American Printer - Summer 2012 Edition

SUMMER 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Columns Hi Steve,

3

The show was

E DI T OR ’ S DE S K

AWESOME! Never saw so integrated pr much neat-o int—see p. 10 .

Digital presse s were THE st check out ory— 12. Benny La like the Step. nda is ve arts—I am se Jobs of the graphic rious! See p.

16.

Charlie Corr to ld m e ab t a grea book on pr t ing strategiou When will I ic es (p. 37 ). have time to read it???

Have a great summer!

CAN YOU FEEL IT?

By Katherine O’Brien

4 PUBL I S HE R S ’ N OT E

By Andy & Julie Plata

9 T E C H T HOUGHT READY, STEADY, MAKEREADY!

By Ray Prince

KOB

24 GR E E N S HE ET BI Z I N S I GHT S DEFINING DISINTERMEDIATION

By Dennis Mason

30 I N DUST RY T R I BUT E

By Andy Tribute

32 GL OBAL MAR K E T S : CHI N A’ S DI GI TAL P R I N T I N G T R AN S I T I ON

By Michelle Liu

Features F E E L T HE P OW E R !

F RE S H P E R S P E C T I V E

10 8 DRUPA TRENDS AND PRODUCTS THAT WOWED US 12 SUPER DRUPA: PARTNERSHIPS, PACKAGING & POSSIBLITIES 16 ‘LANDA-MONIUM!’ (BENNY ROARS BACK) 18 PROFILE: JEFF JACOBSON’S FIRST DRUPA WITH XEROX 20 CASE STUDY: MIAMI INPLANT SOAKS UP THE SAVINGS WITH ENFOCUS’ SWITCH 28 WOMEN OF DISTINCTION: MEET CAPT’S COCO CHEN

36 S AL E S C OAC H

By Wayne Peterson

Departments 6 B2MeMagazine 2 2 MAI L MAT T E R S 2 5 OF FS E T I N N OVAT I ON S 3 4 N E X GE N : Y OUN G L E ADE R S 3 8 N E W P R ODUC T S 4 0 Y OUR T UR N 4 // American Printer

Summer 2012

PACKAGING

By Kelly Cooper

DRUPA 2012

33

S PE C IAL PAC K AGIN G S EC T ION 42 BRAND MANAGEMENT 45 BUILDING BOXES 46 PACKAGING NOTEBOOK

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

BY ANDY & JULIE PLATA, CO-CEOS, OUTPUTLINKS COMMUNICATIONS GROUP Hi, We hope you were happy (and maybe even more than just happy) with your first edition of the NEW American Printer. If you have not yet had a chance to share your views and enhancement suggestions on the magazine’s new format, please do so at your next opportunity. You can use the launch point below or just send us an email. Your feedback helps us tune the magazine and its B2Me platform to continually improve your American Printer experience.

WE WERE THRILLED with the feedback we received on our inaugural issue. Even at drupa in Germany, there was a high level of excitement about American Printer. We were surprised that with almost no promotion, American Printer was a constant topic of conversation by people from all over the world during the 14-day conference. WOW! EXCITING PRINT GENERATES EXCITEMENT is what we realized as we asked people what most caught their attention about the magazine.

The response was almost always the personalization and integration of web and mobi via the B2MeCodes.

Although none of the technologies we applied to American Printer were new, the fact that we were the first to put them so extensively into a printer magazine was new enough.

AN IDEA MAGNET is what we started calling American Printer. This was because so many people have asked to meet with us to discuss their ideas and future product directions.

As a result of these discussions we have received numerous requests for proposals for our company’s services.

We like that.

THIS BENEFITS THE PRINT COMMUNITY because as the printers integrate more personalization and interactive technologies onto their printed pages, customers will gain a new excitement for the power of today’s print technology. This will lead customers to engage the printer in discussions regarding their needs across a spectrum of communication platforms that the printer can assist them with FOR ADDITIONAL BUSINESS AND PROFIT. And, that is good.

If you agree with us on these points or if you feel like we are just out of touch with the realities of today’s print market space, let us know your thoughts.

American Printer, Vol. 129 No. 02 (ISSN 0744-6616) is published quarterly by OutputLinks Communications Group.

OutputLinksCG.com Admin@OutputLinksCG.com 713-300-0674 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

OutputLinks Communications Group, 2100 West Loop South #900, Houston TX 77027 USA

To great & powerful print, ANDY & JULIE PLATA Co-CEOS OutputLinks Communications Group

ADVERTISEMENTS OR PRODUCTS appear-

CAN THE B2MEPLATFORM WORK FOR YOU? American Printer’s parent

PUBLISHERS Andy & Julie Plata

company, the OutputLinks Communications Group, is now helping companies provide their customers personalized, interactive magazines using the B2MePlatform. For information just scan or key here.

SENIOR EDITOR Katherine O’Brien

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ing in this publication do not constitute an endorsement from the publisher.

ADVISORY COUNCIL Brian Baxendale Ron Friedman John Lopiano Nina Smith CONTRIBUTORS Enrico Barboglio – Italy Valentina Carnevali – Italy Brett Dashwood – Australia Corinne Estève Diemunsch – France :HYH 4PÅPU ¶ <2 Heberto Pachon – Latin America Philippe Pitre – France Ray Prince – USA Ian Shircore – UK VILLAGE OF ADVISORS You, the subscriber Our Industry Friends

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Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 5

B2MeMagazine

A NEW KIND OF PLATFORM THAT DYNAMICALLY PERSONALIZES A MAGAZINE AMERICAN PRINTER IS CREATED USING A UNIQUE B2MePLATFORM THAT UTILIZES THE LATEST IN DIGITAL COMPOSITION AND PRINT TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE A HIGHLY PERSONALIZED MAGAZINE - A B2MeMAGAZINE CREATED JUST FOR YOU! WHAT IS A B2MeMagazine?

A B2MeMagazine provides for a business to speak directly to me that is created specifically for one individual subscriber—for you! Both the articles and the advertisements that make up each individual magazine are dynamically selected and assembled at time of printing, driven by your unique profile.

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION Tired of being communicated to as just one of the crowd? Looking for a bit of personalized attention to your needs and objectives? Tired of oldstyle B2B publications? Then, B2MeMagzine is your answer.

THE BENEFIT The B2MeMagazine platform uses your reading time as effectively as possible by enabling us to focus your magazine on your interests. By focusing on what matters most to you we can provide a more relevant and effective reading and learning experience.

The platform also increases message retention and provides you relevant helpful ads that speak to your specific needs and interests.

BEYOND INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMIZATION Beyond customized content and ads, we can also tailor your reading experience to reflect your work environment. The articles for you and your associates will often emphasize different points than the same article for a subscriber in a much larger or smaller company. Your article maybe differ-

ent than an article for a subscriber in a different part of the country or a different part of the world. Does that make sense?

B2Me WEB LAUNCH POINTS The latest in content management technology also enables the seamless integration of print, web and social media via B2MeCodes. The magazine’s content can now be integrated with web and social media content, right on the printed page. Articles and advertisements provide immediate launch points to a personalized experiences on the web, where again, all information can be customized for one unique subscriber—you! B2MeCodes currently incorporate 1:1 based QR and Purl codes. Pattern recognition, near field communications and augmented reality technologies will also be available.

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DIALOGUES VS. MONOLOGUES The B2Me platform, coupled with our advanced content management suite, enables an entirely new level of dialogue between you, our writers, editors and advertisers. We aim to provide a uniquely powerful way to connect with the news, stories, products and services that can enhance your career and enrich your life. By enabling interactive dialogues among print professionals, the effect of the information presented in each magazine can be expanded way beyond the printed page.

THE COMMUNICATION MIX As an American Printer subscriber, you are helping demonstrate the value of today’s powerful integrated print technology as a key component of the communication mix. By our collective efforts, the value of print as a key communication choice will be better understood.

We welcome you to take an active role in improving your reading experience, by frequently updating, To great and powerful enhancing or expanding your profile. You can also refine your integrated print! profile by scanning and browsing TO TO the B2MeCodes in both ads and SUBSCRIBE: ADVERTISE: articles that are of interest to you.

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6 // American Printer

Summer 2012

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October 7-10, 2012 McCormick Place South Chicago, IL USA

Print Integrated

Prepress/Software/Workflow | Offset Presses Digital Presses & Copiers | Wide Format | Package Printing & Converting Consumables & Substrates | Finishing Equipment | Mailing Systems

www.graphexpo.com Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 7

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Effective February 2013 Those jobs may be too expensive to print

Postalge Conciers E-Tip .

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Printers lacking an Intelligent MailÂŽ Full-Service strategy can lose substantial business next February.

ACT NOW.

TECHTHOUGHT

BY RAYMOND J. PRINCE

READY, STEADY, MAKEREADY!

Brush up on the basics to boost your productivity

R

EDUCING MAKEREADY TIME can dramatically improve productivity on sheetfed and web offset presses. Of course we all know that, but even with the latest and greatest technology, improvements can be elusive.

A few years ago, one of the press manufacturers examined the impact of some accessories on presses of varying ages. Interestingly, the newest machines with the most accessories did not yield the highest productivity.

People and management also make a significant contribution to press performance.

DEFINING THE TERMS Productivity starts with the makeready process which is defined as “from the end of the last job to the saving of the first saleable sheet.” We measure the time necessary for the makeready as well as the amount of paper used to achieve that first saleable sheet. If plates have to be remade, we include the time as well as cost in the makeready measurements.

The automation that the press manufacturers have made available is

indeed impressive and works.

The newer equipment is so much better than the old. (There are sound reasons why older equipment on the market is inexpensive!)

Information supplied on the job ticket can make or break the makeready process. Unfortunately, job planning is a step many firms overlook. Having someone with plant and print knowledge looking over each job entering production and checking for correct understandable information is very helpful. Likewise, the prepress department must utilize computer-to-plate technology as well as color management.

GO DUTCH Management needs to set goals for time and materials as well as implement and guide a 5S program for the plant. If you’re looking for some ideas, please review “Make Way for Makereadies: Quick Makereadies to Improve the Productivity of Web Offset Presses.” Wilfred Knol, a student at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, prepared this report as part of his master’s thesis. It’s based on Lijnco, a Dutch printing company founded in 1936, and because it is a real operation, certain proprietary

GET SOCIAL… STRONG TO THE FINISH Field-proven tips for a huge variety of folding jobs.

Eliminate bindery bottlenecks!

See technifoldusa.com/ bindery-success-blog/.

MARKETING IDEAS FOR PRINTERS Mike Stevens’ marketing blog recently profiled 30-yearold Jon Simpson, a third-generation printer. Plus: “The World’s Best Collection Letter” is a must read! See mikestevens.com.

data can’t be shared.

Knol’s goal was to determine how Lijnco could dramatically improve makeready times on a hard back web offset press. His classic approach combines human-oriented common practices, single minute exchange of die as well as automation. He measured overall equipment effectiveness and even incorporated a value stream map.

Want to read “Make Way for Makereadies”?

You can download it free of charge at: B2MeMag.com/2S2 B^^^B ^O = v B^^^B

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BEYOND THE MODEL… Remember: Productivity gains come about through people, management and last, but not least, equipment. It is easier to start with a model vs. a blank piece of paper. Now that you have a model to follow for reducing a makeready, let’s see what you can do!

Raymond J. Prince, President, GreensheetBIZ, a division of OutputLinks Communications Group, is a leading technical expert in pressroom technical and operational issues.

Email him at RP@GreensheetBIZ.com.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 9

COVER STORY

By Katherine O’Brien Senior Editor, American Printer Division, OutputLinks Communications Group

e h t l e Fe wer! o P !’

N AT & O S DS S SAY E H RC TREN DE U A T M 012: 8 T MA N I PR PA 2 THA S DRUDUCT PRO

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Drupa attracted 314,500 attendees from 130 countries— 75,500 fewer people than the 2008 show. Over the past decade, the U.S. printing industry lost 7,700 printing companies and 3,900 German printers closed their doors during that same period. Naturally, the attendance figures reflected these and other sobering industry realities. Nonetheless, drupa 2012 was an exciting show, one that got even jaded observers excited about the industry. Benny Landa deserves a great deal of credit—he is a digital pioneer and a peerless communicator. But before we delve into the inkjet partnerships and digital press particulars, we wanted to spotlight some additional super drupa developments that are taking print to the next level. Up, up and away!

10 // American Printer

Summer 2012

INKJET FOR NEWSPAPERS HITS ITS STRIDE. “After years of starts and stops — primarily stops — the last few weeks have seen some significant traction,” reports News & Tech’s Chuck Moozakis. “Dow Jones and TKS demonstrated the versatility and potential of digital printing with live editions of The Wall Street Journal’s U.S. edition produced on the JetLeader 1500 machine daily. [Also] River Presse Edition (RPE) in Limoges will put into production two Océ 4300 digital presses equipped with manroland finishing equipment capable of producing broadsheets, tabloids and Berliners at press speeds.”

POSTPRESS GETS SOME DIGITAL RESPECT. HORIZON’S SmartStacker for inline or nearline use with HP’s 10000 press impressed. It slits a B2-size sheet into a maximum of 28 individual sheets, with seven slits in one direction and four in the other. Slit sheets can be either offset or straight stacked for different applications.

Israeli-based HIGHCON debuted “Euclid,” said to be the world’s first entirely digital cutting and creasing production machine for folding cartons. Who knew you could fold a folding carton with a laser? It’s a great leap forward for short-run digital folding carton production.

HEY, THAT’S MY MAP! VDP has come a long way from the Chromapress/Novartis seed campaign back in the day… Map specialist “LOCR” makes it easier for users to generate personalized regional and route map data from for direct mail, transpromo and transactional documents. The maps can be edited as JPEG files with all popular VDP applications. An API interface provides easy integration in web-to-print software. GMC (Inspire) and XMPIE (XMPie uDirect Premier and PersonalEffect) have announced special locr partnerships. …AND THAT’S MY PERSONALIZED VIDEO! PAGEFLEX is partnering with DYNAMICVIDEO on a template-based workflow for video production. Users can customize video footage as well as advertising copy including regional or local promotions, images, and calls to action. “Our customers have known about the power of personalization for a long time for customized communications in print and cross-media campaigns,” says Pageflex’s Elly Perets.

“Now [they] can bring that customization experience to the growing popularity of video and rich media.”

