27 minute read
EXECUTIVE Q&A
JOHN MILLS, CEO OF XAAR
By Richard Romano
John Mills became CEO of printhead manufacturer Xaar in 2019 after five years as CEO of Inca Digital. After a year or so of under-the-radar R&D and business planning, Xaar is now in the process of reinventing and rebranding itself, as well as launching the new ImagineX platform, which the company hopes will power Xaar products for the next 30 years. I spoke to John Mills about the new strategy, the new platform and the “new Xaar.”
WhatTheyThink: We had last met at FESPA Berlin in 2018 when you were still at Inca Digital. What subsequently attracted you to Xaar?
John Mills: Xaar is actually about four miles from Inca [in
Cambridge, UK] and during my time at
Inca Digital, we never bought a Xaar printhead. We were very aware of the fundamental benefits of Xaar printheads, but there were things in the technology which stopped us from using them. So when I came in [to Xaar], the opportunity was, what if we could actually fix the reasons why I wouldn’t have bought a Xaar printhead but retain all of the stuff that would make me buy a Xaar printhead? It’s really been the opportunity to do that.
WTT: What were some of those reasons for and against using a Xaar head?
JM: OEMs want to do a range of fluids, and Xaar couldn’t do aqueous ink. Wide-format graphics now is largely UV. Users need to be able to give the nozzle plate a good clean, and to do that you need to have a robust nozzle plate, which Xaar printheads didn’t have. Also, in terms of the speed of the printheads, we needed to make them faster and we needed to print at higher resolutions. The great thing is that we John Mills can actually fix all of those things, and I’m pretty excited that we’re going to be able to deliver a printhead that also retains all of the things that make Xaar technology uniquely beneficial.
WTT: The last five years have been a bit of a challenge for Xaar. What led to the need for a new strategy?
JM: I think a lot of it concerned some of the decisions around the business model, but also the focus that Xaar had on thin film. Xaar is a good-sized company, but to develop a MEMS head requires a significant financial undertaking. If you’re going to do it, you need to focus and make sure you throw everything at it. And that’s what Xaar did. It managed to develop the 5601 on a
budget of around £70 million or $100 million. Xaar did incredibly well to get a great product for such a relatively small amount of money, but the harsh reality was that it was hard to sustain that level of investment—about £20 million a year—for a market which really just hasn’t materialized in a way that sustains that level of investment. Thin film is predominantly a kind of a water-based packaging type of printhead, and that market just hasn’t arrived in any real meaningful volume. So we were forced to shut it down—we tried to sell it but couldn’t, not because the technology didn’t work— it absolutely did—but everyone who looked at it concluded that the market wasn’t there.
Now, the consequence of that single-minded focus on thin film was that everything else got pushed to the side. The core bulk development was ignored and the markets in which the bulk products would go into were largely ignored. When we shut thin film down, it was almost like we took out the reason Xaar had existed for the last five years. Everyone looked around and said, well, what’s left? There was also a huge amount of confusion in the market about what Xaar’s technology was, because we also sold other people’s printheads as ours. I talked to many OEMs I had known before I joined Xaar and the feedback was very clear about how they felt about Xaar, and it was relatively negative. So we needed to do a few things, but first of all, we needed to be very clear about our business, who we are, and what we’re going to do.
WTT: So you laid low for a year or so and retooled everything.
JM: We kind of kept our powder dry for a year, fixed the business model, and we’ve got a clear product roadmap. We’re focused on selling our own printheads. We needed to have a very clear visualization of what our technology is and where it’s going, hence the ImagineX platform. The OEMs that we’d lost because they got confused about who we were have come back to us now, and we’ve regained share in some of our key markets, like ceramics. We’re now in a much stronger position. That’s why the
Continued on page 61 Read More…
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PRINT RESOLUTIONS
Start doing these three things to thrive in 2021.
When we began 2020, I made three recommendations. It was essentially the list of things to stop doing in 2020, and it went like this: 1. Stop accepting jobs that lack complete specifications, including substrate, finishing and delivery requirements. 2. Stop using freeware and apps downloaded from the internet in your core business processes.
3. Stop letting sales team members dictate discounts. That list generated some discussion, but the consensus was that it was sound guidance for 2020. Then 2020 turned into a different type of year. There were more requirements to work remotely while trying to handle either too much or too little business. The folks who had already invested in comprehensive job onboarding solutions and significant workflow automation were better positioned to roll with partial and full lockdowns, remote working and
limited access to print facilities. Many who resisted steps toward automation found it harder to sell and deliver.
