At present, with material price declining CTP market has passed the rudimentary phase and is entering fast-developing period when mid-end printing houses are in the majority and they have started CTP application market. What’s is different from previous period is that mid-end printing houses don’t put on air of advertising any more, but to consider further about how to more effectively utilize CTP with lower cost.

 

No doubt that outsourcing plate-making service is the best choice, which can not only save the high cost for investing prepress system and maintaining depreciation but also avoid increasing cost for manpower and personnel management. In this way can printing enterprises focus more on how to integrally intensify market competitive power.

 

In the current period, the market unit cost of outsourcing plate-making service is 10 Yuan/plate (folio). The advantage in cost is obvious for printing houses with less than 50000 plates per month. Meanwhile, due to more professional services, their printing efficiency and profit can be increased more promptly. Printing enterprise tend to choose third-party plate-making services. It is as if we spontaneously choose convenient, fast and economic delivery food. The premise is that the service can be reached conveniently. That was why most small and medium printing enterprises sent out prepress and post-press services.

 

CTP plate making is a kind of prepress service which is almost the same as outputting of film. It just offers a reshuffle opportunity of prepress service market.

 

 

CTP Rental Service: Develop the new from the old

 

Just as Jetta and Santana are the best choices for taxi operating companies, renting reliable domestic CTP is the optimal option for plate-making companies.

 

First, CTP plate-making services are different from CTF. A high-speed phototypesetter can serve 30 printing houses simultaneously, while one CTP can serve at most 3~5 printing houses. This is because direct plate-making leaves out the step of film plate down and makes quality and efficiency go up on the whole, but it’s not as convenient as films which can be used to duplicate and reproduce plates. Therefore, printing houses expect faster response from CTP plate-making than phototypesetter, which means new features of CTP services to serve the nearest and lessen the time in queue (one-to-one service is the best).

 

Second, the plate-making service profit of single CTP equipment is limited, because most customers will psychologically compare total cost of film plate-making with that of CTP. Combining the abovementioned two features of CTP plate-making service, the optimal way for output centers to transform into CTP plate-making centers is to set up distributed and network service mode. (Similar to the mode of 7-11 convenience stores)

 

A middle-scale film output company with more than 30 customers need over 10 CTP equipments for transforming into CTP service center with the same customers. In this situation, solution of renting CTP equipments will greatly cut down input cost and investment risk and the company can quickly expand at low cost by establishing service network. However, plate-making service using imported CTP equipments is a large-scale investment at a time and the limited profit of single equipment will be eliminated by high cost of depreciation, maintenance and repair.

 

 

Above all, we believe that in the future the regional network service mode will definitely take the place of CTP independent shop supplying plate-making service with just one machine. It’s because the developing space for single CTP equipment is limited and large-scale operation will bring low-cost competitive superiority.

 

 

Development and challenges: Unlimited scenery in the perilous peaks

 

The more and more dramatic competition between CTP plate suppliers enormously stimulates the inflation of CTP equipment market. Constantly decreasing plate price triggered the chain reaction of CTP transition market just like Domino. We may say with certainty that 50% printing enterprises will use CTP plate-making in the next two years.

 

Printing enterprises usually use CTP in two ways: purchasing by themselves and being supplied by third party, which is like buying private cars and using taxis. Either of these two ways will influence each other and enforce the rapid development of CTP market in recent two years. However, film output companies are still considering how to win a place in the future plate-making market. Without doubt, whoever seizes the advantageous areas where printing houses are concentrated will have the initiative to the next year’s rapidly developing market. After all, in the future, the same city can’t hold too many large-scale chain plate-making companies as there are usually only several big taxi companies in a city.

 

It can be predicted that in the near future there will be a kind of cities with large-scale chain companies offering plate-making service who will occupy over 50 CTP and gain profit of more than 10 million.

 

Market Background: admire the flowers while it is foggy

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