In an interview with ProPrint, Printing Industries chief executive Philip Andersen admitted “there is certainly going to be increasing pressure on prices” across the industry as a result of the change, but also pointed to the positives of PBL’s plans.

“You could view it as being a massive vote of confidence in the future of the printing industry, that this company is prepared to invest massive amounts of money in constructing its own print facility,” Andersen said.

“If there is a downside, there’s been a concern in the association for many years that there is overcapacity in the industry, and if this is going to exacerbate that, then it is a downside.”

Andersen also endorsed PMP chief executive Brian Evans’ claims last week that there was room in the catalogue industry for the company to make up for the loss of ACP’s business.

“The catalogue world is a growing market, and PMP have got three years in which to manage the change,” said Andersen.

“If they can get a reasonable share of a growing market, they don’t have to take business away from anybody.”

Andersen also echoed Evans’ claim that PBL may struggle with the move to in-house, despite agreeing with the notion that the move signals a belief at PBL that in-house printing is the way forward.

“It certainly has not been the case in the past. Probably more companies have closed down in-house printing [operations] than introduced them,” Andersen said.

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