Printing News - November 2018

NOVEMBER 2018 28 B usiness is On the Move for Rocken Graphics

Creating a Unique Wide-Format Niche

34 H ighlights in Offset Printing

Still an Exciting Era in Print

36 I deation

An Inspiring Event for Textile Design & Manufacturing

Precious Metals

Metallic solutions that will open up new revenue for your business p.12

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CONTENTS

NOVEMBER 2018

Features ON THE COVER 12 D igital Embellishment Going Mainstream The development of digital embellishment is exploding in the print world - and press manufacturers are taking notice.

by David Zwang

12

22 M icroban Scentry and Scentry Revive: Innovations in Odor Control for Textiles

A new approach to odor control.

by Jeffrey Steele

by Tom Crouser

40 The Talent Shortage Conundrum

by Debra Thompson

41 Event: InPrint Update

by Melissa Magestro

42 Make Your Print Business A Learning Organization

by Jennifer Matt

28 F or Rocken Graphics, Business Is On the Move

10 30 48

Printing Pulse New Products Classifieds/Supplier Directory

by Richard Romano

In the Know- Events

36 Gerber Technology’s Ideation an Inspiration Event for Textile Design and Manufacturing

InPrint, Milan, Italy

Nov 20-22

All4pack, Paris, France

Nov 26-29

Technology and fashion unite at this hands-on event.

44 A riel Swedroe: Best Fashion Story Ever!

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by Dave Fellman

Departments

by Cary Sherburne

Printing News November 2018

24 Who Cares About Price?

by Cary Sherburne

Creating a unique niche for traveling carnivals.

4

by Jeffrey Steele

39 Thoughts on Selling Your Business

by David Zwang

44

18 State of Inks: Digital & Offset

Vorbeck Materials Corporation President and CEO John Lettow discusses the thinnest and strongest material being hailed as a miracle.

A look at solutions for digital label production.

36

by Jennifer Matt

34 Highlights of Offset Printing

20 L abelexpo 2018 - Looking at Hardware

28

16 Hidden Secrets of Print Software Implementation

14 I s Graphene Really a Miracle Material?

by Cary Sherburne

14

Columns

Digital Print for Packaging Europe 2018, Berlin, Germany Dec 4-6

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@PrintingNews; @WideFormatSign

A fashion career born at summer camp.

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by Cary Sherburne

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VP, GROUP PUBLISHER Kelley Holmes kelley@whattheythink.com 772-579-7360 COO Adam Dewitz adam@whattheythink.com 612-424-5090 PRESIDENT Eric Vessels eric@whattheythink.com 740-417-3333 MANAGING EDITOR Richard Romano richard@whattheythink.com 518-290-6584 SENIOR EDITOR Cary Sherburne cary@whattheythink.com 603-430-5463 EDITOR Jessica Taylor jess@whattheythink.com 321-626-2300 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Paul Zimmerman paul@whattheythink.com 973-727-1376 PRODUCTION EDITOR & MANAGER

Amy Hahn amy@whattheythink.com 612-719-0577

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lori Anderson Jennifer Matt Tom Crouser Jeff Steele Dave Fellman Heidi Tolliver-Walker John Giles Deb Thompson Elizabeth Gooding Trish Witkowski Melissa Magestro David Zwang CREATIVE SERVICES Bobbi Burow, CreativityTank LLC bobbi.burow@gmail.com CIRCULATION Jackie Dandoy jdandoy@endeavorb2b.com 800-547-7377 x1711 SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE For change of address or subscription information, email: circ.PrintingNews@omeda.com 877-382-9187; fax: 847-291-4816 PO Box 3257, Northbrook, IL 60065-3257

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Printing News (ISSN 2380-5056) (USPS 500-850) Volume 41, Number 11 is published ten times per year in January, March, April, May, June, August, September, October, November and December by WTT Media, LLC, at 2038 Ford Parkway #218, Saint Paul, MN 55116. Periodicals postage paid at Saint Paul, MN 55116 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Printing News, PO Box 3257, Northbrook, IL 60065-3257. Canada Post PM40612608. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Printing News, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

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Remembrance of Trade Shows Past

T

he fall trade show season is coming to a close, and a common lament heard at peak show season is “There are too many shows!”— often spoken by those of us who find ourselves in airplanes more than our homes or offices. It can seem that way now, but there used to be a lot more.

Back in the 1990s, we had Graph Expo and PRINT, two Seybold shows, a brace of Macworlds, the Gutenberg Festival, the Charlotte Show and a slew of local “MUG”—Macintosh User Group—events we would cover. And those were just domestic. I remember doing solo booth duty at a small event, across the aisle from a software company that had developed some kind of Winnie the Pooh CD-ROM (remember those?). I was stuck there listening to the same song over and over for six hours, until I was entertaining dark thoughts of Pooh and his friends being ritually disemboweled.

