The Big Picture - December 2011 issue by ST Media Group

12.11

www.bigpicture.net

A New Life in Print Scanning drives demand for output services.

PLUS: 路 A New Horizon: Dynamic Digital Signage 路 Top Collection Tactics 路 The On-Demand Option

Mimaki_CapNwMkts_F_BP1211_Layout 1 11/1/11 10:54 AM Page 1

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in this issue

DECEMBER 2011 Volume 16 Number 12

COLUMNS 4 InSight

“ Moneyball” for print providers.

18 Business + Management

Collection tactics.

19 Inside Output

taffing during S the recession.

DEPARTMENTS 8 Wide Angle

FEATURES 20 Scanning for a New Life in Print While digital images are typically supplied by clients, there are still those customers that provide you with work that needs to be digitized. Having a scanner in-house can prove to be a time-saving device, allowing you complete control over the image-capture and pre-print process – as well as open up new profit centers for your business.

24 Making the Leap into Electronic Digital Signage By Mike Antoniak To what degree does electronic digital signage merit your attention? Here are four print shops that have all experienced varying degrees of success with dynamic signage. They’ve chosen to treat the medium and its technology not as a threat to their print work, but as a potential additional revenue stream.

28 The On-Demand Option Looking to bring direct mail and similar one-to-one marketing jobs into your shop? There’s no better tool for this type of work than a high-speed digital press. We’ve assembled a list of manufacturers of on- demand presses, and present a sampling of each company’s roster to make finding that press a bit easier.

ON THE COVER: The National Building Museum (nbm.org) turned to its in-house scanner to capture the details of this ink-on-linen shop drawing from the early 1900s. Cover design by Laura Mohr.

THE BIG PICTURE December 2011

rtful silos, A and audacious in Auckland.

12 Feedback

From our readers.

14 Up Front

ews and N noteworthy.

32 R+D

he latest T tech, products, and supplies.

40 Job Log

it the road H sunning.

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insight by Gregory Sharpless

www.bigpicture.net Gregory Sharpless Editor/Associate Publisher gregory.sharpless@stmediagroup.com

‘Moneyball’ for Print Providers As I write this column, the 2011 major-league baseball season has ended. Of the eight teams that made the playoffs this year, two teams were particularly intriguing to me: Arizona and Tampa. Not because I have any allegiances to these teams, but because their payrolls were so much lower than the other six teams that made the playoffs. While teams like the Yankees and the Phillies boasted salaries of $203 million (an average of $6.8 million per player) and $173 million ($5.8 million per player), respectively, Arizona had just a $54 million total payroll for its roster ($2 million per player). And then consider Tampa: With just a $41 million payroll overall, and an average of only $1.6 million per player, it had the second-lowest salary structure in all of baseball. Now, neither Tampa nor Arizona won the World Series this year. But when you consider that only eight teams make the playoffs out of 22, it’s a pretty significant feat for two of the teams with relatively small salaries to do so. No, this is not a call for lower salaries, nor an argument that lower salaries equal more production. Rather, it’s an argument that teams – or companies – that have a lower salary structure or fewer resources do not have to settle for last place. They simply have to be smarter, better manage those resources, and perhaps take some chances and stances that others will not. In Michael Lewis’s 2003 book, Moneyball (which has now been turned into a movie), he points to the same philosophy. In this case, Lewis profi led how a salarystrapped, small-market Oakland A’s baseball team was able to compete with bigmoney teams by re-evaluating their strategies in not only garnering players, but even in how they statistically evaluated their players versus the league norm, selecting “prospects” for their minor-league system that other teams were not even considering. I doubt if you’re in a position to pay your employees an average of $1.6 million per, let alone $6.8 (if so, can we talk?). But if you’re similarly “small market” when you compare yourself to your competitors, what are you doing to better manage your resources and give yourself a fighting chance to make the playoffs (or, heck, win it all)? Just because you might not have some of the highest-profi le clients or fly around in a corporate jet doesn’t mean you can’t make some serious noise in this marketplace. As in Moneyball, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy and strive not to be like your competition – but to be very unlike them. Happy holidays to all of our readers from The Big Picture!

Britney Grimmelsman Associate Editor britney.grimmelsman@stmediagroup.com Laura Mohr Art Director laura.mohr@stmediagroup.com Marty McGhie, Craig Miller, Jared Smith Columnists Linda Volz Production Supervisor linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Lou Arneberg - East and Midwest US, Eastern Canada, Europe Ben Stauss - West and South US, Western Canada, Asia Business Development Managers Rick Bachelder, Kathy Boydstun, Terry Corman, Scott Crosby, Brandon Gabriel, Michael Garcia, Kirk Green, Robert Kissel, Tina McLaughlin, Craig Miller, Carmen Rad, Greg Root, Jared Smith, Mark Taylor Editorial Advisory Board

Tedd Swormstedt President Steve Duccilli Group Publisher Christine Baloga Audience Development Director Kari Freudenberger Director, Online Media Subscription Services (847) 763-4938 tbp@halldata.com bigpicture.net/subscribe bigpicture.net/renew Single Copies/Back Issues Debbie Reed debbie.reed@stmediagroup.com

THE BIG PICTURE (ISSN 1082-9660) is published 12 times annually by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualified individuals. Annual rate for subscriptions to non-qualified individuals in the U.S.A.: $42 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $70 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $92 (Int’l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2011, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076.

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

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ith

wide angle

Artful Silos

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

Last spring, Emerging Terrain solicited submissions from artists all over the world for artwork themed â&#x20AC;&#x153;the inter-relatedness between land use, food, and agricultureâ&#x20AC;? to hang on the exterior of 13 silos that comprise a vacant grain elevator near downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha native Kristin Battenfield of Great Big Color (greatbigcolor.com) caught wind of the project, and through a cold call with Emerging Terrain, landed the job. Thirteen winning images were sent to the shop at 20 x 80-inches at 420 dpi. Using the Nur Expedio Revolution (rebadged HP Scitex HP5300) with Caldera Grand RIP 8.01 and Inx Triangle UV inks, Great Big Color output the banners onto Soyang PVC Mesh. The 20 x 80-foot grommeted banners resided on the Omaha elevator for about four months, after which Emerging Terrain moved them to other prominent elevators throughout the state.

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wide angle

Audacious in Auckland

In preparation for

rugby’s biggest showcase this past fall, the Rugby World Cup 2011, New Zealand’s Auckland Tourism, Events, and Economic Development agency commissioned a 13,400-square-foot building wrap to adorn the Tower Building in Auckland’s downtown area. The “World’s Here to Play” graphic, designed by branding agency Ogilvy, was produced by Auckland’s Omnigraphics (omnigraphics.co.nz), utilizing its EFI Vutek 3360 solvent printer to output onto Contra Vision Performance see-through perforated window film. The completed graphic comprised 589 individual panels, cut for each window pane; installation took place over the course of two weeks. 10

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

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feedback

From our readers We welcome feedback from readers on any of the articles or items appearing in The Big Picture. Send letters to: bigpicletters@stmediagroup.com (subject line: Feedback), and be sure to include your e-mail and/or phone number for verification. All letters are subject to editing for content and space. Sorry, anonymous letters will not be used. Pixel Imperfect In the October issue of The Big Picture, the article “Getting Creative with Specialty Media” (page 44) lists Fisher Textiles as carrying Pixel Perfect fabrics. In fact, we no longer carry this product. Sharon Roland Advertising and publicity manager Fisher Textiles We regret the reporting error. Fisher Textiles (fishertextiles. com) does carry the other specialty media we referenced in that report. In addition, the company provides fabrics for UV printers and eco-solvent printers, and oﬀ ers canvas for water-

Learn More

What’s Happening Online? More and more print shops are taking to social media sites to show off their latest projects to potential and existing clients. Check out: Seattle’s Super Graphics’ (supergraphics.com) and New Jersey’s CRW Graphic’s (crwgraphics. com) recent Tweets. Snap a shot of the QR codes with your smart phone to see the projects, or type in the URLs. Also, follow @bigpicturemag for the latest wide-format news and case studies on Twitter. @SuperGraphicsGM: The leaves may be falling off the trees, but there’s some new sunflowers scattered throughout downtown Langley. http://pic.twitter.com/OiQNE8fs @CRWGraphics: Scrapbook Paper Printing – Check out this unique project! #scrapbook #design #crafts http://bit.ly/kWMr3R

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

based inks and solvent and UV printers as well. In addition, it has a digital apparel line for dye sublimation and a range of latex-compatible fabrics approved for the HP Registered Latex Media Developer Program.

Jumping Off the Page Looking at the wallscape done for Western Michigan University, I couldn’t help but wonder how they achieved the “action” element of the work (“Bronco Epic Unveiling,” Job Log, November, pg. 40). Also, does the artist sell prints of his work? Steve Hodson Dayton, OH Artist Revere La Noue explains: “Western Michigan University desperately wanted the center bronco to really jump out at you. It took several tries to get this right. I increased the contrast, saturation, and all the yellows of the bronco in five separate stages. Then I cut out the foremost leg and really popped the color and the hue almost to the point of ugliness, so the front leg comes to your eye more.” La Noue oﬀ ers 16 x 20-inch gicleé prints of the artwork available at mascotgallery.com.

Women in Business So exciting to see women succeeding in the male-dominated world of wide-format printing (“Wide Format,” November, pg. 18). You go girls! I hope this is a trend that continues to grow. Allison Currin San Diego, CA We’re pleased to announce that two of the women and the companies appearing in that article have recently been added to The Big Picture Editorial Advisory Board: Tina McLaughlin, president and owner of Great Big Color (greatbigcolor.com); and Carmen Rad, president of CR&A Custom (cracustom.com), eﬀ ective January 2012. As with the rest of the Board’s members, they’ll help ensure that we cover the most critical subjects of interest to print providers.

editorial board

Meet Our Advisory Group The following 12 leaders from the digital-graphics arena comprise our Editorial Advisory Board, providing us with expertise and feedback, helping ensure that The Big Picture continues to cover the most critical subjects of interest to print providers. Rick Bachelder President, Filmet, Tarentum, PA Filmet (filmet.com) has invested heavily in digital printing. The company, which specializes in prototypes, medium- to long-production print runs of banners, interior décor, and more, employs 80 people at its 65,000square-foot facility.

Kathy Boydstun President, Fusion Imaging, Kaysville, UT Fusion Imaging (fusionimaging.com) is the resulting company from ProGrafix International’s acquisition of Impact Imaging in 2005. Under Kathy’s leadership, Fusion has become proficient in large-format graphic production, as well as project consulting, installation, lighting, and event-marketing graphic applications.

Terry Corman

Brandon Gabriel Principal, New Business Development, LAgraphico, Burbank, CA LAgraphico (lagraphico.com) is a graphic-solutions provider with more than 25 years of experience. Its current capabilities include creative, pre-media, litho oﬀset, grand-format, and display. The company is FSC-certified and employs more than 200.

Michael Garcia President, OAI Inc., Tampa, FL Michael Garcia is the founder of OAI (oaicorp.com), which designs and prints outdoor, vehicle, environmental, and stadium graphics. Named a U.S. Chamber Small Business Blue Ribbon Award Winner, OAI is the largest largeformat imaging company in the Southeast. Michael is a member of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America.

Kirk Green

Craig Miller President/CEO, Pictographics, Las Vegas, NV Craig Miller, along with wife Susan and daughter Christy Stevens, run Pictographics (pictographics.net). Now in its 15th year, the company produces graphics for events, trade shows, garments, interior decorating, and architectural installations at its 20,000-square-foot headquarters.

Greg Root President, SuperGraphics, Seattle, WA Seattle-based SuperGraphics (supergraphics.com) designed the world’s first computer-generated bus wrap in 1993. Since then, it’s expanded into every area of large-format graphics, utilizing technologies ranging from grandformat inkjet and screen printing to electrostatic. Greg oversees manufacturing plants in the US and Canada, as well as an international sales force.

