Printing News October 2019 by WhatTheyThink

OCTOBER 2019

14 P roduction Inkjet: Welcome to the Revolution—Let’s Talk Corrugated 20 C yber Risk Management in the Printing Industry 36 H eat Transfer Dye Sublimation: The Next Profit Opportunity for Commercial and Display Graphics Printers

Eye on Production Inkjet p.8

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VP, GROUP PUBLISHER Kelley Holmes kelley@whattheythink.com 772-579-7360 PRODUCTION EDITOR & MANAGER

Amy Hahn amy@whattheythink.com

EDITOR Jessica Taylor jessica@whattheythink.com MANAGING EDITOR Richard Romano richard@whattheythink.com SENIOR EDITOR Cary Sherburne cary@whattheythink.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Paul Zimmerman paul@whattheythink.com 973-727-1376 PRESIDENT Eric Vessels eric@whattheythink.com 740-417-3333 COO Adam Dewitz adam@whattheythink.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tom Crouser Jennifer Matt Christine Erna Mary Schilling Dave Fellman Heidi Tolliver-Walker John Giles Deb Thompson Elizabeth Gooding David Zwang CREATIVE SERVICES Bobbi Burow, CreativityTank LLC bobbi.burow@gmail.com SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE For change of address or subscription information email: help@whattheythink.com Published by WTT Media, Inc. 2038 Ford Parkway #218, Saint Paul, MN 55116 ARTICLE REPRINTS Please contact your account executive PrintingNews.com 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 500850) Volume 43, Number 1 is published ten times per year in January/February, March, April, May, June/July, August, September, October, November, and 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 © 2019 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.

One Year Later O

n the first anniversary of the acquisition of Printing News and joining WhatTheyThink as a partner, I find myself reflecting over the past year and even over the span of my 27 year career in this industry. It’s been a banner year and a real blessing to work with this team. After the acquisition, we immediately tackled the business issues that were challenging the 90-year-old Printing News. Resources are extremely valuable in business, and not one department is the same today. First and foremost, our editorial team is now second to none. It is really a gift to plan, execute and complete every print issue we publish with the group of talented journalists displayed on the masthead of this magazine (see page four). We invested in software and tools that allow for open team communication and sharing of information across departments, including a new workflow for design and magazine production. We perfected marketing, sales and technical platforms to reach the speed at which business takes place - real time. PrintingNews.com was relaunched on an upgraded platform with a complete redesign, and we added Amy Hahn in the role of Production Editor to free up our industry experts to do what they do best: analyze, study data and trends and write about the issues facing our industry on a daily basis. The WhatTheyThink Daily continues to 4

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bring you the news first thing in the morning in a succinct, easyto-read format while our content oriented Newsletters launch in the afternoon. The Video analysis continues with the best daily video coverage featuring our industry experts and analysts as well as news and how-to video from industry vendors. Printing News & Wide-Format & Signage magazines were combined under the WhatTheyThink brand to create a larger print publication to share the valuable content from each with more pages. We continue to make improvements in the production quality of our magazine editions: higher print quality, better paper and premium coatings. We closely examined our print magazine lists to make sure every penny we spend on this most valuable informational asset is reaching the best of the best in the markets we serve to help educate and drive businesses forward. And we won’t stop here. Keep an eye on our plans for the future of independent journalism while we continue to add new business opportunities to the mix. We are going to push magazine publishing to its limits. We would love to hear about your success stories from 2019. Why? Because we are a print buyer and print matters. PrintingNews. com/21086777 ■

Kelley Holmes VP, Group Publisher kelley@whattheythink.com

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CONTENTS

OCTOBER 2019

PRINTING NEWS COVER STORY

8 Production Inkjet Tradeshow Shopping Guide Mary Schilling and Elizabeth Gooding 14 Production Inkjet: Welcome to the Revolution David Zwang

58 Have You Been Ghosted? Debra Thompson

18 The Primary Reason Print Software Gets Thrown Out Jennifer Matt

60 Printing By Numbers Richard Romano

20 Cyber Risk Management in the Printing Industry Kevin Keane

63 QR Codes, Marketing and New Business John Giles

24 Executive Q&A: Gavin Jordan-Smith David Zwang

66 ISA: Print Innovations Drive Opportunity to Growth Lori Anderson

28 Dynamic Data in Direct Mail Christine Erna

30 Got Sustainability? Pebble Post Says Print Does Heidi Tolliver-Walker

Departments

32 How Are Consumers Engaging with Digital Content? Heidi Tolliver-Walker

48 Wide-Format & Signage

4 Editorial 34 Watch List: Video Products 64

Classifieds/Supplier Directory

WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE 36 Heat Transfer Dye Sublimation Cary Sherburne

42 M anaging Material Costs and Increasing Prices: A Key Driver of Profitability Catherine Monson 44 SGIA: Finding the Best Products Kate Achelpohl 50 Wide Receivers: A Flatbed Applications Photo Gallery Richard Romano

54 6

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54 WTIN Shares Insights on Smart Textiles for Fashion, Entertainment, Lifestyle Cary Sherburne

In the Know- Events Print19 Printing United 2019

October 3-5 October 23–25

Search for us… twitter:

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Printing News; wideformatsignage @whattheythink linkedin:

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DIGITAL & INKJET

Production Inkjet Tradeshow

Shopping Guide

What to look for in entry-level and maximum productivity inkjets this year. Article by Mary Schilling and Elizabeth Gooding

eptember brings colorful foliage to New England and kicks of a series of printing trades shows throughout the U.S. including thINK Forum in Boca Raton, Print 19 in Chicago and Printing United in Dallas. If you are in the market to purchase a production inkjet device in 2019, these are great opportunities to kick the tires, network with current customers and negotiate a great fourth quarter deal. Trade shows can be overwhelming, so we want to help you use your time wisely by providing an overview of trends and options in various aspects of the production inkjet market. Whether you are looking for web-fed or sheet-fed, entry-level or topproductivity models, you should be aware of some devices and trends.

You Don’t Need to Be Big to Buy Inkjet Anymore There are a range of inkjet devices priced at around $1 million, and a few for close to half that price. The challenge for many first-time buyers

at this level is to find the best fit. Should they stay with the format, web or sheet, that they have now, or are there dynamics that make it more economical to switch? Let’s look at entry level devices you are likely to see at trade events this year in the entry-level price range:

Maximum Productivity Models There is a very wide range in productivity among inkjet devices, and to really take on the commercial market they must continue to get even faster. To be considered at “maximum productivity” in production inkjet today, a continuous device must deliver at least 2000 U.S. letter images per minute, and there are several on our list with more than double that productivity level. Starting costs for these solutions is $2.5 million (based on two engines). Since it’s not possible to cover every device in a single article, we have focused on entry level and maximum productivity offers that are likely to be on display at trade events in 2019. Detailed information on all production OEMs and their devices

Elizabeth Gooding

Mary Schilling

Elizabeth Gooding helps companies to streamline their business process, improve customer retention, and maximize new opportunities for document design, print and Internet technology. Contact her at Elizabeth@inkjetinsight.com .

Mary Schilling is co-owner of www.InkjetInsight.com and the owner of www. SchillingInkjetConsulting. com. She consults with paper mills, fluid and inkjet machinery suppliers and end users. She writes technical inkjet industry and training articles.

is available on the Inkjet Insight Device Finder. As you plan out your tradeshow visits, take a look at the exhibitor list and research devices in advance. As you research devices, here are a few trends to keep in mind.

B1 Sheet-fed is Here and Getting Faster High productivity, traditionally the domain of continuous inkjet, is now available in B1 sheet format, but you won’t see them on any show floors in 2019. Landa Nanography launched the S10, which produces 6500 simplex B1 sheets per hour. It offers up to seven colors (CMYK +OGB) and is an actual “press” that jets ink onto a blanket that then transfers it to the substrate. Concentrated offset inks are mixed with water using a computer-controlled ink system, and Fujifilm Dimatix Samba heads deliver 1200 x1200 dpi output. Currently targeting demanding folding carton applications plus simplex commercial applications, the S10P perfecting press due later this year, will open many additional high-color, high-quality applications segments. Productivity enhancements are under way to deliver approximately 9,000 sheets per hour (original estimate was 13,000 sheets per hour) which would bring the Sheet-fed S10P into the productivity realm of mid-range continuous feed printers. Komori partnered with Landa in the development of this press and will be launching their own version with

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DIGITAL & INKJET some Komori-specific features under the Impremia NS40 label at drupa. Starting costs for a perfecting B1 sheet fed solution can be double that of a high-volume continuous solution, but the substrate options and ink coverage limits are much greater.

Screen Truepress Jet520NX EN 246 FPM Continuous/Roll fed Introduced in 2019, the Truepress Jet520NX EN is the new entry-level version of the popular Truepress Jet520NX. With a price tag of under a million, before optional finishing, and leveraging the same printhead module, control technologies and transfer system as Screen’s mid-range system, the EN model is a fit for smaller commercial, book and direct mail operations. The EN has a maximum resolution of 600 x 600 (versus 600 x 1200 for NX) with four gray levels and a MICR option. Monochrome versions of the EN are also available.

BlueCrest Accelejet 328 FPM Roll to Sheet Accelejet is rollto-sheet production inkjet device targeted at production printing of Direct Marketing Self Mailers and Traditional Transaction Print. It uses aqueous pigment ink with five gray levels and 600 x 600 DPI.

Inkjet on Offset Coated is Here OEMs are finding new and ingenious ways to delivery high quality on more substrates, including gloss coated offset. Canon has done this with hybrid aqueous ink and ColorGrip on their VarioPrint and

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Continue on page 13

Xerox Baltoro 15120 sheets/hr B3+ Sheet The Baltoro, launched in June 2019, represents a new, internally sourced inkjet platform from Xerox. Leveraging aqueous pigment inks and Xerox W-series print heads with 1200x1200 dpi resolution and two gray levels (one drop size), the Baltoro will print on uncoated stocks and inkjet optimized stocks up to 270 gsm. Baltoro is targeting transaction printing, direct marketing and commercial market segments. Komori Impremia IS29 3000 simplex sheets/hr B2 Sheet The Impremia IS29 did not start off as an entry-level device, but pricing has come down since introduction. Using UV inks, the IS29 eliminates many media limitations inherent with aqueous inks, expanding the range of offset coated and uncoated media up to 600 microns or approximately 540 gsm along with textured and embossed paper, paper board and many synthetics. With 1200 x 1200 dpi and eight gray levels, the device is capable of stunning color with durable output required for high-end direct marketing and commercial jobs. The B2 sheet size is a natural for companies moving from a half-size offset press to digital.

Canon VarioPrint i300 8500 sheets/hr B3+ Sheet The VarioPrint i300 uses Océ iQuarius inks and ColorGrip primer to print on a wide array of media including some offset coated papers. It offers 600 x 600 dpi resolution and four gray levels to tackle applications from transaction printing, forms and books to direct mail and marketing collateral.

ProStream models. Ricoh and Screen are delivering great results on offset coated without the use of precoating based on ink formulation, drying and other inkjet magic. Komori and Konica Minolta can support an even

RISO VALEZUS T2100 19200 sheets/hr B3 Sheet The Valezus T2100, announced in August 2019, is a sheetfed production inkjet device targeting Direct Mail, Direct Marketing – Self Mailers, Traditional Transaction Print and Transitional Mail. It uses five colors of oil-based pigment ink in CMYK plus a gray. CMY and G print at 300 x 300 dpi in standard mode, or 600 x300dpi in fine mode, while black is always 600 x 600 dpi. October 2019 WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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DIGITAL & INKJET

Canon Océ JetStream 4300 Wide Mono & Full Color 656 FPM Continuous/Roll fed The JetStream 4300 is also focused on transaction printing, mono direct mail and form printing, and uses aqueous dye ink, however the 4300 delivers 600 x 600 dpi at approximately 80% the speed of the 5500.

Kodak Prosper 6000P 1000 FPM Continuous/Roll fed There are multiple models of the Prosper 6000 series that have been proven in the market for several years. Unlike most of the competition, Kodak uses continuous stream inkjet technology rather than drop on demand. Heads jet aqueous pigment CMYK inks with a top resolution of 600 x 900. Kodak has targeted high-volume book and commercial markets with both mono and color variations of this press.

Landa Nanography S10 6500 sheets/hr B1 Sheet The S10 is a simplex device offering up to seven colors (CMYK +OGB) and is an actual “press” that jets ink onto a blanket that then transfers it to the substrate. Concentrated offset inks are mixed with water using a computer-controlled ink system and Fujifilm Dimatix Samba heads deliver 1200x1200 dpi output. Currently targeting demanding folding carton applications plus simplex commercial applications, the S10P perfecting press, due later this year, will open many additional high-color, high-quality applications segments. A coating unit can be added that supports both aqueous and UV coatings. Productivity enhancements are under way to deliver approximately 9,000 sheets per hour (original estimate was 13,000 sheets per hour) which would bring the sheet fed S10P into the productivity realm of mid-range continuous feed printers with more colors and without the media limitations inherent in continuous devices. Note that Komori, who partnered with Landa in the development of this press will be launching their own version under the NS40 label at drupa 2020. HP PageWide Web Press T490M HD and M(Mono) 1000 FPM Performance mode Continuous/Roll fed The T490M HD is the most productive of the HP T400 series of printers and is available in mono and full color versions. It uses thermal drop-on-demand print head technology at 1200 x 1200 dpi, aqueous pigment ink and optional bonding agent. The device can be configured for a range of segments including from transaction printing and books to high-color direct marketing, and commercial print. It will print on offset coated stocks with the use of HP priming solution. Canon Océ JetStream 5500 Wide Mono & Full Color 833 FPM Continuous/Roll fed Focused on the ultra-high-volume transaction printing, direct mail personalization and forms markets, the JetStream 5500 is available in both mono and full color variations. It uses aqueous dye ink and 600x480 dpi to deliver business color at high speed.

