How often is overcapacity cited as one of the biggest bugbears affecting the industry? For parts of it at least, the answer is often.

It was a topic that came up repeatedly during the EU Summit on socially responsible restructuring I attended at the end of last month. One of the industry quotes flashed up on screen during the event came from a large company interviewed as part of the accompanying study: "There is one and only one issue facing the industry - overcapacity."

The industry-wide recommendations produced as a result of the project included 'a communication campaign to raise awareness of overcapacity'. This conjured up the mental image of a poster featuring a red hand and the wording 'Stop! Think before you buy that press'. Whatever form such a campaign would be manifested in, I'm not sure what the point would be, or what it could hope to achieve.

Surely print bosses whose businesses are affected by overcapacity can't possibly be unaware of the issue? You'd have to be from the planet Zog not to know about it.  And those running successful companies are hardly likely to temper their own investment plans just because Joe Bloggs down the road is having a rough time of it. I can think of a perfect example here on the small island: would William Gibbons & Sons put off buying a new press because of the unsustainable losses posted by its web offset competitors? I think not.

Whether Europe-wide initiatives relating to the structure of the industry can achieve anything useful is the subject of some debate anyway. An information campaign on overcapacity would, in my opinion, be a complete waste of time and money.