Jared Smith President, bluemedia, Tempe, AZ Bluemedia (bluemedia.com) is a leading provider of design and printing for use in vehicle, large-format, and environmental graphic applications for b-to-b and b-to-c organizations. Jared co-founded bluemedia in 2000 after launching several other marketing-related businesses, most notably The Golf Tournament Group (TGTG) in 1998.

CEO, Firehouse, Indianapolis, IN Terry Corman bought Indianapolis-based Firehouse in (fire-house.net) 1989. The company had been founded 19 years earlier as a fullservice commercial color lab, but under his guidance, has expanded its reputation as a major digital “print-for-pay” provider.

President/CEO, Ferrari Color, Salt Lake City, UT Based in Salt Lake City, Ferrari Color (ferraricolor.com) oﬀers high-quality large- and grand-format photo, inkjet, fabric, and UV printing. Overseeing operations of this 130-employee organization, Kirk is past president of the Association of Imaging Executives (AIE).

Scott Crosby

Robert Kissel

Mark Taylor

President, KDM P.O.P. Solutions, Cincinnati, OH KDM P.O.P. Solutions Group (kdmpop.com) is a second-generation, family-owned company that specializes in P-O-P through its oﬀerings of digital, screen, and litho (in short as well as long runs). KDM executes much of its printing for advertising agencies, retail, petroleum companies, and the fast-food industry, and also provides services to print brokers.

COO/Sr. Vice President, GFX Int’l, Grayslake, IL GFX International (gfxi.com) is a marketing-at-retail design and production firm. Oﬀering large- and grand-format digital printing, screen printing, and litho, GFX also provides project-management services, creative and imaging work, finishing, and fulfillment. Mark’s responsibilities include production planning, large-format digital production, screen printing, and fulfillment and logistics operations.

Partner, Holland & Crosby Ltd., Mississauga, ON, Canada Holland & Crosby (holland andcrosby.com) oﬀers P-O-S and promotion solutions to clients from its oﬃces in Ontario, where it’s invested in state-of-the-art digital equipment (including the first Inca Onset in North America).

www.bigpicture.net

upfront upfront

Creating a Time Machine Until about 65 million years ago, they were the biggest and baddest things on the planet. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth up to the time that an asteroid collision – or pick your natural catastrophe – caused their demise. But as anyone who has kids knows, dinosaurs live on in movies, picture books, TV shows, and more. In short, dinosaurs are cool. To take advantage of that “coolness,” the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opened its new Dinosaur Hall this past summer. Encompassing 14,000 square feet and spanning two separate galleries, the permanent exhibit serves as an impressive time machine of sorts, featuring more than 300 fossils and 20 full-scale articulated dinosaur skeletons, and rivaling the world’s leading dinosaur halls. And while the dinosaur fossils and skeletons make a gargantuan first impression on visitors, the printed graphics – produced by Coloredge New York • Los Angeles (in conjunction with Lexington Design + Fabrication) – are pretty overwhelming, too. It was Lexington (lex-usa.com) that sought out Coloredge to produce and install the graphics for this complex project. Coloredge’s John Gibson worked with Lexington as well as museum project manager Jennifer

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

Morgan over a three month period “to ensure that all aspects of the graphic elements were impactful – and that they also met the technical requirements needed for being on display with fragile exhibit artifacts,” says Gibson. For Coloredge (coloredge.com), the exhibit encompassed a variety of work that ranged from wallcoverings to floor graphics and more, including: • Adorning the main exhibit hall, the majority of the graphics were wallcoverings produced onto Ultraflex Wallscapes Matte wallpaper, output via a Durst Rho 500r roll-to-roll printer. The wallpaper material was double cut, allowing for a butt seam, as opposed to imaging adhesive-backed vinyl and overlapping the seams, says Gibson. The largest individual wallpaper graphic, depicting a massive Mamenchisaurus, measures 60-feet long x 20-feet high. Coloredge worked with Ace Wallcovering to install more than 5000 square feet of wallpaper. • Graphics for the display cases were printed on Kodak matte photographic material using Coloredge’s Océ Lightjet device at sizes up to 6 x 10 feet. These prints were wrapped around ½-inch MDF supplied by Lexington specifically for this project. The panels were specially treated so that they wouldn’t “gas oﬀ ” and damage the irreplaceable artifacts.

SGP Educational Video Series on Sustainability In Print

• A 12 x 12-foot floor graphic was created utilizing 3M Controltac 8660 material with 3647 Scotchcal overlam, producing a 3M FloorMinders graphic; output was executed on Coloredge’s EFI Vutek GS3200. After installation, the print was treated with a clear wax, allowing maintenance crews to more easily remove any future scuff marks. • For the artifacts encased in glass, Coloredge turned to its prototyping division, Comp24. The Comp24 team utilized a special transfer process with photo-sensitive inks and exposed film negatives, applying 5-color transfers to glass as large as 5 x 11 feet and up to ½-inch thick. An opacity layer was printed using the Vutek GS3200 onto Avery UltraClear SF103 polyester film – comprising a subtle CMYK color build at 80-percent opacity, double-strike ink, says Gibson. Using a wet-mount process, this opacity layer was then applied to the Comp24 transfers for added definition. Text was silkscreened by Sign-All in Los Angeles. Says Gibson, “The project’s complexity was in the color matching of different materials printed on numerous devices, along with the tedious testing procedures employed to achieve the look and feel of the graphics in the exhibit. This was, by far, one of the most challenging and fulfilling projects on which we have worked.”

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP, sgppartnership.org) has produced a 10-part educational video series about the benefits of sustainability in print facilities. The series addresses the importance of environmental and sustainability management systems, pathways to reduce waste, and the benefits of sustainability to the printer and the customer base. The videos have been produced in partnership with HP, and will be posted on SGP’s website. The video series highlights key elements of the SGP-certification process. They also feature interviews with industry leaders from within the print community, including the following SGP-certified printers: Portland Color, Stella Color, Sundance Marketing, Pictura, Modernistic, Photocraft, Premier Press, Infinity Images, and CP Interflex. The first video of the 10-part series is posted on SGP’s website and the group reports that subsequent videos will be posted weekly.

84% Percentage of 25- to 34-yearolds who have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant advertising. As reported by Voltier Digital (voltierdigital.com).

www.bigpicture.net

upfront

“Be willing to say, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I messed up.’ Your transparency will attract others to you and create the type of environment where people won’t be afraid to make mistakes. They also will more be more likely to ‘check your six’ as well.” — LT. COL. ROB “WALDO” WALDMAN (YOURWINGMAN.COM), FROM HIS BESTSELLING BOOK, NEVER FLY SOLO: LEAD WITH COURAGE, BUILD TRUSTING PARTNERSHIPS, AND REACH NEW HEIGHTS IN BUSINESS (MCGRAW HILL)

2011 Product of the Year Winners At SGIA Expo in New Orleans VM-CANVAS 22 VISUAL MAGNETICS

ASPHALT ART ASPHALT ART USA

BIOMEDIA DISPLAY FILM ILFORD

At the 2011 SGIA Expo in New Orleans, the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (sgia. org) announced its 2011 Product of the Year winners. The awards recognize quality digital equipment and supplies in the specialty-imaging marketplace. Competition entrants must be SGIA member exhibitors with products currently available; each entry was judged based on its perceived value to the digital-imaging community. “Winners represent the best consumables and output devices that oﬀer faster, higher quality output for the wide-format digital market,” says Michael Robertson, SGIA president and CEO. The winners included: • Digital Inks: Eco-UV S Ink for VersaUV LED wide-format inkjet devices, Roland DGA (rolanddga.com) • Media - Vinyl: Ilford BioMedia Display Film, Ilford (ilford.com) • Media - Films: Asphalt Art, Asphalt Art USA (asphaltartusa.com) • Media - Textile: Visual Magnetics VM-Canvas 22, Visual Magnetics (visualmagnetics.com) In addition, the following printers won in the Test Print Shoot Out categories: • Poster size - Solvent/Latex printers <96 in.: JV33-130, Mimaki USA (mimakiusa.com) • Flatbed - Rigid Substrate UV <$200K MSRP: JFX-1631, Mimaki USA • Flatbed - Rigid Substrate UV >$200K MSRP: EFI Vutek GS3250LX, EFI (efi.com) • Flatbed - Rigid White Ink UV <$200K MSRP: Arizona 360 XT, Océ Display Graphics Systems (dgs.oce.com) Honorable mentions in the printer category also went to: Roland DGA’s VersaUV LEJ-640 (Poster size - UV ink printers < 96 in.); Polytype America’s Impala (Flat BedRigid White Ink UV >$200K MSRP; polytypeamerica.com); and Mimaki USA’s JV33-260 (Grand Format R to R-Solvent & Latex inks) and JFX1631 Plus-R (Grand Format R to R-UV cured ink).

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

Photography, Graffiti Style As another avenue to express his art, photographer JR developed “Inside Out,” a participatory art project that challenges people to capture untold stories from people around the world through their own black-and-white photos. They then upload their images to the organization’s website, and these images are made into posters and sent back to their creators to be displayed in their own communities. Not unlike wild posting, the image creators place their resulting posters anywhere – from an office window to a wall of portraits on an abandoned building or a packed-house stadium. The exhibitions are documented, archived, and viewable virtually on social-media sites like Youtube, as well as the Inside Out website (insideoutproject.net). In 2011, JR and the Inside Out team decided to expand upon this idea, taking the project to this year’s Rencontres d’Arles, a summer photography festival in Arles, France. JR designed a photo booth that was located in the Great Hall of Les Ateliers for the duration of the festival, encouraging the attendees to have their photo taken – when all was said and done, photographs of 6000 people were generated. The Inside Out crew then used an HP Designjet Z6200 photo printer, located on a bridge 40 feet above the festival floor, to output the photos onto HP Bond paper. As the 35 x 54-inch prints were cut, they fluttered to the floor and into the hands of the waiting audience members, who were then encouraged to paste their images on the streets or in public places symbolic for them. In a short period of time, the streets of Paris became “the largest art gallery in the world,” says JR.

market metrics

Mobile Marketing on the Rise % Change in Ad Spend, 2009 to 2010 75%

Mobile Marketing 32%

Social Media Internet Television Radio

14% 11% 9%

Outdoor

Magazines

Newspapers

-7%

-10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

From 2009 to 2010, ad spend on mobile marketing increased by 75%, to almost $1.5 billion reports the Microsoft Tag website (tag.microsoft.com), from $0.91 billion in 2009. By 2013, predicts the site, the mobile-marketing ad-spend number will rise to $2.3 billion. www.bigpicture.net

business business++management management

Collection Tactics By Marty McGhie

s I observe the continual, unnerving changes in our modern business environment and try to make sense of it all, one thought constantly comes to mind: We have to manage our business with much more diligence than ever before. As scary as the idea might be, we are all potentially only one poor decision away from going out of business. So how do you avoid such a worst-case scenario? You manage with more diligence. And you start with your cash. Even in the worst of times, if you’re successfully managing your cash, you will probably survive. And in good times, you’ll be able to build up cash reserves.

Cash monitoring So what actions can you take to help in this eﬀort? Well, if you aren’t already doing so, immediately begin monitoring your cash on a daily basis. While this may sound like an overwhelming task, it can really be rather easy. Your first step is to put together a simple spreadsheet that will act as a dashboard for your cash positions. The key elements that you can begin measuring include: cash balances; outstanding aged accounts receivable; outstanding aged accounts payable; and any significant cash commitments for the current week, such as payroll, taxes, etc. Once you begin measuring and monitoring these numbers on a daily basis, you’ll begin to see some trends that will help you improve your daily cash flow. For example, if your accounts-receivable balance averages close to 60 days and your accounts-payable balance averages 30 to 40 days, you probably have a cash-flow problem to deal with. You will also soon see cash-balance trends during diﬀerent periods of the month that will help you Marty McGhie is VP finance/operations of Ferrari Color, a digital-imaging center with Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Sacramento locations. The company offers high-quality large- and grand-format photo, inkjet, fabric, and UV printing. marty@ferraricolor.com

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plan more carefully for significant cash outflows such as payroll or taxes. Watching your cash positions and obligations on a daily basis should be a consistent practice in your daily management routine.