Konica Minolta Accuriojet KM-1 3000 simplex sheets/hr B2 Sheet The Accuriojet from KM-1 is part of the same partnership between Konica Minolta and Komori that delivered the Impremia IS29. Konica Minolta provides the heads and ink on the Komori chassis and transport framework. The press is identical to the Impremia IS29, delivering high quality B1production to the direct mail and commercial markets on a wide variety of substrates up to 600 microns/540 gsm.

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RETHINK

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DIGITAL & INKJET

Ricoh Pro VC 70000 492 FPM Continuous/Roll fed The Pro VC 70000 is Ricoh’s flagship model delivering resolutions up to 2400 x 2400 with four gray levels using Ricoh piezo head technology. Their hybrid solvent and water-based pigment inks combine with advanced paper transport and drying technology to deliver high-color, high-coverage, quality sensitive applications on a wide array of media (up to 250 gsm) including gloss coated stock, without the need for pre-coating or post-coating. The maximum repeatable printing image area of 20” x 54” supports poster printing and other signature and large format applications. Ricoh Pro VC 40000 492 FPM Continuous/Roll fed The Pro VC 40000 has also been received speed upgrades and has many similarities to the 60000, but this model has a maximum resolution of 1200 x 600 and does not print on coated offset stocks. The 40000 offers separate print head arrays for black and full color with an optional fifth head array for MICR or security inks. While capable of producing an array of applications, it is best suited to transaction printing and transitional/transpromo communications in addition to direct mail.

Screen Truepress Jet520ZZ 721 FPM Continuous/Roll fed The Jet520ZZ is available in both aqueous pigment and aqueous dye models with top resolution of 720 x 360 dpi and 4 gray levels. This model has efficiency enhancements such as the Equios Color Management System and an intelligent variable data processing RIP focused on high precision printing for transactional and mid-quality commercial applications on uncoated offset and inkjet optimized papers (up to 160 gsm.)

Xerox Trivor 2400 HD 551 FPM Continuous/ Roll fed The Trivor 2400 uses high density aqueous pigment inks and six gray levels to make the most of resolution options ranging from 600 x 360 up to 1200x500 dpi. The Trivor will print on offset uncoated stocks and inkjet optimized stocks of up to 250 gsm and includes quality control measures that will slow the press to 1 meter per minute for inspection for on-press inspection during production. Focused on the transaction, direct marketing and book segments, the Trivor is available in both four-color and mono configurations.

Ricoh Pro VC 60000 492 FPM Continuous/Roll fed The Pro VC 60000 was recently upgraded to run at the same speed as the 70000, but the top resolution is 1200 x 1200 with four gray levels. It also uses a different high-density aqueous pigment ink with Ricoh print heads. While the 60000 can also print on offset grades, it does not have quite the same media reach as the 70000. It handles a range of applications costeffectively, from transaction print and books to direct mail and commercial applications and uses use a maximum repeatable printing image area of 20” x 54” to support poster printing and other large format applications.

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DIGITAL & INKJET Continued from page 9

wider range of substrates due to the inherent nature of UV curable inks in a sheet-fed environment (rolls limit substrate thickness). Landa has redefined the concept of inkjet with their heated blanket transfer process. If you are looking for media flexibility, running costs can vary dramatically, so understand the process.

Hybrid Printing is Going Mainstream There are opportunities to customize offset presses, customize inkjet presses and build complete solutions from the best that each OEM has to offer. The range of OEM solutions on the market is impressive, but if there is something you need

for your business, consider talking to an integrator. If you don’t have the appetite for a completely customized solution, at least make sure to examine all of the configurable options from your inkjet OEM for commercially-available models such as ink (pigment or dye), drying and finishing.

Pre-owned Equipment is an Excellent Value Pre-owned, refurbished equipment is a great option for buyers looking for an easy entry into the inkjet market. Several OEMs such as Canon, Ricoh and Screen are actively supporting their customers with finding used equipment and providing on-going service. This can be a great solution for a first device

or for lowering costs of redundancy for disaster recovery.

So Many Options, So Little Time There are many great inkjet solutions that we were not able to cover in this article, and which you may not find at U.S. trade events. There are also variations of many of the devices mentioned that change their cost, productivity and application suitability. Check InkjetInsight.com for continuous coverage of the latest devices, access to specifications and expert reviews of new technology. Get in touch if you want to connect at shows or be interviewed about your inkjet journey. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21086673 ■

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October 2019 WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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DIGITAL & INKJET

Production Inkjet:

Welcome to the Revolution Let’s Talk Corrugated

Growth prospects for corrugated board 2018–2023 by end use

Article by David Zwang

ne of the hottest topics in packaging print today is corrugated, and for many reasons. The estimated total of all corrugated boxes produced in the US is approximately 100 billion per year with e-commerce being the big growth driver. Amazon alone is estimated to be shipping about two million packages a day including padded envelopes—and growing. Overall, it is a market area that is showing a solid growth trajectory. Smithers Pira projects the global market will increase strongly at an average of around 3.7% CAGR to reach 170 million tons, and approach $300 billion in 2023. According to a recent and ongoing study by Karstedt Partners, if you break these numbers down a bit to focus on high graphics production, or those corrugated pieces with three or more colors, we are looking at roughly 20% to 30% of the total. That would include corrugated boxes and displays. Breaking it down further, in that same study, they found digital printing accounts for about 10% to 20% of the high graphics production total. However, putting it in perspective, digital packaging is still only about 3.33% David Zwang David Zwang specializes in process analysis, and strategic development of firms involved publishing and packaging across the globe. Contact him at david@zwang.com

©Smithers Pira

of all printed corrugated packaging (one color up to and including high graphics) and perhaps a little over 2% of all corrugated packaging, since there is so much non-printed. That would seem to suggest opportunity. So, what are the areas of growth, and some of the challenges that will affect the growth of digital print, more specifically production inkjet, in corrugated? Corrugated printing is not new by any means, but there has been a significant increase in the use of corrugated in general and high graphics in particular. The corrugated market, like much of the label and packaging in general, is going through many changes. Much of that is driven by market changes driven by consumer preferences and product manufacturers’ desire to address those new requirements. Those new requirements primarily

translate into mass customization and the “promise” of mass personalization. Beyond that there is the growing understanding that high graphics in corrugated, very much like labels and other forms of packaging, produce a “wow factor” to help differentiate the product on the shelf or in an engaging unboxing experience. So where are we today as an industry? Let’s start with the installed base of presses to currently support this growth. The Karstedt study found approximately 33 singlepass and 70 multi-pass presses are installed in North America. While high-volume production inkjet multi-pass presses like the HP T400S and HP T1100S have been around for a longer period of time, the HP C500 and the EFI Nozomi C1800 single-pass presses are just starting to find their way on to the production floor. Additionally, the

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SMART CHANGE STARTS HERE.

THE OCÉ COLORSTREAM SERIES HAS BROUGHT EXCEPTIONAL VALUE TO OUR COMPANY. Canon Solutions America offered the best solutions for our current printing needs, but also anticipated our needs for the future—they understood our vision and provided a solution that promoted growth for our company. With the addition of inkjet technology to our facility, we have been able to take on new projects and print higher quality pieces.”

—Joe Dambrogio, General Manager, BIP Printing Solutions #INKJETMINDSET

Océ ColorStream® series

READ MORE CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES TO SEE HOW EXCEPTIONAL THE OCÉ COLORSTREAM SERIES TRULY IS: PPS.CSA.CANON.COM/EXCEPTIONAL For more information, visit Printingnews.com/11329288 Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Océ and Océ ColorStream are registered trademarks of Océ-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. ©2019 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved.

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DIGITAL & INKJET

©Karstedt Partners

lower-volume multi-pass production inkjet solutions from HP Scitex and EFI VUTEk have been in the mix for a while. Although, to the brand owners, this is still a “new market technology,” and it will take some time for them to fully understand the value and execution philosophy to take advantage of it. So, for the short term the question is: do we have more capacity than demand? The Karstedt study identifies litho laminate and litho label as the “low hanging fruit.” The chart plots capacity against demand from a 10% to 30% high graphics volume. As you can see, even at 30% high graphics volume demand, it is only hitting about 25% of the total available production capacity. However, this can be a bit misleading. What the study has found, and what we have seen in 16

other digital transitions, is that when you add the flexibility of a digital machine to an analog production plant, you are able to shift your production mix around to keep the plant as a whole, analog and digital, better optimized and also address the increasing demands of shorter turn times. Another challenge for production inkjet in corrugated is coming from the rebirth of flexo, which I have covered in the past. I recently had an opportunity to see the Bobst THQ FlexoCloud solution, which is impressive and can be combined with other digital flexo technologies to create strong competition in high graphics corrugated directed at mass customization. I will cover the Bobst THQ offering in detail in a future article. There is no doubt that production

inkjet will continue to address the increase in high graphic corrugated volume demand, however there are, and will continue to be, challenges along with those opportunities.

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. Please feel free to contact me at david@zwang.com with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21086040 ■

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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW

The Primary Reason Print

Software Gets Thrown Out Print software gets thrown out by printers primarily because of factors that are 100% in the printer’s control. Article by Jennifer Matt

“

This software doesn’t work for us.” There have only been a few times in my career when I took this Jennifer Matt 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.

comment at face value, meaning I wholeheartedly agreed with the printer. The few times were grossly obvious that the wrong solution was sold into the wrong printer (e.g. a product designed for flexo printing sold to a commercial sheetfed print organization). Oops. In just about every case, I think about the product the printer is complaining about. Here’s where my head goes: 1. How popular is this product?

2. What’s its current install base? 3. Does its current install base look like this printer or look very different from this printer? 4. Is this printer really weird? Doing stuff that makes them really special? 5. How long have they “tried” with the print software? 6. Can they identify anyone who has been assigned to make this software work? Software is not something

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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW you can simply plug-in like a toaster and start making toast. All software in your business has to be implemented according to your business conditions. Then, after implementation, your process has to change to accommodate the software. Yes, your process has to change because human process changes are so much cheaper than software changes. Print software (Print MIS, web-toprint, pre-press automation tools) get tossed out of printers primarily because the solution wasn’t fully adopted by the printer. What does full adoption really mean? 1. You have someone on your staff actively engaged in building their expertise on the software itself. What can it do today? What’s configurable? How does it work with the other solutions in your business? What’s on the vendor’s roadmap? This is real work that requires real time and effort by folks in your business, and usually those folks are also trying to get jobs out the door every day. 2. You have communicated to your team that process changes are required and expected to be followed. The new process has been communicated and there is a way for your employees to provide feedback on how the process can be improved. Nobody gets a new process 100% perfect on the first try, and the people who are in the trenches are the best ones to give you ongoing feedback on how to improve it. 3. You have cut off access to those in your organization who would prefer to keep doing it the way they have been doing it. When you leave legacy

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options open, the laggards in your organization will default back to the status quo. You have to cut off the pathway of staying with old processes so that people get over that uncomfortable hump of doing something new and can get comfortable with the new process as soon as possible. If your team is able to go around the new software with legacy processes, full adoption will never happen.

Print software (Print MIS, web-to-print, pre-press automation tools) get tossed out of printers primarily because the solution wasn’t fully adopted by the printer. 4. The culture of the organization is to see all software as the “vendor’s problem.” You don’t know how to use a piece of software, so it’s the vendor’s fault for not providing more training. You don’t understand how to configure your software, so it’s the vendor’s fault for not making it easier to figure out. You change a bunch of settings without understanding

the repercussions, so it’s the vendor’s fault for allowing a user to make those changes. Full adoption can’t happen unless the software purchase becomes your baby after you buy it. That means all parts of care and feeding and— most importantly—the time and energy is input so you can really get to know it. The vendor cannot do this for you. Lots of print software gets bought and then thrown out (along with the investment and the opportunity cost of your time and effort to implement it). The worst thing about this condition is that buying a different piece of print software will not solve it. No software on the market can auto-magically create real ownership in your business, communicate to your team about process changes, shut off your legacy processes or adjust your culture to be more accountable. You will continue to repeat the expensive process of thinking software shopping will fix your challenges. Shopping is fun, full of potential (the sales process is a gigantic hot air balloon of potential) and pleasant —everyone is so nice to you when you’re thinking of spending a lot of money with them. Digging in, allocating expensive labor to gain expertise, working through the tedious details of how to optimally configure each pre-press workflow or business process in your MIS—for most this is no fun. This is the hard work of making your print software sing. It is rewarding, but it requires a very different kind of effort than throwing print software out and staying in a perpetual shopping cycle. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21085402 ■ October 2019 WhatTheyThink - Printing News

9/18/19 8:30 AM

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW

Cyber Risk Management in the Printing Industry

Are you ready for the inevitable? Article by Kevin Keane

Cyber creates complexity.

n Nov. 24, 2018, a former printing company CEO wrote to me on Linked In about a ransomware attack on his business. “I … appreciate the seriousness of the topic you write about. Cyber crime is without a doubt the most intense risk to all industries. Certainly was a devastating event at [no longer in business]. This upcoming week marks the one-year anniversary of our cyber-lockdown and we are still recovering. Tragic.” Two months earlier, I presented alongside Cindy Walas on the topic of cyber risk at Print 18. The talk was titled “Databreach: The Real Cost to a Printing Company in a Zero-Trust World.” The talk was not well attended. It seems cybersecurity is a lot like estate planning – no one likes to think about the inevitable – but life has a 100% mortality rate, and terrible risks like data breach or ransomware sometimes kill printing companies too. “Your comments about data security in the printing industry are right on,” an attendee said after the talk. “I came into the printing field from the highly regulated healthcare space. The data security practices in this industry are abysmal, just abysmal.”

