Printing News November/December 2021 by WhatTheyThink

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

22 T he Power of Print: Shifting From Commodity to Communications 24 The Automation Journey 46 W here Does Wide-Format & Signage Stand

YEAR in

REVIEW

Technology, demographic and economic trends have helped drive the print, sign and textiles industry in 2021

p.8 WhatTheyThink.com PrintingNews.com

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KODAK NEXFINITY Digital Press

Demand more. Deliver more. The KODAK NEXFINITY Digital Press is an incredibly versatile cutsheet press that delivers a powerful combination of quality, consistency and cost. The best quality. The broadest applications. All in one press that’s engineered to make you money. Find out more at kodak.com/go/sayyes

For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10005105 © Kodak, 2021. Kodak, Nexfinity, and the Kodak logo are trademarks.

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EDITORIAL ─ Marketing Option

USPS’ INFORMED DELIVERY FULL-COLOR MARKETING OPTION Is color always better than grayscale?

Heidi TolliverWalker Contributing Writer

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or the last several years, I have watched the “growing up” of the United States Postal Service’s Informed Delivery Service, which provides mail recipients with an email, in-app or ondashboard preview of the mail arriving in their mailboxes each day. Not only is Informed Delivery growing in subscribers, but it is expanding in services. The USPS has long allowed marketers to add a small color ride-along (advertising) image and campaign hyperlink below the grayscale scans to create multi-channel campaigns. Subscribers can click on the hyperlink or ride-along image to respond to the offer before the physical piece arrives. The USPS is now allowing marketers to replace the grayscale scans with a full-color “representative” image instead. Because representative images do not have the address area, this provides for more space for messaging and design, and because it is essentially a digital ad, it allows mailers to do split testing of offers, as well. While the replacement of grayscale images with full-color images might seem like a slam dunk, this isn’t necessarily the case. In a case study provided by the USPS, one marketer — Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q, a Floridabased restaurant chain —decided to split test the grayscale scans with the

representative image. Everything else about the campaign was otherwise the same. The grayscale scan outperformed the representative color image by 35%. Bono’s attributed this result to the color image detracting from the colorful banner/response URL underneath the image. While this is one possibility, the other possibility is that the representative image clearly wasn’t a mail piece but an ad, which actually depressed response. In fact, in its August 2020 Informed Delivery Overview, the USPS reported that, after comparing the response rates of thousands of Informed Delivery campaigns, the representative images consistently under-performed the actual grayscale scans. Specifically, campaigns using the scans had click-to-open rates 13% higher on average than those using full-color ones. These results give us insight into what is potentially an interesting dynamic. Mail recipients sign up for the service because they want to see what mail is arriving in their mailboxes. They aren’t expecting to see an ad, which is what the representative images are. That data is one year old, and when the USPS updates its report, we may see different results. Either way, the takeaway is the same — don’t make assumptions about what works. Test everything instead. ●

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | November/December 2021

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PARTNER & PUBLISHER Kelley Holmes kelley@whattheythink.com 772-579-7360 PRODUCTION EDITOR & MANAGER Amy Hahn amy@whattheythink.com EDITOR Jessica Taylor jessica@whattheythink.com

CON NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

MANAGING EDITOR Richard Romano richard@whattheythink.com SENIOR EDITOR Cary Sherburne cary@whattheythink.com

Year In Review P8

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Stephanie Papp stephanie@whattheythink.com 602-639-0530

P28 LABELS & PACKAGING P46 WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE P52 T EXTILES & APPAREL

PRESIDENT Eric Vessels eric@whattheythink.com 740-417-3333

PRINTING NEWS

COO Adam Dewitz adam@whattheythink.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joanne Gore Thayer Long Dave Fellman Jennifer Matt Preston Herrin Lois Ritarossi Steve Johnson Frank Romano

Mary Schilling Heidi Tolliver-Walker Trish Witkowski David Zwang

CREATIVE SERVICES Bobbi Burow, CreativityTank LLC bobbi.burow@gmail.com NEED HELP WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? For subscription info, change of address, and other updates email help@whattheythink.com

ARTICLE REPRINTS Please contact your account executive PrintingNews.com—the web portal representing content from Printing News, Wide-Format & Signage—is devoted to delivering you timely news and multimedia content on a daily basis. WhatTheyThink (ISSN 2642-3189) (USPS 500-850) Volume 45, Number 2 is published nine times per year in January/February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November/December by WTT Media, Inc., at 2038 Ford Parkway #218, Saint Paul, MN 55116. Periodicals postage paid at Saint Paul, MN and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WhatTheyThink, 2038 Ford Parkway #218, Saint Paul, MN 55116. Subscriptions: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the U.S. to qualified subscribers. Publisher reserves the right to reject non-qualified subscriptions. Annual subscription prices in the U.S.A $95; Canada $125 USD; all other countries $150 USD. Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2021 WTT Media, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recordings or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission. WTT Media Inc. does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person or company for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material herein, regardless of causation. The views and opinions in the articles herein are not those of the publishers, unless indicated. The publishers do not warrant, either expressly or by implication, the factual accuracy of the articles herein, or of any views or opinions offered by the authors of said articles.

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PRODUCTION INKJET

P12 FINISHING

12 16 22 24 28 40 42

PRODUCTION INKJET

The year in review By David Zwang REVIEW: 2021 YEAR IN FINISHING

Finishing is in it to win it. By Trish Witkowski WHY CAN'T I GET MY PAPER?

It’s all about the supply chain. By Lois Ritarossi THE POWER OF PRINT

Shifting from commodity to communications By Joanne Gore THE AUTOMATION JOURNEY

Automation is about changing a business process. By Jennifer Matt THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN HUMMING ALONG

The year in review By David Zwang REANIMATING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Take radical ownership of outcomes. By Preston Herrin COMPU-MAIL

Relevant information to the right person at the right time. By David Zwang

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | November/December 2021

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NTENTS WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

46 52 56

WHERE DOES WIDE-FORMAT AND SIGNAGE STAND

Demand- and technology-side drivers for 2022. By Richard Romano TEXTILES YEAR IN REVIEW

There were challenges and successes. By Cary Sherburne EFI REGGIANI UPDATE

Adele Genoni of EFI Reggiani talks about the latest new products to hit the market. By Cary Sherburne

SPECIAL SECTION 36 PlanProphet

COLUMNS

27 50 55

A truly integrated CRM that automates customer experience

37 Xante

Compact and Powerful

The X-16 and the X-33 cannot be beat

38 Signs 365

We Are Only Trade Only

EXECUTIVE Q&A

Canon’s Francis McMahon discusses recent developments at Canon and the print world at large. By Adam Dewitz & Richard Romano SALES CLINIC

Interruptions vs. Opportunities By Dave Fellman SIGN CONNECTION

Even Vacant Storefronts Sell By SpeedPro ASSOCIATION INSIGHTS

APTech Looks Forward to Gradual Return to In-Person Events in 2022 By Thayer Long JOHNSON’S WORLD

Warming Up to Color By Steve Johnson

39 Ennis

Ensuring a Powerful Blend of Quality, Competitive Pricing

and Speed

39 SmartSoft

PressWise - Turning Touches Into Automation

63 Kodak

KODAK NEXFINITY Digital Press: Versatility that helps

printers say “Yes”

DEPARTMENTS

4 32 34 44

Editorial Product News Watch List: Video HP Indigo Tech Talk Video Series

64 Classifieds/Supplier Directory

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DIGITAL & INKJET ─ Year In Review

PRODUCTION INKJET The year in review

By David Zwang

n general, commercial print volumes were affected more by the pandemic than packaging. However, for commercial print applications, production inkjet volumes held their own, and some applications saw modest growth. While production inkjet can displace toner printed pages, and has been for well over a decade, the lion’s share of the growth opportunity is offset pages, and that will continue for the foreseeable future. These recent press introductions are targeted at that volume.

Continuous Roll Fed In 2021 there were not a lot of “new” roll fed presses, although many of the older inkjet presses are being replaced or upgraded. All of the press manufacturers offer some kind of an upgrade path, like new print heads, updated dryers or sometimes even a forklift upgrade. However this year there were two new notable introductions, the

Canon ColorStream 8000 and the Kodak PROSPER ULTRA 520. A few of the other presses identified here were introduced for drupa 2020 and then 2021, both of which never happened, so they weren’t necessarily highlighted for the market to see this year.

Canon ColorStream 8000 The ColorStream 8000 is the latest release in a long line of ColorStream production inkjet presses dating back to the first generation ColorStream 3000 introduced in 2010. Like the other ColorStream models, the presses have a modular engine design with a footprint comparable to the ColorStream 6900. This year, two models were introduced: the ColorStream 8133 and the ColorStream 8160, operating at speeds up to 525 ft./min. With these introductions, they developed a new water-based high-pigment ink formula, which produces a wide gamut on uncoated papers

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along with a high optical density black for high contrast. Other new developments include a low-maintenance integrated web cleaner, a unique new automatic print head cleaner, an energy efficient threezone drying system, and a camera system for web inspection and content control.

Kodak PROSPER ULTRA 520 Kodak developed the PROSPER ULTRA 520, targeted at commercial print. Using their Ultrastream printhead technology, the press delivers print quality comparable to 200 lpi offset on uncoated, coated, glossy and silk papers. It prints full-color four-over-four perfecting output with a scalable web width of up to 21 inches (533 mm) at speeds of 500 feet per minute (150 mpm). The press was designed to produce high-quality print at a compellingly low cost per page.

Canon ProStream 1000 Series To increase their addressable market of existing offset pages, the ProStream is now available in two models, the ProStream 1000 and the ProStream 1800. The presses have a modular engine design, with the ProStream 1000 currently operating at 262 ft./min (80 m/ min) and the ProStream 1800 operating at speeds up to 436 ft/min (133 m/ mi) running 4/4. It supports media from 40 gsm to 160 gsm or 300 gsm at 80 m/ min with the “Heavy Paper Productivity Enhance” option. It uses the latest

Kyocera KJ4B piezo electric drop ondemand print heads producing multilevel drop sizes of 2 – 5 pl at a native 1200 dpi (dots per inch).

HP T250 HD HP PageWide production inkjet presses have been on the market for a while. This new model is targeted at commercial and publishing markets. The HP PageWide T250 HD press design is compatible with offset coated and uncoated media through the selective use of a new HP Optimizer along with a new “Brilliant Ink.” This was designed to bring PageWide presses to the level of media handling capabilities of some of the competing production inkjet presses.

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21157533

Ricoh VC70000 With the introduction of the VC70000, Ricoh introduced a new larger color gamut aqueous ink. This new Ricoh ink is a “hybrid” ink that only uses 50% water and a proprietary mix of the other 50% of ingredients. This enables them to increase the density and better control the viscosity of the ink for better appearance and performance on a wide variety of media. The press can run up to 1200 dpi, with a paper thickness supporting 12 pt. stock and can be operated at up to 150 mpm (493 fpm).

Cut Sheet Fed As I noted, run lengths are coming down, in many cases pretty dramatically.

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DIGITAL & INKJET ─ Year In Review

According to a study I did a while ago, most commercial print service providers inventory an average of eight different paper stocks that they always have on hand. And of course, sometimes they get special requests outside of those standard stocks. If you are a commercial printer producing relatively short runs, even if it is 1,000 or 2,000 units, that means you have to frequently change stocks. It is a lot easier to move cut sheets than rolls of paper around, which is one of the reasons why inkjet adoption for commercial print has lagged. What we have been waiting for was the emergence of sheetfed inkjet presses.

varioPRINT iX Canon was very successful with their i300 a3+ press. The new platform, the varioPRINT iX, builds on the experiences of Canon and their customers with the

current i-series platform. The emphasis in the development of this new platform was to create a commercial printing press that could produce high quality printing with readily available untreated commercial substrates, and produce it at a very competitive cost. There are four main technology innovation areas: paper transport, quality control, ink innovation and drying technology.

Fujifilm J Press 750S The J Press 720, launched at drupa 2012, looks a lot like a “normal” sheetfed offset press if you look at the feeder and delivery ends of the machine. However, that is where the similarity ends. The 20”x 29” four-color format was designed to fit into an existing pressroom as a new addition or offset replacement. In this new fourth generation of the J Press, Fujifilm recently announced a new 750S high-speed model sheet-fed digital inkjet press with output speeds of 5,400 B2+ sheets per hour (sph).

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Ricoh Pro Z75 While it is not shipping yet, Ricoh knew that this press had to be a game changer. So as a late comer, how do you compete with both the existing B2+ and A3 presses in the market at the same time? Ideally, you need to create a lower cost B2+ press, that will deliver the productivity and print quality that Ricoh is known for, at a price that will compete with the A3 presses in the market. The press quality is achieved through the use of Ricoh printheads with dynamic drop sizes it would need to support a resolution of 1200 dpi. It uses their aqueous pigment ink along with Ricoh’s inhouse developed drying technology, which if similar as evidenced in the VC70000, is one of the most efficient available today. The AccurioJet KM-1 development started with Komori well before drupa 2012, where it was introduced as a technology demonstration. The KM-1 is a 23 x 29 1/2 B2 + UV sheetfed inkjet Press, which supports six letter pages vs. only four up on a straight B2-sized press. It has a wide media latitude without the need for any precoat since it is UV. The updated KM-1e operates at 3,000 sph and is an excellent candidate for producing photobooks and greeting cards. Landa S10 – While they may have been quiet, they have also been very busy. This innovative B1production offset inkjet press currently operates at a fixed 6,500 sph, which is the standard speed that was initially promised. Even at 6,500 sph, it is faster Continued on page 59

David Zwang specializes in process analysis, and strategic development of firms involved in publishing and packaging across the globe. Contact him at david@zwang.com.

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FINISHING & MAILING ─ Year In Review

REVIEW: 2021

YEAR IN FINISHING Finishing is in it to win it. By Trish Witkowski

t has been a wild year of highs and lows and unique pressures, but the print finishing category met the challenge and pushed forward with lots of new offerings and opportunities.

New in Cutting ColorCut SC5000 Sheet Cutter from Intec Printing Solutions The new ColorCut SC5000 brings high volume digital die-cutting and creasing with a 1,000-sheet media stacker and new suction belt system for reliable auto feed and unattended operation. The dual toolhead cuts, kiss cuts and creases card, vinyl, paper, polyester and laminated sheets at speeds of up to 960mm (37.79 inches) per second. Duplo DPC-600 B2 Format Digital Die Cutter Following on the success of the smaller format DPC-400 digital die-cutter, Duplo released the DPC-600 this Duplo DPC-600 B2 Format Digital Die Cutter

year with a larger B2 sheet size capacity and the ability to cut heavier/thicker materials such as corrugated cardboard, chip board, foam core, PET plastic, adhesive stock, magnets and paperboard up to 6mm (.236in) in thickness. The machine can cut, kiss cut, score and perforate in one pass without any physical dies. Kala XY Large Format Trimmer For those who produce wallpaper, posters, banners, signs and more, this trimmer from Supply55, Inc and Kala SAS offers increased productivity and cost reduction for trimming and finishing digitally printed sheets as large as 65 inches wide. It achieves highly accurate X and Y cuts at speeds of up to 60 feet per minute with three models to choose from, and user-friendly operation. IntelliKnife from Hagedorn and POLAR A hardware/software hybrid innovation coming from Hagedorn with POLAR as a development partner, the IntelliKnife is the first networkable guillotine knife on the market. The device consists of an RFID chip embedded in the knife and an RFID reader built into the cutting machine, which sends valuable postpress data to the cloud for reporting on grinding angle, condition, quality, cut totals and more. The technology can be retrofit into older generations of cutting machines. BOBST MASTERCUT 1.65 Designed for the corrugated board industry, the BOBST MASTERCUT 1.65

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is the only machine especially designed for litho-laminated converting. The machine also cuts carton and corrugated board, making it one machine for all jobs. It can process robust and delicate materials equally well, going from 300g solid board to BC double wall litho lam. The machine is also the only solution in the market for blanking in size VII and offers the possibility to deliver single cut, double cut and full sheets.

