Recently, digital printing equipment has ushered in a wave of “price increases”: the unit price of Epson 13200-A1 print head has increased by 800 yuan, and the price of Hansen board has increased by 15%… This round of price increases for digital printing equipment The scope involved is relatively wide, including print heads, boards and other accessories as well as complete equipment.
The prices of digital printing accessories and complete equipment have increased at the same time. What impact will it have on related companies? Under the impact of price adjustments, can the hot momentum of the digital printing equipment market continue? The reporter interviewed relevant people.
Rising costs drive price increases
The price increase letter issued by Epson (China) Co., Ltd. on May 30 shows that the prices of three Epson printheads: 13200-A1, F1440-A1, and F1080-A1 will be increased starting from June 1.
Before Epson’s price adjustment, Shenzhen Hansen Software Co., Ltd. had already “raised” a step first: starting from June 1, Hansen’s entire series of products will increase by 15% on the basis of the existing price.
After the prices of key components such as nozzles and boards increased, many digital printing equipment companies simultaneously issued price increase letters and made price adjustments to their products to varying degrees. For models equipped with Epson print heads, each nozzle of each machine will cost approximately RMB 1,000, that is, an 8-head printer will cost RMB 8,000, and a 15-head printer will cost RMB 15,000.
The reporter contacted relevant industry insiders and learned that this round of price increases for digital printing equipment was mainly due to the impact of the epidemic and the sharp increase in logistics, raw material and supply chain costs.
Shenzhen Hansen Software Co., Ltd. stated in the price increase letter that due to the impact of the epidemic, the comprehensive cost of board raw materials (main control, memory and other electronic components) has increased by more than 50%, especially the price of chip materials has increased significantly, and some chips The increase has exceeded ten times.
Epson (China) Co., Ltd. stated in the price increase letter that since the COVID-19 epidemic has raged around the world, the instability of global logistics, the shortage of key product components, and the sharp rise in raw material costs have become urgent problems for many companies, including Epson, to solve. difficult problem. In line with a customer-oriented attitude, Epson (China) Co., Ltd. and its affiliated companies worked together and actively responded, but they were still unable to completely offset the huge pressure on the company’s operations.
The price of digital printing equipment has increased. Will downstream user digital printing companies be affected? Will the prices of digital printing products also increase?
Jiangsu Bulanren Textile Co., Ltd. is a company specializing in the production of digitally printed towels. Its products are exported to more than 30 countries around the world. Its person in charge, Huang Hepeng, said: “In fact, since the price of fabrics increased before, many digital printing manufacturers at that time adopted price increases to balance the company’s costs. But our company did not increase prices, but reduced production by reducing the defective rate. cost.”
Most digital printing equipment companies and downstream digital printing companies said they understand the price increase of key components of digital printing equipment.
The person in charge of Guangzhou Qiya Digital Printing Company said that digital printing equipment uses different brands of nozzles, boards and other components, and the prices vary greatly. But you get what you pay for. For the sake of product quality, customers don’t just choose whichever product is cheaper. Even if there is a price increase, it is more secure to choose products from well-known brands.
The confidence for price increases comes from the booming market
Currently, the market situation is sluggish and many companies have insufficient production orders. Even if facing huge cost pressure, manufacturers still need sufficient confidence to raise product prices. It is not difficult to find that it is the booming development momentum of the digital printing market that gives companies the confidence to increase prices.
The latest data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that although global industrial printer shipments fell by 2.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, the shipments of industrial textile printing machines were a bright spot. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, the global Shipments increased 4.6%.
Zhang Yutong, director of the Fourth Industry Department of the China Textile Machinery Association, said that according to research statistics from the China Textile Machinery Association, digital printing equipment has maintained an annual growth rate of about 20% in recent years, and the digital direct-injection printing machine and high-speed transfer printing machine markets have grown rapidly.
As the leading domestic digital printing company and the first domestic company to apply digital printing technology to industrial production, the performance report of Hangzhou Honghua Digital Technology Co., Ltd. shows that the company achieved revenue of 943 million yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 31.74%, achieving The net profit attributable to the parent company was 227 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.38%; in the first quarter of 2022, the revenue was 276 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.05%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was 73 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.60%.
Yao Jian of Guohai Securities Co., Ltd. believes that since the COVID-19 epidemic has spread in many places this year, retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, and knitted textiles have declined. Under pressure from the demand in the clothing industry, the motivation to replace printing factory equipment has weakened. Domestic digital printing The penetration rate has slowed down, but industrial development is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year after the epidemic is controlled. Looking forward to the future, as the demand for quick response to small orders at the terminal increases, equipment/ink costs decrease, and the transparency of the industrial chain increases, the penetration rate of digital printing is expected to accelerate.