There were also the various “Show Daily” experiences, which we had done for a few Seybold shows back in the days before WiFi or even reliable wired network connectivity. Stories were more often than not sneakernetted on floppy disks from the few laptop computers that existed at the time. We look back on those days and wonder how we managed to get anything accomplished.

But there were good times. The late 1990s “dot-com” boom was great for industry shows. A highlight was a Seybold Boston circa 1999 where some company called Sprockets.com had hired The B-52s to come out of retirement and play their private party—although watching a roomful of industry analysts and computer magazine journos dancing to “Rock Lobster” was not for the squeamish.

The most important aspect of trade shows are relationships. Back at some show many moons ago, I slunk out early with one of our sales guys to go for a

drink. We were talking about the industry and shows, and he said that going to annual or semi-annual shows was like going to periodic family reunions.

Especially for us in the media, trade shows and conferences are often less about covering the show and more about reconnecting with old friends whom we don’t see very often.

It’s tempting to think, in this age of Skype or Zoom or Slack or FaceTime or any of the other umpteen million ways of communicating, that the idea of the actual trade show is a quaint, obsolete throwback to an earlier bygone age. I’ve been known to occasionally make that complaint myself, usually on my way to or from the airport. And yet, there is a great deal to be said about actual, in-person meetings. As any decent sales person can tell you, success in selling is all about cultivating relationships.

Pressing the flesh, as it were. So is covering the industry.

It can also be said that the number of shows an industry has is a sign of the health of that industry, and the same can be said for trade publications. When there are “too many shows” that simply means that an industry is vibrant and growing. Look at textiles. It seems like every week there is a show somewhere, which is indicative of the fact that textile decoration and printing is one of the hottest areas today.

So as much of a slog as these shows can be—I carry around a picture of my bed in my wallet so I can remember what it looks like—it’s all for the common good. Just as long as there are no Winnie the Pooh songs involved. ■

Richard Romano Managing Editor richard@whattheythink.com

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PRINTING PULSE Roland DG’s TrueVIS VG Printer/Cutters Awarded Top Honors from Buyers Lab

CHILI publish is proud to announce it has formed strategic partnerships with four companies: Significans Automation, Ink-IT Digital, Apago and PrintIQ. Significans Automation is a global professional services company that develops custom color-managed digital production workflows for clients worldwide. As an integrator, Significans Automation will integrate CHILI publisher into the automated workflows it creates for its clients. The addition of CHILI publisher enables Significans to achieve a swift, custom deployment to accommodate a fast adoption of innovation.

Ink-IT Digital has developed a dynamic publishing solution that integrates three powerful technologies: WooCommerce (a leading e-commerce platform), WordPress and CHILI publish. Called CHILI Woo, this platform works with other WordPress themes and plugins, giving users resources to easily create a publishing website with the robust functionality for which CHILI publish is known.

Apago Inc. develops and markets software for the graphic arts and document management industries, including software solutions for the manipulation of PDF, PostScript and other common graphics formats. To better service its leading customers, Apago has developed a collection of widgets for the CHILI editor.

In a comprehensive laboratory evaluation, Roland DG’s TrueVIS VG series wide-format printer/cutters won two prestigious Buyers Lab awards, including Outstanding Enhanced CMYK Eco Solvent/ Latex 54”/64” Printer (7-Color) and Outstanding High Production CMYK Eco-Solvent/Latex 54”/64” Printer (Dual CMYK). Keypoint Intelligence’s Buyers Lab selected only the TrueVIS VG-640 and VG540, from all contenders globally, for recognition in its two categories.

To determine results, BLI analysts evaluated a variety of inkjets from contenders globally in a number of key performance categories, including “Image Quality,” “Usability” and “Speed.” In earning the Outstanding Enhanced CMYK Eco-Solvent/Latex 54”/64” Printer (7-Color) award, Roland DG’s TrueVIS VG series (VG-640, VG-540) demonstrated “very high-quality output, even when printing at the most productive speed settings.”

Roland’s TrueVIS VG series printer/ cutters earned their second BLI Award in the “Outstanding High Production CMYK Eco-Solvent/ Latex 54”/64” Printer (Dual CMYK)” category.

“At the high-speed print quality setting, this 64-inch unit excelled at producing bright halftone images with very good details and saturation, as well as neutral grays and smooth skin tones, while the highest quality print setting was significantly faster than that of the next fastest device,” BLI analysts reported. “Pair that with the accurate PANTONE color-matching capabilities, as well as above-average print speeds, and this large-format device will undoubtedly satisfy the strictest quality and color demands of any print shop.”

www.printingnews.com/21024886

www.printingnews.com/21028102

CHILI publish announces new strategic partnerships

3M Expands the Qualified Printers and Inks on the 3M MCS Warranty With the HP 882 and 872 latex inks having successfully completed 3M’s certification process, 3M will now include them on the list of qualified printers and co-branded inks for the 3M MCS warranty. This addition expands the warranty-backed solution set for graphics manufacturers with HP Latex R1000 Plus and R2000 Plus printers. For brand-owners, this means that they will receive up to a seven-year vertical warranty on this new solution.

