The announcement and demonstration of a concept digital printer capable of running at production volumes and targeting the corrugated packaging market at the drupa exhibit in 2004 generated considerable interest within the traditional converting industry for packaging, and also from other industries interested in gaining a better understanding of the technology, the digital value proposition and the development path around digital technologies.

The majority of companies today are thinking of right-sizing their output management fleets towards more multi-functional printing with fewer vendors. Today centralising is the trend in industry but in reality most office printing environments have evolved quite independently from what is now considered as optimum practice for effective document management. Often one still sees shared print environments where the number of users per printer is between 1–10, where this number could easily be 25 or more, depending on the type of office environment. Desktop and small workgroup printers almost became status symbols, especially full-colour ones. Every office in the world, it seems, has printers with reams of printed paper stacked up on and around them, forgotten by the people who generated them, and ending in waste baskets every night.

Management buy-outs (MBOs) have become commonplace in recent years, reflecting the enterprise culture that is growing internationally and the availability of funding from both private equity investors and financial institutions. Embarking on an MBO in the printing and packaging industries demands a closer look at the industry-specific issues, which can make or break the transaction.