Three tactics Collecting your receivables is likely the most challenging aspect of cash-flow management. And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the answer here is daily diligence. In the past few years, we have seen more and more of our large customers – that is, those with leverage – insist on extended payment terms such as net 60 days, along with fewer and fewer of our own vendors oﬀering reasonable discounts for early payment. These factors have made cashflow management all the more challenging. To help in your receivables collections, consider the following tactics: • Don’t collect on accounts by committee: If you’re able to designate one person to be in charge of your collections, then the people on the other end of the call will get used to dealing with that person all the time. A relationship – ideally, an amicable one – will begin to develop and you will find better success. But the key is devoting a lot of attention to daily collections. • Ensure your collection process begins long before the account becomes overdue: Surely you’re familiar with those customers that are traditionally slow to pay. Get ahead of the game by making sure at the two-week mark that all invoices from your company are recorded and approved in your customer’s payable system (our A/P clerk simply makes a call to our customer’s A/P rep). That alone can make a tremendous diﬀerence in the collection process. • Set some policies that have some teeth: For example, if a customer’s account is 60 days overdue, don’t be afraid to place them on credit hold and refuse to release any further work until they are caught up on their account. This hardball approach might make you a little nervous about losing your client, but don’t worry. Let them know that this is your company policy and it applies to 100-percent of your customers. >37

inside output

Staffing During the Recession By Craig Miller

uring the great recession of 2008, our company reduced its staﬀ from a high of 50 to 25, a painful experience for everyone involved. Fast forward to late 2011, however: We’ve expanded our markets and products, and company sales are now extremely strong, ensuring full production into the second quarter of 2012. It’s a significant milestone for us to report that we’re again in hiring mode. We’ve always said we would rather have a first-rate employee running a second-rate piece of equipment than a second-rate employee running a first-rate piece of equipment. And we take this concept a little further in that we don’t just want first-rate employees – we want stars, people who bring extraordinary contributions to our team. Interestingly, it has never been easier to staﬀ our company with star employees than during this recession period.

Boomtime hiring There’s an obvious answer to why it’s easier to hire today: The pool of available employees is bigger, because fewer competitors are hiring during this seemingly never-ending recession. In contrast, let’s look at the challenges we all faced developing and maintaining our staffs during the previous boom times. The biggest difference, of course, is supply and demand. In a boom, if you’re vying with competitors for talent and expect to win, you have to become the most desirable employer in the market. This means offering the best salary, benefits package, working conditions, opportunities for advancement, environment, and culture. The challenge after the hire – and in many cases the more daunting challenge – becomes retention. If your company is a bad place to work, people don’t want to stay. And if you do provide a good work environment, the possibility of having your employees poached by another company comes to the fore. During the boom times, companies often resorted to actively seeking out employees of competitors. Although our company has always tried to be ethical about hiring people away from competitors, it’s sometimes difficult to avoid this

situation when other shops’ employees come knocking at your door. We operate in a “right to work” state, meaning people have the right to work where they choose (noncompete agreements are almost impossible to enforce in Nevada). Yes, we have hired employees from competitors, but it has been and continues to be our policy not to actively recruit from them. Other shops, however, apparently did not have this same hands-off approach when it came to poaching. Our company has a reputation of having an excellent staff and low turnover. We’ve invested heavily in staff training and cross training and, as a result, have the ability to “home grow” our professional staff. Our people have acquired a wide range of valuable skills. What better way, then, for another company to build an excellent staff without all the expense of a training program than to recruit skilled people away from us? Over the years, we’ve lost some really key people to poachers. In almost every instance, it was over money. When someone offers one of your staff a huge raise, I don’t blame an employee for being attracted to it. But there’s a risk to the company employing the poaching recruitment method: Since the poaching company cannot talk directly with the management of the poached company, it must rely on the prospective employee’s self reporting with regard to their virtues or lack of them. It’s all too common that the employee being recruited is someone who in reality is less than a star (to put it generously). On one occasion, for instance, two employees who were the subjects of a poaching raid had recently been placed on 90-day probation. The competitor seriously overpaid for their talents, thus hurting their competitiveness >35

CRAIG MILLER is a principal shareholder in Las Vegas-based Pictographics, (pictographics.net) where he is also director of military and law-enforcement projects, the company’s defense-contracting division.

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Scanning for a New Life in Print How large-format scanners are driving new demand for output services.

Scanners, you could argue, are the Rodney Dangerfield of the modern digital print shop. When compared to the shop’s other technologies and tools, they “don’t get no respect.” But while digital images are typically supplied by the clients these days, there are still those customers that provide you with slides, photos, or other types of original artwork that need to be digitized. And, sometimes, there are clients you wish provided you with original art – rather than delivering poor scans that necessitate a ton of Photoshop work or a return trip to the client for the initial artwork. Having a scanner in-house can prove to be a time-saving device, allowing you complete control over that process, including any fine-tuning you might need to do. In addition, having in-house scanning capabilities can do more than simply fi x problems. Print service providers can also tap scanners – particularly large-format scanners – as a well of service opportunities in archiving and printing. As you’ll see in the examples that follow, shops are converting old documents, murals, posters, and paintings for a new life in print, and introducing their client artists to new ways to market their originals. But it all begins with the scanner. 20

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From the archive Before the National Building Museum (nbm.org) in Washington DC received its Colortrac large-format scanner earlier this year, it had few options when architects and researchers requested the documents or plans from its extensive archive. “It really was diﬃcult,” says museum technician Bailey Ball. “They either could come into the museum and look at the original documents, or we could contract with some private company to reproduce them.” That could be an expensive and time-encompassing undertaking. Since installing a Colortrac Smart LS GX+56 scanner, however, the organization has been digitizing those documents in-house, and providing them to scholars and professionals to view on a monitor or output as large-format prints. The scanner’s 56-inch width, says Ball, makes it a practical solution for scanning plans, drawings, or blueprints. “Since March we’ve probably processed as many as 20 research requests through the scanner.” says Ball. “When we get those requests now, we scan the original, keep one copy of the fi le for our archives and send them a copy on disk. My ultimate goal is to one day digitize all the key drawings in our collection.”

Devoted to the history and impact of architecture, engineering, and design, the National Building Museum houses 75,000 photographic images, 68,000 architectural prints and drawings, and more. It utilizes its Colortrac Smart LS GX+56 scanner to digitize the originals and provides them to scholars and professionals to view on a monitor or output as wide-format prints. “My ultimate goal is to one day digitize all the key drawings in our collection,” says the museum’s Bailey Ball. At left: In capturing the details of the mythically inspired griffin that crowns the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh, the museum used its GX+56 to scan an ink-on-linen shop drawing original from the early 1900s. For an ink-on-linen shop drawing from 1908, for instance, Ball scanned details from a griffin image designed by architects Palmer & Hornbostew for Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. Another example: She’s currently in the process of digitizing portions of an archive of approximately 50,000 drawings from the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. In its day, the Chicago-based firm (which operated from 1900 through 1954) was a leading provider of baked-form clay used to decorate commercial buildings and skyscrapers in the early 20th century. To help its clients install its products, Northwestern’s draftsmen created meticulous full-scale shop drawings to identify where and how each component fit together and should be secured to a building. The extensive collection of drawings was donated to the museum in 1982. “The later drawings have yellowed and become quite fragile,” because of the acidity of paper then in use, says Ball, “We encase them in Mylar sleeves then process them directly through the scanner’s feeder.” These drawings and blueprints are scanned in color at 300 dpi. “Some of the drawings use different color inks to identify certain things in the designs,” she notes. “Scanning in color really allows you to see the documents as they were intended. With the scans, it’s much easier to see fragile elements that have faded and could be missed, like pencil notes or some of the finer lines in the designs.” When touch-up or editing is required, Ball handles this in Colortrac’s SmartWorks Pro software. On another project, Ball scanned blueprints for some of the old S.H Kress five-and-dime stores for a graduate student studying how store lunch counters were designed to maintain the segregation of races in the pre-Civil Rights era. Ball was able to provide scans of several full-sized blueprints, as well as interior photos of the completed structures, all processed through the Colortrac GX+56. “With the scanner, we can now easily provide architectural firms and researchers whatever they need from our collection, and they can print the scans themselves at full size, if needed,” says Ball.

In the early days of the 18-year-old company, that “art” included photographic prints, slides, and negatives. Digital photo restoration and reprinting developed as a profitable sideline for this specialist in wide format. “We’ve always offered some scanning services. I always liked the quality you could get from a 35mm slide or 4 x 5 transparency with a film scanner,” he says. As area artists saw what the company could do with photo graphic reprints and enlargements, they wondered if Awesome Graphics could help them, too. “A couple of local artists asked if we could reproduce their art,” recalls Napolitano. Some had slides or transparencies of their paintings, but Napolitano realized many more did not. That seemed to limit the potential of what could be a lucrative new opportunity in fine-art reproduction. “It’s expensive to set up a photo studio for shooting paintings and artwork, and getting it right is really challenging,” he notes. “That kind of high-end work is out of the realm for most small shops.” Unless they improvise, which is just what Napolitano did. Without the budget to invest in a super-high-end largeformat scanner, he figured out how to make the scanner within his means work. Large-format scanning now helps drive the lucrative giclée fine-art printing services the com-

An improvisational solution Like many specialists in wide format, Awesome Graphics (awesomegraphics.com) first offered scanning services as a way to seed business for its varied output services. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our customers to order prints,” says Mike Napolitano, owner and co-founder with wife Tami of the Rutland, Vermont-based company. “Scanning their art opens up a whole bunch of opportunities for us to do printing.”

Artist Melissa Alexander’s original lion artwork was rendered in colored pencil on a 3 x 5-foot sheet of plywood. Awesome Graphics digitized the art using its Epson 10000 XL flatbed, followed by output onto InteliCoat Torino giclée stretch canvas, using a 12-color HPZ3200. “Scanning our customers’ art opens up a whole bunch of opportunities for us to do printing,” says Awesome’s Mike Napolitano. www.bigpicture.net

scanning pany provides artists in the area and across the nation. All of Awesome’s scanning is now done on an Epson 10000 XL flatbed, with a tabloid-sized 12 x 17-inch scan area. “When I go right to the glass, I can capture work with the color and accuracy that can be tough to achieve with photography,” he maintains. But it takes time and patience to digitize an oversized original. Napolitano scans the art in sections, allowing for overlap where needed. For large paintings, he builds boxes to support the work while it’s being scanned so there’s no stretch or pull in the image. Once the complete work is scanned, he loads the files into Photoshop. “The Photomerge feature in Photoshop has certainly

made my life easier,” he says, “and it does a much better job than trying to manually assemble the complete image.” There’s been some trial and error to perfecting this approach: “You want to turn all color correction off in the scanner, and only adjust the color, contrast, and sharpness after you’ve finished building the composite in Photoshop.” He’s used this approach for scanning originals as large as 4 x 5 feet, for everything from fine-art originals to old Beatles posters. Scan resolution is always based on intended output. “We always scan at a very high resolution, but a scan at 2400 dpi is not always needed unless we’re scanning something very small they want to enlarge,” he notes. The company maintains an archive of all its scans, and

