We spoke to FuturePrint Virtual Summit speaker Roland Biemans, Founder and Owner of LMNS, about how the pandemic will boost local production, how his company is shifting its business model, and the markets most affected by COVID-19.

Check out Roland’s session, Inkjet 101: Why use Specialists? With Mark Bale, Jochen Christiaens, Oliver Kamman, Stefanie Thiele and Tri Tuladhar, on June 4th.

Check out the full schedule here.

WHAT IMPACT IS COVID-19 HAVING ON PRINT?

Any event with a magnitude as this pandemic or a global economic financial crisis, emphasizes where our industry is vulnerable. For some time already, we have seen the off-shoring to low wage countries and subsequent re-shoring of production to limit delivery times and our impact on the environment. A lock-down or sudden surge in cost or travel restrictions shows how dependent we are on our supply chain structures. Investments are postponed due to economic uncertainties. Production shifts from 'luxury' to 'essential' deliveries. But it also brings out creativity and collaborations that would not have happened in times of "business as usual".

WHAT KIND OF LONG-LASTING IMPACT ON THE INDUSTRY WILL IT LIKELY HAVE?

I foresee an increased move towards remote support and local assistance. This had already started as part of IoT and automation, but it will now become a new normal in how service may be rendered. It may be more cost-effective and quicker to solve technical issues when not having to send support engineers across the globe. Another trend that will get more attention is the "local production for local markets" approach. For some segments, I foresee less high volume, low margin production in faraway production sites, but instead more mid-volume, added value production for local markets. We have to reconsider our "new normal" and whether we wish to keep producing and selling unsustainable throw-away end-products.

HOW HAVE YOU RESPONDED TO THE CRISIS? 

We have shifted from on-site to online support and training. A large portion of what we do is location based, running training sessions at client sites, implementing integrations and providing color management services in production environments and of course teaching and presenting at conferences, shows and industry meetings. Since our team is already scattered across Europe, we already had our collaboration platform in place and our method of communication was already 'Corona-proof'. 

WHICH SECTORS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY DO YOU BELIEVE HAVE BEEN MOST STRONGLY IMPACTED BY COVID-19 AND WHY? 

The biggest impact has been where manual labor is needed. Whether this is manufacturing, assembly, installation, or handling of products. The non-essential, luxury production of promotional items has been impacted. With the closure of brick and mortar retail, there have been cancellations of orders of clothes and fashion items that have already been produced. This will have an impact on cashflow and stock-cost of the producers. The residual impact of today's travel restrictions and economic uncertainty will lead to holidays being cancelled, but also events, car sales and sports tournaments are impacted. And so, the delivery of printed goods to those sectors will be much less. Health and security related print, such as labels, is going strong. We just have to see if the situation of not investing in equipment and not being able to shop and install printing lines will continue, or that the easing of the restrictions will allow the industry to move ahead. 

WHAT CONSUMER TRENDS DO YOU THINK WILL GROW AS A RESULT OF THE CRISIS?

Hard to say, since it all depends on the time it takes to get us "back to normal". People will want to celebrate once lock-downs are lifted. But with a dose of social distancing as long as Covid-19 is still untreatable. At the same time, the economic impact on companies and their employees will certainly make people more aware of price vs. value. And whether we must continue to be so dependent on a global economy and its impact on earth's resources. But people are weird animals, with erratic urges such as stocking up on toilet paper. I hope there will at least be an increased awareness that low-wage production of throw-away products is not a very good way to move forward. Like I said in previous interviews, articles and presentations, we need to rethink our production and distribution models. 

Register for the FuturePrint Virtual Summit here.