The take-away from the end of last year is that those who built internal- and external-facing digital storefronts and paired them to some automation for pre-flighting, prep and production were better set up to survive the uncertainty the year brought. Clearly, some print companies did not survive. Some in-plants had to send their work out and close and may not know when they can re-open. Other in-plants and PSPs were able to survive, and still others thrived. Regardless of where you are on the continuum, if you are looking at thriving in 2021, here are three things to start doing now: 1. Review your web-to-print capabilities. 2. Automate job pre-flighting. 3. Tie production and business workflows together.
Let’s look at each in more detail.
Review your web-to-print capabilities to ensure that you are capturing the data you need to avoid follow-up phone calls and emails. If you don’t have a web-to-print environment built, talk to your current MIS and ERP vendors, as well as your hardware vendors, to get recommendations. The best web-to-print systems allow you to validate order specifications and tie orders to dashboards to provide a clear view of your ability to execute the order and raise red flags if inventory or scheduling poses any challenges. Pre-flighting is more than running your favorite tool. It should be a process that is executed several times during the workflow, and it may be prudent to look at optimization tools as an additional aid. Review the tools you have and discover how they are being used (or not!). Most preflight and optimization tools can be automated to ensure that arriving files can be processed and will flag those that present challenges. Making it a point to rerun files later in the workflow can catch any anomalies arising from fixing files ahead of production.
If you have a great production workflow and a great business workflow, this is the time to make sure that the two workflows are working synergistically and not at odds with each other. Does your business workflow know about changes required during production that are chargeable? Can you easily see if completed work is delivered and invoiced? These seem like obvious things, but so many print shops grow their workflows independently, so it isn’t unusual to find that the business and production workflows “know” different things. As you begin 2021, look for those things that will help you grow and thrive. The print business may continue on a roller coaster as we move through the first half of the year, but that makes it a great time to tune your workflows and ensure you are getting the most from each of your systems.
These are the top three. Tell me what you will add in 2021! Send them to me at pcm@mcgrewgroup.com or add them to the comments! ●
Pat McGrew has more than three decades as an evangelist for technology in communication. She is an author and regular writer in the industry trade press. Read More…
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PRINTING INDUSTRY NEWS ─ News Trending On Printingnews.com
Domtar Corporation Announces Sale of Personal Care Business to American Industrial Partners for $920 Million
Domtar Corporation announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Personal Care business to American Industrial Partners (AIP) for $920 million.
The sale of Domtar’s Personal Care business represents the culmination of a process announced on August 7, 2020, during which the Company undertook a comprehensive strategic review of value-creating alternatives for the business. With this sale, Domtar is reinforcing its focus on building an industry-leading Paper, Pulp and Packaging company to deliver long-term shareholder value.
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OKI Data Reinforces Position with New OEM Partnership
OKI Data Corporation has announced a direct OEM partnership that will continue sales and support of OKI Digital Transfer printers and consumables for North, Central and South American markets. The OKI Pro9541WT and Pro8432WT printers will be relaunched with a new brand name in late Spring 2021, additional product announcements are planned for later in the year. The new brand will continue to be “Powered by OKI Technology” offering the same white toner technology and decorating versatility that has made OKI one of the most recognized names in the market today. The new brand will be unveiled in late Spring 2021. For distribution, sales and support, Imaging Supplies Warehouse (ISW) will continue as master distributor of the new brand, as well as legacy OKI parts and consumables.
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Keystone and Henkel to Launch New 3D Dental Modeling Resin
As part of their ongoing collaboration for 3D printing applications in the dental industry, Keystone Industries and Henkel have developed KeyModel Ultra. This next generation of 3D dental modeling resin offers a new level of accuracy, detail, and speed. KeyModel Ultra is formulated for rapid printing and fast post curing and is also designed to reduce peel forces, which increases print accuracy. KeyModel Ultra does not require release agents for thermoforming aligners and other devices. Its flawless detail ensures that all thermoformed devices fit perfectly, and it can be carved without chipping to adjust the model when needed.