You probably have a router at home that somehow magically disperses an internet access signal through your castle. And being a well-read person, you probably know that one of the weak points in any network, at home or at work, are devices with default admin passwords that have never been changed. And further, you may know that routers and other device manufacturers often push out firmware updates to close a security loophole. Question is – and be honest, do you even know how to access the password on your home router, or have a clue how to update the firmware in that router? Me neither. Ever hear of a “Mouse-Jack” exploit? If you happen to be reading this on a laptop and are using a mouse, you are likely vulnerable, and fixing it creates complexity.

Kevin Keane Kevin Keane is an attorney with expertise in cyber law and privacy, franchising, and licensing. You can reach him at kkeane@ berylliuminfosec.com .

Scarlett O’Hara Syndrome and the illogical syllogism – What, Me worry? It’s true that: Most SMB’s (globally) have suffered at least one data security incident. It’s true that Frank Romano has written: Most printing companies (globally) are SMB’s. Therefore: I have little risk. Gulp. Or as Scarlett said, “Oh Fiddle de dee, I’ll think about that, tomorrow.”

My nephew is my crackerjack cyber expert. If you have one employee, one customer, one supplier, you have data, and that makes you a target.

You are, by definition, in the supply chain of most of your commercial printing clients. That makes you a target. The U.S. Department of Defense buys billions of dollars of material from its prime contractors. It knows that the SMB companies in the supply chains of the primes are often easy targets for agents of several notorious countries who are believed to have annually stolen $600 billion of intellectual property from U.S. based firms over the recent past. In response, the Department of Defense as well as the Fortune 2000 firms, have begun to require (upon pain of sales forfeiture) that their third party providers really batten down supply chain breach defenses. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Ellen Lord, commented on this in late March 2019. “Our large primes are very savvy,” she said. “They have the funds to

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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW create hardened environments. What I’m concerned with is, especially, the small companies who our innovation comes from, where when we sit down and talk to them about cybersecurity, we sometimes hear, no kidding, ‘My nephew does my cybersecurity.’ That gets us a little bit worried.” Because you have data, you are a target. Smaller convenience printing firms are certainly not immune. So as you read the paragraphs below from privacyrights.org, detailing a breach that was made public on Feb. 13, 2017, think about issues we have covered above: supply chain risk, third party risk, unpatched vulnerabilities and more. “An online security breach at a national printing chain leaked thousands of sensitive documents — from labor filings involving NFL players to lawsuits against Hollywood studios to personal immigrationrelated papers — raising the possibility that private information could end up in the wrong hands. The leak at PIP printing, which has more than 400 locations in 13 countries, went on for four months before it was repaired Tuesday, cybersecurity experts involved in investigating the breach told NBC News. But there’s no evidence that any hackers may have stumbled upon the files to use them for malicious purposes, they add. The documents, which NBC News examined, ranges from emails revealing credit card and social security numbers to legal filings such as depositions, subpoenas and labor lawsuits. Extensive medical records belonging to high-profile athletes were also at risk. PIP owner Michael Bluestein told NBC News that the breach appeared to stem from a third-party IT firm that accidentally misconfigured the backup protocols — essentially 22

leaving a “back door” open in the system.”

The Insider (inside my insider) is not my friend. As you know, the definition of ‘printing’ is no longer confined to merely ink on paper. Printing can embellish many kinds of substrates, including fabrics. “The consequences can be costly,” according to the LA Times, “as 80sTees.com of Pennsylvania discovered when someone believed to be a former high-ranking employee accessed the identities of customers all over the country, including in California. The retro shirt seller stopped accepting credit cards for four months, launched a new website and blocked all employees from accessing clients’ financial information.” The message inherent in this 2013 breach incident (whether or not 80sTees printed their own shirts) is that cyber risk is a clever chimera, a shape shifting scourge. The 80sTees saga should encourage you to revisit your business insurance coverages, including employee dishonesty cover.

The dreaded “printing error.” Ouch. “This past fall, Consumer Reports notified 251 people in our 36 million member records that their payment card number may have been inadvertently printed in the name or address line of their mailing label because of a technical error. When we discovered the error, we immediately worked to investigate how it occurred, assess and correct the cause, and put measures in place to help make sure it doesn’t happen again. Consumer Reports believes that high standards for data privacy and security are critical, and we apply those same standards to ourselves.”

Print has peril in every pixel of data, but what to do to mitigate cyber risk? ■■ T rain your employees. They are your first line of defense, and train yourself, too! ■■ Get a penetration test of your internal and external network(s). ■■ Evaluate your physical security. Could an “active shooter” maim your team? ■■ Get a Risk Assessment done by a qualified cybersecurity firm. ■■ Buy cyber insurance coverage today. Is “insider threat” covered too? ■■ Learn about and then implement the “Principle of Least Privilege.” ■■ Learn about and then implement “Segmentation of Your Network(s).” ■■ Learn about and then implement MFA (multi factor auth) and MDM (mobile device management). ■■ Update and patch - ask your nephew again - have we updated and patched? ■■ Learn about the convergence of cybersecurity and personal privacy – data rulz. And then take a breath, and remember - the World Economic Forum labels cyber the most worrisome risk, but it is still risk and risk can be managed. You manage risk or you transfer risk via insurance or other means every day. This is another risk (albeit worrisome and scary) to be professionally managed. Professional managers don’t ignore risk, they do something about it. Oh, and by the way, Keane’s number 11 recommends that you and your team create an information security incident response plan. Because, sooner or later, you are going to need to use it. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21085689 ■

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Hear how our customers define partnership.

“Wide-format has been very successful for me because Ricoh has allowed us to think outside of the box. With their help, we've brought these services in-house. Now I produce everything under one roof and earn higher profits.” – Nathaniel Grant, President and CEO, GAM Graphics & Marketing

“We really believe in the Ricoh platform…when we told them many, many years ago that we wanted to develop a partnership to help us grow and take care of our customers, they were one of the few companies to actually execute on that promise.” – Lawrence Chou, Founder and CEO, Printivity

“Ricoh is a true partner. When we have challenges, they’re there to solve them. When we make a win or figure something out, we share that with them as well.” – Kirk Schlecker, VP of Operations, Heeter

When you ask customers what sets us apart – they’ll say it’s our people. Listen to their stories. TakeaLookatRicohProduction.com Demonstrating our commitment to the future of the graphic arts industry, Ricoh is proud to be a Diamond Sponsor of PRINTING United.

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Ricoh USA, Inc., 300 Eagleview Blvd, Exton, PA 19341, 1-800-63-RICOH. ©2019 Ricoh USA, Inc. All rights reserved. Ricoh® and the Ricoh logo are registered trademarks of Ricoh Company, Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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DIGITAL & INKJET

Executive

Q&A: Gavin Jordan-Smith Gavin Jordan-Smith has had a very interesting journey on his way to his current position as Senior Vice President of Commercial and Industrial Printing Business, Ricoh Americas. Article by David Zwang

avin Jordan-Smith takes on his new position as Senior Vice President of Commercial and Industrial Printing Business, Ricoh Americas at an exciting time. Ricoh is a recognized leader in print production technologies and solutions. It is also a time when the production inkjet revolution is getting past its infancy position to a place where it can, and is, providing many new print manufacturing solutions and opportunities. DZ: Hi Gavin, thanks for taking the time to speak with me about you, your new position and Ricoh. So, let’s start with your background. GJS: It’s been an exciting journey; I entered the printing business over 20 years ago when I came to the United States. I’ve never looked back, following my passion: print and communications. I’ve worked in an on-demand print shop, a transactional print shop and then Toppan Printing Company America, where I was a director and corporate officer running operations. From there I went to “OEM school” at Xerox, where I learned the equipment manufacturing side of the business and, importantly, the focus on the customer’s perspective. I went on to run the graphic communications business for commercial print and the premier partner program for customers until I left to join Konica Minolta. There I learned about their verticals, initially focusing on their office business lines. I took the same philosophy focusing on the customer perspective to build a very customer-focused approach inside the business. Every company has a “customer first” approach but my passion was to go beyond that aspect to drive value and to deliver the outcomes. We used that to build applications, solutions and professional services that are meaningful and tangible to the office life.

DZ: So, what attracted you to Ricoh? GJS: There is a lot that attracted me to Ricoh. Not just what I saw in the Americas but also what I saw happening globally. I looked at the Ricoh opportunity the same way as if I was looking at a business to invest in their stock. You look at the history, you would look at the management, you look at the future strategy of the organization and where its going, where it’s invested and the road behind and the road ahead. Ricoh’s stats are impressive. The company was founded in 1936, and now has nearly 100,000 employees worldwide in over 200 countries and an impressive leadership team. They had sales in excess of $18.1 billion last year and is a profit leader in print production technologies with double digit unit growth year over year in 2018. Over the years it has gone through a massive transformation within the industry and in the business itself. It has gone through some groundbreaking disruptive acquisitions like IKON, Avanti and more recently ColorGate, as well as acquisitions in services. I am now so in full flow within Ricoh because if you look at their transformation, you see Ricoh’s leadership as benchmark in our industry and more transparently a leadership that is not afraid of creating disruption and making bold moves. DZ: Since you’re very much about the customer, where do you see areas of opportunity for growth in the industry for print service providers? And when I say print service providers, that does include packaging and industrial print, since I know that all falls under your umbrella. GJS: It’s all about the value chain at the end of the day. So, let me take a step back to what I have previously said. I have a passion for the customer. It’s been with me the entire 20 plus years that I’ve been in this business. Understanding those value chain needs is a mantra that

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DIGITAL & INKJET I’ve known for a long time. It’s not rocket science. It is knowing that we’re not just in a B to B business, but we’re also in a B to B to C to C to C business, and growth opportunities come about through entropy, change, transformation and business. Because we’re in that value chain with business selling to a business who perhaps are selling to an agency, who is selling to a client who’s selling to a consumer, there’s a meaningful difference in print. Do your communications, irrespective of the paradigm, deliver on that so print service providers can take advantage of it? DZ: Ultimately Ricoh has to deliver products and services that align with your philosophy. How does that happen? GJS: We have to drive continual transformation in our industry. It’s one thing that will never change irrespective of the industries we are engaged with. It starts by looking outside as well as inside the technologies, innovation, how they are connected that are making a meaningful impact. Think about it as “more than print.” Concepts like “Industry 4.0” that can drive intelligence within a manufacturing space, is where transformation can actually exist within the value chain. The outcomes of which makes the overall importance of print’s role more impactful. Print service providers more commonly look at two areas within their print shop. On one side it’s about growing services and/or capturing new revenues and on the other side it’s doing things with greater efficiency to reduce costs and compete in the commodity space. Speaking specifically about the latter, I’m looking at artificial intelligence, automating cognitive thinking, to move the shift to automatic decision making by sensing within the manufacturing line to give greater visibility to the printer to reduce the cost to drive efficiency in workflow and services. On the upside, I am currently at a Ricoh Marketing Innovations Summit and a speaker pointed out that the roles in a business are changing. We need to drive top-line business results for our customers. The convergence of top-line revenue and bottom-line performance is being driven by each part of the value chain to deliver communications in print and digital. Ricoh’s part in this is building a better partnership or what I am calling an “alliance” that drives transformation for print and provides a path for printers to be successful. DZ: What other technologies, like the cloud, do you see value in to help drive production and business to your customers? GJS: We’re looking at our entire solution platform, and we are migrating it into a hybrid delivery model that uses the cloud and on-premises technology. Then we’ll be innovating the entire business model in this space. That will make something like RICOH Process Director (RPD)

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accessible by all print service providers, whether you’re small, medium or large. That in itself is innovative. There’s a lot of cool technology that’s built within this. The cloud is just a delivery model, but then again, it’s also a consumption model that allows our customers to consume content and consume services in a different way. That type of innovation is how we get off the freight train of just selling hardware. DZ: How do you keep your efforts aligned with your customers? GJS: We are constantly in front of the customer, listening, planning and executing. I call this approach the “Age of the Customer.” Ricoh invests a lot on this activity. Actually, I am in a fortunate situation where I am responsible for marketing, portfolio, strategy and sales. This gives me the ability to align the execution of each area and ensure the customer voice is heard and acted upon. Events like our main customer event INTERACT, as well as through our select customer advisory council allow us to connect constantly. These are great activities that allow us to directly bring together the hearts and minds of our customers and our future together. These events help

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DIGITAL & INKJET us understand the more pressing short-term customer needs, while allowing us to better integrate them into our long-term thinking as well. DZ: Ricoh has significant technologies in imaging and other

areas in their portfolio. Do you see a future where Ricoh will extend their role in packaging and industrial print? GJS: Without a doubt. Right now, globally, industrial print has many applications for us. Our inkjet

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technology has been around for 40 plus years. We’re present in many manufacturers’ wide format devices. Not only do we have a proven technological heritage in inkjet, but we have earned the right to lead the industry. In fact, more recently we started manufacturing our own wide format printers both in latex and UV on flatbed and roll to roll devices. We are well positioned to maintain leadership and take additional market share in the continuous feed space where we are continually innovating our platforms. Packaging does fall into that as well. Our technology platforms, from cutsheet toner to inkjet, all play a role in production of packaging applications. We are continuously innovating how manufacturers produce, monitor and strip out costs within their manufacturing processes and provide greater visibility through services and software. Ricoh’s portfolio is the best in the industry and our customer’s voice amplifies that statement. At the end of the day we have a strong legacy with the right to participate and lead innovation together with our print services providers. Where would we go with it? It’s endless, perhaps additive manufacturing, why not!