LOOK WHAT MY MAGAZINE CAN DO ON AN IPAD! Production specialist DALIM showcased an “Enrichment” option for its ES workflow suite—no more boring old static PDFs. Convert your print-ready PDF files into interactive digital magazines, newspapers, corporate publications, brochures and catalogs—even adding movies and

slide shows—on the iPad. It’s very cool—going far beyond just putting magazine files on an iPad. (See also QuarkXPress 9.2 ePUB and iPad publishing tools and Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite.)

HOLY AUGMENTED REALITY, BATMAN! SAPPI FINE PAPER has a rich tradition of producing compelling print publications for printers. Recent efforts include What’s Next as well as an oversized 44-page booklet (“My Life in Print”) which features the stories of 16 people and the printed objects they treasure.

Also new: Special Effects, Volume 5 of The Standard pairs special effects with interactive print. On a physical level, readers—especially designers—will enjoy the look and feel of foil-stamping techniques, embossing/ debossing, engraving/thermography, varnish/aqueous/UV coating techniques, strike-through, laser die-cutting, lenticular printing and flocking.

On a technical level, they’ll marvel at “Super Dude,” a printed character who “leaps” from the page as an animated superhero when viewed on a mobile device or online at http://www.na.sappi.com/superheroes.

Awesome!

HOLD THE PHONE FOR CROSSMEDIA. RICOH teamed with PTI MARKETING TECHNOLOGIES, the vendor behind MarcomCentral W2P, to demonstrate Clickable Paper, a crossmedia service that lets consumers access related online content by pointing a smartphone at any printed surface.

Photography association ADF and partners EFI, Epson, Phase One and Hensel’s “faces@drupa” project showcased print—visitors posed for black-and-white printed portraits— plus web and mobile capabilities via a trackable online gallery.

It didn’t quite draw as many spectators as the Landa show, but this Linotype, on loan from a German printing museum, does reinforce one truth about old school iron: It was built to last!

Ricoh Visual Search developed the technology, which can be used with newspapers, magazines, direct mail, books, brochures and posters to deliver digital information or services such as multimedia content, websites, e-commerce services, and social networks. Books, for example, can come “alive” with videos and other content.

Ricoh claims Clickable Paper “transcends the limitations of QR codes, coding images, text, or entire books, articles, and magazines with an evergreen link. Ricoh is testing Clickable Paper in Japan with the free iPhone app “TAMAGO Clicker.” Can’t wait to see the next iteration!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: GOOD OLD OFFSET PRESSES. They just work. “B2-format offset presses provide great quality at competitive cost on a wide range of substrates with in-line coating and perfecting units,” observes InfoTrend’s Jim Hamilton. “Want to accelerate that process in B2 format?

HEIDELBERG’S solution is Anicolor for faster B2 makeready. PRESSTEK puts platemaking on press with the 75 DI. These are available today, unlike the [majority] of B2-format digital tech demos across the show.”

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 11

l u f r e w o P int r P

SUPER DRUPA: PARTNERSHIPS! PACKAGING! NEW POSSIBILITIES!

INKJET DOMINATED, BUT INNOVATION WAS EVERYWHERE

Key themes at drupa 2012 included partnerships, packaging and new possibilities. Perhaps no partnerships were more prominent than those inked on the Landa stand.

Komori, Heidelberg and manroland sheetfed didn’t enact a Yalta pose, but the Big Three embracing Landa’s new nanography is emblematic of an industry undergoing a massive metamorphosis. We know offset still has a vital role to play—many of the nascent inkjet technologies face a rocky adolescence—offset is older, wiser and changing with the times.

MEMJET MACHINES PLUS LIQUID TONER Having settled a year-old IP dispute, Memjet announced partnerships with Canon (Velocity); Toshiba (MFP); Delphax (elan); and Fuji Xerox (a 42-inch wide format machine). Landa and Memjet have a similar model: License the technology and sell the consumables.

Surprises included liquid-toner related announcements from

12 // American Printer

Summer 2012

Miyakoshi and Ryobi, Xeikon and Océ. The MIYAKOSHI and RYOBI B2 collaboration combines Miyakoshi’s liquid-toner electrophotographic technology (demonstrated on a web press at drupa 2008) with Ryobi’s sheetfed printing technology. The rated speed is 8,000 sph.

XEIKON’S Trillium technology is targeting books, high-volume transpromo and direct mail. The web-fed, 20-inch wide press reportedly operates at inkjet speeds, up to 400 to 500 feet per minute, but offers electrophotographic quality via a liquid, high viscosity toner.

Running costs are expected to be similar to those of inkjet presses.

Andy and Julie Plata, OutputLinks Communications Group’s Co-CEOs, were among those invited to OCÉ’S headquarters in Poing, Germany, for a real shocker: CANON/ OCÉ are taking on the packaging space with the liquid-toner based InfiniStream Platform. “The printer, which will be available in 2013, uses liquid toner with soft roller technol-

ogy,” they report. “At 18 meters long, it produced 14,000 B2-sized sheets per hour with amazing print quality on carton stock.”

Most observers say packaging is the largest growth market for print and seemingly all vendors—digital, sheetfed and even web offset— concur. The real question is which graphic arts service providers will benefit. Few traditional commercial printers, for example, are currently producing folding cartons.

FOUR MORE YEARS The next drupa will be held from June 2-15, 2016—we have a lot to sort out between then and now and, as the following shows, a lot to be excited about. Stay tuned!

DIGITAL DEVELOPMENTS DELPHAX is targeting direct mail, transpromo and billing, book and manual publishing and security printing with the sheet-fed elan.

Rated speed is up to 500 impressions per minute in full color and

GO WIDE: SIGNS OF THE TIMES The new B2 presses may have grabbed more headlines, but wide format was definitely a force to be reckoned with at drupa 2012. Here are some highlights.

CANON Océ and Memjet announced “Project Velocity,” a wide-format printer that’s reportedly 15 times faster than conventional inkjet systems. Five Memjet heads offer resolutions of 1,600 x 800 dpi by applying more than 3 billion drops of ink per second.

EFI Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI reported the company sold 34 percent more UV ink in 2011 vs. 2010, an indication that customers are doing well. EFI recently acquired Cretaprint, a Spanish developer of inkjet printers for ceramic tile printing, a big growth opportunity according to Gecht.

Wide format highlights include the Vutek GS3250LX, a UV printer equipped with “cool cure” LED technology. The printer features an 8-color inkset (CMYKcmyk) + white, a selectable dual resolution of 600 or 1000 dpi, and a print speed up to 2400 sq. ft/ hr in Fast-5 (4-color+white) mode (1200 sq ft/hr in 8-color+white mode). The GS3250LX can accommodate flexible or rigid substrates up to 126.5 in. and up to 2-in. thick; it is also multi-roll capable (two 60-in. rolls).

EFI vows to make screen printing obsolete with its 126.5-inch -wide Vutek HS100 Pro (code named “Orion”). Designed to work with flat-sheet and rollfed materials, it features an eight-color ink set with options for white and special colors.

EPSON The SureColor S30670 is a 64-inch wide format printer. It’s the first solvent-based printer to use Epson’s MicroPiezo Thin Film Piezo (TFP)

1600 dpi print quality on a wide range of substrates and sheet sizes.

About 30% of FUJIFILM’S booth was dedicated to packaging, including the new J Press F, which can handle up to 24-pt. board. Based on the J Press 720, the J Press F features Dimatix SAMBA 1,200 x 1,200 dpi, single-pass inkjet print heads and also prints at a speed of 2,700 sph.

It uses water-based Fujifilm UV ink and has a maximum sheet size of 29.5 x 20.8 inches.

printhead. The new printhead, specifically engineered to work with solvent ink, features 720 nozzles per color vs. 360 as is typically found on solvent machines.

HP New digital sign and display market offerings include: HP FB225 White Scitex Ink and the HP Scitex FB7500/FB7600 White Ink Kit; HP SmartStream Production Analyzer for HP Scitex (data analysis and operations monitoring software); and Hostert Automatic Loader and support of 130 gsm thin media for the HP Scitex FB7600.

HP says there’s a 6.2 billion sqm opportunity in the sign and display industry, where only 38% of materials are now printed digitally. Speaking at a pre-drupa event, Xavier Garcia, Director of HP Scitex Operations, said that HP has a 62% share of the high-end signage and display market. Beyond converting screen printers to digital devices, HP sees offset XXL penetration as its next big opportunity.

RICOH Built by Mimaki and based on Ricoh’s piezoelectric-heads, the Pro L4000 series has CMYK, light cyan, light magenta and white and latex inks and is offered in 54- or 64-inch models. It will be available in North America and Europe in the first quarter of 2013.

SCREEN The Truepress Jet W1632UV is a flatbed wide-format printer that supports media up to 62.9 x 125.9 inches and prints at up to 1,011.8 sq. ft. per hour. Screen also expanded the board capabilities for its Truepress Jet SX inkjet press.

XANTÉ The Memjet powered 42-inch Excelagraphix targets packaging and signage. Applications include architectural/engineering documents, maps, indoor signage, P-O-P displays, packaging, folding carton, corrugated boxes and newspapers.

HP presented 10 digital printing systems (including the first 29-inchformat HP Indigo press, the Indigo 10000) as well as higher speed HP Inkjet Web Presses. There’s also a high-speed imprinting solution for adding monochrome or fullcolor content to preprinted offset materials—a challenger to Kodak’s Prosper imprinting offerings.

InfoTrends’ Jim Hamilton cites the Indigo 10000’s duplexing capability, ability to draw from

multiple paper drawers, and in-line finishing as competitive advantages in the B2 digital arena. Consolidated Graphics (CGX) announced it will buy 10 HP 10000s. The model shown at drupa is destined for CGX’s St Louis plant.

KODAK expanded its Prosper line with the 6000X Press, a 1,000 fpm, four-color press with monthly print volumes of up to 160 million A4 pages. Kodak also announced partnerships with Ryobi (Ryobi’s

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 13

BIG FINISH: SOME DIGITAL POSTPRESS HIGHLIGHTS

BY DOMINIC QUENNELL

From Muller Martiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sigma line on the HP stand to a Bourg feeder and Watkiss bookletmaker on a Xerox machine, digital finishing was everywhere. It may have been the inkjet drupa or even the Landa drupa, but it was certainly the drupa when digital finishing came of age!

length cutter CS6-HS which cut and accumulated the book blocks. These were then dynamically glued for ease of handling and delivered with the SD7 stacker module. The book blocks come out neatly stacked and securely but lightly glued, with the glue offset for ease of final binding.

NEAR-LINE/IN-LINE HYBRIDS CP Bourg had a clever feeder (BDFx) on the Xerox booth that was in-line to the latest iGen150. A user could bypass the feeder into an in-line booklet-maker, or bring work in from any other printer, load it into the feeder and run the same finishing units as near-line intelligent units.

Also impressive: Hunkelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s HL6 laser processing unit, cut complex perforations as well as security signatures (by burning a facsimile of a signature precisely halfway through the sheetâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;impossible to tamper with). For processing transactional and/or transpromo work at high speed (150 500 fpm, this definitely lived up to the Hunkelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Excellence in Paper Processingâ&#x20AC;? slogan.

CP Bourg had the same feeder on their own booth, feeding 26-inch sheets through a CEM DocuSheeter which cut them into three sheets, then through a Bourg BPRF perforator, rotator, and folder before accumulating them as book blocks and feeding an in-line BB 3202 binder. Bourg also had a preloader for its BB 3202 binder: An operator can preload 50 to 100 book-blocks and do something else while the binder feeds itself.

NEW PUR PLAYERS Morgana continued to focus its strengthsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;high-speed, high-quality creasing and folding. A new range of PUR perfect binders attracted a lot of interest. Newbind showed a machine with a compact combined PUR and cleaner and hot-melt tank system, that an operator can program to use only PUR, only hot-melt or PUR on the spine and hot melt side gluing.

SADDLESTICHER PLUS INLINE FOLDING/ EMBOSSING DEMO Duplo launched its DBMi saddlestitching line, fed by either a sheet feeder or a collating tower, or both. I would be surprised if this did not at some stage end up inline to a digital printer and it certainly produces some very good and very flat booklets. Also seen: Some very nifty attachments the DC 745 slitter-cutter-creaser, including inline folding and embossing and spot perforating.

END OF THE LINE: FABULOUS FLEXIBILITY Watkissâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; enhancements to its PS 200 PowerSquare booklet maker show how workflow and equipment have matured. A two-knife trimmer can cut the full 200-page booklets. It also uses the Bourg feederâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; with Xeroxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s open architecture, this means that at the end of their printers there can be a cocktail of finishing devices. You could go from a Xerox printer through a Bourg stacker to a Watkiss booklet maker.

WORKFLOW AND BOOK PRODUCTION Standard Horizon launched a high speed HOF 400 sheet feeder for near-line finishing. It is equipped with all the barcode reading and end-mark scanning that you would expect and runs at 35,000 sheets per hour (A4 portrait).

Dominic Quennell, director at Quennell Associates, specializes in print finishing, international marketing, sales channel development and current and new product development.

On the Hunkeler side, Standard had an impressive book-block production system. Starting from an inkjet printed roll which they were unwinding on their unwinder UW7 at the rate of 656 fpm, they ran into a double plow folder PF7 and then a cross and

14 // American American Printer Printer 14

Summer 2012 2012 Summer

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750 offset press can integrate the Prosper S5 for imprinting); and Timsons (a new monochrome T-Press for printing 5 to 14 million books annually that incorporates Kodak’s Stream technology).

OFFSET SAYS HELLO TO HYBRID This was the first drupa for MANROLAND SHEETFED and WEB following the original entity’s post-bankruptcy split into two companies under different ownership (Langley and Possehl respectively). On the sheetfed side, manroland said it will continue to sell and develop its entire line. Packaging remains a key market—the company featured foiling and other enhancements to its 700 and 900 presses. Manroland sheetfed’s Landa pact apparently is restricted to retrofitting the new technology (vs. incorporating it on new presses). Manroland is moving ahead with hybrid: A special suction cylinder and gripper configuration on the Roland 700 HiPrint supports hybrid inline printing. It was shown with Atlantic Zeiser’s heads but others can be used.

