level isn’t all that bad (see Figure 2). The products that constitute the Graphic Arts Supplies data include graphic arts film, lithographic plates, conventional and digital proofing materials and the related chemistry. As readers are well aware, prepress workflow once encompassed many steps involving phototypesetting paper, graphic arts film, a plate or plates and conventional proofs. Today, that workflow has been streamlined to go from the computer to the plate or directly to the press many times without a conventional or digital proof. This has had a dramatic impact on the dollar volume of consumable materials sold in the industry, which peaked at $1.96 billion in 1998 and today stands at about $1.2 billion…a loss of nearly $800 million in yearly revenue!