Opportunities in print industry

He suggested the country also needs to look at investors from Germany, Canada and Europe as the printing sector presents an amazing opportunity to create more jobs during a time of declining gas and oil revenues. Lewis said the printing sector needs a major shake-up in order to take advantage of existing opportunities...

otherwise it will die.

He lamented that TT is not a country of printers as there are no clusters of specialists and not even an association of printers.

He said the industry was in better shape 30 years ago when a printing association was in operation, but this was long disbanded. Such an association needs to be brought back, Lewis said. Also speaking at the conference was Dr Markus Heering, managing director of the German Engineering Federation who said that printing is not likely to be threatened or made obsolete by the advent of social media and other modern forms of communication.

He said the conflict between printing and emerging forms of communication has been around for decades.

“When the radio was coming up, it was a new form of communication.

When television was coming up there was the cinema before and now it is the electronic media that influences all forms of communication,” Dr Heering said.

The conference was organised by Euro- ChamTT, the European Business Chamber in Trinidad and Tobago.

PrintPromotion is a company aimed at promoting the printing industry, the paper converting industry and other industrial segments related to printing technology. According to a statement from EuroChamTT, Print- Promotion is an integral part of the Association of German Manufacturers of Printing and Paper Equipment and Supplies within the German Engineering Federation and its aim is to provide training and support for the printing industry.

Entitled, ‘High-tech for the printing industry from German manufacturers - getting ready for the future’, the conference brought together representatives of different manufacturers of printing equipment to showcase their latest technological advancements, to a select group of local printers.