Business | Knowledge
AGILITY OR
OBSOLESCENCE: NAVIGATING TARIFFS IN THE WIDE-FORMAT INDUSTRY
IT’S THE WORD OF THE MOMENT IN THE BUSINESS WORLD –
TARIFFS. JOHNNY SHELL, PRINCIPAL ANALYST OF WIDE-FORMAT
PRINTING AT KEYPOINT INTELLIGENCE, OUTLINES WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR INDUSTRY IN PARTICULAR.
In an industry that thrives on precision, predictability has always been a quiet partner in the printing business. You need it for inventory planning, pricing models, and customer timelines. But lately, predictability has felt like a luxury – and tariffs are the latest disruption to knock it off the shelf. With new trade measures rolling out and retaliatory policies not far behind, the wide-format printing industry is staring down another period of instability. Tariffs are creating ripple effects that touch every layer of the business: rising costs on substrates, longer lead times for imported components, and shifting strategies on everything from pricing to production. Companies around the world, not just US operators, are feeling the strain. This isn’t happening in a vacuum. For the last
five years or more, the industry has operated in a near-constant state of flux. COVID-19 triggered a cascade of supply chain breakdowns, labour shortages, and global shipping chaos. Some of those wounds are still healing. Tariffs are more fuel for the fire, forcing business leaders to do what they’ve become very familiar with. Rethink everything.
A DISRUPTION WITH STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCES The printing industry is particularly vulnerable because of the sector’s reliance on a global supply chain. From ink to media to machine parts, much of what keeps print service providers running comes from overseas. Tariffs don’t just make those goods more expensive. They create ambiguity. How do you quote jobs six months out when you don’t know what import costs will look like in six weeks? And while some manufacturers are shifting final assembly out of China to tariff-friendly zones like Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, and Malaysia to avoid tariffs, the supply chain remains deeply tethered to China. Print heads, inks, and various core components are still primarily sourced from Chinese factories. The result? Even when you’re not directly importing from China, you’re still exposed.
20 | June/July 2025
This makes component-level assessment essential. It’s not enough to understand where a printer was assembled. You need to know where every part came from. Your competitors are already responding by monitoring these shifts closely and modifying sourcing strategies to minimise exposure. The bigger trend is a reduction in direct imports from China, but a continued reliance on Chinese-made components still a reality in the short term. Strategic vigilance is no longer optional.
ADAPTATION ISN’T OPTIONAL − IT’S THE NEW BUSINESS MODEL Here’s the truth: We’re not going back to ‘normal’. That old business rhythm, the one where you could count on price stability and predictable supplier timelines, is gone. The question isn’t how to get back on track – it’s how to build a better, more agile one. That means redesigning processes that can bend without breaking. Building redundancy into your supply network. Rethinking what inventory management looks like when you can’t rely on just-in-time delivery. And perhaps most importantly, it means putting digital intelligence at the heart of your business.
AI, AUTOMATION, AND THE AGILITY MANDATE To stay ahead, the print industry needs to embrace the technologies that can keep it nimble. Artificial intelligence (AI) can forecast demand patterns with more precision than guesswork ever could. It can
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