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. Please feel free to contact me at david@zwang.com with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21086589 ■ For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10005383 26

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FINISHING & MAILING

Dynamic Data in Direct Mail Use technology to increase your direct mail response rate. Article by Christine Erna

he world has become very “data rich” and companies are using this data is ways that just two decades ago were unheard of. It boggles the mind how much information is available and the ways in which organizations are utilizing it. Today’s business world is consumed with generating, managing, utilizing and reacting to data to manage their businesses, sell their services and get to whatever information they can to know everything possible about their customers. They know and understand how powerful this data is and that it can drive intelligence about the consumer: What are they doing? When are they doing it? What do they purchase? When are these purchases made? This is all in an effort to discern how to satisfy and take advantage of this information. Organizations spend billions to develop a broad range of interactions with consumers and clients in an effort to remain relevant in every opportunity they find to engage, stay in touch, predict changes and generally deepen the relationship. We have all heard that with data comes a huge responsibility to manage, protect, secure and use it intelligently. I suspect that most everyone has been affected in some way by at least one Christine Erna Christine Erna is President of Strategic Postal Advisors. She consults to improve address quality while reducing return mail expenses. She can be reached at: cje@strategicpostaladvisors.com .

of the dozens of data breaches that have occurred over the last decade. For me, I stop and think, what information does the dark web have about me and how is it being stored for use at some future time? As uncomfortable as it feels, I am reassured by the sophistication and proactive measures the printing and mailing industry has developed and adopted related to data compliance

and regulation. Our industry lives by stringent data management and security processes, procedures and regulations which are taken very seriously. The U.S. Postal Service is Americas’ favorite federal agency. It has become a “data driven beast.” The USPS has grown to ingest and generate massive amounts of data that organizations inside and outside of the printing and mailing industry

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FINISHING & MAILING find valuable. The USPS processes over 150 billion mail pieces annually. Over the last decade, they have enhanced their technology, data metrics and provided access to this data to organizations across countless verticals. Informed Delivery, Informed Visibility and Postal One Mailers Scorecard are all examples. The information can support and enhance omni-channel and multi-channel communication strategies designed to increase ROI and relevance. These powerful technologies provide data intelligence, which is key to marketers, business mailers and services providers across industry verticals. This dynamic and relevant data enables our organizations to react and engage with consumers

email, brand recall is 40% higher compared to recall for other single-media and integrated media campaigns.

and clients more intelligently to drive behaviors that suit our business models. Need some statistics?

Mail Remains Relevant ■■ O ver two-thirds of customers collect their mail every delivery day. Even a majority (53%) of millennials check their mail every day. ■■ Integrated direct mail and digital campaigns elicit 39% more attention than singlemedia digital campaigns. ■■ Forty-four percent of mail addressed to a specific person is read immediately. When addressed to a generic occupant or resident, that figure drops to 36%. ■■ When direct mail follows an

Marketing Mail – Driving Consumer Response USPS Marketing Mail is preferred by consumers over other channels due to the inundation of digital messaging we all receive. In addition, the response rates and ROI are consistently higher as well.

Overall response rates: Direct Mail 5.1% Email 0.6% Paid Search 0.6% Social Media 0.4% Display Ads 0.2% Continue on page 62

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FINISHING & MAILING

Got Sustainability? Pebble Post Says

Print Does!

How to present your product as a smart sustainable option. Article by Heidi Tolliver-Walker

sually, when a printer has a sustainability page on its website, the page talks about things like carbon emissions, tree planting or use of environmentally certified papers. Pebble Post has a sustainability page, too. However, it is talking not about consumables and energy use, but how its triggered-based direct mail programs, in themselves, are environmentally friendly. This isn’t an approach you see taken very often. Frankly, I love it. After citing statistics showing that sustainability is an important factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions, Pebble Post presents its “programmatic printing” as part of a holistic approach to diminishing a marketer’s environmental impact by making their business more sustainable. Pebble Post breaks the sustainability of its process down into three categories: data-driven “decisioning,” environmentally friendly printing and efficient Heidi Tolliver-Walker Heidi Tolliver-Walker has been a commercial and digital printing industry analyst, feature writer, and author for more than 20 years. Her industry commentary can be found in national printing publications, blogs, and marketing publications.

delivery. While the company focuses on its own internal processes (as we would expect), anyone offering highly targeted marketing can frame it in a similar way. Although Pebble Post’s process is proprietary, there is nothing proprietary about reducing environmental impact through targeting, and the more targeted, the better. That’s what makes this so relevant for the industry as a whole. Here’s how Pebble Post presents it:

1. Data-Driven Decisioning While Pebble Post basically offers a triggered direct mail workflow (direct mailers printed and mailed based on recipients’ online behavior), any highly targeted direct mail campaign can be described the same way. By only mailing to people who are likely to buy (whether based on online behavior, as in Pebble’s Post’s case, or on customer profiling or past purchasing behavior), you are eliminating waste. Pebble Post also throws in “eliminates waste caused by . . . duplicate mailings.” Removal of duplicates is also something most good mailers do. It’s just smart of Pebble Post to frame it as part of sustainability.

2. Environmentally Friendly Printing This refers to 100% digital print production workflow. “Our technology ensures that we print only what is needed to fulfill each day’s

campaigns. This prevents overruns and reduces the amount of waste product generated throughout the process.” If you have a digital press and are printing on demand, you can make this claim, too.

3. Efficient Delivery While referring to its “state of the art systems and technology,” this claim is not unique to Pebble Post, but to any high-volume mailer taking advantage of postal-optimized workflows like printing in postal sort order, drop-shipping and so on. Pebble Post has just framed it in terms of the positive impact these efficiencies have on the environment, i.e. “reducing transit times and the amount of resources required to deliver Programmatic Direct Mail.” Pebble Post concludes its sustainability page with a plug for its FSC-certified papers and use of 50% pre- and post-consumer content in its direct mail postcards, which while not unusual, continues to support its environmentally friendly frame-up. I like this company’s approach to presenting its services as environmentally friendly and part of a brand’s approach to sustainability. Simple, powerful and reproducible, it makes for a great model for any printer wanting to remind its customers that they can help them be more sustainable too — using print. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21086032 ■

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MARKETING TECHNOLOGY

How Are Consumers Engaging with Digital Content? Consumers like engagement, but only if it’s done just right. Article by Heidi Tolliver-Walker

n a multichannel marketing environment, it’s important to understand how consumers are engaging with content beyond print. According to Adobe’s 2019 Brand Content Survey*, consumers engage with their devices an average of 8.8 hours per day. Among Generation Zs and millennials, this rises to 11 hours per day. Twenty-eight percent of millennials, and 14% of consumers overall, use three or more devices at once. As a PSP, if you aren’t helping your customers engage, not just on mobile devices, but with an integrated brand strategy in a multi-screen world, you are missing a big piece of the puzzle. Overall, 52% of consumers say they use multiple devices “constantly” or “frequently.” Millennials are at the highest percentage with 73%, while Gen X are 53% and Gen Z are 66%. These numbers speak loudly. Print is awesome, but consumers still live in a digital world. To succeed, printers must understand how print fits into this world and how to break down the silos and bring print into the overall marketing discussion that revolves around digital content. While marketers tend to focus on influencing pre-sales decisions, the survey finds that the digital world is particularly important for post-sales interactions, too. When asked what type of content is the most shared and most trusted (marketing translation: most influential), content from family

members, friends or peers far outdistance the other types of content, with 49% of consumers willing to share and 38% trusting this type of content. The next most trusted source is “online news,” at a more distant 23% shared and 24% trusted. Which social media channels do consumers trust most? Facebook (26%), followed by YouTube (16%), LinkedIn (9%), Instagram (8%), Twitter (5%) and Snapchat (3%). Which types of digital content do consumers consider “important” to them? Accuracy (32%) is the most important, followed closely by informative (28%) and simplistic (27%). Spam email frustrates consumers the most (42%), followed by slow page load (35%), irrelevant offers (29%), too many pages/screens to find (29%), content not available (27%), irrelevant recommendations (23%), cluttered content/design (22%) and crowded navigation panel (13%). What happens when consumers get frustrated with the content? Half or more claim they will bail on the page, and about one-third will switch devices. It’s important to optimize for multiple formats. If a brand’s handling of their privacy makes them feel uncomfortable, most respondents claim that they will stop purchasing from that brand. But there are some head scratchers here, too. Despite the fact that 82% of consumers say they would leave a brand for creeping them out and 25% say websites they have visited have created “creepy” personalized

experiences, 62% of respondents claim that they are “aware of all the information and data each brand they interact with gathers” about them. Similarly head-scratching, despite the fact that 6% say that personalized content is important to them, 51% say they are more likely to make a purchase if the content is personalized. Thirty-four percent say they are more likely to make an unplanned purchase when the content is personalized. There is a big gap between these numbers. The issues surrounding personalization are complicated, and from a marketing perspective, the implementation is inconsistent. Consumers remain torn and fickle. We like our privacy. We don’t want anyone in our business, but we like a good deal, too. So true feelings about privacy may be more about how the content is worded, how much they like the product and how good the deal is. *For the survey, Adobe interviewed 1,000 consumers in December 2018. All participants were required to own at least one digital device. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21087193 ■

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For more information, visit Printingnews.com/12303268

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WATCH LIST

Memjet Announces New DuraFlex Platform David Zwang talks to Kim Beswick, General Manager of Memjet, about the new DuraFlex platform for entry-level and light-production inkjet presses. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21085036

Frank Talks to Linotype Maintenance Specialist Dave Seat Frank talks to Dave Seat, one of the few Linotype maintenance specialists. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21083980

Hybrid Printing Combines the Best of Both Worlds Integrate Kodak PROSPER Imprinting Systems into your current workflow. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21082359

Stratasys Pantone Validated 3D Printers Color your concepts accurately using the first #3Dprinters that integrate the PANTONE color matching system. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21083566

Rounded Business Cards with Die Changeover Produce round corner business cards and view the fast die changeover on the Insignia 5 Die Cutter from Rollem. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21085033

EFI Wide Format Wednesday Webinar Series EFI teams up with Roy Ritchie, Founder and President of Dreamscape Digital Wall Coverings. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21083976

Application Development Is the Key to Spurring Digital Textile Printing Growth Roman Barba, Market Development Manager, Textiles, for HP agrees. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21085037

Color Solutions International Helps Improve Color in Textiles and Apparel Tim Williams provides background on the company and the value it brings to the supply chain. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21084582

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Bloombergs In-Plant Brings Wide-Format and Specialty Printing In-House John Cruser, Global Manager of the Bloomberg inplant, talks about what the in-plant produces Find video here: Printingnews.com/21086797

Irvine, Calif.s Sir Speedy Relies on Automation Kelley Holmes talks to Kathy Morgan, President of Sir Speedy Printing & Signs in Irvine, Calif., about the changes she has seen in commercial printing. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21086348

The Innovation of Mango Packaging The increasing demand for mangoes led producers to question how to efficiently and safely transport large quantities of the fruit to retailers. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21086763

A World Premiere | Oc Colorado 1650 Canon Solutions America has taken the Oc Colorado printer to the next level with the new Oc Colorado 1650 printer! Find video here: Printingnews.com/21086994

Colordyne Hybrid and Entry-Level Packaging Solutions Leverage Memjets DuraFlex Colordyne has been a Memjet OEM for years, and has provided hybrid and complete solutions. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21086796

From the Classroom to the Pressroom Kelley Holmes talks to Adam Pelzek of Pip Printing New England about his transition from teaching to the family printing business. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21085686

First Impressions from the Fashion Industry Discover how Spanish fashion producer Hallotex is increasing image quality and eliminating daily maintenance routines with the HP STITCH S500. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21085343

Kirk-Rudy Targets Bespoke Production Inkjet Solutions with Memjet DuraFlex The demand for bespoke production inkjet solutions is growing. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21086091

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

Heat Transfer Dye Sublimation The Next Profit Opportunity for Commercial and Display Graphics Printers

Article by Cary Sherburne

’ll be honest, I started the research for this article looking at the following question: How does a sign or commercial printer get into textiles, from a strategy perspective? I thought I would interview two or three smart people, get their insight and be able to communicate some valuable information to you, dear reader. But those smart people quickly set me straight. The question isn’t how to get into textiles, which is a growth business, especially if you are looking at digitally printed textiles. Rather, the

question is broader: How can your business benefit from offering heat transfer dye sublimation services, including textile-based products?