MANROLAND WEB showcased autoprint components which support pushbutton press operation; a new operating concept for newspaper and commercial presses;

pressupdate (upgrades and reconfiguring) and rebuilding strategies as well as innovations from the printnet (workflow) and printservices (maintenance and support) divisions. The first fruits of the manroland/Océ collaboration were seen in book and newspaper applications. For a Chinese customer, an Océ’ JetStream 4300 monochrome web-fed press was paired with manroland’s book folder. The newspaper installation at Rivet Presse Edition comprises two Océ JetStream 4300 inkjet color printing systems and a variable-format folder from manroland.

GOSS’ attractions included the Sunday Vpak 3000 and Sunday Vpak 500 presses for folding carton, flexible packaging, pre-print and label printing. The two models feature quick-change blankets and printing cylinder sleeves, which support “infinitely” variable repeat lengths. Sunday Vpak 3000 is available in web widths up to 75 inches; the Vpak 500 model is available in web widths up to 41 inches.

Package and label printer Precision Press (Mankato, MN) will install the world’s first Vpak 500 in 2012.

KBA’S highlights included the RotaJET 76, a high-volume webfed inkjet press; 57-inch Rapida 145 (17,000 sph); 41-inch Rapida 105 in hybrid mode with Atlantic Zeiser DELTA 105i digital printer for imprinting and coding; 41-inch Rapida 106 (20,000 sph); and 29-inch Rapida

76 (18,000 sph). Also new: Varius 80, a modular, variable-format web offset press featuring the same waterless technology as the Genius, as well as short-train inking units and UV drying.

HEIDELBERG launched the B2 Anicolor. Also new: the Speedmaster SX 102 combines the XL series with the SM 102 platform.

Heidelberg is selling Ricoh’s digital printing system as the Linoprint C 901. The Heidelberg Linoprint L (formerly iTS6oo) based on CSAT acquisition is a DoD system for producing complex short to medium-sized label and film runs and applications with variable content.

GALLUS, a Heidelberg partner, drew crowds with the modular ICS 670, a web-fed machine producing folding cartons.

KOMORI showcased the Lithrone G40P (8-C, H-UV-equipped 40inch convertible perfector); the Lithrone S29 (5-C, H-UV-equipped 29-inch sheetfed offset press), postpress systems and the Komori Color Management System. Also new: the Lithrone GX40 Carton (6-C H-UV-equipped 40-inch sheetfed offset press with coater).

Komori teamed with KONICA MINOLTA to unveil two prototypes: a 29-inch sheetfed machine and a 20-inch webfed machine (Impremia IS29 and IW20, respectively). The four-color machines use 1,200 dpi Konica Minolta print heads and offer a choice of three quality/speed settings. The 3,300 sph Impremia IS29 was shown at Konica Minolta’s stand as the KM-1. Also seen: Konica’s bizhub PRESS C8000 wearing the Komori Impremia C80 badge.

Print samples were a prized souvenir (above) but even this glamorous model (right) didn’t get to keep that Landa press sheet – samples weren’t distributed.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 15

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S DA’ N A YL N BEN Z? D Z N EHI PA BU OutputLinks’ Julie Plata B S U AT’ IG DR and Katherine O’Brien H B W joined Benny Landa for a private chat.

At drupa, Landa Corp.’s booth was literally overflowing with people.

The Israeli-based Mayumana dance troupe was a huge draw—their high-energy performance has drawn favorable comparisons to “STOMP.”

roland sheetfed had signed strategic partnerships with Landa. (Note that Komori supplies the transport for Landa’s sheetfed press as well as Konica Minolta’s KM-1 B2 inkjet press.)

OFFSET PARTNERSHIPS Benny Landa sold Indigo to HP in 2002 and has spent the past nine years in R&D with his new company, Landa Labs. Just before drupa, Landa Corp. announced it would unveil a family of sheetfed and web presses.

The press release alluded to “B3, B2 and B1 sheetfed perfecting presses which operate at up to 11,000 sheets per hour for commercial and packaging printing as well as web presses for publishing and flexible packaging that range in width from 52 cm to 104 cm and operate at up to 200 meters per minute.”

At the show, we saw the Landa S7 (B2 format) as well as the Landa W50, a 20.47-inch web press. We also learned Komori, Heidelberg and man-

WHAT IS NANOGRAPHY? Landa’s water-based ink (“NanoInk”) is comprised of pigment particles only tens of nanometers in size. (A single nanometer is one million times smaller than a millimeter.) Billions of microdroplets of ink are “ejected” onto a heated blanket. As the droplets spread, the water evaporates, leaving a dry polymeric film reportedly capable of “tenaciously bonding” to virtually any paper, plastic or film substrate. The technology reportedly eliminates the need to pre-treat stocks as well as any post-print curing or drying steps.

“Many materials dramatically change their properties when you make them as nanomaterials –

Landa in front of the iPad-like GUI.

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16 // American Printer

Spring 2012

metals, for example, dramatically drop in their melting temperature, and all sorts of optical properties appear,” Landa told PrintWeek. “Organic materials also change their properties and become much more efficient absorbers of light, so you need a lot less pigment if it’s a nano pigment. And almost as important, nano pigments only absorb light, they don’t scatter it, so you get pure colors.”

Printed images are 500 nanometers thick—half that of offset images according to the company—resulting in “the lowest cost-per-page digital images in the industry.”

Currently Landa’s presses use modified piezo heads from Kyocera; Landa indicated modified thermal heads also could be used.

The company hopes to achieve 500,000 impressions life for the blanket. Landa intends to produce inks at plants in the Far East, North America, Israel and possibly Europe. (Currently there’s a pilot plant in Israel.)

THE LANDA LIGHT BULB MOMENT

SOLD OUT Among the familiar faces in the Landa booth was Robin Walton.

Walton, now retired, had helped tell the Indigo story on stage at past drupas and looked forward to his new assignment.

“We started, as we had done at drupa 2000 and 2004 with sold out shows,” he said. “Five shows a day, 300+ per show, should be enough, right? Wrong! We were sold out for days in advance. Benny worked with the brilliant AV staff to broadcast our show out of the theater and into the booth, allowing another 500-800 to see the show standing up all over the booth.”

The Landa team put on 69 shows for the general public. “In total, I estimate between 28,000 and 32,000 people saw the show,” said Walton. “It was, as Benny loves to create, pandemonium! Or as it should now be called….Landamonium!”

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The complete “Nano. Bigger than you think.” is now online on YouTube.

NO SAMPLES YET Print samples weren’t distributed— Landa acknowledged the quality isn’t ready for prime time. These presses also lack RIPs. Seeing the machines in their current state is like seeing a tadpole and envisioning the frog.

You can grasp the general concept but a few details are sketchy, including pricing.

Landa indicated it would be 18 months before the first products come to market—some industry observers say two years is a more realistic estimate. Nonetheless, many attendees signed Letters of Intent (LOIs)—which, when combined with their deposits, gives them the right to essentially have an early place in line to buy a press.

While it is probably commonplace for exhibitors to accept deposits, I can’t ever recall any vendor or manufacturer discussing them—Benny Landa brought another acronym into widespread use—he must be LOL at the unprecedented attention the LOIs are generating.

TODAY PRINTING AND PACKAGING, TOMORROW THE OFFICE AND HOME Landa’s goal isn’t to compete with or replace offset printing—it’s to

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sell ink. He’s positioning his digital printing technology as a mainstream tool to let commercial printers tackle short and midrange runs for existing customers, which he termed the “huge gap” of jobs ranging from runs of one up to “many thousands of sheets.”

Partnerships won’t be restricted to printing or packaging players. “As we know, all digital technology grew out of the office space,” Landa said. “[These technologies] progressively were able to develop higher functionality. We’re starting at the other end and expect to see Landa Nanographic Printing going all the way down to the enterprise, the office and maybe even the home.”

PRINTING IS A SEXY INDUSTRY “I am left with the impression of printing as a sexy industry,” mused Display World’s Gerry Mulvaney.

“It certainly wasn’t before drupa, but while I can understand people having their pictures taken standing next to the latest Ferrari or movie star, I couldn’t quite get over seeing so many people wanting to have their photograph taken standing next to one of the Landa Nanographic printing presses. Every day, people were

Following the sale of Indigo to HP in 2002, Landa signed a 10-year non-compete clause. He announced his interest in creating a technology that converts heat in the air into electricity. Landa recently told PrintWeek that work led to his Nano Ink idea. “Years ago, at Landa Labs, we needed to develop super small particles for our energy work,” Landa said. “Nobody had a way of doing that so we had to develop our own method for producing these tiny nano particles. We had a breakthrough in making them, and I guess, because I’ve spent my whole life in printing, the moment I saw it I thought ‘Hey, maybe this will work for pigments too.’ That’s when suddenly the bell went off and the light bulb lit, and we realized we had the answer for print.” queuing up to have their pictures taken in front of the Landa presses.

Surely printing cannot be that sexy, or perhaps it is?”

Who else could pull this off? One of my more senior colleagues suggested we’d have to go back to the 1980s, when Efi Arazi, founder of Scitex and EFI, was in his heyday.

Landa brought an almost palpable energy to the show.

Landa deserves full marks for the marketing clinic he put on. The technology is fascinating and innovative.

Other vendors can be equally proud of the cutting-edge machinery and processes they unveiled. But at drupa 2012 Landa was the MPV: Most Passionate Vendor.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 17

N F F O S ful JE r e B O PowPrin:t C file JA o r P Jeff Jacobson joined Xerox as President of Xerox Global Graphic Communications Operations this past February after a four-year stint in the top job at Presstek. Prior to that position, Jacobson was chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak Co.’s $3.6 billion Graphic Communications Group.

He also served for five years as CEO of Kodak Polychrome Graphics, a $1.7 billion joint venture between Sun Chemical and Eastman Kodak.

His new role at Xerox focuses on worldwide strategy, operations, product development, marketing, sales and support of Xerox’s production systems portfolio and related software and workflow offerings, along with Business Development Services. A few weeks after joining Xerox, Jacobson was among eight executives to be elected officers of the corporation.

XEROX TWO SIDES: SERVICE AND TECHNOLOGY Xerox currently has 140,000 people serving clients in 160 countries. With nearly $23 billion in annual revenue, the company describes itself as “the world’s leading enterprise for business process and document management.” Today, Xerox essentially has two main business units: Services and Technology.

The company’s 2009 acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) represented a huge move on the Services side. In 2009, ACS was a $6.5 billion company with revenue growth of 6 percent. It had a headcount of 74,000 people vs. Xerox’s 54,000 employees at that time.

Jacobson, as President of Xerox Global Graphic Communications Operations, belongs to the Technology group. While he’ll confine himself to the production segment, this 18 // American Printer

Summer 2012

MICHAEL RIEBESEH, WWW.REDSEATPHOTO.COM

ERS F F C ITS APHI ND OTS S E SS TO GR NS A SIGH E R IEN ST ENT CATIOPA IN ’BR C O E I IN E EX MITM MUN E DRU X HER T O A M M K XER CO CO SOM BY

Xerox’s Jeff Jacobson (second from left) celebrates with principals of Four Films Printing Group of Kuwait City over the acquisition of a Xerox iGen4 Press at drupa.

group also encompasses document outsourcing and workplace solutions.

Jacobson reports to Armando Zagalo de Lima, President, Xerox Technology, who in turn reports to CEO Ursula Burns.

Jacobson told WhatTheyThink.com that Xerox remains firmly committed to the graphic arts industry: “I have been excited to see the willingness of the Xerox team to devote this type of focus to the graphic communications industry,” Jacobson told WTT’s Cary Sherburne. “Yes, at a corporate level, we are talking about a focus on services, but that absolutely does not mean we are taking the focus off of technology. Services are another leg in the stool that will help us be as strong as we can be. We are certainly not defocusing on the graphics industry.”

A FOCUSED, DEDICATED LINE OF BUSINESS Previously, Xerox’s Technology Group was organized along regional lines. In January 2012, the company redirected the geographic approach in favor of three customer-focused divisions: t -BSHF &OUFSQSJTF 0QFSBUJPOT (Stephen Cronin) t $IBOOFM 1BSUOFS 0QFSBUJPOT (Douraid Zaghouani) t (SBQIJD $PNNVOJDBUJPOT 0QFSBUJPOT (Jeff Jacobson) Jacobson told Lyra Research that

Xerox’s Graphic Communications Operations Group encompasses U.S. Operations, European Operations and a Business Group dedicated to product development and marketing.

These groups are headed by Steve Butler, Diego Hervas and Eric Armour, respectively.

“For years [as an outsider], I would look at Xerox and wonder why they didn’t have a graphic arts focused, dedicated line of business,” says Jacobson. “[It provides] a marketplace perspective to R&D. You develop products and align the supply chain in accordance with that perspective.

And you get those products and services out to the sales regions dedicated to graphic arts. Even though Xerox has had salespeople dedicated to the graphic arts market, the difference here is that this will be a dedicated, end-to-end graphics organization.”

CLOSER CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS Under the new direction, graphic communications salespeople work with regional managers. At the next level, regional vice presidents report to Butler, the senior vice president of Graphic Communications for the U.S. Butler, in turn, reports to Jacobson.

The streamlined approach also aims to strengthen customer bonds— customers can easily identify their

best point of contact. They also can expect a hands-on approach from Jacobson and his team.

“Many times during my 25 years in this industry, customers have told me five or more years can go by without a visit from key suppliers’ senior executives,” he says. “That’s not my style: I have always believed in developing all-encompassing relationships.”

The sales organization is equally enthusiastic. “The front line salespeople can pick up the phone and they can call the head of the U.S. operations. They can call me, a person who is specifically dedicated to graphics, that’s a benefit they previously lacked,” Jacobson explains.

HIGH PROFILE Jacobson will be spending a lot time with customers at Xerox’s Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation.

Located in Webster, NY, a suburb of Rochester, the multimillion-dollar, 100,000-sq.-ft. facility lets customers access Xerox’s R&D, engineering, manufacturing and marketing experts. “I’ve also been traveling with our sales people in the U.S. and Europe,” says Jacobson. “I don’t think many of the competitors are as visible at that level.”

DIRECT FROM DUSSELDORF

BY KATHERINE O’BRIEN

We met Jeff Jacobson for the first time at drupa 2000. Jacobson was then the newly appointed CEO of Kodak Polychrome Graphics.

When we spoke before drupa 2012, Jacobson told us he was looking forward to meeting customers and prospects: “I plan on spending as much time as possible with customers, partners and prospects – listening and learning about their business and helping them understand the benefits of digital print in order to grow and prosper.”