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KORSCH AND MEDELPHARM Partner to Introduce R&D Equipment Portfolio
KORSCH AG has announced a strategic partnership with MEDELPHARM to introduce a new portfolio of equipment geared to R&D-stage production. Leveraging the companies’ combined 135-plus years of experience with smallscale, fully instrumented machines, the R&D product portfolio addresses and overcomes longstanding challenges, from early stage powder characterization and formulation development to scale-up and production support. Covering the full spectrum of tableting technology from single-layer to five-layer as well as core coating capabilities, the new R&D product equipment portfolio serves as a versatile complement to KORSCH’s multi-layer production machinery. Notably, the STYL’One Evo offers the ability to simulate all high-speed production presses to predict product performance with minimal material quantities. To support worldwide distribution, KORSCH will offer the fully combined R&D product equipment lineup on a global basis with the exception of France and Belgium.
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Global Graphics PLC completes acquisition of HYBRID Software Group
Global Graphics PLC announces that it has successfully completed its acquisition of the HYBRID Software Group from Congra Software following the passing of a shareholder resolution at a General Meeting held in January 2021. The acquisition roughly doubles the size of the Global Graphics group of companies in terms of headcount, expanding the global workforce to around 250 people. It adds several more operating locations to the group through HYBRID Software’s offices in Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and the USA.
Global Graphics is dedicated to developing software and hardware solutions for graphics and industrial inkjet printing and has earned a reputation for innovation, with several of its companies being recognized with prestigious industry awards and, in the case of both Meteor Inkjet and Global Graphics Software, with the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise. It will continue to be a key supplier of original equipment manufacturer technology and, through HYBRID Software’s domain expertise in labels and packaging, a customer-focussed supplier of solutions for print service providers and converters as well as OEMs. Together with Global Graphics Software and other technology components for digital printing, the Global Graphics group offers the market a compelling stack of solutions for graphics and industrial inkjet printing.
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Fathom Optics Introduces Light Field Technology Software Platform
Fathom Optics (formerly Lumii, Inc), has introduced a software platform that brings printed 3D and motion graphics to packaging without requiring specialty inks or substrates and without the need for additional materials, such as lenticulars or foils.
Fathom Optics’ algorithmic technology leverages existing press innovations to add depth, motion and chromatic effects to a wide range of print applications including prime labels, shrink sleeves and product authentication. The software platform fits into standard design and prepress workflows. It is based on light field technology, originally developed for digital 3D displays, and currently works with offset and narrow and mid-web printing. The company also plans to expand to digital and other applications in the near future. Fathom’s platform was designed from the ground up to fit into existing packaging design and prepress workflows. Designers can apply effects to PDFs as they would with spot colors, either using the company’s design portal or its custom Adobe Illustrator plug-in. They can then visualize their creations interactively in 3D and share these 3D designs with collaborators.
www.printingnews.com/21148068
Flint Group Consolidation of Flexographic Prepress Adds Value for Flexo and Letterpress Customers
Flint Group has formed a new division, XSYS, which combines Flint Group Flexographic and Xeikon Prepress into a single Flint Group division, led by Dagmar Schmidt as President. From using innovative materials and technologies to create flexographic plates, to plate processors with a minimal environmental footprint, to software solutions that help automate and control the entire flexographic prepress process.
www.printingnews.com/21148038
Meech Announces Launch Of Smartcontrol Touch: The Latest Static Control Monitoring Solution For Modern Automated Industries
Meech has formally unveiled its newest remote monitoring solution, SmartControl Touch. An advancement of Meech’s SmartControl device – the new unit allows users to monitor, control and adjust the performance of multiple connected Hyperion ionising bars and sensors via an integrated touchscreen; or remotely via a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop.
SmartControl Touch has the capacity to connect up to six devices, with an additional 12 per expansion unit. In total, SmartControl Touch can monitor and control up to 30 devices.
Fast and easy installation means SmartControl Touch can fit in seamlessly with operations.
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Crit Driessen about the installation of the first LabelStream 4000 series digital label press.
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WIELD THE DATA SWORD
How to use the growing "datasphere" to your advantage.
As oil was the commodity that powered the success of the Industrial Revolution, so data is exponentially powering the age of digital transformation and connectivity, referred to as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Remember when data stored in gigabytes seemed large? Due to the astonishing accumulation of data in our connected world we are now measuring the global digital datasphere in terms of zettabytes (ZB), which are the equivalent of one trillion gigabytes, and yottabytes, which are 1000 zettabytes (no, this is not a “Star Wars” spin-off). In fact, the annual size of the global digital datasphere is predicted to grow from an estimated 44ZB in 2020 to 175ZB in 2025.
