In opening the conference, Printing Industries president Warren Leslie pointed out that the membership base has more than doubled since current chief executive Joan Grace took over the organisation.

“Not long ago, we had only 300 members, now we’ve got 650+” he said.

Joan Grace followed Leslie and talked about two reports that Printing Industries would be bringing members in the next two months. These reports are at the heart of a broad aim from the organisation to ensure members know the state of the industry, in order to better understand their own businesses.

The reports are to be released simultaneously. One will be the result of a major survey undertaken by Printing Industries, while the other is a report prepared by Infometrics, a company of economists who specialise in preparing economic forecasts, commentaries and analyses while consulting to various businesses.

Some initial findings have already emerged from the Printing Industries survey, with more than 200 replies coming from the 600+ survey forms which were sent out. Joan Grace presented an initial snapshot in her opening address to the conference, bearing in mind that these are not final results.

68 per cent of respondents believe there is a skill shortage in the industry and 75 per cent believe that this shortage is restricting growth.

59 per cent of respondents believe their business will grow over the next 12 months while 61 per cent believe their business will grow over the next three years.

For the state of the industry as a whole, 50 per cent believe it will grow over the next 12 months, 53 per cent believe it will grow over the next three years.

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