DECEMBER 2018 22 A pocalypse Postponed: The State of Retail
An edition of Printing News
38 E difice Rex: Vomela Installs Its First Building Wrap 50 M irror, Mirror, on the Wall‌Innovative Digital Solutions for Fashion
Wide-Format Graphics Makes the Magnificent Mile More Magnificent
p.35
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4
Printing News December 2018
Clickable Paper
I
recently received a copy of “Introduction to Graphic Communication” by Harvey Levenson and John Parsons. Levenson, a retired professor from Cal-Poly, and Parsons, one of the most famous writers in the industry, have created the new go-to textbook for the printing industry. “Introduction to Graphic Communication” is not a regular book as we know it, and it is not an e-book. In every way, it is a printed book, with text and graphics, but most importantly on certain pages the book has interactive capabilities. Simply pointing your smartphone at the page will open supplemental audio and video designed to increase knowledge and understanding of several print topics. I did about 10 videos for the book, so you can tell they tapped into the best the industry has to offer. Well organized and illustrated, this book smartly uses Ricoh’s Clickable Paper technology. Similar to augmented reality, the reader scans something in a printed product that then plays a supplemental video or sound. I predict that this technology will become standard in the printing industry, and will replace various authors and textbooks (even books that I’ve written) that currently teach young people in the printing industry. Because of its use of clickable paper technology, I highly recommend “Introduction to Graphic Communication.” Levenson and Parsons have added a new dimension to learning about the print industry as this book is not only print. Adding the audio and visual explanation and demonstration of various technology brings learning about print to life. You can see a press running,
and you can see how prepress is done. The ability to view these key aspects of teaching in the printing industry will prove invaluable to those learning. The book is a second edition of Levenson’s original “Introduction to Graphic Communication” and the first to use Ricoh’s clickable paper app. The new edition includes updated information representing today’s industry and is intended to appeal to different learning styles including reading, hearing, and watching videos. It is written for educational programs in graphic communication and for industry training. The book has become a popular textbook in graphic communications programs at universities and community colleges, technical schools, and high schools. Most recently, the Graphic Information Technology program of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Ariz., and the Graphic Communications Management program at Toronto’s Ryerson University have adopted the book, the latter assigning it as a “required textbook.” As of this writing, eight other schools have also adopted the book and five more are considering it. The interactive nature of the new edition—coupled with the great, updated content—are particularly appealing. The AR component has been cited as a great way to teach students how print and digital media can work together. ■
Frank Romano RIT Professor Emeritus fxrppr@rit.edu WhatTheyThink - Printing News
For more information, visit Printingnews.com/10013323
CONTENTS
DECEMBER 2018
PRINTING NEWS
Columns
8 Printing Pulse: Industry
34 Human Resources
Economics
58 Executive Q&A: Kirby Best
12 What You Don’t Know About Print Volumes and Inkjet
14 The Strategic Press Decision
12
16 Optimal Use of Your Web-ToPrint System
18 Is Your Print Business
Freewheeling or Process Driven?
20 After Your Print Software Strategic Decision
24 Flexo’s Transformation – It’s all about Controlling Variables
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE NEWS
16
22
22 Apocalypse Postponed: The State of Retail
32 SGIA Recap 35 Wide-Format Graphics Makes the Magnificent Mile More Magnificent
Custom Content focus on our client’s A services, technologies and products 40 Mutoh 41 Canon Solutions America 42 OKI 43 Koenig & Bauer 44 Xante 45 Lintec
Departments 4 Editorial 10 Printing Pulse 26 New Products 30 Watch List 46 Wide Format & Signage News 56 Classifieds/Supplier Directory
38 Edifice Rex: Vomela Installs Its First Building Wrap
47 Adobe Project Paras Extends
35
Photoshop CC Textile Design Capabilities
48 Austin Community College
Seeks to Spur Industry Growth with Fashion Incubator
50 EFI Reggiani Unveils the EFI
Reggiani BOLT — World’s Fastest Digital Textile Printer
38 6
Printing News December 2018
52 Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall… Innovative Digital Solutions for Fashion
In the Know- Events FastSigns
Jan 16-19
Print Source New York Jan 21-26 EFI Connect
Jan 22-25
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@PrintingNews; @WideFormatSign facebook:
Printing News; wideformatsignage linkedin:
Printing News linkedin.com/groups/1780044 youtube:
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WhatTheyThink - Printing News
PRINTING PULSE
Industry Economics According to U.S. Census Bureau data, monthly printing shipments took a tumble in September— repeating last year’s pattern—while graphic arts employment is also down—unless you’re in PR. Quarterly profits for Q2 are holding steady, but tell a “tale of two cities.” Let’s dig in...
Printing Industry Shipments
The value of printing industry shipments for September 2018—the most recent for which we have data as of press time—were down from August, and this is the second year in a row where September shipments have been down. Two data points don’t make a trend, but suggest that we may be starting to see a new seasonal pattern. Then again, perhaps there is no pattern.
Certainly, print businesses that serve retailers have been remarking for the past few years that the concept of the “marketing calendar” is a thing of the past, and print work is more and more catch as catch can, especially as brands launch new products and campaigns at random, often in response to social media. Is commercial print in general going that way, as well? Could be. Still, the industry had a good summer; August was the second time since 2016 that shipments for the month exceeded those of a previous year—but we did take a tumble in September. We are losing some of the ground we had been making up this year: on a year-to-date ( January-to-September) basis, 2018 comes in at $58.8 billion, while 2017 January-to-September shipments came in at $59.8 billion (all dollars adjusted for inflation).
Graphic Arts Employment As for employment, overall printing employment dropped from August to September 2018 (the most recent month for which we have data), and on a year-over-year basis is down -1.5 percent. Likewise, production employment dropped a skosh from August to September, and is down -2.6 percent from September 2017. It’s the usual story that we have often heard told: consolidation and difficulty in hiring, at least at the production level. Non-production employment stayed the same from August to September, and is even up +0.9 percent from September 2017. Another issue is automation; but is automation the cause of the decline in graphic arts unemployment, or are companies turning to automation because production employees are hard to find? From what we have 8
Printing News December 2018
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
PRINTING PULSE
heard, primarily the latter, but may lead to the former. In publishing, employment dropped from 718,300 in August to 717,400 in September. Publishing employment is down slightly (-0.2 percent) from September 2017. The creative markets are doing better. From August 2017 to August 2018, PR employment was up +6.8 percent, and agencies were up +1.3 percent—however, if we back PR out, agency employment growth drops to +0.6 percent. PR has become perhaps the most important component of today’s marketing and promotion efforts, as they are often the ones running social media. Graphic design employment was down -1.5 percent from August 2017 to August 2018, and direct mail advertising was down -4.3 percent.
mean (as it were). Digging down, we get a better picture of what’s going on beneath the surface. For large printers ($25+million in assets), profits before taxes were 3.60 percent of revenues, and for the last six quarters they’ve averaged 1.23 percent of revenues. But look at the “non-large” printers (<$25 million in assets): their Q2 profits before taxes were 8.77 percent of revenues, and for the last six quarters averaged 7.26 percent of revenues. This disparity between the “two cities” is not a new story; it’s something we have been seeing
for the past couple of years: low profitability of the large printers is dragging down average industry profitability. (In much the same way that if a printing industry writer entered a room of hedge fund managers, the average income in the room would drop substantially.) So for the industry as a whole, cracking $4 billion in profits is proving to be an elusive goal. On the plus side, Q2 2018 is the first quarter since Q3 2017 that the large printers had a net profit rather than a loss. So there’s that. The cost of investment (for large printers, interest expense was 4.6 percent of sales, compared to 0.78 percent for the non-large printers) remains a burden on businesses whose capital investments and acquisitions have not matched the demands of the market. Smaller shops have generally invested more prudently, and quickly adopted digital technologies, putting them in a position to more nimbly adapt to changes in the marketplace. For complete industry statistics and other data and commentary, visit www.whattheythink.com/data.
Printing Industry Profits Looking at the most recent available industry profits data (Q2 2018), we continue to tell the “tale of two cities.” In the second quarter of this year, for the industry on average, profits before taxes were 6.15 percent of revenues, and for the last six quarters, they’ve averaged 4.16 percent of revenues. However, averages don’t always say what they WhatTheyThink - Printing News
December 2018 Printing News
9
For more information, visit Printingnews.com/11329288
PRINTING PULSE Kodak Reaches Agreement with Montagu for Sale of its Flexographic Packaging Division Eastman Kodak Company has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Flexographic Packaging Division to Montagu Private Equity LLP, a leading private equity firm. After closing, the business will operate as a new standalone company which will develop, manufacture and sell flexographic products, including the flagship KODAK FLEXCEL NX System, to the packaging print segment. Under its new ownership, the business will have the same organizational structure, management team and growth culture. Chris Payne will lead the new company as CEO. Kodak expects to receive total value of up to $390 million. The net proceeds from the transaction will be used by Kodak to reduce outstanding term debt. The Company expects that the remaining outstanding term debt will be refinanced and/or repaid using cash proceeds from additional asset monetizations. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of closing conditions. Kodak remains committed to the print industry and delivering products and services which meet the evolving needs of printers. Following this transaction, Kodak will continue to focus on the demonstrated growth areas of SONORA environmental plates, enterprise inkjet, workflow software and brand licensing.
www.printingnews.com/21031754 10 Printing News December 2018
Ricoh to acquire ColorGATE Digital Output Solutions GmbH - An Industrial Printing Software Company Ricoh announced that the company has reached an agreement to buy ColorGATE Digital Output Solutions GmbH. This is designed to strengthen Ricoh’s growing industrial printing business. In February, Ricoh announced its growth strategy plan, “RICOH Ignite,” which sets out its intention to reinforce its value offering by expanding its printing technology portfolio. The investment in ColorGATE is the latest part of this plan. Peter Williams, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Commercial and Industrial Printing Business Group, Ricoh, said, “By combining ColorGATE’s proprietary software technology with our own industrial printers, Ricoh will provide solutions covering the whole printing workflow from pre-press to postpress. This acquisition will enable ColorGATE to expand its industrial printing business and global presence as together we become better able to support our customers to accelerate their transition from analogue to digital-based production.” To enhance its industrial printing business, Ricoh established a “Global IP Technology Center” and a “Global IP Marketing Center.” Both are located in Europe, which is increasingly the center for industrial printing markets. This allows access to cutting-edge technology and enables increased responsiveness to market needs. The centers aim to drive marketing, strategic planning and development of business and products with Ricoh’s partners worldwide.
www.printingnews.com/21032098 KYOCERA Celebrates 27 Years of Sustainability at the Core of Operations With KYOCERA Corporation celebrating the 27th anniversary of its Environmental Charter, KYOCERA Document Solutions Europe continues to use the Charter as a beacon of inspiration and an essential part of everyday life within the company. Based on the concept of “Coexistence”, the landmark policy leads the way in the organization’s efforts to “do the right thing as a human being.” The Environmental Charter was created in October 1991 and has been a fundamental pillar in the company. Despite growth across the globe, sustainability and environmental protection is at the heart of KYOCERA’s existence. It adheres to the company philosophy, as created by founder Dr. Kazuo Inamori, which outlines the desire that KYOCERA “contributes to the advancement of society and humankind.” The success of this approach is proved by KYOCERA Document Solutions Europe’s recent attainment of the ISO 14001:2015 certification which demonstrates an environmental approach in all of the organization’s operations. In particular, the organization’s ECOSYS range is a reputable multi-award-winning leader in the industry with KYOCERA Document Solutions continually innovating its product range to drive further sustainability, even after 25 years of becoming a pioneering product within the market as the first to focus on sustainability.
www.printingnews.com/21032116 WhatTheyThink - Printing News
PRINTING PULSE First Heidelberg Primefire 106 Serial Machine Starts Production at Warneke Paper Box In October, the packaging print shop Warneke Paper Box invited more than 60 visitors from the USA, Canada and Mexico to Denver for an open house, where it showcased the new Primefire 106 and its impressive capabilities. Warneke’s Primefire is the first digital printing system in B1 format in the USA, and worldwide is the first standard-production machine delivered by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) in July. The Primefire prints with a resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi, boasts a wide color gamut and stable color consistency. “The print quality of the Primefire 106 is unlike anything else I’ve seen, and satisfies all my criteria for a digital platform,” said Stacy Warneke, President and CEO of Warneke. Steve Huppert, Vice President and COO of Warneke added, “We can also migrate everything we’ve printed so far on our Heidelberg offset presses to the Primefire 106. The new digital business models, customizations and personalizations enable us to generate added value for our customers, and we expect that the Primefire will account for 25 percent of our sales volume in the future.” Heidelberg launched the Primefire 106 at drupa 2016, and brought the machine to series-production readiness in just two and a half years. In Europe, three customers from the packaging and pharmaceutical are beta testing the press. The demand is high in the American, European and Chinese markets.
www.printingnews.com/21032102
Custom Apparel Wins International and Regional Accolades in 2018 In its 37th year of service, Chicagoland-based, McGrath Printing Custom Apparel, was honored by the Great Lakes Graphics Association with four awards and the Printing Industries of America with two awards in 2018. Known for dedication to customer service and delivering the highestquality designs and prints possible, McGrath Printing was one of numerous companies honored on a regional and international level. “We are honored to have won awards from the Printing Industries of America Premier Print Awards and the Graphics Excellence Awards for innovation, craftsmanship and quality as a company this year,” said Kevin McGrath, Founder and President of McGrath Printing.
Association for Print Technologies Commends Lawmakers Calling for Chinese Tariff Exclusion Process
www.printingnews.com/21032336
Association for PRINT Technologies (APTech) Vice President, Government Affairs Mark J. Nuzzaco commends scores of members of congress for urging United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer to establish an exclusion process for the latest group of Section 301 U.S. tariffs imposed on products coming from China. Specifically, he lauds U.S. Representatives Jackie Walorski (R-2-Ind.) and Ron Kind (D-3-Wis.) for leading the effort calling on Lighthizer to establish a process that allows U.S. companies to request an exclusion from the most recent tariffs imposed on $200 billion of Chinese imports (List 3). List 3 Chinese tariffs took effect on Sept. 23, 2018, and are currently applied to over 5,700 products at a rate of 10 percent, which will automatically increase to 25 percent on Jan. 1, 2019. A 25 percent tariff was previously imposed on nearly 1,400 Chinese imports valued at approximately $50 billion. The very sizable third list of tariffed products particularly merit the opportunity to seek exclusions, as it will necessarily have an even larger detrimental impact on U.S. companies, consumers and American life.
Color-Logic Certifies Skandacor SLEEKpro
www.printingnews.com/21030357 WhatTheyThink - Printing News
Color-Logic has certified the Skandacor SLEEKpro cold foil system. “The Skandacor printed test results of the Color-Logic test form files were stellar,” said Color-Logic CTO Richard Ainge. “The decorative effects and colors produced using the Skandacor cold foil system will enable Skandacor printers to differentiate what they can provide their clients.”
www.printingnews.com/21031184
December 2018 Printing News
11
DIGITAL & INKJET
What You Don’t Know About
Print Volumes and Inkjet One of the most frustrating things a consultant or analyst can hear from their clients is “you don’t need to know that.” I ask a lot of questions, so I hear it on a pretty regular basis. Story by Elizabeth Gooding
O
ne of the most frustrating things a consultant or analyst can hear from their clients is “you don’t need to know that.” I ask a lot of questions, so I hear it on a pretty regular basis.
