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P u b l i s h e r s W e e k ly . c o m

Special Report 2012

Printing in

Hong Kong
Countering rising wages and costs
with automation, innovation, and true grit

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

Countering rising wages and costs with

automation, innovation, and sheer grit

The Tough
Get Going
By Teri Tan

This February saw 21 provinces in China hiking their minimum wage, many by double digits. Inland provinces like
Henan, Anhui, Sichuan, and Guangxi saw the largest hikes,
ranging from 22% to 35%. Manufacturing hub Shenzhen,
which had the biggest one-time wage hike of the past 19 years
in March 2011 (20%), now has its minimum wage further
increased by 14%, to 1,500 yuan (or $240) per month. (So say
good-bye to the good old days of cheap Chinese labor.)

cover photo istockphoto robyn mackenzie

n fact, from 2006 to 2010, the

average minimum wage in China
went up 12.5% per year, and it
is set to rise yearly by at least
13% leading up to 2015. The
only pause in this upward trend
was in 2008, when minimum wages were
frozen to help exporters survive the
global financial crisis.
The pledge to double the 2010 minimum wage within five years, according
to the Chinese government, is made in

the name of fairer income distribution

and higher living standardswhich is
good news for the nations 1.338 billion
people.

Feeling the Pinch

Needless to say, with profits plunging,
many Fortune 500 companies now dread
looking at their bottom line. Goods
exported back to the U.S., for instance,
are going to be pricier, raising fears of
impending inflation in a fragile econ-

omy. Consumers, of course, are not

happy. (It is ironic that the same people
who decried Chinas unfair pricing are
now worried about the impact of costlier
goods from China.)
For print suppliers, especially those
with big facilities and a huge workforce
in China, wages are not the only factor at
play. Land prices in China have gone up
dramatically in recent years, feeding into
the booming real estate market. More
environmental and safety regulations
have been introduced and enforced.
Today, suppliers have to follow the Chinese governments national policy to
improve living standards while meeting
more environmentally friendly management, quality control, and corporate
social responsibility standards. All these
come with a hefty price tag. Yet it is hard
to transfer the costs to clients, simply
because they have all along been absorbed
by the supplier.
So who could blame any supplier for
entertaining the thought of exiting
China and seeking countries with cheaper
labor such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, or Sri Lanka? But would
these countries offer the same kind of
efficiency and broad-based supply chain?
The answer is complicated.
Moving inland to cheaper provinces
instead of fighting for labor, materials,
and land in the coastal manufacturing
regions also makes sense to some, but
then one has to deal with the long (and
often more expensive) process of shipping finished products to the U.S. or
Europe. Infrastructure and logistical
support in the hinterlands are still not
top quality. A better solution would be
for more adventurous suppliers to consider retaining their main manufacturing
base in China while setting up a smaller
operation elsewhere in Asia, thus defraying a bit of the high cost while testing

Online Coverage of the Asian Printing Industry

The following articles are available online in conjunction with this print report:

Drupa 2012: A Retrospective

More

Paperwork for Toy Manufacturers (about the 2009/48/EC Toy Safety Directive and Bill of Materials)
Visit www.publishersweekly.com/AsianPrinting2012 for continuing coverage of the Asian print manufacturing industry.
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

26 YEARS

AGO TODAY...
WKT was just beginning to hit its
stride, winning over London and New
York publishers. Founded in 1944,
the company was known for printing
and binding Chinese almanacs, novels, and medical books, and its factory (with a distinct local flavor) was
then located in Kwai Chung. All that
changed when it moved to a modern
printing facility in Tsuen Wan. Then
WKT also devised an efficient production workflow for Janet and Allan Ahlbergs The Jolly Postman and went on
to manufacture the title for the next
30-plus editions.

the water (and having a backup facility)

elsewhere.

A Changing Labor
Market
Perhaps most problematic is that, despite
having 1.338 billion people, the working
population in China is aging and shrinking due to the one-child policy. In fact,
the countrys working population is
expected to peak in 2015.
Rising living standards in the countryside and the governments focus on
developing inland provinces also mean
that fewer people will migrate to the
coastal cities for work. In time, Chinas
interior will improve and fight with
coastal cities for manufacturing opportunities and skilled workers. As it is, the
pool of farm workers heading to the cities
to find work is no longer growing as rapidly as it was five or 10 years ago. And as
China industrialization improves, skilled
workers will continue to be in short supply. Even now, the 150 million migrant
workers are insufficient to meet demand.
In the present global economic slowdown, which sees Chinas economy growing at 7.6% in the second quarter of this
yearthe slowest in three yearsits
labor market may finally ease up a bit.
Higher-skilled workers are going to benefit from this, as manufacturing and service sectors will snap them up. However,
4

with Beijing increasing severance payments and pushing for higher wages for
skilled workers, companies are still
going to face the same problem of more
expensive human labor on the production floor.

