FLXON Executive Outlook
Paul Sharkey President
U.S. has more than doubled while manufacturing jobs declined by 30% — all of it driven by technolo gy rather than jobs moving overseas. Here’s the thing, not all producvity gains are a result of buying new equipment. Many of the pressrooms we work with are invesng in operator best pracces training and upgrading elements of their process. Higher preforming pumps, more ef fecve filter vessels, nonleaking ink chambers and longerlasng higherperforming doctor blades all play a part in major producvity gains now being realized industry wide. During the years immediately following the Great Recession, no gains were made. Then the focus
Risk and Reward When the Great Recession hit in 2008, many of us were caught off guard. The preceding years were good for the flexo markets we serve. Year over year GDP growth had been running at ±4% but in 2009 GDP dropped by 2%. In the following year, FLXON lost 6 of our top 10 customers as a re sult of closures do to bankruptcy and consolidaon. We weren’t alone in that almost every business was in the same situaon. It became clear the path forward was not the same as the path we followed leading up to 2009. It was me to think outside the box. Today, surviving companies from that period are generally doing well. Since 2010, the economy has grown by a steady ±2% annually and the flexo print markets have largely rebounded. The path forward for every printer, converter and supplier involved a focus on improving producvity. As pressrooms re gained their stride, many have made investments in new technology giving them the ability to pro duce higher quality products faster at lower cost. In wide web flexible packing, new High Speed HD FLEXO presses are running at 2000 fpm, producing at a print quality level compeve with ro togravure and offset. These results are achieved with job changes measured in minutes requiring one operator and one helper. Relave gains have been made in all flexo print market segments. Sev eral older machines can be replaced by one more efficient machine, allowing prices to print buyers to remain relavely unchanged. Output is up while employment is down. Our in dustry reflects what has happened in the broader economy. According to Drew Desilver, an econo mist with the Pew Research Center, manufacturing jobs in 2017 totaled 12.4M which represent 8.5% of all jobs in our economy. That’s down from 32% in 1953. Since 1987, manufacturing output in the
was on cost cu ng oen at the expense of producvity. At first, few were willing or in a posion to make investments as discussed above. To spend money on any thing more than basic mainte nance was perceived as too risky.
No Risk In 2010, FLXON began to offer an uncondional performance guarantee on all of our products. If we agreed our product could meet or exceed a buyer’s expectaons and it didn’t, the buyer could return the product for a full refund. This guarantee placed the responsibility on FLXON to make sure our product is suited to a customer’s applicaon it extends even to doctor blades. The Reward As a result, FLXON’s business came back and now exceeds prerecession levels. We had to invest in new qualified staff to meet increased demand. Since the recession, FLXON has helped hundreds of pressrooms to lower their waste, improve print quality and regain their compeve advantage. What’s more, they are beer prepared to with stand future economic fluctuaons.
14 Executive Outlook Flexo Market News
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