Elizabeth Gooding 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 .
12 Printing News December 2018
Usually I get that answer when the particular executive has already made up their mind and really just wants someone on the outside to rubberstamp it. (I don’t own a rubber stamp.) Or when getting a real answer requires work.
It takes work to analyze production volumes. When evaluating what type of device to buy and when, or whether to consider inkjet at all, volume is a big factor. While the entry level threshold for production inkjet has come down significantly, most operations still need 3 to 4 million impressions per month to justify a
roll-fed device and 1 to 4 million to justify a sheet-fed device. You wisely note that those ranges overlap. This is why the type of volume is also important. A company looking at low volume transaction printing has more options at a lower cost in the sheetfed market than a company looking for quality levels suitable for highcolor advertising and direct mail or marketing collateral. A company in the transaction print market is more likely to aspire to a roll-fed environment, should the volume warrant it, than a marketing-oriented company that may use stocks too heavy for rolls. But, those generalizations are just WhatTheyThink - Printing News
DIGITAL & INKJET ■■ A commercial printer with a variety of long-run analog devices decides that inkjet is not a fit because it’s not nearly fast enough to handle the majority of their business – even if the price was competitive. However, they continue to turn away shorter run business that is a great fit for inkjet, and could potentially lead to more business with that client. Due to lack of analysis, they also fail to see the speed at which their average order size is shrinking.
that, generalizations. Every company is different. One company may break even on inkjet with 3 million images per month where another would require 5 million on the same device because of pricing models and a range of other factors.
Some companies do more than one thing… Many companies go on their inkjet journey with a pre-conceived notion of what they need. It might be a single client that they want to convert, or they may believe that they can convert an entire book of business – but, very few want to dig into the data to really do an analysis of their book of business. (Except in-plant operations who most often go into excruciating detail to justify a purchase). I tell them – as I’m telling you – if you want to make good decisions, you need to take a long hard look at your entire book of business. Here are the common things that have come up when decisions are made without proper analysis: WhatTheyThink - Printing News
To make good decisions, you need to take a long hard look at your entire book of business. ■■ A high-quality direct marketing organization has a mix of offset and toner devices and believes that inkjet can’t deliver the print quality they need for their offset produced work. However, the majority of their toner-based work is well suited to inkjet and can be produced more cost competitively on that platform. This is discovered, not through their own analysis, but through losing several major clients to competitors with inkjet devices. ■■ Another company with a mixed book of business wants to make their inkjet decision based on the requirements one major client. Volumes for that client alone are enough to justify the purchase. They ended up
with a great device for that client’s needs, but were missing a number of features needed to transition much of the remaining volume – making the investment far less profitable than it could have been. ■■ A similar company with a somewhat different mix of business looked at the volumes in terms of black and white, and color. They had nearly 8 million in monthly volume that looked like a great fit. They got a great device and a back-up for redundancy. They failed to analyze the volume in terms of paper requirements, finishing and software workflow. After eight months they had only 3 million per month of their volume transitioned – barely enough to keep the heads wet on one high-volume machine. It took over a year to get the full volume transitioned - a very expensive year. On the other hand, a small transaction printing organization with a few million per month in volume on sheet-fed toner devices did listen when we said look at all your volumes. They found that they had twice as much volume in blackonly forms work as they did toner work that they could put onto inkjet. The increased volume will enable redundancy and drive their per image costs down by at least 20 percent from where they would have been at the lower volume threshold. Here is the quintessential fact about inkjet and volume: Inkjet equipment becomes dramatically cheaper to run the closer to capacity you are able to run it. Conversely, if you justify an inkjet purchase on volumes you aren’t able to transition – your profitability drops like a rock. Find article here: PrintingNews. com/21032536 ■ December 2018 Printing News
13
DIGITAL & INKJET
The Strategic Press Decision Story by Andy Gordon
I
n 1993, Scitex purchased the Dayton Operations division of Kodak. In addition to its imprinting solutions, the company blazed the trail for complete inkjet press solutions and sold the business back to Kodak in 2004, which renamed the business after the flagship Versamark press. A lot has changed in those 25 years, and today there are many companies offering production inkjet products designed for a broad range of environments, substrates, applications and production volumes. Inkjet Insightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Device Finder tracks over 25 of these manufacturers and 172 products (including their variants) from light production sheet-fed to ultra-high volume continuous-feed. Students of printing industry history know how quickly the industry has evolved and can recite the products and technologies that rose to fame and are no longer available. Waves of technological change can be exciting and offer an advantage in a hyper competitive market, however there are often winners and losers and a poor decision can endanger a business. This highlights the importance of strategic planning when evaluating equipment purchases. One of our favorite planning tools is the product-market matrix by Igor Ansoff which was first published in Harvard Business Review in 1957. Ansoff compared scenarios for both product and market decisions and grouped them into four major categories: market penetration, market development, product development and Ansoff, Igor. Strategies for Diversification. diversification. Harvard Business Review: 1957 Each requires a different game plan and has its own risks and rewards. The modern Ansoff is simplified to the four quadrants mentioned earlier. They are aligned to both product and market strategy â&#x20AC;Ś either existing or new product, or existing or new markets. We looked at these quadrants from Andy Gordon Andy Gordon is a well-known advocate for the advancement and transformation of the printing industry with a passion for business strategy, market and application trends, technology positioning, and market research.
14 Printing News December 2018
Inkjet Insight Ansoff Product-Market Matrix
the perspective of a print service provider who is either considering or has adopted inkjet for their operations.
Market Penetration Market penetration is where you take your existing product and work to increase your business within your market. This relies heavily on sales and marketing execution while also driving operational efficiencies to ensure profitability. From an investment perspective, equipment should be considered that replaces existing capacity and is capable of meeting the quality requirements for jobs typically produced for your customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; applications and offers a cost advantage to how work is currently produced.
Market Development Market development is taking your existing product and introducing it to a new market. It requires building market knowledge, establishing credentials and creating awareness. This is more difficult than market penetration because you may not be known to the new market segment and there is most certainly entrenched competition that will be difficult to unseat. Market development requires an investment in people, time and patience that is hard for many companies to justify. The economics and streamlined efficiency of inkjet printing may be disruptive to those established relationships.
Product Development Product development is creating new product for your existing customers and market. This is often looked at as growing customer share by offering more capabilities. The inkjet market is rapidly evolving with new product capabilities that more fully satisfy the needs of many of the market segments. This includes the ability to print on a broader WhatTheyThink - Printing News
DIGITAL & INKJET range of substrates, the use of coated papers, improved image quality, workflows for graphically rich variable data printing, and finishing options for greater flexibility. Being able to produce a broader range of jobs for customers means that they don’t have to source their work from competitors. However, there is a risk to investing in new capabilities, especially if new business doesn’t materialize. Most print providers have a good sense for what is needed to grow customer share, but it’s helpful to have a formalized process to capture customer input to help quantify the benefit to new investments. It is also helpful to engage key customers during paper and print quality testing on prospective equipment.
Diversification Diversification is creating new product for new markets. This approach offers the greatest potential return on investment but also carries the greatest risk. This may be a print provider who wants to get into a new application space that is an unproven niche but offers potential growth opportunities. However, it would most likely require
investment in new equipment, development of vertical market solutions, and all the market development activities mentioned earlier. It’s the long game with the highest costs. From an equipment perspective, there are a number of exciting new developments that make this possible. These include new sheet-fed options, wider formats, new ink formulations such as UV and a broader range of substrates.
In Practice The Ansoff product-market matrix is a brainstorming and planning tool to help uncover opportunity and develop ideas on the path forward. There are other models and approaches, but the underlying purpose is to think about what the best approach is to grow your business. Another useful tool is a SWOT diagram. Often, companies will uncover a disconnect between aspirations and the realities of their capabilities and market forces. This is where poor investment decisions can hurt a business and why Inkjet Insight advocates for formal strategic planning activities prior to the acquisition of new printing equipment. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21032535 ■
For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10003720 WhatTheyThink - Printing News
December 2018 Printing News
15
SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW
Optimal Use of Your
Web-to-Print System Your web-to-print solution is underutilized. Do all functional areas of your company—sales, customer service, technology—understand all the challenges your current web-to-print system solves? Probably not. You can’t be “solution focused” without understanding the challenges your toolset solves. Story by Jennifer Matt
O
ne of the most popular opening statements I hear from printers who contact me is, “I want to replace my web-toprint solution. Which one should I buy?” It’s an interesting opening question 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.
16 Printing News December 2018
and of course I proceed to answer that question with nothing less than 20 clarifying questions about their business, their existing technology stack, and why they think replacing their web-to-print solution is the answer to their problems. There are so many topics to explore in this scenario, but I’ll focus on the fact that very few printers are utilizing anywhere close to half of their current web-to-print system’s functionality. I recently reviewed several of the leading web-to-print systems. The breadth of the feature set is impressive. We have mature
solutions in this market, and many of them have been adding features for more than a decade. If I could have one statistic about all web-to-print solutions, it would be the utilization by feature. I fear the utilization is extremely low when you get deep into the feature set. Software has to keep moving. Some features are driven by compatibility with new technologies (e.g. operating systems, browsers, security, etc.), other features are driven by the current customer base, competitive offerings and prospects. The feature set is driven just as WhatTheyThink - Printing News
SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW much by non-customers (prospects and competitors) as it is by current customers. This is an ideal situation for printers using web-to-print systems. The roadmap is driven more by non-users than it is by existing users. One of the reasons this happened is that the traditional software licensing model actually encouraged it. When your value exchange with the software vendor is mostly done upfront (via a large licensing fee), there isn’t a lot of financial incentive to spend money on you after that. This is what I like about the software subscription model: the value is exchanged over time, and it can keep software vendors more closely tied to current customers. Why aren’t printers using more of the features in their web-toprint systems? I think there are three primary reasons for this, and every printer probably has some components of each one at play in their organization.
1. No Internal Web-to-Print Expertise This is the most common reason by far. Every software solution takes time and effort to learn and most of that learning has to be done on your own. What does that mean? As an owner, stop accepting the “I didn’t get trained” excuse. Every single webto-print system vendor is publishing resources for you to learn on your own, and every system is essentially a place to learn by discovery. You simply have to employ a person who is willing to learn, and hold them accountable for learning. Give them the time and effort, reward them with trips to user conferences where they can meet peers at other printers who are also using the same web-to-print solution. This is the most important thing you can do for the success of your online system. Do this long WhatTheyThink - Printing News
before you think about replacing technology.
2. Sales Doesn’t Understand the Solution If you asked your sales team what challenges your current web-to-print solves, how many different answers would you get? My guess is you would get a wide variety of answers that don’t go very deep. Many sales people would simply describe
Some features are driven by compatibility with new technologies (e.g. operating systems, browsers, security, etc.), other features are driven by the current customer base, competitive offerings, and prospects. their web-to-print solution as an ordering portal (which is technically accurate), but it is so much more. Many web-to-print solutions on the market today can track budgets (co-op dollars, spending allocations, etc.), enforce access of products to specific groups, maintain brand integrity, enable large distributed audiences to easily initiate their own
local marketing campaigns and so much more. The key to optimizing your webto-print solution is to define the challenges it solves and then teach your sales team to go find those challenges. The opposite of that is happening today; sales people don’t know what it does, so they bring back every harebrained idea that comes up in a sales call as a feature request. The key to profitable sales is to solve the challenges that you have the tools to solve. In order to do that you need to first have a person who understands what your web-to-print solution solves and then distill that information down into language your sales team can use to find those challenges inside the customers they sell to.
3. Not Integrated with Your MIS When your web-to-print is not integrated with your Print MIS, orders submitted through the web-to-print solution do make it easier on your customer, but it adds work to your customer service team. Even though this isn’t “the fault” of the web-toprint solution, the general feeling in your organization will be “anti-webto-print solution” because your team doesn’t see the value. Many printers replace their webto-print rather than investing in the integration. There are many good reasons for replacing your web-toprint, but you might be in a situation that simply requires an integration effort rather than a transition to a new solution. Lack of integration cools the enthusiasm of your team to invest in the web-to-print solution from top to bottom. Sales doesn’t sell it, customer service doesn’t benefit from it, and this prevents your whole organization from utilizing the software you invested in. Find this article at: PrintingNews.com/21032745 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW
PROCESS DRIVEN
FREEWHEELING Is Your Print Business
Freewheeling or Process Driven? If you make decisions about your business based solely on the intuition of you and your staff, you are limiting the growth and the scale of business learning that can take place in your organization. Story by Jennifer Matt
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ne of my favorite words in football is the “audible.” It’s the term for when the quarterback changes the play when they are already at the line of scrimmage (or under the center). An audible is done because the quarterback sees something in the defense that makes him believe that the play they had planned in the huddle isn’t the best one, and they are going to go with a different one. 18 Printing News December 2018
I don’t know the statistics, but it seems like only the best quarterbacks get the “permission” to call an audible. It doesn’t happen in peewee football, it probably doesn’t happen much in high school football, and only the best quarterbacks in college would be given the permission to go off the plan of the coaches calling the plays. Quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and that guy who plays for the Packers ;-) audible all the time. (I work with a lot of
companies in Wisconsin—just want to make sure they are paying attention.) Flexibility and responsiveness are praised in our culture. We like to hear stories of businesses that took big risks and moved very quickly, seemingly making every decision in real-time. Real business success doesn’t actually happen like that. In fact, the printers who are absolutely thriving in today’s consolidating market are doing the hard work of building repeatable processes WhatTheyThink - Printing News
SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW thinking by a group of people who are interested in getting better at what they do and removing as much drama as possible.
You might be asking, How does this article relate to print software?
that continuously improve. It can be considered boring to many. You analyze a process, document it, optimize it, run it for some time and analyze it again; rinse and repeat. When you do this, you become a learning organization. When you don’t do this, you are a firefighting organization—every time something happens, it’s treated like a new thing that takes effort, institutional knowledge and grit to solve. One organization is boring execution, the other is drama-filled chaos.
Which organization type do you have? Early in my career, I preferred the drama-filled organization. It was fun, and I was a good firefighter. I could think on my feet, I could work fast, I liked the challenge. Now I’m a fan of boring. I’m a fan of continuous improvement. I’m a fan of critical WhatTheyThink - Printing News
It is almost impossible to implement print software in a dramafilled organization. Drama doesn’t like definition, repeatable decisions or processes. Software requires definition, hundreds of decisions and defined workflows. Drama likes to run by the seat of its pants. Drama likes to hero worship the people who manage to make things happen by working 80 hours a week, always taking their computers on vacation, and holding a significant amount of institutional knowledge in their heads. The drama makes people feel needed—that’s a real and powerful emotion. You underestimate how much that means to people at your own risk. Boring organizations are super easy in which to implement software. They want process and standards. They want to be able to go on vacation. Their value isn’t tied into successfully finishing a business process. Their value is in participating in a business process that they get to keep improving upon. Their value is strategic, not tactical. If you are a drama-filled organization, you have the power to change your culture. You can start by documenting repeatable processes. For example, do you have a list of things you need from your sales team every time they sell a web-toprint store? Did you give them a list of questions to ask the prospect? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants, always getting partial information and then having to go back to the customer via sales over and over again to get everything you need?
This is a insanity. Create a list, review it with your sales team (it helps if they understand why you need this information), then ask them to get it for you in one exchange with the customer. Do not go crazy here. If you make the list too onerous it will get ignored.
