First we consider the impact of ICT and digitization on the evolution of the prepress industry. The fourth industrial revolution is underway right now. Its major elements, IoT, Big Data, robots, and artificial intelligence, have caused a great wave of technological innovation. At the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, this breakthrough is credited with moving industries “from mass production and uniform service to customized production and service tailored to individual needs.” This is exactly the sort of situation that raises questions about printing industry's structure and strategy. In this paper, we outline the evolution of prepress procedures and show how the correlation between progress and elemental technology has changed printing. To discuss the past ten years of trends and future prospects, we also conducted a roundtable discussion on three key fields: desktop publishing and typesetting, color management, and workflow; the results are summarized below.