Joseph Link, editor-in-chief of the digital printing channel of the World Textile Information Network (WTiN), said that in the post-epidemic era, the textile digital printing market will recover rapidly and have a significant impact on the fashion and apparel industries. As the world’s largest digital printer, China�In textile-producing countries, with the widespread application of new technologies and new equipment, changes in people’s new consumption concepts and the deepening of energy conservation and environmental protection, the application of digital technology will be accelerated, and digital printing will achieve continued growth in the future. In the future, with digitalization and consumer demand for products with fast delivery times, on-demand printing will become a new trend. With the rapid development of e-commerce, consumers will increasingly favor customized fashion clothing, and digital printing will become a new driving force for the development of the industry.
Digital printing substitution trend remains unchanged
Why is digital printing so promising?
Huang Hepeng said that compared with traditional printing, digital printing technology is more competitive in customization: digital printing does not require plate making, has short proofing time and low price; digital printing has a low minimum order quantity; digital printing products have higher precision and better effects; Digital printing has a short production cycle and is faster; digital printing is more intelligent. “Digital printing has no restrictions on size, pattern, and color registration in terms of customization. It truly achieves ‘printing what you want’.” Huang Hepeng said. The company’s digitally printed towels with different styles are welcomed by consumers, which also strengthens the company’s confidence in developing digitally printed products.
Nowadays, the advantages of digital printing of “small batches and quick response” are more prominent. Its production organization is flexible and requires less labor. Compared with other industries, it is less affected by the epidemic, bringing new market growth points and opportunities for transformation and upgrading to the printing industry. “Many manufacturers have understood that enterprises must develop towards intelligence and cannot rely on manpower to produce products. Nowadays, digital printing can be said to be more and more popular, because intelligent production is much better than traditional printing. All the advantages are great, including unlimited customization, low minimum order quantity, environmentally friendly production, and relatively low requirements for the number of employees, so it is very popular with everyone.” Huang Hepeng said.
“We have been doing digital printing for eight or nine years, and it is obvious that the orders now have more patterns, smaller minimum order quantities, and shorter delivery times.” said Zhu Fenyan, person in charge of Shaoxing Keqiao Tianyue Textile Processing Factory , “When I first entered the industry, orders were generally in the order of kilometers or even 10,000 meters. Now most of them are only a few hundred meters.” It is understood that Tianyue Textile is mainly engaged in digital printing of women’s clothing, children’s clothing, home textiles and other fabrics, and its current daily output Nearly 50,000 meters.
In addition, digital printing processing is characterized by intelligence, low pollution, and low consumption, which conforms to the development trend of clean, efficient, green, low-carbon, and intelligent manufacturing in the textile industry, and has also been encouraged and supported by relevant policies. The continuous release of policy dividends is also one of the main factors promoting the rapid development of the digital printing market. In recent years, the government has introduced a series of policies and measures to promote intelligent manufacturing. Major textile provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong have vigorously promoted intelligent production in the textile and apparel industry, and digital inkjet printing of textiles is one of the important areas. As the most concentrated area for textile printing and dyeing in the world, Zhejiang Province issued the “Zhejiang Province Textile Printing and Dyeing (Digital Printing) Green Access Guidance (Trial)” in 2021, which clearly supports the transformation and upgrading of local printing and dyeing enterprises to digital printing.
Since this year, Shengze Town, Wujiang, Jiangsu has aimed at the development direction of digital printing, an industry with high quality, high efficiency, low energy consumption and strong environmental protection. It has joined hands with Honghua Digital Technology Co., Ltd. and Yuncheng Platemaking Group to plan and build a technology research and development center, The digital printing industrial park, including the design center, color management center, and intelligent manufacturing center, attracts professionals in automation, software development, color management, fashion design and other fields, and builds fully automatic clean digital printing technology production lines and automated printing processing production lines. etc., to help Shengze build a leading domestic digital printing industry demonstration project, gather advantageous resources from all parties, and strive to create a benchmark for the high-end digital printing industry.
Previously, with the technological advancement of digital printing equipment, the improvement of production efficiency, and the price reduction of ink after domestic substitution, the cost of digital printing in my country has continued to decline, the processing fee has been reduced, and its market competitiveness has also continued to improve. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the issue of localization of inkjet printheads was included as a focus of scientific research. Once the localization of inkjet printheads is achieved, it will greatly promote the popularization of digital printing technology.
Zhang Yutong said that even if the price of digital printing equipment increases, the development trend of digital printing gradually replacing traditional printing processes will not change.
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