What is Dye Sublimation? Let’s start with a definition of dye sublimation, a technology that has been around for decades. It sounds complicated and technical, like something reminiscent of chemistry class, but it’s really a very simple process, especially with the inks (dyes), heat presses and other materials that have come to market in recent years. Let’s start first with the word

“sublimation.” According to Wikipedia, “Sublimation is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase, without passing through the intermediate liquid phase.” An example of this would be dry ice – the solid carbon dioxide “sublimates” and becomes a gas at room temperature. A dye sublimation printer uses heat to transfer dye onto materials. But more pertinently to the following discussion is the heat transfer dye sublimation process, whereby an image is printed into special transfer paper and subsequently transferred onto an

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

Sawgrass Virtuoso SG400 HD Product Decorating System with Heat Press: An Affordable Entry to Dye Sublimation

object through the application of heat and pressure. See, that’s not so complicated, after all!

perspective, the investment to get into heat transfer dye sublimation can be as little as $3,500 – or even less,” he said. “And you can get started with drinkware, producing fabulous looking, modern and exciting drinkware with very little effort and great margins.” Vik Patel, director of marketing at Sawgrass, did the math for us. You can affordably get started with heat transfer sublimation. For $550, you can acquire a printer and an initial supply of ink, add a small flat heat press for $1,000, a small convection oven from Walmart for $80, purchase heat transfer paper and some SubliShrink shrink wrap film sleeves, blanks to sublimate on, and you are ready to go. Patel wanted to determine how much he could do with that initial investment. “I was able to produce almost 600 coffee mugs with that initial ink supply,” he said. “Let’s say you purchase blank mugs for $2 each, use about 35 cents worth of ink on each for a base cost of $2.30, and you sell those mugs for $10 to $15 each. It’s a very nice margin. For that initial investment, you can walk away with over $4,000 in profit even considering the cost of labor.” Commercial Printer

Not a bad investment … but, of course, you have to have the right mindset when it comes to sales. Patrick Clark formerly owned and operated Atlanta-based on-demand manufacturer Nextwave, an 18-month experimental microfactory, but is now heading the newly established Klieverik USA organization. “Don’t be afraid to look outside the traditional markets of printing and signage, including décor,” he said. “Much of this is currently being produced offshore, but there are many logistical, cost and design advantages in domestic on-demand production of a variety of home décor and other items using heat transfer sublimation. The key is to focus on an investment that offers you a combination of the best cost per square foot and scalability.” Gross points out that even companies already in the promotional items market will walk away from smaller deals, since traditional manufacturing processes – for example, mugs adorned with customized content – require a minimum order quantity of 100 or 144. With the configuration suggested by Patel, creating even one custom mug can be profitable – and fast turn Signs & Display Graphics

Why Should I Care? One word. Profit. In a commercial printing industry (and even a sign industry) that is becoming increasingly commoditized, adding heat transfer sublimation services to the mix can boost your bottom line. And it can be a surprisingly small investment. David Gross, president of Condé Systems, has been involved with sublimation printing for 27 years. “From a commercial printer’s

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Soft Signage

Dye Sublimation

Non-Textile Products

Home Décor

Direct to Fabric and/or Direct to Garment

Apparel/ Textile-based Products

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE them a $15 personalized mug that is durable and that you can produce in your own shop with high margins.” “When you give a customer a quote for a car wrap,” Patel said, “don’t forget about the opportunity to tag on coasters or coffee mugs that you would typically walk away from because of minimum order quantities. Our users take your turn-aways and turn them into dollars. It costs you nothing to say, ‘I can also make 10 coffee mugs for you,’ and you still make a 50% to 70% margin without adding any significant costs to your current workflow.” Patel joked that sometimes he feels like the guy on the sponsored TV program who says, “Wait, there’s more!” “But the truth is,” he said, “for minimal cost and effort, you get a very high return when you are able to offer these add-ons.”

How It Works

Above: Heat Transfer Dye Sublimation onto ChromaLuxe Makes Gorgeous – and Profitable – Artwork. (image compliments of ChromaLuxe.com.) Right: Add value to custom mugs with custom packaging! (Image compliments of Condé.com.)

– using heat transfer dye sublimation. “So many small and medium-sized printers – and even large printers – are already in the promotional space,” AccuLink’s Tom O’Brien said. “Heat transfer dye sublimation is just another way to deliver promotional items, but imagine instead of ordering 144 mugs from someone in China that take three weeks to get to you, you can go to the local insurance office, ask them if they would like to be able to provide a personalized mug to customers when they acquire a new policy, and be able to deliver your first order the next day. For them, this offers a way 38

for their name to stay in front of customers and helps build loyalty. For you, the producer, instead of giving them a $2 mug that won’t go through the dishwasher, can’t be easily personalized and only gives you pennies in profit, you can sell

Typically, a producer would print the artwork onto heat transfer paper, tape that paper onto the object and use a heat press to sublimate the image onto the object. For example, you could have a flat heat press for T-shirts, or get fancier with more value-added substrates like ChromaLuxe and produce beautiful (and highly profitable) art pieces. Alternatively, you can affix the heat transfer paper to an object like a mug and place it in a SubliShrink sleeve. Depending on the size of your convection oven, you can sublimate four mugs or more at a time, remove them from the oven, take off the SubliShrink, cool them and they are ready to ship. “Another advantage of SubliShrink, said Gross, “is the fact that you can decorate nearly all of the surface of the mug. Traditional heat transfer sublimation leaves an undecorated area around the handle. With SubliShrink, you can produce a much higher value mug that doesn’t

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Digital cutting at an industrial level.

– Highly versatile, upgradeable – Single- or dual-beam systems – High-speed, over-cutter camera registration – Fully automated/robotic materialhandling options For more information, visit Printingnews.com/10008759

Visit Printing United Booth 7827, Oct 23-25, to see Zünd‘s latest non-stop production workflows in action. www.zund.com

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infous@zund.com

T: 414.433.0700

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE Example of Soft Signage Installation by AlphaGraphics Seattle

have that blank space. Take it a step further, and sublimate all or part of the image on a nice blank mug box with a window in it, and now for an additional cost of about $1, you have added $5 to the selling price.” Speaking of blanks, visit Conde.com to get an idea of all of the various items you could produce with heat transfer sublimation, everything from shirts and mugs to socks and steins. “I look at sublimation as an enabling technology like electricity,” Gross said. “If you go back to the days of Edison and Tesla, they couldn’t possibly see all the uses electricity would be put to. We have filed for quite a few patents on futuristic uses of sublimation that are very different from how we do it 40

today, trying to set the groundwork for years of innovation. It’s an extremely exciting future.”

Getting into Sublimation There are many different ways to take advantage of heat transfer dye sublimation. In some cases, you will be able to sell new products to existing customers; in other cases, it will open new markets. In speaking with AccuLink’s O’Brien and AlphaGraphics Seattle’s Chuck Stempler, both of whom have been successful in this market, albeit in different ways, they suggested a path to entry based on the customer base you think you can address and the skill sets you have. O’Brien, originally a commercial

printer to the trade, diversified into sublimation mostly on non-textile products. In a few short years, his dye sub business went from zero to more than 50% of his business. Stempler, who was already producing soft signage and who had long-time experience in a family-owned apparel business, chose to focus on producing samples and small runs for apparel, as well as higher end architectural or interior design applications, using heat transfer dye sublimation to decorate bolts of fabric that are later cut and sewn into final products. “In the early days of our grand format printing,” he said, “one of the most exciting things we could do was to print on a door – for example, printing a dinosaur on a child’s

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE bedroom door. But now we can literally do custom interior work with blinds, pillow cases and other décor items. We have chosen to focus on specialty and mid-sized opportunities where the margin is better.” Stempler points out, though, that to be successful in this business requires building both a reputation and a vendor structure. “We have laser cutting,” he said, “but the sewing required for many of these products is not a natural skill set that most commercial print companies would have. We’ve built out a collection of small boutiques that do custom sewing work for these types of products.” Especially if you want to get into more complex textile-based products, including apparel and home

décor, both O’Brien and Stempler recommend a phased approach. Both note that for higher end applications and increased throughput, investments are significantly higher. “For a higher end dye sub printer, such as a 3-meter printer, larger heat press and cut-and-sew equipment, you could easily spend $1 million before you have produced anything,” Stempler said. “For that type of investment, of course, you want to have a base of work or a super-firm commitment from a cornerstone customer. Migrating upstream from soft signage to dye sub is a big step, but it is not stepping from zero. If you start with soft signage, you have something to absorb some of the fixed costs while you build your way into the specialty category.”

As a commercial printer, you could begin the journey by adding soft signage or non-textile promotional products (like mugs or coasters), moving into other markets as you gain expertise, not only in the manufacturing process, but in the sales process. If you are already in signs and display graphics, a good route is to add soft signage if you haven’t already done so, and then move either into heat transfer dye sublimation with textile-based and/or non-textile products. Either way, heat transfer sublimation offers an exciting and profitable business diversification. And you don’t have to have a degree in chemistry to benefit from it! Find article here PrintingNews. com/21085410 ■

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

Managing Material Costs and Increasing Prices:

A Key Driver of Profitability Catherine Monson, CEO of FASTSIGNS International, shares three areas in which you can increase profitability. Article by Catherine Monson

ne of the most rewarding aspects of my job as the CEO of FASTSIGNS International is to interact daily with satisfied franchisees. Franchisee satisfaction is one of the main metrics we track as a franchisor, and further increasing already high franchisee satisfaction is one of our key strategic objectives. An important driver of franchisee satisfaction at FASTSIGNS is the power of our brand and our business model, which drives high profitability for our franchisees. Another of our key strategic objectives at FASTSIGNS International is to help our franchisees further increase profitability by 25%. In 2017, we achieved our original objective set in 2009 to increase franchisee profitability by 50%; as a result, in 2018 we updated our objective to “further increase franchisee profitability by (an incremental) 25%.” One way in which we are helping our franchisees increase profitability is to assist them with benchmarking

Catherine Monson Catherine Monson is CEO & President of FASTSIGNS International, Inc. She is responsible for the growth and success of the FASTSIGNS® brand and franchise system.

their key financial performance indicators against other franchisees in the network, while teaching and encouraging them to follow the best practices of our FASTSIGNS Profit Leaders. For everyone in our business, managing and improving profitability in today’s environment is becoming increasingly challenging as we see material and supply cost increases across the board. Material and supply expenses generally represent the largest expense category on just about every signage and visual graphics company’s income statement. With suppliers increasing costs on all materials, it’s becoming increasingly

important to track material and supply expenses and work to maintain--and even improve-profitability. Here are three key areas we as an industry can focus on to manage material and supply costs for improved profitability. To start, we need to ensure we are working with accurate information to benchmark our material costs. We need to track material costs, manage inventory and keep accurate financial statements. Keeping inventory levels low with a “just in time” mentality can assist with keeping accurate costs numbers and even lowering costs, as well as manage cash flow. Ensuring materials are being coded

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE correctly is also a key foundation for tracking material costs. Producing accurate financial statements based on matching revenues with expenses in the appropriate period is the foundation of managing material costs. Second, we can dig into our operation and ensure weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing everything we can to manage how we use materials. Redos and waste can be a huge factor in managing material costs. If employees arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t efficiently using materials to reduce waste, or errors on orders are driving the purchase of additional materials to redo the order, it will become impossible to maintain healthy material costs/cost of goods sold margins. Further, we often miss opportunities to negotiate better pricing with our key vendors,

especially on our larger purchases or most used materials. There is no downside to opening discussions to reduce costs. Third, and most important, we as an industry need to actively raise our prices to keep pace with material price increases. In almost every industry, prices fluctuate directly with costs. When you see on the news that the price of a barrel of oil has increased, even a small amount, your wallet is sure to feel that cost increase the next time you stop to fill up at the pump. If we regularly review our material costs and pass those increases on to our customers, we will do a better job of maintaining profitability. We recommend to our franchisees that they review material costs, at

a minimum, quarterly and raise prices as appropriate. Customers are far less price sensitive to smaller, more regular price increases than a large increase necessitated by going years without addressing material cost increases. Further, our customers are business people and are dealing with cost increases in their own businesses. Most customers understand the current economic situation and most would even expect that we would need to raise our prices to maintain margins. Business owners who manage their material costs, benchmark against their past performance and raise prices to maintain their profitability will have the competitive edge in the years to come. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21082510 â&#x2013;

For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/12307487

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EVENTS

Finding the Best Products SGIA’s Product of the Year competition spotlights PRINTING United stand-outs across dozens of categories. Article by Kate Achelpohl

valuating the best products the industry has to offer is no small task, and no one knows that better than SGIA Director of Digital Print Programs Ray Weiss, the project manager for SGIA’s Product of the Year competition. The call for entries goes out in the spring, and this year’s PRINTING United exhibitors submitted 202 of their newest output and non-output products for judging in 72 categories. While products do not have to be brand-new to qualify, they must be available for sale in the year for which they’re entered. All output category entries are judged without any manufacturer identification. “Product of the Year recognizes those products that are moving the industry forward,” Weiss said. “This year, we introduced a new scoring criterion, ‘date of first manufacture,’ which deducts points for products over two years old. Our thought in doing this was that older entries would still be able to win, as long as they could overcome the deduction.” Output device categories — such as direct-to-garment printers, flatbed/

Kate Achelpohl Kate Achelpohl, Director of Publications & PR, SGIA

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hybrid printers, roll-to-roll solvent/ latex, single pass printers, digital/ screen print hybrid printing systems, 3D printers, UV/latex flatbed and digital presses — cover the wide range of printing devices that will be seen throughout PRINTING United. “We compare apples to apples,” Weiss said. “So the judges’ scores are based on measurable data. For example, in the digital output device categories, winners were based on measurements of standard test prints with elements such as Pantone spot colors, industry specification targets, RGB images and a two-page chart for measurement.” Output devices are judged on

objective, as well as subjective, criteria. The Sonoco Institute at Clemson University reads and reports on the measurement chart, and judges also evaluate the test prints’ color balance/gray balance, color gamut, image quality/text detail and banding. Judges receive a guide or a control print to compare against when scoring the entries. “In most cases, the objective score winner in a category ends up being the overall winner, even after factoring in judges’ scores for quality,” Weiss noted. “But what’s especially helpful for end users is that we provide a report card that lets everyone know how the printer handles neutral grays,

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EVENTS process colors and overprints, spot colors and spot color tone values. This year, in a first for the industry, the report includes the percentage of Adobe RGB gamut the device can hit.” The test prints, the reports and all entries can be found in the Awards Gallery at PRINTING United — right by Entrance F. “If you are coming to PRINTING United to look at printers, stopping by the Awards Gallery is a must — the prints from each category are displayed side-by-side for easy comparison,” Weiss said. More than two-thirds of the competition categories are for nonoutput devices — everything from textiles to substrates to software — and they’re also on display in the Awards Gallery. Judges score them based on four criteria: improvement

over existing products in the category, innovation or “wow” factor, how it moves the industry forward and how easily the product can be adopted for regular use. Software is one category that has been growing. It started as a single category in 2017 and this year includes four subcategories — RIP, web-based design, personalization or product building; workflow/MIS/CRM and color enhancement. “Each year, the number of softwarerelated entries grows, and our goal is to compare similar products to each other,” Weiss said. “The entries always mirror industry trends, so I expect to see more software entries in coming years. We also saw quite a bit of textiles derived from recycled products.”

