Speaking at last week’s Pira web offset conference, Stephan Krauss, chief executive of Prinovis, claimed that print needed to take a “new approach” to its relationship with customers and focus on added value.

He said: “Printers have not really understood that they are service providers… You need motivated and qualified staff who will go the extra mile. It’s the mindset that makes the difference.”

Krauss (pictured) added that it was crucial for printers to look at the “total cost” of print­ing, and especially logistics, and said: “You have to offer the full value-chain in-house.”

Speaking to an audience of web-offset printers, Krauss also predicted that maga­zine print volumes would decrease over the next 10 years by up to 15%.

However, he predicted that demand for catalogue printing would remain stable but would focus on high-run-length work that was ideal for the gravure process.

Krauss cited major catalogue launches such as those from Tesco, Argos and Wool­worths as evidence that the retail sector was focusing on long-run work.

“Mail order work won’t come down to runs of 50,000 to 100,000. We’re still looking at catalogues of 500,000 to 2.5m,” he said.

“Whoever in the web offset business thinks that this is their chance is wrong.”

Krauss, whose firm has spent £130m on its plant in Speke, Liverpool, said that competition between web offset and gravure would intensify. He argued that gravure beat web offset on quality, particularly on low paper grades.

Krauss has previously claimed that Prinovis’ Liverpool site, which is already running three presses and will install a fourth 4.32m-wide KBA press by the summer, could compete on runs as low as 200,000.

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