Scanner Options Aplenty: Large Format and More To help you in your scanner quest, here’s a sampling of products from manufacturers offering professionalgrade scanners. We’ve included four types of scanners here: large-format sheetfed units capable of handling originals 24 inches and wider; flatbed and desktop models (up to tabloid-sized) that can handle prints/positives as well as slides/transparencies; high-end film scanners; and specialty scanners including overhead scanners, drum scanners, vertical flatbeds, and hybrid units. Aztek (aztek.com): Offers its TouchScan scanner line in sizes from 18 to 54 in., as well as the DPL2054 (54 in.) wide-format scanner, capable of scanning originals up to 0.6-in. thick. Its Premier 48-bit drum scanner features a 12 x 12-in. scanning area and 16,000 x 8000-dpi resolution. Canon (usa.canon.com): The CanoScan 9000F film scanner features 9600 x 9600-dpi optical resolution (film; 4800 x 4800 for documents), 48-bit input/output, built-in retouching technology; simultaneously scans up to 12 frames of 35mm film strip or four frames of 35mm slides (negatives or positives). Also available: the CanoScan 5600F, 8800F, and LiDE 700F film scanners and the LiDE210, 200 and LiDE110, 100 photo scanners. Colortrac (colortrac.com): The Colortrac line of SmartLF wide-format scanners includes the Ci24 (24in.), Ci40 (40-in.), and the 40-in. Cx40 models; all are available in mono, color, and Express color versions. The company’s SmartLF Gx+ series includes 28-, 42-, and 56-in. models, also available in mono, color, and Express color versions; “T” versions in each model can accommodate thicker media (up to 0.8 in.). Contex (contex.com): The Contex SD series of 44in., large-format scanners boast a maximum optical

THE BIG PICTURE december 2011

resolution of 1200 dpi and can accommodate media up to 47-in. wide and 1-mm thick. New: SD3600 36-in. features two CIS innovations that minimize sensor differences and correct color fringing. Also available is the HD flatbed series (in 36- and 42-in. versions with 600dpi optical resolution, and a 54-in. version with 508-dpi resolution) and the XD2490, a 24-in., sheet-fed scanner with an optical resolution of 1200 dpi. Cruse Digital Equipment (crusedigital.com): Several versions of its overhead scanners are available, including: the Synchron Table (available in Décor and Fine Art versions, 36 x 48 to 59 x 88 in., with up to 10,000 x 13,000-pixel resolution); Professional Scanners (ranging from the CS 130P, which accepts originals up to 30 x 42 in., to the CS 155P, which accepts originals as large as 36 x 48 in.) and Synchron Light scanners (from the CS 130SL, which accepts originals up to 24 x 36 in., to the CS 285 SL, which accepts originals up to 59 x 88 in.). Epson (epson.com): The Epson Expression 10000XL flatbed is available in Graphic Arts or Photo versions; both scanners can handle originals up to 12.2 x 17.2 in. (the Photo version also has a transparency option). Epson’s Perfection V700 and Perfection V-750M Pro flatbed scanners boast 4800 x 9600 (6400 x 9600 with Micro Step Drive technology) dpi and can accommodate 8.5 x 11.7-in. media. Graphtec America (graphtecamerica.com): Graphtec offers the 42-in. IS210 Pro LC 8-bit large-format scanner, featuring 600-dpi optical resolution. Also the 24bit CS510 and CS610 (base and pro versions) models; both are 42-in. scanners that can hit 600-dpi optical resolution. The CS610 can accommodate rigid originals up to 0.8-in. thick. The CSX300-09HD is a 36-in. scan-

provides clients with a CD holding a full resolution TIFF and lower-res JPEG for small prints and use on the Web. When fine-art printing is the goal, Awesome Graphics has HP’s Z3200 12-color printer for printing on canvas or other fine-art media with archival inks. Often, though, there’s more life for the art, once scanned. On one recent project, for example, Napolitano scanned a bright painting of a lion originally created on a 3 x 5-foot sheet of plywood for artist Melissa Alexander for reproduction as a giclée print, as well as onto T-shirts, stickers, and 9 x 10 laser prints. “Once you have their art in your computer, you’ve got that customer,” he says. “Without these scanning services, it can be very difficult for them to re-create their work.”

ner (600-dpi optical resolution) designed for speed. Hasselblad (hasselbladusa.com): The Flextight X1 and Flextight X5 scanners feature vertical optical systems. The X1 boasts a resolution up to 6300 dpi and has batch-scanning capabilities; the X5 can hit 8000 dpi, features dust removal, and can handle prints. Hewlett-Packard (hp.com): HP offers its ScanJet 8300 Professional Image Scanner, which has an optical resolution of 4800 and 48-bit color; it can handle originals up to 8.5 x 14 in. Also available is the ScanJet G4050 Photo Scanner, which offers 4800 optical dpi. ICG (icg.ltd.uk): The ICG 380 is a vertical drum scanner that can hit 12,000-dpi optical resolution, ICG reports, and boasts a drum speed of 2000 rpm. The 380 includes ScanXact XL software and has a maximum scan area of 18.7 x 12.6 in. (external drum). Lumiere Technology (lumiere-technology.com): The JumboScan III overhead scanner features a scan area of 6.5 x 16.4 ft., and a resolution up to 20,000 x 12,000 pixels, Lumiere reports. It’s available in RGB and GIS models (both three channels). Mustek USA (mustek.com): Mustek’s A3 USB 1200 Pro flatbed scanner (11 x 17 in.) offers 24- and 48-bit scan modes and an optical resolution of 1200 dpi. Newly Corporation (newlyscan.com): The Scanera TopFace Pro can scan fabric, wood grains, materials, food, artwork, and more up to 4-in. deep. Features include a 23 x 33-in. scanning bed, a variable light source, and a proprietary video circuit. Optical resolution is 400 dpi; output resolution is 100-800 dpi. Nikon (nikonusa.com): The CoolScan line of film scanners includes two models: the Super CoolScan 5000ED and 9000ED. The 5000ED features an optical

Capturing maximum image data Since it launched as a specialist in prepress and 4-color separations in 1971, American Litho Color (americanlithocolor. com) of Dallas has been working to help artists reproduce their work in print. The company continues that tradition today, though more often working from original art rather than film; the company’s Cruse flatbed Synchron Light scanner can digitize original art as large as 60 x 90-inches, and as thick as three inches in a single pass. “Artists often will come to us after they’ve tried to have their work scanned somewhere else, and weren’t satisfied with the results,” says Marshall Rawlings, vice president of the family business founded by his father Arthur. “We >36

resolution of 4000 dpi and 16-bit A/D conversion, 20second scanning, and Digital Ice Advanced technology. The 9000ED adds the ability to handle multiple film formats and an advanced image processing algorithm. Océ North America (oceusa.com): The TC4 standalone color scanner is available in two configurations: standard (for thicknesses up to 0.12 in.) and XT (for thicker media, up to 0.6 in.). Both feature scanning speeds up to 13 ft/min (color). The CS4300 color scanner is available in three scan widths: 36, 42, and 54 in. All boast an optical resolution of 600 x 600 dpi (9600 interpreted) and can accommodate originals up to 0.6-in. thick. Designed for CAD studios and GIS environments, the CS4236 color scanner has a 36-in. scan width and 1200 dpi. Paradigm Imaging (scantopia.com): Its line of imagePro wide-format scanners range from 24- to 56in. models. The Gx 56HD Plus is available in color and enhanced color versions (as well as monochrome), and in a “T” version to accommodate media up to 0.8-in. Plustek (plustek.com): Plustek’s OpticFilm series of 7200-dpi film scanners includes the 7300, 7600i SE (adds SilverFast SE Plus, iSRD + ME scanning software), and the 7600i Ai (adds LED light source, infrared dust and scratch removal, and bundles SilverFast Ai Studio IT8 software). The OpticPro ST 64 and ST 64+ film, slide, and photo scanners are designed to scan 35mm slides, 35mm film, 120/220 roll film, sheet film up to 5 x 7 inches, and photographs up to 8 x 11 inches. The OpticSlim 2420T USB is a 1200-dpi flatbed scanner. Widecom (widecom.com): Its SLC series of color and monochrome scanners are available in 36-, 41-, 54-, and 72-in. widths. Optical resolution: 400 dpi.

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Making the Leap into Electronic Digital Signage Is this dynamic medium the next horizon for print service providers?

By Mike Antoniak They’re cropping up everywhere, it seems: attentiongrabbing LCD displays, panels, and systems that are shouting for attention wherever consumers meet products and services. All falling under the umbrella of electronic digital – “dynamic” – signage, these systems share two major common features: They all provide changeable content and do so in a digitally delivered electronic format. Some would argue that they also are capable of producing graphics that are more dramatic and more eye-catching than their print counterparts – but that, like a printed graphic, is largely dependent upon quality of the system’s components and its installation. The question for providers of wide-format graphics is: To what degree does electronic digital signage merit your attention? It’s a growing market, to be sure, and most industry consultants will indicate that electronic digital displays probably represent the next frontier for advertising and promotional graphics. But the over-arching concern 24

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for any shop should be whether you have the mindset and resources to make it a viable venture. Print service providers already have the customer base likely to benefit from electronic digital displays and signage. Capitalizing on those relationships, however, requires a total commitment to a market that’s driven by tools and technologies likely to be quite new to you and your staff. If you choose to bring this in-house, you’ll be making a decision sure to have an impact on your current company – not only on its product offerings but also for its entire business structure, from staff and skill-set training to marketing and resources in general. The four print shops that follow all have experienced varying degrees of success with electronic digital signage and display work. They’ve chosen to treat the medium and its technology not as a threat to their print work, but as a potential additional revenue stream, exploring how they can best derive an advantage to their business.

Visual Impressions is striving to position itself as “not just a graphics or digital signage provider,” says Beth Osborne. “I want our customers to think of us as their merchandising-solutions company.” At left: LCD panels serve as menus and visual enticers at Papa Johns at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (the first airport site for the pizza chain); Visual Impressions was responsible for the hardware, software, content (which was created with Papa John’s corporate), and installation.

Hitting the mark: Visual Impressions “Right now there are a lot of players in the electronic digital signage business,” observes Beth Osborne, director of marketing for Visual Impressions in Charlotte, North Carolina (visualimpressions.net). “They’re not all offering the same thing, or doing it as well.” Her company, with its roots in the wide-format graphics business, is one which has apparently gotten digital signage right. Osborne happily reports that dynamicsignage services now represent 25 percent of her company’s revenues. “Hopefully, by the end of this year it will represent even more,” she says. It’s a welcome return on the “substantial capital investment” the company made in this venture. “We invested well over half a million dollars in R&D to launch the product,” reports Osborne (her figure includes servers and software). “This could be a barrier for entry into the market for those who may think it’s easy to begin offering digital signage.” With its commitment, the company is certainly doing its part to seed new business and explore new applications for digital signage. This past summer, Visual Impressions ran an experiment at New York’s Citi Field, using countertop digital photo frames as the window for P-O-S promotions that fans couldn’t ignore. Another field test demonstrated the effectiveness of interactive kiosks with touch-screen LCD panels to allow patrons in restaurants to easily retrieve nutrition information for any items on the menu. To date, though, most of Visual Impressions’ sales have been in digital signage’s established norms: networked panels driven by media-players or servers and content creation/management software. “So far, our niche with the digital signage has been in the fast and casual restaurant and cafeteria market,” says Osborne. “They have an existing need for this kind of solution.” Four years ago, she says, Visual Impressions was primarily known as a large-format print operation when owners John Forgach and Brian McKenna first began discussing growing their business in a new direction, on the advice of a friend. “They had brought in a colleague who had a technology background rather than a printing background,” she explains. “He was very forward thinking and suggested it might be good to diversify in this direction.” About that same time, one of the company’s established clients, Compass Group – Charlotte-based specialists in food service management – posed initial inquiries about introducing digital menu boards in some locations. Soon, Visual Impressions was also in the digital signage business. Ward Wentzel, who first suggested the venture, assumed responsibility for designing the software to run the system, and art director Doug Elliott focused on the visual content that drives the systems.

