Writing a New Chapter for the High-Quality Development of Beijing's Printing Industry
Robots accurately handle goods and assist in palletizing; AGV trolley efficiently shuttles and transports materials; On the digital screen of the workshop, equipment operating parameters, production order progress, and energy consumption data are beating in real time, which is clear at a glance...... Walking into Beijing printing enterprises, these are very different from the scene of "roaring machines and puffing ink" in people's impressions.
Model innovation, digital intelligence upgrading, cultural integration, green and low-carbon ...... Beijing's printing industry continues to solve problems and explore new paths, injecting surging impetus into the development of the industry.
Multiply the "number" to reconstruct the printing service format
Maybe you are a good book lover who is struggling to find a professional book that has been out of print or out of print, and you can't find it on websites and bookstores.
Perhaps you are a publisher who is facing a new book with great potential but unpredictable prospects, and is repeatedly weighing the first print volume, not only worried about missing out on the market, but also worried about the waste caused by inventory backlog.
These two problems actually point to the same pain point, the traditional production mode of large-scale mass printing cannot meet people's current needs for personalization, customization and flexibility. Beijing's printing enterprises are taking digitalization as the core element to reconstruct the whole chain of production processes, service models, and industrial ecology.
In the digital printing production line of Beijing Jianhong Printing Co., Ltd., books are neatly arranged and come out one after another, and it is worth mentioning that these books are different non-standard products for each one. In Jianhong Printing, the "one print, each book" has long become a reality, behind which is the construction of a complete set of digital solutions. "As early as 2012, we fully started digital transformation, from a traditional factory to a full-process digital enterprise, which is not only a simple equipment upgrade and machine core replacement, but a systematic reconstruction." Wang Zhiqiang, deputy general manager of Beijing Jianhong Printing Co., Ltd., introduced. Using the latest technologies such as the Internet, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things combined with digital publishing, Jianhong Printing has independently developed a full set of systems to open up data links with publishing houses and e-commerce platforms, making it possible to publish on demand and sell first and then print new books.
In Beijing Jiexun Jiacai Printing Co., Ltd., the scenarios of personalized customization and flexible production are more diverse, and people can achieve a variety of "one-piece minimum order" on Jiexun Jiacai's online platform, such as a family photo album, a gift box packaging, or a cultural and creative IP derivative. From "batch printing" to "dual-track on-demand service", supporting flexible supply from 1 piece customization to hundreds of thousands and millions of mass production, this is the practice of Jixun Jiacai for new quality productivity.
As one of the first industry benchmarks selected as national printing demonstration enterprises, Beijing Shengtong Printing Co., Ltd. has been building a publishing service cloud platform since 2015 by driving digital upgrading with scientific and technological innovation, making full use of new generation information technologies such as mobile Internet, big data and cloud computing. Today, the platform has successfully broken through the data barriers between customers, suppliers, affiliated enterprises, publishing houses and its own intelligent production centers, realized the efficient sharing and business collaboration of production, marketing and supply information, and gradually formed a responsive and closely linked digital service ecosystem.
In 2023, the National Press and Publication Administration issued the "Pilot Work Plan for the Digital Development and Reform of the Printing Industry", proposing to promote the development of on-demand digital printing and implement printing intelligent manufacturing projects. Beijing Jianhong Printing Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Printing Co., Ltd., Beijing Jiexun Jiacai Printing Co., Ltd. and other enterprises have been recognized as pilot units for digital development and reform of the printing industry.
In 2024, the "Implementation Plan for the Digital Transformation of Beijing's Manufacturing Industry (2024-2026)" was released, proposing that Beijing will cultivate and select smart factories and digital workshops in Beijing, cultivate a number of intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories and excellent scenarios, set up a number of typical benchmarks for digital transformation, and form a new experience and new model of "Beijing Intelligent Manufacturing" that can be replicated and promoted. Beijing Shengtong Printing Co., Ltd., Beijing Jianhong Printing Co., Ltd., Beijing Artron Art Printing Co., Ltd., and Beijing Dingjia Century Printing Co., Ltd. have entered this echelon.
Production Site of Beijing Dingjia Century Printing Co., Ltd.
The reach of digital intelligence extends even to the nerve endings of quality control. In the workshop of Beijing Dingjia Century Printing Co., Ltd., high-definition cameras combined with an AI visual inspection system act as tireless "quality inspection experts," instantly detecting minute flaws such as ink spots and registration deviations on the high-speed production line with millimeter precision, and automatically sorting and removing defective items.
Cultural Integration, Reshaping the Value Space of Printing
"After graduating in fine arts, I joined Dida Color Printing and the printing industry. Here, I found my passion and sense of belonging for cultural products," said Song Hongyue, General Manager of Beijing Dida Color Printing Co., Ltd. He and his team have always maintained this passion and a deep exploratory spirit toward the cultural industry. Dida Color Printing has also stepped beyond the limits of a mere manufacturing factory to become a full-service provider that resonates and coexists with the cultural industry at a deep level.
