Currie Group had an action-packed year in 2023 supporting our customers to meet the challenges of an ever-changing market.
This year, we go forward with a renewed sense of purpose, grounded in our clear mission to help our customers realise their full potential by bringing to market the world’s best solutions, underpinned by our trusted service coverage.
For most print service providers, suppliers and the overall print sector, business input costs and deterioration in confidence were hot topics last year, with the major business trends and themes in 2023 centred around dealing with inflationary pressure. In this climate, some businesses have struggled.
In particular, organisations which failed to diversify, and found themselves caught in declining market segments, have battled to stay afloat. We have all witnessed the consequences, with continued consolidation in the market over the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, the strong are getting stronger, with market leaders investing in growth and acquisition. Many of our high-performing customers, particularly those who continue to take calculated risks and invest in the future, have come through 2023 with momentum and optimism.
Throughout, our aim has been to support all these businesses to increase the strength of their existing offerings, explore potential new revenue streams, and build for the future with efficient, profitable, end-to-end solutions. This was evidenced by important new partnerships with Canon Production Printing and B&R Moll. This year, the industry can expect to see Currie Group continue to invest in our portfolio of partnerships.
In our Sign & Display business unit, we already have EFI and Canon Production Printing as complementary print vendors and we have secured a world-class partner for finishing with the announcement of an exclusive distribution agreement with Elitron for the supply of their advanced robotic cutting and automation solutions in Australia and New Zealand. Next, we need to look seriously at media.
HP Indigo also continues to innovate, and we are looking forward to bringing the revolutionary HP Indigo V12 and 200K to market in 2024. The 200K is an evolution from the HP Indigo 20000 and 25K, adding additional speed and automation, increasing the digital sweet spot for flexible packaging. The new V12 brings HP’s revolutionary LEPx platform to market, promising improved economics and speed that has never been seen in digital before. To showcase these, and other solutions, to the market, we will continue to host our successful By Appointment events and international events.
Regardless of market segment, there is continuous customer pressure to improve turnaround time. Speed to market, and general efficiency, are the focus for all customers looking to maximise productivity and profitability. As we know all too well, your workflow is only as productive as your weakest links and we often hear about one key area, such as finishing, being the bottleneck that impedes optimal business performance.
Automated materials handling and moving to low-touch, end-to-end workflows is fast becoming the key battle ground for the print industry. Other than faster and more productive machines, we expect automation and robotics which facilitate these improvements in overall productivity to be key themes at Drupa.
For Currie Group, the focus will be to continue to invest and stay true to our core strengths. As we’ve seen, the trusted partnerships we have continue to pay dividends, and investing in those longterm, mutually rewarding relationships will continue to be critical for us in 2024 and beyond. You will see us announce even more strategic technology partnerships in 2024. In addition, we will also continue to scan the market for sensible acquisition options that help us bring our mission to life.
We will also continue to invest heavily in our service capability and coverage, particularly as we bring on new vendors and enter adjacent market segments.
My predictions for the industry over the next 12 months; AI, robotics, and automation will become bigger talking points than ever before. I foresee a heightened sense of action and focus on sustainability and environmental awareness. We must unite and drive aggressively towards our goals, doing everything possible to achieve cleaner, more environmentally sound outcomes.
Will there be challenges ahead? Of course! I believe we will continue to see industry consolidation – it’s inevitable. For the emerging leaders, my advice is to be bold, take calculated risks, but don’t bite off too much. As 2023 demonstrated, those who make sound decisions, strong partnerships and stay focused on the future, will flourish, in 2024 and beyond.
This first appeared in Australian Printer magazine.
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