2013 Work Arrangements of the China Printing and Printing Equipment Industries Association

As 2013 arrives, the Party's 18th National Congress has just concluded successfully. The series of strategic goals put forward by the 18th National Congress are both inspiring and arduous. In the new year, China's economic growth is slowing, reflecting that economic development has entered a transitional period, and the orientation of macroeconomic policy is shifting toward weakening the emphasis on the GDP growth rate. Rather than pursuing a high growth rate, more importance will be attached to structural adjustment. The state will adopt various measures to regulate the growth rate and strive to achieve the goal of "seeking progress while maintaining stability." China's economy has passed the stage of large-scale rapid expansion and must break away from traditional path dependence and take a new path of industrialization. Therefore, we must clearly understand this situation, earnestly study and comprehend the spirit of the 18th National Congress, and use the Scientific Outlook on Development to guide our work.

I. Do a good job in research on industrial transformation and upgrading

1. Deepen understanding of the necessity of transformation and upgrading

China's printing equipment manufacturing industry has achieved product diffusion by following technologies obtained from developed countries, and it has obvious characteristics of innovation through imitation.

Its technological strategy for development has basically been a broad-front push model, that is, entering various product fields by advancing across open ground. Although the path has been rugged and fraught with difficulties, it has basically followed the roads taken by predecessors or those currently being taken by others, and has relied on rapidly expanding production scale to gain competitive advantage. Industrial transformation and upgrading, however, require the ability to upgrade and replace products and to innovate independently; that is, enterprises must advance in every field of the printing industry. Otherwise, a large number of our nationally branded enterprises will be crowded into low-end areas, and some will remain trapped in low-level homogeneous competition, with no competitiveness and in difficulty during periods of economic downturn.

Therefore, advancing industrial development, occupying the industrial high ground and strategic commanding heights, promoting industrial development with a pioneering spirit, and moving from a broad-front push model to multi-dimensional industrialization are our only choices. In this transformation, there is no shortage of outstanding players in our printing and equipment manufacturing industry, such as the model enterprises selected by the General Administration of Press and Publication and representatives of some green printing enterprises.

In the equipment manufacturing industry, the enterprises that have emerged in offset press manufacturing (web and sheet-fed), digitalization, packaging postpress, and consumables represent the advanced level of China's printing and equipment manufacturing industry, and some have reached the world's top ranks. Overall, however, a considerable number of our enterprises are still at the mid-to-low-end level and must accelerate the pace of transformation and upgrading.

1. Recognize that the era of low-cost resources is coming to an end

Enterprises generally face pressure from rising wage costs and difficulties in recruiting workers. This situation occurs not only in the southeastern coastal areas but also in populous inland provinces such as Sichuan and Henan. The 18th National Congress proposed doubling per capita income by 2020. How we ensure the realization of this strategic goal that benefits people's livelihoods is an issue we must consider. In addition, many of our low product prices are achieved at the expense of the environment. With the implementation of green environmental protection strategic goals, product costs will rise significantly. Therefore, it is urgent for enterprise development to shift from extensive to intensive patterns and for products to move toward high value-added development. While emphasizing the advantage of price-performance ratio, we must also turn to consider the issue of brand strategy.

1. Industrial transformation requires certain conditions, mainly including two aspects: motivation and capability. That is, only when enterprises have strong innovation motivation and also have innovation capability will the process of structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading be accelerated. In reality, however, when enterprises are profitable they have capability but often lack motivation, while when they are not profitable they have motivation but lack capability. Therefore, in the new year, we must recognize the necessity of transformation and upgrading and analyze from which aspects to carry out transformation and upgrading and how to carry it out.

II. Strive to solve several common and prominent problems affecting industry development

After discussion and analysis, we plan to proceed in the following aspects:

1. In view of the current problem of small, scattered, and disorderly development in the enterprise landscape, we should consider promoting industry integration and reorganization. We should focus research on which enterprises should become bigger and stronger and which should become specialized and refined, and put forward guiding opinions. The transformation of equipment and materials enterprises should be combined with the actual requirements of printing enterprises and carried out in a targeted manner.
2. In response to the situation of low industry profitability caused by homogeneous competition, we must strengthen the construction of the integrity system and industry self-discipline management so that the industry can develop healthily.
3. Some enterprises have long been unable to solve product quality problems, engage in low-level repetitive production, and lack innovation. In addition to strengthening quality management, we must also strengthen the formulation and management of standards. Strive to change the current lag in standards.
4. Strengthen research on industrial policy. The tariff and subsidy issues concerning key components and special raw materials of imported equipment have a direct bearing on the development of domestically produced equipment. As for how to give full play to the leverage of tariff adjustment—including adopting differentiated policies for export-oriented enterprises and enterprises selling on the domestic market—the association should, on the basis of research, put forward realistic recommendations to the government.
5. We should promote the training of all types of talent and resolve the constraints on the development of productivity factors in the course of industry development.
6. Strive to resolve the issue of statistical data serving the industry and providing a basis for government decision-making.
7. Exhibitions should be reviewed and consolidated so that they both promote industry development and reduce the burden on enterprises.
8. Conduct dedicated research on industrial technological progress, organize and put forward a technology development roadmap for China's printing equipment manufacturing, and give full play to its role in providing macro-level guidance for industry decision-making and in addressing enterprise development strategy issues.

The association will implement the above topics as key work, organize industry resources to study them, and list the topics for resolution.

In addition, next year the association will also organize exhibitions and the China Printing Awards competition. Under the unified arrangements of the General Administration of Press and Publication, it will do a good job in advancing green printing, digital printing and printing digitalization projects, as well as in tracking and implementing the 12th Five-Year Plan. The association plans, after the Central Economic Work Conference concludes, to make specific arrangements and deployments for next year's work and to choose an appropriate time to communicate and exchange views with the council members.

2013 is the third year of the 12th Five-Year Plan and a crucial year that serves as a link between past and future for the completion of the 12th Five-Year Plan. Therefore, we must raise our spirits and work hard, guided by the spirit of the 18th National Congress, and earnestly carry out all our work to revitalize China's printing industry.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361987.html