Bringing this closer to our own operating reality, on average each day in 2020, 306 billion emails were sent, and five billion searches were made. I’ll do the math for you: That’s nearing 112 trillion emails in one year! The data growth rates on all things digital is staggering and in many instances, business sectors are only gaining momentum.
The print industry has acutely experienced the pace of change wrought by the attrition of technology and digital transformation. Like any great industry, print has disaggregated in some segments (remember carbon interleaved forms?) and reaggregated in other, chiefly digital, segments. A key result of the growth in digital capabilities from customer-facing storefronts to connected production devices is the rampant accumulation of data. More than any other era in the print industry’s lifespan, companies have access to massive amounts of actionable data.
The successful curation of the data spring-
ing from your business operating systems has the potential to unearth rich clues for improved growth and performance. However, it can be a daunting task to know where to start and where to stop. “Analysis paralysis” is a genuine concern when opening the data flood-gates. Yet, a balanced approach to metrics and analytics and understanding how to apply them in your business is critical to
Source: HCG, Inc.
Preston Herrin is a strategy, growth, and performance consultant. He has served in c-level and senior leadership roles at fast-growth companies like 4over LLC, Café Press, and Drummond. In his 30-year career Preston’s roles span strategy, business development and executive management providing e-commerce, software, logistics and service solutions for all vertical markets such as Manufacturing, Finance, Healthcare, Nonprofits and more.
advancing a data-driven culture and galvanizing a new agility.
To better understand the measurement and analysis of data, it is important to clearly define these terms since they are used interchangeably in most businesses.
First, “metrics” are collections of data that answer the “what” of measurement. Important metrics are defined and tracked as Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and Critical Success Factors (CSF’s). Second, “analytics” is the analysis, interpretation and comparison of metrics that answer the “so what” of measurement in order to reach a conclusion and make informed decisions. Analytics are the gateway to actionable insight from which management is empowered to take action.
Most companies today Source: PWC; Strategy+Business will trumpet the narrative that they are a data-driven business. Well, who isn’t? We’ve established the fact that businesses are swimming in a riptide of data. The real question is: How are you advancing a data-driven culture that translates information into insight and then meaningful action?
As an encouragement to harness the power of the data that is native to your business operating systems, here are a few key benefits to instilling a thoughtful metrics capture and analytics culture into your company in 2021.
Slay Uncertainty, Not Profitability
In the absence of meaningful metrics and analytics, business owners and leadership are prone to make decisions by feel, instinct and opinion borne out of experience. While experience plays an important undercurrent role, this style of decision making is impossible to successfully scale. Uncertainty often lurks in the minds of your workforce as a result of being “told” a direction versus “shown” the decision-making logic. These same people are likely already compiling their own data and applying it to their functions. Your team may be investing hours (or days) in consuming siloed data which may be inaccurate and leading to ill-informed decisions, the cost of which is high and difficult to quantify. This can be a source of great frustration for leader-
ship and discontent for the team members who are doing their best to gain insight with the information available.
As with many important new processes, it is often the start that stops most people. Take heart, the process for advancing a true data-driven culture is relatively uncomplicated. It is a natural business maturation process where all organizations find themselves somewhere on the “The Information Maturity Scale.”
As a practical starting point and to climb the scale and remove uncertainty from decision making, have your department leaders conduct a simple exercise of defining transactional and performance data that is imperative to their operations. Next, identify the key performance Indicators that need to be tracked at regular intervals (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly). Present these metrics needs to your technology team in Continued on page 62
LESSONS LEARNED FROM A NON-PROFIT
Turning pandemic response into long-term success
Not every printer can develop a new proofing solution or create 100% automated, touchless production. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make changes that improve your ability to weather the pandemic and be successful. I think about Beachmont Christian Ministries, where my husband works. It’s not a printing company, but I often draw on its example because sometimes we can better “get” the lessons from organizations outside our industry. What I’ve watched Beachmont do through the pandemic is, to me, a perfect example of what to do well, and I hope there are lessons that our industry can take. Beachmont’s mission is to serve children and their families through summer camps and a variety of sports and other family-friendly programming.
