The panel also discussed the present economic state, which also has similarities. Our big concern is the drastic decline in advertising budgets, said Mr. Steinmetz, We are struggling with continuing consolidations on our customer base, added Mr. Mahony. We have to get better profitability, Dr. Schmidt said. We have to work on our return on revenue. All of us have to stop the talk about commoditization, and we should understand the benefit for our customers.
Unpaid service is absolutely impossible.
Ultimately, it is clear that the ink industry is truly becoming more global as economic conditions in the U.S. play an important role in the European market. I think that when the U.S. talks about a bad year, it s bad for Europe, concluded Mr. Forker. Overall, attendees came away with the knowledge that the world is indeed experiencing more globalization, and that the international industry needs to work together to come up with new solutions to the challenges this presents. I think it went very well, said Bob Hess of Radiant Color, who served as program chair and moderator for the panel. I think that everyone on the panel got involved, and we got a clearer picture of the similarities and the differences.