“All our solutions are turnkey and completely self-contained,” says Osborne. “We do everything from building the computers and servers to running the system and developing custom software and installing the monitors.” Site assessment, she says, is critical to developing and deploying an effective digital signage system: “We’ll visit the site and look at the architecture and existing signage. That’s the best way to decide on the proper placement and size of the screens. We want to make sure those screens are located in the right place, where they will be comfortably and easily viewed by someone standing in line.” Each system is designed to order, based on that assessment and client goals. As far as components go, Visual Impressions cherry picks components from several vendors, combining the best of what’s available, based on the latest technology and, of course, the client’s budget. “There’s a lot of hand-holding, we have to do a lot of explaining to clients about these projects,” she says. Take LCD panels, for instance: “People don’t always understand why the ones we use are so expensive. They think they can just go out and buy any low-priced flatscreen monitor at the electronics store. We have to show them how the requirements in a digital sign system are different and more demanding.” For most systems, Visual Impressions provides initial content development. The software for clients to update and manage content, and training, are included in the bundle. The company’s expertise and guidance helped them deliver effective content. “What really works for restaurants are very crisp and engaging images – it has to look like something you’d want to eat,” she offers as an example. The text, easily read info on price, and a terse description of the menu item should be fixed as images move in and out or are rotated to create motion that catches the eye, she says. The need for those visuals plays to the recognized strengths of providers of large-format graphics. “It’s our ability to know how to really manipulate an image, to do color correction, and understand what’s going to look best and what works on the printing side that makes the transition to digital signage easier,” she says. “If your existing customers have the need to make a switch from static to digital signage you can be the one to help them there. Many of our customers are now using plenty of both in their operations.” All of which has Osborne encouraging her clients to see the company in a new way. “I’m trying to position Visual Impressions as not just a graphics or digital signage provider,” she closes, “With all we now offer, I want our customers to think of us as their merchandising-solutions company.”

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dynamic signage New revenue streams: Signs by Tomorrow Five years ago, when Rob Kaun took his first look at adding digital-signage capabilities to his Signs By Tomorrow franchise in York, Pennsylvania (signsbytomorrow.com/york), he was put off by the costs. “The pricing of systems and media players at the time was outrageous, and wasn’t something I could even see my tier-one clients investing in,” he recalls. But it was the price and not the technology itself that delayed entry into what has turned out to be a profitable new venture. “I knew the market would eventually be moving in that direction, and that one day it would be a good fit for my business.” So, Kaun kept an eye on developments in the dynamicsignage arena while managing a prosperous business with traditional sign products. Then, about three years ago, he was approached by a representative of a company to gauge his interest in its digital-signage network of products. “I told him I needed a system that was cost-effective, easy to operate, and could display both stills and animation.” The company covered all those bases with a flexible integrated solution of monitors, media players, and cloud-based content-development and management. Kaun agreed to test the system, found it to measure up to his expectations, and has been marketing the system to clients ever since. His first customer was a local beer distributor to promote multiple brands and current specials. He’s also sold systems into a variety of retail outlets, schools, and restaurants. One of the most ambitious installations to date has been at five locations of Tom’s convenience stores and travel Five of Tom’s convenience stores and travel centers in Pennsylvania utilize digital-signage systems from Signs by Tomorrow York for monthly promotions on food, drinks, and other items. The customer’s marketing department revises the sales pitch as needed and transmits new content directly to the panels in each store. “There are definitely opportunities for those who offer digital signage – there’s a lot of potential for growth there,” says Rob Kaun of Signs by Tomorrow York.

THE BIG PICTURE december 2011

centers operated by Shipley’s Energy in Pennsylvania. The chain’s marketing department now uses the Signs by Tomorrow system and networked 32-inch panels installed at five locations for monthly promotions on food, drinks, and other items in the stores. With this digital sign network, Shipley’s marketing department can revise the sales pitch in all stores as needed, then transmit new content directly from headquarters to the panels. Content can be updated daily, even hourly, without expense or a delay caused by representatives physically visiting each site. Kaun is pleased with client feedback and the revenues from this and other installations. In fact, he’s become Signs By Tomorrow’s most outspoken advocate of dynamic digital signage for all franchisees as a natural extension of the traditional sign business. “If you can sell static signs, you can talk digital signage,” he says. “It’s been a complement to our existing business, and also attracted new customers.” He believes those in the business of designing for largeformat printing already have the essential skills required for content design: “If your staff is already creating graphics with Illustrator, it’s just a matter of recreating those graphics for display on digital sign systems,” according to Kaun. “It’s all done with Adobe CS5, it’s all Web-based. If you’ve created anything for the Web, you already have a basic understanding how these systems operate.” He adds, though, that digital signage also requires an understanding of technology that will be new to those entering from the large-format print business. “There is a learning curve and some new questions you need to ask

Above: An example of BigIdea’s work for Chick N’ Treats restaurant in Coral Springs, Florida. “They came to us for digital signage first,” says BigIdea’s John Rodriguez, “and we later sold them traditional static signs.” BigIdea installed a networkable media player with remote content-management software and now manages the system from its remote location. your clients in order to sell these systems. But these are things anyone can figure out: What kind of router does your client have; are they on a Wi-Fi or wired network, and is the cabling already in place?” An economic incentive to ask those questions certainly exists. As Kaun notes, marketing digital signage promises both short- and long-term returns. Up front, there are the margins on sales of hardware, and the requisite network to drive that system. Long term, lucrative new revenue streams can develop in content creation and management services. “We had one client we used to print four new signs for, every two months, at $50 each,” he notes. “Now they’re paying us $400 a month to create and manage content for their digital sign system. They can change that message whenever they need to, for a much more effective form of advertising, and we’re seeing income that just wasn’t available to us before.” Looking ahead, Kaun sees these services as a complement to his traditional business, an opportunity that will allow him to provide his clients with more responsive services while bolstering his own bottom line. “We’re not reinventing the wheel here,” he states. “All this really is, is a new type of signage, using the skills we already have, to give our customers new options in how they advertise and promote their products and services.”

Mastering new tools: BigIdea For John Rodriguez, owner of BigIdea (bigidea.net), Hollywood, Florida-based specialists in large-format graphics, dynamic digital signage seemed the perfect opportunity to tap his experience and grow business in new directions. Rodriguez grew up in the sign business, but spent several years working in IT and networking. “When I returned to the sign industry six or seven years ago, I kept watching all the new technology as it came along. Digital signage

seemed like a natural progression for our business.” Since formally entering the digital market last year, BigIdea has built and installed systems in a variety of institutions and retail operations. It’s marketing the technology for all types of businesses, from banks to hotels to schools and sports arenas. Based on the experience so far, Rodriguez considers it a market with both opportunities and obstacles for companies approaching it as a sideline to the graphic printing business. Growing awareness certainly justifies investigating this area. “Digital signage is becoming more ubiquitous,” he notes. “People are seeing these systems in their banks, at the doctor’s office, and the grocery store, so they at least understand what you are talking about when you mention them. But, it would be a mistake to assume that a company’s success in large-format printing is easily transferrable to digital signage, he says. Carefully weigh all aspects of the venture before making the leap, Rodriguez advises. It can entail challenges in technology, staffing, marketing, and client perceptions about where to buy these systems. His tech background taught him to proceed with caution, and not make a move until he was confident in the technology: “We began thinking seriously about getting into digital signage two or three years ago,” he says. “We took a long time evaluating all the systems, to see what would work and what wouldn’t work for us.” That evaluation is ongoing. Rodriguez is not yet convinced any one vendor has all the answers. “You can make a big mistake if you buy the wrong media player or content system,” he observes. “The market still hasn’t stabilized so we’re not yet married to any one system, and we tailor each to the job and what our customer requires,” he says. Selling digital signage also requires gaining mastery over this new set of tools. “There are many ways to skin a cat with digital signage,” he adds. “It can be as basic as >38 www.bigpicture.net

The On-Demand Option High-speed presses for direct-marketing output. As a consumer, you might hate to see it, but as anyone running a business knows, direct marketing can have a positive influence on sales. And, direct and personalized printed mail continues to be a large part of the pie when it comes to direct marketing. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), although most forms of traditional direct marketing remain stagnant or below peak levels, direct-mail expenditures grew nearly five percent in 2011 versus 2010 – reaching just over $50 billion overall. If you’re interested in bringing direct mail and similar one-to-one marketing jobs in-house, there’s no better tool for this type of work than a high-speed digital press. These super-fast “on-demand” presses are capable of producing 4-color postcards, fliers, posters, brochures, and more, and many of these units can accommodate variable data, enabling the printed matter to be truly personalized. Many of these presses can produce highly individualized pieces; 28

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

each page can contain personalized graphics, text, charts, and headlines. When considering adding an on-demand press to your operation, check to see which types of high-speed variable jobs your current customers (as well as top prospects) are in need of. Examine the frequency and length of the runs, the type of media/substrates they need, and the variety of finishing services they’ll require post-output. All of these factors will help steer you to the type of high-speed press that can accommodate their printing needs. We’ve assembled a list of manufacturers of high-speed on-demand presses currently on the market, and present a sampling of each company’s roster here. The machines we list oﬀer at least 4-color output and many oﬀer variable-data capabilities; typically, other machines or model configurations are also available (see each company’s website for more information).

Agfa agfa.com Agfa’s Dotrix Modular is a 6-color (CMYKOV, with optional white/varnish) UV single-pass machine that oﬀers a 25.6in. print width and 300-dpi resolution (900-dpi apparent). Capable of hitting a top linear speed of 104 ft/min, the Dotrix accommodates a variety of substrates from 20 to 600 microns thick, including foils and cartons. It comes standard with a jumbo unwinder/rewinder. Its modular construction allows for traditional UV flexo printing stations (for coating and varnishing), slitting and die-cutting, and sheeter installations to be optionally integrated. The Dotrix’s Apogee Vibe workflow software adds variable-data capabilities, and is specifically tailored to packaging and P-O-P; the variable-data elements are produced at the last moments of the printing process to reduce RIP time. Double-sided printing is also possible.

Canon usa.canon.com The Canon imagePress C7010VPS series is the first digital production press jointly developed by Canon and Océ. Built upon the imagePress C7010VP platform, the C7010VPS features an integrated Océ PrismSync front-end controller for additional processing power and user flexibility (allowing it to be integrated into various workflows); it also adds expanded finishing options. Other features include: an intelligent job scheduler that supports up to eight hours of plan-ahead production; enhanced media-handling capabilities; advanced color-management performance with color pre-sets; and more. Top resolution is 1200 dpi; it can accommodate media up to 13 x 19 in. Also available are the imagePress C7010VP, C6010VP, and C6010 digital presses. These machines feature: new sensor technology enabling better humidity controls and more accurate toner distribution; an enhanced airflow unit and toner density stabilization for improved color consistency and halftone smoothness throughout the print run; and Canon’s oil-free V Toner with a 5.5-micron particle size designed to produce outstanding prints on a broad array of media including textured stocks. All three machines can accommodate media up to 13 x 19 in., and offer 1200dpi resolution; top speed on the C7010VP is 70 8.5 x 11-in. pages/min (60 pages/min on the C6010VP and C6010). The C6010 does not offer variable-data capabilities. Canon’s imagePress C1+ is a color device with clear toner designed for the “light production and proofing” markets. It offers print speeds up to 14 pages/min for color jobs (up to 60 pages/min for black-and-white and up to 40 pages/min for clear printing jobs), and can handle a wide range of paper stock including coated and textured stocks. It offers true 1200 x 1200-dpi resolution, accommodates media up to 13 x 19 in., and integrates with all desktop colormanagement solutions. Its print controller options include variable-data capabilities. See also: Océ North America. Hewlett-Packard hp.com Designed for high-volume production, the HP Indigo 7500 is a 6-color press (CMYKcm with white option) that can print up to 120 A4 pages/min in full color or 240 pages/min in monochrome or 2 colors. The press is enhanced with a Vision system for hands-free automation, including automated calibration and intelligent diagnostics. It can accept media up to 13 x 19-in., and supports a wide range of substrates, including coated, uncoated, specialty media, and even thick substrates (up to 18-pt paper boards, via the optional thick substrate kit). A Universal Finishing Interface is optional. The HP Indigo 7000 accommodates paper sizes up to 13 x 19 in. and supports a wide range of substrates – including coated, uncoated, and specialty media. It can output www.bigpicture.net

