How Digital Printing Supports Nearly Half Of The Revenue

TJ Books, a British printing company, is a comprehensive cultural enterprise focusing on book publishing, printing, and related services. It was founded 50 years ago and now has more than 140 employees. Facing the current situation in the UK printing industry, characterized by "a surge in small batch orders, increasing demand for personalization, and stricter environmental regulations," the company was early to keenly grasp new trends in the printing industry. By the late 1990s, it had already started to develop its digital printing business. After years of growth, TJ Books has now carved out a distinctive transformation path in areas such as small batch customization, personalized services, and green low-carbon initiatives, becoming a benchmark for digital printing transformation in the UK.

Based on the local anchor the core direction of digital printing

TJ Books takes "technology empowers cultural communication and builds a leading digital printing service provider in the UK" as its core positioning, based on the entire industry chain of British book publishing, breaking the limitations of traditional printing "mass production and homogeneous output", and accurately docking the core needs of the local market of "small batch, personalization and fast delivery". Its core business covers customized printing of academic books, personalized binding of children's books, on-demand printing of niche books, etc.

In terms of resource integration, TJ Books relies on the advantages of local publishing resources in the UK to build an integrated system of "digital printing + publishing and distribution + warehousing and logistics". The upstream links with local publishing institutions to undertake various book digital printing businesses, focusing on solving the pain points of traditional printing "high printing volume and inventory backlog", and adapting to the characteristics of the niche publishing market; Downstream docks with local libraries, chain bookstores and individual readers, providing one-stop services from design, printing to delivery, and achieving the operation goal of "on-demand production, zero inventory, and high timeliness".

The whole chain of digital printing breaks through and adapts to the local area

TJ Books' digital layout is not a single technology application, but a full-chain innovation covering "equipment upgrades, technology research and development, process optimization, and scenario expansion".

01

Technology upgrade: focus on the integration of personalization and intelligence

TJ Books has invested heavily in the introduction of international top digital printing equipment, with independent adapted auxiliary equipment, to build a diversified equipment matrix, including 3 toner digital printing machines and 3 continuous paper inkjet printing machines.

On the basis of equipment upgrades, TJ Books focuses on promoting independent research and development of digital printing technology, with core breakthroughs in the two major technologies of "variable data printing" and "intelligent color management" to create differentiated advantages, and all R&D results are in line with the needs of British readers and industry technology trends. Among them, variable data printing technology can realize dynamic changes in the content of each printed matter, such as implanting personalized names and QR codes in children's books, adding exclusive numbers to academic books, and giving interactive and unique books to books, which has been widely used in local personalized book customization business.

At the same time, the company deeply combines digital printing technology with AI and big data to build an intelligent production management system to realize the automatic control of the whole process of order reception, design and layout, printing production, quality inspection, logistics and distribution. It is reported that the system analyzes user needs through big data and accurately pushes printing solutions; AI technology is used to automatically calibrate colors and detect defects, so that the qualified rate of finished products is increased to more than 99.8%; With the help of automated logistics systems to connect with local logistics networks, the delivery cycle is greatly shortened, and the user experience is improved.

02

Process optimization: Build an efficient collaborative digital system

TJ Books breaks the traditional printing process of "design, plate making, printing, and binding", and builds a full-process digital collaboration system to achieve seamless connection of all links and adapt to the operation rhythm and customer needs of the British industry. In the pre-press process, build a digital design platform to support customers to submit requirements and modify plans online, and provide standardized templates that meet British book design standards to reduce customer design costs. In the printing process, the intelligent production system realizes automatic order allocation and real-time monitoring of equipment to ensure production efficiency and quality. In the post-press link, the introduction of automated binding and lamination equipment, with AI quality inspection system, realizes the efficiency and standardization of post-press processing, and provides personalized binding methods such as glue binding, riding nails, and loose-leaf binding to meet the needs of different book usage scenarios.

In addition, the company has opened up the collaborative channel of digital printing and publishing and distribution, and established in-depth cooperation with local online book platforms and offline bookstore chains to achieve closed-loop operation of "on-demand printing and instant delivery". For niche book orders on online platforms, it can be "printed within 24 hours after the order is placed and delivered within 48 hours", effectively reducing the inventory pressure of publishing institutions, promoting niche books to quickly reach readers, and activating the new volume of the local book retail market.

03

Scenario expansion: diversified layout + green practice

Relying on the flexibility of digital printing technology, TJ Books' business extends from traditional book printing to teaching aids, picture book creation, academic monograph printing, corporate brochure printing and other fields, meeting the diverse needs of the UK. In the field of teaching aids, it connects with primary and secondary schools and training institutions to provide customized teaching aid printing services, which can adjust the content and printing volume according to teaching needs to achieve "one lesson, one aid, one person, one book"; in the field of picture books, we cooperate with local illustrators to provide personalized design and printing services, and support parents to customize exclusive picture books with their children's names and photos; In the academic field, it provides small-batch printing services for academic monographs and essays for universities and scientific research institutions to solve the problems of small print volume and difficult publication of academic works.

As a British printing company, TJ Books strictly follows EU and local green environmental protection regulations, using environmentally friendly inks and degradable paper in the digital printing process to reduce exhaust gas and wastewater emissions.

Future outlook Concentrate on the new journey of digital printing

In recent years, the importance of digital printing in the company's business has continued to rise. Digital printing has accounted for nearly 30% of the company's business volume, and sales account for 45%. In addition to wireless offset and locked binding books, TJ Books also produces hardcover books, with a particular focus on short-form printing. The company prints 6.5 million books a year, mainly serving publishers across the UK, and personal self-published book orders continue to grow. Among them, the printing volume of traditional offset printing is 1,400 copies, digital printing is only 170 copies, and on-demand printing is as low as 1.5 copies. For the B2C field, the book business of printing a single book has also become a successful model for the company. If the customer does not specify the printing process, TJ Books will decide whether to use traditional offset printing or digital printing.

At present, the global publishing and printing industry is in a critical period of digital transformation, and the UK, as an important printing market in Europe, with the development of AI, big data, Internet of Things and other technologies, digital printing will usher in a broader space. As a local benchmark enterprise, TJ Books will continue to focus on the field of digital printing in the future: on the one hand, increase investment in R&D, break through the bottleneck of high-end digital printing technology, explore the application of new technologies such as nano ink, and optimize color management and post-press processing technology; On the other hand, we will deepen cooperation with local publishing institutions and online and offline channels, rely on the location advantages of the UK to expand the European market, build a complete digital publishing and printing ecosystem, promote the deep integration of digital printing with audio publishing and integrated media publishing, and create a diversified business model of "digital printing +".

TJ Books believes that in the UK and European markets, digital printing will gradually replace traditional offset printing as the mainstream mode of book printing, and "print-on-demand, personalized customization, green and low-carbon" will become the core trend of the industry. The company will continue to play a benchmarking role, lead more British and even European traditional printing enterprises to embrace digital transformation, inject new vitality into British cultural communication with digital technology, and meet the strategic requirements of the high-quality development of the local cultural industry.