"Our strategy is based on three strong pillars".

SWISSPRINTERS With over 320 employees, Swissprinters AG is the largest company in the graphic arts industry in Switzerland. In 2012, the company made headlines with the closure of its Zurich and St. Gallen locations. In an interview with MK, Managing Director Alfred Wälti explains why the company is focusing on its Zofingen location and how the new strategy looks like.

The headquarters of Swissprinters AG are located in Zofingen.MK At the end of June 2012, you closed the Zurich and St.Gallen sites. What was the background to this? And what does your new strategy look like?ALFRED WÄLTI The development of the graphic arts industry on the one hand, and the earnings development of the Swissprinters Group on the other, led us to the decision to concentrate our strengths at a German-speaking location in Switzerland and to focus our service portfolio on our core competencies. We were only able to counter the continuing price pressure with major cost savings and thus secure the future of the company in the long term. Our strategy is based on three strong pillars. At the center is web offset production, particularly of periodical print media (magazines, brochures, catalogs). In addition, we are specifically optimizing our range of premedia and publishing services, which also provide their services independently of printing.MK What is the idea behind this division?WÄLTI In this way, we mirror the communications market and the demands of our customers. On the one hand, we can cover the entire value chain of a print product with our portfolio, and on the other hand, we can also offer single-stage services in the area of printing, data preparation for printed and electronic media. Customers can talk to us about any media realization need, regardless of whether it will ultimately be printed or not.MK You focus on web offset printing. Is digital printing not an issue for you?WÄLTI Of course, we also monitor digital printing, as we do all printing processes. Digital printing becomes an issue for us when it can meaningfully complement our industrial production. And when customer demand points in this direction.MK How have your customers' needs changed over time and what is particularly important to them today? WÄLTI With the changing media landscape, where printed and electronic media are used in tandem, we are increasingly talking to our customers about comprehensive media realization. The focus is not always on the print product. We can also help where data is to be prepared for electronic media.MK Competition from abroad, higher customer demands - print shops in Switzerland are under pressure. How can you hold your own in the market?WÄLTI We can live well with higher demands from customers. Here, we always have the right, qualitative answers, which partly distinguish us from our competitors in Switzerland, but also abroad. When price is the only deciding factor, things often get difficult. So far, we have succeeded in compensating for the cost disadvantage with a quality advantage for many customers.MK What does the future hold for the graphic arts industry, and where do the greatest opportunities and threats lie?WÄLTI The pace of change in media consumption and communication behavior will continue to challenge the industry. The slow ones will be overwhelmed. Those who keep up the pace will find new opportunities and be successful.MK Increasing digitization raises the question: Do we still need print products at all? And how long will they be around at all?WÄLTI There is no doubt that print products will be around for a long time to come. But like all media categories, the print media category will be constantly changing and adapting to the needs of its consumers. So we're talking more about function, circulation, volume, form and content, and less about print yes or print no. sw