business

ISPE to highlight printing industry at conference

- first national printing industry conference next week

The Maltese printing industry will be the focus of an upcoming conference organised by the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprises (IPSE). The conference, scheduled for 22-23 February, will be the first national conference for the sector and will benefit from the participation of a line up of foreign printing experts.

Last year IPSE carried out a Sectoral Analysis Report on the Maltese Printing Sector, which offered a sector level analysis of the printing sector in Malta. The report identified the strengths of the local industry and highlighted the specific competencies it can call upon, while also indicating the weaknesses the sector has to face up to.

While Malta printing industry is not expected to be affected to any great extent by the removal of levies, the report found that the industry performs below the average of its European counterparts. The printing industry in Malta includes some 174 enterprises, which between them employ about 1,800 people.

The report emphasised that the local printing industry enjoys a number of ‘natural’ advantages. Foremost among these is Malta’s geographical position and language, both of which provide a barrier against foreign entrants. The report points out, however, that achieving international competitiveness requires Maltese printers to surmount the limitations of the industry through a series of restructuring measures.

Those limitations centre on the intense competitiveness and fragmentation of the Maltese printing industry, which was found to be subject to substantial over-capacity. The 174 companies registered in the sector in 1997 gave Malta the highest number of printing enterprises per capita in all of the European countries surveyed.

Furthermore, there is a significant lack of specialisation in the industry, leading to inefficiencies. Enterprises in the printing sector have thus invested in equipment, which is only rarely used. Such fragmentation also makes it difficult for companies to compete in the export markets.

Apart from the internal restructuring activities for individual enterprises in the sector - including greater use of information technologies, product development and improved management - the report also proposes a number of industry-wide initiatives that will improve the competitiveness of the industry as a whole. These form the basis for an Action Plan proposed for the printing industry.

IPSE has encouraged and actively brokered the formation of a Printing Industry Group, which will provide encouragement for joint ventures, a forum for the exchange of technical issues and the sharing of experience, international market development, identification of training needs and a lobby group to safeguard the business interests of members.

IPSE has also contributed to the development of the ‘printing vocation’, working to improve and update the standard of training available to prospective printers. IPSE has also been exploring the possibility of providing technical training from international printing bodies to enterprises in the sector, and promoting opportunities for staff training.

The possibility of providing local and foreign technical support to printers is also being explored by IPSE.