Is it too late to enter digital printing?
The key to success or failure in business operations is the judgment of the industry and trends.
“The intensive efforts in the field of digital inkjet printing in the past few years have finally ‘bloomed’ in recent years. The printing of the official uniforms of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics are all provided by our company. “Xiao Xingshui, general manager of Shaoxing Qianyong Textile Co., Ltd., proudly said at the Global Textile Digital Inkjet Printing Keqiao Summit that the company has taken advantage of this opportunity to become famous in the industry, becoming Anta, Li Ning, Lululemon, Les Faces, etc. The designated digital direct printing fabric supplier for domestic and foreign sports brands.
As a representative of “green printing and dyeing” technology, the digital inkjet printing market has been unprecedentedly active in recent years, and a number of leading companies with strong competitiveness have emerged. So, is there still a chance to get a piece of the pie by entering the digital inkjet printing track?
Reasonable price adjustment to promote development
If 2015 is the “breakout year of digital inkjet printing,” by 2022, this trend will continue to grow.
Recently, at the 2022 Global Textile Digital Inkjet Printing Keqiao Summit co-sponsored by the China Printing and Dyeing Industry Association and the People’s Government of Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, “2022 China Textile Digital Inkjet Printing Development Report” was officially released.
The report shows that China occupies an important position in global textile printing and dyeing processing. In 2021, the total output of printed and dyed fabrics in society will be approximately 110 billion meters in standard meters, of which bleached fabrics account for 8%, printed fabrics account for 20%, and dyed fabrics account for 72%. The proportion of direct printing has dropped from 78.9% in 2015 to 74.5% in 2021, a decrease of 4.4 percentage points in 6 years; transfer printing output has declined year by year after reaching a peak of 24.2% in 2017, and the output ratio in 2021 will be only 14.1% %.
“Only digital inkjet printing is increasing in output year by year, which is the fastest growing field in the current printing market. This production model is in line with the industry positioning and development direction of technology, fashion, and green, and has broad development prospects.” China Chen Zhihua, president of the Printing and Dyeing Industry Association, said that from 2015 to 2021, digital inkjet printing has shown rapid development, with output increasing from 400 million meters to 2.5 billion meters, with an average annual growth rate of 35.8%. Among them, digital direct inkjet printing output has an average annual growth rate of 35.8%. increased by 30.4%, and digital transfer output increased by an average of 37.6% annually.
Reasonable price adjustment is one of the important factors in promoting the development of the digital inkjet printing market.
Research data from the China Printing and Dyeing Industry Association shows that in 2007, my country’s direct injection digital printing processing fee was 30 yuan/meter. In 2021, this number dropped to 9 yuan/meter. meters; the digital transfer processing fee has dropped from 30 yuan/meter in 2007 to 3 yuan/meter in 2021.
“Digital printing technology has been continuously improved in recent years, and production costs have been greatly reduced. From 2007 to 2021, digital direct printing processing fees and digital transfer printing processing fees dropped by 70% and 90% respectively. Among them, digital transfer The printing processing fee is close to that of traditional printing, but the processing fee of direct-injection printing is still 2 to 3 times that of traditional printing, and there is still room for decline.” Chen Zhihua said that at present, the printing and dyeing industryis undergoing transformation and upgrading The pace is accelerating, and more and more printing and dyeing production companies have begun to invest in digital inkjet printing production lines, mainly digital direct printing. The digital inkjet printing sector has become an important means for enterprises to develop new products and open up new markets.
Chen Zhihua pointed out: “Although the price of digital printing ink is higher than that of dyes used in traditional printing, at present, the price gap is also shrinking. In the future, the advantages of digital inkjet printing will become more and more obvious.”
Li Lingshen, vice president of the China Textile Industry Federation, affirmed the vigorous development of the current digital printing industry: “As a typical digital and green technology in the printing and dyeing industry, in recent years In recent years, the digital inkjet printing market has grown rapidly, its innovation vitality has continued to increase, and it has accelerated its in-depth integration with many industries, fields, and formats, and has become a new growth pole for the industry.”
New and old “players” continue to join
The feelings of an enterprise are the mirror that most intuitively reflects the development of the industry.
“In 2016, the company invested tens of millions of yuan and took the lead in introducing digital inkjet printing technology among the printing and dyeing enterprises in Nantong. It has now saved the enterprise millions of yuan. Management costs. The intelligent management system of digital inkjet printing allows staff to remotely view and operate on their mobile phones, implements platform-based management, and achieves remarkable results in energy saving and consumption reduction.” Yuan Tianhong, general manager of Jiangsu Intercontinental Digital Printing Co., Ltd., said that digital inkjet printing equipment has realized automated management and control processes, and one skilled worker can operate multiple pieces of equipment at the same time, which has significantly reduced the number of employees in the company, lowered labor costs, and helped relieve workers’ worries. problems caused by shortages.