Automation to the
Rescue
There is a strong case for automated
workers, or humanoid robots: they
have no need for a retirement fund, medical coverage, or insurance policy, all
mandated by the Chinese government for
human workers. It would be money
saved, especially when one has to deal
with workers in the hundreds of thousands.
Automated workers also dont take
public holidays or weekends, and do not
head back to their hometown for the
major Chinese New Year holiday, never
to return. Some factories can lose 30% to
40% of their workers in this manner.
Automated workers means no more
worries about attrition or, for that matter, about recruiting new staff, training
them, and trying to maintain productivity and quality throughout production.
And no more spending weeks before a
holiday scheduling manpower and then
worrying about workers not returning.
Obviously, there isnt the need to provide
dormitory facilities or food to robots
(although there is the periodic tuning,
recalibration, and maintenance).
For print suppliers, automation and
mechanization is the key to consistent
quality, higher efficiencies, and fewer
manpower headaches. Many have already
automated much of the manual production process. Sensors, frequency counters,
and conveyor belts on production floors
form the basic automation process. More
complex automation, such as inline processesinline aqueous/UV varnishing,
inline folding/gluing, inline trimming,
etc.is meant to reduce human errors
and man-hours while increasing efficiency, productivity, and quality.
Digital printing takes it a step further
by eliminating the plating and tooling
process, requiring even less manpower to
work on the press. With computer-con-

P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 2

trolled input followed by inline folding,

trimming, gluing, and casing-in provided by postpress equipment such as
those from Mller Martini, the process of
producing a customized book from start
to finish may be completed within minutes.

Robot Nation
Chinas fascination with humanoid
robots has already started. According to
the International Federation of Robotics,
by 2013 the country will leapfrog over
Japan to become the worlds largest robot
market. It is not surprising, then, that
Kuka AG, Europes largest maker of
industrial robots, has ramped up its production capacity in China from 1,000
units in 2010 to 5,000 this year. If the
automotive industry provided its previous clients, now Kuka is seeing orders
coming from semiconductor, electronics,
and food and beverage manufacturers. Its
#1 competitor, Swiss manufacturer ABB,
saw demand for its robot arms go up
20% last year.
Robots are no longer solely for manufacturing floors. There are at least four

26 YEARS

AGO TODAY...
C & C Joint Printing Group had just
celebrated its sixth anniversary. A
merger of two big companies, Chung
Hwa Book Company and the Commercial Press, it had, combined, more
than 200 years of history and
achievements behind it. Not surprisingly, the company won 12 prizes at
the 1986 Hong Kong Print Awards. At
that time, C&C had only two printing
plantsone established conventional
printing facility and one brand-new
security printing plantlocated in
Hong Kong and staffed by about 340
people. Its first sales office, eventually set up in Portland, Ore., was still
seven years away. Today, C&C has
production facilities in Shenzhen,
Shanghai, and Beijing, supported by
seven overseas offices and a workforce of 4,030.

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

restaurants in China that are staffed
entirely by robots that greet, wait, and
cook. Gone are the days of surly waitstaff
and grumbles about tips. So the next
time you step into a restaurant in
Chinaor a print production floordo
not be shocked to see clones of Star Wars
droids greet you with a monotone Welcome, Earthling and show you the way
to the meeting room. Given the way
computers are going and technology is
evolving, it is really just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, lets hear from some suppliers about their quest for higher efficiencies and productivity (mostly
through automation), new solutions, and
value-added services.

Asia Pacific Offset

asiapacificoffset.com
Asia Pacific Offset marks its 15th anniversary this year. Most of our management worked for Mandarin Offset, which
folded following a major Reed Elsevier
reorganization in 1997. We knew that
our service and experience would continue to have value, and so Asia Pacific
Offset rose from the ashes, says president Andrew Clarke. We have been
extremely fortunate in having a team
that always goes above and beyond the
call of duty to deliver the best. Our clients certainly like to know who they are
working with, and many have collaborated with the same team for the last 15
years due to a very low attrition rate. As
a special anniversary gift for clients (and
a nice way to showcase our abilities
beyond books), a commemorative bento

