The growth of the post-press process’s profile within the industry is long overdue, in terms of its importance (after all a job has little or no invoice value until it’s finished) as well as the opportunities it can generate in terms of cost savings, efficiency improvements and good old-fashioned profits.

In fact, this year, not only did Cinderella go to the ball (the ball in question was Ipex, in case you’re wondering), but she was arguably its ‘belle’.

The majority of post-press vendors reported brisk trade, admittedly partially driven by printers’ recession-stalled investments of the preceding 18 months, but primarily because of the quick ROI wins that a well-placed finishing kit investment can make. Add to that the fact that I can’t think of a single finishing manufacturer that didn’t bring something new to the show, and then it comes as no surprise that the post-press halls were among the busiest at the NEC back in May.

Of course, it’s not all sweetness and light and the much-maligned trade finisher continues to suffer at the hands of the industry’s switch to in-house services. However, even here there are opportunities and the key to those appears to be a collaborative rather than combative approach to business (see p28). Something that is probably true of the industry as a whole.

View the Finishing Report 2010