39 minute read
PRINTING PULSE
WHAT WILL THE FULL IMPACT BE?
Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? By Richard Romano & Elizabeth Gooding
Economic data can only ever paint a portrait of the past. The recent past, to be sure, but the past nonetheless. The monthly value of printing shipments data we regularly present are two months old by the time it is reported (the numbers presented in the sidebar to this article were released in March and include data up through January). The profi ts data are even less timely; they are only reported quarterly and thus the Source: Department of Labor. Shaded areas indicate recessions.
numbers are only through Q4 2019.
This type of data lag is not usually a problem, as we are more interested in long-term trends than in what happened yesterday. We do eagerly await the monthly shipments data and cheer when a month is up, or boo when a month is down, but what’s more important is what is happening in the long run. Monthly, and especially weekly, data can be somewhat “noisy”; there can be things that make a particular data series tick
PICTURES OF PUPPIES
“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’” —John Greenleaf Whitti er
This is a printing industry trade magazine, not a medical journal, so we will carry on with our industry analysis subject to the many caveats above. These are pre-March charts, so they’re best looked at through the lens of nostalgia, or perhaps the calm before the storm. Still, they do have some lessons to teach us.
Shipments
After having the best year in half a decade, we began 2020 on a high note: January shipments came in at $6.94 billion, and while that was down from December’s $6.98 billion, it was just slightly lower than January 2016’s $6.95 billion—making January 2020 the best January we have had since then. Sigh.
Profi ts
OK, so the most recent profi ts data is hardly a cute puppy pic—but then not all puppies are cute. (Don’t send letters.)
Annualized profi ts for Q4 2019 took a nosedive from $720 million to -$170 million. (See? We as an industry don’t need a major crisis to lose profi tability.) Actually, this is just the latest chapter in our “Tale of Two Cities” narrative, this time with the profi tability gap between large and small printers narrowing.
In Q2 2019, for large printers (those with more than $25million in assets), profi ts before taxes were -6.66% of revenues. In Q4, this improved to -1.99% of revenues. So that was good. But for small printers, profi ts before taxes in Q3 were 8.49% of revenues. In Q4, this dropped to 3.15% of revenues. So that was bad. While large printers continue to drive down overall industry profi tability, a decline in small printers’ profi tability isn’t helping. For the industry on average, profi ts before taxes were -0.18% of revenues, and for the last six quarters, they’ve averaged 1.19% of revenues.
If there is a silver lining to all of this, it’s that we as an industry went into this crisis in the best shape we have been in in a long time. If this had happened even a few years earlier, we might be looking at a lot more print businesses that won’t make it out the other side. It’s not going to be an easy spring and summer, but coming off such a good year as 2019 might just let us make it through this crisis.
We won’t see Q1 2020 profi ts data until June and we won’t see the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on profi ts until we get Q2 profi ts data in September. If we’re all still here.
up or down, which will probably not be a factor the following month: unseasonably bad weather in one February, unseasonably good weather in another, a hurricane in one June, a major election in one November or perhaps even a pandemic.
The Month the Universe Changed
In March 2020, or February in some countries, the world turned upside-down.
The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy was so swift and intense that presenting any chart of pre-March data will be the equivalent of printing pictures of puppies—calming, consoling and heartwarming.
As we write this in early April, we have no clear sense of what the ultimate impact will be on the economy, or on the printing industry, other than a general “not good” (although we will speculate). In mid-March, we launched a quick survey to get a sense of what the expected impact will be on the printing industry, and while all precincts haven’t yet reported in, two-thirds of respondents thus far are expecting 2020 revenues to be down more than 10% from 2019, and 70% expect jobs/orders to be down more than 10%. More than half have put whatever hiring plans they had on hold (around 40% are downsizing their production staff) and around 40% are putting whatever investment plans they had on hold—although, to be fair, not many print businesses had any major investment plans for 2020, as we found in our fall 2019 survey.
In terms of industry data, we won’t know the full impact of the health crisis until the summer. March shipments will be released in May, and while we expect the data to be bad, the badness will probably be somewhat tempered, since the month started out OK. We’ll get April shipments data in early June, and that’s when we can expect to see some trend lines plummet through the x-axis and maybe through the fl oor. Sorry to say, but that’s the expectation.