Andrew Clarke, president of Asia Pacific

Offset
6

box containing thank-you cards with

various finishes, coasters, and a notepad
has been created.
Sales in continental Europe through
Asia Pacific Offsets Barcelona office have
continued to grow. The euro crisis has
presented some opportunities as publishers look for a wider variety of suitable
sources. On the other hand, the U.S.
market is steady, and the demise of Borders has had less impact than expected.
Print runs are definitely much lower
compared with three to four years ago,
but reprints are more frequent. There is
also a lot of pressure to improve schedules, adds Clarke.
With Chinese wages rising, Clarkes
team has taken numerous measures to
keep production costs down. We make
a practice of offering the most efficient
trim size when quoting, and suggest
alternative papers and assembly options
to reduce costs. A lot can be achieved
with ink on paper using creative designs,
so we work with clients to use the most
cost-effective materials in the most creative ways. Using uncoated paper for
full-color books, Clarke says, is still a
popular trend. Publishers are also paying close attention to book sizes and
consolidating work with a few qualified
printers to increase efficiency. Asia
Pacific Offset considers itself an extension of the publishers production
department. That collaboration is even
more important now that everyone is
trying to do more with fewer resources,
he says.
Despite the challenges, Clarke finds
printing a wonderful career. I know I
speak for myself and my colleagues when
I say that. We certainly do not get bored.
The variety of work is amazing, with
publishers and designers raising the bar
every year with new and innovative concepts. Last year, for instance, we produced a remote-controlled book with
wheels. We have certainly witnessed
many changes in the industrymergers,
acquisitions, and new entrantswith
familiar faces constantly popping up in
new and exciting roles. Our world is
small, and relationships paramount.

P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 2

C&C Offset Printing

candcprinting.com
The purchase of two HP Indigo 5600
digital presses at the recent Drupa fair
and previous investments in digital
printing are part of a strategic decision
to explore and strengthen new markets,
says assistant general manager Kit
Wong, who now oversees all sales and
marketing activities related to C&C
Offset Printing. Combining digital and
conventional printing greatly reduces
the shortcomings of each platform, thus
providing the best of both worlds. Digital printing seems to be more advantageous and flexible, with the ability to
enter segments other than book printing,
such as commercial printing and packaging printing. One of the new Indigo
presses is already up and running, backed
up by an extended binding line, in C&Cs
Shenzhen plant.
The slow economy has not stalled our
investment, Wong notes. In fact, we
have just installed one KBA six-color
press with a varnishing unit and added
another perfect binding line. We have
spent nearly $15 million on press and
postpress machines in the past 12
months. To keep pace with new technology and retain our competitiveness, we
have to continue investing in new
machinery in both our Shenzhen and
Shanghai facilities to increase efficiency
and productivity. This and our move into
digital printing are strategies to cope
with changing market demands.
Proactive thinking has also led C&C to
offer DAM (digital asset management)
services and set up a wholly owned company named Swank Culture. Adds
Wong, Our DAM solution provides a
platform for all types of digital assets,
including JPEG, MP3, and PDF files.
These assets are stored and retrievable via
secure access. Our system supports userdefined content tagging, making the
assets highly accessible to the publisher
and authorized users. We also support
cloud-based deployment to achieve
unlimited scalability and ease of use.
Apart from the standard DAM functionalities, our solution also includes tools for

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

e-book production together with an
OPDS server that provides an out-of-thebox e-sales channel for the iPad.
Swank Culture, on the other hand,
aims at the high-end stationery and gift
product markets in both Hong Kong and
China. Designed to blend culture and
quality, the products will be developed
and made locally, says assistant sales and
marketing manager Ronny Woo.
There have been some changes in management in recent months. Managing
director Ken Lee, now heading the
Shanghai plant, focuses on growing the
printing and packaging business there;
he remains in charge of C&Cs overseas
businesses. Deputy general manager Ivy
Lam has moved over to C&C Security
Printing to assist digital and offset printing clients who are looking into using
security printing in their projects.

CTPS

ctps.com.hk
More than a year after installing Asias
first HP T300 inkjet web press, CTPS
continues to beef up its digital printing
capabilities. The recent Drupa exhibition, for instance, saw CEO Peter Tse
purchasing two HP T410 web presses
and two Indigo presses (W7250 and