In fact, the printers who are absolutely thriving in today’s consolidating market are doing the hard work of building repeatable processes that continuously improves. You have to document the process before you can improve upon it. You have to run the process and then evaluate it in order to continue to improve upon it. Don’t get overwhelmed by this; it doesn’t have to be complicated. I have a list of things I need, I get them. I realize I could use one more piece of information and I add that to the list next time. You are now a learning organization. That small behavior change is a seed that can grow into a whole different way to operate—which is of course boring! Find this article at: PrintingNews. com/21032720 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW
After Your Print Software
Strategic Decision Once you make a print software decision, you have to enforce it by communicating the strategy clearly and then repeatedly. Your people will forget, your business will evolve and sales people will appear from other solutions trying to convince your team of a different path. Story by Jennifer Matt
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on’t assume just because you weighed the print software strategic decision heavily, spent a lot of money, and are now spending a lot of time and effort on implementation, that your team isn’t still out shopping for other solutions on the side. I hope every print business owner isn’t saying,
20 Printing News December 2018
“They’d better not be.” I’m here to tell you they are and it’s a waste of time, effort and money. Making strategic decisions about print software is hard. There is no perfect path, there is no perfect vendor, there is no perfect fit for your company. When you’re shopping for print software, all the vendors are trying to appear perfect. Printers
ask questions and then simply take “yes” answers that don’t tell half the story behind the functionality. It all feels good when you’re shopping, because people are telling you what you want to hear. Contrast that with implementing software: you and your team learn the truth. There are limitations to every software product that require you to make trade-offs,
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE
Apocalypse Postponed:
The State of Retail
Rumors of retail’s death have been greatly exaggerated (to coin a phrase). But there is no doubt that it is changing. We look at how it is changing, and what that means for POP/retail graphics providers. Story by Richard Romano
A
s Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all the other retail milestones have come and gone, it’s worth taking our annual look at the state of retail. It’s of course far too early to accurately predict what 2018 retail sales will look like (as I always point out, Big Picture blogger and Bloomberg contributor Barry Ritholtz has an annual caveat about holiday retail sales forecasts), but there are a few indicators that this year could be better 22 Printing News December 2018
than past years, thanks to what some have described as a “supercharged” economy and record low unemployment. However, positive macroeconomic trends may not necessarily translate to great times for retail. The economy has been growing steadily for almost eight years now, and we still hear about retail’s hard times and its impending apocalypse. Like the printing industry, retail has become decoupled from general economic growth. Still, it’s not all doom and gloom on the retail front. It’s always worth prefacing the conversation about WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE
retail with a link to a good Bloomberg story from around last year at this time, which portended a coming “retail apocalypse”—not due to the problems that are usually cited, such as millennials having an aversion to shopping malls, the growth of e-commerce, the dominance of Amazon, and the other usual suspects. Rather, say the article’s authors, “the root cause is that many of these long-standing [retail] chains are overloaded with debt— often from leveraged buyouts led by private equity firms. There are billions in borrowings on the balance sheets of troubled retailers, and sustaining that load is only going to become harder—even for healthy chains.” The whole piece is worth reading. Since then, there have been occasional stories and analyses bemoaning the fate of retail, but there have been just as many that have stressed that rumors of retail’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Last May, Moody’s looked at retail from an employment standpoint, noting that while retail’s share of the labor market has declined to 1970s levels, comparing it to other sectors—manufacturing and health care—puts retail employment in perspective: It’s useful to place this into a broader context by comparing it to two other industries that illustrate what a major structural change in the economy actually looks like: the decline of manufacturing and the rise of healthcare. As a share of employment, retail looks relatively flat over the past 50 years compared with these industries, generally fluctuating between 10 percent and 12 percent. In contrast, automation and globalization have pushed the manufacturing share of employment from 25 percent in 1970 to less than 9 percent today. On the other side of the ledger, the growth of healthcare WhatTheyThink - Printing News
spending has pushed healthcare employment from 5 percent of jobs to 13 percent. If there appears to be a common theme, it’s that retail isn’t necessarily dying, but rather it’s changing. In September, Forbes had an interesting look at how consumer behaviors are changing and how retailers that understand those changes are thriving, apocalypse be damned! The secret sauce? Data. Some retailers saw these signs and adapted their business models years ago. These retail chains understand the biggest advantage e-commerce retailers have is their ability to collect and leverage insights into consumer behaviors gained by technological innovations like big data. They are adopting technology and processes to achieve the same advantage and adapt to today’s retail landscape. Others are slower to adapt and now face an uphill battle to avoid extinction. A couple of weeks ago, Big Picture blogger Barry Ritholtz conducted an interview with Barbara Kahn, Marketing Professor at the Wharton School of Business, who defined a word—which we have been seeing for a few years now—in the context of retail: “omnichannel.” She says: Omnichannel is thinking about not dividing up whether it’s online or offline, it’s all one big channel. And that’s going to become not a real word anymore. We’re just going to think of this as retail. You know, when you buy retail, you can go online, you can go in the store, you can pick up there, you can buy there, whatever. It’s tempting to say that e-commerce is x percent of total retail—it usually comes in somewhere around 10 percent these days—but it’s becoming less and less easy to make a distinction between e-commerce and non-e-commerce. For example, I buy books almost exclusively through my local independent bookstore. But they have a website. When I am looking for a title, I check the website to see if it’s in stock, and if not I buy it online and have it shipped to the store for free. When it’s in, they email me, and I go pick it up. As is inevitably the case, while I am in the store, other titles catch my eye, and I walk out with books I bought both on premises and online. How much of that is e-commerce and how much of it is bricks-and-mortar? Is there even a distinction? Or is it all just “retail”? Other stores do the same thing. My local supermarket chain has a service called “Hannaford To Go.” You order your groceries online, select a time to come by and pick them up, and they’re ready and waiting for you. How much of that is e-commerce and how much bricks-andmortar? It also works the other way. If you are in a physical Continue on page 55 December 2018 Printing News
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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW compromises and workarounds. This is why most printers love the shopping phase and hate the implementation phase. In the last year, I’ve had an alarming number of people contact me and say, “We’re implementing Software X, but I’m looking at Software Y.” What I want to ask them is, does your ownership team know you’re spending time and effort shopping for something better when they have already made a financial commitment to a solution? Shopping feels like work. You’re doing research. You’re learning about all the other solutions in the marketplace. It feels like it’s what you should be doing. Shopping is actually learning what the vendor wants you to know at the level the sales people are able and willing to share. Implementation is the real deal. It’s not led by sales; it’s led by people who know how to configure the product and understand what it does and doesn’t do. During implementation, it doesn’t matter what you heard during the sales process. The software works as it does and you bought it. When your team doesn’t line up behind the strategic decision, your strategy weakens. There isn’t a focused effort to make the print software you purchased work in spite of its weaknesses. There is actually quite the opposite culture developing—a culture of being able to explain why it didn’t work and how another solution would have been better. There is nothing sexy about implementation. When it’s done well, it produces business magic, but the blocking and tackling of good
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
print software implementation is boring to most people. If you’re in sales, you would probably see it as down-in-the-weeds decisions that you shouldn’t have to worry about. The funny part about sales is that a really well-implemented MIS and webto-print become powerful tools for sales. Poorly-implemented MIS and web-to-print systems are drags on the sales process. What should you do to prevent the endless shopping for something better without discouraging your people from their natural curiosity about technology in general?
1. Get and Maintain Strategic Clarity. Once you make a strategic decision, communicate it clearly. Spend some real time on the messaging. Then communicate it again on a regular basis, mainly because people will forget and the strategy will evolve, and you will hire new people. Communicate your strategy over and over again so that people can start finishing your sentences and can communicate it to others. The more you communicate it in public settings the more it sinks in for you as well.
2. Address How Evolving Conditions Are Impacting Your Print Software Strategy. If you made a major print software decision last year and you just finished a very large, unexpected acquisition, you have to explain how this impacts your strategy. Acquisitions typically include people and technology. These people generally would prefer to
keep their technology, so their top agenda is to sell you on keeping their technology. You have a print software strategy. Just because you acquired some additional technology in the acquisition doesn’t mean you automatically alter your strategy. Do not make the number-one mistake made by all printers with software: “more is better.” More software solutions than you need are more complicated, expensive to maintain, hard to differentiate to your sales team and generally a bad idea. One of my first large consulting gigs was with a very large company who proudly started by showing off their eight web-to-print solutions. A three-person team was supporting eight solutions (very poorly). What a cluster.
3. Cut the Shopping Off. You have to step in and understand how someone on your team has the time to do outside research for solutions that you already invested in. How is this activity serving your bottom line? When they are doing this shopping, are they in sync with the implementation team? Do they even understand how the software you already invested in works? The shoppers are window shoppers, looking for the bright, shiny things that attract them into the sales process. The implementers will understand what the software can actually do. One is glamorous and can often get you a few free dinners. The other is mostly done in private while you’re eating lunch at your desk. Find this article at: PrintingNews.com/21033069 ■
December 2018 Printing News
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LABELS & PACKAGING
Flexo’s Transformation: It’s all about Controlling Variables Flexography is going through a renaissance. While it has been around since the late 19th century, it has never really had a role in “quality” printing, although that seems to be changing. This change is proving that it can fight off the increased use of digital printing for packaging production with better productivity and lower cost. Story by David Zwang
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y introduction to printing was in the “pre-digital” era, and at that time it was thought of as a craft. In fact, if you consider all of the variables that needed to be controlled in the process, it was a highly skilled craft. In my initial exposure to offset printing, you had to balance ink color and formulation, water, plates, separations, screening, machine impression, environmental conditions, etc. When all these things came together in the “ideal” configuration you were able to get some pretty amazing reproductions. At that point, I learned it was all about controlling all of those inherent variables. The highest print quality of the time was undoubtedly rotogravure, and evidence for this was its use in the production of National Geographic, often thought of as the pinnacle of printing quality. While “gravure,” as it is more widely known, is a more expensive plating
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
24 Printing News December 2018
process, requiring the expense and time of engraving cylinders for each color and press run, it has fewer variables making it easier to control, and therefore easier to achieve a high-quality reproduction. The digital impact of many of these variables like the introduction of computer-to-film (CTF) and subsequently computer-to-plate (CTP) for offset and gravure printing provided even better ways to control the process. Ultimately reducing the time and cost and improving quality, it paved the way for the journey from a craft to a controlled manufacturing process. Flexography, on the other hand was usually relegated to the lower quality, lower cost, higher productivity print products, because of the difficulty of controlling all of the variables. The digitization of flexo plating started in the mid 1990s but unlike the other two print processes has been complicated by a lack of standardization of plate materials and processes, somewhat limiting the rate of change and associated benefits. While the use of rubber plates has pretty much been relegated to the history of print in place of photopolymer plates, there are still many types of plates and plate processes in use today. The most common method of flexo digital platemaking today uses a plate that
has a LAMS (Laser Ablative Mask System), which is a black carbon mask layer manufactured directly on the plate, which is then exposed with a digital laser imaging device that blasts away the non-image areas. Flexo plate and laser imaging technology has improved over time along with image quality; however, the LAMS process still doesn’t offer the level of control or detailed reproduction we would find in offset or gravure platemaking, although this process is still the most widely used in the industry. At drupa 2008, Kodak introduced Flexcel NX, an alternative solution developed using their long history of imaging and offset platemaking. This process uses a Thermal Imaging Layer (TIL) mask, which in essence is exposed film that then undergoes a unique laminating process providing a 1:1 reproduction to the Kodak flexo plate material. The plate is WhatTheyThink - Printing News
LABELS & PACKAGING
then developed to wash away the non-imaged areas. As you can see in the image, the TIL can produce a much cleaner imaged mask. The plate can be produced with smaller flat top halftone dots with broad shoulders, which can carry ink more consistently, and require three to four times less energy to image the TIL compared to LAMS. The Flexcel NX imaging uses Kodak’s proprietary SQUAREspot technology that was initially introduced more than 20 years ago for offset printing applications. The SQUAREspot imaging provides even more control of the halftone creation than a normal round spot and can deliver up to 10,000 dpi optical resolution or at least twice as much resolution as the other available systems. The SQUAREspot and the higher resolution facilitate more control over the imaging enabling advanced edge definition for cleaner type and vectors and an improved tonal range providing an even better reproduction than gravure or LAMS. The other area of control this plate imaging technology provides is through the use of patterning, which can be thought of as advanced screening. By imaging different patterns with different jobs on a plate, you can better control the specific amount of ink that could be WhatTheyThink - Printing News
required for a wide range of image, media and print requirements. It does that without the need for heavy pressure, which can squeeze the dots and limit plate life. Ultimately, it allows the same or different jobs to be run on the same plate with different ink and anilox volumes. At Labelexpo 2018, Kodak introduced the Flexcel NX Ultra system, their latest evolution of the Flexcel NX product line. This new product has been actively used by alpha and beta testers for more than a year to wide acclaim. NX Ultra uses the same basic TIL technology, but unlike the current Flexcel NX, which uses a solventbased developer, the NX Ultra uses a new aqueous-based development process. The new Ultra Clean developer technology uses a specially designed plate processor and additive that is solvent- and VOC-free. In the processor, the plate is scrubbed with the solution, at which point the special additive bonds with the non-image plate residue and is then drained out of the processor for treatment and municipal disposal. Early indications show that NX Ultra meet or exceed the platemaking productivity of the competition, while the plate-running performance is higher, since the ink control on the plate facilitates better ink release and minimizes the need to squeeze the plate to get ink onto challenging
media like corrugated. Ultimately, better control doesn’t only result in a higher quality. It also can lead to increased productivity and lower costs driving other areas of development. We are already seeing many flexo equipment and software developers find new product applications, which in turn are facilitating more and higher quality products to be printed using flexo technology. A great example is the increased development and use of Extended Gamut Colors, the seven-color (CMYKOGV) solution that in conjunction with good plating and efficient flexo print technology, create a viable alternative to digital for short-run label and packaging work. It will be interesting to see where the next new development in flexo takes us. © Kodak
© Kodak
© Kodak
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 Industry 4.0. If you have any interesting examples of hybrid and bespoke manufacturing, I am 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/21032722 ■
December 2018 Printing News
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NEW PRODUCTS
▲ Canon Announces a New CMOS Sensor Business Platform
▲
Image sensors are an important driving force behind many of today’s successful brands, ranging from consumer products to industrial solutions. Canon U.S.A, a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced that it is now offering select CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductors) sensor products for sale to the industrial marketplace. Manufacturers, solutions providers and integrators who are searching for advanced components to create their own unique products and solutions can now utilize Canon’s patented technology to help them create these products and solutions and expand their business potential. Launching this new business, Canon showcased its CMOS sensors at VISION, the world’s leading trade fair for machine vision, early this November in Stuttgart, Germany.