on-demand printing 120 4-color, A4-size pages/min and is a standard 4-color (CMYK) system, with 5-, 6-, and 7-colors optional. It can hit a resolution of 812 and 1219 dpi at 8-bit. Three SmartStream workflow solutions are available, including Production Pro Print, Production Plus Print, and Ultra Print servers. Also available are the Indigo 5500, 3550, and 3500 sheetfed presses, as well as the w7200 and w3250 digital web-fed presses. The w3250 offers high-speed printing (maximum image size of 11.9 x 17.7 in.) onto a variety of substrates. Intended user applications include personalized direct-mail letters and postcards requiring variable-data printing, books and booklets, photo-related items such as calendars and photo albums, and versioned user manuals for products and services. It’s capable of delivering up to 8000 impressions/hr and print speeds up to 136 pages/min in 4-color and 272 pages/min in 2-color. InfoPrint Solutions infoprint.com InfoPrint Solutions’ continuous-forms InfoPrint 5000 images variable-data documents up to 20-in. wide and is available in three platforms: Volume, Multi-Purpose, and General Production. The 5000 General Production Platform (GPP) can be had in four configurable models, including the AD3/AD4 + XR3, offering full-color printing up to 420 ft/min with on-demand MICR (magnetic ink character recognition). The 5000 GPP also offers: 2-up duplex throughout; 720-dpi resolution (1440 effective); a

More On-Demand Press Factors When considering an on-demand press, here are just a few factors to consider in the evaluation stage: • Reporting speeds will often vary from company to company and machine to machine; some companies report in pages per minute (ppm) or pages per hour (pph), while others report in feet/meters per minute (fpm/mpm), or impressions per minute, etc. • Some presses require an additional controller or RIP to handle the variable-data processing. • Consider the variable-data software recommended for use with the hardware, as well as the available training for prepress and graphic artists. • Note the types of coated/uncoated rollfed or sheetfed media that the press will accommodate; some only print on typical papers, while others print on a variety of substrates and heavier media. • The additional in-line or near-line specialty-finishing equipment – such as a specialty varnish, cutting, booklet making, or binding – will vary.

THE BIG PICTURE december 2011

choice of water-based or dye inks (CMYK); built-in AFP color management; and more. In 2011, the 5000 began integrating the InfoPrint Ink Suite, which includes Ink Savvy (to reduce ink usage), Ink Estimation, Preview Print, Enfocus PitStop Connect, and others. In addition, the company offers the InfoPrint 3000, 4000, and 4100 printing systems. Kodak graphics.kodak.com Three models of the company’s NexPress SX Platform are available: the SX3900 (120 pages/min; 131 pages/min with optional feeder), SX3300 (100 pages/min), and the SX2700 (83 pages/min). All of the SX models offer: newly reformulated Kodak NexPress HD Dry Inks and developers designed to produce vibrant colors and consistent spot-color matching; a light black fifth imaging solution for photo applications; a matte-finish option; closed loop calibration; Print Genius image-processing technology; and more. Maximum imageable area is 13 x 20 in., although an optional feeder allows for 13 x 25.7 in. The NexPress can accommodate paper (uncoated, coated) as well as special substrates including foils, synthetics, specialty stocks, and others. Other fifth imaging unit solutions on the SX platform include dimensional printing, red fluorescing ink, and MICR ink. The company’s rollfed Versamark systems includes the Versamark VX5000, available in 11 configurations and offering full-color variable printing. Providing a top resolution of 300 x 600 dpi, the VX5000 can accommodate media up to 18-in. wide and a high duty cycle. Finishing options include: roll-to-roll, perf, punch, perf/punch, selective perf, fanfold, cut sheet, sheet/stack, and slit/merge/stack. MGI Digital mgi-usa.com MGI’s Meteor DP8700XL is a 4-color, multi-substrate digital press that builds on the company’s previous Meteor line of machines. The sheetfed DP8700XL can accommodate media up to 13 x 40 in. (up to 13 x 47 in. via manual bypass); it can handle paper (20-lb bond to 130-lb cover), plasticbased applications (4- to 16-mil), and envelopes (with or without windows, to C4 size). It can produce up to 4260 A4/letter pages/hr (2280 A3 pages/hr); top resolution is 3600 dpi. Other features include: an auto-adjusting offset feeder table to ensure a consistent registration; an EFI Fiery RIP; EnvelopeExpress Pro; a high-capacity pneumatic loader; built-in light table; spectrodensitometer; and more. Also available is the Meteor DP60 Pro – it accommodates media up to 13 x 26 in. (13 x 40 in. with option), including plastics and synthetics, and can print at 2400 dpi, offering a speed up to 3900 A4 sheets/hr; it also features variable-data capabilities. The company also offers the Meteor DP60 Paper, designed exclusively for paper substrates and synthetics such as Teslin. Both DP60 models have full

variable-data capabilities. The company’s Meteor DP40 Pro press accommodates media up to 12.25 x 18 in., offers resolutions up to 1800 dpi, and 4-color toner printing speeds up 2100 pages/hr. With a maximum sheet capacity of 5750, the press is compatible with a wide variety of paper and plastic substrates from 60 to 320 gsm; it offers automatic duplexing for media up to 260 gsm.

work. Its top speed of 720 ft/min is matched up with a high resolution of 360 x 720 dpi. The Jet520ZZ prints on rolls of inkjet paper, standard paper, uncoated paper, and coated stock up to 22.4-in. wide. It’s equipped with an Equios workflow RIP; a JD-520 external drying unit is optional. Also available is the Truepress Jet520EX-Color, an entrylevel machine with a compact footprint.

Océ North America oceusa.com The Océ ColorStream 3500 is a high-speed color, continuous-feed inkjet press that accommodates paper up to 21.25-in. wide and a top speed of 246 ft/min. Featuring the company’s DigiDot inkjet technology and inks, as well as Océ SRA MP (Massively Parallel) controller architecture, the ColorStream 3500 can hit a top resolution of 600 dpi and offers a choice of pigment or dye inks for full-color, spot-color, and MICR applications. Also available are the ColorStream 10000 Flex and the JetStream Compact, Dual, and Wide presses. See also: Canon.

Xeikon xeikon.com The Xeikon 8000, which utilizes dry-toner electrophotography technology, boasts 1200-dpi image quality, a top speed of 63 ft/min, and the ability to accommodate media up to 20.2-in. wide (image width of 19.8 in.). Capable of handling paper, paper board, synthetic media, and more, the Xeikon 8000 also features double-sided printing capabilities and a Xeikon X-800 digital front end. Options include an unwinder, jumbo unwinder, and a stacker. The Xeikon 6000 offers media compatibility with substrates from 40 to 350 gsm, four print speeds up to 160 pages/min. The printer is able to print on media up to 20-in. wide, offers 1200-dpi resolution, and two inline densitometers. The Xeikon 5000plus can hit speeds up to 160 pages/ min and handle print speeds up to 20-in. wide; top resolution is 1200 dpi.

Scodix scodix.com The Scodix1200 digital press from Israeli-based Scodix is designed to add value to print by creating tactile effects via its Scodix Sense clear polymer inkjet technology, the press creates matte or gloss effects (up to 99 gloss units) applied in thicknesses up to 70 microns and in variable densities from 1 to 100%. It can handle paper formats and substrates up to 19.7 x 27.8 in., in thicknesses up to 0.5mm, and paper weights from 135 to 500 gsm (50 to 185 lbs). It offers resolutions up to 360 x 1016 dpi. The Scodix1200 also supports variable-data and barcode applications in PDF or optimized PDF formats. Common applications include small posters, direct mail, marketing collateral, business cards, greetings cards, book covers, and other commercial, promotional, and consumer print. Screen USA screenusa.com Screen USA’s Truepress Jet520 is a 4-color (CMYK), variable-data, continuous-feed, single-pass printer that produces images up to 20.4-in. wide and a maximum print speed of 420 ft/min; it can hit a resolution of 720 x 720 dpi. The Jet520 can accommodate inkjet paper, standard paper, and uncoated paper, and its applications include direct mail, product manuals, publications, invoices, and much more. It can switch between printing full-web, single-sided to halfweb duplex. This press comes with a rewinder/unwinder, and users can connect the Truepress to a variety of inline post-processing equipment. The Truepress Jet520ZZ single-pass, continuous-feed system is specifically designed for high-speed variable-data

Xerox xerox.com The iGen4 from Xerox can handle sheet sizes up to 14.33 x 22.5 in., and a broad range of substrates. It offers a top speed of 110 pages/min and a top resolution of 600 x 4800 dpi (one-bit). Features include: an in-line spectrophoto meter and advanced color profiling; auto density control (to detect and eliminate density variations); high definition linearization (eliminates the need for grayscale calibration); and up to six input feeder modules with two trays each for a capacity of 30,000 sheets. User can choose among a Xerox FreeFlow Print Server, Creo CX Print Server, or Xerox EX Color Server powered by EFI Fiery. Options include roll input, inserter, inline finishing, and various variable-information solutions. The iGen4 EXP press, introduced in 2010, builds on the iGen4, and offers sheet sizes up to 14.33 x 26 in.; an automated Web-to-Finish solution (including software and finishing options to streamline workflow); a Multigraf stacker; and integration with Adobe PDF Print Engine (for quick and reliable printing of Adobe PDF files). Also available is optional Matte Dry Ink for high-end photo applications. The DocuColor 8080 can hit 80 pages/min and resolutions of 2400 dpi (1-bit). Features include: auto-duplexing, low-gloss toner, Automated Color Quality Suite, and customized Productivity Packs (including VI on the Fly for personalization). Three digital front ends are available along with various finishing options. www.bigpicture.net

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HP Expands Latex Printing Portfolio At the HP Latex Leadership Summit held in Barcelona, Spain, this fall, HP introduced two Designjet printers capable of handling a broad range of indoor and outdoor signage applications: the 61-in. HP Designjet L26500 printer and the 104-in. HP Designjet L28500 printer. Both systems are 6-color (CMYKcm) rollfed printers and feature: new HP 792 Latex Designjet Inks, designed to produce rich blacks and glossy results; produce 1200-dpi output; can print on a broad range of materials, including eco-solvent-compatible media and low-cost uncoated options; feature double-sided print capabilities and are optimized to work with new HP Double-sided HDPE Reinforced Banner, an alternative to PVC scrim. The printers are engineered to address customers entering the soft-signage market, reports HP, adding a new front tension system and edge holders to help improve on image quality, an HP Optical Media Advance Sensor to automatically control registration, and a Soft Media loading accessory. Other applications include P-O-P displays, bus shelters, vehicle graphics, and more. Both models can accommodate media up to 0.5-mm thick and feature robust takeup reels. The Designjet L26500’s speed ranges from 246 sq ft/hr (4-pass) to 68 sq ft/hr (16-pass); it will gradually replace the HP Designjet L25500. Price: $25,995, available in mid-December 2011. The Designjet L28500 delivers speeds up to 70% faster than the L25500/ L26500, with a range of 753 sq ft/hr (2-pass) to 99 sq ft/