John Currie (l.) and Peter Tse of CTPS

10000). The W7250 with a Hunkeler

finishing line for hardcover production is
expected to go live in August, while the
T410 installation is scheduled for the
last quarter of the year, both to be placed
in a 2,500-square-foot retrofitted area.
Our T300, which interfaces with the
Muller Martini SigmaLine, is geared for
softcover production, whereas the T410s
reel-to-reel configuration will give us
more finishing options, such as case,
loose-leaf, PUR binding, and wirestitching, says global business director
John Currie. He also sees improved efficiencies with the T410s faster speed of
600 feet per minute.
For now, Digiprints, the companys
digital division, aims for the regional
markets. We foresee that the inkjet and
Indigo printing applications will meet
almost all that a publisher needs: inkjet
for softbound and wire-stitched textbooks, and Indigo for STM and professional publications. As it is, Indigo is
well tested in the journal segment, adds
Currie, acknowledging that the heavy
investment in digital printing has certainly raised the companys profile and
made it a major digital print provider.
The plan is to maintain our proven traditional book production while adding
digital services to enable new verticals
such as customized and personalized
publishing.
Although China remains competitive
in low print runs, Currie says, rising
wages will further erode the price advantage enjoyed by offset printing. Using
T300, for instance, we can produce 200
to 1,000 copies at comparable prices.
However, he finds that inkjet digital
printing is mostly adopted by higher-ed
publishers, who recognize the financial
advantages of reduced inventory with
short-run replenishment, with the main
advocates coming from the finance and
supply chain side rather than from production. Some publishers who have analyzed warehousing costs have also come
to realize that measurable and tangible
savings can be achieved by moving a
larger percentage of their projects into
digital printing. To create greater
awareness among regional publishers,

CTPS held a seminar on digital book

production trends and the future in February. Among the speakers were print
consultant Tim Cooper (of the Consulting Garage) and HP experts.
Meanwhile, CTPSs lightweight offset
printing business remains reasonably
stable, adds Currie. Although STM and
Bible projects from the U.S. continue to
shrink, as anticipated four years ago, they
are replaced by new business from the
BRIC countries. However, it looks like
the euro zone crisis, coupled with Russian ruble and Brazilian real losses
against the greenback, is going to cause
us to reshuffle our portfolio yet again.

Hung Hing Printing

Group

hhop.com.hk
The current preference is for designs
with less handwork, according to Matthew Yum, Hung Hings executive
chairman. But he is unsure if this is the
result of higher Chinese wages driving
up production costs or simply the slow
global economy at work. With the Chinese government mandating minimum

Matthew Yum, executive chairman of Hung

Hing

wages, which vary from one province to

another, wages have gone up 15% to
20% every year, he says. On top of
that, suppliers have to bear the additional and rising cost of retirement,
housing, medical, insurance, and other
benefits. Asked about the option of
transferring costs to clients, Yum says,
Wages were very low 15 to 20 years
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

ago, and it was not a practice of print
suppliers to factor labor costs into their
quotations. So doing it in these hard
times is really not advisable.
Yum initiated a wage increase of 17%
for his 4,000-strong Heshan factory well
ahead of the government mandate, as he
deemed it necessary to raise his staffs living standards and close the income gap.
Moreover, the factory is expanding and
taking up more work, especially those
requiring lots of hand assembly, adds
Yum, who is seeing more FSC projects
(but not PEFC, which is still not very
popular) and a slight recovery in U.S.
business in recent months. The facility
recently obtained the BRC (British
Retail Consortium) certification, which
enables it to handle products with indirect food contact. Equipment upgrades,
workflow and productivity improvements, quality maintenance, and further
automation are ongoing at all of our four
paper product facilities.
The laid-back executive chairman
acknowledges the need to be more proactive in selling his teams new product
concepts and other ideas to clients to
help them develop new businesses. His
team, for instance, ended up selling to a
Korean publisher 12,000 copies with an
adapted design of a solar system pop-up
book that they developed. We have
shown the concept to some American
customers and are waiting to hear back
from them, Yum says.
His younger son, product development manager Nicholas Yum, on the
other hand, is involved in mobile apps
and Internet-enabled solutions. He has
developed BelugaBloo, a platform for
interactive childrens apps. We want to
help small childrens publishers promote
and sell their apps, which will also indirectly push their print titles. With
Hung Hing as their print partner, they
get a complementary service to adapt
and turn their titles into mobile apps
and also promote them. Just before the
2012 BookExpo America, Hung Hing
closed a deal to preload the BelugaBloo
app store in all units of the newly
launched tablet Kurio, starting with the
July shipment.
8