UNDER THE BIG DRUPA TOP We joined Jacobson in the upper deck of the Xerox booth for a quick chat. “It’s been fantastic,” he said. “The show has exceeded my expectations—the booth has been packed.”

Thrice daily performances from a Cirque du Soleil contingent stopped visitors in their tracks. “Mr. Focus,” a combination of mime, gymnast and latter-day Harold Lloyd, led a troupe of five women, each wearing vibrantly-hued, bob-style wigs, in some comical crowd interactions.

Eventually the group ascended a broad platform about 10 feet above the crowd. This stage was divided into three segments, each inset with a flat black trampoline-like surface. The audience was mesmerized as four additional performers bounded out and began soaring and tumbling in perfect synchronicity with the adjacent performers.

“Most people don’t know I’m up there performing with Cirque du Soleil,” Jacobson joked. “Of course the makeup on my suit is something of a giveaway.”

SERIOUS FOCUS ON THE GRAPHIC ARTS But according to Jacobson, the real excitement came from Xerox Global Graphic Communications. “People are seeing our new organization, our dedication to graphic communications and our commitment to our customers.”

Jacobson also alluded to some equipment highlights, including the iGen 150—a 150-ppm device that can produce 3,000 26-inch oversized sheets per hour. We’d first seen Xerox CiPress 500 at Graph Expo. The production inkjet system uses Xerox’s own waterless phase change ink technology and piezo printheads. The twin-engine CiPress prints at 500 fpm or 2,180 full-color pages per minute. Users can run color jobs on low-cost, plain paper.

Xerox also announced the CiPress 325. Targeting printers with lower average monthly page volumes, the twin-engine device makes it easier to enter the high-speed inkjet market. Rated at 325 fpm, it offers 600x600 dpi resolution.

“Finishing usually doesn’t get people’s attention, but our new IntegratedPLUS Finishing Solution for Booklets is pretty exciting,” said Jacobson. This finishing solution for booklets is said to combine in-line efficiency with off-line flexibility. A dual mode feeder allows an in-line finisher traditionally dedicated to a single digital-print system to accept and handle printed output from multiple presses when operated in off-line mode. (See related story on p. 14) WHAT’S NEXT? Drupa 2012 featured at least six B2 digital presses, prompting PrintWeek’s Darryl Danielli to ask Jacobson if Xerox would follow suit. “We absolutely will pursue B2,” said Jacobson. “Commercial printers are a big part of our focus…We are looking at all format sizes and will be where our customers need and want to go.”

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 19

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Fifteen years ago, Enfocus introduced PitStop, a phenomenally successful product that helped printers identify and fix bad files.

Now the preflighting pioneer is enabling printers of all sizes to achieve a truly astonishing level of workflow automation with it’s new product Switch.

Enfocus describes its Switch software as “a modular solution that integrates with existing systems and drives third-party software to speed up job processing, reduce errors and automate repetitive tasks.” Built-in intelligence allows Switch to “see” within files, software and workflows for maximum productivity.

The core Switch product supports intelligent file receiving, sorting, routing and processing. Fabian Prudhomme, Vice President, Enfocus, stresses the open system’s versatility.

“Switch lets you use the applications you already have,” he says. “In a sense, they gain a second life as automation modules.”

HAVING A THIRD PARTY Switch workflows can link to thirdparty software to automate tasks such as preflighting PDF files or converting files to the correct color 20 // American Printer

Summer 2012

model for printing. “The integration with PitStop Server, as well as Acrobat and InDesign, [is key],” said one user cited in Enfocus’ successful InterTech award bid. “Creating low-resolution PDF files, and then sending them to the customer or converting postscript files to PDFs are now fully automated.”

Additional modules (sold separately) let users: t $POOFDU 4XJUDI UP BO .*4 UP receive job intent information, or send processing information back into a job record. t 6TF NFUBEBUB JODMVEJOH +%' UP route jobs intelligently based on more detailed job information. t 4VCNJU KPCT UP B %JHJUBM "TTFU Management system along with job data to automatically check-in new assets. t -JOL BO PSEFS TVCNJTTJPO XFC TJUF directly to Switch workflows.

A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE You don’t need to be a prepress operator to appreciate Switch’s impact on Miami-Dade County’s 20-person in-plant printing operation. Consider the prep requirements for this job: 2.5 million ballots comprised of 300 different types of multi-page ballots printed on both sides for each of the county’s 827 voter precincts. Ballots, printed three-up on a four-color Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74, are barcoded, to differentiate among the styles. As sheets go through a Stahlfolder TH 82 folder, a Domino Amjet system verifies the information.

Sheets are folded, slit into three ballots apiece, wrapped in bundles of 100 and labeled.

“You’d go batty pretty quickly if you were trying to [coordinate] this manually,” says Steven Schmuger,

Internal Services, Graphics Services Manager. “Every one of these operations is just dozens and dozens of redundant key strokes—you’d make an error in no time at all.”

The Miami-Dade printer has a digital print center as well as a conventional printing plant—sophisticated workflows tie both locations together. Digital highlights include three Digimaster 150s and a Canon imagePRESS C7000. Software highlights include EFI’s Digital StoreFront and ObjectifLune’s Planet Press software suite. Variable data work includes tax bills, photo cards and dog licenses. Some jobs, such as a recent 930,000 run of a 36-page magazine, are outsourced.

The in-plant’s association with Enfocus goes back at least 10 years when it installed PitStop. Its Switch roots are even deeper. “We discovered Switch actually before Enfocus bought the company,” recalls Schmuger. “We worked directly with the folks in Belgium and began using it for scripting and automating the ballot production. We use it to process PDFs that we get from the Supervisor of Elections.”

STEP BY STEP In Switch parlance, a flow is a series of steps. “You take something complex and break it down into a number of steps that can be managed,” explains Schmuger. “You link those together to get what you need.”

The print operation may receive orders for as few as six ballots and as many as 300. “Each ballot is referred to as a ‘style,’ and each of them is in a PDF file which represents a ballot sheet that can be printed front or front and back,” says Schmuger.

“First the Switch flow goes through a series of PitStop functions, checking for every error that we’ve ever seen using an action list.”

In the next flow, three components must be verified: the file name (which also indicates the specific election), ballot name and total quantity ordered. When thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done, Switch groups the ballots by threes.

Switch also knows whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an acceptable overrun as well as the difference among ballots that go on a sheet. InDesign scripts take the name of the ballot and apply it as a bar code and human readable text in a specific spot on the ballot.

Finally, Switch uses another InDesign script to impose the job three-up on a sheet, create a large PDF, place bar codes on the sheet in trim areas to identify the form number and create an Excel spreadsheet with the information about each form. This information, along with a JDF file, is sent to the Heidelberg PrintReady system.

Schmuger and his crew, with the help of Ted Vahey at All Systems Integration, an Enfocus-certified partner, also have identified Switch implementations that make internal paperwork easier for all. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We print tax bills in groups of 16,000 so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll create a PDF thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 16,000 pages long,â&#x20AC;? Schmuger explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to provide our tax collector with a single PDF thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identified

by a real estate number as well as by the date that this bill was sentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;this information ultimately goes into the individual tax payerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s file. A Switch workflow takes the 16,000-page PDF file and looks inside each page, finds the specific spot that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve identified and creates that individual PDF. So from one 16,000-page PDF we get 16,000 individual PDFs that now can go straight into the tax payerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s folder.

All automatically.â&#x20AC;?

CURING A CERTIFIED MAIL HEADACHE Certain jobs are furnished to the Miami-Dade in-plant as a text file with data in it and a series of PDFs referenced in the text file. Switch automatically splits the data into two parts: first class mail or certified mail. (Other jobs arrive with XML instructions.) â&#x20AC;&#x153;In each case, it provides us with a text file for certified and a text file for first class mail,â&#x20AC;? Schmuger explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Using ObjectifLune software, we can access the text file, select the correct PDFs and produce the mailing piece.â&#x20AC;?

With Switch itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to capture the certified mail information. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We use an e-certified system to check the certified numbers from the USPS and transmit data to the post office about each of the certified pieces that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re mailing that day,â&#x20AC;? Schmuger explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to provide the client with a PDF that includes the signature from that returned receipt. Ideally, the e-certified system would identify the PDF using the certified receipt number as the name, but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.â&#x20AC;?

When certified mail return receipts are downloaded from the post office, Schmuger and his team use Switch to find the certified number in that record, and rename the PDF accordingly. Switch then creates an Excel file for the printerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s audit trail.

THIS IS THE FUTURE â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is huge,â&#x20AC;? says Schmuger. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Using the e-certified system and Switch saves $1.15 per piece and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just the postage. Those green [certified mail receipt] cards are labor intensive and a waste of timeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting a little piece of paper back and hoping it gets into a file.â&#x20AC;?

Schmuger says now is the time for printers to automate their workflows. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What Switch does is what printers need. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be essential to printers over the next five or 10 years, especially as print faces increased competition. This is the future.â&#x20AC;?

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DIGITAL PRESSES COME AND GO, WORKFLOW MARCHES ON OutputLinks caught up with Enfocusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fabian Prudhomme at drupa 2012. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fours years ago, the show featured digital presses and a lot of inkjet solutions and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also true of this show. The advantage for Enfocus is that with our solutions it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter if you are using a digital, offset, or gravure press, we have the preflighting tools for it. We even have some iPad versions.â&#x20AC;?

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 21

MAILM MAIL CALL: Print providers and the USPS both want print to prosper—here are some special incentives Print providers and the United States Postal Service (USPS) have one common goal. Both want to keep print alive—and for very similar reasons.

As a high-volume business mailer, I am on the Board of the National Postal Policy Council, a member of Major Mailers Association and a member of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service. The common purpose of all these organizations is to represent the interests of major First-Class mailers with the USPS. Of course, our main goal as business mailers is to fight hard to keep rates on all printed matter from going up. We are certainly active in our efforts to do that. However, being involved in these organizations also gives me the advantage of seeing what the USPS is doing to help businesses in other ways—and they are doing quite a bit. The USPS has introduced initiatives that we can all take advantage of as we work to grow and expand our business.

MORE BOUNCE WITH THAT SECOND OUNCE On January 22 of this year, prices were once again raised for most mailing services, but this time there was a silver lining. The USPS also announced that for First-Class Mail Presort pieces weighing between one and two ounces, the second ounce would be free. The new pricing makes it possible to send marketing pieces such as fullsize newsletters on high quality stock, or multi-page brochures, catalogs and bulky promotions at no additional cost. You can also add bigger and more noticeable inserts with targeted promotional messaging to regular mailings. And, yes, along with adding value to your customers’ mailings, 22 // American Printer

Summer 2012

it will help our Postal Service by keeping more mail in the system.

EVERY DOOR DIRECT MAIL Many of you reading this may have seen the promotions the USPS is running on Every Door Direct Mail™ (EDDM). If you have customers who currently mail postcards for their business and could benefit by targeting customers in a particular area, then this new mailing program by USPS is for you. EDDM enables businesses to mail at an astounding 14.5 cents per postcard without even needing to have a mailing address.

Additionally, EDDM gives you a turnkey opportunity to leverage several additional services you can offer your customers, including design, full-color printing on both sides and mailing fulfillment. With EDDM, you won’t be able to address the recipients by name or deeply target them, but you can target the mailings based on a

common denominator such as geography. This makes EDDM perfect for store openings, event announcements or flyers for local merchants.

Suppose your customer has a business that is opening a second location across town. You know a demographic exists within several miles of the new office that may have a high likelihood of using the services this business offers.

It’s a perfect opportunity HARRY STEPHENS

DIRECT MAIL: JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED Infinity Direct was among the winners of the Postal Service’s Deliver magazine’s Marketing Achievement in Innovation and Leadership (M.A.I.L.) awards. Its “Dr. Garmont Magical Marketing Campaign” was a first-runner up.

“We were recognized for the effective and successful use of direct mail to accomplish business goals,” says Victoria Wise, Infinity Direct’s marketing director. “The campaign centered on common marketing maladies and directed recipients to a Dr. Garmont website to find out how their ailments could be cured.”

The campaign consisted of direct mail, website, game, movie, and triggered email. It is featured in the June issue of Deliver and is also part of a 3-D mail feature on at www.delivermagazine.com.

LMATTERS USPSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; SUMMER SALE: ACT NOW

BY JEFFERY PEOPLES

Are you participating in this summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s USPS Mobile Barcode Promotion? The 2012 Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion will provide business mailers with an upfront 2% postage discount on Standard Mail and First-Class Mail letters, flats, and cards (presort and automation) that include a two-dimensional (2-D) barcode or print/mobile technology that can be read or scanned by a mobile device.

You might be thinking this promotion isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for you. But beyond the 2% discount, taking the necessary steps to qualify for the summer promotion can ensure your business remains competitive. for using Every Door Direct Mail targeting those carrier routes. With the postal savings your customers will gain, you might even be able to offer more creative options with the design, like unusual folds or die-cuts.

SOME REMINDERS...

Note that mailers must be flat and not standard size. Maximum dimensions are 15 x 12 inches. Minimum dimensions are 11.5 x 6.125 inches. Additionally, mailers canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be time sensitive, since they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be given the same priority as First-Class mail.

TAKE ADVANTAGE I encourage every business to take advantage of the efforts the USPS is offering to change how its customers perceive and use printed mail. Using the services and features available from the USPS can offer printers new revenue streams as well as cost savingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and it offers the USPS the opportunity to continue to increase the value of mail. It is a win-win for everyone.

Harry Stephens is President/CEO and founder of DATAMATX, one of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest, privately held full-service providers of printed and electronic billing solutions.

Scan/key to email Harry: B2MeMag.com/2S25 Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; ^9|'n= v Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC;

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NOW IS THE TIME FOR ADOPTING eDoc AND IMb At first glance, it may seem as though thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty of time. After all, the new requirements for claiming Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) and Intelligent Mail (IM) Full-Service discounts donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take effect until 2013 and 2014 respectively. But future promotions, including one slated for November, are likely to require mailers to use IMb and IM Full-Service to be eligible for postal discounts. With eDoc, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just about migrating from hard copies to electronic files; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about sustaining your business by retaining your postage discounts.

As a practical matter, POSTNET â&#x20AC;&#x153;sunsetsâ&#x20AC;? at the end of 2012.

Mailers that are still using itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;printing hard copy mailing documentation and postage statements as well as using the old 10-digit barcodes on tray tagsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;must adopt eDoc and Intelligent Mail options to get the best postage rates.