New in Folding and Binding Standard Horizon AFV-566FKT iCE Series Folder This new fully-automated high-speed six-buckle folder with integrated knife/ buckle cross-folding was designed for improved efficiency, more operatorfriendly production, 20% faster setup and changeover, and reduced waste and make-ready. Includes brand-new, automated register table with an adjustable vacuum drive belt, and an impressive automatic calculation of the optimal feed interval to ensure top production speeds and efficiency with no manual adjustments or trial and error. It comes equipped with Horizon’s iCE LiNK cloudbased workflow management system. Standard Horizon AF-408/TV-406F Small-format Folder This fully-automated 8-buckle folder features an operator-friendly, automated setup that can handle a wide range of simple or complex applications while executing at the high level of precision required by the pharmaceutical and insert market. The folder can store up to 200 fold patterns for quick and easy set-up, and supports sheet sizes from 1.97” x 3.94” up to 16.92” x 25.98”. The AF-408/TV-406F can run at speeds of up to 590 fpm, and the suction head can run up to 30,000 cycles per hour. Morgana DigiFold Pro XL

Standard Horizon AF-408/TV-406F Small-format Folder

Designed to address the demand for machines that can accommodate the longer sheet capabilities of today’s production printers, the DigiFold Pro XL heavy-duty creasing and folding machine features a pull-out extension to handle sheets up to 1300 mm (51 in) in length. It can fold up to 6,000 sheets per hour, and up to 7,500 sheets per hour in crease-only mode. Top-fed vacuum feeder, unique air-knife sheet separator and simple user interface round out the offering. GBC Nearline Punch and Bind The Nearline Punch and Bind from GBC is composed of three units: a Plockmatic VFX Vacuum feeder, a GBC StreamPunch VFX and a GBC eWire VFX. Combined, the trio of machines is extremely versatile, with the ability to perform punching, collating, mechanical binding, creasing and perforating in a small footprint. Additionally, the machine is the world’s first fully-automated twin loop wire solution for the digital marketplace.

LexJet RP530/ RP530W printers and RF810 Die Cutter

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FINISHING & MAILING ─ Year In Review New in Labels and Packaging LexJet RP530/RP530W printers and RF810 Die Cutter LexJet launched a new printer and die cutter that is specifically designed to meet the needs of the growing cannabis market. Customers in this category need to print high-quality labels in house with the flexibility of variable print and on-demand production. Customers can use the LexJet RP530/RP530W to print premium digital labels in full CMYK, or CMYK+White, and then move to the RF8510 die cutter to seamlessly finish label jobs—laminate, die cut into any shape, strip, slit and rewind.

New in Coatings and Enhancements Bobst NOVAFOIL 106 Hot Foil Stamper The NOVAFOIL Hot Stamper from BOBST was developed to offer high-

Bobst NOVAFOIL 106 Hot Foil Stamper

quality, versatile and cost-effective multi-color foiling for folding carton production. The machine also performs embossing, debossing, hologram application and even die-cutting on paper-based substrates and solid board up to 2,000 g/m2 and corrugated board up to 3 mm. Configured with up to eight reels of 350 mm for inline, and four reels of 250 mm for cross

foiling, you can achieve a great variety of intricate foil designs on a generous sheet size of up to 1,060 x 760 cm. Nobelus EcoElement CLS Laminate Nobelus launched their initial offering in the sustainably sourced laminate category—a cellulose-based thermal film called EcoElement CLS Laminate. The laminate is plastic-free and offers print service providers and packaging manufacturers an eco-friendlier substrate than standard laminates which are largely derived from petrochemicals. Each production run of EcoElement CLS is comprised of highly refined wood pulp along with 20-25% reground material, yielding less than a 5% loss in the adhesive coating process. The thin, 1.4 mil laminate is available in both matte and gloss finishes, is offset, UV and screen printable, and supports post-laminate embellishments. Ricoh Gold and Silver Metallic Toners Ricoh has developed two new metallic toners for the fifth color station on the RICOH Pro C7200X digital color sheetfed press, enabling customers to migrate critical applications away from offset and onto digital with single pass embellishment. The toners—in metallic gold and silver—deliver great visual impact, offering the potential to increase the value and profitability on a broad range of applications from catalogues, posters, flyers, direct mail and brochures to business cards, greetings cards, tickets, invitations, certificates and packaging. Color-Logic + HP Mosaic for Metallic Variable Data Printing Color-Logic printers with HP Indigo cut sheet and digital label presses can

Trish Witkowski specializes in creative solutions and engagement strategies for direct mail and marketing. She frequently travels and speaks to print organizations and their clients to illustrate the power of print.

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FINISHING EVENTS YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS PACK EXPO East — March 21–23, 2022/Philadelphia, PA See the latest in packaging and processing technology, and discover crossover applications from dozens of vertical industries. Attend to explore new solutions for your current projects, and to get fresh ideas for the future. Amplify Print: The Finishing, Packaging and Design Event — June 14–16, 2022/Minneapolis, MN Print and packaging designers, commercial printers, print finishers, binders, mailers and creatives meet with the equipment manufacturers and suppliers to their industries. Attendees will gain inspiration, knowledge and networking opportunities. Hunkeler Innovation Days — Postponed to February 2023/Lucerne, Switzerland Renowned print industry manufacturers meet an elite international audience of owners, managers and experts to share the latest innovations and developments in high-performance digital printing and finishing.

now use their HP Mosaic software with Color-Logic Pattern-FX to automatically generate the white ink masks required to do variable data printing on metallic substrates. Licensed Color-Logic printers can find detailed instructions for using Color-Logic with HP Mosaic inside the Color-Logic S.M.A.R.T Centre.

New in Mail Quadient iX-9 Series High-Volume Mailing System The iX-9 Series automatically seals, weighs, measures, meters and stacks large mail runs in minutes, while meeting the latest USPS Intelligent Mail Indicia (IMI) and Dimensional Weighing (DIM) requirements. The system is powered by S.M.A.R.T. cloud-based shipping, mailing, accounting, reporting and tracking software. The iX-9 Series delivers simple operations, investment protection, cost savings, reliable production and maximum uptime. Kern 3200 Multi-Format Inserting System Designed to meet flexible and complex requirements, the Kern 3200 high-performance inserter can handle both transactional and direct mail. The multi-format machine has a newly

developed inserting module, which can be equipped with more than one envelope magazine. This means different jobs can be run in succession, without an operator having to intervene and change envelopes. It is Available in three different models offering speeds of up to 24,000 envelopes per hour. Canon Digital Mailroom Canon Solutions America launched the Canon Digital Mailroom to address the challenge of getting business-critical mail to a remote workforce. The Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription converts physical mail components (including information on the envelope) into a standard digital format that can be sent electronically to a secured web portal for viewing. The mail can be forwarded, stored or destroyed once digitized.

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21157427

Coming Up in December If you liked this article, you’ll love the webinar. Please join me on Dec. 15 for the “2021 Year in Finishing Webinar.” I’ll give you the complete rundown of all the notable launches and innovations that happened over the year, and some exciting things to watch for in 2022—and I’ll do it all in an efficient, fast paced 30(40?) minutes. ●

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MANAGEMENT ─ Paper Shortages

WHY CAN' T I GET MY

PAPER? “I It’s all about the supply chain.

can’t get my paper for 12 weeks? And it’s going to cost 12% more than my last order?” Buying paper has become a convoluted process, putting stress on inventory management, procurement and vendor-client relationships. The paper industry is experiencing a confluence of factors, a perfect storm of negative impacts. First, there’s the supply side. Globally, paper mills have been closing for years, reducing sources for many standard printing and publishing grades. Some mills have also converted from commercial printing grades to packaging grades, further reducing overall paper supply. Second, there’s the cost of manufacturing. This year, mills have experienced dramatic increases in the cost of pulp and the chemicals needed to produce paper along with rising labor costs. The third factor is transportation. Fuel and energy prices are up, plus there are disruptions in the global supply chain impacting international and domestic shipping. There is a shortage of trucks and drivers to move paper and other goods in North America. And the fourth factor in the perfect storm is demand. Demand for paper is increasing. After the second quarter downturn in 2020, the demand for printing, marketing, direct mail and publishing has increased significantly. Printing shipments are up 22% year over year for the second quarter, while still far below what they were in 2019.

Is it really a “Perfect Storm?”

The perfect storm analogy implies triggers that came on suddenly and unexpectedly. The situation we face in 2021 is more like “climate change.” The signs and contributing factors have been there for a while, with the exception of volatile print volumes seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these factors are all coming to a head in 2021. Printers need more paper. Mill inventories are at a five-year low. Less paper is being produced. It costs more to make paper. And it takes longer and costs more to ship it. Since 2017, mill closures and mill conversions have reduced the overall supply of commercialgrade printing papers resulting in 39% less coated groundwood and 48% less coated freesheet paper being produced. Groundwood papers are primarily used in magazines, newspaper inserts and catalogs. Freesheet papers are primarily for transactional documents, commercial printing and direct mail. For those buyers placing orders directly with mills, the industry term “LDC” used to mean “Last Date to Change” paper orders with the mills. Changes included changing paper types and increasing quantities. With current market conditions, mills are pushing buyers to place orders earlier, and LDC now means “last date to cancel or reduce” orders. Mills generally are not accepting

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paper changes or increases in quantities. The global economic impact of COVID-19 resulted in additional mills closing and more planned conversions to packaging products. Demand for printing papers began growing as companies began increased marketing efforts during the third and fourth quarters in 2020. Increased demand has reduced mill inventories – further reducing overall supply at the end of 2020 and into 2021. Paper mills can accurately predict the total volume of paper produced from each machine on an annualized basis. Annual tonnage of paper produced is tracked for every mill. Interruptions in supply chain and labor challenges have negatively impacted overall production. Several large national print service providers have indicated mills are not taking new orders for the balance of 2021. Large printers have contractual agreements from mills to supply allotments of paper. And large buyers of paper are being told by their distributors and mills that they will not accept new orders.

Transportation Delays The global supply chain challenges extend beyond the news about shipping containers. Importing paper has also become less predictable. A procurement manager told me about a railcar full of paper that has been stuck in a Chicago rail yard for over eight weeks due to freight train delays. There are significant shortages of drivers and trucks in North America. Over the next decade the trucking industry will need to hire roughly 898,000 new drivers (90,000 drivers per year) to replace retiring truck drivers and meet industry growth. It is estimated that America will be short 175,000 drivers by 2026.

Demand is back. In 2019, the comparison of annual shipments to capacity across all mills in North America was 89% for coated freesheet. In 2020, it dropped to 81%. There’s a different story for 2021. From January through April, the shipmentsto-capacity comparison is 102%. And the forecast for the rest of the year is 93%. Mill inventories are down 50-75%

across paper grades compared to 2020. In response to increased demand, mills are maximizing efficiency by reducing the total number of basis weight offerings and eliminating some product lines. Print service providers have reported having to order Read More… different stocks because of Find article at PrintingNews. lack of availability of specific com/21155682 brands and paper weights. It’s the only way they can meet production demands for delivery. This year the paper mills in North America are like a sold-out rock concert. They have sold all the tickets they can produce. And there aren’t any ticket scalpers outside the gate.

Weathering the Storm What’s a printer or procurement manager to do? Communicate regularly with your paper suppliers, client service team and customers. Gather data to better predict volumes required and understand the lead times needed for ordering. Inform your operations staff to manage inventory closely and report any ad hoc requests that require significant amounts of paper or envelopes. Industry forecasts predict short supply for many paper grades through the first half of 2022. To anticipate delays in shipments and the impact on your production cycles, stay in communication with your suppliers, closely monitor orders and confirm delivery dates. Clients can handle bad news much better than surprises. They will understand increased costs and longer lead times. They will appreciate if you are providing them information so they can make informed decisions about their printing and mailing programs. For more tips on prepping for paper shortages, look back to this 2018 post from Elizabeth Gooding on “Mitigating Risk in the Paper Supply Chain.” Déjà vu? ●

Lois Ritarossi, CMC, is the President of High Rock Strategies, a consulting firm focused on sales and marketing strategies. She is also a regular contributor to Inkjet Insight. You can reach Lois at HighRockStrategies.com.

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EXECUTIVE Q&A ─ Canon

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Canon’s Francis McMahon discusses recent developments at Canon and the print world at large. By Adam Dewitz & Richard Romano

rancis A. McMahon, executive vice president at Canon Solutions America, Production Print Solutions discusses the most recent additions to Canon’s equipment portfolio, the company’s approach to R&D, the 2021 edition of the thINK Forum, as well as his views on focusing on the customer during economic turFrancis A. McMahon, bulence like COVID. Executive Vice President WhatTheyThink: At a recent analyst briefing, you talked about the large number of equipment placements. The last number we heard was 145, but we’re sure it has increased. Some of those are webfed and sheetfed on the inkjet side. There were also a number of toner devices with a surprising number of continuous-feed toner presses. Are those legacy applications? Francis McMahon: The toner presses are primarily legacy. Some are label presses and other generic applications from some of the large retail brands that buy VarioStream 4000s. I was looking at orders that have come in this month, and we earned a $1.2 million order from a large retail brand for VarioStreams. That’s continuous-feed toner. The cut-sheet side, primarily the varioPRINT 6000 TITANs, those orders are coming from book manufacturing—a lot of high volumes. The other piece is transactional. Companies are hesitant to spend a lot of money on capital equipment, but they need the capacity. It’s not a big stretch to order a $200,000 piece of equipment,

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but in some of these companies, it is a stretch to go the million-dollar or $800,000 route. They don’t want to take that risk quite yet, so I think that’s why our Canon imagePRESS and our varioPRINT 6000 TITANs have done pretty well. When you’re thinking about the black-andwhite toner presses, no other competitor has really invested in that area of the market in terms of new technology. We brought out the varioPRINT 6000 TITAN a few years ago because we do still have customers there. There are still people using that technology, and we are still bringing better technology for that segment, even though it’s not quite as flashy as the inkjet segment. WTT: Obviously the tremendous growth is within inkjet, so who are the customers that are investing in webfed inkjet? In what types of inkjet are they investing? And what kinds of applications are they producing? FM: Strictly as it relates to webfed, the transaction market continues to decline. And with COVID, the move to electronic statements has certainly accelerated. So that’s a tough market. However, a couple really big banks have upgraded their ColorStream portfolio to the new ColorStream 8000, and we’ve had good success with orders and installs this year on the transaction side. The other big piece is in books. One of the largest book providers in the world—continues to open new manufacturing facilities for book production, and they are using Canon varioPRINT 6000 TITANS, imagePRESSes and continuous-feed inkjet for automated book production. So those are the two markets that are quite healthy for Canon. Now we’ve got the ProStream webfed inkjet series which came out a couple of years ago. A number of photo specialty and commercial print customers had not really bought into inkjet yet to take over for toner or silver halide work. Now, two years later, the ProStream has been accepted. In fact, a very large international photo specialty customer installed their first ProStream, and they intend to potentially replace all of their silver halide processing with the ProStream. The ProStream