Even regular macroeconomic data are lagging reality. On April 3, the March employment fi gures were released, and the headline unemployment rate increased to 4.4%, up from 3.6% in February, and March job loss was 701,000. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics noted some problems with the March survey, and it’s possible that the unemployment rate is as high as 5.5%. That’s a big jump, but economists are expecting that to be dwarfed by next month’s report, which we’ll probably see just as this issue is hitting mailboxes.
One data series that has been more timely in tracking the fallout from the crisis is weekly initial unemployment claims. On March 27, the Department of Labor announced that weekly unemployment claims surged from the previous week’s 282,000 to 3.28 million. That was the highest number of initial jobless claims since 1967, when the DOL started tracking them. The previous record high was a “mere” 695,000 back in October 1982. Then, on April 2, weekly unemployment claims doubled to 6,648,000, and the scary thing is that number probably undercounts the unemployed, as it doesn’t include freelancers, gig workers, or other members of the 1099 club who don’t qualify for unemployment. (Although the CARES Act changes this; see below.) In our industry, this mostly impacts freelance writers, designers, illustrators and other creatives. Can we make a wild-ass guess that if the weekly claim data doubled in April that the overall unemployment rate has at least doubled? Expectations were that we would be at 20% soon.
Essenti al Businesses
One major impact the crisis has had on the printing industry is in the case of closing “nonessential businesses.” Whether a business is essential or not is determined at the state level, and in some states, printing is not considered an essential business, and thus printing companies are not allowed to remain open. In some states, printers—particularly those that produce signage—have been considered essential because they serve hospitals and other medical centers. Some print businesses opted to close anyway, even if they were allowed to remain open, out of safety concerns.
Even when print businesses have been allowed to remain open, they have been seeing a decline in work. As our survey respondents indicated, they are seeing and expecting declines in jobs and ultimately revenues. On the plus side, a number of print businesses have been doing pro bono work
for their communities, making masks and other personal protection equipment (PPE). This muchneeded assistance may not bring in immediate revenue, but it is good PR and may yield new business once things return to normal (someday.)
We know that upcoming industry and macroeconomic indicators are going to be bad, and you know better than anyone how your own business and local economy are faring. The real questions, for which these data series are no help, are: how long is this health crisis likely to last, and what will be the long-term impact?
How Long Must This Go On?
First and most pressing is, when will the country be open for business again? Unfortunately, no one really knows.
People who have been following the pandemic use Italy as a benchmark, where the disease hit the earliest (in terms of Western countries) and most aggressively. As of April 3, Italy’s crisis seems to have peaked, but other European countries, and the U.S., have yet to come close to peaking, which may not happen until mid-May, if everyone follows the Italy timeline—which not everyone is. (The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation [IHME] reports pandemic peak projections by state at healthdata.org.)
The best-case scenario is that the disease peaks in mid-May, ebbs by the middle of June, and we can return to some semblance of normal by August. If it is that short-lived (and if that doesn’t sound “shortlived” just remember how g------n long March felt, there might not be much lasting impact at all—if the CARES Act does what it was supposed to do.
There is a historical precedent we need to bear in mind, and that is the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, one aspect of which is often forgotten: it came in two waves. The fi rst wave in early 1918 was virulent, but not appreciably worse than a normal fl u. So when new cases waned as the weather warmed, everyone let down their guard. Then the virus mutated, and the second wave, which hit in fall 1918, was the deadly one. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 to 50 million—and possibly as high as 100 million. The key to keeping it from being even worse was quarantining. Cities that instituted lockdowns early in the crisis had fewer deaths than cities that instituted them later. And evidence from the current pandemic strongly suggests that the self-quarantining and social distancing are actually working. As frustrating, maddening and boring as it has been, the alternative is far worse. What is not yet clear from the health data is whether we are likely to face some level of social distancing again later in the year if it pulls a 1918 on us.
Ulti mate Economic Impact
What the long-term effects of the COVID19 crisis will be are also unknown—and in large part unknowable. On March 31, Goldman Sachs weighed in with their forecast.
Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday the secondquarter U.S. economic decline would be much greater than it had previously forecast and unemployment would be higher, citing anecdotal evidence and “sky-high jobless claims numbers” resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. 1
Goldman is now forecasting a real GDP sequential decline of 34% for the second quarter on an annualized basis, compared with its earlier estimatefor a drop of 24%. It also cut its fi rst-quarter targetto a decline of 9% from its previous expectation for a 6% drop, according to chief economist Jan Hatzius. 1
The fi rm now sees the unemployment rate risingto 15% by mid-year compared with its previous expectation for 9%. 1
Unlike past economic crises which triggered massive reductions in demand, for the most part, demand is still high. People have money, they just can’t spend it anywhere, except, apparently, on toilet paper. No one is going out to eat, no one is going out to bars, or to the gym, or getting their hair cut. No one is buying a car or other major items. And few people are having things printed. Once the lockdown is over, there will be a massive surge of pent-up demand. We know more than a few people—like us— who are planning “major happy hour outings” when
MARKETING IN A COVID-19 WORLD
Planning short- and long-term marketing goals.
Whether you’re a large global corporation or a small independent, you are trying to fi gure out how COVID-19 will impact your business in the weeks ahead. Now, more than ever, your marketing, PR, communications and crisis management teams are working around the clock to ensure your staff and customers are taken care of during this global pandemic.
Amidst the uncertainty, companies are re-thinking their marketing efforts and investments - putting campaigns on By Joanne Gore
hold until things settle down - and squandering the opportunity to get ahead of the curve once they do.
Keep your marketi ng alive as you navigate the short term
While focusing on a marketing campaign may not be top of mind, communicating relevant information with customers, prospects, partners and employees is a priority. Companies large and small are walking a fi ne line between capitalizing on the current global health crisis – and helping people adapt with products and services that meet the
needs of today’s isolated, ever-changing workforce.
We learned from the 1980s recession that companies who advertised aggressively during the downturn saw nearly 300% sales growth in the fol
lowing three years. Instead, look ahead – because there will be a rebound – and position yourself to have your message heard loud and clear when that day comes.
Frankenberger and Graham, two Oregon professors, studied 2,662 fi rms over 16,000+ “fi rm years” (1970 – 1991) to determine the effect of advertising on a company during a recession. Firms that advertised during a recession increased in value and got more marketing bang for their buck - in some cases for up to three years after the recession had ended.
COVID-19 is a global human health crisis. Nothing good will come from the idea of profi ting from it. If you have a solution that helps people through this time, choose your words wisely – or you will come across as trying to make a quick buck. Knowing who you help – and how you help them – becomes more critical than ever.
Buyer needs have changed
Business is not as usual right now. In fact, by the time you read this, your inbox will have been fl ooded with advice for working from home, dealing with distractions, easing stress, the importance of routines and how to manage your business during times of crisis (to name a few). Companies that provide communication, automation and cloudbased “access from anywhere” solutions are capturing the
attention of buyers researching products and solutions – because they now have time. They’re taking calls, booking meetings and doing business.
Solutions that connect machines, work pieces and systems can gain self-awareness and self-predictiveness. In addition to providing businesscritical triggers and alerts of defects, production failures and other system faults, these connected systems also identify the best possible time to resolve issues with near-zero downtime, often remotely. As businesses recover, automation and redundancy solutions will help drive growth, customer retention and bottom-line results.
They also require human intervention from time to time. For example, if you use a marketing automation platform, you have automated emails going out to people based on actions they took months ago. This holds true for any scheduled activities – from social media to monthly statements. If it was produced before March 15, re-visit your message and your imagery before it winds up back in the queue.
A new normal has set in
Some industries embraced remoteworking in the 90s, while others – steeped in a rich history of “how it’s always been done” – are virtual newbies. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of people who work from home has increased by 140% since 2005, according to “The Ultimate List of Remote Work Statistics – 2020 Edition.” In the U.S., 4.3 million people work from home at least half the time. Half-time telecommuters save 11 days a year by not traveling to work.
Sales personnel, cut off from traditional face-to-face relationship-building
tactics, are cleaning up their CRM contacts, polishing their LinkedIn profi les, engaging with prospects and infl uencers - and offering help. Marketing teams have cleaned up a backlog of unwritten case studies, blogs and whitepapers. And they’re fi nally getting a chance to analyze, test and revel in a playground of data.
The data gathered helps build new buyer profi les that go beyond the company information, purchase history and contact information stored in your database. It becomes the single source of truth for how needs have changed, what current challenges your contacts may be
facing and new ways you can help them – with print services and solutions that reinforce why they should keep doing business with you.
