Printing Machinery & Equipment Manufacturing Industry Profile

Companies in this industry manufacture printing machinery and equipment, including printing presses and binding machinery. Major companies include Goss International, Hewlett-Packard, Presstek, and Xerox (all based in the US); Canon, Fuji Xerox, Komori, and Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho (Japan); and Heidelberger, Koenig & Bauer, and manroland (Germany).

The global printing equipment industry generates annual revenue of about $20 billion and is expected to reach $21.2 billion by 2017, according to consulting firm Smithers Pira. Top countries for printing machinery production countries include Germany, Japan, and the US.

The US printing machinery and equipment manufacturing industry includes about 400 companies with combined annual revenue of about $2 billion. The industry is expected to grow at a low rate in the next two years. A major challenge is the continuing shift toward delivering information in electronic rather than printed form.

The printing machinery and equipment industry doesn't include textile printers or home and office printers connected to PCs or small office/home office desktop publishing systems. Home and office printers are covered in the Computer Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing industry profile.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by commercial print volume, which depends primarily on advertising and other business needs for printed material. Profitability of individual companies depends primarily on manufacturing efficiencies. Large companies enjoy economies of scale in purchasing and manufacturing. Small companies can compete effectively by serving niche markets, such as envelope printing. The industry is concentrated: the 50 ...