Imago

imagousa.com
Striving to find the best possible manufacturing solutions globally has led FSCcertified Imago to set up
offices and partnerships in
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and India, in addition
to its well-established presence in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Singapore. It also Howard Musk (l.) and Linda Readerman of Imago USA
has offices in Europe, and its
U.S. operation serves North and South
Guides, launched at the 2012 BookExpo
America. Whether it is a cookbook,
America, heralds its entry into the digiboard book, art book, Bible, or booktal world. Its powerful visual recognition
plus, we find the right plant to fit a cussoftware, with mobile apps branded and
tomers project. Given the rising labor
customized for the publisher, links print
costs in China, currency fluctuations, and
books with enhanced digital content.
tighter schedules, having a global vision
We are also offering this product as a
is very important, says Howard Musk,
marketing platform through which readv-p of Imago USA, whose team recently
ers and book buyers can obtain more
partnered with a high-end Asian art
information about the books or authors
book printer to strengthen the companys
via book trailers, author interviews, and
offerings in the museum/art book segsuch, says Musk.
ment. At present, 60% of Imago Groups
Training and consultancy is another
total sales come from Europe and the
Imago service for publishers. We tailor
U.K.; the rest are from the U.S. It has
our services to exactly what the publisher
150 staff, including 14 in New York and
needs. We have offered training courses
another four in California.
on color management and safety testing
One of our unique strengths is in
for childrens products to publishers as
sourcing kits and books with compowell as help them with risk assessment
nents. We have a large team in Shenzhen
for upcoming projects, adds Readerand Hong Kong solely dedicated to
man. We also offer a subscription-based
sourcing and product development.
newsletter, Safety PIN [Publishing
Another of our strengths is in finding
Industry News], which is edited by our
solutions for unusual printing and bindindependent safety consultants.
ing concepts by leveraging our staffs
depth of knowledge and experience in
Leo Paper
Asia and the U.S., says regional sales
leo.com.hk
director Linda Readerman. Rising labor
Sustainable development has been one of
costs have not resulted in her clients cutLeo Papers core values. Last year, it built
ting corners or downgrading paper. It is
a new carbon emission reporting system
quite the opposite, as we get requests for
based on ISO 14064 and PAS 2050 standistinctive finishes and materials to
dards, enabling it to provide clients with
make really outstanding books. The
globally recognized data on product carincrease in e-books seems to have pubbon footprints. Our third Sustainability
lishers looking at print books differently.
Report was published this year, and it
In the Bible segment, for instance, we
was verified independently by the Hong
continue to source for new binding mateKong Quality Assurance Agency, says
rials to differentiate our clients products
managing director Kelly Fok. Now corfrom others in the market.
porate stakeholders can have a better
In terms of products, Imagos iSee
understanding of our initiatives and

P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 2

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

Alvin Lai (l.) and Kelly Fok of Leo Paper

Group

efforts in areas such as sustainability and

corporate social responsibility. Foks
team is now working on wide-ranging
plans covering energy, carbon and waste
management, green innovation, and
environmental conservation.
Early this year, Leo Paper became a
fully certified Target-owned brand-packaging supplier following its audit by
GMI (Graphic Measures International).
Given GMIs reputation in the packaging industry, this certification affirms
Leo Papers manufacturing and packaging capabilities and quality standards.
Additionally, its zero waste vision, proactive green initiatives. and smart manufacturing solutions have earned it the
Best Green ICT (AdoptionLarge-Scale
Enterprises) Silver Award. In the last
quarter of 2011, we scored a remarkable
4.9 marks out of 5 for the Hong Kong
Corporate Social Responsibility Index,
which evaluates companies adopting the
ISO 26000 standards. These achievements can be attributed to our commitment to sustainable development and
product quality and safety, as well as our
people-oriented policies, says general
manager Alvin Lai, adding that LeoMTS (Heshan Leo Metrology and Test-

ing Services Co.) has passed the reaudit

of the China National Accreditation
Board for Conformity Assessment,
received an updated accreditation by the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for ASTM F963-11, and is certified
by the International Safe Transit Association for handling transportation packaging tests.
Leo Paper has expanded its range of
services this year to include luxury packaging. We showcased our Leo Luxe
products at the U.K. Packaging Innovations Expo in February and EMPACK
2012 in the Netherlands. We will
exhibit our innovative value-added
packaging solutions at more events
throughout the year, adds Fok. He also
points out that more clients want to use
the digital space as they rethink their
business model and seek to monetize
existing assets without cannibalizing
their core business. Our clients understanding of the e-book market has
increased dramatically in recent years.
Since we launched our FamLoop prototype, a digital platform for childrens
books, late last year, there has been keen
interest. (For more on FamLoop, see
Projects Showcase on page 14.)
Meanwhile, Leo Paper has handled
more than 280 ARIUX (Augmented
Reality Interactive User Experience)
projects from the book and greeting
cards industries. Several projects involving licensed content have print runs
above 100,000 copies, with reprints in
the pipeline for the year-end festive season, adds Lai.

