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Sep 06
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The impact of the current economy in the screen printing industry in the u k.
The world economy is currently going through some exceptionally turbulent times and the Screen printing industry in the u k has not escaped this. Indeed according to current plimsol analysis there are many more Silk screen printing companies in danger than ever before. There are a number of significant
reasons for this.
Firstly u k manufacturing in particular has suffered due to the general impact of the rapid growth of the Chinese and Indian economies. More specifically many items previously screen printed in the u k are now out sourced from the Far East as the cost implications impact more directly.
Secondly there has been a shift in emphasis in the u k Screen process printing market via diversification into closely allied printing methods such as digital imaging.
A large amount of the previously plentiful short run work is now produced using alternative processes.
Another area to consider is the current unique global banking crisis which has impacted severely on the u k economic investments.
There has been huge reticence generally by the major banks to lend to u k business both as a whole and at realistic rates. Companies which had been previously experiencing vastly reduced margins due to foreign competition have now been prevented from investing in the technology necessary to revise this trend. The vast majority of u k Screen process printing companies are small businesses which rely on the support of lenders to expand and grow.
The irony of this whole situation is that u k base rates are at the lowest levels ever previously experienced in order to facilitate private sector spending. However due to reticence of the banking system generally to lend and business loans are set at rates well in excess of the prevailing base rates.
There have been a number of government based schemes put in place to assist u k business generally. Many of these centre on providing employee training assistance to companies. However this is not particularly useful in the u k screen print industry as for a number of reasons.
The Screen print process is relatively specialist and necessarily the vast majority of training has to be job specific. Generally production techniques largely are not applicable as many operatives within screen print companies are specialist in one particular aspect.
However the general synopsis is not all gloom and doom. In some areas there are appearing the green shoots of recovery. Rationalisation and down sizing have resulted in leaner and more competitive entities better equipped to steer their way through the problematical condition. Many companies have relocated to areas with lower business premises rentals which have come about through government based incentives schemes. In line with this rateable values can also be vastly reduced further limiting outgoings on general business overheads.
It remains to be seen what the future holds. A double dip recession would have obvious negative future implications.
In conclusion by far the most effective current approach is one of attempting to retain current business and servicing a company’s customer base as effectively as possible.
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