The bottom line: If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use IM Full-Service, your potential losses can be staggering! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s absolutely critical for your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term success that you start to use eDoc and PostalOne! You must do this to stay current and competitive. As a mailer, you need to be able to take advantage of all the different discounts and additional incentives being offered by the USPS for using eDoc. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a mail service provider of any kind (i.e., lettershop, consolidator, logistics provider, etc.), you have to be involved in eDoc and Intelligent Mail options just to stay in business.

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOT TOO LATE Even if you havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been approved by the USPSÂŽ to transmit eDoc for your mailings using the PostalOne!ÂŽ system, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too late to start. Stop procrastinating and start the TEM process (Test Environment for Mailers) to get certified for eDoc as soon as possible. Your future B2MeMag.com/2S26 depends on it! Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; ^9|'n= v Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC;

Scan/key to get help with your next step:

Jeffery Peoples is the founder and CEO of Window Book. Since 1989, he has created and published many innovations that make using the Postal Service easier and more profitable for mailers and shippers.

Summer 2012

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AmericanPrinter.com // 23

GREENSHEETBIZ INSIGHTS

BY DENNIS MASON

DEFINING DISINTERMEDIATION

S

EE YA: PREPARE TO BE ELIMINATED FROM THE PRINT PRODUCTION PROCESS. The print market is becoming more efficient. The Internet and inexpensive shipping means that much printing is no longer local in nature. We first saw this march toward efficiency when we witnessed massive consolidation among graphic arts dealers. Manufacturers began to sell directly to printers, and the few full-line dealers that remain are primarily owned by manufacturers.

Economists call this phenomenon disintermediation—a term denoting the removal of intermediaries in the supply chain, or cutting out the middleman. While we have adjusted to disintermediation when buying presses and even plates and chemistry, we now see it beginning to affect our core business model. Although reduced print volume can be attributed—in part, at least—to a shift in advertising, increased postage costs, and consumer behavior, another major cause of change is the elimination of the printer from the process of producing print.

A look at modern digital presses clearly indicates that we are fast moving into the age of “green button printing.” Digital presses like the HP Indigo and Xerox iGen4 are virtually devoid of knobs and controls. The Landa printing press was the talk of drupa with an operator interface that’s more like an iPad than a printing machine.

This kind of automation and industrial design drives disintermediation in the printing industry by effectively eliminating or reducing the influence of any number of previous functions— the print buyer, the in-plant printing department, warehousing, shipping, and receiving, among others. The next step—particularly as digital presses,

24 // American Printer

Summer 2012

being electronic devices, become ever less expensive—surely will involve printing being done not by commercial DENNIS MASON printers but by print customers themselves. Just as every consumer now prints directly from the personal computer to a local printer, nothing will prevent current corporate print customers from printing their own brochures, direct mail pieces, signage—even labels and packaging. In so doing, they can expect to reduce or eliminate shipping costs, storage, obsolescence, personnel, and time to market—a formula that is guaranteed to attract the interest of the CFO. Today, the software necessary to produce printable files is either readily available or is already loaded on computers in most major businesses producing goods and services. The IT infrastructure capable of transferring image files on a corporate LAN is also already in place in most companies, as is the ability to restrict universal access to a sophisticated printer.

ing services that cannot be done by customers internally. Curiously, that may mean that the bindery becomes the most important operation in the print shops of the future.

To date, the economics of outsourcing has led many print customers eliminate the inplant printing function in favor of using commercial printing services. But the tide may be about to turn. Several manufacturers appear well positioned to take advantage of this possibility—HP, with Indigo presses and a strong IT capability; Xerox, with iGen presses, a reputation centered around copiers, and an ACS acquisition which changed the focus of its business; and Canon, with both copiers and presses, plus a reputation for good office and personal printers.

The list goes on, but the concept may threaten commercial printers in the not-too-distant future. Be ready!

Dennis Mason is the principal of Mason Consulting.

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CUSTOMERS AS COMPETITORS? For commercial printers, a significant vulnerability in the future could come not from competitors or other media, but from customers. The key to success in the future may lie in the ability to consistently add more value by offer-

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OFFSET INNOVATIONS

PUMP UP THE VOLUME: THESE PRINTERS, BIG AND SMALL, ARE EMBRACING THE FUTURE We could all use some good news—and these printers’ recent investments are encouraging. From books, direct mail to newspapers and good old general commercial printing, here are some interesting installations.

WORZALLA PURCHASES WEB PRESS Book printer Worzalla is adding a manroland Lithoman five-color web press. “We’ve successfully expanded into several niche markets,” says Jim Fetherston, President and CEO. “After experiencing increased volume over the past year it was clear we needed additional capacity. The press is one of several major equipment acquisitions…Growing volume is a great problem to have.”

The Wisconsin printer also added digital short-run printing and binding capabilities as well as an additional casemaker.

Worzalla’s sheetfed pressroom is all manroland. The 100-year-old printer’s new manroland web press is slated to be operational in August 2012.

INTELLIGENCER AMONG FIRST TO ADD KODAK PROSPER S10 Intelligencer Printing Co. (Lancaster, PA) is among the first printers in the U.S. to add hybrid printing capabilities via a Kodak Prosper S10 Imprinting System. The configuration combines the speed and economies of web offset with high quality personalization.

“Our clients told us they wanted fast, efficient personalization capabilities for their direct mail campaigns,” says Garry Richwine, Plant Manager of Intelligencer Printing.

“We found Kodak offers what no other solution can: ‘near’ laser quality imaging on gloss coated paper at web press speeds. This is a significant capital expenditure at a time when many companies are pulling back.”

FANTASTIC PLASTIC BUSINESS PROMPTS CARD PRINTER TO ADD A RAPIDA 105 CPI Card Group (Roseville, MN) recently installed a KBA Rapida 105 41-inch seven-color UV-equipped sheetfed press with tower coater with an eight-foot extended delivery and plastics package.

“For the past year, management at CPI Card Group has seen a dramatic increase in our order intake and the need to fulfill press orders with additional capacity,” says Paul Boge, general manager of the U.S. prepaid debit market for CPI Card Group. “We’re also seeking to increase more capabilities in-house, such as lenticular, to add to our services.”

SEE YOU IN CHICAGO IN OCTOBER NAPL’s Owners Conference, immediately preceding Graph Expo, targets quick and small commercial printers. Speakers include Bill Farquharson (Aspire For); John Foley (Grow Socially); Joe Manos (MindFireInc.); Barb Pellow (InfoTrends), Nancy Proffitt ( Proffitt Management); Frank Romano (RIT), and Julie Shaffer (PIA).

The 2012 conference will be held at the Doubletree Hotel Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Oct. 4-6.

For more quick print related news, see p.27.

“One of the driving forces behind our partnership with KBA was the plastics package,” explains CPI’s Paul Boge “We’ll be able to continue producing cards and specialty packaging on a variety of substrates including foil, plastics and 30-mil PVC.”

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 25

INNOVATIVE INSTALLATIONS

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: NEWSDAY & HEARST UPGRADES /FXTEBZ *OD has selected Goss International to complete a multi-press reconfiguration project that will improve print quality while doubling color capacity and press speeds. The enhanced press systems will go into production beginning in June at its facility in Melville, NY. The publisher operates multiple press lines to print its flagship Newsday daily newspaper.

Goss is combining components from existing Goss Metro presses at the site to create three enhanced press systems with the capacity to print 96 tabloid pages, including 64 full-color pages, at up to 60,000 impressions per hour. )FBSTU $PSQ is bucking the trend in the North American newspaper industry and reaffirming its commitment to print with a major investment in a KBA Commander CL. The H-unit web press with four reelstands, four four-high towers and two folders is destined for the Hearstâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upgraded plant in Albany and will print the Times Union.

Speedy makereadies enable Meridian to be competitive on jobs that might otherwise have been produced on a digital press, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but with quality that digital just canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t touch,â&#x20AC;? according to Steven Lee.

MERIDIAN PRINTING ADDS FIRST US GL40S Meridian Printing (East Greenwhich, RI) recently added the first two six-color Komori Lithrone G40 presses in the US. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The makeready has been phenomenal,â&#x20AC;? says co-owner Steven Lee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When we can have the customer out on press to review a sheet in 10 to 15 minutes, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s huge.â&#x20AC;?

Meridian prints a lot of 10 micron stochastic work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The dot transfer and therefore the water side of the press is absolutely critical,â&#x20AC;? Lee explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The GL added a few new rollers to each unit and when you see how the water and ink transfer to produce clean backgrounds with 10 micron stochastic and reproduce the best dot weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever seen with any line pattern, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pretty exciting.â&#x20AC;?

MUGAVERO IS THE NEW FACE OF MANROLAND SHEETFED Michael Mugavero has been named NBOSPMBOE TIFFUGFE T Managing Director/CEO for the US and Canada.

Mugavero initially joined NBOSPMBOE TIFFUGFE in 1992 and has been with the company almost his entire career. He has served as a Regional Sales Manager, General Manager and Vice President of Sales. Within North America, manroland sheetfed GmbH will work MICHAEL MUGAVERO closely with manroland web systems GmbH, now owned by L. Possehl & Co. In March, Possehl appointed Roland Ortbach to lead a new North American sales entity called manroland web systems Inc.

26 // American Printer

Summer 2012

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEXT FOR SMALL COMMERCIAL PRINTERS? NAPL NewsTalk Live is a 60-minute monthly broadcast featuring members of the NAPLÂ Business Advisory Team. Missed a show? You can find the archives at www.napl.org as well as on iTunes. Andy Paparozzi, NAPL chief economist, recently discussed â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ä&#x2021;F 0VUMPPL GPS 2VJDL BOE 4NBMM $PNNFSDJBM 1SJOUFST w with Rick Schildgen, President of CL Graphics, (Crystal Lake, IL). Sponsored by Xerox and moderated by NAPL Senior Consultant Howie Fenton, the discussion reviewed trends in sales, marketing, and employment.

SIZE DOESNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T MATTER NAPLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Paparozzi defines quick printers as companies with annual sales of $3.5 million or less at one location. CL Graphics is a $2 million printer but Schildgen prefers to avoid labels. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never considered myself a quick printer,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel the need to classify myself as small. We can do a lot of the things the big guys doâ&#x20AC;ŚOne of the things I have run into more this year than in the past is that I have actually competed against RR Donnelley on a number of projects. Projects, quite frankly, I would never have thought they would be getting into. We are talking about $3,000 jobs.â&#x20AC;?

Schildgen describes his 2012 outlook as cautiously optimistic, a shared perspective according to Paparozzi. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That describes the consensus of participants in our Quick and Small Commercial Printer Trends Report as well,â&#x20AC;? said the economist. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s optimism in the sense that over two-thirds (67.5%) of our study group expect their sales to grow in 2012, nearly half (48.8%) by at least 5.0% and over one quarter (28.8%) by at least 10.0%. Overall, our study group expects sales growth of 4.6% on average this year, up from 2.8% last year.â&#x20AC;?

CL Graphicsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Rick Schilldgen and Ginny Boss recently shared this â&#x20AC;&#x153;Creating a Landing Pageâ&#x20AC;? video.

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I WANT MY CL TV CL Graphicsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mix of old and new marketing vehicles include Schildgenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blog, printed and electronic newsletters, brochures and seminars. Promotional videos also have been effective. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have created 25 to 30 videos ourselves and have our own YouTube channel,â&#x20AC;?

Schildgen said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;None of these are the high-end videosâ&#x20AC;ŚWe do them internally, all the editing and everything. And, as a result, we have been able to engage five different clients with video. We would like to expand thatâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great opportunity.â&#x20AC;? Paparozzi noted that social media offers excellent opportunities for printers to learn more about their clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; businesses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve talked about using social media to promote ourselves, to market and brand more effectively,â&#x20AC;? said the economist. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But we can also use social media to learn more about our clients businesses: Invaluable market intelligence can be gained by following the best blogs, forums, LinkedIn Groups, etc. in the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industry.â&#x20AC;?

TWICE AS NICE: DS GRAPHICS ORDERS SM 106 PERFECTORS DS Graphics (Lowell, MA), ordered two Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 perfecting presses at drupa 2012. The 8- and 10-color models, each with aqueous coater, are capable of running at 18,000sph in perfecting mode on all substrates, and are the first two perfectors of this speed sold worldwide.

The deal includes a multi-year commitment to use Saphira consumables, as well as a third press from Heidelberg.â&#x20AC;&#x153;Prinect Inpress Control is an absolute game-changer,â&#x20AC;? says Jim Bagley, Pressroom Manager. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We estimate the shorter makereadies will save us more than $500,000 a year in paper alone.â&#x20AC;?

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Left to right: The DS Graphics team of Joel White, Vice President Operations; Justin Pallis, coowner and CFO; and Jim Bagley, Pressroom Manager join Marcel Kiessling, Member of the Management Board of Heidelberg (third from left), and Heidelbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.S. sales team at drupa 2012.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 27

WOMEN OF DISTINCTION

BUILDING BRIDGES: HOW COCO CHEN IS HELPING CHINA’S PRINTING INDUSTRY MAKE GLOBAL CONNECTIONS Over the past 10 years, the OutputLinks Communications Group has recognized 72 industry professionals as Women of Distinction. The program celebrates outstanding women who have contributed to the development and enhancement of the high volume transaction output (HVTO) industry.

The Women of Distinction are commemorated annually with a $5,000 university scholarship, funded by OutputLinks and administered by Electronic Document Scholarship Foundation (EDSF), the international non-profit organization dedicated to the document management and communications industries. $PDP $IFO B IPOPSFF has been an influential force in advancing the printing technology industry

in China. As the President of China Academy of Printing Technology and the General Manager of Keyin Media, she and her colleagues are becoming the bridge between China’s printing industry and the world.

Coco leads the most prominent and professional media in the Chinese printing industry, a group that includes Printing Technology, Printing Manager, Digital Printing, Packaging Wealth & Wisdom, China

Printing and Packaging Study and Label Technology. She takes charge of organizing many large-scale conferences and exhibitions, such as China Printing Forum and the All in Print China International Exhibition.

SWEET DREAMS Coco is a 2000 graduate of the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communications where she studied Multimedia Design. She and her

CHINA’S BIG SHOW At drupa 2012, OutputLinks joined about 40 other journalists and international association representatives at a reception for All in Print China 2014.