Locomotive

locomotive.com.hk
In Europe, where our main markets are,
price points have not moved at all,
despite escalating production and shipping costs. Add currency exchange to the
equation, and it means that existing
titles simply cannot be manufactured for
sale at previous price points. But since
the market cant take price increases, the
solution is to create new titles in order to
maintain the price, explains director
Sarah Shrimplin. Consequently, less
expensive processes (such as replacing

10 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 2

embroidery with four-color printing)

have to be used to cut costs.
Requests for FSC or PEFC products are
therefore rare, except for the odd one or
two customers who have to adhere to
their corporate policy. Even then, no one
really wants to pay for the more expensive FSC or PEFC materials, because it
would raise even more discussions about
price points, Shrimplin says. Basically,
products are being simplified to keep
costs down. But the harder part is dealing with the marketthe cost negotiations, shorter turnaround time, smaller
production runs, and tighter cash flows.
Everybody wants better prices with better payment terms and more bang for
their buck.
New safety regulationssuch as the
2009/48/EC Toy Safety Directive (TSD),
which came into effect in July 2011are
giving the toy manufacturing segment
more work and headaches. But after 15
years in the childrens segment, with 10
years specializing in the novelty end of
the business, Shrimplin still finds the
industry interesting. The novelty
partthe many new ideas and designs
that come to us every yearkeeps our
work from getting stale. Needless to say,
however, it is the reprints that are keeping the business going.
With two kids at home as guinea pigs
for Locomotive projects, Shrimplin gets
inspiration from seeing the delight combined with intuitive and instinctive
learning that children exhibit when
shown something new and intriguing.
My awareness of toy safety regulations
and ideas of what make children tick are
definitely enhanced since having my own
kids. As a parent, I learn that no two kids
are the same, and a product that excites
me or one child may fall flat with another
child. Applying this principle to work
and keeping an open mind when dealing
with novel projects could very well lead
us to the next best project for the company.
Asked whether her industry segment
should be called plush-and-plastic or
nonpaper, given the types of materials
used, Shrimplin says, We prefer either
paper-plus or nonpaper products, as

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

plush implies furriness, but many of the
materials we use are neither furry nor
plastic.

Midas

midasprinting.com
For general manager Annie Wong,
growth will come from book-plus,
diary, and high-end limited editions, as
a lot of clients have diversified into these
products. We also see a growing demand
for projects with complex designs and
sophisticated packaging that require
extensive handwork. To meet these

Annie Wong, general manager of Midas

demands, having top print quality and

fast turnaround is crucial. So aside from
G7 certification, we have also invested in
a PressSIGN system to strengthen our
color management capabilities, as well as
an online proofing system to reduce production lead time.
Increasing productivity and reducing
wastage, she adds, is the key to combating rising labor and material costs. We
review production and fault reports in a
timely manner and discuss them with
the responsible personnel to work out a
preventive action plan. We also review
our planned material usage against actual
usage to determine the reasons for any
variance and take immediate corrective
action. It is critical to get the right
things right the first time. For instance,
we conduct quality checks on each production process starting from plate output and not wait until we get the printed
sheets or finished products to do so. This
also helps motivate our workers and
improve efficiency.
The demand for environment-friendly

materials at Midas has been growing,

especially from large companies. We
receive more inquiries for green products
today than three years ago. There are now
more FSC materials available, making
them more popular and cost-effective.
Paper merchants are more willing to
stock up on FSC paper, and this makes
local sourcing easier, says Wong, who
gets about 50% of her book printing
projects from the U.S. and 40% from
Europe. The U.S. market, she says, will
grow in the coming months, so the percentage of business coming from this
market may increase to 55% or 60%. For
paper products, there is not much change
in geographical distribution, as the current economic slowdown is global
instead of regional.
Of course, the booming local market
is hard to ignore: The Chinese market is
potentially huge, given the rising income
level and the governments strategic
development planning to boost local

consumption. We are definitely looking

at this market as well.
The plan for the next six to 12 months,
Wong adds, is to continue working on
our handwork skills and paper engineering with the goal of offering comprehensive product development and manufacturing solutions to meet the demand for
complex projects and high-end consumer
packaging from the cosmetics and food
industries. More effort will be made to
encourage clients to use our online proofing system to speed up production.

Regent

RegentPublishingServices.com
Profitability, and working hard to maintain the volume of work in order to have
bargaining power with suppliers, is the
name of the game, says managing director George Tai. More projects are coming from small and independent publishing houses. In fact, they make up nearly
80% of our clientele, with each spending

THE WORLDS LARGEST INTERNATIONAL

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www.imagousa.com sales@imagousa.com
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M