Xitron, the leading independent developer of RIP and workflow products for commercial, digital and high-speed inkjet printing has partnered with China’s Dragon Printing Machinery, launching a DFE developed specifically for presses using Memjet DuraLink technology. Dragon, a member of UP Group, introduced their Dumax-330 label press at All in Print, China. Able to print at 100 meters per minute, the Dumax-330 is a high-speed roll-to-roll inkjet press designed for labels, custom packaging and variable data applications. It features a maximum printing width of 222 mm and can handle a 600 mm diameter roll of coated, uncoated, glossy, matte, synthetic stock or plastic film. The new Memjet Duralink printhead carries a 1600 dpi resolution with 70,400 nozzles and five times nozzle redundancy. This means five nozzles address each pixel on the page for truly sustainable quality. Xitron’s Navigator DFE controls job queuing, imaging and color management, and includes an innovative spot color matching capability that is important for brand owners. RIP speed is among the fastest in the industry, even when incorporating variable data options for custom applications. Because of this, Navigator is able to drive the Dumax-330 at full rated speed. Built around the industry standard Harlequin platform, Navigator’s command and control of jobs allows operators to maintain complete production visibility throughout each print run. “We’re extremely honored to be working with UP Group and Memjet on this important launch,” said Karen Crews, President of Xitron. “The interest at the exhibition was high and the press performed flawlessly through the entire show schedule.” Willie Huang, Chairman of UP Group added, “Our teams have kept in close contact throughout this development process, and the result is a tightly integrated system that is producing superior results.
www.printingnews.com/21030531
Xitron Navigator Digital Front End Makes DuraLink Debut
www.printingnews.com/21032935 Aleyant PrintJobManager Brings Scheduling Simplified to Commercial Print ▼ Aleyant announced the availability of a new version of its industryleading production tool, PrintJobManager. With Version 2.0, the company introduces Scheduling Simplified to enable print shops of all sizes to engage in more intelligent production planning. In addition to Scheduling Simplified, Version 2.0 of PrintJobManager also features an additional integration point with Aleyant’s award-winning Pressero Web2Print solution. “The forms and product forms inside of Pressero can now be mapped to a custom field in PrintJobManager,” Product Manager Trent Foreman said. “This can be useful to automatically capture additional information such as department code, billing code or another piece of metadata that is unique to a specific customer. It allows the information to be visible on both the Job Ticket and the Job List view.” Customers can also designate custom fields as internal or external when sending out an estimate.
www.printingnews.com/21031571 26 Printing News December 2018
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
New Decorative Finishes From Crown Help Beverage Brands Boost Shelf Presence, Build Consumer Loyalty
▲ Xaar to Announce Latest Xaar 5601 Integrator at InPrint 2018 Xaar highlighted at InPrint Milan 2018 how OEMs can use its printheads to get to market faster, develop inkjet solutions costeffectively and better meet their customers’ needs - enabling them to get ahead of the competition and achieve more. At the show, the company celebrated the commercial launch of its Xaar 5601 printhead. Eight years in development, the Xaar 5601 is generating significant interest with its exceptionally high-resolution print at high speed, and more than 5600 nozzles, capable of jetting up to eight litres of fluid per hour. A growing number of OEMs are developing their print solutions based on the Xaar 5601, such as Windmöller & Hölscher, which was announced earlier this year. The results of another recent innovation - Xaar’s unique High Laydown (HL) Technology - was also on display. HL Technology enables the printing of a range of textured effects on labels, folding cartons and other products. Such high-build, textured embellishments can be used to significantly enhance the shelf appeal of products and ensure they stand out on display.
www.printingnews.com/21032938
Crown Bevcan Europe & Middle East, a business unit of Crown Holdings, Inc. (Crown), debuted several decorative finishes at BrauBeviale 2018 to help beverage brands enhance visual appeal and foster greater interaction with consumers. The finishes are an extension of Crown’s “Colourful World” technology portfolio, which addresses the need for greater differentiation at the point of purchase and helps brands push the boundaries of functionality and creativity. Crown also featured its ReactinksT technology - a combination of four hues into one ink that reacts to, and changes color at each stage of consumption, for maximum consumer engagement. Affected by both temperature and sunlight, the ReactinksT technology reveals the amount of cold beverage left in a can, as well as display different colors in the areas shaded from light. Other products include: MattTactile and TactileEdgeT, advancements of the company’s Tactile finish. MirrorGloss is the next generation of the Crown’s existing gloss varnish. Frost gives cans a dewy look. Sparkle, which features actual sparkling elements, is ideal for adding a premium look to packaging.
www.printingnews.com/21032933
▲ Fujifilm Announces the All-New J Press 750S, Fastest Full Color B2 Production Digital Inkjet Press on the Market - Fujifilm FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division announces the third generation J Press 750S, available in North America by year-end, with an unsurpassed level of productivity from this inkjet press; generating 3,600 B2 sheets per hour, for both static and variable jobs, with a new maximum sheet size of 23” x 29.5” (585mm x 750mm). Fujifilm’s new flagship J Press 750S (known as “Jet Press” outside of North America) continues to lead the industry in innovation. Taking the core technologies of the 720S, the J Press 750S further raises the bar by adopting the company’s latest quality, productivity and environmental enhancements. The J Press 750S features industry leading FUJIFILM Dimatix Samba printheads along with a six-up letter size imposition and increased speed, delivering double the sellable output over the previous version.
www.printingnews.com/21032372 WhatTheyThink - Printing News
December 2018 Printing News
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NEW PRODUCTS NiceLabel Launches Market’s First Public Cloud-Based Label Management System
▲ Agr’s New Multi-Head Coating Measurement System Performs Body and Finish Coating Measurements in One Operation ■F inish and/or body measurements in one operation ■ Dual head design ■ Universal hold down mechanism ■A utomated test or spot check operation ■ Secure Linux-based operating system ■ Industry 4.0 ready ■ Software-based calibration ■A dvanced electronics for better precision Agr International, Inc. announced the introduction of the Combined Coating Measurement System (CCMS) for measuring metallic coatings on both the finish and body regions of glass containers. This new device provides operators with a onestop, single-operation testing station for measuring tin oxide coatings applied to the container during the production process. This system utilizes Agr’s proven reflective coating measurement technology as a foundation and features a fully automated measurement approach. By incorporating a number of technological advances in combination with automation, Agr has been able to achieve a 33 percent improvement in testing throughput and a 70 percent improvement in precision with this device over previous coating measurement systems. According to Agr sources, the basic goal of the CCMS development program is to provide the industry with a leading-edge system that can provide the measurement precision needed for process management requirements while reducing the labor intensity of coating measurement.
www.printingnews.com/21032946 28 Printing News December 2018
NiceLabel launched the world’s first public cloud label management system, developed to allow businesses to digitally transform their factory and warehouse labelling process. Label Cloud is a software-as-a-service solution built on the NiceLabel Label Management System. It allows users to manage label design, product data and quality control, with branches, suppliers and partners able to access that information in the cloud and print labels locally. The cloud solution delivers benefits to users, including cost savings, as there is no need for investment in IT infrastructure; ease of use, which means IT is no longer needed for design and deployment of labels; and increased agility and faster time to market. Most importantly, quality assurance is digitalized, eliminating manual quality control processes, reducing labor requirements and costs, and minimizing risk and error. The solution is ideal for use in manufacturing labelling, allergens and nutrition labelling, apparel and garment re-ticketing and re-tagging, localized re-labelling and supplier labelling. Label Cloud requires no installation and it is easy to configure, with a return on investment in less than six months.
www.printingnews.com/21032373 ColorGATE Presents Industrial Printing Solutions for Workflow, Color Management and 3D Surface Printing At InPrint Milan, ColorGATE presented its comprehensive solution portfolio for digital print automation and color standardization along the entire process chain in the age of Industry 4.0 with Workflow, RIP and Color Management Solutions for Industrial Printing. In cooperation with Metis Systems srl, the global leader for high quality scanners, ColorGATE also presents a 3D capturing and digital reproduction solution. “Industrial Printing has been revolutionized through digital inkjet printing technology. And as printing and production is done almost simultaneously these days, they need intelligent management of highly complex workflows. To additionally ensure accuracy and consistency of color on increasingly complex surfaces from design to product, ColorGATE delivers innovative solutions which fit to the specific needs of almost any application. This enables and secures confidence in the color output quality,” said Thomas Kirschner, CEO and Founder of ColorGATE. During the conference, several ColorGATE experts shared their knowledge: CEO Thomas Kirschner discussed “Color Management Software for Industrial Color Printing.” Other specialists discussed the technical challenges and their solutions in the IMI Europe Inkjet Tech Talk.
www.printingnews.com/21032941
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
D rytac Reveals New Advertising Product—Perfect for Food Environments Drytac recently announced the launch of the ArmourPrint Emerytex and ArmourGrab combination counter mat solution. Having been previewed successfully at the recent SGIA Expo, the products are now available globally. ArmourPrint Emerytex is a clear, heavy-duty, slipresistant monomeric 15 mil (381μ) PVC film with a matte pebble textured finish on one side and a smooth printable surface on the other. It has been approved by the FDA for incidental food contact, making it ideal for advertising applications in hospitality and retail environments. ArmourGrab is an 8 mil (203μ) co-extruded white antislip film coated with a heavy coat weight, permanent, pressure sensitive clear acrylic adhesive. Used together, the two products create a food-safe counter mat solution ideal for eye-catching POP advertising. Thanks to the slip-resistant qualities of both ArmourPrint Emerytex and ArmourGrab, these products can also be used for applications such as placemats and mouse pads.
www.printingnews.com/21032899
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December 2018 Printing News
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WATCH LIST
Canon Unveils New Wide-Format Printers Richard Reamer, Senior Director of Large Format Solutions at Canon USA, talks about the new TM (Technical Multipurpose) Series. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21030614
Carton Die cutting with Near Line Fold and Glue Rollemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Insignia6 machine running 16pt. CS2 auto-lock bottom boxes with folding and gluing shown nearline. Also capable of running inline. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21030732
Stefan Hunkeler on the Upcoming Hunkeler Innovation Days Stefan Hunkeler, President of Hunkeler, offers a preview of what attendees can look forward to in high-end inkjet production. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031141
Textile Printing for Commercial Printers Tim Check, Senior Product Manager for Epson America, talks about textile printing technologies and the use of fabric printing to open up new business. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031163
Sabine Geldermann on the upcoming drupa 2020 Sabine Geldermann, Director of drupa and Global Head of Print Technology, talks about what visitors can expect at drupa in 2020. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031169
David Fellman on Worldwide Sales Training David Fellman, President of David Fellman & Associates, shares his experiences in Australia and New Zealand in worldwide sales training. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031558
Frank Visits a Mailing Museum JLS Mailing Services of Brockton, Mass., traces its roots back to 1918 when Elizabeth Joyce Braddock founded the Joyce Letter Shop. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031561
InPrint Heads to Louisville Frazer Chesterman, Co-Founder of InPrint, previews the upcoming InPrint 2019 industrial printing conference, April 9-11 in Louisville, Ky. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21032211
30 Printing News December 2018
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
Aleyantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Print Job Manager Brings Consistent Pricing Trent Foreman, Product Manager for Aleyant, walks through the process of estimating and pricing with Aleyant Print Job Manager. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21032433
BOBST M6 Line - Printing Press for Food Packaging M6 line is the press that changes the future of Flexible Packaging with a combination of in-line UV Flexo, REVO Digital Flexo and the V-Flower print unit. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21032671
Silicone Rubbers: Fascinating Materials Watch this amazing silicone rubbers mix video. Silicone rubbers are mixed and dyed with multiple colors in a laboratory test machine. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21032691
Me & My EFI Fiery at Shilp Art, Surat, India Shilp Art, one of the largest commercial print firms in the textile industry, chose EFI Fiery IC-308 to power a KM C1100 when printing digital for the first time. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21032705
60-second Super-cool Fold of the Week #455 Trish Witkowski shares her super-cool folding samples and helpful production tips. Visit foldfactory.com for more information. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031545
The School of Graphic Design Presents: The Key Printing and Binding A virtual field trip to the Key to see how they professionally bind books for students and corporate clients alike. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031327
BOBST M6 Line - Printing Press for Food Packaging Sign shops can now use three applications: channel letters, SEG frames and thermoforming to produce products better and faster than traditional methods. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21031101
Glazier Design, Digital Printing and Beyond Ben Glazier, Director of Glazier Design, talks to Kelley Holmes about the new Xerox Iridesse press and the Stephen Hawking Foundation. Find video here: www.printingnews.com/21030160
WhatTheyThink - Printing News
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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE
SGIA Recap The final SGIA Expo was a culmination of all the specialty graphics innovations of the past decade or two—with a few signposts (digitally printed, of course) pointing to the future. Story by Richard Romano
T
he final SGIA Expo was a bittersweet affair for those of us who have been attending the show for as long as we have. But then I may have been the only one who felt that way. Anyway, by all accounts, the show was a success, with the official attendee count coming in at 24,000+. Make of that what you will, but regardless, the exhibitors I visited were generally happy with the floor traffic and the excitement and enthusiasm—and open wallets—of the attendees. What were the major themes of the show? There was not a lot, if anything, that was truly revolutionary. I’ve been saying that for a few shows, and it’s certainly the case that the focus now is on taking the revolutionary hardware developments of the past decade or so and expanding on them, broadening portfolios and improving quality and performance. It wasn’t that long ago that LED UV curing was the hot new thing (or, perhaps, the not hot new thing, if you want to be technical about it), but now LED curing has become more or less de rigueur for UV printing. If there is a new hardware revolution or potentially disruptive technology on the way, 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.
32 Printing News December 2018
it will likely be single-pass, and for both small- and wide-format printing. We’ll keep our eye on that as the technology grows. The SGIA Expo has long had a strong focus on textile printing, and the original screen printing and embroidery systems have been complemented and supplemented by digital inkjet printing in all of its various incarnations. Not that analog textile decorating is going away any time soon, but digital sits comfortably next to analog to handle shorter runs as well as take advantage of the growing concept of the microfactory. The Holy Grail for inkjet printer manufacturers—and their inkmakers—is being able to print on as wide a variety of fabrics as possible, be it direct-to or via some kind of transfer medium. At the same time, eliminating many of the traditional textile printing pre- and post-press processing steps (like steaming, washing, etc.) is also a top
priority, not only from a production efficiency perspective, but also an environmental one. One of the most transfixing booths was Hirsch Solutions, which was demonstrating a Tajima high-speed embroidery machine. It was massembroidering a row of half a dozen or so baseball caps simultaneously. It was hypnotic. Beyond fabrics, the ever-growing trend of being able to print on more and more surfaces in general is also proceeding apace, with machines and inksets being able to print on all these materials with a minimum of—again— pre- and post-treatment. I would imagine that it’s a probably a great time to be an ink chemist—unless you like vacation days, perhaps. At the same time, substrate manufacturers are coming out with newer and newer materials that can be applied virtually anywhere. So, sorry, Mary Tyler Moore, it’s not love: print is all around. WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE
Then of course on the software side there is automation, the continuation of another trend that began—at least in wide-format—a few years ago, despite it being wellensconced in general commercial printing. Software suites for wideformat DFEs are adding more and more automation, and in a future feature we’ll take a closer look at the lay of the land.