At Dida Color Printing, besides the printing and manufacturing side, the front-end proposal team for creative design and process development accounts for one-third of the company. How to extract cultural elements, how to transform abstract design concepts into tangible products through clever printing techniques, how to create cultural and fashion products that people love, and how to innovate in brand value expression and presentation? Dida Color Printing has its own explorations and answers.
"To do printing well, you must broaden your horizons and study the internal logic of the cultural industry more deeply," Song Hongyue believes. Understanding trend culture and the fan economy is crucial for enterprises. "You must understand what young people are thinking and what they like." Dida Color Printing is also trying to launch self-designed and developed IP products, seeking new possibilities in the intersection of culture and new consumption.
Cultural and creative products developed by Beijing Hualian Culture Printing Co., Ltd
Such cultural integration exploration is not unique in Beijing's printing industry. Beijing Hualian Printing Co., Ltd. has a professional cultural and creative design team, with business capabilities covering graphic design, cultural and creative product development, brand IP design and application, short video production, and planning and execution of exhibition and cultural activities. The festive gift box developed by Hualian Printing's cultural and creative team has won many awards at home and abroad, and the intangible cultural heritage DIY set has been selected as a key project of the Foreign Cultural Trade Overseas Action Plan. "We practice the 'printing +' service model, changing from traditional processing to new printing and new services, and continue to create value for the cultural industry." Zhu Min, managing director of Hualian Printing, said.
From the reproductions of the handscroll of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" to various Tibetan thangkas, from graphene heating paintings to intangible cultural heritage paper carving art and cultural creation...... In the exhibition room of the Beijing Institute of Printing Technology, more than 100 creative products are dazzling. As a subsidiary of Beijing Printing Group Co., Ltd., the institute has long been committed to the reproduction and framing of calligraphy and painting artworks, and now they are deeply integrating printing technology and cultural creativity, focusing on the development of cultural and creative products, and providing strong support for the inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese culture.
Artron Culture Group Co., Ltd., located in Shunyi, Beijing, has brought the ability of printing enterprises to serve the cultural industry to a new height. At Artron, one can see a whole wall of "statuettes" trophy - more than 420 American printing awards, which are known as the "Oscars" of the printing industry. Accolade represents Artron's world's leading printing technology, but Artron doesn't stop there. Behind well-known cultural and museum institutions such as the Forbidden City, the Potala Palace, and the National Museum of China, there is Artron. Artron helps them complete the data collection, processing, storage, and research of cultural relics and art, and realize sharing and re-value-added. By serving the field of culture and art, Artron systematically accumulates digital assets and builds an art data center. This database contains more than 160,000 art book materials, authoritative materials of more than 210,000 artists, more than 13 million auction and art exhibition data, and more than 49 million art graphic materials. Based on this, Artron continues to explore new formats, develop diversified cultural products such as VR/AR digital exhibitions, art education courses, IP derivative games, and cultural and creative customization, and extend the printing value chain.
Green seal the future and build a solid foundation for high-quality development
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Beijing set up a special fund for the high-quality development of publication printing enterprises to support the digital, green, intensive and connotative upgrading and development of enterprises.
In order to improve the green production capacity of the printing industry, the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee also organized the environmental protection management performance evaluation of publication printing enterprises. After evaluation, the number of A-level enterprises representing the country's leading level of environmental governance performance will reach 17 in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 41%. Up to now, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced that there are 5 Beijing printing enterprises, including Beijing Xinhua Printing Co., Ltd., in the list of 7 batches of green factory demonstration enterprises.
Since 2016, Beijing Dingjia Century Printing Co., Ltd. has been divided into three phases to build a distributed photovoltaic power generation system, with an annual power generation of about 2 million kWh and an annual carbon reduction of far more than 1,000 tons. In addition, the factory workshop is completely equipped with LED lighting, centralized ink supply, centralized air supply, centralized humidification treatment, centralized wetting liquid circulation refrigeration, and centralized ink roller circulation refrigeration. At present, the company maintains tens of millions of yuan of investment in green technological transformation every year. Energy costs have dropped significantly, and resource utilization efficiency has been significantly improved, which has brought green profits to enterprises and allowed them to truly taste the sweetness of practicing environmental protection.
After more than 10 years of exploration, Beijing Hualian Printing Co., Ltd. has gradually formed a whole chain of "source reduction + process control + end treatment + testing and inspection". "In the product development stage, we will consider the development of green products that are not necessary from the perspective of reducing carbon emissions, such as advocating low ink levels, reducing plastic products, and adopting simple framing." Managing Director Zhu Min introduced. Since 2015, the company has established an energy performance appraisal system to conduct statistical analysis of energy usage. Find out the carbon emission base of your own enterprise at one time, and gradually establish an energy management platform to realize digital management of energy consumption, timely identify high energy consumption points and analyze and improve, formulate ESG reports, and strengthen ESG capacity building.