Electronics For Imaging (EFI), a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, announced that its Board of Directors has named William (Bill) D Muir as its new chief executive officer. Muir was most recently the chief operating officer of Jabil, a product solutions company. His appointment is effective 15 October 2018, when he will also join the Board of Directors.
Muir succeeds Guy Gecht, who informed the Board he intended to step down as CEO upon the appointment of his successor, as the company announced on 30 July 2018. Gecht will remain a member of the Board of Directors and will be an advisor to the CEO.
“Bill is going to take EFI to the next level,” said Gecht. “At Jabil his experience and track record included scaling multi-billion dollar businesses, driving execution and setting the firm’s strategic direction. This background uniquely prepares him to be the next CEO of EFI. I look forward to watching him lead EFI and helping him in any way he chooses as the company continues to lead the digital transformation of industries globally where colorful images matter.”
“I am honored and humbled to join the EFI team,” said Muir. “I have developed a deep admiration for the culture of courageous innovation, technical leadership and customer care, and I look forward to leading our exceptional team as we work tirelessly to delight our customers and create shareholder value.”
Muir has spent the past 25 years helping innovative, leading brands bring exceptional products to the marketplace, including launching Jabil’s Blue Sky Innovation Center. He has a deep background in complex engineering and manufacturing honed over progressive leadership roles at Jabil, a US$ 22 billion product solutions company with more than 100 facilities and 170,000 employees across the globe. Most recently, Muir served as chief operating officer.
Before that, he served as chief executive officer at Global Manufacturing Services, which at the time was a US$ 14 billion division of the company, and as president of Jabil Asia, where under his leadership the business tripled in less than four years.
Muir will join EFI’s third quarter earnings call, which is scheduled to take place after market close on 29 October 2018.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