The 3M MCS warranty for these inks is available worldwide and is widely recognized as the industry’s most comprehensive finished graphics warranty,

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providing non-prorated protection for the intended life of each graphic. This includes fading, cracking, peeling, blistering, discoloration and many other aspects of graphic performance. It also includes an easily accessible online matrix, which indicates the specific warranty provided around the world for both vertical and horizontal warranties.

The weathering technology and rigorous testing of ink and printer combinations that 3M stands behind assures end users that their images will perform as expected for the life of the graphic.

www.printingnews.com/21028039

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PRINTING PULSE OKI Data Issues Consumer Warning About Clone Printers

Koenig & Bauer (US) Unveils Its New Corporate Branding As the largest trade show for the North American graphic arts community came to a close on Oct. 2 after three full days, Koenig & Bauer (US) declared its participation at PRINT 18 in Chicago to be a resounding success.

Celebrating its new corporate branding for the first time in North America, the newly designed booth was a busy centerpiece anchored by the firm’s impressive worldwide logo--a large ampersand— conveying the link between the firm’s founding fathers as well as its strong connection with its loyal customers.

At a special event on Sunday evening, Eric Frank and Koenig & Bauer’s management team accepted the prestigious 2018 InterTech technology award for its revolutionary Rapida LiveApp. Recognizing truly unique and innovative first-of-itskind technology, the award was presented to Koenig & Bauer for the Rapida LiveApp. This technology gives press operators the power of the press in the palm of their hand. The app offers control of operations and critical information on easy-tocarry mobile smartphone devices.

It also integrates video content to help an operator interactively learn, while implementing important machine processes such as blanket changing or roller adjustment, incorporating maintenance manager and inventory management.

OKI Data has discovered several companies in the United States and Canada are altering office printers and may be misleading consumers to believe these clone printers are OKI Data Digital Transfer products. To the contrary, these clone printers are not covered by OKI Data’s warranties, not eligible for OKI Data service and will not receive firmware or driver updates from OKI Data.

OKI Data will not supply on-site service, consumables, supplies, spare parts or technical support to these printers. Nor will OKI Data supply the companies that modify these printers with any of the above. OKI Data Americas will not be responsible for these printers or any performance or safety issues that may arise from using one.

Many of these companies are using the OKI model C711 and C831 office printers as a base for their products. However, these clone devices have not been properly modified by OKI to utilize “white” toner nor have they been optimized for the digital transfer process. Moreover, the white toner supplied with these clone printers is not covered by OKI Data’s Material Safety Data Sheets and the potential hazards caused by the chemical toner to health, fire, reactivity and the environment.

Since these companies are not “partners” and have no business relationship with OKI, their consumers do not have access to firmware upgrades and/or drivers, which may potentially shorten the expected life of their purchase. All printers manufactured by OKI Data are covered with a national on-site warranty. Also, an OKI Data printer has a model number identification plate which identifies OKI Data Corporation as the manufacturer, as well as certifications assuring compliance with safety and government agencies.

www.printingnews.com/21028341 Kevin Richard Joins Sustana as Chief Operating Officer Sustana, a manufacturer of premium, sustainable fibers and recycled paper products with the smallest environmental footprint, welcomes renowned industry expert Kevin Richard as Sustana as Chief Operating Officer.

“The hire of Kevin Richard, an accomplished senior executive and business manager, underscores Sustana’s continued commitment to operational efficiency, highquality products, sustainable manufacturing operations and responsible business practices,” said Fabian de Armas, Sustana Chairman and CEO. “We’re pleased to have Kevin join our team and continue our 137-year history of producing the highest quality paper and recycled fibers in the industry.”

As COO, Richard is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Saint Jerome Paper Production and Converting Facility for Rolland papers in Quebec, Canada, as well as Sustana`s recycled fiber operations in Levis, Quebec and De Pere, Wis. Sustana Group has full control over the fiber production, recycled papermaking and converting processes, and Richard’s role will ensure continued superior quality assurance and consistent sustainable manufacturing operations across the board.

www.printingnews.com/21027566

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PRINTING PULSE Mohawk’s Chris Harrold Honored as a Recipient of a 2018 Franklin Luminaire Award Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc., North America’s largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers, envelopes and specialty materials for commercial and digital printing, is pleased to announce that Chris Harrold, Mohawk’s Senior Vice President, Marketing and Creative, received a 2018 Franklin Luminaire Award.

The award recognizes exceptional professionals for their positive contribution and service within the media and graphic communications industry. This is the “Hall of Fame” for the industry, with over 250 professionals recognized since 1971.