When my husband joined the staff, Beachmont had been in operation for 40+ years, largely doing business the way it had always been done. As you can imagine, the business model that worked starting in the 1970s–2010s needed some updating. The board of directors hired my husband three years ago to bring in a new vision for the future. They called it “Beachmont Better.” The first step was to assess what was already great about Beachmont and identify the things that would bring about needed change. 1. Bring in the specialists. Beachmont already had an outstanding team, but in order to go forward, it needed to add new skill sets. For years, Beachmont had relied on its dedicated staff to handle increasingly specialized tasks that had gradually outgrown the ability of non-specialists to do them. Now it needed to make new hires, but there was risk, since its pre-Beachmont-Better revenue stream did not support an expanded staff. But my husband saw this challenge as “strategic investment” rather than “spending money.” If the right people were hired, he argued, these staff would not only pay for themselves over time but would help Beachmont reinvent and retool in ways that would support its growth well into the future. Beachmont now has specialists in key areas who have magnified the organization’s effectiveness exponentially.
What staffing and new areas of expertise do you need to add in order to support today’s market needs? 2. Revamp the infrastructure. The physical infrastructure at Beachmont was aging, and the volume of use of the campus had grown exponentially over the years. If Beachmont was going to continue to serve the community with excellence, it needed to make significant investments, including upgrades in facilities, IT and telecommunications. Some of these upgrades were “face to the public” while others related to efficiency, security and long-term function, such as focusing on multi- (rather than single) use. All of these investments supported Beachmont’s core mission, whether directly or indirectly. There would be growing pains, but the pay-off would be that Beachmont would have the base infrastructure to serve the needs of the ministry not just
now, but well into the future. The old way just didn’t work anymore.
What outdated infrastructure are you hanging onto? Which legacy systems still lurk in your workflow and undermine your ability to fully support the types of workflows and applications you know that you need? 3. Reimagine the programming.
For Beachmont to truly serve the community, its programming had to be reviewed with a critical eye. It couldn’t be everything to everybody. It had to determine which programs were most closely aligned with its mission and which best served the community. Non-aligned programs were not just under-utilized, but they were draining the organization’s ability to support its core programs. As difficult as it was, Beachmont had to be willing to shut down certain programs, even if it had been part of the organization’s programming for years.
What services do you still have that aren’t truly aligned with your company’s core value proposition and that need to be eliminated in order to free up resources that can be better utilized elsewhere?
Enter the Pandemic
In the midst of these changes, enter the COVID19 pandemic. Most summer camps in our area closed down for the season. By being willing to make hard choices, Beachmont stayed open. Some of these required no capital or staffing resources at all. BCM simply had to be willing to challenge the status quo and think differently about the resources it already had.
For example, in addition to strictly enforcing the need to follow the CDC and state requirements even though doing so would often be inconvenient, the team reimagined the logistics to reduce group sizes, increase the number of outdoor activities, and find ways to lower or eliminate risk. Beachmont also changed its drop-off and pick-up procedures to minimize in-person interaction and maintain social distancing.
While some of these changes did require more capital, many of them cost nothing, and although necessitated by the pandemic, vastly improved the camper and parent (aka “the decision-makers”) experience. As a result, most will outlive the pandemic and become part of the new normal.
As the pandemic extended into the fall, the same dynamic occurred with the Beachmont annual corn maze. Areas of the campus were reimagined. Certain facilities, such as portable restrooms, were relocated to eliminate congestion (and, in the process, moved to a more user-friendly location). A large push was made to move ticketing to e-tickets, streamlining the overall guest experience.
The pandemic brought about challenges, but it also fast-tracked changes that ultimately benefitted the organization and everyone served by it.
What at your printing company suffers from “this is the way we’ve always done it,” whether it’s the most efficient way to do it or not? Have you taken the Read More… Find article at time to interview your staff—at all PrintingNews. levels—to solicit input about bottle- com/21148040 necks and areas of needed change, as well as their ideas for fixing them?
Note that while some of these changes required significant financial investment, many of them didn’t. Some cost nothing at all. What the pandemic did was stop Beachmont—as it did all businesses and organizations—in its tracks and forced the organization to take a hard look at how it was doing things and what needed to change. Beachmont took the opportunity and ran with it, vastly improving everything from staffing to infrastructure to programming.
Ultimately, as my husband points out, everything ties back to and is filtered through Beachmont’s mission. When asked to read this article, he annotated in the margins: “What are your core customers telling you—directly and indirectly? How are you responding to what you hear?”
What changes have you made to pandemic-proof your company and set it up for long-term success? I’d love to hear. ●
Heidi Tolliver-Walker has been a commercial and digital printing industry analyst, feature writer, and author for more than 20 years. Her industry commentary can be found in national printing publications, blogs, and marketing publications.