Floored in Vegas Here are some quick hits of what I caught on the show floor and/or in press conferences. Agfa’s big news was the North American debut of the latest Jeti Tauro model, the H3300 LED, which was an SGIA Product of the Year award-winner in the “Roll-to-Roll UV (Over 80 Inches)” category. The new model prints up to 130 in. (3.3m) wide at speeds up to 4,676 ft.²/h. (453 m2/h.), says Agfa, and features single or dual master rolls. Agfa’s other big news was that Sandy Alexander is bullish on the Tauro: they are the first U.S. buyer of the new H3300 LED. At Durst’s press event, the WhatTheyThink - Printing News
company announced that 2017 had been a record year in North America saleswise, and the company was on track to surpass it in 2018. One major driver of sales has been from e-commerce providers such as B2Sign, BuildASign.com, 4Over, and other online trade printers. Durst’s Alpha Series of reactive dye, disperse dye and pigment textile printers have also been adopted by the likes of Spoonflower. Earlier this year, the company introduced a brand-new, built-from-the-groundup flatbed printing platform—the P5 Series—that boasts industrial-level productivity and print quality, as well as a 5-picoliter (pl) droplet size, and at SGIA was showing the flagship P5 250 HS. Durst also adopted LED UV curing, adding it to the Rho 512R. At EFI’s press event, we got to quickly meet new CEO Bill Muir, whose first days on the job involved being thrown into the maelstrom of the SGIA Expo. Welcome to the jungle! Meanwhile, the company continued its steady stream of product introductions. With channel partner Nazdar SourceOne, the company introduced the EFI Pro 32r, an entry-level, 3.2m LED printer. Designed for mid-level production, said to print up to 2,227 ft.2/h. (207 m2/h.). Then, as I covered in Day 1, there was the enhanced VUTEk 3r+ roll-to-roll LED printer platform; the SGIA Product of the Year awardwinning EFI VUTEk h series hybrid platform making its North American debut (we saw it at FESPA last spring); the VUTEk FabriVU 340i high-end soft-signage printer; the new EFI Reggiani TERRA system that combines digital textile printer technology with new pigment ink and binder offerings for industrial textile printing without washing and steaming; and the latest version of EFI Optitex, O/18. As also mentioned in my Day
1 recap, Epson launched a new pretreatment option for its SureColor F2000 and F2100 Direct-to-Garment printers that allow the machines to print on 100 percent polyester. The other news from Epson at the show was that the Epson SureColor F6200 Dye-Sublimation Printer won an SGIA Product of the Year Award in the “Roll-to-Roll Dye-Sublimation on Metal” category. An emerging hot product area is photoprinting on metal, a unique and eye-catching way of displaying photographic prints. It can be done using transfer-based dye-sublimation rather than UV.
Fujifilm had some major new product announcements at both the high and low end. The new Acuity Ultra made its North American debut in Las Vegas (it debuted on the world stage in Berlin at FESPA). This superwide UV roll-to-roll press is designed for the production of highend interior graphics and outdoor signage. The Acuity Ultra Series, available in 126 in. (3.2m) and 197 in. (5m) versions utilizes a 3.5 pl drop size and is intended to offer an alternative to litho. The Acuity LED 1600R is an entry-level version of the Acuity LED 1600 II hybrid press, a 64-in. (1.6m) dedicated roll-to-roll press. It offers four colors, with the option of a modular upgrade in the field up to seven colors. It is suitable Continue on page 54 December 2018 Printing News
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WORKFORCE
HR Housekeeping for 2019 Story by Debra Thompson
M
ost businesses are now analyzing the sales and costs of 2018 and budget planning for 2019. Another critical area to analyze in January is your HR practices. When it comes to staffing, there are many areas that need to be addressed. You must make sure you are compliant with the current laws, that you are not discriminatory in your hiring and that you have a plan in place for the retention of your top performers.
Employment Application Do you have a current application in place? Employers should tread with caution when designing employment application forms. It is best to have legal counsel review before distribution to ensure you are compliant with any discrimination rules. As with interview questions, certain questions, such as those related to religion, arrest record and year of graduation from high school or college, should be avoided on application forms. In several cities and states, laws have been enacted that employers may not ask candidates about pay history. The current states are California, Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Puerto Rico. Although your state may not currently be on the list, it’s time
to get out in front of it. You may ask about salary expectations, but it is unacceptable to ask, “What is your current salary? What was your starting and ending salary in any prior position?” Remember that an employment application is a legal document. Therefore, an applicant must fill one out when applying for a position. Once it is signed and dated, it should be filed in the employee’s permanent file. If for some reason you find out later that what they put on the application was not true, this could be cause for termination.
I-9 Form A new version of the I-9 Form (Employment Eligibility Verification Form) was updated and released July 2017. You were to begin using it by Sept. 18, 2017. Organizations cannot risk mistakes or lack of knowledge on the laws pertaining to I-9 compliance. I-9 enforcement is increasing, and penalties can cost you up to $10,000 per employee. This past July the federal government confirmed the hiring of 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to focus on civil and criminal investigations – a move that could triple the number of I-9 workplace audits conducted by the agency.
Debra Thompson
Employee Handbook
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 .
This is the single most important tool for employment laws and policies within your organization. New workplace laws on minimum wage, paid sick leave, criminal background investigations and more are popping up all the time—and they don’t always take effect at the
34 Printing News December 2018
beginning of a new year. The person responsible for the HR function needs to communicate these changes with their workforce as the laws become effective. Updates of the handbook should be considered at a minimum at least once a year. Additional areas to consider are: ■■ Cell phone usage while driving. In many states it is illegal to drive and talk on the cell phone if not using a hands-free device. ■■ Harassment and grievance procedures – you should have in place the definition of harassment, the steps to file a grievance and a policy that all staff should follow. ■■ Working from home policies ■■ Pregnancy/maternity/paternity leave ■■ Security and safety systems – Everyone should be aware of what to do in case of any emergency.
Performance Evaluations To develop staff and to retain your top performers, it is important to have a process in place for conducting regular and timely performance reviews. Everyone wants to know how they are doing and what the future looks like for them. Too many employers talk about having the formal review, but never quite get to it. Know how to give a proper review and set aside time to have an open discussion with your employee. Help them to improve where needed and encourage their growth with your company. Make 2019 one of your best years ever. Take time now to plan for it. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/ 21034361 ■ WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE
Wide-Format Graphics Make the
Magnificent Mile More Magnificent After a decade in the ad agency world, Shira Kollins took her graphic design and production background and launched SpeedPro Chicago. By taking an active role in local business associations—and being “pleasantly persistent” when it comes to sales and marketing—she has built a business creating cutting-edge display graphics for some of Chicago’s biggest retailers and restaurants. Story by Richard Romano
“
I wanted to bring the ad agency world into a small business environment as much as possible because I enjoyed it, and that was where I really learned everything,” said Shira Kollins, founder and owner of SpeedPro Chicago. Kollins and her three-person team produce interior and exterior signage, window graphics, fleet wraps, environmental graphics, trade show and event displays—virtually anything you can think of—for many of Chicago’s biggest retail locations. It’s a lot of work—14-plushour days are not unknown—but it’s also not without play, as Kollins strives to maintain an optimal work-life balance for herself and her team, and ensure that they enjoy what they do. And it’s paying off; for the eight-year-old business, 2018 has been a banner year— and SpeedPro Chicago prints much more than banners. Like a lot of wide-format shop owners, Kollins began her career as a graphic designer, but printing was in the bloodline. “I came from a commercial printing background because I grew up with WhatTheyThink - Printing News
Shira has made her mark in Chicago’s high-end retail realm but she and her team also do a lot of other event graphics.
it in my house,” said Kollins, who was raised in Minneapolis. “My mom did invitations back in the day, and I would go to press checks.” Kollins was interested in the arts December 2018 Printing News
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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE and studied graphic design at DePaul University in Chicago, then went right into the ad agency world. For the next 10 years, she worked as production manager for an ad agency and later art director for a high-end fashion magazine. Then the 2008 recession hit. “That’s when I started to research other options and freelanced as a designer,” she said. “I had my own freelance company for a couple years and realized that I needed something more stable.” So, in 2009, she started weighing her options. This led to opening SpeedPro Chicago in July 2010, which was the first SpeedPro franchise in the Windy City. At the time, the nearest SpeedPro was in Madison, Wis., and as Kollins was ramping up, she would occasionally get projects printed up there—putting a lot of miles on her car dropping off and picking up jobs, and doing installations even as she was outfitting her own facility. Having a background in the ad agency world was a great advantage.
Eataly, a landmark client
“I never burn any bridges, and a lot of my employers and even my old coworkers in the agency world have become some of my biggest clients.” A large chunk of Kollins’ business is what has come to be known as environmental graphics—SpeedPro Chicago does a lot of build-outs of new offices and develops creative office environments—but it’s in Chicago’s
high-end retail realm that she has made her mark. “We do a lot of short-term activation projects with big marketing brands that need installations across the U.S., she said. “We did vehicle wraps for an agency out of New York for Dos Equis that went on 18 different modified nontemplated food trucks for three days. That was our largest nationwide wrap job.” A landmark client was Eataly, the large-footprint Italian marketplace that includes restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakeries, retail shops and even a cooking school. Eataly Chicago opened in 2013 (there are other locations in New York, Boston, L.A., and one coming in Las Vegas). SpeedPro Chicago is the Chicago location’s sole vendor, doing a wide variety of interior and exterior graphics. It’s also a big source of repeat business. “Every other month there’s a huge promotion,” Kollins said. “We do hanging signs, wrapped canvases,
SpeedPro Chicago has done window projects for the Joffrey Ballet, which require a combination of opaque and translucent images.
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WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE half-inch gator board, all sorts of temporary decals and creative window graphics.” Through partners who have CNC routers, SpeedPro Chicago is also able to do 3D lettering. The relationship with Eataly, and many of her other clients, came about thanks to Kollins’ heavy involvement in the Magnificent Mile Association, a business development organization serving Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile commercial district, especially the high-end retailers along Michigan Avenue.
“We get a lot of custom design needs, which is probably my biggest selling point because of my creative background.” “I’ve been part of that association for five or six years, I’m on multiple boards, and I network with different building management groups.” Calling and emailing don’t always yield immediate rewards, but Kollins describes herself as “pleasantly persistent”—which eventually led to a meeting with Eataly when they were scoping out spaces in the city. “It was a $150,000 job just to begin with,” she said. And the relationship continues. “I’d say about a fifth of our business is purely Eataly. “We get a lot of custom design needs,” she added, “which is probably WhatTheyThink - Printing News
my biggest selling point because of my creative background. You can’t take the art director out of the owner!” She is also quick to sing the praises of her team. “I have an amazing production manager Their facility also has a converted vehicle bay where they keep substrates in who can just whip things a climate-controlled environment. together. I have a lot of confidence going into any job that Locker in a Long Island mall, where we can make it look amazing. And SpeedPro Chicago was hired by the we have a lot of fun here, which is agency overseeing a new Adidas important.” product launch. In addition to herself and her “These activations are pretty production manager, she also added key for us,” Kollins said. “So these a marketing/project manager at the marketing agencies are a huge part beginning of 2018. Yes, all the work of our business.” that SpeedPro Chicago does is done Kollins and her team also do a lot by three people. of trade show and event graphics, Kollins’ workhorse output device as well as window graphics for local is a Roland Texart—capable of white organizations. SpeedPro Chicago and metallic ink—that often runs has done several window projects overnight. The 3,000-square-foot for the Joffrey Ballet, which require studio is part showroom as well as a combination of opaque and production facility. The facility also translucent images. has a converted vehicle bay where SpeedPro Chicago also did 45-foot they keep substrates in a climatebus wraps for local businessman and controlled environment. politician J.B. Pritzker, known locally Being a small company helped as “the billionaire on the bus” (who land the Eataly account. Early on, was just elected Governor of Illinois). the owners of Eataly wanted to Despite the heavy workload, visit Kollins’ studio, she said, “so I Kollins doesn’t like to make overtime brought the Eataly corporate team a habit. to my studio, set them up in our “I want people to go and enjoy conference room, and they said, their lives and have that work‘Honestly, we’d be worried if you life balance,” she said. “It’s really had more people because we’re important to me. a small team, as well, and that’s “We’re not an old school sign shop what we’re looking for in a partner, that’s for sure,” added Kollins, who someone who clearly runs an loves to keep pushing the limits efficient company.’” of what is possible with display Kollins works with about 25 other graphics. “We call it ‘impact graphics’ SpeedPro studios to handle volume for a reason. If my graphics aren’t as well as out-of-town work. She has making your head turn or making several teams of local installers and a my client’s marketing dollars wellnetwork of 20 nationwide installers spent, if they can’t see a payoff or we to handle projects as far away as can’t make them look better, then I’m New Mexico, L.A. or Long Island. not doing my job.” Find article here One recent installation was at a Foot PrintingNews.com/21033016 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE Megabus fleet graphics.
Edifice Rex:
Vomela Installs Its First Building Wrap Story by Richard Romano
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he Vomela Companies, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., started in 1947 doing promotional product printing. Now, 71 years later, the company has expanded through both organic growth and acquisition to produce retail, POS, décor, event and fleet graphics for a wide variety of local and national brands and venues. Their most recent project: wrapping 3M’s 14-story corporate headquarters. Printing on or wrapping any surface is not without its challenges, but those challenges reach new heights—figuratively and literally— 38 Printing News December 2018
when the surface to be wrapped is a 14-story building. The Vomela Companies rose to the occasion, as it were, completing a wrap of 3M’s Twin Cities corporate headquarters last summer. So they’ve come a long way since 1947. Founder John “Jack” Vomela started his career as a printer for Brown and Bigelow, a promotional items company founded in 1896 and continues in business today—and still shares office space with Vomela. Jack Vomela launched The Vomela Specialty Co. to print and die-cut Christmas tags. In 1950, the company hired Carlo LaManna to work on the
McCafe graphic printed on stone.
production floor, and LaManna would acquire 20 percent of the company in exchange for his time and hard work. In the 1980s, LaManna acquired the entire company. Paul Peterson, Vomela’s Director of Operations, takes up the story. “In 1990, the Auth Family purchased the company, as the third family owners,” he said. “At that time, the company realized approximately $3 million in annual revenues. Mainly through acquisition, the company has grown to be a nationwide print and services provider.” Today, the Vomela Companies are a full-service specialty graphics WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE Left: Collateral material for the Fairfax County Office for Children Eat and Run. Below: Stadium graphics for Superbowl XLIV.