Harrold joined Mohawk in 1990, holding positions from sales to marketing. He has played a pivotal role in establishing Mohawk as a market leader in digital printing. His responsibility for brand management, strategic market development and creative direction for Mohawk’s product and marketing campaigns over the years has not only brought opportunity to Mohawk, but has inspired the creative community at large. He is a Lynda. com author and speaks extensively on the role printing and paper play in design, making him an outstanding industry professional worthy of praise for his singular contributions to the graphic communications industry.

SGIA Announces 2018 Student Printing Competition Winners

ePac Flexible Packaging, the all-HP Indigo digital flexible packaging leader, is purchasing 20 HP Indigo 20000 digital presses to expand its business strategically throughout the US. The largest deal to date for the HP Graphics packaging business, the new ePac order is estimated to be worth over $100 million, including hardware, supplies and services. “ePac’s rapid success using HP Indigo is proof positive that the market is ripe for digital transformation,” said Enrique Lores, President, Imaging, Printing and Solutions, HP Inc. “In two years, ePac has become a force in digital flexible packaging with HP Indigo at the center of its visionary business model. We look forward to building on this momentum as more companies like ePac unleash the versatility and power of HP digital print.” ePac is enjoying triple-digit growth by delivering high-quality packaging with fast turnaround to benefit brands, especially SMBs. The 20 new HP Indigo 20000 presses are scheduled to be installed at sites throughout the US by 2020, as it expands its business model to 15 locations.

Four ePac sites are currently operating eight HP Indigo 20000 presses.

The Specialty Graphic Imaging Association honored excellence in student printing at the 2018 SGIA Expo, awarding winners of the Academy of Screen and Digital Printing Technologies Tom Frecska Student Printing Competition.

This year’s Best of Show winners are Gabi Huben from Careerline Tech and Jose Revueltas from Pasadena City College.

“Each and every year, it becomes harder to choose a winner from the excellent submissions we receive.

This year’s entries show off incredible creativity, and the winners highlight the best of what we saw,” said Erin Nuss, Manager of Academic and Training Programs, SGIA. The recognitions honor secondary (high school and vocational) and post-secondary (technical school, college or university) graphic arts students for superior imaging work in a variety of categories. Awards of Excellence are given to first place winners in each category, and two outstanding first place winners – one from each educational division – are given Best of Show. Both Huben and Revueltas will receive a special Academy Student Achievement Award and cash prizes of $500 to use toward their graphic arts education and $500 for their school. To see the full list of winners, visit SGIA.org.

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HP and ePac announce record rollout of 20 HP Indigo digital presses to transform flexible packaging market

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November 2018 Printing News

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DIGITAL & INKJET

Digital Embellishment

Going Mainstream

Labelexpo 2018, PRINT 2018 and SGIA 2018 are over, and they were pretty exciting shows.

The crowds were enthusiastic and buying from early indications.

In this second of two parts I will look at how embellishment is moving from a standalone mechanical process to digital mainstream production.

Story by David Zwang

B

oth Labelexpo 2018, Print 2018 and SGIA 2018 ended on high notes, with a lot of excitement and, more importantly for those who exhibited, sales. In the last article I looked at some of the new flexo, digital, and hybrid presses.

However, I found some of the more interesting hardware developments were around offline and inline digital embellishment and finishing.

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

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Since the introduction by MGI and Scodix of the 3D offline digital varnish embellishment printers at drupa 2012, there has been increasing development in this area to the point where we are now seeing not only more offline but now inline and even bespoke digital embellishment, and not just 3D varnish effects but more elaborate effects, as well. In fact, as the digital printing of labels and use of varnish enhancements in digital print have increased, the desire for inline embellishment and finishing has pushed hardware manufacturers to find new ways to enhance printed products of all types.

Embellishment using hot and cold foil film has been available for years, but enabling this explosion in digital embellishment development are

three main components: quick drying varnishes, high-volume printheads, and most recently Nano ink and metal technology that can be mixed with the electrophotographic polymers or ejected through the printheads. Inkjet printheads from Fujifilm Dimatix are being used for direct print to objects, including raised embellishment, and Xaar printheads are at the core of many of the 3D applications as well.

This rapid evolution includes the award-winning MGI JETVarnish 3D Web introduced in 2017 at Labelexpo.

MGI has also been working with their partner Konica Minolta on end-toend packaging print solutions for labels and packaging. This continued development should ultimately lead to the long-awaited MGI AlphaJET B1 Sheetfed Digital Press with inline print, WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 6:50 AM

DIGITAL & INKJET HP Indigo GEM solution

embellishment, finishing, and printed electronics rumored to be shown this November at ALL4PACK in Paris. In the meantime, Scodix is continuing to develop their embellishment product line with its B1 format E106, currently installed at Gundlach Packaging where it is being used for folding cartons.

This is in addition to their currently available flagship ULTRA2 Series of presses. Duplo has released their DDC-810 Raised Spot UV Coater to address the needs of those with entry level production needs, so digital embellishment is now available for a full range of printing demands.

