The Application of Supplier Collaborative Innovation in Printing Enterprises (Part One)

Change and innovation are the salient features of the current business environment. The rapid changes in the market and diversified demands have brought threats to incumbents, brought new opportunities to newcomers and enterprises, and sought to retain customers and become the key to the competition of enterprises. The market presents many new features, such as shortened product life cycles, increased customer demand for customization, and greatly reduced delivery times. In addition to providing high-quality products and services to customers on time, enterprises need to respond quickly to changes in the market. Whoever has grasped the trend of change may win in a new round of competition. It is difficult for a single company to respond to the ever-changing needs of the market in a short period of time based on its own resources. A single company does not have all the resources required for competition. Therefore, it must rely on the support of other companies to expand the scope of resource allocation. Horizontal mergers between companies such as acquisitions, mergers, or alliances have thus increased, and competition among firms has evolved into competition in the value chain (supply chain) of affiliated companies or corporate alliances. This has been particularly prominent among multinational corporations. The supply chain management model that emerged in the 1990s has been widely adopted by world-class companies and has formed a mature theoretical system.

In the supply chain management model, the relationship between manufacturers and suppliers is based on profit sharing, risk-sharing partnerships, and suppliers become part of the company's strategic resources. Based on partnerships, the capabilities of suppliers, such as technology and innovation capabilities, can all be an extension of the capabilities of manufacturers. In fact, technological innovation with the help of suppliers' capabilities has become a common mode of cooperation in the communications, biotechnology, and electromechanical manufacturing industries. In a sense, the manufacturer's finished product is a combination of suppliers' materials and products. A large proportion of the value of the finished product is contained in each component. The value and technical content of the constituent materials and products directly affect the value of the finished product. And the increase in the value of the finished product is usually greater than the increase in the value of the component. In the printing industry, the innovation of suppliers is also of great significance to companies. Traditional printing companies themselves focus on processing, and rely heavily on printing equipment and materials in terms of technology. Technological advances in printed products are usually driven by suppliers of equipment and materials, especially in prints with low manual content.

First, the main modes of supplier collaborative innovation

In short: supplier collaborative innovation means that manufacturers use supplier collaboration for product development and technological innovation. At this stage, there are two main types of collaborative innovation for suppliers:

1. Help manufacturers to improve production processes, optimize production processes, etc., in order to achieve the purpose of reducing costs, improving quality or production efficiency.

2. Redesign or R&D of its own product according to manufacturer's requirements: Change the form, performance or quality of the product to help manufacturers increase the added value of their finished products.

The first type of innovation does not change the supplier's materials or products, nor does it change the shape of the final product of the manufacturer. It is only the technological transformation or innovation of the production process that brings benefits to the manufacturer, mainly cost reduction and quality improvement. Suppliers usually do not have to invest extra capital for such innovation, they also only take small risks and generally have higher enthusiasm.

The second type of innovation directly leads to changes in the form or performance of suppliers and manufacturers' products, with the aim of increasing the added value or profit margin of finished products. Both parties need to invest a certain amount of capital for this kind of innovation, and bear the corresponding risks, and they may also receive substantial returns.

This paper summarizes these two innovations as follows: 1 Optimized innovation; 2 Value-added innovation. For the manufacturer, both are necessary for the development and progress of the enterprise, and the latter is more crucial for the cultivation of the core competitiveness of the company.

For any printing company, optimizing and innovating has almost room for application, because there are always links in the enterprise that need to be improved, such as the process of equipment use and material application. Many printing companies in China have not completed the establishment of standardization and dataization. In this process, suppliers can play a significant role in collaborative innovation. For value-added innovation, printing companies must adopt a cautious attitude: on the one hand, because both parties need to invest capital and bear risks, on the other hand, because value-added innovation will change the shape and function of the original products, or create new products. The print market has a strong customer orientation, print specifications and standards, often based on actual customer requirements. Therefore, companies must consider the real needs of the market and customers, and should not blindly act and innovate without realities.