As a leading company in the silk industry, Dali (China) Co., Ltd. has always practiced the development concept of “green R&D, green manufacturing, green operations, and green products”. The digital printing department was established early. Chen Jianda, head of the company’s relevant departments, believes that digital inkjet printingThe products have the characteristics of personalization, small batch and quick return of orders. These features also make it more in line with the requirements of fast fashion brands and online sales. He believes that with the continuous maturity of digital printing technology and the continuous reduction of costs, coupled with its better environmental protection performance, digital inkjet printing will occupy a larger share in the entire textile industry. The proportion will become larger and larger.
“The spring of digital inkjet printing has really come, and the company has entered the fast lane of transformation and upgrading.” Xiao Xingshui said that from watermarking to cold transfer printing to digital inkjet printing, the company is currently most optimistic about It is still the production mode of digital direct printing. “The production model of digital direct-injection printing is very in line with the current development trend of the industry. Currently, about 70% of the products produced by the company are of this type of fabric. In recent years, the company has also increased its research and development efforts in this area. The number of people in the R&D team accounts for accounted for 30% of the total number of employees in the factory.”
At the beginning of the rise of digital inkjet printing in China, many textile companies have already participated, and new “players” have also stepped up to enter the game in recent years.
Hangzhou Zhuoda Dyeing and Finishing Co., Ltd. only began to try digital inkjet printing production in May 2021. In just over a year, the company has established a firm foothold in the market.
Ye Kaili, assistant general manager of the company, said: “After investigating the market prospects of digital inkjet printing fabrics, we jointly developed the acetate digital printing sector with Eastman Chemical and conducted a lot of research on digital printers and setting control variables. After testing, we finally formulated the best digital printing process for acetic acid fabrics. Currently, large-scale orders and production are proceeding in an orderly manner. After we mastered the more difficult acetic acid digital printing process, several other fabric production lines with relatively low thresholds Naturally, it will fall into place.” In January 2022, Trodat Dyeing and Finishing expanded its digital printing production line to the field of high-temperature dispersion direct injection; in April, Trodat Dyeing and Finishing expanded its reactive digital printing sector.
Whether to enter the game or not depends on the actual situation
Chasing the wind has become the consensus of enterprises, but standing on the wind, opportunities and risks undoubtedly coexist.
Kaili Ye said frankly: “In fact, it is not easy to do digital inkjet printing well. As a process that requires the cooperation of computers and traditional machinery in many aspects, digital inkjet printing must truly achieve ‘what you see is what you get. ‘, we must strictly control every process including pre-treatment, sizing, steaming, washing, and shaping.”
“The core key to replacing traditional printing with digital inkjet printing is cost control.” Fang Mengtian, marketing manager of Zhejiang Lanyu Digital Technology Co., Ltd., emphasized that the digital inkjet printing market has obvious off-peak and peak seasons, and employee costs are considerable. important. “If a company owns 20 digital inkjet printing machines, then there should be about 5 pattern designers, and their salary accounts for a relatively large proportion. Regardless of the company’s orders No matter how many there are, it is difficult for companies to add or remove designers at will. Therefore, the transformation of traditional dyeing factories to digital inkjet printing also requires integration in multiple dimensions such as talent and management. Improve.”
Chen Jianda pointed out that in recent years, digital inkjet printing companies have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, causing the current market competition to become very fierce. “Nowadays, many manufacturers that have just introduced digital inkjet printing technology are unable to produce products stably and with high quality, but they want to seize the market as soon as possible, so they want to use low prices to grab orders and customers, so the market price is also prone to higher prices. fluctuations.”
In view of the high quality development of the digital inkjet printing industry in the future, Li Lingshen put forward three suggestions: First, to strengthen the in-depth integration of digital inkjet printing and the digital economy; Focus on building a flexible supply chain to promote the digital and intelligent development of the industry; second, we must expand the application scope of digital inkjet printing in the printing and dyeing industry to energy saving and emission reduction to reduce consumption Efficiency enhancement is the key to promote the green and low-carbon development of the industry; third, we must promote the organic combination of digital inkjet printing and the fashion and cultural industry, focusing on the supply of high-quality products, and promote the development of high-end branding in the industry.
The “2022 China Textile Digital Inkjet Printing Development Report” points out that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, China’s digital inkjet printing industry is expected to maintain a compound growth rate of 20%. By 2025, China’s market share of digital inkjet printing machines will be approximately 80,000 units. China’s digital printing output will account for 30% of the world’s total digital printing output, and digital inkjet printing output will exceed 5 billion meters.
Is it too late for printing and dyeing companies to choose to enter the digital inkjet printing industry now? Maybe the answer already exists.
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