provider with projected 2018 revenues of $285 million, and the company employs more than 1,300 people in 22 cities across the U.S. and Canada. The Vomela Companies specialize in commercial and collateral work, POP and promotional graphics, store décor and retail graphics, event and exhibition graphics, fleet and transit graphics and RV graphics. “The Vomela Companies are G7-certified in digital, litho, 3D, dye-sublimation and screen printing,” Peterson said. “We’re continually looking for companies that complement our offerings and expand our capabilities and capacity, as well as seeking opportunities to enhance the services we provide for our existing customers.” Customers include many major local and national brands and venues. “You’ll find our work at most major retailers, events and stadiums, from Best Buy to CVS, NYC Marathon to the Olympics, and in Minnesota Twins and Vikings stadiums,” Peterson said. Vomela and 3M have always had a close relationship. In the 1960s and 70s, Vomela—in conjunction with 3M and others—developed a thermal kiss-cutting process that helped drive vinyl graphics to a multi-billion dollar WhatTheyThink - Printing News
business. (LaManna had declined a 3M buyout offer to keep Vomela a family-owned company.) So when 3M decided to wrap their Maplewood, Minn., headquarters as part of the company’s “Wonder” campaign, they turned to their long-time printing partner. “3M has been a partner for more than 50 years,” Peterson said. “They had confidence in our ability to execute and manage this large-scale, complex project. The fact that we are also based in Minnesota made it even better.” From concept to installation, the project, which required the east and west sides of the 14-story building to be wrapped, was completed in less than two months. The design was developed by 3M’s design team in consultation with the Vomela Companies’ design and production experts. “The color gradation of the graphic, along with both opaque and tinted glass windows, created interesting challenges,” Peterson said. “Additionally, 20,000 square feet of vinyl graphic was needed to withstand the summer heat and Minnesota’s icy winter temperatures during its nearly one-year required lifespan on the building.” So Vomela collaborated with 3M’s materials experts to determine the best substrates and laminates for the job. “The graphic required 100 hours of printing time on an HP Latex 3600 printer, plus laminating, cutting,
boxing and shipping the finished product,” Peterson said. Those materials included 3M Controltac Graphic Film with Comply, 3M Scotchcal Perforated Window Graphic and 3M Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate. “To create a seamless color fade on a variety of surfaces, we colormatched with sections of the building to create a continuous gradation that eventually disappears into the building,” Peterson said. “We wrapped windows with perforated films to allow for natural light to still get through and to prevent obstructed views from the inside. Using a swing stage—typically used for window cleaning—three shifts of 3M certified installers worked around the clock to complete the job in just four days.” This is the largest single graphic that Vomela’s St. Paul location has printed to date, and don’t think other present and potential clients weren’t paying attention. “We’ve already been asked by a major retailer, who is a current customer, to review a similar project for their corporate headquarters,” Peterson said. The company is always on the lookout for unique projects, and develops its own solutions to tackle those projects. “We’re an active innovator and are continually looking for creative ways to expand our offerings,” Peterson said. “We have applied for 14 patents. One example is the development of a unique display system for trade shows and events. The Klik Display System features lightweight aluminum frames and tension fabric for fast and easy setup.” To get a glimpse of their next project, perhaps keep an eye on the skyline. Find article here PrintingNews.com/21032748 ■
December 2018 Printing News
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CustomContent
Innovative Industry
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elcome to the 2018 Custom Content Section. These pages preview some of the latest, cuttingedge products, technologies, and services from the Printing, Sign and Industrial Print Marketplaces. A major driver of the convergence of the various “silos” of the printing industry that has been taking place over the past several years has been digital technology, which underlies virtually all of the products in the pages. This year, this digital-driven convergence has never been more apparent, as we have seen more and more traditional commercial print businesses pursuing opportunities and investing in Textile, Industrial, Home Decor, Wide-Format, and Signage. Change often brings about challenges, but change also opens up new opportunities. But change can happen fast. As a result, we need to be constantly vigilant and keeping one eye on the future so we can foresee the next wave of opportunities, and invest in the technologies that will allow us to take advantage of them. The companies in these pages have invested in their own businesses to develop
and introduce products and services that can provide additional revenue opportunities, and drive more growth, for commercial printers, sign shops, in-plants, and others. They also prove daily that it is their “service” attitude that consistently keeps them in front of the competition. As we reach the end of the year, and as you consider investing in your businesses—and staying ahead of your own competition—use these pages as a guide to finding new opportunities. The companies in these pages have invested in their own businesses to develop and introduce products and services that can provide additional revenue opportunities, and drive more growth, for commercial printers, sign shops, in-plants, and others. They also prove daily that it is their “service” attitude that consistently keeps them in front of the competition. As we reach the end of the year, and as you consider investing in your businesses—and staying ahead of your own competition—use these pages as a guide to finding new opportunities. ■
The Award Winning Wrapper’s Choice, Still a Favorite The 64” ValueJet 1624X, is still a favorite among professional wrappers and other print shops, for its blazing print speeds up to 600 sqft/ hr., incredible color gamut and unsurpassed reliability, giving you a remarkable printer that is second to none. The ValueJet 1624X’s technological advancements set a new standard for largeformat printers. Utilizing a state-of-the-art print head, Mutoh’s smart printing technology such as intelligent interweave and drop master, gives you unsurpassed quality for a printer in this price range. This year the VJ1624X won an SGIA Product of the Year award, in the Eco-Solvent/Latex Under 80 inches category based on color and quality, beating out all other manufacturers including latex printers, making the 2018 award, Mutoh’s sixth consecutive year winning the coveted SGIA Jewel. This is just another testament of Mutoh’s commitment to quality that is unmatched. Create stunning custom vehicle and wall wraps, indoor and outdoor signage, banners, decals and stickers, trade show graphics, heat transfer graphics and much more, efficiently and quickly with the ValueJet 1624X 64” Eco-Solvent Printer from Mutoh. Call to action: Request a free print sample at www.Mutoh.com or call 1-800-99MUTOH.
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Production Inkjet Leadership What does it look like? At Canon Solutions America, we live and breathe production inkjet technology. We continue to invest heavily into R&D for production inkjet and look forward to bringing exciting new devices to market in 2019. That’s just one of the reasons why we’ve maintained the number one position in worldwide inkjet market share for seven years running. Canon currently leads the market in continuous feed inkjet installations with 35 percent market share.1 One out of every three continuous feed inkjet devices sold last year was a Canon device. We also lead in cutsheet inkjet installations with 56 percent market share.2 We’ve done so for three years, ever since we introduced the first cutsheet inkjet device on the market. One of every two sheet-fed inkjet devices sold last year was an Océ VarioPrint i-series printer. This machine redefined versatility by combining the reduced costs of inkjet with the media and application flexibility of sheet-fed production. Canon Solutions America customers have printed over 300 billion total inkjet pages worldwide. To put that into perspective, that’s enough paper to circle the earth almost 2,200 times. Each year, these customers come together at the most powerful inkjet user conference known as thINK to share best practices, learn from each other, and collectively grow the production inkjet market. In a recent study by SGIA and NAPCO Research, Canon was the vendor cited most frequently by printers considering a production inkjet purchase. Always on the cutting edge of inkjet innovations, Canon has been consistently recognized by Xplor International, Inkjet Summi and Graph Expo Must See ‘ems awards. We introduced the world to Océ DigiDot® inkjet technology and Océ InkControl™ and we were the first to introduce single-engine duplex and MICR for check printing. We are committed to upholding the excellence of our brand by investing in new technologies. You’ll see evidence of that in the Océ ProStream, which merges the best of digital and offset printing. Its evolutionary engine design delivers 1200 dpi output with the cost efficiency and variable value-add of inkjet. We’re committed to helping our customers grow their business success. Our end-to-end solutions were designed to help you drive profits by increasing productivity and reducing costs. From print engines to workflow software, to finishing equipment and even media and ink, we work with companies around the world to provide you with complete solutions designed to work together. But more than just assembling the right components, we stand behind the entire solution.
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Our Service Team has one of the best reputations in the industry. If an issue should arise with your press, you can rest assured that our team will be on site quickly, helping you get back to full running capacity as soon as possible. But more than that, Canon Solutions America takes a proactive approach to customer service. We measure every area of our service performance, and our support personnel are held accountable for speed of repair, quality of repair and overall customer satisfaction. These stringent performance standards and our commitment to continuously improve our processes enable us to provide you with the highest quality of service and help ensure your ultimate satisfaction. The question is, are you choosing to work with the proven leader? When you are evaluating a new technology like production inkjet, it makes sense to work with the leader in the market. And with a network of production inkjet users and support from the thINK User Group and one of the most reliable Service teams in the country, you’ll know that you are in good hands. To view our full lineup of production inkjet presses, visit csa.canon.com. 1
“CF Inkjet and CS Inkjet Machines,” 2017 Quarterly Tracking Program, InfoTrends, March 2018.
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“CF Inkjet and CS Inkjet Machines,” 2017 Quarterly Tracking Program, InfoTrends, March 2018.
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“Production Inkjet Printing Consideration, Deployment and End Results,” conducted by SGIA & NAPCO Research
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CustomContent
White Is The New Color Remember when digital printing was first introduced? It was monochrome technology that could print on-demand but at a much higher cost than the press. But the coolest feature was that every page could be different. Monochrome/digital printing was not initially embraced by the masses as the equipment was expensive and the cost-per-page was significantly higher than analog. But soon, economics of supply and demand took root, and every major manufacturer was building so many diverse devices, monochrome toner printing morphed into the preferred printing model. Then color was introduced in the ‘80s - ‘90s. It was expensive, and mass adoption was slow. But, color created the ability for short-run, on-demand, robust printing - a welcome change from boring black & white or grayscale printing. Color printing also afforded print shops new revenue opportunities and attracted different customer segments. Print shops started specializing in business cards, stationery, envelopes, brochures and other promotional materials while realizing a much higher profit margin. Business was good. Because manufacturers were developing various printer options, color toner printing quickly bumped monochrome as the new standard printing process. Those who moved fast to adopt the new technology benefitted the most. And now - white is the new #1 color. Just like color toner created new customer offerings and additional revenue streams, white toner now gives print shops, designers and educational institutions even more opportunities to provide innovative, visually superior and extremely profitable services for their customers. The ability to print white on different colored media and substrates is one of the quickest and easiest ways to define and differentiate a business.
OKI was the first manufacturer to introduce single-pass, white toner printing capabilities for the low to mid-range production level - setting the next new standard for print processing. And, as we witnessed with the move from monochrome to color, the first to adopt CMYK + White printing will benefit the quickest and most significantly. Take advantage of OKI’s limited time, “Trade-In Trade-Up” promotion, which offers the ability to turn in old, outdated technology and upgrade to the latest Digital Envelope Printing solutions. OKI provides up to a $4,000 trade-in value for your old printer. In addition, prospects who purchase the OKI C942DP+ will also receive 4 FREE white toner cartridges - the equivalent of 75,000 pages of white toner printing. For print professionals who want the best in Digital Envelope Printing technology, contact OKI Data to locate the OKI Professional Color Partner most convenient for you. Our competitive advantages include: ■ Sales and Service professionals all over the nation ■ Maintenance-free LED print engine ■ 5-year warranty on the LED print head ■ Straight-through paper path ■ Laser-safe and waterproof output ■ NCR and linen media compatible ■ Media size up to 13W” x 52L” ■ EFI Fiery® C9 server (optional) ■ Robust multi-media feeder ■ FREE cost-per-print estimator ■ FREE 24/7 phone support ■ F REE 2 or 3-year on-site warranty (depending on model purchased) Don’t let your competitors be first-to-market with OKI white toner printing technology. Lead the change. For more information, please email procolor@okidata.com or call 972-891-3304
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Koenig & Bauer (US) Continues to Innovate and Introduce New Technology As Koenig & Bauer celebrates its 201st year in business as a leader in printing press manufacturing, it continues to innovate and introduce new technology for all of its business segments. Exciting market developments and information on new processes and products in sheetfed and web offset, post press, flexo printing and special applications continue to be introduced. What draws customers to the company? Koenig & Bauer is dominate in sheetfed automation by allowing its customer to pick features that drastically reduce makeready times and provides innovative technology to the pressroom. The company works closely with the customer to determine which automated features will have the largest financial impact to its bottom line. The shorter the run length the more automation is needed to drastically reduce setup times. Koenig & Bauer also supports the customer with a return on investment by creating the most productive profitable press in its manufacturing facility. Koenig & Bauer customizes the Rapida press to meet the individual needs of the printer. Several new automated solutions have recently been announced. The Rapida LiveApp, a unique first-of-its-kind technology that gives press operators the power of the press in the palm of their hand, offers control of press operations and critical press information right at a press operator’s fingertips on easy-to-carry mobile smartphone devices. It was recently selected for the prestigious Printing Industries of America (PIA) 2018 InterTech Technology Award. “The Rapida LiveApp shows the power of apps to add value in the pressroom,” said Jim Workman, vice president of PIA’s Center for Technology and Research. “The judges found the entire app innovative, especially noting its ability to track and communicate maintenance issues and provide easy access to training resources.” Another new launch is the Optimus Dash, a cutting-edge and award-winning business software that streamlines work steps (lean production) and significantly reduces non-value-adding activities (lean management). Here you will find convincing reasons why an MIS based on flexible templates is the right choice for the future. The templates embody the system’s product-oriented approach and flexibility. No matter what process, no matter what substrate, Dash can manage it. Each template contains all company-specific process steps that are necessary to produce a printed product, such as folding carton.
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To enhance its remote maintenance services, Koenig & Bauer is adding Visual PressSupport as one of the new data-based services for its sheetfed offset presses. In addition to audio transmission, it enables live videos to be transmitted directly from a mobile device to the hotline technician during remote maintenance. Visual PressSupport is a cutting-edge tool that makes communication much easier for both users and hotline technicians. The hotline technician sees what the press operator or service technician sees on the press. He can be shown processes and procedures
live via video and thus gain a quick and comprehensive overview of the situation at the press. This facilitates communication, saves the need for extensive explanations and reduces the risk of misunderstandings compared to a conventional telephone call. In today’s fast-paced environment, print service providers are demanding faster, just-in-time production to produce more demanding color jobs. Koenig & Bauer is answering these demands with custom designed automation and technology that is able to provide the printer with what they need to grow their business. Koenig & Bauer’s highly automated custom-built presses and innovative technology allows its customers to remain competitive in all market segments. Last year, on the occasion of its special 200th anniversary celebration, the firm went back to its roots and returned to its founding name “Koenig & Bauer” as part of a global brand relaunch. The name Koenig & Bauer, which reflects on the company’s long tradition and the names of its two founders, is now established worldwide including here in North America. It stands for technology, innovation and German engineering. The previous name, KBA North America Inc., is now Koenig & Bauer (US) Inc. and KBA Canada, Inc. is now named Koenig & Bauer (CA) Inc. With more than 200 years of press manufacturing, Koenig & Bauer continues to unite people, provide innovative ideas, and display a passion for the industry.
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CustomContent
New Opportunities in Print Create Massive Profits The days of print shop owners living on the profits from traditional printed pages are long gone as we all know. Shops must be ever changing and diversify into the vast new opportunities in print in order to remain viable. Shop owners are searching for ways to expand their print business to their current customers without adding additional overhead. The question is, “Where do I invest for growth?” Xante knows this and is focusing its technologies on those solutions.
The Integrated NCR solutions within EnPress’ IQueue Workflow make easy profits for your shop. Forms opportunities exist everywhere, and there is money to be made. IQueue contains not only forms templates for you to use to create your customers’ art, but the powerful sequential numbering required by your customers. On top of that, barcodes can easily be added to follow the forms numbering. All inside IQueue are printed at 300 pages an hour on EnPress.
Xante has developed two new products to offer access to new markets for its customers. The EnPress and X-32 have a common workflow interface that makes training and startup almost effortless.
In addition, the invitation market is booming and profit margins are huge with weddings, birth announcements, party invitations, funeral notices and greeting cards. IQueue has nearly 1,000 ready-to-use templates that make your art generation fast and easy. IQueue automates all aspects of your invitation printing while EnPress and the Enterprise feeder easily complete the solution.
The Xante EnPress is an amazing device that opens many new opportunities for its customers. Its CASS/Presort/NCOALink opens direct mail resources. Its variable data capabilities are powerful. Its mastery of NCR forms creation features create huge profit opportunities. Its full featured barcoding makes something that was difficult simple. New markets like invitation printing and color envelope printing sets your output apart from other suppliers. Whether it’s printing pages, envelopes, forms, banners or magnets, EnPress is a complete solution. Direct mail is booming again and is no longer a market just for dedicated suppliers. Once thought extinct, the internet has made personalized direct mail even more valuable. All Xante products are powered with its Adobe Postscript/PDF workflow (IQueue) and include full CASS/Presort/NCOALink certifications to complete your success in personalized bulk mail and variable data. With IQueue, in less than a day you can transform your shop from merely print to a direct mail powerhouse.