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has been so successful this year, it is on backorder right now. This year’s orders will all get installed this year, but we’ve got eight systems in backlog, meaning orders in-house that are ready to be installed. And they’re all for photo specialty. WTT: That’s an interesting application that we wouldn’t have expected for the ProStream. FM: We’ve crossed a chasm with ProStream as it relates to photographic and high-end graphic arts applications. It’s a whole new market for us. Transaction has been going down at a faster rate than we had expected, and we need a new market to remain successful. And we are now in a great position to capture the photo specialty market and the commercial print market with ProStream for webfed inkjet and the varioPRINT iX sheetfed inkjet press. WTT: Is there a sustainability angle to that transition, given that silver halide photo processing uses heavy chemicals and VOCs, whereas inkjet doesn’t? FM: Sustainability was a big factor in the decision to go with ProStream – aligning to their customers’ views on sustainability and being held accountable as a vendor. This customer said, “We’ve got to get [silver halide] out because our customers are demanding it, and they’re telling us they won’t do business with us unless we figure this out.” The other factor they cited was that the people who run the photo processing machines are getting older, and it’s hard to find replacement personnel. And then the third thing they said was they’re finding it very difficult to get parts, supplies and chemicals. So they’ve got to make the transition to a new technology pretty quickly. WTT: Switching over to sheetfed, we’re about a year out from the launch of the varioPRINT iX-series. Can you give us an update on placements and some cool applications customers are producing with the technology? FM: We can only get 48 iX presses into the country this year to install for customers. We’ve already exceeded that in orders, so we can’t install to the order rate that we have this year. The soonest I can get more IXs is in Q1 of next year. We should end with 48 installed this year, with 46 of the 48for high-end color work. Due to the quality and the different substrates that you can run through the iX, customers are using it for the

traditional graphic arts applications like direct mail pieces. And then there have been a lot of photo apps being done on the IX, too, because the quality is much better than its predecessor, the i300. WTT: Is that transitioning from offset or from other kinds of digital, or a little bit of both? FM: It’s almost 100% coming from HP Indigo and Xerox iGen. And it’s bringing in a lot of net new customers to Canon. Almost half of the installations are brand new customers to Canon, not just i300 churns. People on our advisory council often make the same comment: We finally have an alternative to HP Indigo. WTT: I think that that speaks to the quality and the media advancements that you’ve made with R&D. Can you talk about how Canon Production Printing focuses its R&D? Is it inkjet devices? Is it media? Where do you see the biggest need for investment? FM: It’s almost all of the above. In terms of size, the ProStream is very long and the iX is very tall, and the reason is you need very sophisticated drying in order to have the inks adhere to the papers, as well as the ability to run certain papers. If you were to create smaller versions of those two products, something has to radically change with the inks and the drying system. That’s why R&D investment has Read More… to be in both, because if you’re Find article at PrintingNews. going to create a smaller platform, com/21156861 it’s going to be a combination of heads, inks and drying. We expect to continue to grow the ProStream platform at its current state, but we believe— without committing to anything—there are opportunities for what I’ll call a “baby ProStream” that will fit nicely in certain customer environments. There is also a great big open world for label and packaging, and we’ve got our eye on it. For the IX, I still think there are some advancements that can happen in the sheetfed space, and I think a lot of offset replacement will be sheetfed. For some things, the IX is probably the number-one machine to do that with, but there are alternative platforms that we hope to have in the future. We are always moving forward and innovating to serve PSPs and their future needs.

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EXECUTIVE Q&A ─ Canon WTT: So that would be larger sheet sizes or better media compatibility. Where do you see those challenges? What needs to be addressed on the sheetfed side in terms of new innovation? FM: I believe larger sheet size is very important. The speeds are always going to be important, as well as the usability. Labor is a big component in the commercial printing world. Can you have one operator running multiple presses? Because you can do that with the iX. One operator can run multiple presses, or one operator can be trained to do other tasks in the shop because the iX is so labor free and training is relatively quick – about two weeks on-site at the customer location. Along those lines, I would expect to see more automation and more robotics in future products. WTT: That brings up automation. Pre-pandemic, the industry was facing a labor crunch all over the world, and then during the pandemic, we saw that the companies that had automation in place had less production downtime. What is Canon’s approach to helping customers understand the need for automation? How do you calculate the ROI for automation? If it’s not already built into the press, it can be a significant capital investment. FM: Printing company executives love to talk about the labor component and how many touches are involved in the workflow. The IX and ProStream are specifically designed to remove a lot of manual steps. They’re also very reliable, and you don’t have to be a highly advanced technician. One operator can probably run more than two IXs or more than two ProStreams. So when you look at the ROI, you’re going to get more pages out because of the reliability, because of the speed, and because of less touches or manual intervention that you have on these two presses. WTT: On the workflow side—or what you call Canon’s Professional Services—are you still seeing a lot of engagement with the workflow tools that you are developing, and how is the market receiving Professional Services-type opportunities? FM: We’re going into accounts and we’re trying to help customers identify where it is most economical to run jobs on our equipment. We do that for free. If there truly is a better ROI on some

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Canon Americas Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in Boca Raton, Fla.

of their jobs to run on a ProStream or an IX or a Colorstream, then of course we get that service and supply revenue, while for them it would be a lower cost job. So we help them drive a higher margin running it on that equipment. But customers don’t always know they can get a higher margin on their Canon equipment, so we have the Project 360 team that goes in and evaluates just that. In some cases, that leads to some workflow automation. In order to move some jobs, they may need some software that one of our partners has, or it comes from PRISMA, or our own development team that can create solutions for them. WTT: Finally, we’d like to talk about the seventh thINK Ahead Event, with both a virtual and live component. How important it is to bring the community together as we continue to face challenges with labor, paper and mailing? FM: It’s more important now than ever. First off, we wanted to make people feel safe. We didn’t think it would be responsible to bring a giant number of people all at one time. So we broke it into two “waves,” and each wave had almost 100 customers total. That was enough for us to get one customer per account that has an inkjet printer. The way we built the agenda this year was exactly what you just described: What’s happening in the economy? What’s happening with labor? What’s happening with automation? Why is branding important? And what’s happening with paper? WTT: What’s your current industry outlook? How are you feeling about the past year, and what it’s in front of us in the next 12-18 months? FM: These past 18 months have been challenging in terms of supply chain, labor shortage, paper shortage, etc. and that seems like it will continue through 2022. Vendors in our industry really need to come together to shore up our inventory and supply chain to make sure we can keep our customers operating. If customers have to turn down

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jobs due to these shortages, our entire industry loses – so we can’t let that happen. Our industry can’t afford to lose pages because we can’t get customers what they need. That’s what thINK was about this year. Bringing together all of the key players – paper, finishing, workflow, and OEM – to learn from the inkjet customers and discuss how we can be prepared for 2022 and beyond. Our customers are relying on us to keep them up and running and to not only keep them in business, but keep them growing, so that when they have new opportunities, we’re here for them. We have to keep investing in and delivering products – not just operate in survival mode. The message from Canon is that we have service technicians. We have parts, ink, and toner. Our customers’ success comes first and that will not change regardless of the current economy. The other big message I want to share is that I think we’ve forgotten about the five senses. When we are on Teams—or Zoom or some other platform— we’re losing touch with the environment, and the whole purpose of us having five senses is so that we can collect information about the environment we’re in and send it back to our brain so we can then make logical and educated decisions. So the five senses are really all about survival in the world, and I think that’s what we’re really missing out on. This goes back to the community idea. You can’t sense

and feel what’s happening in the market from behind a screen, because you simply can’t utilize all five senses. So we all need to get out. We need to see people.

We need to be sage and take precautions, but we need to converse. That’s where the ideas are going to come from. That’s how we can best serve our market. ●

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10/27/21 11:43 AM

MARKETING TECHNOLOGY ─ Print

THE POWER OF

Shifting from commodity to communications By Joanne Gore

n 2018, I wrote about a new generation of print buyers with different customer expectations than the previous generation. They value the customer experience – which includes how a company communicates and engages – more than pricing and features. This still hold true three years later, but it has also been greatly accelerated by the forces of the pandemic. Mass digitalization and adoption of an online shopping mindset have resulted in fewer communications channels between brand and buyer. It’s no wonder that millennials – today’s buyers – prefer print over digital. Jockeying for buyer attention has led to digital fatigue. The ability to communicate and engage with customers throughout their buying journey has become more critical in order for brands to deliver effective, valuable customer experiences. Over this past year, three trends stood out that illustrate a shift from the traditional “print is a commodity” mindset to print as a high-value communications channel. Embracing this mindset , PSPs are altering their go-to-market strategies, adding value beyond print, and delivering better customer experiences.

The Boom of Direct Mail and Interactive Print The first noticeable communications trend is the increased use of direct mail, due largely to the pandemic. With most people staying home and spending more time online, direct mail has become a great way to reach buyers away from their keyboards. Integrating direct mail with digital campaigns is

better at driving consumer action than using only one. Combined, the results are roughly 39% more attention retention, 10% more brand awareness and 5% more interest in the brand messaging. By engaging touch – our strongest sense – active engagement is evoked, integrating the physical and digital into a seamless experience. Interactive direct mail is powerful precisely because it caters to this preference, while also retaining elements of the digital space with which today’s buyers are so comfortable. Printers who provide relevant customer experiences that are targeted and personalized across all available digital, mobile app and physical channels – are improving the customer experience beyond the sale. Adding interactive print elements augments buyer engagement and is becoming increasingly expected. Companies that offer augmented reality are 41% more likely to be considered in the buying decision, and generate 94% more conversions, on average, over those that don’t.

The Convergence of Transactional Print and Direct Mail A critical component included in the customer experience is the omnichannel expectation of today’s generation of print and business buyers. Heavily influenced by the consumer hats they wear, they expect to interact and/or purchase at anytime, from anywhere, using any device – even their watch. Providing a quality and uniform omnichannel experience that seamlessly blends the offline physical world with an online digital one increases brand awareness, loyalty and excellence.

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Aspire, a boutique CCM and CXM firm defines omni-channel as “unified, coordinated customer communications that enable conversations across multiple channels.” In other words, it’s the ability to send a message through print, email, SMS or any other channel in its optimal, most user-friendly format. Moving from multi-channel communications, where messages are shared on more than one channel, towards omni-channel communications, which ensures messages are the same no matter what channel they are transmitted through, has resulted in the second trend: direct mailers and transactional printers working together to provide a fluid customer experience across all channels. Inherent to transactional print is understanding the nuances of working with, and understanding, vast amounts of variable, personal and highly regulated data. In essence, transactional communicators “get it.” Salutations, naming conventions, logos and taglines all leave an impact on the customer experience – however subtle, positive or negative. Direct mailers who recognize the market opportunity are tapping into the mindset (and mechanics) of the transactional print space. The result is a more fluid and engaging experience for buyers, with value-based communications that involve understanding what the buyer needs – and how to suffice those needs. Each year, more and more Americans are paying their bills online.

“Fifty-four percent of consumers agreed that they use digital banking tools more due to the pandemic today than they did last year,” according to a JP Morgan study released in Dec. 2020. However, that does not negate the fact that they are still receiving – and would like to continue to receive – printed copies. According to a study conducted by Keypoint Intelligence, 47% of people reported that they wish their providers would no longer ask them to “go paperless” – because they like receiving printed statements in the mail, with very little variRead More… ance among age groups. 45% of Find article at people aged 18-34, 45% of those PrintingNews. aged 35-54, and 52% of those com/21157088 older than 55 indicated this wish to stop being asked to go paperless. Ultimately, people like the best of both worlds, and in this case, they can have that: transactional data communicated via printed direct mail, combined with the ease of paying or tracking such data online. Adding interactive elements like QR codes on bills or statements that bring you to a payment portal; a video that breaks down the details of your statement, promotes another service, and provides discount incentives continues to shift print’s value as a communication channel. Understanding the crucial role of data, and how to capture, store, manage, output and present it Continued on page 61

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10/27/21 11:41 AM

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW ─ Year In Review

Automation is about changing a business process. By Jennifer Matt

THE

AUTOMATION

JOURNEY

ne of the primary reasons for investing in print business software is to make your print business more efficient. The buzzword that typically jumps into any conversation about efficiency is automation. Why do something better when you cannot do it at all—meaning have it done auto-magically via automation? “Efficient” and “automated” are adjectives. An adjective requires a subject. The subject is always a business process. A business process is a series of steps you do repeatedly to achieve some outcome

(for example, order processing, artwork approval, closing the month, etc.). You make a business process more efficient or automated. Everyone loves to talk about automation, yet we resist talking about the business process itself. I was on a call recently about “automation” and the very first thing out of every person’s mouth on the call was total automation as the goal. I get it. I wish I could fully automate lots of things in my business. The goal is valid. This conversation was about automating a process that was drastically changing because of the introduction of new software. So, I asked

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process is required to automate it. Invite at least one resource who actively participates in the current process to the meeting. The learning all happens in detailing

what I thought would be a reasonable question to the participants in the conversation: “Have you tried the manual process yet?” I got a lot of pushbacks, like I didn’t understand and was wasting their time. People started explaining to me again and again that their goal was automation. I understand goals. I also understand that you can’t get to a goal without understanding where the heck you are right now. It’s like consulting a map. You want to get to a destination, but you must have a starting point. In the world of automated business processes, your starting point is the process as it stands right now. One of the other issues with my recent call was that there wasn’t anyone on the call who was participating in the current manual process. We can all learn from this experience. Understanding the current

For more information, visit Printingnews.com/10004777

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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW ─ Year In Review

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21157419

out the current manual process in all its inefficient glory. What is automation but removing steps? You’ve got to have the steps defined to know which ones you can remove. Another funny story about automation: Don’t ever try to document the current manual process with a print owner who has an extremely short attention span. It isn’t fun. The manual process is tedious, boring and frustrating if you are honest. I love it. I love documenting all the silliness happening now because it proves there is so much room for improvement. For most business processes, you don’t need any new software or artificial intelligence to make improvements. You just need some dedicated time under the right leadership with your team to detail out the steps happening today. Your team will have the best ideas on how to improve the process—they are living it every day. You know what happens when you involve your team in improving the process: They own the solution, rather than resist it. Here’s the deal. Automation isn’t a one-off thing, it’s an incremental thing. Most business processes will never get to full automation, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get a whole lot more efficient. Automation remains your goal. Improving your efficiency becomes your path. The strategy is the steps you take between where you are now and where you want to be. If you’re a football fan, think of full automation as the end zone and each incremental step as a first down (heading in the right direction). Some steps will feel like a 40-yard pass, others will feel like one hardfought running yard up the middle. For business processes you do every day, someone in your business should be

charged with documenting how it happens today and what are the incremental steps you’re taking to improve it. All too often we keep adding steps to processes without any oversight. A process that keeps getting steps added to it becomes cumbersome and bureaucratic. Your business slows down and requires more humans to produce every increment of value. What is your business other than a collection of processes? Stop focusing on the solution, automation, and start focusing on the processes, because that’s where all the opportunity is. When you define all your processes and give each process an “owner,” someone who is charged with optimizing it, your whole business runs better. When processes are documented, you also have a lot easier time dealing with staff turnover or staff breaks. If all your processes exist only in the heads of your employees, it makes it hard to use that process when that employee leaves or is out sick. Automation is sexy. It sells. Be careful when you make investments on the “promise of automation.” No matter how good the solution is, it doesn’t implement itself. To get the ROI of automation, you typically must transition from your current business process to the new “more automated one.” This transition is where most automation initiatives fail. Investments are made with promises of being easy, painless and fast (more adjectives) that don’t remove the requirement to get your people to move from doing what they’ve been doing, to doing a different more efficient thing. ●

Jennifer Matt writes, speaks, and consults with printers worldwide who realize their ability to leverage software is critical to their success in the Information Age.

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10/27/21 11:39 AM

SALES CLINIC ─ No Plan Survives

INTERRUPTIONS VS. OPPORTUNITIES Know the difference in order to make the most of your day.

y plan for today lasted almost halfway through the morning. I sat down at my desk just before 8 a.m., pulled up my task list, and started my daily planning and prioritization process. By 8:05, I had everything slotted into place. If you’d called and asked me what I planned to be doing at any particular time of the day, I could have told you. From 8:05 to 8:30, I answered emails. Then three coaching calls, half an hour each. After that, I’d planned another half hour to get some coffee, return a couple of phone calls from yesterday, and deal with anything that had come in while I was on my coaching calls. After that, I had planned to sit down and write this, budgeting an hour-and-a-half for the task. But it’s now after 4 p.m., and I’m just sitting down to start writing. What happened to the plan?