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

hr (16-pass). Price: $61,995, available in January 2012. Other HP news from Barcelona includes: • The aforementioned new water-based HP 792 Latex Designjet Inks: Nonflammable and noncombustible, they’re designed to generate rich blacks and glossy results and oﬀer improved water-resistance on fabrics; they contain no hazardous air pollutants, and no special ventilation equipment or external dryer is required for safe and productive operation, HP reports. The HP 792 ink cartridges (as well as printheads and cleaning cartridge and container) can be returned through HP’s free recycling program. • New green banners: HP HDPE Reinforced Banner and HP Double-sided HDPE Reinforced Banner. • Launching of HP Latex University: Available through HP Capture and created to provide print providers with training on HP latex technologies. Free application workshops led by specialists, online webinars, and other tools are available at hp.com/go/ hplatexuniversity. • Launching of HP Ecosolutions Trained Printing Company Program: A free certificate program, also through HP Capture, that educates HP latex printing technology users in sustainability best practices and provides a mechanism for print providers to identify themselves as a company dedicated to sustainability based on their use of latex printing technologies. HP hp.com

FDC Introduces 7104 Series Premium Cast Media FDC Graphic Films has announced the availability of 7104 series, a premium cast print media with a permanent clear adhesive. Designed for printing permanent graphics, signage, and decals requiring long term durability with conformability, the new 7104 series is available in two finishes: Gloss Clear and Gloss White. This product is an addition to the 7102 series premium cast print media, which features a permanent gray adhesive. Available in six roll sizes, ranging from 30 to 60 in., and 2-mil thick. The company has also debuted the 7267 series, a perforated calendered vinyl film. Designed for printing one-way vision window graphics requiring short-term durability with clean removal, the 7267 series is available in two finishes 102 Matte White (50% surface / 50% perforation) and 402 Matte White (60% surface / 40% perforation). Available in four roll sizes: 15-, 27-, 30-, and 54-in. widths. FDC FILMS fdcfilms.com

LexJet’s Sales & Application Guides

Gatorfoam Exterior Line Broadened 3A Composites USA has expanded its line of Gatorfoam Exterior board. It’s now available in Bright White in 48 x 96-in. sheets in 1-, 1.5-, and 2-in. thicknesses. As with the rest of the Gatorfoam Exterior line, the new Bright White boards consist of polystyrene foam bonded between two layers of wood-fiber veneer laminate. A specially formulated adhesive enhances weather performance by reducing the chance of delamination when exposed to heat, cold, and humidity; and the adhesive doesn’t yellow over time. Also available as a custom order in 3-in. thickness in Bright White 48 x 96-in. sheets.

LexJet has announced its new Large Format Graphics Sales & Application Guides, hardbound, threering binder media product books. The Aqueous guide details more than 50 aqueous inkjet media compatible with the latest printers from Canon, Epson, and HP. The SUV guide includes more than 50 inkjet media compatible with solvent, low-solvent, UV-curable, and latex printers. Both guides also discuss media-laminate combinations. The guides include sheets of banner materials, display films, vinyl media, fine-art and photo papers, wall coverings, complete tradeshow and P-O-P solutions, and various laminates. One half of the media is printed and the other is blank so users can see how colors reproduce on each material and the texture, surface properties, and base color of the material before it’s printed. Price: $89 each. LEXJET lexjet.com

3A COMPOSITES graphicdisplayusa.com

www.bigpicture.net

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Aurora’s AC Canvas Glossy Media Aurora Specialty Textiles Group has added AC Canvas Glossy to its Northern Lights product line. A traditional, acrylic, gesso-coated canvas built upon a 65%-polyester, 35%-cotton base fabric with a high-gloss shine, AC Canvas Glossy is compatible with latex, solvent, and UV-cure print technologies. It can be stretched and framed with no cracking, making it a good choice for giclée art reproduction, store signage, or home/oﬃce décor, the company reports. Available in 54-, 60-, and 76-in. widths. AURORA SPECIALTY TEXTILES auroratextile.com

Color Efex Pro 4 From Nik Software Nik Software has made Color Efex Pro 4 available. The company’s latest collection of digital photographic fi lters for retouching and creative enhancements comprises 55 total fi lters in all and is available in two versions: a Complete Edition, which contains 55 fi lters; and the Select Edition, with 26 fi lters. Color Efex Pro 4 includes new fi lters (Detail Extractor, Dark Contrast, Vintage Film Efex, Natural Image Borders, and more), GPU processing and multi-core optimization to take advantage of today’s advanced displays, and a new interface and interaction improvements. In addition, new features include: Filter combinations, allowing for the addition of multiple fi lters simultaneously; visual presets with single-click starting points; style recipes, to allow for customizing and sharing fi lter combinations; and a history browser for an intuitive comparison of previous edits. Price: $199.95 (Complete Edition), $99.95 (Selection Edition). NIK SOFTWARE niksoftware.com

Perfect Photo Suite 6 Now Available OnOne’s new Perfect Photo Suite 6 is an integrated suite of seven products designed to solve common imaging problems. Suite 6 includes: • Perfect Eﬀects 3 (formerly PhotoTools), which provides more than 300 photographic and creative eﬀects – all of which can be stacked, blended, and combined; • Perfect Portrait 1, a new product designed for retouching; • Perfect Mask 5, featuring Automatic Background Removal; • Perfect Layers 2, for creating and editing multi-layered fi les directly from Lightroom or Aperture; • Perfect Resize 7, for enlarging images up to 1000% (as well as cropping); • FocalPoint 2, to simulate blur and depth-of-field from lenses such as fast aperture, selective focus, etc.; and • PhotoFrame 4.6 for adding finishing touches like edges, textures, and backgrounds to photos. Price: $299.95. ONONE SOFTWARE ononesoftware.com

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

inside output

<19 by paying too much for less-than-stellar staff in skill positions. And, they did our HR Department a favor: It saved us the unsavory task of firing these employees, which was inevitable, and reduced the chance that we would end up having their ultimate unemployment charged against our unemployment insurance account. The moral of the story: If the boom tempts you to poach, you might just end up with a rotten egg. By the way, another challenge during boom times is employees actively shopping their services to the highest bidders. Now, a healthy dose of self-confidence and feeling of self worth can be beneficial for any employee. But I think it’s more common during boom times for employees to over-estimate their value to a company – what I refer to as the “prima-donna effect.” It’s not uncommon for an employee who sees him- or herself as invaluable to attempt to hold the employer hostage. During a boom, these primadonna employees can shop themselves to competitors and threaten to leave, going to the highest bidder if you won’t match the offer. The recession, however, has all but eliminated this phenomenon.

When we look at performance criteria for our current employees, we look at two completely diﬀerent variables. The first is always performance related. How well do they do their job? Are they dependable? Do they contribute to the quality of our products and services? This is pretty easy to measure. The second variable, though, is more subjective. Are they pleasant to be around? Are they well liked and well respected? Do they work well with other members of the team? During a boom time, our tolerance for PITAs (pain in the behinds) is higher. But the recession has given us the luxury of zero tolerance for jerks, even very talented jerks. We believe that unpleasant people are poison to our team culture and we now get rid of these individuals faster than people who have issues with professional competence. In a boom economy, the probability is higher that people in the unemployment pool are not the crème de la crème. That is not true today. Because so many of our competitors have downsized or gone out of business, this has populated the ranks of the unemployed with a lot of quality people.

Zero jerk tolerance

When there’s such a huge over-supply and low demand, employers get a bargain when they hire. And that’s the case now. This, however, carries some responsibilities with the deal. For instance, the initial low wage on a new hire incentivizes us to try out a person. Whereas we may not have considered someone because they are part of the long-term unemployed or because of their inexperience, we now have the luxury of giving them a chance to prove themselves. All of our people begin with a three-month probation; this way, if they don’t work out, it’s easy to let them go. Because of the low entry wage, it doesn’t cost the company too much for this learning experience and it’s easy to find a replacement if need be. On the other hand, if they do work out, we offer the opportunity for a raise at the end of the probation. If we’ve hired a quality employee, it would be “penny wise and dollar foolish” to keep them at this artificially low wage. A modest yet significant initial early raise gives us the opportunity to show the new hire we’re fair by recognizing their worth. And because this raise is modest, we retain the opportunity to provide raises over shorter-than-normal intervals if they’re merited. So if the new hire proves to be a true star, we can make every effort to bring them to a salary that is commensurate with their value to the company. If they’re that good, then retention through compensation fairness becomes the most important concern. Through practices like these, we’ve been adding more and more stars. In fact, I think we’re well on our way to developing our best staff ever – and given our past staffs, that’s saying a great deal.

Why has the recession contributed to our company possibly having one of its best staffs ever? Capitalism’s supply and demand rules. One benefit of this market pressure is the drastic reduction of the aforementioned prima-donna effect. People with any sense are glad to have a job. We don’t feel any pressure from competitors looking to poach our people. In addition, we have set higher standards for employee performance and lower tolerance for behavior that falls below our criteria. As a result, we have eliminated all of our “bad actors.” When someone fails to perform, we bring him or her in for a session of constructive criticism. We are very specific in where they have fallen short and what they need to remain in good standing. If we don’t see immediate compliance, we put them on probation and begin looking for their replacement. Speaking of looking for replacements, this task has become very easy: Craigslist allows us immediate gratification and it’s free. Also, word of mouth has never been a more effective recruiting tool. Free is always good when it works. As a result, if we must resort to issuing a pink slip, we have someone to fi ll the outgoing employee’s chair before it even has a chance to get cold. I know that may sound somewhat cruel and calculating, but the responsibility for an employee doing what is reasonable and necessary to keep their job is theirs and not ours. This is a practice that you can’t institute when you need someone in that position; and tolerating less-than-stellar performance is better than having no one to do the work. 35

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

Star-making through compensation

scanning “Some artists insist on a dead-on match with their original, while others aren’t as critical,” says America Litho Color’s Marshall Rawlings, whose shop utilizes a Cruse Synchron Light scanner. “What we’re selling is an accurate reproduction of their original, and our ability to achieve that.” At left: Leading the Fleet by K. Price Randel (original, 30 x 40; final, 30 x 40 and 60 x 80 inches).

Vehicle applications

<23 have a controlled environment here to make sure we capture all the color of their original, even the brushstrokes.” American Litho’s initial foray into scanning services was with film scanners to digitize slides and transparencies. As flatbed size and resolution caught up with its requirements for capturing details and color accuracy, the company began working from original art. “We started with a Kodak scanner with a 20 x 24-inch scan area and did all kinds of work with that,” recalls Rawlings. “Then we heard about what Cruse had, and what it could do, we went out and bought the biggest unit they offered.” With the unit, no project is too large – the scanner has been used for everything from an 18 x 24-inch drawing to a mural measuring 5 x 15 feet. “A full-bed scan comes off this machine at one gigabyte,” he notes. It’s the capability of the scanner to capture that much image data, along with the discerning eye for color he and his staff bring to each project, that has enabled the company to build its reputation in fine-art reproduction. “Color management is still the toughest part of this work,” Rawlings admits. “It’s a lot of work to keep all the equipment and scanners calibrated, to understand how what you see on the screen might appear when it comes off the printer.” American Litho has several HP and Epson wide-format printers for fine-art printing, and swaps between them, depending on the required size of the reprint. “Most of our work is done on one of our Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printers,” he says. “Anything over 44-inches is usually printed on an HP 5000.” Some artists want a digitized record of their work they’ve sold, others to resell their work as a limited series of digital prints. “This gives them a way to sell the same work over and over,” notes Rawlings. The combination – super-large-format flatbed scanning combined with large-format fine-art printing – opens up new markets for the company and its clients. “We’re now working with artists from all over the world,” he reports. 36

THE BIG PICTURE december 2011

“In the past, our business was what you’d expect from the typical reprographics house: a lot of work in black-andwhite, a lot of blueprint reproduction,” says Don Bitterman, president of Precision Images (precisionimages.com) in Portland, Oregon. “But with the economy down the way it’s been the past few years, we’ve had to shift emphasis to where most of the business is today – and that’s in color.” Large-format color figures in that strategy. Growth there has been helped by the large-format Graphtec CS-610 color scanner purchased a little more than two years ago. The unit handles originals up to 42-inches wide and 0.8-inches thick. For larger work, multiple scans are captured then assembled with Graphtec software. It has proven a powerful engine for driving business to the company’s wide-format printers, says Bitterman. The shop’s printer lineup includes the Hewlett-Packard Z6100 60-inch inkjet, the HP Latex 2500 printer, and Canon’s imageProGraf iPF8300. “The Z6100 is our workhorse, while the 2500 is great for outputting banners,” says Bitterman. “The Canon gives us 12-colors for higher-end work.” Much wide-format printing starts at the scanner. “There is no such thing as a typical color-scanning job,” he continues. “If someone comes to us with any job, and we think we can make it work, we’ll do it.” Precision has scanned entire artists’ portfolios, old posters, and the expected mix of original paintings and sketches. “If an artist just wants a record of their work, we’ll scan it and give them a DVD,” he continues. “For the Web, we can get by with a low-res scan. When they want to reproduce the original on print, we need to know how large. It’s really about talking to that customer and understanding their needs before you scan.” Precision’s largest scan to date: an expansive mixedmedia mural measuring 42-inches x 14 feet. The scanner effectively captured every pencil line, and brushstroke, says Bitterman. The large-format scanner also has helped with a relatively new service for the company – vehicle wraps. “Someone will come in with a sketch or drawing on a large piece of paper of how they think they want their vehicle wrapped,” he explains. “We’ll scan that in, then blow it up to half- or full-size of the actual vehicle, and print that out to give them a much better idea of how it will look.” If needed, the print can include a sample

business + management band of the graphics in print to demonstrate how well the fi nal wrap matches the color of their original art. “We’ve been doing a little bit of everything with the scanner,” sums up Bitterman.