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En Press is truly a print shop in a box. From the simplest color pages to banners and magnets, it’s a complete solution for new profit opportunities in your business. Worry about CPP {Cost per Prints) no longer as EnPress along with IQueue drives down CPP, so that you keep the profits! To complete the Print for Profits solution, Xante has created the X-32 as a companion to EnPress to further expand new capabilities of commercial print. This 24”x36” flatbed UV printer is sure to impress your customers. Print CMYK, white and clear on virtually any item up to 11” in height! All powered by the same iQueue workflow that make integration into your shop fast and easy. Start making profits the day you install your X-32. From signs to cups to basketballs, X-32 does it all!
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Introducing the newest member of the Lintec family VisionControlFilm速 VisionControlFilm速 helps architects, planners and designers solve viewing and privacy issues without undermining the integrity of their creative vision. A simple non-intrusive way to control visibility from the inside, outside, above or below, VisionControlFilm速 helps to optimize the use of space and value of a room with a view. As the viewing angle changes, so does the transparency of the glass by transitioning from completely clear to fully frosted, or vice versa. Each of the four types of VisionControlFilm速 offers two choices of viewing angles, according to whether the film is applied vertically or horizontally. Please visit www.visioncontrolfilmusa. com to watch a video of this film in action and for additional information on this new technology.
For more information, visit Printingnews.com/10006436
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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE NEWS Agfa Graphics Wins Gold at the Canadian Printing Awards
Easy Cut Studio Now Available for Refine, ANAgraph Express, Creation PCut and More. EasyCut Studio is proud to introduce Easy Cut Studio 4.1.0.5. The latest release of its cutting plotter software includes dozens of new vinyl plotter-supported, macOS 10.14 Mojave compatibility, improved speed and reliability, and other improvements, updates and bug fixes. Easy Cut Studio is ideal for anyone starting out in the world of cut vinyl graphics. It offers all of the text manipulation, basic drawing, special effects and design tools you need to produce stunning vinyl signage quickly and easily. You’ll also enjoy many cutting production tools such as power weeding, image vectorization, direct scanning, rhinestone and contour cutting. Officially priced at $59.95 USD, It is a free update for existing customers.
www.printingnews.com/21031919
Agfa Graphics Jeti Tauro H3300 LED took home gold at the 2018 Canadian Printing Awards in the Wide-Format category. The hybrid UV inkjet LED system, produced in Canada, offers a combination of vivid sixcolor prints (plus white or primer) up to 3.2 meters wide at speeds up to 453 m2/hr (4,876 ft2/hr) with cutting-edge automation. The Canadian Printing Awards celebrates the creativity and innovation of Canada’s printing industry. This year, more than 250 entries were submitted across all categories with 114 awards presented for Industry Achievement, Print Design, Printing, Technology, and Environmental classifications. More than 200 people attended the 13th annual award ceremony held on November 8, 2018, in Toronto, Canada. “We are proud to be recognized for the innovative Jeti Tauro H3300 LED,” said Ruben Silva, Vice President, Sales, and Managing Director, Agfa Inc. Since its debut, the Jeti Tauro H3300 LED is raking up recognition having won a 2018 SGIA Product of the Year award in the Roll-to-Roll UV (Over 80 Inches) category.
www.printingnews.com/21032925 HP Debuts Comprehensive Design to Print Portfolio at Autodesk University 2018 HP Inc. announced new hardware and solutions to help change the way architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industries design and print. Autodesk users will now experience faster HP PageWide XL printers, breakthrough simplicity with HP Solutions for Large Format printers, new Z by HP portfolio enhancements and advances in VR. The new technology makes its debut in the HP showcase (#A451) of new printing hardware and solutions designed to be intuitive and efficient for Autodesk users.
www.printingnews.com/21032118
Thinner Non PVC Graphic Arts Film Launched Innovia Films has extended its existing BOPP graphic arts film range with the introduction of down gauged RayoartT high clarity and brilliant white films. Richard Southward, Global Product Manager, Labels enthuses “These 60µm (230 gauge) films are now 33% thinner than our existing graphic films. They retain their high conversion stability during adhesive lamination and printing and are extremely easy to apply or remove at both high and low temperatures. They are ideal for indoor and short term outdoor applications as these UV stabilized products provide up to two years outdoor usage (based on QUV testing).” These RayoartT films can be printed by flexographic, screen, UV inkjet and low temperature Latex inkjet processes, making them a viable alternative to calendared PVC. Perfect for flat and simple curved graphic applications or pressure sensitive label applications requiring extended outdoor usage.
www.printingnews.com/21034068
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TEXTILES
Adobe Project Paras
Extends Photoshop CC Textile Design Capabilities Designers in textiles and apparel typically use Adobe products to create their designs. But until now, there have not been textile-specific tools to make the task easier. To address this, Adobe has announced Project Paras, a set of tools that allow designers to stay within Photoshop CC and reduce the number of steps required to complete and preview a design. Story by Cary Sherburne
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dobe’s Project Paras, a new addition to Photoshop CC, will make life easier for textile designers. Project Paras is the result of two years of voice-of-thecustomer research by Adobe to learn what their design challenges were, and what type of tools would help them address those challenges. need to resort to third-party products “We found that Photoshop is that require leaving the Adobe used in the production of over 90 ecosystem. percent of printed textiles,” said Mike “We understand that this first Scrutton, Director of release does not include Print Technology and everything textile and apparel Strategy for Adobe. designers are looking for,” “Even when they use Scrutton said. “And for larger Illustrator, they still organizations, the investment have Photoshop as in third-party solutions will part of the process. So make sense. But for smaller it made sense for us organizations or independent to begin this journey designers, this will offer with enhancements to them the basic capabilities Mike Scrutton, Director of Print Technology and Strategy for Photoshop that would they need without a large Adobe. make their lives easier.” investment.” With Project Paras, the functionality The primary functionality that is of Photoshop CC includes the most addressed in this release includes the common functionality required by ability to quickly and easily create textile designers, now available within repeating patterns, color separations the context of Photoshop without the for production and colorways. Users can import a variety of different color systems, including customized color Cary Sherburne libraries that brands have created. Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, Pattern components can be quickly journalist and marketing and easily created and/or imported consultant whose practice into the design with the ability to is focused on marketing communications include drops, wraps and more strategies for the printing as repeats are created. Colors can and publishing industries. easily be adjusted using the familiar WhatTheyThink - Printing News
Photoshop interface. In the past, if the designer wanted to change an element of the design, there was no way to go back and make that adjustment. Now, designers can easily make changes anywhere in the design process without have to unnecessarily repeat steps. Once a design is finalized, a colorway can be created in just a few steps. At present, only one colorway can be simultaneously viewed alongside the original design. Now, within Photoshop, proofing is also integrated with production workflows, making the overall design-to-print process much more efficient and accurate. Project Paras is the first step in Adobe’s journey to add design capabilities needed in the textile and apparel industry. We expect to see the company ramp up its development of these capabilities relatively quickly, as past company history would suggest. For more information about Project Paras and the public beta, visit www. adobe.com/go/projectparas. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21032757 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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Austin Community College
Seeks to Spur Industry Growth with Fashion Incubator Austin Community College in Texas has launched an innovative Fashion Incubator with the goal of creating a real-to-industry learning environment in partnership with the City of Austin, Gerber Technology and others. This is a unique approach to bringing new talent into the industry and giving new fashion-oriented businesses a jump start. Story by Cary Sherburne
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ina Means is a rising star in fashion design. She earned an international fashion degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, has studied in Florence, Italy, has designed for major brands and has her own clothing brand called Nina Means. Now she has embarked on an even more challenging project: Director for the Austin Community College Fashion Incubator. The college has one other 48 Printing News December 2018
incubator—in the biosciences—and the two will collaborate as well as operate independently of each other. More on that later. But based on the bioscience success, the City of Austin approached the college to explore the creation of a brandnew venture, the Fashion Incubator. Nina’s goal as Director is to lead the strategy and development of an instruction-centric fashion incubator, reaching students, emergent fashion designers and the local industry. The city identified fashion as a
Nina Means
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major growth industry for the area. Austin is probably not the first place you think of when considering the fashion industry. However, Means notes that fashion was responsible for $86 million in industry impact there in 2013, and there are more than 1,300 fashion jobs in the area, people that consider themselves actively engaged in fashion. It is highly fragmented. So another goal of this project is to create synergy among those now-fragmented silos of industry influence through a space that serves as an anchor. To get the ball rolling, the City of Austin is helping with some of the infrastructure for the Incubator, located in the old Highland Mall, to the tune of some $300,000 plus inkind services. The incubator is also benefiting from an academic lease contract that brings its monetary investment down to roughly $150,000 over three years, an amount that is covered by City of Austin Economic Development initiatives. As in many communities, this Austin mall fell on hard times, and the Fashion Incubator offers a version of retail resurrection that can provide a good model for other communities to follow. The project also attracted interest from a number of other sponsors, most notably Gerber Technology, who has agreed to provide some $13 WhatTheyThink - Printing News
million in state-of-the-art garment manufacturing equipment, software, training and support. With this donation, the Fashion Incubator will be able to address the complete design-to-consumer cycle. The project is looking to attract students, including those in dualcredit programs at local high schools. Another aspect of the project will be continuing education for area fashion professionals, including training and certification in the industry’s latest technology. Means expects about 100 students in continuing education to provide the base and between 50 to 75 students participating in the program for credit beginning fall 2019. The final prong of the project—the basis of its name—is the incubation of up to 20 businesses that genuinely want to leverage the Incubator to scale themselves. They are positioned to develop higher-end products that will enable their businesses to be successful and profitable. The businesses will be located on-site and have access to both the school’s network of mentors and technology that reduces friction to market. Means anticipates that the incubator aspect will be like a 12- to 18-month boot camp, during which these businesses should have gone through at least three development cycles, as well as
gained knowledge about operating a business, including finance, marketing and other expertise that a successful business needs. All participants will work sideby-side with real industry veterans. For students, the goal is to have them graduate with real-world skills, ready to jump into an industry job. This includes learning how to make a Tech Pack, the instruction set a designer provides to a manufacturer to actually produce the garments. It’s an ambitious project, with a soft launch that has already occurred and a grand opening planned for early 2019. Designers-in-residence will begin in January. In terms of collaboration with the Bioscience Incubator, the parties are looking at what each offers and where there can be overlap. There is opportunity also for a co-residency between bioscience and fashion. To this end, they are seeking to work with tech and apparel brands like Under Armour, who have an Austin presence, and are willing to sponsor research fellowships. As part of its real-world education and as an extra funding source, the Fashion Incubator will also offer sample making as a service for local businesses, who may not have the digital infrastructure for affordably creating samples. It will be fascinating to follow the progress of this inspirational project. It accomplishes so many things: repurposing retail space that might otherwise just be an eyesore; providing students and industry professionals with the realworld skills they need to get jobs in an industry that is increasingly more automated and technical; and incubating businesses that can drive prosperity in the Austin area. Other U.S. cities should take note and follow suit. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21032716 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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EFI Reggiani Unveils the EFI Reggiani BOLT — World’s Fastest Digital Textile Printer EFI Reggiani held a gala launch event for its new EFI Reggiani BOLT single-pass digital textile printer at Reggiani’s Bergamo, Italy, headquarters. With high-quality print speeds of up to 90 meters per minute, this press looks to be a game changer for high-volume digital textile printing. Story by Cary Sherburne
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early 300 people from 40 countries travelled to Bergamo, Italy, to see the EFI Reggiani BOLT digital textile printer unveiled during a gala event. The company had expected about 100 customers to attend, but with the last-minute demand, arrangements were made to handle nearly three times that many. EFI’s new CEO, Bill Muir, who was celebrating one month on the job, was at the event to welcome attendees. “The culture of courageous innovation, creating value through products for our customers, is what attracted me to this company,” he said. And innovation abounds with the new BOLT printer, which underwent an astounding one-year development cycle. Like EFI’s Nozomi digital directto-corrugated printer, elements of which are incorporated into this press, BOLT’s development was a companywide effort that drew on the expertise of everything from Cretaprint ceramic tile and Nozomi single pass printing, to Reggiani’s textile expertise and software and ink development from around the world. EFI Fiery is the digital front end. The printer is being manufactured in Bergamo. When the printer was unveiled, there was a shower of confetti and 50 Printing News December 2018
much popping of Prosecco corks, as well as gasps from the audience when they first saw it. Some of the details: ■■ It’s huge. But with dimensions of approximately 10 meters x 6 meters x 4 meters with eight color stations and two analog stations for adding embellishments like metallics, EFI reports that it is 30 percent smaller compared to the most compact printer currently on the market. The maximum fabric width is 1,950 mm. ■■ Its unique printheads were designed in collaboration with Fujifilm Dimatix. It includes a contactless wiping system to extend printhead life.
An innovative recirculation printhead concept ensures 3x ink laydown for better print uniformity. The recirculation across nozzles keeps them wet and ready to print, even after a weekend shutdown. And it has up to 600 x 4800 dpi print resolution. ■■ Variable drop sizes from 5 to 30 picoliters ensure accurate printing of fine lines through to fast printing of large areas of solid color. The printer can inject more than 15 grams per square meter of ink at the speed of 60 linear meters per minute. ■■ Real-time print start-up and minimal maintenance needs WhatTheyThink - Printing News
TEXTILES help ensure the level of uptime a production textile environment demands. ■■ Depending on the substrate and fabric design, it can print at up to 90 meters per minute. We saw it in action at 60 meters per minute, and then it sped up to an amazing 90 minutes per meter, with exceptional quality. ■■ It initially will run with waterbased, eco-friendly pigment and reactive inks, with further ink types coming soon. ■■ It has a unique architecture: extractable printing beams that ensure easy access to print heads and the ink system. ■■ Like all Reggiani digital presses, it features an ink recovery system that reclaims about 95 percent of ink for re-use. ■■ It uses Reggiani’s proprietary feeding system for highperformance fabric management, with optional large roll feeder. The precise Kevlar conveyor belt features an embedded magnetic device to ensure smooth, wrinkle-free fabric feeding. ■■ It can be configured with two to six drying sections, and heating sources can be gas, oil or steam. In developing BOLT, the Reggiani team visited 20 customers around the world to get feedback on their
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wish list for single-pass printing. Customers wanted to eliminate barriers to digital, including cost of and life of printheads, cost of ink and downtime issues. They wanted to get at least as good quality and color gamut as rotary printing. And in bringing BOLT to market, it looks like these objectives have been achieved. Ron Gilboa of Keypoint Intelligence – Infotrends, and Mark Hanley of I.T. Strategies, both respected consultants in this space, participated in panel discussions during the event. Hanley stated that he believed BOLT to be generation two of single pass. “EFI Reggiani still has to prove that, but chances are high they will be able to do that,” he added. Gilboa pointed out that one of the things that is unique about EFI’s approach is tying in all the supply components. “When you stitch all these things together [design, file prep, printing, business and production workflow, finishing, etc.], you change the way the whole industry is doing business. A new device has value, but when the whole ecosystem comes together, it makes suppliers profitable and better enables the brands we serve at the end of the day.” Feedback from the attendees I
spoke with was overwhelmingly positive. Once samples started passing around, there was quite a buzz, as attendees looked at outstanding print quality on a variety of fabric types. EFI has had great success with its previous single-pass printers, Cretaprint and Nozomi. It is likely that BOLT will also see early market success. BOLT has the potential of speeding adoption of digital and just-in-time strategies for textiles, as well as helping to reduce the environmental issues found in the textile industry. That’s not to say that conventional printing processes will go away—digital and analog will co-exist for some time, as has been the case in most other segments of the printing industry (ceramic printing, and to some extent sign and display graphics printing, are two exceptions where digital has taken over the lion’s share of production). In addition to environmental aspects, products like BOLT combined with EFI’s textile ecosystem will help brands create more collections each year, deliver the customization today’s consumers demand, and establish a purchaseactivated process for a subset of garment production—replacing the produce-inventory-hope-to-sell model that results in significant supply chain inefficiencies in today’s textile industry. We’ll be looking for more information from EFI as BOLT is rolled out into the market. Beta sites are in process of being selected, most likely in Europe, and no formal commercial availability has yet been announced. It is likely there will be two beta sites, and as with most product development, these sites will likely drive some change in the product. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21033002 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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TEXTILES
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall…
Innovative Digital Solutions for Fashion
The digital transformation in textiles and apparel is well underway. Senior Editor Cary Sherburne writes about the drivers for this transformation and how fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff is leveraging digital technologies in unique ways. Story by Cary Sherburne
S
ince launching our textiles section in January 2018, we’ve written a great deal about the analog-to-digital transformation underway in the textiles and apparel industry. It’s an exciting time, and things are moving quickly. There are two key drivers for this transformation and the desire on the 52 Printing News December 2018
part of brands to get to market faster: ■■ 52 percent of end consumers in a 2017 CMO Council survey (Customer in Context) said the most important attribute of a brand experience is fast response times to issues, needs, requests and suggestions. If brands fail to meet these expectations or
persist in delivering frustrating experiences, consumers will walk away, even from brands they love. In fact, 47 percent say they will stop doing business with the brand. ■■ The second is purely financial— brands want to produce more collections each year. They want to reduce the time and waste WhatTheyThink - Printing News
TEXTILES traditional design and manufacturing processes. Minkoff points out that this time lag gives others plenty of time to copy designs. Plus, consumers want what they want now, not a year down the road. That inspired her to take a see-buy-wear approach to her business two years ago, shortening the time to get her collections to market. She partners with a digital printing company in the Dominican Republic that promises delivery within seven days—an unheard of turnaround time.