11

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

publishers to get the
the appetite for higher-quality printing
best and most comis increasing. So print suppliers are
petitive prices. The
searching for ways to improve quality
bottom line is that the
and consistency, and D-Tone provides an
relationship between
economical and rapid solution to meet
the client and the
these needs. D-Tone is also easily underprinter, or broker, is
stood by press operators and does not
what should be mearequire enormous investments of equipsured, and not
ment or training, and yet the results
whether it is direct or
obtained compare favorably with what a
through a broker.
more sophisticated and expensive soluSuperior representation offers, says marketing director Jertion that can be
emy Kuo. Two major Chinese printing
trusted to be truthful,
groups adopted the system even before
its successful launch at the 2011 ShangLouie Wahn (l.) and Valerie Harwell of Regent Publishing Services responsive, and fair is
the obvious choice.
hai Print Fair. Another 12 companies are
between $50,000 and $150,000 per
Sometimes, these repabout to sign on for it.
annum. Then we have around six to eight
resentatives are brokers. Sometimes, they
WKT sees printing as color cloning.
blue-chip companies that spend several
work for the factory.
Explains Kuo, This is a phrase we coined
millions with us every year.
to emphasize what we can do for our cliClients are definitely looking for betWKT
ents. We see very high levels of customer
ter credit terms and simpler products in
wktco.com
satisfaction for our printing, which one
order to save on development costs. Adds
The search for new solutions continues at
client summed up as seeing what was
Tai, Not everybody goes for fewer bells
WKT. This time, director Andrew Yan
expected. In essence, it is proof matchand whistles or add-ons, as sometimes
comes up with a lighter packing solution
ing. The industry has known for years
these are a critical part of the product.
aptly named Airypack. Lightness aside,
that if proofs are made to a consistent
But we do not see any increase in requests
another significant feature is the wrapstandard and the subsequent printing
for more eco-friendly materials, as these
around construction, which minimizes
also meets that standard, the end result
usually come with a higher price tag.
gluing. Airypack can be flat-packed to
will match. They must match. The two
Presently, conventional printing makes
save space, and much of its material can
standards generally used today are G7
up half of our projects.
be recycled since glue and surface treatand Fogra, and we can work to either one.
Print brokering is about maintaining
ments are minimal. Its two-layer pack
So if both proofing and printing meet the
the client-supplier relationship and
construction also allows pockets to be
same standard, there isnt a need for us to
doing better than your counterparts, says
inserted into the wrapper, so it is suited
see the proofs. We can match them. It
California-based national sales director
for special value-added items. On avermakes all the talk about soft proofing
Valerie Harwell, who has been with
age, an Airypack box weighs 35% less
redundant. In others words, we are color
Regent for the past 12 years. It frees the
than a traditional box of a similar volume
cloning.

client from the parameters and limitaand design. Once its Hong Kong Green
tions imposed by the specific equipment,
Council application is
or lack thereof, in an individual factory.
approved in SeptemIt allows the client to get the most effecber, Airypack will be
tive solutions and prices for a wide varithe first print/pack
ety of formats.
product to be recogBrokering takes place within the facnized by the council,
tory relationship all the time. Your
adds Yan.
direct printer may be great in full-color
In China, WKTs
softbound books, but it may very well
D-Tone 5040K neubroker your order for rigid boxes. Brotral-gray color bar
kering focuses on the relationship and
system has been well
plays a policing role in the factory to
received. Much has
ensure that smaller publishers are treated
to do with the local
fairly, adds Harwell, pointing out that
circumstances. The
Regent, which has been in the print broeconomy there is
kering business for 26 years, allows small
growing rapidly, and Andrew Yan (l.) and Jeremy Kuo of WKT
12 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 2

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

Projects
Showcase
By Teri Tan

The numerous awe-inspiring projects adorning the production

floors of Hong Kong and mainland China print suppliers
always get PW itching to feature these unbelievable objects
that pass for books. However, nondisclosure agreements and
confidentiality clauses often play havoc with this wish. But
persistence does pay off. So here are several randomly chosen
outstanding projectsapproved by the respective publishers
for this publicationthat best exemplify the suppliers
production capabilities and innovativeness.
From Asia Pacific Offset
BMW: Culture is a book that drives,
literally. The first 108 pages detailing
BMWs 40 years of cultural commitment
are printed on wood-free stock. The rest
is hollowed out for a remote-controlled
car mechanism that allows readers to
drive the book around the room. Handnumbered, each of the 1,488 copies is
signed by Grammy Awardwinning
graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister and
sports a unique cover. Put together, the
1,488 covers would depict a birds-eye
view of BMWs Munich headquarters.
Another branded book, Chronicle
Books Heights: An Intimate Look at
Bombardier Business Aircraft, has its matte
silver foil cover UV-printed to give an
ethereal feeling, with a glossy scuff-free
lamination applied for additional

protection. The inside pages have fourcolor printing with spot metallic PMS
colors and spot varnish. It comes with a
custom slipcase with tray and ribbon lift.