A scan for every plan When building contractors, subcontractors, and construction engineers in the upper Midwest want to review plans or drawings, or see what’s out for bid, they can log onto the Online Planning Room, a service available to members of the Minneapolis Builders Exchange (mbex.org). The non-profit association assists members of the construction industry with news and information on construction projects. At the site, they’ll find complete plans, architectural renderings, and blueprints for all types of current and upcoming projects. “We’ve got plans for all types of commercial and state construction projects – highways, schools, and every type of commercial building,” says Christopher Geiser, technical specialist. On average, the organization processes documents for between 3000 and 15,000 projects a year. Geiser estimates 20,000 projects have been posted to the Online Planning Room since its launch about seven years ago. As part of his varied responsibilities, he oversees conversion of paper plans and drawings for distribution in the Online Planning Room. Everything is digitized using an Océ CS-4342S large-format color flatbed/sheetfed scanner. The CS-4342S can handle originals up to 44-inches wide. The most common size for the original documents is either 24 x 36 or 30 x 42-inches. “We try to keep the scans at 300 dpi, but can go as high as 600 dpi if we need to,” he says. If there are any issues, the page is scanned in the preview mode, and adjustments made with built-in software. “When the image comes out, it’s good to go.” A typical project requires scanning anywhere from 50 to 100 sheets, he says. “On special projects like the Minnesota Twins stadium built a few years ago, there were between 600 and 700 sheets,” Geiser reports. Once the scans are complete, they’re assembled and published as a project to the interactive website. There, members can log into their account, check on the latest projects out of bid, review all plans, download scan sets or individual fi les, or order prints. Printing is handled in house with another Océ product, the wide-format ColorWave 600. The rollfed color toner printer handles media up to 42-inches wide. The printer is also used to print copies of plans requested by visitors to the physical Planning Room at the organization’s headquarters. Long term, the trend is defi nitely to access plans online. “More and more, people want to see those plans in a digital form,” Geiser concludes. “We’re the source, whatever they need to know about a project, from beginning to end,” he says.

<18 The best way to execute this type of approach is to immediately let them know when a new job hits your shop. Make the call that very day to the person ordering the job, them their account is overdue and telling, as a result, the job is in jeopardy. They, then, can help you communicate with their accounting department. After all, they are the ones that really need you to release the job, not the accounting department. This will give you a few days leeway for your client to work out payment arrangements.

Assigning risk ratings My final recommendation is something we have recently implemented here at Ferrari Color. We’ve gone through our top 25 clients, which make up the majority of our sales and our accounts receivable, and have assigned each one a risk rating between 1 and 5. If a customer is assigned a risk rating of 1, the highest risk, they are handled very carefully in terms of issuing any significant amount of credit. On the other hand, we should be comfortable that a customer with a risk rating of 5 will pay on time, without issues. Importantly, our risk rating is actually a mix of two different types of risk. The first is simply an assessment of their financial health, payment history, average days outstanding, etc. The second risk factor, however, takes into account the impact that the customer would have on our business if they were to file for bankruptcy at any given time and their account balance would have to be written off. This is a much scarier assessment when considering our largest clients. For example, our top two or three customers might typically pay within a reasonable amount of time, but the financial impact of writing off their balance as bad debt would be huge. So those customers may not be the highest risk because they pay on time, but they earn a 2 or 3 risk rating because of the impact their failure would have on our bottom line. After categorizing your top customers, the idea is to then appropriately manage each customer-risk pool. That could include monthly financial credit reports, weekly calls on outstanding balances, securing personal guarantees from business owners, predefining down-payment requirements on larger jobs, securing credit cards as payment security, or anything that might mitigate your risk. With a large customer, such as a publicly traded company, many of these options are probably not available. So, instead, we review the quarterly financial results when earnings are released and try to determine the overall health of the company (or, in some cases, the parent company). Just because a company is big and public, don’t be fooled into thinking you’re immune from their account going bad – big companies go out of business all the time. The point here is to adopt a system where you are trying your best to protect yourself from something happening that might place your business in peril.

dynamic signage <27 installing a PC and monitor all the way up to creating a network of panels with integrated media players.” The venture may also call for expanding your staff. “The people you currently have don’t necessarily have the same skill set required for digital signage,” he cautions. So he’s added people with expertise in systems integration, installation of system, and content development. “Digital signage requires static graphics and motion graphics,” he points out, elaborating with one example. “You need people with a motion-graphics background, with experience in programs like Final Cut Pro, who understand Web graphics. The content is the key to making these systems work, and you’ve got to help your customers with that.” Providing those content services could help legitimize a graphics company as a credible provider of digital signage. As Rodriguez notes, early adopters will find their primary competitors to be audiovisual specialists whose primary interest is selling and installing the hardware. “Your client’s natural progression may not be to call on a sign company for that type of equipment,” he says. “I believe most sign companies have a unique relationship with their existing clients, and can build on that,” he continues. “You just have to let them know this represents a new version of things you’ve already been providing.” His claim on the digital-signage market is based on developing and delivering full-service solutions: the hardware; content development and management, or the tools and training for clients to create and manage their own; setup and installation; and responsive service and support. Those who commit to providing a fully integrated system, and make the required investments can become players in this new media market. “We’re not selling this as a replacement for our client’s static signs, but as something that will allow them to accomplish some things they can’t do.” Carefully weigh the pros and cons, and consider all that’s involved, he offers as closing advice. “I can’t stress how complicated this all is,” Rodriguez emphasizes.

Elusive opportunities: NuArt Sign and Graphic Systems Check online, and NuArt Sign and Graphics Systems of Traverse City, Michigan (nuartsigns.com) is in the digital sign business. On its website, the company offers to guide clients, old and new, through the maze of this complex new medium to build the perfect solution. That venture, however, has proven little more than an incidental complement to the company’s thriving business as a specialist in more traditional sign design, fabrication, and installation. As some early believers in dynamic digital signage have discovered, profiting from these services can pose something of a maze in itself. And realizing the initial promise of these new sign systems can prove much more elusive than first envisioned. “While we do offer digital signage, it’s an area that I ini38

THE BIG PICTURE december 2011

tially thought would explode much faster,” admits Michael Albaugh, the company’s co-owner and chief designer. “It’s not something any of my customers have recently asked about. So while we do offer it, we just don’t get a lot of calls for it.” That’s certainly not what Albaugh envisioned more than five years ago, when he convinced his brother and partner, Chad Albaugh, NuArt’s president, that they should establish a presence in the burgeoning digital signage arena. “I was trying to be very forward thinking, and get ahead of the curve,” he recalls. “It seemed a brilliant idea to be able to go from static signage to animation and video. We were debating at the time if hard signage had much of a future.” In fact they placed an informal bet about if, and when, digital signage would dominate. Five years on, their bet is still open. Although the prices for the varied components required to build a system have come down, he says the equipment and underlying technology have become more sophisticated as vendor population has grown. “It’s hard enough for most print-shop owners to keep up with digital printing technology,” Albaugh notes. “This stuff can get truly overwhelming.” And because there is so much involved in the way of computers, video hardware, and software, he’s seen clients who could benefit from digital systems look first to other distribution channels. “These systems are so technical, people don’t necessarily know it’s something a company like ours can do for them,” he observes. The airlines – one of his core client groups – would seem a natural for these systems, with their need to continually update flight arrival and departure information. But they’ve given their business to digital specialists: “The people who have been doing those large installations are the big boys, the tech specialists able to integrate these systems in multiple layers in multiple locations.” Among many smaller accounts, awareness of the systems’ possibilities, and how to take advantage of them, still lags. “People who don’t understand how to use them also don’t understand why these systems cost so much,” he says. They also seem to overlook the amount of work involved in developing, updating, and managing the content. “In that way, it’s very similar to Web-design services,” he continues. “People don’t understand all that’s involved, so they undervalue it and aren’t willing to make that investment.” At least not yet. Despite all he’s learned over the last few years. Albaugh remains convinced that these are sign systems with a promising future. “As a company, I think you really have to embrace and build a digital signage section of your business if you want to succeed in that market,” he says. Freelance writer Mike Antoniak is a frequent contributor to The Big Picture magazine.

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Hit the Road Sunning “The biggest challenge was the shape of the car. The installers had to use a lot of heat, along with a lot of patience, to conform the graphics along the car’s complex curves.”

THE BIG PICTURE DECEMBER 2011

The Client University of Michigan Solar Car Team The Player TKO Graphix (tkographix.com) Tools & Supplies EFI Vutek 3360, Onyx ProductionHouse RIP, Avery MPI 1005 Supercast RS vinyl, Neschen Seal Image 600 laminator, Avery DOL 1360 overlam The Job To increase its chances of winning the 1800-mile Veolia World Solar Challenge Australia solar-vehicle race, the University of Michigan (UM) Solar Car Team wanted to make its eleventh custom car – the Quantum – its lightest vehicle yet. To do this, the team skipped the paint job and instead opted for a wrap. “Quantum has been streamlined and is 200 pounds lighter than our previous car,” says Santosh Kumar, strategy director for UM Solar Car. “We estimate that we shaved 15 pounds oﬀ with the wrap.” TKO Graphix in Plainfield, Indiana, was chosen to dress-up Quantum with a wrap that would be able to endure the Outback’s harsh elements. UM also called for a small trailer and large hauler to be wrapped. Production Creating artwork for such a unique vehicle proved to be no easy task: “We worked with UM on how the panels should be broke down and how much bleed to add, but they used their own renderings for the final breakdown,” says Randy Clark, TKO director of communication. “Unfortunately, we never had access to the car or to scaled drawings until installation. But, thanks to UM’s accuracy, no additional pieces needed to be printed after the install.” Once artwork had been received from UM, TKO performed color correction to hit the specified PMS colors. Then, the shop used its EFI Vutek 3360 with Onyx ProductionHouse RIP, outputting onto Avery MPI 1005 Supercast RS vinyl. It finished the job with a Seal Image 600 laminator and Avery DOL 1360 overlaminate to ensure the wrap could indeed withstand the harsh environmental conditions. Four employees installed the graphics on the solar car, the car hauler, and the trailer over 48 hours. Unfortunately, heavy cross winds caused technical issues with the Quantum during the race, requiring road-side repairs. But, the team came back to take home third place.

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