No Plan Survives There’s a maxim in the military which states that “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” The practical application of that is simply that you plan based on what you know now, and then change your plan based on what you learn later. Here’s the first key point for today: If your priorities change, your plan must change. So let’s talk about my priorities as of 8:05 a.m. The three coaching calls were at the top of my priority list. Why? Because they represent a delivery commitment on my part. Coaching is one of my products. It’s exactly the same situation when you promise to deliver a print order by a certain time. But wait, there’s often some “wiggle room” in your delivery commitments, right? Yes, you committed to this morning, but you might still be OK this afternoon. The same is true with my coaching calls, and there have been times when I’ve asked a client if we could bump our call to accommodate my schedule. But, and here’s the second key point for today, any time you have to ask for more time, that has potential

to stress a relationship. It is not a step to be taken lightly.

New Priorities So what happened between 8:30 and 10:30 to change my plan for the rest of the day? First, let me tell you what happened that didn’t alter my plan. I received four phone calls and 22 emails during those two hours. I Read More… didn’t answer any of the phone Find article at calls, just let them go straight PrintingNews. com/21157274 to voice mail. It turned out that three of them were robocalls. The emails were a similar ratio of junk to quality, During my “catch-up” block, from 10 to 10:30, I deleted 15 of them, answered three, one of which ended up being a back-and-forth email exchange, and set four aside for later. I also returned the non-robo phone call, turning into the most significant alteration of my plan. It concerned a proposal written months ago, and later been told they were “going in a different direction.” As of today, they still liked it, but decided against the original consultant. So, could I provide that scope of work and write up a new proposal for consideration? Could they have it by the end of the day? I went back to the emails I set aside for later. They were things that needed addressing. In other words, interruptions. The consulting proposal, felt like an opportunity. So I deviated from my original plan and got it done. Did I win the job? Don’t know yet. Did I use my time wisely? I think so. Bottom line, I put my time into an opportunity rather than into interruptions. And that leads to the third key point for today: Know the difference! ●

Dave Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him at dmf@davefellman.com.

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10/27/21 11:38 AM

LABELS AND PACKAGING ─ Year In Review

THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN

HUMMING ALONG The year in review By David Zwang

here may not have been many live events this year to showcase the latest trends in label and packaging, but hardware manufacturers and software developers have been busy, and the industry has been humming along. All of this under the backdrop of shifting consumer preferences and supply chain challenges. Let’s take a look.

priorities,” according to a McKinsey & Company study. “This general change in behavior has also been reflected in a shattering of brand loyalties, with 36% of consumers trying a new product brand and 25% incorporating a new private-label brand. New brands, switching brands, online shopping and increased purchasing power as a result of a decline in services availability all added to the increase in label and packaging volumes.”

What Pandemic?

Continued and New Product Development

Label and packaging procurement reached new heights during the pandemic and had some ‘“forced effect” on purchasing for many reasons. “The crisis has prompted a surge of new activities, with an astonishing 75% of U.S. consumers trying a new shopping behavior in response to economic pressures, store closings and changing

Label production has been at the forefront of the digital production transformation for over 10 years, and it is going through a new growth spurt with the introduction of more hybrid flexo/ digital solutions that provide a complete print through finishing. While shifts in consumer purchasing have affected

HP Indigo V12

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procurement, these solutions are at speeds that further shift the cost crossover point. These include new solutions like the V12 from HP, and others from Xeikon, Mark Andy, Canon, Bobst, the recently released L-6534 SurePress from Epson and many others. While digital production of folding carton has been growing, it really hasn’t transitioned to the next level of adoption. This is primarily attributed to the lack of an increased selection of larger format cut sheet digital solutions. 2021 was going to be the year that finally changed that. In the inkjet space, in addition to increased penetration of the B1 Landa S10, and the release of the Koenig

15K and 35K digital presses for folding carton production. We have also seen the evolution of the a3+ and a3++ size EP presses as viable solutions for some label and packaging applications. In this smaller format and footprint category, 2020 saw the introduction of more extended format size support as well as support of heavier media in a3+ presses like the Canon ImagePRESS C10010VP, Ricoh C9210 and the Xerox Iridesse. More recently we saw the introduction of the Kodak ASCEND, an EP digital press with some obvious roots in the

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21157531

36% of consumers are trying a new product brand and 25% are incorporating a new private-label brand.

& Bauer VariJET 106, the MGI AlphaJET Industrial Print Factory brings a unique approach to high quality folding carton and corrugated print applications and is almost ready for prime time. Konica Minolta continued to increase their market share with the KM-1e, and Fujifilm has been placing more JetPress 750s now with a productivity upgrade to 5500 sph, Ricoh announced their longawaited Z75 sheetfed inkjet press, while others are preparing for their entry into the market. And there will be more announcements in 2022. In the electrophotographic (EP) space, after their product line upgrade in 2020, HP Indigo has been placing their 90K roll fed B1+ and sheetfed B2+

VariJet 106

NEXPRESS/NEXFINITY family tree. The new press is targeted at short-run folding carton and retail POP applications, with support for 13 eco-friendly inks including CMYK embellishment options. This also stands out as an EP press that was developed for folding carton applications as evidenced with support for up to 30pt board and a 48” maximum media size. Corrugated inkjet solutions include the previously introduced and updated HP C500 with a new “top feeder,” the

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LABELS AND PACKAGING ─ Year In Review

Kodak ASCEND

updated EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus, as well as Xeikon’s IDERA and Domino X630i to mention just a few. We also saw the introduction of the new Kento hybrid press. This single-pass solution brings together in a single line the advantages of inkjet digital printing and high-quality flexographic printing, specially designed for corrugated cardboard. Its productivity is impressive at up to 80 linear meters per minute and up to 10,000 sq meters per hour. Flexible packaging, the fastest growing segment in packaging, has seen new digital introductions. These include

EP solutions from HP Indigo and Xeikon, as well as inkjet solutions including the Uteco/Kodak, Sapphire Evo W, Screen PacJet FL830, Miyakoshi, MJP30AXF, Rigoli MVZ Powered by Memjet. Recently we saw the announcement of the Fujifilm FP790. Expect more solutions in the near future. As we see more application opportunities for digital packaging solutions, hybrid/bespoke applications provide some of the more interesting implementations and can be found in a solution by V-Shapes, an Italian technology company. On a recent trip to Belgium, I was given a

Kento Hybrid

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sanitizer that used this interesting technology. They have developed technology that provides easy-opening single-portion packets that can be used for pharma, cosmetics, chemicals, food, etc. Another interesting growth area for inkjet printing technology is direct-toobject. Increasingly, consumer goods manufacturers, especially in food and beverage, are looking at integrating the print process into their manufacturing production lines. One interesting product is the Tonejet machine for ondemand printing of “necked cans.”

Look but Can’t Touch As you can see, many, if not most of the packaging and converting solution providers had lots of new products ready for drupa 2020, and more developments in their pipeline. When that was postponed, other events, including Printing United, were seen as welcome alternatives that never materialized, leaving equipment and solution providers looking for ways to bring them to light. While there weren’t many “live” events to showcase equipment and solutions, hardware and solution vendors all pivoted to virtual events to raise awareness of their new products. Some of these events were single-vendor driven. Some were one-on-one, and there was an explosion of virtual trade shows where multiple solution providers could show their products alongside educational “conference” components. The initial interest in these events was welcome and even exciting for many. However, as confinement time wore on, people became “Zoomed out.” Fortunately, as

the year progressed and vaccination rates increased, we began to see the reemergence of vendor demo centers and of live events, albeit smaller than pre-pandemic. We can expect much more development in 2022 as a result of Memjet, Dimatix, XAAR and other printhead manufacturers and their OEMs. They are all increasingly integrating printheads into a variety of different inkjet and hybrid machine configurations to support rapid development of packaging print applications. These types of solutions will find their way into a variety of different machines to support stand-

Fujifilm FP790

alone print and packaging applications, as well as print as a function of product manufacturing.

More to Come … I would like to address your interests and concerns in future articles as it relates to the manufacturing of Print, Packaging and Labels, and how, if at all, it drives future workflows including “Industry 4.0.” If you have any interesting examples of hybrid and bespoke manufacturing, I am very anxious to hear about them as well. Please feel free to contact me at david@zwang.com with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications. ●

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...

INDUSTRY NEWS ─ News Trending On Printingnews.com

Printware Launches Newest Version of the iJetColorTM Pro Series Printware unveiled the iJetColor Pro PXG at PackExpo in Las Vegas, NV. The iJetColor Pro PXG is Printware’s second collaboration with HP and is the newest version of the iJetColor Pro series. It incorporates HP’s FI-1000 fixed imager print engine to deliver PageWide thermal inkjet technology that is faster, wider, more durable, and more economical. The iJetColor Pro PXG is the solution for short-run, four-color, personalized packaging. The HP FI-1000 fixed imager print engine delivers pigment-based ink that is water and light safe producing durable output suited for packaging. With two sizes of automated feeders available, the iJetColor Pro PXG can produce uncoated packaging of any size. The HP FI-1000 is incorporated into an industrial automated feeding table that allows for quick set-up and production of short-run jobs making this system more profitable than long-run flexographic operations or hightouch silk screening solutions. Designed for high-volume print and mailing operations, the iJetColor, iJetColorNXT, iJetColorPro, and iJetColor Pro 1175P optimize print speeds with unrivaled productivity. www.printingnews. com/21156203

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swissQprint Launches Flatbed Generation 4 swissQprint is launching a new series of models this Fall. The core of the new flatbed printers is cutting-edge print head technology along with advanced mechanical features that promise a quantum leap for users – especially when it comes to output quality. New print heads are the centerpiece of the new generation. Maximum resolution of 1350 dpi and ultra-high-precision droplet placement significantly boost the print quality of the Impala and Nyala models. Both printers also benefit from an impressive increase in output for certain production print modes. The Oryx model is almost 40 percent faster than its predecessor, making it a truly outstanding entry-level printer. swissQprint has incorporated various mechanical improvements into generation 4, singling out the Tip Switch Vacuum (patent pending) as a highlight. The table is divided into as many as 256 segments that users can quickly and easily switch on or off at the touch of a finger. www.printingnews.com/21156948

ShipLeap Introduces Momentum— Technology to Maximize Shipping Options Just in Time for the Holiday Season Just in time for the holiday shipping surge, ShipLeap has introduced ShipLeap Momentum, a system that allows businesses across the globe to widen their shipping options. Used by companies like Allegra, AlphaGraphics, PIP, and Sir Speedy, ShipLeap has caught the printing industry’s attention with its Momentum system--technology that clients say has streamlined their shipping process. The innovative Momentum system automates the management of labels, tracking, customer notification, and returns. It also allows the user to export transactional information associated with shipping. www.printingnews.com/21157107

Latest Fiery XF and New Fiery Prep-it Software Bring Greater Flexibility and Automation to Display Graphics Production EFI has unveiled its newest digital front end and workflow solutions for display graphics and industrial printing, EFI Fiery XF/Fiery proServer version 7.3 and EFI Fiery Prep-it workflow software. Print shops with mixed-manufacturer printers can achieve greater production efficiencies with less operator training by having one RIP technology. Fiery XF 7.3 software and the EFI Fiery proServer digital front end now have added support for more than 180 new printer drivers, bringing the total number of Fiery-supported printer models to more than 1,200. Customers can also now request a driver for an additional 400+ printers to complete support for their shop’s installed printer base. This release also includes a new printing mode that can reduce the processing time of jobs that include spot colors by up to 50%. Users can choose between presets that select the highest accuracy (e.g., for proofing applications with certain spot color settings) or highest speed as their priority when processing jobs. www.printingnews.com/21157117

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | November/December 2021

10/27/21 11:15 AM

Standard Announces RD-N4055 Die Cutting System Standard Finishing Systems announced an updated version of their RD-4055 die cutting solution: the Standard Horizon RD-N4055 Die Cutting System. The system combines a high-capacity feeder, a single- or dual-magnetic cylinder die cutter, a new separator, and an optional card stacker for efficient, operator-friendly production. As part of Standard Horizon’s popular RD series of die cutters, the system can die cut, kiss-cut, emboss/deboss, crease/score, perforate, slit, hole punch, and round corner in a single pass or in multiple combinations for a wide range of applications including business cards, invitations, labels, door hangers, light packaging, and more. With the addition of the SPC-N4055 Separator and optional CSD40RD Card Stacker, the system also eliminates the need for manual separating and counting at the delivery section. www.printingnews.com/21157340

Kornit Digital Introduces Presto MAX, Reinventing Design and Applications Capabilities for Custom Textiles on Demand Kornit Digital announced the release of its Kornit Presto MAX system for sustainable on-demand production of apparel and other textile goods. Kornit launched its MAX technology in April, and is already field-proven via the Kornit Atlas MAX system, which is today supplying demanding global brands with the high retail quality and application variety needed to grow their product offerings and answer evolving consumers’ needs. Introducing capabilities to transform virtual concepts into custom fabrics for fashion, home décor, and other textile applications, Kornit Presto MAX is the first digital print system to offer white printing on colored fabrics, enhancing decoration capabilities for dark colored fabrics more broadly. The system is ready to incorporate future iterations and evolutions of XDi technology—3D decorative applications to produce threadless embroidery, high-density, vinyl, screen transfer, and other innovative effects. www.printingnews.com/21157393

Roland DGA Announces Launch of New VersaSTUDIO BN-20A Desktop Printer/Cutter Roland DGA has announced the launch of its new VersaSTUDIO BN-20A desktop printer/cutter. Based on the company’s VersaSTUDIO BN-20, the BN-20A offers the most popular features at an even lower price. With its combined functionality, reliability and affordability, the BN-20A is the perfect device for anyone looking to start a home-based business, or for existing shops that want to expand by adding printand-cut applications. With its ability to produce vibrant graphics and automatically cut around any shape, the BN-20A enables any print provider to stand out from the competition without making a large initial investment. It comes standard with intuitive output software that even beginners can use to easily produce high quality prints from design data such as illustrations and photos. The BN-20A takes full advantage of Roland DG’s GREENGUARD Gold certified Eco-Sol MAX 2 inks in a standard CMYK configuration. The BN-20A also incorporates features like the True Rich Color preset for vivid, accurate graphics and outstanding detail. www.printingnews.com/21157118

EFI Announces VUTEk FabriVU Plus series EFI’s New VUTEk FabruVU 340i+ Printer. Growth opportunities in premium soft-signage applications with the launch of the new VUTEk FabriVU Plus series 70-, 133- and 205-inch dispersed dye-sublimation printers, including the 133-inch-wide VUTEk FabriVU 340i+ model with in-line sublimation making its debut at the Ignition events. The FabriVU 340i+ model delivers upgraded performance thanks to eight high-performance printheads, and enhanced high-quality and backlit print modes, with the ability to print on transfer paper or direct to fabric using the same ink set. The FabriVU Plus series’ new CMYK x 2 configuration printhead array – along with new electronics, a new vacuum system, and a new heating element – deliver higher-quality 600 dpi graphics with better saturation and more density. www.printingnews.com/21157172

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WATCH LIST ─ Videos Trending On Printingnews.com

Lemay Sanchez of Plan Prophet Talks About CRM Automation Lemay Sanchez, Managing Director of Plan Prophet, talks about providing a integrated CRM automation experience. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21155799

SPESA Gears Up for In-Person Executive Conference in Boston Michael McDonald, President of SPESA, shares insight into what attendees can expect at the Executive Conference. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21156105

EFI’s Nick Benkovich on Changing Market Dynamics Nick Benkovich, EFI VP Product Management, discusses how market dynamics are changing for PSPs across all segments. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21156211

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out with Bill Pope Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to Bill Pope of PRINTING United about the importance of education in the graphic arts. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21156879

FSI’s Richard Lowe on Helping Franchisees Weather the Pandemic Richard Lowe of Franchise Services Inc. (FSI) talks about how FSI helped its franchisees during the pandemic. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21156963

Koenig & Bauer Executives Share Product & Strategy Update Kilian Renschler, President & CEO of Koenig & Bauer US & Canada share updates. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157048

HP Indigo’s Gershon Alon Discusses Post-Pandemic Workflow Changes Gershon Alon, Head of Solutions at HP Indigo, talks about keeping up with dynamic market shifts. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157077

thINK Ahead 2021: Uniting as Leaders of the Inkjet Community Ed Jansen, VP of Canon Solutions America’s Print Production Solutions Group, talks about the thINK event. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157099

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | November/December 2021

10/27/21 11:26 AM

Craft Signs - Can’t Help But Talk About The Speed of the Colorado 1650 Printer Seth Austin of Craft Signs discusses the speed of production with the Colorado 1650 Printer. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157449

Enter the Booming Interior Décor Market with Colorado Printer Series With our UVgel technology, you’ll grow your business and take advantage of the high-margin opportunities. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157450

FUJIFILM ’s Greg Balch on FUJIFILM Integrated Inkjet Solutions Greg Balch, GM & VP of FUJIFILM Integrated Inkjet Solutions, talks about FUJIFILM Integrated Inkjet Solutions. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21156922

The Importance of Networking and Education in the Inkjet Printing Community Shelley Hyde, Partner at PrintMailPro talks about the value of networking events like the thINK Forum. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157252

Selling Inkjet to Clients Jennifer McSweeney, VP of Sales for the Goodway Group, talks about the company’s adoption of production inkjet and the opportunities it has opened up. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157175

Debbie McKeegan Reports from FESPA Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157300

Looking at Present and Future Technologies David Zwang spoke with Greg Groleau, VP Operations for Venture Solutions, a critical communications subsidiary of Taylor Corporation. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157299

Muller Martini: Full Speed Ahead on Finishing Automation Andy Fetherman, Vice President of Sales and Technology at Muller Martini, shares his thoughts about the importance of automation. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21157298

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Advertorial

A truly integrated CRM that automates customer experience In addition to providing a first-rate CRM, PlanProphet runs on auto-pilot to boost sales and improve productivity.