While many digital press manufacturers are partnering with many of these offline solutions, one of the first “inline” products we saw was the HP Indigo GEM solution, which was introduced in 2017 and then demonstrated and offered for “pre-sale” at Labelexpo in Belgium.

At Labelexpo 2018, it made it to

the product portfolio. The one-pass solution is installed inline and can provide a “fully digital, tooling-free, and streamlined production line. It enables an efficient, print process for any label type, and allows the application of digital foil, tactile silk WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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screen-like effects, spot varnish, mini textures, digital holograms, full flood varnish in gloss and matte, and more.”

This solution was developed with JetFX Technologies and will be sold exclusively in this configuration by HP. JetFX also has an OEM relationship with AB Graphic International (ABG) for an offline webfed system, and for the first time showed their own branded sheetfed embellishment platform at PRINT 18. When asked, they said their solution is at least 30% faster and 30% less expensive than their market competitors. Other press manufacturers are jumping in, as well. As previously reported, Xeikon is working on one-pass inline digital embellishments using their Fusion Technology. It should include high opaque white, foiling, matte, and gloss varnish in flood and spot modes when released.

Inline embellishment in digital toner presses has been evolving as

well. While it started with raised varnish and is available from Xerox, Ricoh, and Kodak, it has reached new heights (no pun intended) as seen in the release of the Xerox Iridesse, which can not only add 3D varnish effects, but can also include gold and silver metallics and high opaque white. I covered this press in great detail in an earlier article.

We can only expect to see even more development in this area in label and packaging production, but also in commercial and industrial print as well. Just remember that everything that glitters is not gold…

More to Come …

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

Find article here: PrintingNews.com/ 21028970 ■

(Top) AB Graphic International (ABG); (Right) MGI JETVarnish 3D Web

November 2018 Printing News

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TEXTILES

Is Graphene Really a

Miracle Material?

A great deal is being written about graphene, in textiles and other industries. Senior Editor Cary Sherburne talked to Vorbeck Materials Corp. President & CEO Dr. John Lettow to learn more about what many are characterizing as a miracle material.

Story by Cary Sherburne

I

s graphene really a miracle material? The folks at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences seemed to think so. In 2010, they awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in the UK “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.”

In its press release, the committee stated: “Graphene is a thin flake of carbon, just one atom thick. As a material it is completely new— not only the thinnest ever but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity, it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat, it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again.”

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

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receiving this prestigious award and the glowing description of the material from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. However, it should be noted that beyond the great work at the University of Manchester, there is significant other work going on to leverage the value of this miracle material for new and innovative uses. We spoke with Dr. John Lettow, President & CEO of Vorbeck Materials Corp., whose company is also conducting groundbreaking graphene work.

WhatTheyThink: Dr. Lettow, when did you and the team begin working with graphene?

John Lettow: We started working with Princeton in the 2005–2006 timeframe, around the time the very first exciting papers about graphene were coming out, and well before the hype of the Nobel prize. Vorbeck derived its technology from research at Princeton—we license technology from them—and Princeton Professor Ilhan Askay is a co-founder of the company and a scientific advisor for us.

WTT: Can you describe graphene for us in layman’s terms?

JL: Graphene is derived from graphite, or related to graphite chemically. I use the analogy that graphite, which you might most

Top photo:Touchpad on shirt sleeve, external view.

Above: Vorbeck graphene printed antenna tag.

commonly relate to as the material used in pencils, is like a ream of paper, where you have lots of carbon layers stacked up in crystallographic order. Graphene is the single sheet within that stack. When you are using graphite in a pencil, it is soft. As you write, chemically what happens is the layers within that ream of paper are sliding over each other and leaving a smudge. When you take the single sheet out, it is very strong, like a single sheet of paper, and has very different electrical and thermal properties, where the electrons move quickly and easily. It’s a very exceptional material.

WTT: How are you working with graphene? What are the application areas you are exploring?

JL: We are working in three different areas: batteries, inks and coatings, and blending graphene WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 12:25 PM

TEXTILES Vorbeck Materials Corp.

President & CEO Dr. John Lettow

with other materials to enhance not only electrical conductivity, but also the strength and electrical/thermal properties of those materials.

WTT: Can you give us examples of each?

JL: With batteries, graphene goes into the electrodes of the battery itself, the anode and cathode, or negative and positive electrodes. When you mix graphene into the electrode compositions, you get a material with a faster charge/recharge rate because of the electrical conductivity of graphene blended in with lithiumion storage materials. You also get a longer lifetime—it can go through more cycles before it wears down.

WTT: Is this commercially available yet?

JL: It is not fully commercial yet; it is still in development, at least in our case. It is hard to predict when it will become commercially available because we are working through partners to productize it and are dependent on their technology insertion cycles. But I would expect batteries with graphene will begin to enter the market within the next year or two.

WTT: How about inks and coatings? What are some of the applications there?

