| The German Printing and Media Industries Federation |
| Bundesverband Druck und Medien is the
employer and trade federation of the german printing and media
industries. Its members are 11 regional associations. They offer
services directly to the member companies. Members are all kind
of printing companies (offset, gravure, letterpress,
screenprinting etc.), prepress- and premedia companies,
flexography (stamps, engravers) and print finishing/bookbinding
enterprises. |
| The German Printing and Media Industries
Federation as the “Association of the Associations”
deals with the general concerns of the printing industry as a
whole, which means industry and craft. Its most important
function as employers' association includes the negotiation and
interpretation of collective agreements (wages etc.). |
| As a trade association, the German Printing
and Media Industries Federation represents the interests of
printing companies. It formulates the aims, ideas and demands of
the German printing and media industries. It collects and
selects differing opinions and sets an agenda for the entire
organization. |
| The printing and media industries is a
small sector of industry. 95 % of the companies have less
than 100 employees. Mostly the owners manage their
companies; there are only a few large companies with employed
management. |
| The printing industry belongs to the small
branches. It earns only 2.3 % of the gross production value
and employs 2.8 % of the labour force of the manufacturing
industry. The importance of the printing and media industries
for economy and society however is much bigger than these
figures can express. The distribution of information is not only
one of the most important cultural tasks of a free society, it
is also a guarantee for its stability. The printed media
newspaper, magazine, and book are information carriers in
political, social and individual life. The printing and media
industries are a very important part of information
technology. |
| The communication sector as a whole is
subject to change. Electronic publishing, multi media, digital
data transfer create new rules on the media markets. The
printing industry more and more sees itself as media service and
information processor, i.e. as one of the forerunners of the
“multi media inc.”. It not only works up information
in the form of print products but also makes it available on
other media – like CD-ROM, databases as well as online
services. In the future, classical print products and electronic
media will be linked much more than today. |