PlanProphet supercharges PrintSmith and Printer’s Plan by delivering an immersive customer relationship manager that automates vital activities such as quote follow-up, billing, and inactive account check-ins. The platform also boasts a fully integrated proof management system and a customizable marketing automation engine. “Both EFI and PrintReach have done an amazing job with the latest installment of their estimating platforms. We are thrilled to carry on with their momentum by leveraging our technology and position their users for success”, said Lemay Sanchez, CEO of PlanProphet. Several printshops have turned to PlanProphet, and are glad they did. “It keeps us and our clients in more contact now than ever. I am most surprised at how sales communications get answered. We have never received such high rate of actionable responses”, comments Evan Bloom from Sir Speedy, Westbury NY. PlanProphet’s integration with print MIS opens endless possibilities for automating behaviors, aimed at closing new deals and nurturing existing relationships. Michael Brown, owner of a Havertown printshop, joked that PlanProphet’s automated quote follow-up “is like having a dog chasing a bone. It truly lets clients know that we want the work”.

With limited staff and resources, Michael values having a system that runs on auto-pilot to stay in touch with his customers. One of the most praised PlanProphet workflows involve re-activating dormant accounts. Shane Parker from PIP Peoria adds that “inactive-account targeting has been a great addition to his center. The results have been even more powerful than we thought. Having a system that runs in the background to rekindle relationships has become a critical part of our marketing efforts.” Need more online reviews? PlanProphet auto-deploys feedback emails to buyers exactly a week after orders are complete. John Griffies runs a printshop in Atlanta and shared that “in the last 9 weeks we have received 45 new 5-star reviews, which more than doubles the total number of reviews we previously had”. PlanProphet is currently available only to PrintSmith and Printer’s Plan users. More supported print MIS platforms are expected in the future. To learn more or to book a Demo, visit www.planprophet.com

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews.com/21157301

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | November/December 2021

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Advertorial

Compact and Powerful The X-16 and the X-33 cannot be beat The X-16 and the X-33 cannot be beat. Large flatbed UV printers require huge amounts of floor space in modern print shops. But now, Xante is proud to introduce our new line of UV printers. Compact and powerful, the X-16 and X-33 are designed to output signage, graphics, and specialty items on virtually any media without those prohibitive demands on the shop’s floor plan. These printers pack all the profitability of a large flatbed into the space of a tabletop device! High Pigment Loaded White and Vivid CMYK inks with outdoor durablity of up to 2 years! Build depth with layers of fast-drying, UV-cured ink. Create impressive displays that grab attention. This process is fast and renders strong, durable results. www.xante.com

X-33 Flatbed UV Printer • Print on virtually any media • Dual LED Lamps for Instant Ink Curing • CMYK + WWWW • Image area up to 36”x24” (91.44cm x 60.96cm) • Print on media up to 6 inches (15.24cm) tall • Resolution up to 2880 DPI

X-16 Flatbed UV Printer • • • • •

Print on virtually any media Single LED Lamp for Instant Ink Curing CMYK + WW Prints up to 18”x24” (45.72 x 60.96cm) Print on media up to 7.75 inches (19.69cm) tall • Resolution up to 2880 DPI

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews.com/21157438

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Advertorial

We Are Only Trade Only

Signs365 is a grand format, trade only wholesale print company. We offer over 30+ full color print products to fit your needs; including banner, rigid signage, and adhesive materials. We are committed to providing excellent image quality, quick turnaround time and dedicated customer service. Our team is working around the clock to ensure you get your prints on time and as expected. We even offer blind drop shipping directly to your customers at no added cost! So relax and let Signs365 do the hard work for you. 24 Hour print production and $10 Overnight Anywhere shipping are standard. When you place your order by midnight, it prints and ships tomorrow, for delivery the next day! Visit our website to start your order today: www.Signs365.com Contact Information: Phone: 1-800-265-8830 Text: 74467 (SIGNS) Website: www.Signs365.com

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Read More… Find article at PrintingNews.com/21157436

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | November/December 2021

10/27/21 11:23 AM

Advertorial

PressWise - Turning Touches Into Automation PressWise provides a single, cloud-based print workflow with the tools you need to streamline, automate and grow your business. Designed by a visionary printer burdened by the traditional manual workflows that still plague many printers today, PressWise provides a single, cloud-based print workflow with the tools you need to streamline, automate and grow your business. How many times are you touching a job? From estimating to orders, job tickets to impositioning, quoting to invoicing, PressWise reduces print production touches, increasing margins and providing faster turnarounds. Are you tired of calls to the shop for job status? As a cloud-based application, your shop goes everywhere you and your mobile device goes. Clients can even check job status, track shipments, place orders and make payments. Are high upfront costs keeping you out of the MIS game? With a low flat fee to launch the system and then a monthly fee, there are no long-term contracts or massive upfront costs. Unlimited technical support, training and product updates are all included. Progressive printers are abandoning manual processes and legacy systems for PressWise. Here’s what they have to say:

“PressWise offers a modern, web-based job ordering, processing and proofing system that allows our entire staff to stay on the same page at all times.” “Before PressWise, each order would take about an hour of admin time to create the estimate and job ticket, get the job into production and get it shipped. With an average of 225 orders per week at an average order of $500, the cost of manual processing rapidly ate into margins.” You get unlimited Web Storefronts, Estimating and Quote generation, Auto-Proof Approval processing, Job Ticket creation, Job Tracking, Automated Impositioning, Inventory, Mail Processing and Shipping, QuickBooks integration, connectivity to thirdparty storefronts and more. PressWise was designed by a printer for printers - and is supported by an expert staff. We know print! Visit www.presswise.com

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews.com/21098202

Ensuring a Powerful Blend of Quality, Competitive Pricing and Speed Each folder has a purpose — marketing tool, education, internal documentation, protection, etc. — but all effective ones share a common trait: They help an end user reach its goal. That’s why distributors are wise to equip themselves with knowledge before discussing options with clients, and to rely on a consultative trade partner like Folder Express.

example, the shape of a toothbrush for a dentist office, or the shape of a pastry for a bakery — using more than 100 stock dies and a library of industry-specific art. Distributors receive creative folders without the expense of a custom die cut.

“More than anything, the Folder Express® team is committed to our customers,” said Bill Elmore, General Manager. “We’re continually making improvements to make the customer experience better, and everyone on our team is involved with that effort. Our people are dedicated to building long-lasting relationships with our distributor customers, and we’re doing whatever it takes to deliver on our brand promise.”

“We are seeing more customers choose a folder and inserts to convey their marketing message,” Elmore says. “We are also seeing customers use folders as a customer take away to ensure their brand has been well represented during a transaction.”

That promise is pronounced in a simple phrase that serves as the motto of Folder Express: “Quality Folders, Priced Right, Delivered on Time.” To Folder Express®, the goals of consistent quality, affordability and on-time delivery should be achieved simultaneously on every job. In the folders market, the best answer isn’t always a conventional 9” x 12” two-pocket folder. Depending on the end user’s goals, the application may warrant an oversized folder, a reinforced edge, a key card holder, a sales box and other options. A popular Folder Express offering is the company’s Sculptured Pockets® line. The company generates unique designs — for

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No matter the project, the Folder Express team is ready to help distributors win and keep business. Folder Express, a Columbus, Kansas-based division of Ennis, Inc., has been making folders since 1927. It is the supplier of choice for presentation and multimedia folders among distributors of print, advertising, marketing and promotional products. For details, call 800.322.1064 or visit FolderExpress.com.

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews.com/21157441

10/27/21 11:20 AM

BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT ─ CXM

REANIMATING THE CUSTOMER

EXPERIENCE Take radical ownership of outcomes.

he ultimate goal of customer experience management (CXM) is to establish greater customer stability and loyalty resulting in predictable, sustainable company growth. In every customer relationship there is a time when promises made must become promises kept. Your entire team should be acutely focused on correctly establishing, measuring and delivering on the customers’ expectations. Full accountability to performance outcomes are the central ingredients in establishing trust with your customers and sustaining long-term partnerships. Genuine CXM may require a transformative journey for you, your leadership team and the entire organization. If you choose to unleash a culture of radical ownership and accountability in your organization, be prepared to go all the way to the radical edge of high-performance. It means new standards of performance. It means

the transforming business will outgrow some people and most systems and processes. It means coming to the end of the individual and sparking the inception of the high-performance team. According to Jocko Willink, in his book “Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win”: “Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mindset into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their team’s performance. Identifying weaknesses, good leaders seek to strengthen them and come up with a plan to overcome challenges. The best teams anywhere…are constantly looking to improve, add capability and push the standards higher. It starts with the individual and spreads to each of the team members until this becomes the culture, the new standard.” Your organization will be stretched and challenged as you grow in this direction. The outcome is worth the journey as the higher standards will propel your people, organization and customers into a rare relationship stratosphere that most are unable to attain. There are three ways leadership can empower their organization to transform into an accountable high-performance team that takes radical ownership of outcomes.

LEADERSHIP can empower an organization by embodying a culture of accountability. Every person in the organization, from top to bottom, must live by the same high standards of accountability. Leaders must own their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions in order for the team to follow their example. Organizations that attain this status are rare since many leaders do not feel the need to be accountable partners to their workforce. If you “walk-the-talk,” the transformative journey for the organization will mirror the

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personal transformation and growth that leadership will experience.

LEADERSHIP can empower an organization by instilling accountability at every level of the company. Building benchmarks and metrics into the DNA of the organization will attract, keep and stretch good people to new levels of performance. Coach the management team to learn to be tolerant of imperfections in business execution. Perfect execution in any business delivery model is a myth. However, you can be perfectly consistent, transparent and accountable in the way you remedy underperformance. Own the responsibility for misses and the subsequent recovery plan, and your customers will view you as radically different from your competition.

LEADERSHIP can empower an organization by building deliberate accountability through quarterly business review. Nothing will codify the loyalty and stability of a customer partnership better than a disciplined QBR process. Develop the framework collaboratively with the customer from contract SLA’s, key performance indicators (KPI’s) and key success factors (KSF’s) that the customer agrees are important to measure. Then lead your team to take radical ownership of the objective results that are measured and reported every quarter to the customer key decision makers. This system will mitigate any surprises in performance or surface issues that can jointly be resolved, and will establish a benchmark of past performance that will prove impactful for retaining the business long into the future. The process of taking radical ownership can be nuanced, and even well-meaning leadership can make mistakes that initiate the unintended consequence of disempowerment. Willink pins responsibility for success squarely on leadership.

“The recognition that there are no bad teams, only bad leaders, facilitates extreme ownership and enables leaders to build high-performance teams that dominate on any battlefield, literal or figurative,” he said. If at any stage of transforRead More… mation, bad leadership inadverFind article at tently disempowers the team, PrintingNews. com/21157078 you will derail, often times irrevocably, crucial progress. There are three ways that leadership can inadvertently disempower their team and impede progress.

LEADERSHIP can disempower their people by desiring high-performance outcomes while remaining inflexible to enacting changes needed to excel. “But not that one!” is a common thought and expression espoused by inflexible leaders. I have witnessed first-hand the protectionism of “sacred cows” (processes, people, structures, etc.) that sabotaged transformative progress and slowly unraveled the culture as the workforce recognized the corrosion of duplicity. This effect is called disempowerment. It is common for leaders to pull up short in an empathetic gesture to protect people and processes that may be ultimately be detrimental to high performance. Leadership can disempower their people by micromanaging instead of leading, coaching and mentoring. This is abundantly common in small- to mediumsize organizations where “founderitis” is a real syndrome. It is difficult for many leaders to embrace change that results in a perceived loss of control. In order to maintain a sense of control, these leaders dive into details and micromanage. This characteristic is profoundly disempowering to professionals on the team and will hinder genuine transformation and employee retention. Continued on page 59

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.

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DIRECT MAIL ─ Compu-Mail

COMPU-MAIL Relevant information to the right person at the right time By David Zwang

ompu-Mail is a direct marketing services and solutions company located in Grand Island, N.Y. just a short distance from Niagara Falls and the Canadian border. It began in 1968 as National Time Sharing, a data processing company before it “was in vogue,” according to Compu-Mail President and CEO Michael Vitch. They purchased their first digital press in the mid 1980s and created Michael Vitch Compu-Mail in the mid 1990s to focus on data-driven marketing, initially in election support services, and then extending to financial services and retail, ultimately supporting print and direct mail and marketing. Their expertise in data processing provided them with the tools necessary to specialize in variable data printing; something they started in 1987.

Relevant Information to the Right Person at the Right Time Today they provide database marketing for pharmaceutical companies, statements for medical insurance and even membership cards for automobile

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The Compu-Mail New York headquarters and team.

clubs. Over the years they added customer relationship management services, including inbound and outbound call centers, to build and utilize the databases for further marketing services. “The offshoot of much of this has been paper, even though electronic communication is so important in our world today,” Vitch said. Though Compu-Mail does a lot of email and text message marketing, reaching people digitally is not what it used to be. “The reality is that most people get too much email today, and they don’t look at it very long,” Vitch said. Versus direct mail, it has to be extremely relevant and extremely timely, or you just delete it. In fact, Vitch had a conversation with a marketing director who said, “Direct mail doesn’t work.” However, Vitch had a quick response. “When you come back from vacation, what’s the first thing you do?” The marketing director hesitantly said, “I look at my mail.” People still have to go to the mailbox, and they still have to pull mail out. Since people only get a fraction of the number of mail pieces compared to

email, Compu-Mail has found the response levels are significantly higher when layering email and mail together. So they continue to build their business around the variable data printing model: “Relevant information to the right person at the right time.” To help support that model, they have their own post office onsite to ensure they get the best price, and they handle all the logistics for their customers. This includes intelligent mail to get the most timely information back from their mailings, even down to the location of a piece of mail in the postal stream. Even during the pandemic, they saw their customers still needed to implement targeted marketing programs. Continued on page 62

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HP INDIGO TECH TALK ─ Video Series Sponsored By HP Indigo Indigo Tech Talk is a series of short videos which bring to light HP Indigo state-of-the art technology advancements, advantages and an insider’s view from Indigo’s top technology experts.