JL: This is primarily for printed electronics. It can be used with inkjet, flexography, screen printing and offset. We do have products that are being utilized based on

printed electronics with commercial customers and with the military. The benefit as opposed to other ways to create printed electronics is that previously, we were using carbon black or carbon particles which have lower conductivity, or silver particles.

Some of the advantages of using graphene versus those materials are that graphene as a carbon is much more conductive than other carbonbased conductive materials. Against silver inks, it is much more flexible and robust in the sense that you can take things printed with our graphene inks and boil them in salt water for hours and they don’t corrode. You can flex them thousands of times, and they don’t break or wear out. So versus carbon or metallics, our inks Continue on page 47

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November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 12:25 PM

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW

The Hidden Secrets of Print Software Implementation The implementation of print software is as important as the software itself. With every software tool there is a foundational knowledge that will help you be more self-sufficient.

Those printers who understand their software tools succeed in spite of lack of support from print software vendors.

Story by Jennifer Matt

S

oftware is a tool. Software implementation is the business process of getting your people comfortable with the use of the new tool in your business. Software is expensive to build; good software Jennifer Matt Jennifer Matt writes, speaks, and consults with printers worldwide who realize their ability to leverage software is critical to their success in the Information Age.

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that elegantly solves a business challenge while making it joyful to use is really expensive to build. Most vendors focus their efforts on the building of the software and very little of their efforts on what I’ll call “translating” the value, knowledge and best use of the software.

What happens when you build great software and then fail to invest in the implementation? If I could sum it up in one word, it would be “frustration,” because it best describes how all the players involved feel about the outcomes.

■■ T he people who built the software—product managers, software developers and quality assurance testers—will see their hard work not reach its highest potential. Nobody likes to build software that doesn’t get used.

■■ The business that paid for the software development vendor will not see their returns in the form of licenses, subscriptions and profitable scale of software sales.

■■ The end user of the software will literally be left to create WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/30/18 8:38 AM

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW their own interpretation of the software based on a limited knowledge and typically a small amount of effort to learn. This end user will make a lot of assumptions about what the software can and cannot do; people will believe them and make big business decisions based on these often errant assumptions. The end user will utilize a very small percentage of the functionality of the software.

■■ The business people who bought the software will notice a large gap between promises made in the sales process and the outcomes they are achieving in the use of the software.

The implementation of print software is as important as the

software itself because a poor implementation can kill even a great software product. When frustration is high with all the above groups, nobody wins.

Implementation does not have to be labor-intensive or require you to be on-site with the users.

Implementation simply has to successfully explain how the product works (in a fundamental way) so that users are not simply taught where to click but understand how the system is organized. Most implementation simply teaches users where to click according to a very limited script of one way to use the software. When those of us who build software think through features, we are constantly considering ways to keep it flexible.

So the team building the software

might spend lots of time and money building a flexible application, yet the team sent to implement the software is using it as a restricted application.

Why do vendors use this limited approach to implementation?

If you simplify the implementation of software, you can do it faster to recognize service revenues and teach new “implementers” how to “implement” easily. After all, knowing where to click doesn’t require deep knowledge. The result is a slightly more knowledgeable implementer imparting task-level information to a user. When they leave, the user knows how to do simple things, but if anything outside that narrow path through the system happens, which it does everyday, they have Continue on page 46

For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10003720 WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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November 2018 Printing News

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10/30/18 8:39 AM

OFFSET PRINTING

The State of Inks:

Digital and Offset Story by Jeffrey Steele

W

ith profit margins squeezed by increasing competition, print service providers need help making their operations more efficient.

Thankfully, improvements in digital and offset inks are coming to the rescue. The steady drumbeat of technological advance has helped make inks more versatile, reliable and cost-effective. At the same time, that evolution has helped open up new markets for PSPs, from packaging to industrial part customization.

Given that backdrop, Printing News has convened a small panel of experts to address ways PSPs can leverage today’s modern inks for greater sales and profits. In this report, they focus on ways digital and offset inks have evolved in the last year, the latest trends in ink durability, versatility and customization capabilities and, most importantly, how ink breakthroughs can help PSPs become more competitive in an ever more demanding industry.

According to Volance Carlin, product marketing manager for Mimaki USA, ink technologies have Jeffrey Steele In addition to Printing News and Wide-Format and Signage, Jeffrey Steele’s articles have appeared more than 2,000 times in such publications as Barron’s, Chicago Tribune, and more.

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become available in competitive digital formats that allow companies to take back control of mid-volume production processes to address even the most on-demand or short-run projects using digital print. Mimaki has seen UV-LED inks, for the entry to mid-level segments, increase the competitive position of offset digital inks in terms of media versatility.

At the same time, they have added

Carlin said.

Digital also continues its trend toward the development of packaging-type Energy Curable inks.