Other non-output categories include inks for digital printing applications, material handling equipment, textiles, finished garments, screen printing manual garment press and automatic garment press, and sublimation finishing. For the full release of winners click here: PrintingNews.com/21084486. SGIA thanks the 2019 volunteer judges: Scott Baxter, GAM Graphics and Marketing; Conrad Coe, GAM Graphics and Marketing; Dan Gillespie, Alder Technologies; Keith Prichard, TIMSCO; Scott Schoppert, Printing Impressions; Cas Shiver, Sundog Productions; Kent Walker, Walker Supply Company; and Tony Tribby, Dead Bat Designs. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21086673 ■

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EVENTS Canon U.S.A. Wins Three SGIA 2019 Product of the Year Awards Celebrating innovative technology, Canon U.S.A., Inc. announced that three of its products have won the 2019 Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) Product of the Year Awards. Three Canon U.S.A., Inc. products - Océ Colorado 1650 large format graphic printer, Océ Arizona 1380 XT UV flatbed printer and Océ Touchstone Software have won the 2019 Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) “Product of the Year” Awards. Roll-to-Roll/UV (under 80 inches) The Océ Colorado 1650 printer offers a truly impressive application range thanks to two innovative technologies: the more flexible and stretchable formulation of the Canon UVgel 460 inks and the ingenious Océ FLXfinish technology. The new inks provide excellent image stability, even when folded, bent, or wrapped. UV Latex Flatbed + White ($100,000 - $200,000) The Océ Arizona 1380 XT UV flatbed printer features a choice of two printer sizes - 49.2” x 98.4” or 98.4” x 121.3”. Additional features include true flatbed architecture plus optional roll media support, pneumatic pin registration, automated printhead maintenance, high resolution table mapping, software for complex job creation/automation (Arizona Xpert), optional software for textured printing (Océ Touchstone) and for the first time LED-UV curing and purpose-built Océ IJC357 LED curable inks. Software-RIP Océ Touchstone Software is a suite of software tools that empowers designers and print providers to create print-ready 2.5D data for Océ Arizona printers; instantly adding height and texture elements to otherwise twodimensional prints. Compatible with the Océ Arizona 1200, 1300 and 2200 Series UV curable flatbed printers and ONYX Thrive software, multi-layered complex print jobs can typically be difficult to design, preview and print, but Océ Touchstone Software helps to make that process easy.

www.printingnews.com/21085676 Roland DGA Wins Three SGIA 2019 Product of the Year Awards Roland DGA Corporation has announced that three of its products have won prestigious 2019 Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) Products of the Year” Awards. Roland DGA Corporation, has announced that three of its products – the TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutters, TR2 ink, and the Texart RT640M multifunction dye-sublimation printer – have won 2019 Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) “Product of the Year” Awards. Roland’s TrueVIS VG2 printer/cutters received top honors within the “Rollto-Roll/Solvent/Latex (under 80 inches)” category, while the company’s TR2 ink and Texart RT-640M printer were recognized in the “Digital Inks – Eco-Solvent/Solvent/Latex” and “Rollto-Roll Disperse Ink on Textile” categories, respectively. These next-generation printer/cutters incorporate state-of-the-art FlexFire print heads that jet GREENGUARD Gold certified TR2 inks in three different configurations with CMYK, plus additional Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Black, White or Orange. These ink choices, including new Orange ink, allow for a wider gamut and more color control than ever before. In addition, the VG2 series has earned certifications for long-lasting results from the industry’s top media manufacturers, including the 3M MCS Warranty and Avery Dennison’s ICS Performance Guarantee.

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LogoJET Wins THREE SGIA Product of the Year Awards LogoJET is proud to announce that Specialty Graphic Imaging Association has named three LogoJET products as 2019 Product of the Year LogoJET is proud to announce that Specialty Graphic Imaging Association has named three LogoJET products as 2019 Product of the Year in their respective categories, including the top award for Digital Inks, Tabletop Flatbed and UV/Latex Flatbed (under $70,000). In response to continuous demand for more advanced printers with more durable inks, LogoJET launched its current line of UVx40Rand UVx90Rprinters, according to Cox. The units are based on industrial-duty Ricoh print heads and both received the 2019 SGIA Product of the Year. After nearly a year of testing, in 2019, LogoJET also released its new H2UV curable inks, incredibly durable and vivid line of ink, which also received the SGIA 2019 Product of the year.

www.printingnews.com/21085241

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EVENTS Drytac Picks up an Incredible Five Awards at SGIA 2019 Product of the Year Competition Drytac has been recognized for its adhesive material innovations in an incredible five categories at the SGIA 2019 Product of the Year competition - exceeding last year’s win of two awards. Drytac has been recognized for its adhesive material innovations in five categories at the SGIA 2019 Product of the Year competition. Drytac came top in the Laminates, Adhesives, Films, Coatings category for its Protac Anti-Scratch Gloss 10 mil (250μ), a clear PET laminating film with a scratch-resistant hard coat and high-gloss finish, which is coated on one side with Drytac’s clear-asglass pressure-sensitive adhesive. It is also available in a 4 mil (100μ) version. In the Media - Adhesive Back (Not Vinyl) group, Drytac received the SGIA nod for its exceptional Polar Chrome product, a silver satin reflective PET film designed for eye-catching indoor and shortterm outdoor displays and signage. It is also ideal for ultra-reflective and durable labels and stickers - as proven by an epic cross-country motorcycle trip undertaken by Drytac’s Jerry Hill earlier this year. Drytac ReTac Textures picked up the SGIA trophy for Media - Adhesive Back Vinyl, in recognition of its ability to add depth and visual appeal to flat images thanks to its embossed textured finish, with ReTac ultra-removable adhesive backing for easy removal and repositioning - making it the perfect option for high-impact wall graphics.

www.printingnews.com/21085257

your vision...

and your options. Magnum Magnetics® introduces EnGage™ an easy to install printable magnetic receptive media that is an ideal solution for changing messages in a demanding retail environment. Print directly to the magnetic receptive media and lay on a preprinted magnetic base for price, message, or image changes. Call or click, let us show you it’s easy to print magnets! MagnumMagnetics.com/engage 800.258.0991 | sales@magnummagnetics.com

For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10006517

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PRODUCT NEWS New Full Color Inkjet Printer Kirk-Rudy, Inc. has announced it’s newest addition to their line-up of high quality, industrial inkjet printers. The FireJet 4C is a pigment-based aqueous printing system engineered to deliver increased speed and outstanding image quality at a low cost. Using Memjet’s new DuraFlex technology, the FireJet 4C is an all-in-one printing system that combines the heavy-duty transport that KirkRudy is famous for, along with the printing quality, reliability, and simplicity that Memjet is known for. The FireJet 4C offers a profitable alternative to the smaller desktop, toner based digital color printers on the market today, and delivers high-speed color printing at near offset quality for documents, labels, direct mail and packaging. The FireJet 4C can print A3+ and A4 cut sheets in full color (CMYK) at 1600 x 1600 dpi and can print at speeds up to 150 ft/min. The newly designed userreplaceable printhead has been engineered to provide a longer life (approximately 120 liters), along with outstanding image quality across a broad range of porous, uncoated offset, inkjet-treated and inkjet-coated media. Kirk-Rudy has incorporated robust color correction software and their XKolor RIP that provides operators with an easy to use, operator friendly digital press with very little maintenance. The versatility and outstanding performance of the FireJet 4C can open new markets in full color printing and provide increased revenue.

www.printingnews.com/21086950

Lintec Shows Commitment to Sustainability with New Recycled Film LINTEC Of America is launching a wet apply film made of recycled components as part of its corporate mission to raise awareness of sustainable manufacturing practices within the graphic, print, and visual communication industries. LINTEC Of America is launching a wet apply film made of recycled components as part of its corporate mission to raise awareness of sustainable manufacturing practices within the graphic, print, and visual communication industries. Featuring high optical clarity as well as reliable, long term one-piece removability, ECO-2301 RC is ideal for use in UV Ink Jet presses.

www.printingnews.com/21084869 Roland DGA Introduces New VersaUV LEF2-300 UV Printer Larger, Faster UV-LED Flatbed Delivers Ultra-Realistic Graphics Plus Increased Efficiency and Productivity Roland DGA Corporation has announced the launch of its new 30-inch VersaUV LEF2-300 benchtop flatbed printer. The LEF2-300 incorporates new efficiency, convenience, and maintenance functionalities that raise overall performance to a higher level. Like all Roland LEF series flatbed printers, the LEF2-300 can print directly on virtually any substrate or three-dimensional object up to 3.94 inches thick, making it ideal for a wide range of product customization applications. The LEF2-300 uses Roland’s specially formulated ECO-UV inks in CMYK, as well as Gloss and White inks.

www.printingnews.com/21085262

FLEXcon HX5000 with HOV-X Technology FLEXcon Company, Inc. will launch and demonstrate a NEW product at Printing United booth #8024 called FLEXcon® HX5000 with HOV-X Technology™. This new slideable, repositionable removable adhesive system is designed for full and partial bus and train wraps, shuttle bus, and box truck wraps, and bus posters where the application surface is primarily vertical. This product allows the installer (novice or professional) to remove the graphic, snap it up and reposition it without the risk of stretching or distorting the graphic. The air egress liner reduces air entrapment and makes bubble removal a snap. For more information, please contact Jim at 508-885-8214. https://www.flexcon.com/products/spotlight/ advertising/hovx

www.printingnews.com/21086954

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PRODUCT NEWS Canons imagePROGRAF TA Series Printers Open Up Large Format Printers to a New Audience Developed to benefit entry-level print customers, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is excited to announce the new imagePROGRAF large-format 5-Color 24-inch TA-20 and 36-inch TA-30 printers Developed to benefit entry-level print customers, Canon U.S.A., Inc. has announced the new imagePROGRAF large-format 5-Color 24-inch TA-20 and 36-inch TA-30 printers. The TA Series offers end users Canonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s software and brand value in a cost-efficient, easy-to-use solution built to help stimulate workflow and productivity for small businesses and first-time large-format print users. The multi-purpose imagePROGRAF TA Series is great for posters, technical documents, and designs. These new devices provide users the ability to print on water resistant media for outdoor signage by utilizing Canonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high yield TD pigment ink.

www.printingnews.com/21084880

QuarkXPress 15.0.1 Release Now Available Today Quark Software announced the availability of the 15.0.1 release of QuarkXPress. This is the first update to QuarkXPress 2019, which was released July 9, 2019. Quark Software announced the availability of the 15.0.1 release of QuarkXPress. This is the first update to QuarkXPress 2019, which was released July 9, 2019. Included in this update for QuarkXPress 2019 users are improvements to many customer-requested items relating to the following: Retina cursors on Mac: Cursors will no longer pixelate; they will be as sharp as they are on nonretina resolutions. Program language back on Windows: The option to allow users to set their QuarkXPress program language differently than their system language will be restored.

www.printingnews.com/21085230 For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10005400

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

Wide Receivers: A Flatbed

Applications Photo Gallery

Based in Sandy, Ore., Moon Shadow Glass’ clients are comprised of architects, designers, contractors and manufacturers across the country. The company used its H1625 LED printer to produce direct-toglass interior décor for the Mariota Sports Performance Center at the University of Oregon, one of America’s premier collegiate sports training facilities. (Photo by Kris Iverson, Moon Shadow Glass)

Take a tour of the limitless wide format world. Story by Richard Romano

lass. Acrylic. Wood. Rocks. Beeswax. UV flatbed printers have come a long way, and the range of applications Richard Romano Richard Romano has been writing about the graphic communications industry for 20 years. He is an industry analyst and author or co-author of more than half a dozen books.