Speakers included Coco Chen; Jiang Nan, Chen’s China Academy of Printing Technology colleague; and Messe Düsseldorf’s Axel Bartkus. The November 2014 show represents the fifth iteration of the event which takes place every three years in Shanghai.

We asked Chen for some additional insights on All in Print as well as the Chinese printing industry.

Her responses follow.

WHAT WAS ATTENDANCE LIKE AT ALL IN PRINT CHINA LAST YEAR? All in Print China 2011 attracted 628 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions, including 202 exhibitors from overseas and 426 from mainland China.

A total of 55,586 trade visitors (89,678 total attendees) were there. Local visitors accounted for 90.05% of attendees; 9.95% came from 28 // American Printer

Summer 2012

Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas. More than 60% of overseas visitors were from Asia, with those from India, Japan and Korea accounting for 28% of that total.

U.S. PRINTERS’ CHALLENGES INCLUDE CONSOLIDATION AND NON-PRINT COMPETITION. HOW DOES CHINA COMPARE? In China, the printing industry faces similar challenges, especially in publishing printing which has the same circumstances as the U.S. Labor, material and transportation costs are rising. Packaging printing is a growth area.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THE CHINESE PRINTING INDUSTRY? On one hand, China is the biggest country in the application of printing technology. It probably has more printing companies than any other country.

On the other hand, although China’s equipment and materials manufacturers are developing quickly, there’s still a large gap vs. developed countries.

Coco presented an overview of the Chinese market at the drupa reception

OUTPUTLINKS’ PARTNERSHIP IN CHINA The OutputLinks Communications Group launched its partnership with China Academy of Print Technology and KeyIn Media in 2007.

China Academy of Printing Technology (CAPT) is also drupa’s partner in China.

Keyin Media is a subsidiary of CAPT, the largest printing technology research organization in China. CAPT was founded in 1956, and was originally affiliated with China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).

Through the partnership, the OutputLinks Group publishes monthly columns, speaks at and participates in print related events in China. OutputLinks also helps arrange visits to US print plants for KeyIn Media’s Chinese delegations as well as exchanges between U.S.-based printers and related industry professionals and their Chinese counterparts.

Coco hosted OutputLinks’ Andy and Julie Plata during the 2011 All in Print China Event

Keyin Media owns China’s oldest printing magazine, PrintingTechnology, which was founded in 1957. husband, a fellow Beijing Institute graduate, are the proud parents of a six-year-old daughter.

She grew up in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, the birthplace of a Li Bai, one of the Tang dynasty’s most famous poets. As a child, she had many career aspirations.

“My dream changed frequently,” she recalled. “I dreamed of being a painter, a doctor and a teacher.

In addition to these professions, I wanted to be the boss of a department store with unlimited access to all kinds of candy.”

MANY MENTORS Although she didn’t major in printing, related courses, as well

as the opportunity to meet a lot of printing majors set the groundwork for her graphic arts career. Mentors include her parents, friends, teachers and colleagues as well as two printing industry veterans: Shen Haixiang, a former supervisor; and Wu Wenxiang, Honorary Chairman of the China Printing Technology Association.

She started as a writer but soon spread her wings. “I was a journalist and editor of Desktop Publishing & Design, and then worked as a distributor and salesperson,” Coco explained. “Also, I helped build Digital Printing, China Printing and Packaging Study, and Packaging Wealth & Wisdom.”

SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE Six years later, Coco assumed her current professional responsibilities.

“My job now is leading our 221-person team in setting the stage for intercommunication and sharing industry knowledge,” she said.

“We’re doing this using books and magazines, exhibitions, competitions, technology forums, websites and so on. We also conduct research and promote the industry.”

Over the past decade, the Keyin Media staff has doubled in size, going from 100 people in 2000 to more than 200 employees today. “Our initiatives are expanding beyond periodicals, exhibitions and conferences to a multilevel comprehensive focus that includes Internet publishing, book publishing, consultation and scientific products and services,” said Chen.

CHANGING TIMES Asked how the Chinese printing industry has changed over that time period, Coco cites a growing shift to digital as well as environmentally friendly production. “At the same time, it’s obvious that traditional [commercial] printing is slowing down, while that of packaging printing is accelerating.”

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 29

INDUSTRYTRIBUTE

LOOKING BACK:

50 years on printing’s cutting edge ANDREW TRIBUTE

M ‘67

Y CAREER IN THIS INDUSTRY HAS BEEN ONE WHERE I HAVE BEEN CLOSELY INVOLVED WITH ALMOST ALL THE INDUSTRY CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES, OFTEN ONE COULD SAY AT THE “BLEEDING EDGE.

and color scanning. I did my graduation thesis on the subject of electronic color correction. The first company I worked for also was one of the first users of color scanning technology. At that time it would take between 20 to 50 hours of work using cameras and special films to get a CMYK image balanced for printing.

MY EARLY OFFSET DAYS

I first entered the printing industry in September 1961 when I started my degree course in Printing Management at the London College of Printing (the UK equivalent of RIT). When I entered the industry my strategy was to end up as CEO of a printing company. Following college my first job in the industry was with the largest UK printing group as a member of its management development program, and this appeared the best approach to achieve my strategy. I found however that opportunities for building a long-term career in the industry were not good if you did not want to spend most of your time in sales.

Phototypesetting greatly speeded up the process of typesetting vs. hot metal. A further major benefit, in addition to speed, was to speed was that the output was ready for offset platemaking whereas hot metal output had to be converted via a camera into film for platemaking. Phototypesetting and color scanning were the major factors that caused the printing industry to switch from letterpress to offset lithography. The switch to offset also pushed a move to color printing, as offset was a better process for such work. The first company I worked for put in one of the first four-color presses in the UK. At that time the choice was only between Roland and Crabtree.

Heidelberg at this time did not make any offset presses.

ON THE GROUND FLOOR IN IT

PUNCHING CARDS AND PAPER TAPE

This brought about my move into the IT industry and luckily back in 1967 ICT (now ICL) the UK computer company was setting up a special team to sell computers to the printing and publishing market. This started the career that I have now followed for 45 years of developing and implementing digital solutions for the industry.

There were two technologies I was involved with in my early career that had a huge impact on changing the printing industry: phototypesetting

At the time I started computer input was only by punched cards or paper tape. In 1968 at ICL we introduced our first visual display terminal purely for correcting punched paper tape. Such display terminals were just starting to be used connected to large mainframe IBM, Univac and Burroughs computers, but I think we had the first such terminals for printing applications. I was very lucky in this job as I was involved in designing systems for use by newspapers and magazine publishers throughout the

EARLY CEO ASPIRATIONS

‘61 30 // American Printer

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‘68

world, and this was the start of my world travelling.

MARKETING THE MONOTYPE LASERCOMP Following five years helping newspapers and magazine publishers redesign the way they operated through the use of computers I started working with databases linked to very highspeed CRT based phototypesetters for handling the typesetting of products like airline timetables, library catalogs, reference publications, etc.

Imaging has always been a great interest and in the late 1970s I was responsible for the marketing of the world’s first laser imagesetter, the Monotype Lasercomp. The term imagesetter showed the real change that this brought about as now for the first time complete pages including pictures could be set in one pass. It took time for this to happen, as at that time there were no systems that handled page make-up, and stripping multiple pieces of typesetter and camera output together did all page assembly. The introduction of the Lasercomp was the technology that started the move to full page make up, and later into output directly to printing plates with CTP.

‘70s

EFI ARAZI SHOWS ME THE FUTURE Color was still complicated and expensive. Color scanners had improved incredibly since their introduction in the early 1960s, but they only handled a complete picture. Any editing of the image was still a manual retouching process. In 1979, I attended the Italian GEC printing exhibition and managed to get into an invitation-only demonstration by a new company, Scitex.

Here I saw the future of color demonstrated by the charismatic Israeli

genius Efi Arazi. On a large color display terminal he showed electronic airbrushing. What he showed in five minutes was the same as we used to do in the first company I worked for by manual dot etching that could take in excess of 50 hours. Overnight the world of color publishing and printing changed. Soon it was not just Scitex in this area of the market but also Crosfield, Dainippon Screen and Hell. For the next ten years high-end color workstations for image editing and page assembly were the tools that changed the color market.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;79 A MAC FAN FROM WAY BACK

All of the above however were systems using proprietary hardware and software, but at this time another revolution was taking place with the arrival of the personal computer. For the publishing and printing industry this was to have a huge impact, particularly with the Apple Macintosh. Some years before the Mac appeared I had been sold on the concept of graphics user interfaces, mice and high-resolution graphic displays. I first saw this on a Xerox Alto workstation at MIT in Boston. The Xerox Alto was the workstation developed at Xerox PARC and which had convinced Steve Jobs that this was the future of computing.

Before the Mac was released I also worked on this technology on a Perq workstation, the first commercially available graphics workstation. When the Mac was announced I was completely convinced this was the future, and have been a Mac user ever since.

Therefore the arrival of desktop publishing (DTP) using the Mac, Adobeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PostScript, and Aldus Pagemaker software showed me the future of the industry.

DESKTOP COLOR KILLS OFF HIGH-END SYSTEMS DTP was the culmination of many proprietary technologies that I had worked up over many years, but running on standard low cost hardware and software. The output was on laser printers whose operating technology used many of the concepts Monotype had introduced with the Lasercomp.

I was lucky that I had just started my

consulting career when DTP was announced and I became the DTP â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;guruâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Europe. I was also lucky to link up with Seybold Publications working as their international editor alongside my consulting practice and this opened up huge opportunities. The 1980s and 1990s were a key period in the way new technologies were being introduced to change the market, and Seybold was the accepted worldwide authority. I was in on the ground floor of developments of desktop color that killed off the high-end color systems.

I remember working with one of the national newspaper publishing groups in the UK implementing the first full page assembly using Macs and replacing its major Crosfield color studio with an all desktop color approach.

Doing this allowed the newspaper to change pages with full color images and have them on the press within 30 minutes, compared with three hours for the early system.

industry throughout my career in this industry that I love. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll definitely miss it but I now look forward to enjoying my retirement and the opportunities that creates.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s DIGITAL PRINTING CONTINUES TO EVOLVE

Digital color printing was another area where I was lucky to be in at the very start of the market. I had worked with monochrome digital printing in the early 1980s with the Xerox 9700 and later the Xerox Docutech. One thing I remember was what I think was the first ever personalized digital print done by Elanders in Sweden in 1983 on its Xerox 9700. Despite this early start, today only a small proportion of digital printing is personalized. In 1992/93 I consulted for Indigo in helping plan the launch of its first press at IPEX. I also wrote the first full evaluation of the Xeikon press in time for its announcement also at IPEX.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;LL DEFINITELY MISS ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;Ś Over the past 50 years I have seen and been involved with massive changes in the printing and publishing industries predominantly brought about by digital technologies. These changes are not stopping and in fact such digital technologies are now key in shaping the future of the industries though a merging of electronic and printed information delivery. I have been privileged to have been involved in many of the changes that have redefined our

Andrew Tribute, industry consultant and analyst, is probably the best known and most widely read printing industry journalist in the world.

Scan/key to email Andy: B2MeMag.com/2S36 Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; ^9|'n= v Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC;

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;ANDYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TRIBUTEâ&#x20AC;?

At drupa 2012, we joined about 40 of Andyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friends from the analyst, journalist and vendor communities at dinner hosted

by GMC Software. GMCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bill Parker led the toasts.

OutputLinks is sponsoring a $2,000 EDSF scholarship in Andyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name. Andy didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t invent the term â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thought Leaderâ&#x20AC;? but we think he embodies it!

His concise and candid observations informed and entertained us and will be sorely missed. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Andy & Julie Plata, Co-CEOs, OutputLinks Communications Group

ANDYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RETIREMENT PLANS INCLUDE HAVING LEISURELY LUNCHES AT THE MISSION ESTATE WINERY IN HAWKES BAY, NEW ZEALAND.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 31

GLOBAL MARKETS

BY MICHELLE LIU

DIGITAL PRINTING: ROOM TO GROW IN CHINA

S

INCE DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY ENTERED THE CHINESE MARKET 10 YEARS AGO, IT HAS GROWN RAPIDLY. The Chinese government also has given strong policy support to the development of digital printing.

In early 2011, the State Press and Publication Administration released the “12th Five-Year Plan for Press Publishing Industry in Development”. The plan, which covers 2011 to 2015, calls for digital printing to be more than 20% of China’s printing by 2015. Other goals include the following: t 5P HSPX UIF $IJOFTF QSJOUJOH industry output to more than 11,00 billion Yuan RMB. t 5P JNQMFNFOU HSFFO BOE environmentally friendly printing. t 5P CF UIF XPSME T TFDPOE MBSHFTU printing country, and therefore the world’s printing center. t 5P SFTUSVDUVSF BOE VQHSBEF $IJOB T printing industry, with particular emphasis on digital printing and digitizing analog processes.

The share of digital vs. traditional printing in China is still very small. Even in Shanghai where digital printing is well developed, the

share is still only 1%. At the same time, according to Digital Printing magazine’s 2011 “Digital Printing in China” survey, the domestic digital printing applications focus on the field of graphic print, digital proofing and personalized printing. There is a large space for digital printing to grow in label printing, commercial paper printing, on-demand publishing and direct mail. These are applications where traditional printers have more familiarity and expertise.

CHANGING MARKET PATTERNS In 2011, quick print shops were still the main purchasers of digital printing equipment. But traditional printing companies are now changing the market pattern. These traditional printers are purchasing production digital printing equipment to undertake jobs that are not effective on traditional printing equipment. Distributing the print shop work to create the new printing models is another digital purchase reason. Another is combining digital print with web-to-print for ondemand publishing.

HP AND KODAK DOMINATE DIGITAL SCENE The digital printers used are mainly HP Indigo and Kodak Nexpress.

Two high-speed continuous inkjet presses have also been installed in

2011. According to the latest news at drupa 2012, many laser and high-speed inkjet digital printing presses have been ordered to be installed in Chinese traditional printing enterprises. These enterprises are state-owned large-scale traditional printing, commercial printing and book printing companies.

Another buyer at drupa was a large private enterprise specializing in overseas orders.

MANY STILL WAITING But more traditional printing companies are still waiting before moving to digital. Especially compared with developed countries, Chinese digital printing businesses do not combine seamlessly with the network and other IT elements. They lack ways to minimize the end-to-end digital printing process.