While marketing and sales collaborate on aligning the lead qualifi cation and follow-up strategy throughout the buyer lifecycle, they’re ensuring a fl uid customer experience – as your prospect/lead converts from being marketing qualifi ed (MQL) to sales qualifi ed (SQL) and your calls go from cold to warm.
Direct mail has a new role
The customer communications industry has been laser-focused on data and data mining before many printers implemented a CRM. Not only do they speak the language(s), literally, but they are also well-versed in matters such as compliancy, security, data management, archiving and quality control.
From highly regulated statements, bills invoices and critical mass mailings – to highly personalized and customized direct mail – integrating direct mail with digital campaigns boost attention spans. People spend 39% more time engaging in direct mail vs. digital campaigns alone, impacting brand experience, recall and results. Print has the power to keep customers informed and engaged. Adding textures and fi nishes like embossing, debossing, raised ink, foil or glitter teases them to do more than see print, but to touch it – and remember it.
Designers are looking for ways to transform their digital vision into a longlasting and memorable physical one. Marketers are mining data to provide a hyper-personal customer experience. Print and marketing services providers are helping every one of these buyers get what they want by exposing the power of direct mail.
Sharing is the new selling
What you’re selling is not nearly as important as why it matters to the people who buy from you – especially now. How will your digital enhancement press impact the life of your customer in a post COVID-19 world? Your customers don’t want to know the speeds and feeds of your equipment, and they probably aren’t looking to “buy now.” Not only could asking too soon cause them to walk away, but in today’s world, it may be considered in poor taste. They may, however, be inclined to book a demo, fi ll out a customer satisfaction survey or schedule a consultation.
Ninety percent of top-performing B2B content marketers put the audience’s informational needs fi rst, according to the most recent B2B content marketing benchmark study from MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute. Sharing customer success stories, how-to guides, industry research and virtual tours - as well as being available, helpful and real - is the approach companies must now take.
Understanding the behaviors of your current (and future) buying audience – and feeding them resources that help them make independent decisions about new solutions, trends and technologies – is the new normal.
Listen more. Talk less.
This is a time to act with empathy and kindness. As businesses struggle to tightly manage cash fl ow, think about what you can do to support your community, your industry and your employees. Care and consideration of the people you work with will be remembered long after the dust of this crisis settles.
By the time you read this it will be May. The sun will be shining, the weather will be warmer, and it is my sincere hope that we will have fl attened the curve – and are primed for business – whether it’s the old normal, the new normal or somewhere in between. ●
Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21126701
Joanne Gore is founder of Joanne Gore Communicati ons. She has spent the last three decades helping companies maximize their marketi ng and communicati ons eff orts. Contact Joanne at joanne@joannegorecommunicati ons.com.
Inkjet has entered our homes in many ways. From fl ooring and wallpaper to tile and upholstery, inkjet print technology has touched just about every point in our personal lives. Products within our homes are being customized through print at a faster pace than ever before. There seems to be no limit to the ability to personalize the interior of our homes and make them one-of-a-kind.
But why limit the personal touch to the interior? What about the exterior? Custom inkjet printed products have made it through the front door, but rarely do you hear about customizing the door itself. Enter axpanel
And do I mean “enter.” A division of aroja xorfex digital solutions (spelled in lower case), axpanel is revolutionizing home entry. Commercially introduced in 2019, this custom developer of inkjet printing and industrial automation for XY, rotary and single pass solutions located in the Czech Republic, offers solutions for customized inkjet technology for printing on sectional garage door panels. Their technology prints in high resolution 720dpi quality using UV-CMYK inks. Formulated with high UV-resistance, the process is suitable for almost any type of design, graphics art, scan, photograph or custom design for individual door panels.
If designing your own custom garage door art is not enough, axpanel offers additional 3D effects which can be incorporated into the texture to add customized depth perspective.
Each panel exterior is protected against harsh environments with the application of a specialized automobile grade polyurethane lacquer after printing. The lacquer provides superior resistance to fading, corrosion, scratches and chemicals, even including acid rain. Yes, in some countries acid rain is a big concern.