From C&C Offset

Printing
C&C has produced an intricate pop-up
book measuring 20 cm16 cm that
celebrates six traditional Hong Kong
festivals. It has 15 spreads, and some
parts of the pop-ups required paper
engineering and special materials that
had never been used in a book before. The
most interesting and complex section for
us was one particular spread that uses
fiber bulbs, says assistant general
manager Kit Wong, pointing out that

the spreads increase

in complexity as one
flips through the
book. There were
also many small
parts that required
meticulous printing
to get the perfect
color and alignment.
In fact, it took us two
months after the
concept was accepted
to iron out the
engineering part and
plan the most efficient
production method to print and assemble
this complex title. The amazing sales
figures and reviews for this book certainly
make the time and effort spent
worthwhile.

From Imago
A slipcased deluxe edition with 10
bound-in envelopes, a bound-in fold-out
poster, and 17 envelopes of various sizes
pasted to the pages, Theodore Grays
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M

13

Printing in Hong Kong 2012

Elements Vault (Black Dog & Leventhal)
certainly presented an unusual challenge.
The pasted envelopes contain various
printed and sourced elements, including
a vintage postcard in vellum and a piece
of cubic zirconium in clear PET plastic.
The cubic zirconium envelope also
contains foam backing for both
presentation and practical purposes, as it

helps to prevent the edges of the gem

from scratching other pages in the book,
says regional sales director Linda
Readerman. The book also features a
piece of Teflon tape (affixed directly to
the page), glow-in-the-dark ink, a Silly
Puttylike substance made in part from
boric acid, and a piece of real gold (in the
form of a delicate sheet of gold leaf). The
gold leaf is wrapped with a piece of art
card and inserted into a sealed envelope,
Readerman says.
Then there is Cars (Disney/Pixar), a
wire-o book and kit with a set of custommade interchangeable wheels that can be
affixed to the card-stock punched-out
cars. The set also contains two sheets of
reusable plastic stickers that can be
applied to both the wheels and the two
giant fold-out racetracks included with
the book. The cars, once punched out,
can be stored in a bonus pop-up garage
that comes with the set.

From Leo Paper

A childrens publisher came with a
proposal to add a digital component to
enhance sales of one of its frontlist titles.
Taking a traditional lift-the-flap
storybook, the team worked closely with
the publisher to integrate narration and
sound effects, and add digital flaps to

bring a new
dimension to the
storytelling and characters. We
also developed a range of in-story
innovative activities that were integrated
with FamLoop to turn the reading session
into a family-bonding experience. Our
digital solution allows designers to
enhance the print asset and seamlessly
convert it into the ePUB 3 standard to
support multimedia applications, says
general manager Alvin Lai, whose team
developed the FamLoop platform with
strategic partner MotherApp. We help
publishers speed up new product
development by enabling the launch of
enhanced childrens e-book apps within
a few weeks. FamLoop helps publishers
to launch digital books in the Apple
AppStore, test the market, and generate
revenue in the global e-book marketplace
with minimal upfront investment.

From Midas
Imagine making a case-bound book
measuring 23 mm6.5 mm34 mm in
12 designs.
Everything had to
be done manually
because of its small
size, and the main
challenge was to
control the quality
of millions of
copies of the book
and meet the high
quality standards set by the Japanese
client. The production lead time given
was also very short, says general manager
Annie Wong. The eight spreads with
self-ends were made of a perforated sheet
forming 16 panels and then accordionfolded and glued. The front and back
panels were glued to the case with
the Japanese-style paper sleeves
wrapped over the outside cover.
Each minibook was then individually

14 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 2

polybagged and packed into a tuck-end

box (40 mm17 mm25 mm).
The packaging had to be
d o n e c a r e f u l l y, a s t h e
finished products will go
into a Japanese candy
factorys auto-packaging line
for final assembly, Wong
explains. Any difference in
shape or dimension will make
the line stop, causing great inconvenience
and affecting productivity.

From Regent
With custom real metal casings,
leatherlike covers, and a working
mechanical latch, the anniversary edition
of Rise of the Runelords (Paizo Publishing)
easily doubles as a campaign prop. Inside
the presentation case is a gorgeous
hardbound collection of the entire
Runelords campaign packed with
removable maps and player handouts, as
well as a collection of 15 beautiful
archival prints of the campaigns key
iconic characters and original cover
paintings. Aside from the need to source
for multiple accessories and different
materials, we had to deal with stringent
quality checks on every item and a short
time frame for assembling the whole
package. It tested our ability to deliver
on time and on budget, says U.S. sales
director Valerie Harwell, adding that
the edition, which debuted at the
recent San Diego Comic-Con, was
especially challenging because of its
custom casing mold. It is the first of
its kind in the industry and was a
show-stopper.

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