Reduced Costs: 6 ways the print industry has changed in the last 60 years

In our third instalment of our series exploring 6 ways the print industry has changed since LG Davis opened its doors 60 years ago, we look at cost. Whereas many industries have become more expensive through the years, Liz Smith, Managing Director, tells us how for print there’s actually been a reduction in cost for many as technology has simplified processes.

1. Reduced costs making print more accessible

“Large print runs were commonplace before the invention of digital print. Set up costs were where the majority of the cost lay so it actually became cheaper the more you printed. This saw firms go for long print runs to offset the cost and print relied on large budgets and print demand. With this came the potential to create a large amount of waste, with products sometimes becoming out of date before they were all used.

“Now documents are sent over digitally and what I used to watch take hours, is completed in a matter of minutes. It has seen low volume, targeted print overtake the traditional long print runs of my early days.”

Rather than scale up print, technology has helped to hone and create an industry which is more accessible and designed to produce less waste.

The traditional time-consuming process which made print so expensive has been swapped for a more efficient, faster and bespoke service.

Today making a job ready for print takes a click of a button, and the speed presses run at make them much more affordable. This technology has made print more widely accessible as small firms can now order small print runs, create one off personalised leaflets and order as and when required rather than being limited by costly large print runs.

It is something that Liz sees as a real benefit for the industry in helping it to evolve and grow as not only has the product become more cost effective and accessible, but the industry as a whole has been honed to provide added value and greater time savings.

Find out how home printing changed the dynamic for printers as we continue our look into the next of our 6 big changes for the industry next week, or look back at other changes such as the changing face of print or advances in technology.