Fading is only 3 – 5% after 15 years compared to typical fading of 2 – 3% per year for polyester paint fi nish. Door companies can offer a 10-year warranty against fading, corrosion and scratches. axpanel revolutionizes home entry. By Mary Schilling INKJET MAKES A GRAND ENTRY Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21124722 interior of our homes and make personal touch to the interior? What
Creating a New Point of Entry
While flatbed printing leaves unprinted white space at the bottom edge and on the male joint, axpanel printing is done on the bottom edge, exterior face and part of the male joint. Axpanel offers this unique, custom, print rotation called, “Z-axis technology,” featuring no unprinted white spaces at the panel joints. This technology solves the problem of printing around the bottom edge of the door panel.
No white space at the joint
Panels are first rotated 90 degrees on the Z-axis to print around the bottom edge, then rotated back to flat for printing the exterior panel face, including part of the male joint. The result is no unprinted space is seen at the joints, including when a door is opening and closing.
In addition to the unique Z-axis printing technology, the axpanel system incorporates several technological innovations specific to producing printed sectional door panels, creating three main applications: ● Replace wood design panel inventory with digitally printed standard white panels with more than 100 wood designs readily available. There are no minimum print job requirements – every panel can be different. Most panel styles are suitable for printing: wood designs, flat, V-ribbed, U-ribbed, micro-rib and cassette. The only requirement is that the maximum depth of the style should be 6 mm for best printing results. Wood grain or smooth panel surfaces are best for wood designs. The main advantages are wood design panel inventory can be reduced by up to 80 – 90%, and dozens of new wood designs can be offered. ● Print new designs – extending beyond typical one-color paint finish and wood designs. There are 100,000 design possibilities with everything from brick and stone to geometric shapes and metal look designs. The advantage is that hundreds of
ready-to-use designs can be offered to customers. Custom one-off designs can also be offered. The only investment is developing the graphics files. ● Print new, virtual panel styles on flat panels, which can have wood grain, stucco or smooth surfaces. Panel styles include a wide variety of wood designs such as horizontal, vertical and angled boards. Designs are only limited by the imagination. 3D effects can be incorporated into designs to add depth to the design. Again, these can be ready-to-use designs or custom oneoff designs.
Streamlining the Production Process
The axpanel system prints maximum industry door panels up to 610 mm in height, with no minimum panel requirement. Panels can be up to 8.0 mm long, with the ability to print longer panels as required which can be 20 – 100 mm thick.
“Production rates depend
on the axpanel system, with five versions now offered,” said Nika Buterin, axpanel marketing manager. “Single pass production rates range from 24 to 320 linear meters per hour and varies depending on the number of print passes are required. Our process is four easy steps.”
Upgrade Your Doors in Four Easy Steps
● Panel preparation ● Printing ● Lacquer spray application ● Panel drying in a drying room
“Panel preparation consists of cleaning dirt, dust and protective folio residue from the panel,” Buterin said. “When European manufactured blank panels are received, they include a protective folio to prevent scratching during shipment and handling. This folio is removed before panel preparation.
“Digital inkjet printing requires the panel surface to be slightly abraded before jetting for controlled wet out and ink adhesion. The folio is removed before printing. We offer a completely automated system, or the customer can use their own system, or prepare panels manually for small volume production.
“Lacquer application consists of automated spraying over the printed design. Digital ink requires a protective coating for exterior use. Printed panels are automatically fed through the lacquer spray box without any labor required.
“Our water filtration system meets EU environmental requirements. Customers can also manually spray lacquer panels for small volume production. After lacquer application, panels dry in a drying room for 30 minutes to six hours. Drying time depends on many variables. Panels are automatically loaded onto racks in the drying room with a computer-controlled system. After drying, panels are selected with the axpanel management system, and they are automatically unracked and transferred by conveyor out of the drying room through an exit hatch. No labor is required. Only for small volume production will panel production be manipulated manually.”
Making a Standardized Industry Unique
Printing garage door panels is a completely new evolutionary step for the door industry, so what barriers does Buterin see?
“The garage industry is conservative and slow to change with sales and marketing slow to adapt to new techniques. It is a fundamental change from physically manufacturing every panel style – design – color combination the same. A typical minimum panel production run is 100 – 300 linear meters for one combination. With inkjet, there are no minimum production requirements – every panel can be different. There are no additional costs or reduction in production rates for printing each panel differently. Marketing and sales will need to evolve to commercialize the technological capabilities of inkjet applications.”