Moon Shadow Glass printed double-sided life-sized murals of prominent pachyderms—Packy, Rose II and Lilly—for the Oregon Zoo’s Elephant Land exhibit. These images were printed direct-to-glass on an EFI H1625 LED printer. (Photo by Kris Iverson, Moon Shadow Glass)

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE Flatbed printers can be used to print on jewelry. Mimaki printed this foil application with primer on acrylic with its UJF-3042 MkII EX with LH-100 inks.

Mimaki printed on an acrylic purse using its UJF-6042 MkII with LUS-170 inks. The honeycomb pattern is printed using clear ink and the bee is a glitter application with primer.

they can produce—and the materials they can print on—is growing every day. For the most part, they are limited only by users’ imaginations and creativity.

Likewise, David Kearsley of Sign It Now/Gravity Graphics in Victor, Ida., uses a Roland LEJ-640FT UV flatbed printer to print custom designs on agate and jade for his client, Burnt Fern. Printing on rocks—which don’t come in standard shapes or sizes—poses challenges in terms of sizing and placement.

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In this photo gallery, we highlight some recent projects that users have produced using flatbed UV printing equipment. I hope that these ideas serve as “food for thought” in

Packaging is a top application for flatbed devices—especially short-run, customized “luxury” packaging. Montréal, Québec’s Madovar Packaging produces luxury gift boxes, and produced these items on a soft-touch laminated substrate using a Mimaki JFX200-2513.

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

swissQprint offers its users a “Creative Challenge” contest. Schilder Systeme, based in Oberndorf, Austria, was a Creative Challenge winner with this “Reception Bikes” hotel signage, which incorporated a variety of different effects including engraving and relief printing. It was printed on a swissQprint Impala.

Another buzzworthy swissQprint Creative Challenge winner was Laumont Photographics, based in Long Island City, N.Y. “Membrane” is a combination of sculpture and printing on a substrate that not many printers use: beeswax. It was printed on a swissQprint Impala.

CR&A Custom, based in the Los Angeles area, recently installed a 98-inch HP Latex R2000 Plus Printer, capable of printing on both rigid and flexible materials. The company recently launched a new web-to-print signage business, HashtagCutouts (hashtagcutouts.com), through which event guests can share images of social media tags. The words and colors are customizable and produced on rigid substrates. It also illustrates the value of having contour-cutting capabilities.

developing creative applications for clients. Very often half the battle is just letting customers know what’s possible. These examples were all we had space for—unless we start printing this magazine itself in wide format. I am always on the lookout for new and creative wide-format printing applications and projects. Have you worked on something unique and of which you are proud? Feel free to share them with me at richard@ whattheythink.com. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21086629 ■

CR&A Custom also used its HP Latex R2000 Plus to print direct-to-wood with white ink.

Back in the 1990s, digital art was one of the earliest applications for wide-format printers, and flatbeds have allowed artists to give their imaginations even freer reign. “Das Ziel” was an exhibition by Thomas Koch, based in Hamburg, Germany, with output produced by Alpha Sign AG, Hünenberg, Switzerland. This was a 37 x 63-inch work printed on raw wood on a swissQprint Oryx.

Specialty printing is also being enabled by flatbed printers, especially the smaller benchtop UV models from the likes of Roland and Mimaki, the latter of which printed this stainless steel water bottle on the UJF-6042 MkII, which offers a “Kebab” accessory to print on cylindrical objects.

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Can inkjet trigger a fusion reaction?

Signature image quality on in-demand media. That’s the beauty of the new Xerox® Baltoro™ HF Inkjet Press. With a powerhouse combination of High Fusion print engines and ink, plus 100% Xerox-developed, Xeroxmanufactured print heads, you can spark a reaction like no other.

xerox.com/baltoroHF

For more information, visit Printingnews.com/21087270 © 2019 Xerox Corporation. All rights reserved. Xerox®, “Baltoro” and “Made To Think” are trademarks of Xerox Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

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TEXTILE & APPAREL

Image courtesy of Intu via Google Images

WTIN Shares Insights on

Smart Textiles for Fashion, Entertainment, Lifestyle Cary Sherburne 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.

Senior Editor Cary Sherburne discusses some of the key points from a recent WTIN webinar. Article by Cary Sherburne

have been following the interesting developments in technical textiles since we launched our textiles section almost

two years ago. So when I saw a promotion for the WTIN webinar on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Smart Textiles for Fashion, Entertainment and Lifestyle,â&#x20AC;? I was interested to see what new

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TEXTILE & APPAREL information they had to share on the topic. The webinar did not disappoint. While many of their webinars are password-protected, this one—likely since it is promoting a new report series on the topic—is available for free. Presenter Fiona Haran, WTIN editor for technical textiles, started the session by defining what is meant by smart textiles for fashion, entertainment and lifestyle. “Fashion refers to everyday fashion, or haute couture garments and accessories. Entertainment refers to

Fashion refers to everyday fashion. Entertainment refers to wearables for gaming, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. Lifestyle is a textile-based item aimed at physically active people.

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wearables for gaming, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. Lifestyle is a textile-based item aimed at physically active people or those that have a specific life interest, such as yogis.” Haran pointed out that media interest in smart textiles has largely been driven by their use for things like eye-catching stage costumes or haptic gaming suits, which typically are not designed for comfort, flexibility or durability. And they can be difficult to wash. This presents a challenge for wider adoption of these

Robotic spider dress from Anouk Wipprecht, using Intel’s Edison chip and a proximity sensor. (Image from Fabbaloo via Google Images.)

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TEXTILE & APPAREL technologies among fashion brands and consumers. However, there is a great deal of activity in this area with efforts to overcome those challenges. We will follow up with some of the interesting companies Haran identified during the session. One that particularly stood out was London-based CuteCircuit, a pioneer in the field of fashion wearable technology. The company describes its mission as: “Merging futuristic fashion design with advanced technologies and smart fabrics to create beautiful fashion with magical interactive capabilities. Founded in 2004, over the last 15 years CuteCircuit has created a new fashion paradigm through technological innovation.” As our readers will remember, we have been very interested in how the so-called miracle material graphene can and will be used in textiles and fashion. Among other innovations, CuteCircuit designed the world’s first little black dress that incorporates graphene. It was commissioned by Into Trafford Centre and developed in collaboration with the scientists at the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester in the UK, where graphene was initially discovered.

Haptic gloves for gaming that creates an immersive AR or VR experience in gaming through finger and palm haptics. (Image from haptx.com.)

An example of very smart textiles by dezeen is a jacket that contains a sensor that can measure temperature and could be equipped with a heating module that could provided extra heat when temperature drops below a certain level. (Images from www.dezeen.com.)

“The design of the dress reflects the properties of graphene also in its shape and decoration,” according to CuteCircuit. “An electron microscope view of graphene shows hexagonal crystal-like formations. This inspired 3D printed crystal-like translucent appliqués combined with lightweight laser-cut colour changing elements that innovate haute-couture techniques.”

Based on the depth of breaths the wearer takes, built-in LEDs change color with the appearance that the LEDs are floating on the model’s body. While this is a dress that most of us probably won’t have access to soon—or be able to afford—it is an interesting demonstration of technical textiles at work in the world of fashion. Haran defines active smart textiles, such as the dress pictured above, as fabrics that can sense stimuli from the environment and react to them, such as changing lighting colors on

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TEXTILE & APPAREL the dress based on depth of breaths. She also cites another generation of smart textiles, very smart textiles, that go a step further by adapting themselves to changing circumstances through data processing and forecasting. An example of the latter might be a jacket that contains a sensor that can measure temperature and could be equipped with a heating module that could provided extra heat when temperature drops below a certain level.

Merging futuristic fashion design with advanced technologies and smart fabrics to create beautiful fashion with magical interactive capabilities. In the entertainment category, one example is haptic gloves for gaming that creates an immersive AR or VR experience in gaming through finger and palm haptics. A lifestyle example (and also entertainment) comes from TILT Innovations, a technology company launched by the Welspun group. Among other things, the company has developed what it is calling Spin Tales, the interactive bedding for kids that allows users to scan the duvet using a tablet or smartphone to bring the characters to life. There are also some weirder

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Spin Tales, the interactive bedding for kids. (Image from gadgetify.com via Google Images.)

implementations, such as the robotic spider dress from Anouk Wipprecht, using Intelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Edison chip and a proximity sensor, in case you want clothing that will help you defend your personal space. Think you will have one of these in your closet soon? This provides a brief overview of some of the interesting smart textile innovations we are starting to see in fashion, entertainment and lifestyle. Washability and scalability are challenges this market faces, and some experts also worry that smart textiles could isolate us even further from human contact than smartphones have. So developers are encouraged to keep that in mind, designing and marketing smart

textiles that enhance rather than replace human interaction. Haran notes that smart textiles are still a novelty, but as consumers become more aware and interested in the possibilities, the textiles industry will be challenged to improve durability, safety and comfort/fit for wearables. There should also be consideration given to how we dispose of these smart textiles at their end of life, ensuring at least some level of sustainability. Data security can also be a concern. We will continue to follow the developments in this very interesting segment of the textiles and fashion market. Stay tuned! Find article here PrintingNews. com/21085398 â&#x2013;

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TRADE SERVICES

Have You Been

Ghosted?

Those unanswered texts and unreturned messages, that leave us in a limbo of radio silence, has crept its way into the corporate world. Story by Debra Thompson

ompanies across the United States are noticing promising candidates vanishing and employees walking out and never coming back. The Washington Post reports a 10% to 20% increase in candidate and employee ghosting over the past year. “Applicants blow off interviews,” the Post reports. “New hires turn into no-shows. Workers leave one evening and never return.” Analysts blame America’s increasingly tight labor market. Job openings have surpassed the number of seekers for eight straight months, and the unemployment rate has clung to a 49-year low of 3.7% since September 2018. Because business success is dependent on having the right people, your recruitment process must deal with this new issue in the hiring process. Recruiters and hiring managers need to find the solutions that will insure they do not fall victim to ghosts. The cost

of hiring is significant, and it can be even higher when candidates are no-shows during the recruiting process or, worse yet, after the offer is accepted. Years ago, I created a 12-step process for making a successful hire. I still believe that process is

By establishing a consistent pattern of communication, they’ll keep you in the loop about any changing circumstances, and the specter of possible ghosting will nearly vanish.

Debra Thompson Debra Thompson is president of TG & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in “The Human Side of Business” specifically for the graphics industry. Debra can be reached at debra@tgassociates.com or www.tgassociates.com .

the key to finding top performers. In reviewing recommendations from consultants and recruiting associations such as the Society for Human Resources Management, I do not see any reason to change the steps of the process. What I do see is the need to emphasize two things

in the execution of the process. The first is communication, and the second is speed. The more you communicate with candidates, the more they’ll communicate with you. If you keep candidates engaged by establishing a consistent pattern of communication, they’ll keep you in the loop about any changing circumstances, and the specter of possible ghosting will nearly vanish. There are many aspects to communication when you are hiring. Here are some things to consider that will insure the best possible communication: ■■ Make sure that the job description correctly and clearly describes the roles and relationships for the position.

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TRADE SERVICES ■■ E nsure that the ad you post also contains the key aspects of the position and clearly defines the responsibilities of the position and the expectations of experience and education for the candidates. ■■ Review the resume and cover letter carefully and weigh the information against your needs. If the resume and cover letter seem appropriate, but raise concerns about the candidate’s qualifications, pre-screen the candidate about areas not addressed. This can take the form of an email questionnaire or a telephone conversation. ■■ Establish early on whether the candidate’s salary expectations match the stated qualifications and fit your budget. There is no sense going further in the hiring process if there is a mismatch. ■■ Be clear in letting the candidate know what the hiring process entails and how long it may

take to complete the process. Be sure to advise the candidate about any assessments or interviews that will be conducted. ■■ Prepare for the in-person interview and make sure other employees who are going to be in the hiring process are on the same sheet of music and will convey the same message on duties and responsibilities and the company culture. ■■ After any contacts with the candidates, let them know when they can expect to hear from you again and adhere to the schedule that you define. Keep candidates as informed as you want to be. Remember that ghosting goes both ways, meaning communication is a two-way street. While you’d never intentionally ghost a candidate, it is easy to do so inadvertently when you’re busy. And when candidates are juggling a lot of balls in the middle

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of a job hunt, they can make the same mistake. Don’t get mad — get talkative. The hiring process requires attention and timeliness. Once you start allowing long time lapses between communications, it becomes easier for candidates to ignore you. In most cases, if you’ve treated a candidate professionally and made them feel valued, they will reciprocate with the same professionalism. There is a school of thought among job applicants that employers mistreat candidates, so there’s no harm in treating employers the same way. Unfortunately, it’s true that hiring managers have always had the upper hand in the hiring process and many hiring managers have been ghosting candidates for years. But if you, as an employer or hiring manager stand out from the rest and encourage respect in the workplace, you’ll be treated the same way. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21086038 ■

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PRINTING PULSE

Printing By Numbers Q2 profits were down from the previous quarter for the first time in...well, since the previous quarter. Industry employment is up and down all over, and even PR isn’t as robust as it was. Printing Shipments: A Pleasant Surprise Well, well, well, would ya look at that. We’ve broken printing shipments’ seasonality—and in a good way. The value of printing

shipments for July 2019 was $6.8 billion—up from June’s $6.6 billion. No, that’s not a typo. Shipments in July are in fact up from June. What has typically been one of the lowest months—if not the lowest month—

of the year for printing shipments actually came in pretty good, and is even above July 2018’s $6.5 billion and well above July 2017’s $6.3 billion. As a result, year-to-date shipments for 2019 continue to stay ahead of 2018—January-to-July shipments for 2019 are at $46.64 billion compared to 2018’s $46.13, although the gap is closing. This is pretty good news—here’s hoping August shipments return us to our regularly scheduled seasonality. We’d rather not be unpleasantly surprised. Still, we do have to caution—as we always do—that NAICS 323 (which is what these shipments data are based on) isn’t necessarily the only printing-related three-digit NAICS anymore. Some shops are classifying themselves in different kinds of services. NAICS and wide-format and sign manufacturers have their own NAICS classifications. Different parts of the industry are diverging from NAICS 323, which makes tracking industry statistics that much more of a challenge, and can make the industry seem much gloomier than it really is—even though NAICS 323 doesn’t look all that gloomy at the moment, certainly compared to the not-too-distant past.