In Partnership with HP

Inside the tech driving HP Indigo

Inks and Automatic Color Switching on the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press Eran Schwimmer, R&D Department Manager for HP Indigo, explains how, with 12 color stations on the HP Indigo V12, the range of inks available on-press beyond CMYK is truly extensive—including spot colors, white, silver, fluorescents and more. Find video here: https://bit.ly/2Z9J6b2

High Lifespan Consumables for the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press Motti Silberberg’s, Series 6 Cold Function Manager, shows how consumable components like the blanket, PIP and acid drum were designed to accommodate the very high speed of the V12 press. Find video here:. https://bit.ly/3beUPaJ

The Power of HP Indigo One-Shot Technology Itamar Malka, R&D Product Development Lab Manager at HP Indigo, demonstrates how HP’s One-Shot Printing Technology works and explains why it’s ideal for working with heat-sensitive substrates. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3pmQgTJ

User Experience and Design on the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press Ronen Yosifon, User Experience Manager in the HP Indigo V12 Lab, points out the design considerations that make the V12 press easy to use and operator friendly. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3m0hE88

The HP Indigo Optimizer: Planning Efficient Print Runs at the Press of a Button Dror Kella, Technologist, R&D, in the HP Indigo 100K Lab, demonstrates the HP Indigo Optimizer. Available on all sheetfed Indigo presses. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3G9Doq8

The Inline Priming System and Application Versatility on the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press Regina Guslitzer, L&P Materials Development R&D Manager, talks about how HP developed materials and processes for primers, varnishes, and lamination. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3lZ0KGW

The Feeding System for the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press Ami Yaari, R&D Mechanical Engineer at HP Indigo, talks about and demonstrates the feeding system on the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press. The 100K’s multiple input sources have many advantages. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3G83yto

The Digital Label Factory Gershon Alon, Head of PrintOS, talks about leveraging advanced technologies on the HP Indigo V12 to streamline the digital label production workflow and maximize overall efficiency. The goal is for the HP Indigo V12 to be able to replace two flexo presses. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3E6tbcm

The Paper Handling System on the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press Itamar Malka, R&D Product Development Lab Manager, HP Indigo, demonstrates the fast and accurate paper handling on the HP Indigo 100K, designed to support the highest possible productivity, up to 6,000 B2 sheets per hour. Find video here: https://bit.ly/2ZfGB6I

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The New Writing Head for the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press Haim Vladomirski, LED Print Head Team Leader at HP Indigo, talks about the V12 writing head, which uses a new LED technology to print the finest details, smoothest skin tones, and highest image quality. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3vxrMbz

HP Indigo’s Print Care Deisy Kapon, WWTS IST Product & Content Dev. Manager at HP Indigo, demonstrates Print Care, a set of on-press capabilities that allow operators to monitor the press and diagnose and troubleshoot any press issues in real time from anywhere. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3n9q7oE

HP Indigo’s Thermal Offset Transfer Technology Alon Gazit, VP of R&D, takes us into the HP Indigo 100K Lab to demonstrate HP’s thermal offset transfer technology, which allows the HP Indigo digital press to maintain an offset look and feel, as well as the advantages of offset printing. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3m0YAXe

Predictive Press Care—An AI-Driven Solution to Avert Problems Deisy Kapon, WWTS IST Product & Content Dev. Manager, talks about Predictive Press Care on the HP Indigo presses, an artificial intelligence-based system that collects press data as the press is running, analyzes it, anticipates errors, and alerts. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3B2VKp1

Process Control for Ultimate Quality on the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press Roi Liraz, Indigo V12 Program Manager, demonstrates process control on the HP Indigo V12. Using sensors, smart cameras, algorithms, and other forms of automation, the high-speed press is able to ensure consistent high quality. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3b1gKSl

Color Calibration on the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press Basil Verdene, Color Group Manager for HP Indigo, talks about the advanced color management capabilities of the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press, including its ability to manage color while printing. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3DUqAC6

A Tour of the HP Indigo B2 Development Lab Itamar Malka, R&D Product Development Lab Manager at HP Indigo, takes us on a short tour of the HP Indigo B2 development lab, where HP tests new features and capabilities on machines. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3G8XS2h

Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) with HP Indigo Explained Alon Gazit, VP of R&D at HP Indigo, brings us to the HP Indigo 100K lab to talk about the benefits of using just three colors vs. CMYK when using Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) on the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3G845LU

Golan Landsberg on the New HP Indigo LEPX Architecture Golan Landsberg, R&D Director, Future Products Platform at HP Indigo, provides a technical overview of the new HP Indigo LEPX architecture and “why it’s possible to print faster with Indigo’s LEPX technology” in this tech talk video sponsored by HP. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3pqMskj

A Tour of the HP Indigo V12 Lab Maya Poleg and Roi Liraz from the HP Indigo team take us on a behind the scenes tour of the HP Indigo V12 Digital Press R&D lab. The first in a series of short videos which bring to light HP Indigo technology advancements and advantages. Find video here: https://bit.ly/3vGAi8k

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WIDE FORMAT AND SIGNAGE ─ Year In Review

WHERE DOES WIDE-FORMAT AND SIGNAGE STAND Demand- and technology-side drivers for 2022 By Richard Romano

n the year of our COVID 2020, wide-format printing was the saving grace of many a print service provider, who, with traditional vertical markets and customers shut down, turned to COVID-related signage as a stopgap measure to at least keep some of the lights on. Now that the pandemic has…well, not exactly ended, but at least ebbed to the point where shut-down markets are now open, where do wide-format printing and signage production stand? And what does the market look like for wide format and signage as we head into 2022? We can identify some distinct trends and market drivers, dividing them into “demand side” and “supply side” or “technology side.” First, let’s look at what is happening on the demand side. Wide-format printing was obviously in high demand even before the pandemic, and while those new COVID-specific applications emerged in 2020, demand for COVID signage has waned, although not entirely disappeared. On a more macro level, the pandemic has had some specific effects on businesses— some good, some bad—which have some repercussions for signage and display graphics providers.

New Business Formation It’s a post-pandemic phenomenon that The Economist called “bezonkers,” as in “New business formation in America goes bezonkers” (https:// econ.st/3FV8Gkv). See the chart of new business applications (Figure 1). While some of these new businesses replaced those that failed during 2020, economists see it as one of the consequences of “The Great Resignation.” People taking stock of their lives and careers during the pandemic and pursuing a dream of business ownership, or at the very least of not

Figure 1. New Business Applications. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

being stuck in a job one hates. How much of this will persist beyond 2021/2022 remains to be seen. However, according to Forbes (https://bit. ly/3G8dFP1), analyzing the July business application figures, still more encouraging is the reported rise in what the Census Bureau calls “high propensity applications,” by which it means those new businesses with a high likelihood of supporting a payroll. These, though only some one-third of total applications, also jumped some 1.2% from June’s level for the nation as a whole and had a similar regional pattern to applications overall, with the largest proportion in the South and the strongest monthly jumps in the Northeast and the West. What does all this have to do with wide-format printing? New businesses need a lot of resources and other materials to get started, a lot of it involving various kinds of print, and often including signage and other kinds of display graphics, both interior and exterior. This presents opportunities for display graphics and signage producers. However, what percentage of these businesses will be home-based, or at least not need the kinds of retail or office graphics a dedicated business

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Figure 1. Monthly Business Applications by NAICS Sector. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

location would require? Without a deep dive into the specific NAICS categories in which these businesses are forming, the best bet is to check your local or regional new business registrations. A good place to start—and this is fodder for future articles—is the “Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics” (https://bit.ly/3lPonlg), which does indeed break down new businesses by industry. We’re getting a little afield of the scope of this article, but suffice to say, the top sector for new business creation is “retail trade,” followed by “administrative and support.” (See Figure 2.) Which also brings up a related issue…

Work From Home It also still remains to be seen to what extent “work from home” will be a major factor as the pandemic recedes into the past (should it ever). Some statistics worth thinking about include (https://bit. ly/3voagGu): ● Upwork estimates that one in four Americans, over 26% of the American workforce, will be working remotely through 2021. They also estimate that 22% of the workforce (36.2 million Americans) will work remotely by 2025. ● Globally, 16% of companies are fully remote, according to an Owl labs study. This same study found that about 62% of workers aged 22 to 65 claim to work remotely at least occasionally. ● This study also found that 44% of companies do not allow remote work of any kind. The point is, for all the talk of “work from home,”

the office is not going away any time soon, although it certainly will change. In what way? No one is quite sure yet. Offices will probably be smaller, and we may be in store for a major downsizing of businesses as they seek smaller square-footage locations. So the sign and display needs of businesses throughout the economy are going to be in a state of flux for the foreseeable future—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing for sign and display graphics providers. Probably not as much as had been anticipated in mid-2020, but these are changes that are worth staying on top of. Which leads us to…

Construction and Architecture One market that is inextricably linked to signage and display graphics is architecture and construction. As goes construction, so goes signage to a very great extent. As this issue was going to press, the International Sign Association (ISA) released its “Q3 Sign Industry Quarterly Economic Report” (https:// bit.ly/30Dn5Bw), and—first off—ISA’s analysts at IHS Markit expect that the supply chain issues that had been plaguing virtually every sector to start to clear up as we head into 2022. They also expect prices to come down. “Paper and packaging prices are set to decrease in late 2021 and through 2022 as input costs fall. Globally, steel production is fully recovered and exceeds pre-COVID-19 output, allowing inventories to near being fully restocked. It is still going to get worse before it gets better, but price relief will come by late 2021 or early 2022.” God willin’ and the COVID don’t rise, of course. The IHS Markit analysts are not especially bullish on the architectural signage market. Read More… “Nonresidential structures Find article at construction spending declined PrintingNews. com/21157428 during the second quarter [of 2021], falling 11.5% y/y. The lower levels of activity in the structures market occurred primarily because of commercial construction declines of 12.4% y/y during the quarter. Driving the decline was the lodging component,

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WIDE FORMAT AND SIGNAGE ─ Year In Review which fell 30.1% y/y.” They anticipate the 2022 growth to be slightly under the prevailing growth rate trend. So these were some demand-side trends that have been impacting wide-format, display and signage, and will continue to. What about technology trends? Wide format is a pretty mature part of the print market, and has been for a while. We have seen few revolutionary new wide-format technologies in recent years, with most of the changes being more incremental, with faster speeds, better quality, a greater diversity of vendor product portfolios and different kind of inks and substrates.

Automation We are finally seeing automation make serious inroads into wide-format printing, driven by the same factors that have driven the push towards automation in other sectors of the industry— namely, the need to get jobs in and out faster, labor shortages and the need to reduce human touchpoints. Software is playing a role, with nesting optimization having been a hot prepress software feature for a couple of years, but we have started to see more and more wide-format printers—typically flatbeds—support the ability to add robotics for automatic loading and/or unloading of boards. The Canon Arizona series and the high-end Inca Onset have had this capability for a while, and recently EFI and Mimaki, to name two vendors, have explicitly cited the ability of their new printers to integrate directly with third-party robotics and other kinds of automation equipment. Robot arms don’t come cheap, but if demand starts to pick up and costs come down, we may see more wide-format shops arming themselves. Improved productivity can also be achieved with some unique solutions. One is Canon’s FLOW technology used on its Arizona line of flatbeds. It comprises a zoneless vacuum system that applies suction only where it is required, regardless of how much of the table is covered or uncovered by media. At the same time, three-sided pneumatic registration pins allow edge-to-edge printing as well as the ability to align the substrate to either the left or right edge—or both edges—of

the vacuum table. The result is the elimination of the need for masking, which can be a time-consuming part of wide-format production.

Environment Environmental concerns are continuing to be important, as end users and customers increasingly want to green their own supply chains. This is mostly playing out in the consumables space, with more eco-friendly inks and especially substrates starting to hit the market. As more and more sign and display graphics providers move into markets like health care and education, they find the need to use compliant inks and substrates. Elsewhere, there really isn’t a mad rush to go green—price still remains of paramount importance—but sustainability is becoming a top-of-mind issue.

Ability to Branch into New Markets For a while, wide format was the new market that commercial printers were urged to move into—and they did. Interestingly, we are now finding that the reverse is proving to be the case: shops that were predominantly wide-format-based are now starting to add small-format commercial print, doing this either via partnerships, acquisitions or buying the equipment (the same three strategies that commercial printers used to get into wide format). Other markets also await. 3D printing has been lukewarmly received by print providers, but remains an untapped market for sign and display providers. Related to 3D is direct-to-object printing, and we are seeing UV LED units grow from small “benchtop” units to much larger devices that support larger and even heavier objects. The specialty printing market has been a high-growth area, and will continue to be a hotspot as better inks allow for direct inkjet printing on a greater range of materials with minimal fuss. As events start to come back, these kinds of items will be in greater demand.

Richard Romano has been writing about the graphic communications industry for 20 years. He is an industry analyst and author or coauthor of more than half a dozen books.

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While packaging in all its various incarnations has been touted as the next great adventure for printers, our annual surveys have not found too many commercial or wide-format shops taking the plunge. There still remain vast opportunities for print businesses to produce short- (or shortish-) run packaging options for small and mid-sized product manufacturers. The advantage that wideformat shops have is that a lot of the equipment they already have—namely UV flatbed devices— are well-suited toward at least some kinds of packaging production, so it wouldn’t require a major investment in new equipment to at least dip a toe in

the water, and then scale up if a packaging strategy takes off.

Into the New Year As we found during the pandemic (and some found even before the pandemic), the ability to be versatile (or what Preston Herrin calls “agile”) can put shops in a position of being able to quickly adapt to a changing market—and we found in 2020 that things can change “in a New York minute.” This made good business sense at the best of times, and even better sense in the worst. It’s best to be prepared in either event. ●

THIS YEAR’S MODELS Here is a rundown of some of the major product releases from 2021. For space reasons, we couldn’t include every release. Full details of all these products are available at whattheythink.com and/or printingnews.com. In the CNC router space, AAG Tailored Cutting Solutions announced its new AXYZ METALWORKER and WARDJet M-Series. Designed for metal cutting applications, METALWORKER can handle aluminum, copper, zinc, metal composites, mild steels and stainless composite, while the M-Series waterjet is a highspeed high-acceleration large-format solution for large and multiple sheet production. Agfa launched the Avinci CX3200 dye-sublimation roll-to-roll printer that can print either directly to textile or on transfer paper. Designed for soft signage, it can create textile prints up to 3.2 m wide. Agfa also released its “new flagship,” the 3.3m Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED flatbed, targeted to the high end of the sign and display market.

Canon launched the new Arizona 135 GT UV flatbed printer, capable of handling substrates up to 49.2 x 98.4 inches and up to 2.0 inches thick. Canon also expanded its 64-inch UVgel-based roll-to-roll Colorado line with the lower-cost Colorado 1630. EFI launched its new VUTEk XT, redesigned, nextgeneration successor to the EFI VUTEk HS series of hybrid high-volume printers which can print more than 375 boards per hour. EFI has also ported the single-pass-enabled speed of its Nozomi platform to display graphics with a display graphics printer based on the EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus printer for direct-toboard corrugated packaging production. This 63-inch wide printer can print at speeds up to 1,000 sheets or boards per hour. EFI also introduced a new high-volume EFI VUTEk Q series roll-to-roll UV LED printers, comprising the 198-inch wide VUTEk Q5r and 138inch wide VUTEk Q3r. On the software side of things, EFI has also released its EFI Fiery XF/Fiery proServer version 7.3 and EFI Fiery Prep-it workflow software designed for display graphics and industrial printing.

AAG Tailored Cutting Solutions’ AXYZ METALWORKER CNC router.

Continued on page 60

Canon Colorado 1630.

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EFI’s Nozomi-based single-pass for display graphics printer.