Looking to Upgrade your She-Shed?
Contacting your builder or garage door manufacturer is your first step as these inkjet printers are for the garage door manufacturing industry and not direct to consumer. (I know, bummer.) Axpanel works directly with assemblers, panel manufacturers and door
manufacturers, which has integrated in-house panel production.
Need a sample? They keep stock of printed door panel samples ready for immediate shipment or print typical garage door panels by choosing from more than 200 ready-to-use designs.
Welcome to your She-Shed wine cellar
Panel styles include flat, V-ribbed, U-ribbed, microrib and cassette. You can even start with custom panel texture surfaces which include woodgrain, stucco and smooth. Ready panels are manufac
tured by EPCO, Italpannelli and Metecno. You can also print a custom design on ready panels with a customer supplied graphics file, or axpanel can prepare the graphics for you.
If you have a special garage door in mind, you can send them the garage door panel for test printing with a ready-to-use or custom designs.
Go Bold, Get Creative
Digital printing is not well suited for solid colors but is excellent for patterns and
abstracts. For example, instead of printing a solid one-color area, the door can be printed
with green grass, leaves or as a virtual vertical garden.
And What is the Craziest Thing Printed?
Axpanel customers have some interesting ideas of what they want printed on their garage doors. All would be considered non-traditional. Some of their favorites include logo of a football team or artwork of a Grand Prix race car, a photo of a wine cellar, a sailing ship, duplication of an oil painting of birds and flowers and duplicating a driveway with stones onto the door.
What Would You Choose?
Imagine driving up your driveway to your customized garage door, creating a truly personalized entry to your inkjet printed home. What graphics would you choose? Don’t just think outside of the box, think outside of the house. ●
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.
DON'T FORGET TO FINISH
How the right kind of finishing will set you apart. By Mark DiMattei
Finishing documents with cutting, folding and binding is crucial to the production of any application. However, fi nishing methods that are designed to meet the needs of long-run offset may not be suitable for digital printing. The expanding array of digital printing methods has changed the nature of fi nishing from large-scale devices focused on offset printing to automated methods that are often brought in-line with a production digital printing device. To maximize quality, productivity and innovation, the role and importance of fi nishing must evolve as well.
Finishing Closes Deals
According to Keypoint Intelligence’s “Market Trends in Print Finishing” study, many PSPs report that fi nishing has helped them to win deals. In
Deals Lost Due to Finishing Requirements
N = 120 Print Service Providers in the US and Canada Source: Market Trends in Print Finishing, Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends 2020
fact, only 11% of respondents reported that they had never lost a deal due to fi nishing requirements. Among those respondents who lost deals because of fi nishing requirements, the most common reasons included not having the required fi nishing capabilities, followed by price and turnaround time. All three of these factors can feed upon one another—if you don’t have the right capabilities and therefore need to outsource that part of the job, price and turnaround time can be impacted.
Finishing Creates Market Diff erenti ati on
Not surprisingly, respondents to Keypoint Intelligence’s survey ranked quick turnaround and quality as the key differentiators of fi nishing. The ability to quickly complete a quality job grows in importance as run lengths decrease and customers demand ever shorter delivery times. At the same time, however, it is also worth noting that a variety of fi nishing options and the ability to offer creative ideas were also important differentiators. Diverse, creative options enable PSPs to stand out from their competitors and grab the attention of consumers and clients.
Off set Versus Digital
Offset and digital fi nishing options are often at odds. Longer offset runs tend to be better suited for fi nishing
through dedicated manufacturing tools. Meanwhile, shorter runs and requirements for quick turnaround naturally do not lend themselves well to devices that take a long time to set up. Additionally, with the growing prevalence of highspeed inkjet digital printing systems, many PSPs fi nd there is a requirement for higher volume and productive fi nishing tools that have new capabilities for fi nishing workfl ow and automation (offl ine or in-line).
According to Keypoint Intelligence’s research, 80% of respondents that had digital print and offset press technologies generally preferred to use the same fi nishing equipment for both. Only 11% preferred to keep offset and digital production separate, while another 9% reported that combining digital and offset was not possible due to format and other requirements. Regardless, there are benefi ts to colocating digital print and offset printing capabilities.