The Words of the Profits Industry profits data for the second quarter of 2019 came out in September, and annualized profits for Q2 were down from $3.61 billion to $3.05 billion. In Q2, for the industry on average, 60

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PRINTING PULSE profits before taxes were 3.45% of revenues, and for the last six quarters, they’ve averaged 4.11% of revenues. Our “tale of two cities” continues like the epic story it is, with the profitability gap between large and small printers yawning almost as wide as it ever has. Back in June, when we looked at the Q1 2019 profits report, we noted that large printers’ profits before taxes were -2.3% of revenues while for smaller printers, they were 8.76% of revenues. In Q2, large printers profits before taxes turned positive—but just barely: 0.5% of revenues. For small printers, profits before taxes came in at 6.74% of revenues.

Jobs: Modest Changes ShortTerm, Bigger Changes LongTerm and PR Is Cooling Off

we back out PR for that same period, agency employment was down -0.3%. Graphic design employment was up a little, and direct mail advertising was down a little. The general employment situation in the economy has been fairly good, even if the August jobs report was a bit of a disappointment: 105,000 jobs created in August. This excludes temporary census workers, which is an important caveat when interpreting jobs numbers at the end of a decade. The two previous months’ numbers were revised down. Still, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7%. So there’s that. Some other good news in the August jobs report included

an increase in the participation rate of 25-to-54-year-olds (from 82% in July to 82.6% in August) and the participation ratio of those prime-age workers (from 79.5% to 80%). As ever, the industry has a tough enough time attracting workers even when the labor market isn’t tight, so finding workers is not going to get any easier. In other macroeconomic news, by the time you read this, Q3 GDP numbers will have been released. As of press time (mid-September), predictions of third-quarter GDP growth were falling in the +1.5% to +2% range (annualized). Let’s see what really happens. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21086361 ■

August employment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that overall printing employment was virtually unchanged from July to August 2019 but, on a year-overyear basis, is down -2.3%. Production employment grew ever so slightly (+0.1%) from July to August, but year-over-year was down -4.6%. Nonproduction employment was down ever so slightly (-0.4%) from July to August, but up +2.6% from August 2018. In publishing, employment grew from 745,800 in July to 748,300 in August, and grew +1.5% yearover-year. Newspapers were largely dragging down the publishing employment figures (-8.0% from July 2018 to July 2019). The creative markets are starting to take a tumble employment-wise, and even the traditional hotspot, public relations, was only up +3.2% from July 2018 to July 2019. (Last spring, we noted that PR employment had been up +6.7% from March 2018 to March 2019.) Among agencies, employment was up +0.1% from July to July, but if

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FINISHING & MAILING Continued from page 29

Overall response rates: Direct Mail 5.1% Email 0.6% Paid Search 0.6% Social Media 0.4% Display Ads 0.2%

Overall Mail Attitudes: Mail Perceptions Over 90% of consumers, across generations, review their mail to make sure they are not discarding useful information. Millennials are more likely to read through advertising mail and show an increased preference for shopping at stores that advertise through the mail.

The Value of Informed Delivery Informed Delivery can help mailers increase the reach of their marketing campaign through a synchronized physical and digital touchpoint. This technology enables organizations to: ■■ Reach engaged consumers.Tap into the Informed Delivery user base which is proven to deliver significantly higher-than-average email open rates. ■■ Increase interaction. Generate multiple impressions from a single mailpiece. ■■ Encourage faster responses. Offers interactive content and a clear call-to-action to help increase consumer response. ■■ Reach customers digitally from their physical address. Expand your reach and audience base. ■■ Get more bang for your buck. Potentially increase ROI for your campaign. ■■ Measure campaign performance. Gain valuable data insights that can help optimize your marketing spend. The Informed Delivery Calculator allows mailers to estimate how Informed Delivery interactive campaigns can enhance their direct 62

mail campaigns. This tool uses mail volume and spend to approximate the impact of Informed Delivery in four mailing areas: reach, attention, response and conversions.

How This Works for Consumers Users can view grayscale images of the exterior, address side of lettersize mail pieces arriving soon in their mailbox. Mail piece images are available via email notification, online dashboard or mobile app. The process is simple: ■■ Consumer signs up for Informed Delivery. ■■ Mail is imaged during USPS processing. ■■ Images are matched to delivery points, and mailer interactive campaigns are applied. ■■ User receives mail piece images. ■■ User receives physical mail pieces. In a recent USPS MTAC presentation, Jakki Krage Strako, chief customer and marketing officer with the USPS, shared these statistics: ■■ Seventy-seven percent of consumers check their mail five days a week. ■■ Ninety-three percent are checking for something important. ■■ Fifty-nine percent read their advertising mail before discarding. ■■ Consumers spend on average 10 minutes sorting, opening and reading their mail. ■■ Magazines, coupon booklets and ads from local stores are most engaging. ■■ Fifty-six percent of consumers have tried a new business after receiving a direct mail piece. ■■ Informed Delivery has reached 11.8% national saturation and 62% email open rate. ■■ Seventy-two percent of respondents indicated clicking on

an Informed Delivery Interactive ad; 68% made a purchase. Companion service Informed Visibility Mail Tracking and Reporting is a key element to integrate with Informed Delivery to match and link the data provided to elicit a call-toaction or trigger some response event in the full breadth of the multichannel marketing message. This dynamic duo can boost an interactive campaign to the next level. Leverage the logical delivery events from IV and the digital reflection of the actual mail pieces from ID by adding email, text and social media options in a multi-channel campaign to increase the engagement value, improve customer response and optimize ROI. All of this is made possible through this suite of data driven tools: ■■ Retargeted Direct Mail: Automatically trigger a piece of mail to someone based on their digital behavior. ■■ Informed Delivery: Turn your direct mail into digital impressions and digital experiences. ■■ Informed Visibility: Know when mail is delivered to coordinate complementary media. Technology does not have to be a budget breaker. These data driven tools allow you to use analytics to develop a strategic plan and then strategically determine the associated costs. This enables us to create marketing campaign plans based on accurate and relevant data. Think strategically, starting with your goals and create direct mail using technology to drive predictable response. For more information, visit the Informed Delivery for Business Mailers website: https://www.usps.com/

business/informed-delivery.htm Find article here PrintingNews. com/21086189 ■

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage October 2019

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MARKETING TECHNOLOGY

QR Codes, Marketing and New Business

Bring up these hot topics to earn more business. Article by John Giles

isiting a customer and asking, “You don’t need any printing today, do you?” isn’t going to get new business. You need ideas that will open the print buyer’s door and start a conversation about getting his work. Here are a couple of topics that can get you in front of a print buyer and get you new orders.

QR Codes The debate continues within the print industry as to whether QR codes are still a thing, but certain lines of business are using them to drive users to a specific web page. Nonprofit fundraising is a lucrative QR code market. Printers should be calling on charities to talk about mobile giving and demonstrate how to make it easier for donors to give through a simple QR code. Charities with a web page for online giving should be doing direct mail that puts the QR code in front of the donor. In fact, everything a charity might print should include a QR code. Fundraising professionals are busy people, but they will talk to printers who can help them make giving easy. QR codes can also help any John Giles John Giles is a consultant for the printing industry who works with Tom Crouser and CPrint International to help printers prosper. Contact John at (954) 224-1942, john@cprint.com , or johng247@aol.com .

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business website capture new leads. Many companies already have special free information on their website that is available to the visitor if they provide their contact information. A direct mail piece to prospects with a QR code to direct them to the “free stuff” can potentially generate more visitors to the site than Google searches or email. Showing businesses how QR codes can get more leads might determine where they send their next print order.

Branding Branding is the current buzz topic in marketing. Companies large and small have invested heavily in creating a print brand identity that makes them memorable. Maintaining the brand image can quickly become a pain point for print buyers when someone in the company buys printing without following the brand guidelines. Print buyers want to partner with printers who know their brand and will help them make sure buyers follow the brand mechanics. Most companies already have built some type of brand identity that is projected through business cards and marketing collateral, direct mail, promotion material, product manuals and more, but they haven’t formalized the process or created a branding guide for the organization. Printers should discuss their customers’ brand identity and what procedures they use to protect it. One technique is to partner with a printer and have orders placed through webbased print portals with preexisting

templates. Another is to make sure a branding guide is created and distributed among the company’s print buyers to assure consistency. The printer needs to have a copy on file or help the company develop one if they don’t have it. Branding guidelines for print are usually simple. Logos and how they can be used, color ink requirements and color palettes, fonts and text guides, layout restrictions and photo requirements are usually the main guidelines issues needed for print. Knowing how the marketing professionals want the printed material to look to maintain the brand consistency is a big deal that can close a sale. There are hundreds of branding guideline samples online that can be used to help you develop a printed custom guide for customers. Advertising agency and marketing companies charge big dollars to prepare branding guidelines. Printers could do this to help assure the buyer gives you all their printing orders. Branding is always a good excuse to get face-to-face with buyers to talk about their printing orders. For most companies, increasing revenue is more important that cutting costs. QR codes and branding are two conversation starters that can help begin to build a relationship to make you an important resource to the buyer. Talk to customers in terms of their needs and issues, and you’ll find a willing listener who could end up being an important print buyer. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21080249 ■

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ASSOCIATION INSIGHTS

ISA: Print Innovations Drive Opportunity to Growth A Article by Lori Anderson

sk around and it’s clear that print is on the mind of a lot of sign, graphics and visual communications industry professionals. It’s also apparent that innovations in printers, cutters and substrates is driving imagination. Cortney Hall of Imagine 8, walked the floor of ISA International Sign Expo 2019 for the first time and was inspired to push creative ideas forward. “These printers, the technology that I’m seeing, is just amazing,” she said, “and the capabilities of doing both a matte print and a glossy at the same time, the printing textures. We’re just launching our business, so we are really looking for new innovative ideas to really bring to life all of the ideas that we have in our heads.” Print is in that perfect synergy of creativity and the tools that bring it to life. Print innovations also are driving opportunity for growth. ISA research released earlier this year, “Looking for BIG Opportunity in Graphic Communications & Specialty Printing,” found that wide format print volume was increasing. In addition, survey respondents expect wide format print volume to grow 31% annually.

Lori Anderson Lori Anderson is president & CEO of the International Sign Association (ISA) which serves the international on-premise signage and visual communications industry.

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Growth was also captured in “ISA Pulse,” which provides a snapshot of where the sign, graphics and visual communications industry is—and where it’s headed. That survey, released this summer, found that 38% of industry CEOs said their companies were growing at greater than 10% during the first half of 2019. Almost half—47%—said they expected double-digit growth in the second half of 2019. Why? Some factors mentioned include a strong national economy and regional growth. Those outside factors—for which we as an industry or individual businesses have very little control—aren’t the only aspect, though. Those same growth-minded companies cited investments that had allowed them to build their businesses: adding employees or buying equipment. Those tactics expanded their businesses exponentially, allowing them to deepen relationships with existing clients and/or building relationships with new clients. Our definition of print, as well as sign, graphics and visual communications, is expanding—and it needs to. Equipment innovations are driving efficiencies, which allow for more of an opportunity to explore related services—particularly if much of the expertise or equipment is already in-house. Wraps are a prime example. Companies with the ability to produce the graphics might need to bring in expert wrap installers. Or they may already be on staff and just need a little additional training. At ISA International Sign Expo 2019, ISA

in partnership with Justin Pate, The Wrap Institute and Avery Dennison – Graphics Solution, delivered a one-of-a-kind wrap experience. There also was a day-long boot camp where Pate and John Duever provided insight into owning and managing a wrap business. ISA International Sign Expo 2020 will build upon these wrap events to provide all levels of training for this exciting and vibrant segment of the sign, graphics and visual communications industry. We already are exploring ways to help communities navigate codes and regulatory issues related to wraps as a form of signage. This ability to explore related services is part of why ISA Sign Expo 2020 will co-locate with Impressions Expo, formerly the Imprinted Sportswear Show. Impressions Expo will provide yet more inspiration for expanding into textiles and apparel, with techniques ranging from apparel screen print to embroidery, directto-garment printing, neon inks, performance stretch and sublimation equipment. It’s not a hard stretch to see how one relationship with, say, a new restaurant might involve building an amazing architectural sign for the entrance, a wrap for the catering truck and embroidered hats or printed T-shirts that the servers wear. Our definition of print is expanding, and as an industry, we plan to be at the forefront of capitalizing on these related areas. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21086036 ■

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage October 2019

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