“Offset customers are continuing to move to greener conventionaltype product offerings, especially in light of new Proposition 65 changes,” reports Todd Dragoo, technical services director for offset/digital with Schaumburg, Ill.-based Inx International Ink Co.

Monitoring trends

ink technologies have become available in competitive digital formats that allow companies to take back control the highest scratch-resistance and durability available in digital production.

Durability is also enhanced through external factors. UV Silvering, for example, is addressed by developments on the laminate side, such as Mimaki Vision Laminate 310.

“This laminate film even further increases the durability, and allows digital ink to lend its versatility toward the highest quality demands,”

When it comes to trends in inks, Dragoo reports the offset conventional market is holding steady with growth areas seen in energy curable types.

“Digital products continue to grow into the packaging and industrial print markets with increased speeds and DPI available,” he said.

At Avery Dennison, one of the most notable trends has been a move toward compliance, said Adam J. Tourville, Painesville, Oh.based accounts manager, digital ink solutions.

“Now all our customers are asking us to make inks that are more compliant with Prop 65 or REACH,” he said. “Our larger OEMs are asking for it, and that’s being seen even from our smallest customers. And it’s really difficult to keep up with. Luckily, we’re Avery Dennison, so we have a great compliance team. The Avery Dennison customers who sell the ink to end users must list the compliance information on the label. That means we have to supply them with the WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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OFFSET PRINTING information they need to accurately label the product.”

A related trend is the industry’s effort to find safer, water-based versions of inks that can print to plastic the way UV LED can.

“It results from regulations, and that a lot of these companies we deal with have their own restricted substance list,” Tourville said. “They use these RSLs to ensure they’re not liable downstream to the consumer for toxins in their products.”

Tourville reports his company is always seeking new technologies and new efficiencies to add value to the inks it manufactures.

“One of the things we’re doing is making sure our supply chain is keeping up with our demand for materials. Earlier this year, there was a shortage of photo initiator, the catalyst that causes inks to cure in UV and UV LED curable inks.

It was a shortage that affected all ink manufacturers. Luckily, our purchasing and supply chain partners were able to keep up, and we didn’t have to put anyone on allocation.”

From Mimaki USA’s perspective, the most notable development is the trend in original ink usage, Carlin said. As competition increases, delivery times are slashed and margins are under pressure, so there is increasing scrutiny focused on workflow performance.

A machine dropping out of production for ink issues or an order rejected for color consistency is costly and can tarnish the reputation of a business. Many users are therefore choosing the stability and reliability of an original solution. Mimaki has secured a competitive offering in inks, and has witnessed a resulting very positive response, Carlin said.

“Also, we see a strong increase in PSPs offering full solutions from offset to multiple ink types in digital and integrating this wide WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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variety of technology side-byside to be able to meet customers’ demands,” she said. “Further, customization remains a solid growth market with the trend spreading rapidly to additional types. From the humble beginnings of iPhone covers, we are now seeing entire houses decorated, kitchen-type backdrops customized, industrial park customization to different languages or model types, one-off web-to-print solutions and [more]. And with that, a dizzying array of materials and substrates needing to be printed, each making their own unique demands on an ink that we, as a manufacturer, must then answer to. It’s a challenging and fun industry to be a part of.”

Leveraging inks New developments in ink technology are opening great new paths to profit for PSPs, industry experts report. And they are in increasing need of such opportunities. As competition grows, margins are under steadily increasing pressure for all PSPs. That has resulted in a consistent and ongoing search for opportunities to increase efficiency, Carlin said.

Efficiency can essentially be derived from two areas, she said.

The first is streamlining workflow, reducing cost and increasing profit.

Ink, though a strong influencer of total running cost, is no longer among the only considerations.

Thought must be given to total running costs, including electricity consumption, operator involvement, reduction of misprinting, waste and down time, as well as expenses related to maintenance and repairs.

Fine tuning these elements should result in the best possible outcome, and “allow users to streamline their production into lean, mean, profitgenerating machines,” she said.

The second way PSPs can realize greater efficiency is by diversifying their range of product offerings into higher-margin or less competitive product areas.

Identifying a larger number of niche-type applications ideally suited to their network and existing expertise is a tried-and-tested strategy for increasing business and profits, Carlin said.

“More than ever before, there is a plethora of options for every type of PSP,” she said “Even smaller PSPs now have the opportunity to harness the power of industrial technologies like UV-LED in a profitable way. Mid-to-large range PSPs have more technology options than ever before to approach an even wider or specifically smaller audience.”

Tourville said as inks develop, they’re more efficient at printing to lower-cost, and harder-to-adhere-to substrates. They are also adding more color, increasing the gamut.

“So PSPs who don’t rely only on the inks they’re given but actively try to go out and find solutions to their problems tend to be more profitable, because they’re first in that space,” he said. “Those PSPs who learn to profile themselves can maximize how far the ink goes on materials.

They are able to limit the ink down to where they get great coverage without overuse.”