the conventional supply chain requires. And they can do this by digitizing processes from concept through delivery. Today, industry analysts estimate that only 6 percent of textile products are produced digitally. But that is expected to grow at double digits over the next few years. And automation within the design and manufacturing process is moving even faster. Plus, really exciting things are happening on the retail front. A great example is fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff who presented at the recent Gerber Technologies Ideation event. If you are at all interested in what the future of fashion retail looks like, you should visit one of her stores. Her brand is the largest global fashion house funded by a female millennial. Most fashion houses show off their new collections six to nine months ahead of availability, largely due to the extensive time consumed by WhatTheyThink - Printing News
Today, industry analysts estimate that only 6% of textile products are produced digitally. But that is expected to grow at double digits over the next few years. Minkoff says she and her brother, who is a partner in the business, “think like companies that can potentially disrupt us.” This forwardlooking approach has led to some really unique business practices. In addition to compressing designto-market times, Minkoff has also created a unique in-store experience at her four brick-and-mortar stores. Dressing rooms are a key example. Once you enter a dressing room with your selections, everything is customizable, using an interactive mirror. Don’t have the right size?
Order a different size to be brought to you right from the mirror. Looking for an evening gown and want to see what it will look like under that type of lighting? Or beachwear? No problem. You can adjust the lighting to reflect the environment in which the garment will be worn. Love that skirt you are trying on? The magic mirror suggests blouses that go with it, as well as accessories, and you can have those brought to you in the dressing room with a single tap on the mirror. These types of innovations have resulted in a 40/60 split between apparel and accessories for her business. Oh, and want that Coke or glass of champagne? After all, trying on clothes is thirsty work. The magic mirror lets you order that as well. Coming soon, in a special dressing room in her stores: the ability to customize the background for the magic mirror and to Facetime right from the dressing room with your friends to get their feedback or share your experience. For Minkoff, the added benefit here is engagement. Not only do you have the customer in the store totally engaged, but she is bringing her friends on board as well. And with all of this, returns are likely reduced to almost nothing. Brick-and-mortar stores are located in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. Understanding that regional tastes are different, Minkoff is testing other areas with pop-up stores to see what works in various markets. She has also expanded to Asia with 15 partner stores. Minkoff is just one example of the exciting changes happening in the world of fashion, enabled by digital technologies. For a deeper dive into this topic, read the recent article I wrote for AATCC’s newsletter. Find article here: PrintingNews. com/21032726 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE Continued from page 33
for producing backlit and window applications and can print, the company says, up to 355 ft2/h. Cary covered Kornit’s recent activity earlier this week, but at the Expo the company showed its Avalanche line of direct-to-garment printers. The series prints on a wide variety of fabrics, such as cotton, polyester, cottonpolyester blends, Lycra, viscose, silk, leather, denim, linen, wool and more. The Storm series is a mid-level production direct-to-garment device targeted for under-500-runs. The entry-level Breeze is a small and portable printer designed for small to mid-sized digital T-shirt printing businesses. Mimaki’s big news was the U.S. debut of the Tiger 1800B MkII dye-sublimation printer. The 1.8m machine can print either direct-to-fabric or via transfer paper and up to 4,000 m2/h., says the company. The MkII (“mark 2”) is the successor to the Tiger 1800B. Mimaki also showed the new TS55 1800 76-inch dye-sublimation printer, which was announced earlier this month. Part of the automation conversation—at least as far as hardware goes—is being able to preload as much paper and ink as possible so users don’t have to hover over the machine as frequently. To that end, the TS55 1800 adds two new optional units: a mini jumbo roll and 10 kg ink supply. Mimaki has also announced a clear ink option for its UCJV300 Series. Onyx showed its major new release of ONYX 18, the company’s wide- and grand-format software. The catch with all the new materials that can be printed on, the new inksets, and the notion of “print on anything” is being able to color manage all that. So the software that drives all the wide-format devices needs to be able to do just that. ONYX 18 includes new color technologies for color accuracy and consistency. Specifically, it includes the ONYX Color color engine, which includes new core enhancements for improved black ink combinations that give increased shadow detail, texture and definition, as well as increased saturation of reds and oranges without compromising ink savings. These enhancements are said to especially benefit textile and soft signage applications. Ricoh launched the new 64-inch Ricoh Pro L5130/ L5160 latex roll-to-roll printers, capable, the company says, of printing up to 473.6 ft.2/hr. Ricoh also launched
Fujifilm
54 Printing News December 2018
a second flatbed printer, the Ricoh Pro TF6250, which prints up to 4 x 8 ft. and 4.3 in. thick. AnaJet, a Ricoh company, also introduced the RICOH Ri 1000 direct-togarment printer, which can print at 1200 x 1200 dpi on a diverse array of garments and features an array of quickswappable magnetic platens to easy change garment size or type. Roland was a little quiet on the product announcement front (save for the new VersaWorks 6 RIP software that boosts productivity), but was using the SGIA Expo to feature a series of “How I Built My Business” interviews with successful Roland customers. These included Nick Woodward, graphics manager for NASCAR’s Richard Childress Racing, responsible for the team’s race car graphics; Hollywood film graphic designer Martin Charles, who has created sets for The Avengers and other major motion pictures; Luis Vivas of Vivas Banners and Signs, who provides signage for Lucasfilm as well as Google, and other major Silicon Valley companies; and James Atwood of Impact Sign Company, whose diversification into UV print applications quadrupled his company’s business.
Vycom
A company I had been unfamiliar with, Vycom, manufactures a variety of materials for sign and display applications—their lines include Celtec, Flametec, Playboard, Sanatec, Corrtec, Designboard and Seaboard. At the Expo, the company was focusing on its Celtec line of PVC signboard materials. Available in a number of colors and thicknesses, the newest additions to the line are Celtec Vivid White and Ultra White. The materials are designed for a variety of production processes including digital and screen printing, as well as knife- and diecutting and thermoforming.
Next Stop: Dallas A side topic of conversation was what the Dallas show— under the new Printing United moniker—would be like. First of all, it’s not Las Vegas, so on that basis alone I’m all for it! From what I’ve heard, the show floor is going to be enormous (I guess everything is bigger in Texas); I may need a shuttle bus to get from booth meeting to booth meeting. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing the next phase of SGIA’s journey. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21032760 ■ WhatTheyThink - Printing News
WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE Retail Continued from page 23
retail location, and a particular item you’re looking for is not in stock, you can order it and they will ship it to your home. So the distinction between online and offline commerce is blurring. Kahn was also discussing her recent book, “The Shopping Revolution: How Successful Retailers Win Customers in an Era of Endless Disruption,” in which she identifies what she refers to as the “retail matrix.” She basis this matrix on the principle of competitive advantage. “If you’re in a very competitive market, you’ve got to be better than the competition. That means either increase pleasure or take away pain. So those two ideas form the underlying theory of the matrix,” she told Ritholtz. The columns are the principle of customer value: product benefits or customer experience. The rows are the principle of differential advantage: do it better by increasing pleasure or do it better by removing pain. And that gives me the two by two matrix that I call my success matrix. The traditional retail practices—“everyday low prices,” the idea that you need to keep customers in stores as long as possible to maximize impulse buying, etc.—are becoming less and less effective. Wal-Mart’s “curbside pickup” and the “Hannaford To Go” example are services that don’t even encourage the customer to come inside the store at all. It’s the idea of “making shopping easier” and more pleasant—or more like online shopping. After all, no one in their right mind wants to spend all day in a WalMart! At the same time, “digitally native vertical brands” have become popular; Kahn identifies niche brands like Warby Parker, Casper, Allbirds and other brands that create very different shopping experiences. Anyway, as they say, go read or listen to the whole interview. Last Friday, we ran a press release from Adobe that offered their forecast of the 2018 retail environment. I’m not usually sanguine about these kinds of forecasts, but some data points stood out. Such as: ■■ Adobe predicts one percent of SKUs will drive a record 70 percent of sales during the holiday season, 30 percent more than during the rest of the year. 4K TVs, as well as retro video consoles and games such as “Tekken 3,” “Ridge Racer Type 4” and “Final Fantasy VII,” are expected to perform well for the second consecutive year. ■■ Smartphones continue to gain share as consumers’ preferred devices for online shopping, representing 48.3 percent of visits and 27.2 percent of revenue. WhatTheyThink - Printing News
Mobile revenue is up 11.6 percent YoY. Yet, completed cart orders happen over 20 percent less on smartphones than desktop, as a result of abandonment from sub-optimal checkout experiences. ■■ Voice-assisted shopping is on the rise, with 21 percent of consumers reporting they are planning to reorder frequently-purchased items and 17 percent placing one-time orders for in-store pickup using their voice activated devices. The reason I bring up the subject of retail, especially in the context of wide-format printing, is that POP/POS and retail graphics have been such a big driver of the wideformat sector that anything that affects retail affects a lot of wide-format graphics shops. So what can we say about these retail trends that is of relevance to wide-format graphics producers? Both brands and retailers need to change their graphics more and more frequently. This is nothing new, but graphics providers looking to serve the retail market need to be aware that turn times are getting even faster than they have been. Retail is also getting more and more localized and regionalized. Big national brands are becoming less and less interested in mass marketing and more attuned to have a local presence. A Target in an urban Northeast city will be different than the same store in a southern rural area. This opens up the door to more short-run digital work. Retail is becoming more about “experiences,” so retail graphics themselves should become more experiential. Experiential or environmental graphics are not just for offices; they can also play a large role in retail environments. Also don’t forget that integrating some kind of interactivity via QR or AR (Augmented Reality) can also be a way of making retail graphics truly experiential. The idea that customers don’t even have to enter a store doesn’t bode well for POP graphics, but that only places more of an emphasis on outdoor graphics and signage, as well as the smaller-format graphics—both print and nonprint—that drive customers to certain websites. The need to be a total “marketing services provider” has never been more acute. We need to keep an eye on the challenges facing the retail sector, but not expect the “apocalypse” so many have been expecting. And, as always, to counteract any downward trends in retail, a good strategy is to diversify one’s application and customer base as much as possible—or at least be nimble enough to switch gears if the market changes. Because it will, one way or another, as it always has. Find article here PrintingNews.com/ 21032744 ■ December 2018 Printing News
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TEXTILES
OnPoint Manufacturing and Gerber Technologies Announce
FashionTech Platform 1.0 I first got to know Kirby Best when he was running on-demand book printer Lightning Source. And I was interested to see him turn up as Chairman at OnPoint Manufacturing, an on-demand garment manufacturer. We connected for a wide-ranging discussion at the recent Gerber Technology Ideation event, including the newly announced FashionTech Platform 1.0 initiative. Story by Cary Sherburne
J
. Kirby Best is Chairman at OnPoint Manufacturing, an ondemand apparel manufacturer specializing in Purchase Activated Mass Customization of apparel. In other words, the item is purchased and then manufactured, eliminating costly waste in inventory and supply chain management.
J. Kirby Best
WhatTheyThink: Kirby, what was the genesis of this partnership between Gerber and OnPoint? I assume you have been a Gerber customer for some time? J. Kirby Best: Yes, we have been. OnPoint is one of the most modern cut-and-sew operations in the world. We needed to work with a software and cutting company to move forward with the idea of a fully-integrated manufacturing plant. We believe Gerber needed a place to demonstrate on-demand 58 Printing News December 2018
production of one-off, highlycustomized garments. They needed a lab to experiment with new ways of doing things. We wanted to be that laboratory. WTT: What would you say is the key objective of the FashionTech Platform 1.0? JKB: We’re working with Gerber to make human interaction optional and to eliminate all human interaction in the manufacturing line. The designer knows the details of the order, the type of stitches, and that information needs to go straight to the cutting and sewing lines, as well as the packer, so information doesn’t get lost or have to be entered multiple times, which can result in errors. WTT: That’s a pretty aggressive goal. But you have experience with this kind of thing in a past life, right? JKB: There are many lessons the textile industry can learn from on-demand manufacturing in the book printing business. The primary challenge is to get all of the metadata about an order into a single file, and Lightning Source was able to do that for books. In textiles, you want all that metadata in a single TechPack file, and we are developing a file format to do that, the .stp—or Smart TechPack—file format. A Smart TechPack contains or can point to
any bit of information that would ever be needed by anyone in the entire supply chain. WTT: Do you see that as a fixed file that comes from the designer? JKB: Yes and no. You want to enable others in the supply chain to add value as appropriate as the file flows through the production process. The key to on-demand production is to automate as much as possible in an integrated workflow. Taking a couple hours to set up when you are producing 100,000 dresses, for example, is one thing; but you can’t afford to do that if you are producing one personalized dress. WTT: How can our readers get more information about the .stp file and its availability? JKB: You can go to www.PaaTUSA. com, and get involved. There is no cost to join the organization. All we ask is that you actively participate to make sure your interests are met. There will be significant updates soon, as the Technical Working Group just met and different teams are working on several key aspects of the system. There will be a book coming out soon as well, called “The Business of On-Demand,” that will be a great reference book—available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/ 21033954 ■ WhatTheyThink - Printing News
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