Next Steps
It’s all well and good to consider the statistics of fi nishing options, but there are some actions PSPs can take to ensure that they’re getting the most out of fi nishing. ● Get a grip on your opti ons.
Evaluate how you leverage fi nishing in your current offerings. Focus on the applications that require fi nishing ● Keep an eye on costs. The only way to determine how valuable fi nishing can be is to keep track of all the related costs. Once you’ve obtained a thorough understanding of how fi nishing is accounted for, you can develop a better go-forward strategy.
Finishing Diff erenti ators
N = 120 Print Service Providers in the US and Canada Source: Market Trends in Print Finishing, Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends 2020
● Budget for future purchases. Having a plan for additional equipment purchases ensures that you’re tracking the investments required to sustain, build and grow your business. ● Don’t forget to account for fi n
ishing when making digital print
purchases. Printing solutions typically involve a substantial investment, but hidden costs are sometimes overlooked. It’s important to consider the role that fi nishing will play when a new production digital print system is purchased.
The Bott om Line
Although respondents believe that fi nishing capabilities can differentiate their businesses and contribute signifi cantly to sales revenues, this does not necessarily mean that all PSPs are paying enough attention to fi nishing. There is still work to be done, but most PSPs understand the value and benefi ts that fi nishing can deliver. ●
Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21124215
Mark DiMatt ei is the Manager of Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends’ Publishing, Editi ng and News department. In this capacity, he oversees the editi ng, formatti ng and publicati on cycles for many diff erent types of deliverables. He also assists in the producti on of blogs, analyses, research reports and multi -client studies.
FASTSIGNS is a Family Business
Gaby Mullinax & Kaitlyn Mullinax-Fischer, Owner & Director of Business Development of FASTSIGNS, talk about how their franchise became a family business.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21122900
NEW Rollem Advantage CS-25 converti ng system!
ALL NEW Rollem Advantage line of converting system, shown fi nishing a 24pt folding carton w/ a ‘J hook’ hanger.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126567
Collaborati on services from Konica Minolta
Collaboration, communication, personal organization, productivity, social networking and intranet – all are essential components of the digital workplace
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21123558
FASTSIGNS to Off er Complete Signage and Commercial Printi ng Services
Gordon Sellers, FASTSIGNS Vero Beach, Fla., and & Chris Beals, ABC Printing, talk about their partnership.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21124194
Waren Werbitt Says, “We Will Come Back From This”
Print evangelist Warren Werbitt is going a little stir crazy—as is everyone—but insists that we will come back from this crisis.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126247
COVID-19’s Impact on Marketi ng, Sales, & Leadership
How will COVID-19 impact sales and marketing? How will print, mail, and communication change as we see our way through this storm?
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21124768
Memjet and the Expansion of Single-Pass Inkjet Printi ng
Kevin Shimamoto, CMO for Memjet, talks about how they are expanding single-pass inkjet printing.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21125722
Frank Goes Viral
Frank comments on the postponement of drupa and its effect on the printing industry.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21124944
Rethinking Relati onships Post COVID-19
Ad Age Editor Brian Braiker and Anomaly Founding Partner Jason DeLand discuss the lasting implications of the pandemic on all aspects of life and business.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126569
Thayer Long on Impact of Covid-19 Virus
It has been a very challenging and unsettling few weeks. The COVID-19 threat is having a severe impact on business and on people’s lives.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126570
Catherine Monson: Find Your Courage
Catherine Monson, FASTSIGNS, talks about providing comprehensive signage and visual graphic solutions to help companies of all sizes.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21127097
FOW #507: Shallow Stepped Accordion
Shallow Stepped Accordion. Trish Witkowski shares her super-cool folding samples and helpful production tips.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126573
Our Industry Will be STRONGER Than Ever
We are here to help, support and grow our incredible local industry.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126618
Quark to InDesign Converter Online - For one off File Conversions
We are offering the one-off online fi le conversion service for QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126616
Sandy Alexander Manufacturing PETG Face Shields to Help First Responders
Manufacturing PETG face shields to help fi rst responders throughout the nation.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126620
Massivit 3D Provides PPE Face Shields to Help Batt le COVID-19 Coronavirus
Massivit 3D is honored to serve health workers worldwide at the forefront of the #covid19 #coronavirus.
Find video here: www.printi ngnews.com/21126615