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THE SIGN CONNECTION ─ Out-Of-Home Advertising Spaces

EVEN VACANT STOREFRONTS SELL Redefining “Window Shopping” By SpeedPro

ith as many as 10,000 retail store closures expected by the end of 2021, according to Coresight Research, there is untapped potential for retail storefronts to also serve as out-of-home advertising spaces. Retailers across the world are transforming merchandise into artwork and creating eye-catching installations to drive traffic. Even though retailers may not occupy the specific storefront, there is still high foot traffic in the area and significant value in the brand real estate of a prime storefront regardless. For example, a jewelry brand with an affluent, middle-aged audience may advertise in an empty space near a Lululemon or Apple store. According to AdAge, this new trend of renting vacant storefronts to advertisers can garner $25,000 - $30,000 from ads per month, and

landlords stand to receive a hefty percentage of that revenue. Despite changes in consumer behavior over the last year, the demise of commercial real estate and brick-and-mortar retail has been exaggerated. “Forty-six percent of respondents said that given the choice, they prefer to shop in person rather than online,” according to Raydiant’s second annual “State of Consumer Behavior Report.” More importantly, customers are more likely to make a purchase in a brick-and-mortar store. Best Buy found that 52% of those who shopped in-store bought a product compared to 36% of people who shopped online. Brands can capitalize on the strong desire of consumers to continue to physically visit their favorite stores. “Eighty percent of customers now consider the experience a company provides to be as important as its products and services,” according to Salesforce’s “State of the Connected Consumer.” Raydiant’s “State of Consumer Behavior Report” revealed that 90% of consumers are more likely to return to a store if they have a positive in-store experience, and 61% said they are likely to spend more money when enjoying a positive offline experience. The good news for retailers is that it is marginally more expensive to create an engaging in-store experience through graphics, architectural finishes and aesthetic touches. The potential return on investment is significant and it encourages repeat visits. While consumers crave an excuse to

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leave their house, that doesn’t mean they are leaving access to technology behind too. With the ubiquity of smart phones, having the ability to connect on-the-go is easier than ever. For example, when the W Hotel in Philadelphia was under construction, it teased their opening through various QR codes that directed passersby to a branded Spotify playlist created by local Philly DJ Joshua Lang. The W Hotel also incorporated a QR code that led to an Instagram Reel of personal trainers who were running fitness classes on-site. Adidas created an interactive digital window concept for their NEO teen fashion line that connected via Bluetooth to consumers’ smartphones, allowing them to experiment with various clothing pairings on a mannequin, showing that the possibilities are endless. Near Field Communication (NFC) tags can also be embedded in storefront graphics and retail displays, which allows a consumer to hold the phone over the tag and connect to a website, social media platform, video, content download or to receive an email. Where do you start? SpeedPro designs and implements large-format printing and graphics and offers digital signage to create a more dynamic advertising experience. A partnership with SpeedPro allows a company to translate its brand’s personality into a captivating design. Across the nation, SpeedPro offers expertise in developing images for windows, walls, floors, ceilings and anything else you can imagine. Whether you want to advertise in unique ways or need to generate additional revenue by developing your storefront into an attention-grabbing billboard, SpeedPro will partner with you to develop impactful graphics, displays and retail experiences. Contact SpeedPro today to learn how you can leverage state-of-the-art visual branding and

communication tools to accelerate your marketing and potentially generate unexpected revenue.

About SpeedPro SpeedPro specializes in transformation through large-format printing and graphics. SpeedPro’s expertise is in translating its client’s vision into flawless large-size graphics using the industry’s most innovative printing technologies. Whether you have print-ready artwork or you need to commission an original custom design, SpeedPro works with clients and marketing agencies of all sizes and industries Read More… to produce graphics and prints Find article at that add branded experiences PrintingNews. com/21157418 to retail windows, sports arena banners, event graphics, trade show displays, vehicle fleet wraps, wall murals and so much more. SpeedPro also recently launched a new proprietary technology called InfoLnkX, which is touchless smart signage technology that transmits information directly to a user’s phone simply by holding the device up to an embedded NFC chip without having to download an additional app. For more information, visit SpeedPro online at visit www.SpeedPro.com. ●

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TEXTILES ─ Year In Review

TEXTILES

YEAR IN

REVIEW There were challenges and successes. By Cary Sherburne

his year, 2021, has certainly had its ups and downs. We thought we had a handle on the pandemic, but surges kept coming. However, there were not as many lockdowns as we saw in 2020, and that reflects the fact that we are beginning to learn to live with the COVID-19 virus, which seems like it is not going away anytime soon. Meanwhile, the global supply chain, which was already under pressure even before the pandemic struck, has seen even more pressure. According to an Insider report from early October, nearly half a million 20-foot shipping containers — or about 12 million metric tons of goods — were waiting in drift areas and at anchor in Southern California alone, for spots to open up along the port to dock and unload. This glut is due to several factors – shortages of labor and ground transport, as well as the fact that container ships carry more containers than ever before, and ports simply are

not configured to handle the increased volume, even if labor and transport were available. It appears the end of the backlog is nowhere in sight. You can be sure that along with Christmas toys getting a lot of press, there are tons of textile and apparel products in those containers as well. This further cracking of a fragile global supply chain has moved brands and retailers to step up any plans they had for three to five years out, placing increased focus on this issue, including not only the shipping backlog, but the state of relationships with key offshore suppliers that were damaged as orders were cancelled and contracts were ignored during the height of the pandemic. There has also been increased interest in reshoring at least some production in Europe and North America. The UK seems to be leading the charge in this respect. The only way these developed countries can really compete is to implement more digital technologies.

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That’s been a boon to manufacturers of digital textile direct-to-fabric and direct-to-garment printers, who have been busy bringing new products and technologies to market. Here are a few of the highlights. Durst launched the 5 TEX iSUB textile printer with in-line sublimation and also garnered the prestigious Pinnacle InterTech Award for this product. At the heart of the Durst P5 TEX iSUB is the integrated inline fusing for direct printing on polyester fabrics. It is also suitable for printing to transfer paper. EFI Reggiani launched three new multi-pass printers this summer with a fourth expected before the end of the year, as well as significant updates to its single-pass BOLT. The new printers include BLAZE, designed to give textile companies the opportunity to enter the digital textile printing market with a compact solution; TERRA Silver, a pigment printer that debuted at FESPA; and HYPER, pegged by the company as the fastest multi-pass textile printer on the market. Epson brought a number of new products to market, most notably the SureColor F10070H 76-inch-wide dye sublimation printer, which the company says it is offering at a lower cost than comparable solutions. Kornit recently upped its direct-togarment (DTG) game with announcement of the Kornit Atlas MAX printer, incorporating new technology that allows much more detail to be printed on garments than before. MAX technology is expected to be available for direct-to-fabric printing in the future. The company is also expanding its footprint further across the workflow with acquisitions and organic development, including the acquisition of Voxel8 that adds 3D printing with special materials to fabric printing.

Mimaki continues to add to its portfolio of textile printers, with the addition of the TS100-1600 to its “100 series” portfolio. This affordable, high-quality system is ideal for printers looking to add their first digital sublimation printing solution or expand their production capacity. The company also launched the Tiger-1800B MkIII - the latest model of this high-speed, high-volume industrial textile printer range. Available as a high-quality directto-textile (reactive or direct sublimation) or sublimation transfer printing solution. Ricoh is showing off the latest version of its Ri 1000 Direct to Garment printer that now offers Film Transfer printing capabilities via its new Print Mode White, which is retrofittable to equipment already installed. Film Transfer printing benefits include working with materials that are not suitable for DTG such as water repelling surfaces and is suitable for both natural and synthetic fabrics. Roland DGA announced the launch of its new Texart XT-640S – a multi-station direct-to-garment printer. It can print on multiple T-shirts at the same time, or can be used for printing on items like towels, blankets, jeans, jackets, décor and more. Along with the introduction of new printing equipment, suppliers to the industry are also introducing new inks (with a focus on pigment inks), coatings, fibers, software and workflow solutions, cutting and sewing solutions and more. All of which are expected to experience good growth as the market turns to digital textile printing to enhance production of at least some of its volume – still a single-digit percentage of overall printed fabrics, but a percentage we hope to see experience a growth spurt over the next year or two. And fabric printing is not the only segment to benefit from reshoring and

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TEXTILES ─ Year In Review

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21157318

digital technologies. The nonwovens market has seen a boost, initially due to increased demand for PPE during the pandemic. But the industry is also finding lots of new uses for nonwoven products, and we understand that some of the abandoned textile factories that resulted from the move to offshore manufacturing toward the end of the last century have now been refitted as manufacturing for nonwovens. Knitting is another area of advances. Evolution St. Louis is a great example of a company that is taking advantage of the latest in flatbed knitting technology to help brands and retailers bring production back to the United States. “Prior to COVID-19, over 95% of clothes sold in the United States were imported from overseas,” according to the company. “ The pandemic disrupted production and shipping overseas, with billions of dollars of clothing orders canceled and countless brickand-mortar stores closed in the past 12 months. Evolution St. Louis’ industryleading flatbed knitting machines can produce whole garments, knit-to-shape, fully fashioned knits and complex shapes, as well as footwear, smart and technical textiles. The company also offers fullpackage services, including raw material sourcing, merchandising, technical design and product engineering. Linking, sewing, finishing and on-site inventory, logistics, packing and shipping are available.” Another notable development was the acquisition of digital textile printer Spoonflower by Shutterfly, adding increased access to digitally printed textile products for the Shutterfly community while also offering cross-selling opportunities for both organizations. Apparel is not the only segment benefiting from this rise in interest in digital

technologies. According to Trends Market Research, the global home textile products market size is predicted to reach $145 billion by 2030 and anticipated to grow at a rate of 5.7% during the forecast period 2021 to 2030. “I did a study recently around sustainability and looked at the rates of refresh of apartments and houses,” WhatTheyThink Contributor David Zwang said. “It’s fairly significant, especially when you get into the cities. The availability of marble and wood and all these other things is increasingly more difficult and expensive. You can do a hell of a lot more with ink and with inkjet in terms of creating a lot of this. So from a décor standpoint, I expect that to go a lot faster in terms of growth.” Another sign we are learning to live with the virus is the back-to-inperson-events trend. China basically never stopped having in-person events, although some were delayed. Most recently, FESPA was held in Amsterdam and by all accounts was extremely well-attended. In case you missed it, you’ll also want to listen to our Textiles Update webinar that was conducted in July of 2021. We focused on the growing trend for takeback programs, resale of gently used items, recycling and upcycling which we believe will be of growing importance in 2022 and beyond. The last two years clearly presented challenges for the textiles and apparel industry, but it also stimulated new opportunities and an increased focus on sustainability. Looking ahead to 2022, expect to see even more new developments, especially an increase in the launch and use of a wide variety of digital technologies that will help move the industry to a true 21st century global participant. ●

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ASSOCIATION INSIGHTS ─ APTech

WAITING AND MAINTAINING APTech Looks Forward to Gradual Return to In-Person Events in 2022

n the final quarter of 2021, we are still seeing the capricious nature of the pandemic and how it can impact the return to live industry gatherings – with a number of those planned ending in cancellation. For now, APTech is observing, waiting and maintaining a digital focus to our programs for the remainder of 2021, but we, like so many of you, look forward to connecting faceto-face again. So, we’re cautiously planning for a gradual return to in-person events in the new year. APTech held several successful online events this year, including our well-attended Variable Data Print & Mail Summit virtual event held in April. Our Master Class series held classes in Master the Art of Selling and Wide-Format Business, each course lasting six weeks with online instruction from industry experts, while we also held several webinars and podcasts. Our Advanced Leadership Program in partnership with George Mason University School of Business Executive Development department ran for its second year in August. This year’s cohort of 17 will graduate in early November. Congratulations to all who participated! “A Creative Approach to Selling Your Business: Capitalizing on the Latest M&A Trends,” Dec. 2, 2 - 3 p.m., is a webinar for those thinking about selling their printing, packaging or display graphics company. M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) experts in the printing, packaging and display graphics industries, Peter Schaefer and Jim Russell of New Direction Partners will discuss the steps potential sellers need to take as they plan for a sale. APTech is delighted to return to in-person events in 2022, joining forces with the Foil and Specialty Effects Association (FSEA) to present Amplify, an exhibition and educational program spotlighting the entire print finishing value chain. This three-day experience is set to take place at the Minneapolis Convention Center, June 14-16, 2022, and will provide an excellent opportunity for

printers, finishers and designRead More… ers to gain critical insights into Find article at the everchanging and evolvPrintingNews. ing world of print, finishing com/21157420 and techniques for designing with these new possibilities. Amplify will provide an interactive learning experience event that will allow attendees to explore new processes during “Technology Zone” demonstrations and discover new techniques to deliver products to market faster than ever. APTech is also developing plans for 2022 educational program-

ming and events, including new live events with a twist. These programs bring together the community of marketing professionals APTech has built through its award-winning EDgage and Wellness Marketer vertical platforms. Of course, we’ll share these as and when they become firmed up. If you have any questions about the Association for Print Technologies, our programs and member companies, please visit our website at: printtechnologies.org, or contact us by phone: 703/2647200 or email: aptech@aptech.org. ●

Thayer Long is president of the Association for Print Technologies (APTech) and serves as president of the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF).

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TEXTILES ─ New Products

EFI REGGIANI

UPDATE Adele Genoni of EFI Reggiani talks about the latest new products to hit the market. By Cary Sherburne

W Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21156875

e recently spoke with Adele Genoni, senior vice president and general manager at EFI Reggiani, to get the latest information on what the company has been up to. Despite the pandemic, it doesn’t seem that R&D efforts have slowed down, with three new products Adele announced in Genoni just the past few months. Printing News: Adele, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today, and congratulations on EFI Reggiani’s 75th Anniversary! Adele Genoni: Thanks, Cary. The team did an amazing job during the pandemic, and we wanted to make this year, our 75th Anniversary, a special year. We have been able to launch three new products in the last few months, and we will have a fourth later this year! PN: The most recent launch was the EFI Reggiani HYPER. Can you explain a little bit

about that product and why you brought it to market? AG: The HYPER is targeting the high end of the scan industrial segment in the textile world. It’s not only the fastest multi-pass textile printer in the world, its quality and speed are unmatched in the market as well. It is another milestone in our story, after we launched our singlepass industrial textile printer, the BOLT, a couple years ago. PN: When you say the HYPER is fast, what does that equate to in linear meters per hour? AG: It prints at more than 13 linear meters per minute in 1.5m width. You can also run a HYPER 340 with two 1.5meter rolls of fabric and reach a speed of 20 meters per minute, which is comparable to some single-pass printers currently on the market and with a more convenient price than the low-end single-pass printers at the same speed. We think it is a very interesting opportunity to help our customers speed up the digital transformation and really boost their success. That is our target every day. PN: What ink types and colors does it feature? AG: The HYPER incorporates a new printhead that for the moment is only

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being used by us, and it has eight colors. We are in the process of scaling up and testing all of our ink sets. Reactive inks are already fully tested and approved. Once we finish our extensive testing, there is no reason why all ink classes should not be available for the HYPER, including pigment inks. PN: I’m sure you have been talking with customers about the HYPER and beta tests as well. What has been the market response? AG: The market reaction has been incredible. We have already signed four contracts, going into Pakistan, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. The pipeline is very long, and there is huge interest in this printer. It proves that we have identified and addressed the specific needs of the industrial customer base. PN: I understand you are attending FESPA this year but will be taking another of your new printers to the show. AG: Yes, we are participating in FESPA; it is an important stage for the textile arena. And we are bringing our new EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver to the show that we launched back in June. It is the ideal solution to get into the industrial printing segment with a short, smart and green process thanks to our TERRA pigment with binder technology. We have enhanced our performance in pigment inks as well, in terms of color intensity. We believe the customers visiting FESPA will be very interested to see the new TERRA Silver and will appreciate all of the properties that pigment ink can provide – less water, less energy, less waste and can print on almost any fabric. This is also a strong message about our focus on sustainability. PN: Have you placed any of the TERRA Silver printers in the market since its launch in June?

Two views of the EI Reggiani HYPER 340.