FINAL THOUGHTS What should traditional printing businesses do when they face the big “cake” of digital printing?

First of all, it is essential for them to have a suitable self-development business model.

Secondly, the selection process for the right digital printing equipment cannot be ignored. Since the equipment performance varies, the printer selection must be made according to the needs of each business and the capabilities of each printer.

Michelle Liu is an editor with Keyin Print Media, OutputLinks’ Chinese media partner. Email her at liucf2004@126.com.

INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS: 2006-2010 By the end of 2010, there were more than 100,000 printing enterprises of all types with more than 3.8 million employees in China.

China established three printing industry zones: Pearl River Delta supported from Guangdong and Hong Kong by Export; Yangtze River Delta; and Bohai-Rim. The total output of these zones contributes to more than seventy-five percent of the national printing output.

Photos courtesy of Bobst

32 // American Printer

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FRESH PERSPECTIVES

BY KELLY COOPER

INTEGRATED PRINT: Top trends include social media, personalization and mobile technologies

H

ERE AT CAL POLYâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;S GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE CONSTANTLY REMINDED THAT THINGS ARE NOT THE WAY THEY USED TO BE. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ignore a changing economy and an industry undergoing massive transformation.

The key is understanding that technological integration might not provide immediate results or boosts in salesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a printing company cannot rely solely on this amalgamation to drastically change its numbers.

But the correct integration of technology will help a business reach a greater market, raise awareness, enhance customer relationships and ultimately add value. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a guarantee.

So how can businesses get on board with the onset of social media, personalization and mobile technology?

Well, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too hard if they commit.

And it can be fun.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A TWO-WAY MARKETING STREET Do you have a Twitter account?

While it may seem unnecessary for a typical printer (what good is a 140-character sentence?), it can easily become an effective tool to link any printed page to a larger network of services. Further, social media such as Facebook can serve as a twoway marketing device where users and customers can interact with a business. A simple way to get started is launching a promotion (such as through a Twitter handle on a printed page) where customers could receive something in return for following you. Twitter also allows businesses to ask customers questions, listen to their feedback, personally

Scan/key for Twitter Business Site:

respond to customers, and provide customers with more B2MeMag.com/2S42 Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; ^9|'n= v Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; information on a 1:%7 + . -Q p4z6 $%' $ business or the indus(EvFf XQ) } e7@RV2`5UU@ try through y iii y y) 1 y YAaAiy)yiI sharing links to relevant articles or videos. Further, Twitter offers a site just for businesses that explains the most effective way to use this tool.

DATABASE TECHNOLOGY: BEYOND VDP & MASS CUSTOMIZATION Personalized URLs, or PURLs, offer expanded customer interaction via greater personalization. Personalized websites, created through linking a customer database with online PURL software, also are a two-way liaison between a business and targeted customers. Adding a PURL to a printed page not only catches a customer off guard, but also pulls them into your business. Once a customer clicks on his or her PURL, a business can promote printed material to be sent to interested customers, creating a fullcircle integration of technology and print. Because it is facilitated online, the business can track all informationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;something impossible with static printed ads.

One obvious but still underused tool is mobile technology. Smartphones are quickly becoming the norm and house thousands of possibilities behind the tiny screen. While text message marketing has not been widely received in America yet, QR codes certainly have. Also known as 2-D barcodes, QR codes are an easy and effective way to use print to drive customer traffic. And as with PURLs,

QR codes can be tracked down to the sale made based on the use of the code. Further, QR codes can link customers to sites that allow them to request printed collateral.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK All of these new technologies require some groundworkâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a business wishing to integrate its printed page with social media, database or mobile technology, needs to be consistent and persistent.

Print will always be aroundâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it has to be. And although it is shifting in unpredictable directions, there are ways to stay on top of the market. The businesses that find ways to connect technology with the printed page will continue to survive and thrive as the shift continues.

WRITER FOR HIRE Kelly Cooper is a Senior in Cal Polyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Graphic Communication Department.

During her colKELLY COOPER lege career at San Luis Obispo, CA, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s explored web design and digital media. Kelly, the beneficiary of two EDSF scholarships, plans to continue her budding journalism career after graduation. In the past four years sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been published more than 70 times in B2MeMag.com/2S39 Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; ^9|'n= v Â&#x20AC;B^^^BÂ&#x20AC; Cal Polyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Mus?"%? + 3 +Y p4z6 $%' $ tang Daily as well as (EF& UX YzI9r e7@RV2`5UU@ worked y iii y yQQ1 y YAaAiy)yiI for Dwell Magazine.

Scan/key to see Kellyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portfolio:

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 33

NEXTGEN: YOUNG LEADERS

TEACH THEM WELL:

HOW SOME EDSF SCHOLARS ARE SHAPING OUR FUTURE

S

INCE 1997, THE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION (EDSF) has awarded 392 scholarships in 13 countries. Recipients include young people from Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, Dubai, Iceland, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Turkey, UK and the US. Scholarship criteria includes scholastic achievement, honors, participation in school and community activities and organizational affiliations. By granting scholarships, fostering education, promoting research, recognizing leaders, encouraging innovation and garnering and disseminating knowledge, EDSF is shaping the future.

OutputLinks is proud to join EDSF in saluting and supporting the next generation of digital content and delivery professionals. We recently caught up with three EDSF scholarsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;what an impressive group!

NICHOLAS GAWRELUK, NEW MEDIA PUBLISHING, ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY; Scholarship Recipient 2011, 2010 Nick just completed an internship with Heidelberg in Germany. He is on track to graduate in Spring 2013 with a degree in New Media Publishing. Meanwhile heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volunteering with a local print company. )PX EP NPCJMF 23 DPEFT NVMUJ NFEJB DPNNVOJDBUJPOT BOE UIF *OUFSOFU GBDUPS JOUP UIF GVUVSF PG QSJOU As with all technology, these new 34 // American Printer

Summer 2012

NICHOLAS GAWRELUK

developments will influence and, perhaps enhance, what we do in the print industry. I think the key is to look at the New Media as an opportunity for print to advance and prosper.

ANASTASIIA SOLODOVNYK, PHD, PRINTABLE ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS, FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER UNIVERSITY ERLANGENNUREMBERG; MASTERS, PRINTING, MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY Scholarship Recipient 2011, 2010, 2009 Anastasiia recently completed an internship in Beijing at the Institute of Graphic Communications researching how plasma can influence electrical properties of printed inkjet inks with metal nanoparticles. She speaks

Russian, German, and English and is learning Chinese. She is currently studying for her PhD in printable electronics and solar cell production. )PX EP QSJOUFE FMFDUSPOJDT BOE TPMBS DFMMT GBDUPS JOUP UIF GVUVSF PG QSJOU The opportunity to print electronics and sources of renewable energies (as solar cells) is interesting and promising, IF our industry can offer efficient technologies. We are already very near that pointâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; this can bring the graphic arts industry in close cooperation with governmentally supported energy industries, resulting in greater financial support. I can already imagine a time when our current offset machines could be rebuilt to meet the needs of renewable energies production, just as legacy platen presses are

Check out the

OutputLinks EDSF Scholarship Program.

B2MeMag.com/AS4 B^^^B ^O = v B^^^B

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JASON LANDRUM

Want to support EDSF? Join us at the Give back at GRAPH Gala.

ANASTASIIA SOLODOVNYK

converted into embossing presses for small printing shops.

My project at the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communications, lasted four months—an unforgettable experience. Together with several Chinese Master students and under the close supervision of Professor Chen, we have developed inks with silver nanoparticles for inkjet, printed them on various polymer substrates and treated printed layers by argon plasma under different conditions to etch the protector that created resistivity and produced crystallized structure of silver on the surface.

Conductivity checks showed good results that we are planning to report on at the Nanomaterials: Applications & Properties Conference.

JASON LANDRUM, COMMERCIAL GRAPHICS & MARKETING, PITTSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY Scholarship Recipient 2009 Jason is a marketing associate and graphic designer for Vanguard Companies, a job he learned of via Facebook and Twitter. Vanguard produces packaging, labels, signage and retail displays for clients that include Walmart, Target and Petsmart.

He is also an avid photographer.

"OZ UIPVHIUT PO UIF GVUVSF PG QSJOU Thanks to EDSF, I joined two other

scholarship recipients at AIIM ON DEMAND. We were able to see hands-on where the technology is moving, why print is not dead, things that we need to watch for, and trends that we need to be aware of. We also got to network with people from the industry, and we really enjoyed it. It was a great time and we all learned a lot from that event.

There are so many new methods and new technologies available in the printing world. I always scoff a little bit when I hear people say that print is a dying media. If print’s dead, then I might as well go ahead and resign right now and start walking home. We’re going to see a huge marriage between the digital side and the print side of communication. Digital is here to stay, but so is print.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 35

SALESCOACH

THE GREAT 8: Why you shouldn’t be an MSP, plus 7 other sales truths from Wayne Peterson

H

OW DO CURRENT CONDITIONS COMPARE TO THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN OF 2003?

In most instances, there’s no comparison. The lingering economic conditions now are much worse, and the trajectory out of recession much slower and shallower. But competitive performance is the most important thing, regardless of time period.

Even when a specific market segment is shrinking, you can thrive if you’re out-performing your competitors.

And that’s what I’m seeing play out again and again. In both periods, a sustainable competitive advantage is what has mattered most.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO TAKING ADVANTAGE OF DISRUPTIVE CONDITIONS? Fear. We’re faced with greater complexity and greater uncertainty than printers have faced before. And some owners and presidents have been pummeled to the point that they are nearly brittle … reluctant to do anything different for fear that it is the wrong thing and that their companies simply cannot take one more blow.

MANY CONSULTANTS URGE PRINTERS TO TRANSITION FROM PRINT SERVICE PROVIDERS TO MARKET SERVICE PROVIDERS (MSPS). IS THIS A VIABLE PATH? That’s not a chorus I can join. Urging commercial printers to reinvent themselves is absolutely on target.

But a “one size fits all” approach is bound to be fruitless since competitive advantage is always based on differentiation … on how a company is different rather than how it is similar to its competitors.

36 // American Printer

Summer 2012

A true MSP firm understands that marketing is much more than advertising and sales promotion, regardless of the media chosen. Printers have struggled to understand marketing, and most don’t speak the language of marketers let alone understand how real marketing gets done. Take branding, for example.

Very few printers understand how to create and execute a brand strategy or how powerful a strong brand can

be, especially when reaching for decision-makers who are Gen-Xers or Millenials.

In essence, the MSP model is proposing to be an advertising / marketing agency but without the creative and strategic capabilities. Given the reluctance of most printing company executives to sell and manage outside services (buyouts), customers can legitimately ask whether the service offering is broad enough. They want to

know that the recommendations they are getting are in their best interest rather than limited to the services the MSP can provide directly.

DOES SIZE MATTER? IS IT EASIER FOR A SMALL ORGANIZATION TO MAKE DRAMATIC CHANGES? DOES A LARGER FIRM HAVE RESOURCE OR OTHER ADVANTAGES? I don’t see a meaningful difference. We have clients whose annual revenue is well over $100 million, and clients whose annual revenue is under $10 million. The scale of the resources available often changes in tandem with the scale of the challenge and the inertia that needs to be overcome. Larger companies with more resources tend to have to apply those to a larger change process. The scope of change at a smaller company may be narrower, but their apparent agility may be limited by their resources, both financial and human.

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER? I’d suggest two things are characteristic of owners and executives who are effectively leading their organizations: 'JSTU they understand that they cannot delegate responsibility for their brands and their cultures. The two things are really two sides of the same coin. A brand is the sum of what your customers think about you. That comes from their experience with your company. And, ultimately, your culture is what determines the sum of the experiences those customers have with your company. Both need conscious and constant investment and reinforcement. So the most effective owners and executives understand that they are both the Chief Brand Officer and the Chief Culture Officer in one. And make no mistake; a strong brand is an absolute essential for a printing industry company in this new environment. Operational excellence and financial prudence aren’t sufficient any longer.

4FDPOE, effective leaders are deeply involved with their customers. A salesforce is a notoriously untrustworthy source for nuanced marketplace feedback. Salespeople can

provide useful anecdotal information and be an effective early warning system. But they are vitally interested parties too, and can never be dispassionate. So there’s no substitute for direct, substantial and frequent customer interaction.

ARE THERE ANY CHARACTERISTICS THAT MAKE SOMEONE AMENABLE TO CHANGE? One: the vision that things can be different and genuinely better. And that applies equally to the individual and to the enterprise. Many printing company owners and executives harbor an unspoken dread that they may not be able to make the situation change for the better. And a key part of what we do is work alongside them to envision and create a future that’s much better than the circumstances they are living under now.

WHAT MAKES SOMEONE COACHABLE? Desire. This goes back to how adults learn. Our intrinsic motivation determines whether we learn. Adults value their own experience, and vet new information against it. Plus, we prefer to drive our own learning. So intrinsic desire to grow and learn, to become more effective, is what makes someone coachable.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS? Tangible results. Always. Early on, we’re looking at the number of deals, the size of deals, the margins of deals, the velocity of deals and the percentage of deals won. I know that some don’t like the term “deal”, but it’s very useful shorthand for an opportunity whether that’s a new customer relationship, a contract or a communications campaign.

COACH’S CORNER Wayne Peterson contributed our Spring 2012 article “Making the Tectonic Shift.” He is the principal of Black Canyon Consulting Group (www.blackcanyonconsulting.com).

He has served as president of three successful and fast growing companies, and in sales and marketing leadership roles with two others.

MOVE OVER OPRAH, WE’VE GOT OUR OWN BOOK CLUB GCWorldBIZ (GCWorldBIZ. com) newsletter readers recently shared some of their favorite books. Here’s what some industry movers and shakers are reading.

THE STRATEGIES AND TACTICS OF PRICING Says Mimeo.com’s Charlie Corr: “This is the real deal book on pricing strategy and the actual tactics used. Gets you to think outside traditional thought lines and use pricing to deliver value. It’s a college textbook intended for upper level undergraduate or MBA classes, but it reads like a consumer title.”

THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE NPES’ Ralph Nappi says it stands the test of time: “I regularly refer to the third habit, ‘Put First Things First’ and also love the Time Management Matrix.”

HUG YOUR CUSTOMERS Chuck Stempler, CEO & President, AlphaGraphics Seattle, tells us: “This book helped me understand what outstanding customer service is and how to build an organization to deliver it.”

MY UNFINISHED BUSINESS Tech-ni-fold’s Andre Palko describes these essays as “inspirational and funny.” Says Palko: “Kennedy is a successful author and businessman. Also: Michael Gerber’s ‘The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What do Do About It’ is a more nuts and bolts book that has proven to be immensely valuable and continues to guide me.”

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 37

NEW PRODUCTS

HERE ARE SOME EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES TO CHECK OUT. DO YOU HAVE A SCOOP TO SHARE? DROP US A LINE!

FLAT PHOTOBOOKS ARE WHERE IT’S AT ODM’s Sidewinder is specifically designed for the Mohawk Panoramic line of i-Tone photo papers. Users can produce lay-flat photo books with ease, thanks to the automatic system. It scores, folds, and presses book blocks up to 1.5 inches thick. Maximum book size is 27 x 14.5 inches (open); 13.5 x 14.5 (closed); up to 1.5 inches thick.

THE SCOOP: Photo books are booming: HP reports that photo business represents 17% of its overall Indigo business. India is particularly strong market: An estimated 8.7 million wedding are celebrated annually and on average, families spend $1,100 on wedding photography.

Source: HP/Better Photography Magazine

NOW THAT’S WHAT WE CALL AUTOMATION… “WiMotion” sounds like a Nintendo game, but it’s actually for cutter operators. Polar’s wireless gadget brings the traditional cutter “knock block” in to the modern age. Two keys on the wooden block enable the operator to adjust the backguage while locking the pile in place. Typically an operator would firm up the pile with one hand on the paddle while using the other hand to reach up and adjust the cutter controls—the WiMotion lets the operator concentrate on positioning the material at the cutting line.

THE SCOOP: It looks like more fun than “Dance, Dance, Revolution!”

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Summer 2012

BE THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SBS BOARD Some commercial printers and converters are eliminating the middleman and printing on 30pt. to 48pt. heavyweight Solid Bleached Sulphate (SBS) sheets. Reportedly they can save about $0.25 per sheet while reducing delivery time by up to a week, potentially saving as much as $1,500 on a typical 6,000 sheet job.

Unimac Graphics, (Carlstadt, NJ) was among those seeking an alternative it previously sent two 18-pt.

SBS sheets to a mounter to create a 36-pt. sheet.

“We can go to press rapidly when we can get the material from Lamitech, a laminator that manufactures and stocks its own heavyweight SBS board,” explains Unimac’s Rick Chassen. “Printing directly on heavyweight 36pt. SBS saves us about half the cost and at least four to five days of lead time vs. outsourcing to a mounter.

Plus, our customers are getting a higher quality product.”

THE SCOOP: Be prepared to make some adjustments, but rock the box!

SPEED THRILLS: KEEPING UP WITH DFEs All those new digital presses will need RIPs. Global Graphics’ Harlequin Host Renderer 3 (HHR3) is raring to go with efficient parallel rendering that uses multiple CPUs. RIT conducted a test that showed that a typical Harlequin RIP can easily drive most printers at a speed that is well in excess of the rated speed of the device. When needed, the architecture is also scalable enough to get more performance by adding additional RIPs. Global Graphics has also developed technology that automatically detects and optimizes variable data jobs, which increases performance and eliminates the need for proprietary VDP languages.

THE SCOOP: Per InfoTrends’ Kaspar Roos: “Global Graphics is well positioned to drive high-end PDF ripping and benefit from the AFP/IPDS to PDF migration.” Plus: flexible and cost-effective licensing could propel Harlequin into the mid-range and office market.

WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER DIGITAL PRESS Canon Europe’s Insight Report (“The Bigger Picture”) found that 58% of printers with a digital capability saw an increase in profits vs. 31% of their counterparts who had no digital capability. Digital printing softened the negative effects of a slow economy for many companies. By producing photo books, books on demand as well as other short run products and sign products, printers created new opportunities. Also: The report found 71% of print buyers perceive print as equal /more effective than any other media in the communications mix.

THE SCOOP: Per the report, 30% of print buyers don’t know about print on demand and more than half of print buyers said their print service providers don’t inform them about new developments. We have no place to go but up!

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 39

YOUR TURN

LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

We love getting mail!

We received many wonderful comments on our debut issue.

A sampling follows.

And of course weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d love to hear from you, too!

Love those personalized pages seen during our press check at Quad.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Love, love, love it! Helps renew my love for my industry. You are setting a huge example of the value and power of print. Please keep it up.â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Congratulations on a fantastic new issue. Love the layout, design and articles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and of course the personalization.â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have to say, I am VERY impressed! The magazine arrived todayâ&#x20AC;Ś Even before I pulled it out of the P.O. box, I noticed my name reversed out vertically on the front cover: The future is here. It arrived today. Look out for the American Printer team!â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all intrigued by the new personalized approach.â&#x20AC;? % ) 4"-&4 ."/"(&3 "5 " .*%4*;&% 0''4&5 "/% 41&$*"-5: 13*/5&3 83*5*/( 50 3&26&45 )*4 08/ $01: "'5&3 i#03308*/(w 5)& 130%6$5*0/ ."/"(&3 4

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;I enjoy the new layout, and it certainly seems more personal with the additions. Information in American Printer always helps me develop new ideas.â&#x20AC;? # % 4."-- $0..&3$*"- 13*/5&3

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Very impressive! Congratulations on a really new and exciting publication. I wish you much success.â&#x20AC;? (# 4."-- $0..&3$*"- 13*/5&3

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank you for bringing American Printer back.

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40 // American Printer

Summer 2012

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Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 41

PACKAGING

BRAND MANAGEMENT COPY MANAGEMENT: THE FUTURE IS NOW AND DYNAMIC Dynamic publishing is all around. It’s why Amazon always seems to know just what you’re looking for, and is able to offer more of the products you want –even if you never realized those products existed. It works because a repository of information assets has been created, validated and tagged. Those assets can then be automatically published whenever they fit a specific user’s stated preferences and on-site behaviors. Dynamic publishing has been proven in online marketing, where the ability to serve diverse needs drives commerce. So why not use the same techniques for physical marketing – such as product packaging – when a single product family may have diverse SKUs, images and global messaging? As it turns out, that’s a very profitable idea.

MANY SKUS MEANS MANY OPPORTUNITIES One of the most intriguing applications of the dynamic-publishing model today is in the area of product packaging for consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. Across a product line with many SKUs or for a single product with multiple iterations worldwide, there are many opportunities to “template” the package design and “serve up” the contents dynamically into a printable digital file. For instance, a logo on a cereal box can be pulled automatically from a central digital asset library and placed into a layout every time a new box is designed. The same process could apply to an ingredient panel, a warning label, a corporate address and 800-number –any artwork element that is shared across multiple iterations.

The benefits? Speed, accuracy, efficiency, cost-savings – the same benefits Amazon enjoys as a publisher and that you enjoy –incidentally – as a user of the site.

So what is the state of affairs in dynamic publishing in the consumer product and pharma world? Still developing but already paying benefits. Most manufacturers still have designers pull artwork elements manually from Word, Excel or database files. In a dynamic copy management system, by contrast, the elements automatically “populate” the appropriate spot in the design. The brand team only needs to maintain one official version of each asset in a digital library and to tag the design template accurately so that it links to the right assets each time a file is created.

The old way creates a “one-to-one” relationship, where each iteration is subject to human error; in a dynamic system, it’s “one-to-many,” with errors greatly reduced as long as the single official asset is maintained and up-to-date. Dynamic publishing is all around us.

Car dealers, for example, create print-ready PDF files by selecting a pre-build template and then from an assortment of image and copy assets to localize a brochure. Some brands do employ proprietary software that allows for some automation, but often the artwork must be re-built in the software’s own toolset, not the industry standard Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign.

WHAT’S NEXT? Schawk’s copy management system does allow brands to use the Adobe software their designers are comfortable with, augmented by Schawk-developed plug-ins. Currently several Schawk clients are using the system for copy automation, according to Jackie Leslie, Senior Business Development Engineer for Schawk Digital Solutions, with more expected in the

DEFENDER OF THE FASHION SENSE

42 // American Printer

Summer 2012

We’re all familiar with Coca-Cola Red. But who knew Queen Elizabeth also has brand colors? Pantone teamed with Leo Burnett on a limited edition guide that captures and commemorates some of the Queen’s most memorable color choices since her coronation. It features Pantone Color references as

IT’S A GLOBAL SKU EXPLOSION GreensheetBIZ recently spoke with Kevin Karstedt, consultant and author of “Digital Print Commercialization Assessment Report” about packaging trends. “Today‘s consumers are much more connected, and brand owners want to relate to their various audiences—not only via mobile and social media, but through packaging,” says Karstedt.

“One way they‘re doing that is through packaging segmentation, which is helping to create even more of a stock-keeping-unit (SKU) proliferation.”

Karstedt cites M&Ms as a good example of SKU proliferation. “You have plain, peanut, almond, pretzel and coconut candies,” he says. “Then you have a myriad of offerings— large bags, small bags, Halloween-sized, novelty-packaging and so on. There are probably hundreds of SKUs for M&Ms.”

KEVIN KARSTEDT

According to Karstedt, the packaging world is experiencing a global SKU explosion. “And, because, brand owners are targeting a variety of groups through their packaging, in addition to different SKUs, these packages are produced in numerous configurations—with different images, co-branding, messages, regional nuances, languages, QR codes and colors,” he says. “When you add up all of these new and different products or SKUs, the overall volume of consumer goods, which is around 2+ trillion in North America, remains the same; the volume isn’t going up. Essentially, brand owners are not going after new market share; they‘re going after the same piece of the pie, but in a different manner— via segmented products. As a result, converters are seeing requests for shorter run lengths and faster turnarounds.”

Segmentation combined with SKU proliferation is fueling demands for short-run packaging jobs. “It‘s a paradigm shift,” says Karstedt. “The packaging industry has to be even more flexible than they were five years ago.”

next 12 months. During this time the company also expects to roll out features for dynamically managing barcodes, tables and images as part of its longstanding BLUE™ brand management technology suite.

For now, the copy element alone offers real benefits. “It opens up a world of new possibilities for any type of consumer goods company,” Leslie says. “Companies that have a lot of regulatory copy or a lot of repeatable copy, or even just a lot of SKUs and copy would benefit from a workflow system that enables them to manage copy in a more dynamic way.”

And print isn’t the only medium where the system works for brands. One global lobal Schawk client uses dynamic copy management for the product copy on its extensive ensive emas to commerce site. The takeaway: now is a good time for major brands and pharmas see what this technology can do for them. It’s good, and it’s only going to get better.

This article originally appeared in Schawk’s “Patterns.” Schawk, Inc. is a leading provider of brand development and deployment services, enabling companies of all sizes to connect their brands with consumers.

well as the date and location that determined her outfit color choice.

Precision Printing produced the guide using HP Indigo technology. Comprising 60 images of the Queen, the challenge was matching the colors and printing the ultra-short run of 60 copies. Precision

Pantone 13-4411 Crystal Blue and similar shades are staples in the royal wardrobe.

Printing used an HP Indigo 7500 Digital gital Press and the 7-color (CMYKOV) HP IndiChrome on-press Pantone emulation, simulating the Pantone Matching System that can match 97 percent of the Pantone Color range, to achieve exact color matching.

Summer 2012

AmericanPrinter.com // 43

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44 // American Printer

Summer 2012

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PACKAGING

PACKAGING NOTEBOOK LABEL DIRECTIONS: INTRIGUING TWISTS AT DRUPA 2012

Hi Steve, Are you doing much with labels at Snappy Print? These high-volume machines aren’t for everyone, but they do show us where the market is headed.

(Did you know Heidelberg has a stake in Gallus?) Are there other label developments you’d like to know more about? We look forward to hearing from you.

—KOB

Goss’ Sunday Vpak 3000

46 // American Printer

FLEXO AND LITHO MEET ON A WEB PRESS Flexo specialist Comexi is targeting short run label and packaging applications with a webfed press that combines offset and flexo technology. The Comexi Offset C18 has a central drum with six offset printing decks and two flexo printing decks. It can print on flexible materials such as PE, BOPP and PET with offset electron beam (EB) inks and varnishes and backgrounds with Flexo EB technology.

Benefits include lower plate costs per sq. ft. (offset plates cost about a tenth of flexo plates); decreased environmental l impact (courtesy of the solvent-free EB offset inks); high quality (fine screens and micro text are possible) and improved productivity.

“There are other flexo and litho combination presses but they’re all inline configurations,” explained Wikoff Color Corp.’s Beau Snider. “The Comexi press is a web-fed central impression lithographic press. That’s what makes it one of a kind.”

GOSS WANTS TO BE A PACKAGING BOSS “A lot of the action and attention at this drupa was focused on packaging,” said Jochen Meissner, President and CEO of Goss International. “High interest in our Sunday Vpak presses supports our vision of an expanded role for new web offset solutions.”

Goss International introduced the Sunday Vpak packaging presses in 2010, adapting proven technology from its gapless blanket Sunday commercial web press platform. The variable repeat Vpak presses provide new wide-web offset options for high-speed, highquality folding carton, flexible packaging and label applications. Sunday Vpak 3000 units are available in web widths of up to 75 inches, while Sunday Vpak 500 presses print on webs up to 41 inches wide.

DIGITAL LABEL TECHNOLOGY IS RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW EFI’s Jetrion 4900 is a UV inkjet digital press with inline laser finishing. Its modular design has been described as “a press chassis you can build on for 20 years.”

“I talked to a group of label printers last fall, several of whom said they needed to go digital but lacked a timeline,” said Julie Shaffer, Vice President, Digital Technologies, PIA. “I think the sight of that [EFI]Jetrion [4900], running out finished rolls would have impressed them that digital label printing isn’t an ‘out there’ technology that but a potential means to streamline and improve efficiency.”

IT’S THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF FOLDING CARTON PRESSES “Flexo press vendor Gallus gave a first-class demo of its ICS 670 press featuring inline foil, gravure, embossing, inspection and die cutting,” Kevin Karstedt (Karstedt Partners) reported.

“In a 20-minute presentation they printed three jobs with different inks and images.”

It’s equipped with 11 printing mechanisms, reverse-side printing, cold and hot foiling technology, screen printing, multiple embossing and a panel separation unit.

Summer 2012