AG: We already have several contracts in place. The TERRA Silver is part of our lineup of pigment printers, and we have installed pigment printers in nearly 20 countries. That means that customers can see the printers in action near them. PN: The other printer you launched this year is the BLAZE, which was a very fast entry-level printer. How is that one doing in the marketplace? AG: It’s going very well. We are also looking to develop a distributor channel for this product. For companies entering the digital fabric printing space, this

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TEXTILES ─ New Products

The new EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver and BLAZE printers.

is the printer for them. It is very flexible and can have up to eight passes, providing a wide range of possibilities in terms of designs to be printed. We know that this kind of flexibility is crucial, especially for customers taking their first steps with an industrial textile printer. It includes a lot of the technologies Reggiani has developed for our higher end printers, like the continuous ink recirculation system, and it’s easy to operate. PN: It’s been interesting to watch the progress of the industry over the last several months. There were lots of struggles during the pandemic, but perhaps one of the things the pandemic has done is help to accelerate things like reshoring and digital transformation. Tell us what you are seeing in general out there. AG: We are seeing some progress in the digital transformation, but it is not happening at the speed that everyone wanted to see. We are hearing from organizations that monitor the market that a full recovery should occur next year. For us, this year is going to be a good year, and we are expecting to come back to normal

business-wise. We have seen an acceleration in the adoption of digital textile printing, but it has been more in the direct-togarment segment; but direct-to-fabric is now starting to come back. Certainly, COVID spurred the digital transformation for those players that were already operating online, while the traditional textile business was more affected. But now they are starting to recover as well. PN: Well, let’s hope that the rest of the industry follows your lead in terms of bringing new products to market, and that we get back to pretty much normal by 2022 and get rid of this terrible virus, or at least get to a place where we can live with it. AG: Absolutely. I feel like we are getting back to normal, and these three launches have attracted a lot of attention. Plus, we are having success with the BOLT, planning to deliver three printers in the fourth quarter of this year. So that is a really good sign of recovery for the industry, because during COVID, there was a lot of overcapacity in the market and that slowed down placements for the BOLT in particular. PN: Finally, I understand you will be heading to Las Vegas in January for EFI Connect. AG: Yes, we are planning EFI Connect in the middle of January as always. At this time, we are targeting an in-person event, and that would be really amazing, to be able to see our friends and customers and be able to speak in person. It will be exciting. PN: Thanks for speaking with us. We’ll look forward to hearing about another new printer launch later this year! ●

Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries.

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REANIMATING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Continued from page 41

LEADERSHIP can disempower their people by allowing the root of old culture to remain. Transformation to an accountable, customerexperience-driven organization is serious work. It requires an unwavering constancy to purpose through challenges and victorwwies. Rooting out the old attitudes and habits will take time, patience and grace. Reinforce positive change by creating cultural recognition and awards for transformative behavior, and the new roots of accountable culture

will begin to grow and spread. Alexander the Great famously said, “Don’t fear an army of lions led by a sheep, but fear an army of sheep led by a lion.” The obvious progression of the metaphor is to tremble at an army of lions led by a lion! As the lion, guide your team on the transformative journey to radical ownership of outcomes. Success depends upon your leadership, and your leadership success will infuse accountability into the DNA of the organization. ●

PRODUCTION INKJET Continued from page 11

than any of the other comparable cut sheet production inkjet presses. Koenig and Bauer Durst VariJET 106 – was officially released in 2021. It combines inkjet with inline finishing capabilities based on the proven Rapida platform, and is designed to handle commercial print or folding carton production. It supports aqueous-based four-color inks and is prepared for up to seven colors. It currently prints at 5,500 sph at 1200x1200 dpi with Fuji Dimatix Samba print heads. On the lower cost end of the cut sheet inkjet press market is the Powered by Memjet FireJet 4C Press from Kirk-Rudy. It is a unique heavy-duty fullcolor inkjet printing system that is designed for production environments and handles a wide variety of applications from bags, envelopes and sheets, to

napkins, coasters and more, making it the most universal low-cost inkjet system on the market today. So while we didn’t get to attend live events in 2021 that would showcase these important new technologies, most of them are available, and as the press manufacturers would say: “They are taking orders.” Hopefully as 2022 finally puts pandemic constraints behind us, we will be able to see these and additional newly designed presses at events and in the wild.

More to Come … I would like to address your interests and concerns in future articles as it relates to the manufacturing of Print, Packaging and Labels. Please feel free to contact me at david@zwang.com with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications. ●

ACCESS EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS, INDUSTRY DATA, AND MARKET INTELLIGENCE IMPORTANT TO INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES. Member benefits include: Unbiased, real-time Market Intelligence, Industry, Economic and Trend Analysis, peer-to-peer communication, special reports, webinars and the largest database of industry products.

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WIDE FORMAT AND SIGNAGE ─ Year In Review Continued from page 49

Epson introduced the next generation of SureColor T-Series printers for the AEC markets, featuring six 24-, 36- and 44-inch models. Fujifilm launched the next-gen Acuity Ultra R2, available in 3.2m and 5m versions, and the new Acuity Prime, which can print up to 4 feet by 8 feet and 2 inches Fujifilm Acuity Prime. thick, featuring the new FUJIFILM Uvijet HM ink system, formulated to provide excellent adhesion to a broad range of substrates with a wide color gamut. HP launched a new Latex portfolio, comprising four different 64-inch-wide units, the HP Latex 700, HP Latex 700W, HP Latex 800 and HP Latex 800W. These units come with an option for printing white ink, long on users’ wish lists for HP’s new Latex portfolio Latex. LogoJET launched two new next-generation foodsafe printers, the FSR30 and FSR90 printers, designed to print photo-quality full-color images on foods. The FSR30 can print on items up to 2.5 inches thick, and the FSR90 can print on items up to 6 inches thick. LogoJET FSR30 food-safe printer Mimaki launched four new UJF Series printers—the UJF7151 Plus II, and three new UJF-MkII e Series models—designed for direct-to-object printing, featuring a larger print space and support for heavier objects. The company also added two new LED-UV large-format flatbed inkjet printers, the 2.5m x 1.3m x 6cm JFX600-2513 and the JFX5502513, based on Mimaki’s seventh-generation UV print technology. Onyx Graphics announced Mimaki UJF-7151 its ONYX 21.1, the latest version of the company’s flagship wide-format RIP and print workflow software, featuring an all-new PDF Soft Proof workflow and Print Label Cut Path

functionality. RGB soft proofs can be easily generated on the fly or automated using ONYX Quick Sets for a quick visual reference of final output before printing. Onyx also launched ONYX Go, a new subscription RIP solution that offers a month-to-month, nocontract, full-featured ONYX RIP with up to four Adobe PDF Print Engines (APPE), Job Editor to edit files before printing, unlimited roll-to-roll cutter support for complete Print-and-Cut workflows, and supports up to two printers. Roland DGA VersaSTUDIO BN-20A desktop printer/cutter, a CMYK-only “business in a box” for $4,995. Roland also launched its new VersaUV LEC2 S-Series UV flatbeds designed for direct-to-object printing, available in 64-inch and 30-inch widths. As if that weren’t enough, on the rollfed side, Roland also introduced its new 64-inch VersaUV LEC2-640 Roland VersaSTUDIO BN-20A and 30-inch VersaUV desktop printer/cutter. LEC2-330, next-generation UV printer/cutters designed for label, packaging, sign, display and interior décor production. On the finishing side, Roland has also added the 64-inch GR2-640 and 54-inch GR2-540 large-format vinyl cutters to its CAMM-1 series. SAi released Flexi 21, the latest version of its flagship signmaking software. Amongst many other features, it now supports multi-layer/white and varnish ink layered printing, variable-data printing, jig templates for direct-to-object printing, custom inksets and G7 Certification. In the digital signage arena, Sharp NEC Display Solutions partnered with Avery Dennison to introduce ActiveScene, which combines Avery Dennison’s Vela Dynamic System and NEC projection technology, to provide a comprehensive A/V solution to transform existing windows into engaging, eye-catching displays. swissQprint flatbed generation 4 features new printheads for a maximum resolution of 1350 dpi and ultrahigh-precision droplet Sharp NEC and Avery Dennison’s placement.

ActiveScene

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Continued from page 23

has taken on an entirely new meaning for companies that use direct mail to attract new business – or grow customer wallet-share. Providing a multitouch, engaging and relevant omni-channel experience is a communication opportunity every step of the way throughout the customer acquisition journey.

The Importance of Workflow and Automation The third communication trend has to do with intra-business communications – wherein all the systems that help your business function, communicate with each other to provide you with the real-time data insights and dashboards you need to make smart business decisions. This includes your CRM, MIS, W2P, marketing and/or sales automation platforms, analytics engines and so on. While each of these systems has a different function, the better the data, the better they can communicate that data among one another. At drupa’s virtual 2021 conference, one of the biggest topics was workflow automation. The top four reasons to automate print production workflow are: ● Workflow automation raises the productivity and profitability of your company. ● An investment in the right software increases your output. ● Workflow automation enables the increase of volume of shorter run work. ● It’s easier to avoid bottlenecks. For example, CRMs that are setup and used properly, provide the ability to track prospects and leads throughout their buying journey. Having insights to customer and prospect relationships aligned to sales funnels and pipelines enables marketers to plan, execute and monitor their email marketing campaigns and get insights into the metrics that would help improve performance. Another example is print MIS. By automating the workflow process, MIS software allows for greater productivity, quicker turnout, and less downtime. In other words, both you and the customer can get things

done quicker – from estimating all the way through to shipping and invoicing. With proper workflow and automation, your customer is kept in the loop and feels reassured about their job in production. When workflow is efficient, their questions are answered with ease. Your CSRs can spend less time looking for information - and more time helping your customer - and growing your share of wallet. “Selection and effective implementation of a print MIS solution is arguably one of the most important decisions a printing business will make,” said Cary Sherburne, WhatTheyThink Senior Editor and author of the white paper: “Five Keys to a Successful Print ERP/MIS Implementation.” When systems like CRM and MIS communicate data with each other, the points where engagement is most needed can be automatically flagged, or entirely automated. These triggers and alerts can be set for notification of inventory levels, equipment malfunctions and even customer communications. The ability to automate marketing and communications has become integral in delivering a comprehensive omni-channel experience that encompasses digital, social and even print touchpoints throughout the customer journey.

Shifting from Commodity to Communications These trends illustrate a transition away from print as a commodity toward one that establishes print as a high-value, touch-oriented communication channel – and the perfect complement to digital acquisition strategies. Moving toward a customer experience management (CXM) mindset helps the print industry position itself as a communications channel, primed to deliver the experience that today’s buyers expect. Further, it shows an incredible adaptability and capacity to innovate not only products, but the nature of the print industry itself. ●

Joanne Gore is founder of Joanne Gore Communications. She has spent the last three decades helping companies maximize their marketing and communications efforts. Contact Joanne at joanne@joannegorecommunications.com.

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DIRECT MAIL ─ Compu-Mail Continued from page 43

The Right Tools for the Job Two years ago, Compu-Mail also provided offset printing with over 250 employees. They recognized that inkjet was the future of printing for their business, and so it was time to refocus. Today, after divesting that offset-driven part of the business, they operate with a little over 100 employees and a much better configuration of equipment and personnel to support their growing business and clients. About 65% of their production is direct marketing and 35% is transactional. Their staffing is designed for maximum efficiency, with about 60% dedicated to production, 10 to programming and technical services, with five salespeople and 10 account executives who work daily with their clients. They work with four different call centers that handle the majority of their inbound and outbound program calls, and they have an internal call center group that supports “boutique programs.” Their original digital press configuration included a variety of electrophotographic continuous feed and sheetfed presses. About five years ago, they introduced inkjet with the addition of a Canon VarioPrint i300 cut sheet press and a couple of short web presses. Recently, they added two Canon VarioPrint iX presses to take advantage of the higher quality and introduce more flexibility with substrates. Vitch noted that while they saw very good uptime with the i300, the iX is even better, and when it comes down to it, it’s about keeping the machine running. The iX includes larger input trays to allow the operator to load up the machine. So if it keeps running with minimal operator intervention, they can reduce the need for a roll-fed press. Although, should the need arise, they will add additional continuous feed web presses. They believe in automation, and have a full complement of software on premise and in the cloud. Since many customers transmit files overnight, and have requirements to be in the mail that day, they have to be able to automate and accommodate many different

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types of client systems. Almost all of those systems have different software. So they even have products that can take native PDFs, strip the PDF apart, pull out data, sort it for postal automation, put it back together and print it in order. That way they get the best postal discount without changing that statement or the way it looks. This is an automated process with very little operator intervention, other than maybe to load paper, unload paper, quality control reporting, etc. Many clients supply personal data. So CompuMail became an SOC 3 business and are audited. Their data security is so tight that people can’t carry cell phones into their facility.

It’s about flexibility and quality. Their business philosophy is really about flexibility in offer and value add. They don’t want to be a commodRead More… ity printer that competes in a Find article at PrintingNews. race to the bottom. Vitch has com/21155998 been in the business a long time, and sees that customers want quality vendors. They want to work with the best, to know that their work is being done in the best way possible, and that their partner has a commitment to do things at a high level. All of their employees are tasked with quality control, and they pay their employees well with good benefits to ensure that.

David Zwang specializes in process analysis, and strategic development of firms involved in publishing and packaging across the globe. Contact him at david@zwang.com.

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | November/December 2021

10/27/21 11:45 AM

Advertorial

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Read More… Find article at PrintingNews.com/21157458

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10/27/21 11:33 AM

JOHNSON’S WORLD ─ Be An Advocate For Print

WARMING UP TO COLOR “Unsettled” is a great book, but the graphs miss the color mark.

re you concerned about global warming? Many people are in an absolute tizzy about it. Al Gore, who has made his living off global warming, warned us at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit of a “75% chance that the entire polar ice cap during some of the summer months could be completely ice free within five to seven years.” Oops. On the other hand, perhaps you find the alarm over global warming to be much ado about nothing, or worse yet, a plot to destroy the world economy. Both opinions are well represented and extremely vocal on social media. Using tweets of one, two or three sentences, advocates for either extreme misquote, distort or outright fabricate evidence to suit their beliefs. These folks gain applause from their fellow devotees, draw upon themselves the wrath of the opposite camp, and certainly annoy folks like me, who are on Facebook mostly to look at pictures of grandchildren. Enter into the fray Dr. Steven E Koonin, professor at New York University, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and Undersecretary of Energy for Science during the Obama administration. He’s written a book titled “Unsettled.” I highly recommend it. Professor Koonin has taken vast amounts of very complex information and distilled it down to 300 or so eminently readable pages about climate science and the disciplines which comprise it. Koonin has a gift for making the complex understandable. Not simple, because it isn’t simple (despite what the twits on Twitter would have us believe) but comprehendible without a doctorate in physics or meteorology. Facts: He inundates us with facts, backed up by studies sited in 25 pages of footnotes. And the graphs. Oh, those graphs. If a picture is worth a thousand words, Koonin is an artist. The 70+ graphs visually

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present the data he uses to make his points. For those who tend to get lost in a sea of data, graphs are immensely helpful to literally illustrate the information. Alas, there is a drawback. Each graph contains a tremendous amount of information. Different tint screens, dashes, dots, solids and varying line thicknesses are all tools employed to add clarity. Mass market books, remember, are almost always Read More… printed in black ink on Find article at PrintingNews. uncoated paper. The techcom/21157522 niques enumerated above are needed because as Henry Ford was quoted as saying, “You may have any color you want, as long as it is black.” What a shame. The use of color would have gone far toward making the graphs clearer, more intuitive and less cluttered. I don’t fault the author; I’m sure he had nothing to do with the decision. The use of color is a matter of cost between the publisher and the printer. The publisher, BenBella Books, purports to be “a marketing-focused, author-friendly publishing house.” Perhaps, but they sure missed a chance to make a great book even better. Most publishers aren’t interested in their printer’s opinion, but this was an opportunity for the printer to make a point, differentiate, assume a consultative role, and add value… even if a suggestion to add color was not acted upon by the publisher. When a genuine reason to add color appears, especially where it is not normally used, jump in! Make the case. Be an advocate for color and for print. ●

Steve Johnson is a successful print owner and digital pioneer. Each month in Johnson’s World, he offers up his take on the day-to-day world of graphic communications.

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | November/December 2021

10/27/21 11:31 AM

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