Dragoo notes increased speed of digital printing equipment continues to open opportunities for many printers to convert to or add digital printing to their operations.

“Shorter runs are still the primary drivers behind this move, with lower upfront costs to print a digital job [including] plates, blankets and change-over time,” he said.

Find article here: PrintingNews. com/21027169 ■

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10/29/18 5:52 PM

LABELS & PACKAGING

Labelexpo 2018— Looking at Hardware

Labelexpo 2018 in Rosemont (Chicago area) is over, and it was an exciting show. The crowds were enthusiastic and, from early indications, buying. In this first of two parts, I will look at interesting press hardware trends.

Story by David Zwang

L

Gallus Smartfire

abelexpo 2018 in Rosemont ended on a high note, with a lot of excitement and, more importantly for those who exhibited, sales. For those of you not familiar with this show, it alternates each year between Europe and the U.S.

Xeikon 3030 + entryDCoat

The European show is usually bigger and garners a higher attendance. However, this year, the U.S. version of the expo, while physically smaller, was not without a lot of exciting new products.

In an effort to reach those service

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

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providers newly interested in label production, there were a number of new entrylevel press hardware introductions shown.

Xeikon announced a Label Discovery solution which consists of a Xeikon 3030 + entryDCoat and digital converting line that can be used inline or offline.

Mark Andy displayed and celebrated more than 100 installations of the Digital One, their entry-level solution. Memjet OEM partners, including Colordyne, and PPSI showed their latest offerings built with the new DuraLink imaging platform. We will cover more developments in the DuraLink platform in a future article. Epson introduced their new SurePress along with a selection of ColorWorks commercial label printers.

Heidelberg/Gallus premiered its Gallus Smartfire, their entry-level label solution powered by Memjet printheads. This introduction is interesting in a number of ways. First, Heidelberg has recently committed to integrate the Heidelberg and Gallus sales, support and R&D teams, which should make it easier to get existing Heidelberg customers to look at the Gallus label presses as they make their entry into label production.

Second, and even more importantly, the price for the Smartfire is about $150,000, bringing the barrier of entry within reach for those looking at a new production line.

And those were just a few. Now that there are quite a few entry-level offerings, it will be interesting to see if the projections of “significant” interest of commercial printers to get into label production will pan out.

HP Indigo, the biggest player in digital label production, while not WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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LABELS & PACKAGING Bobst Digital Flexo press

introducing a new press, did introduce many new solutions and features for their existing line of label presses.

GEM, the embellishment technology developed by JetFx is entering its beta customer testing. They extended their Pack Ready label solution to their entire label and packaging press portfolio. Additionally, there were new enhancements to the Indigo 6900 addressing brand protection and security.

One of the most interesting things at the expo was the Bobst Digital Flexo press. Based around the REVO project developed with nine partners, this new seven-color (CMYKOGV) flexo press is capable of achieving 100 percent of the Pantone extended color gamut. It’s not the first time we have seen extended color gamut production, but this implementation is with a flexo press, and not just any flexo press. Bobst has developed an interesting system that allows a complete plate change between two different jobs with one button in less than three minutes. In the image, you can see “Job One” is running and “Job Two” plate cylinder is in standby. Once there is a desire to change to the next run, a button on the control panel is hit and the plate cylinder from “Job One” is raised to standby, while the plate cylinder from “Job Two” is lowered into position.

Mark Andy, the U.S. market share leader in flexo label presses, added three new models to their Performance Series line: P9E, P7E WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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and the P5E. The 26-inch-wide P9E is targeted at shrink sleeves, flexible packaging and foil lidding for those needing production throughput.

Other highlights of their expo offerings were the Digital Plus Screen, a rail-mounted UV digital print bar which can be installed on any of their new or existing Performance Series flexo presses, as was the enhancement and integration of their acquired Rotoflex line of finishing equipment. Nilpeter showed

the transition to and intersection of inkjet and flexo was evident throughout the expo. There were digital flexo hybrid presses throughout the expo. Interestingly, many of them were modified versions of the Graphium Hybrid press which uses the Edale flexo transport and FFEI imaging. The one version absent from this expo was the Océ Labelstream 4000 we covered earlier this year.

Durst and OMET introduced their new sales and marketing collaboration in N.A., as well as the XJet, their new Inkjet/Flexo hybrid press, based on the Tau 330 and the Omet X6 flexo platform.

In the next article on Labelexpo, we will continue to look at other finishing and embellishment hardware and trends in labels and packaging.

XJet, a new Inkjet/Flexo hybrid press

More to Come … three new presses for the first time in the U.S. These presses are all designed with the latest digital control technology and can be fitted with their five-color inkjet print engine. The Domino exhibit, which was always busy, included a full range of new production inkjet label and flexible packaging products.

Another new entry into the U.S. market is Edale, the UK-based flexo press manufacturer.

Overall, and to no surprise,

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

Find article here PrintingNews. com/21028434 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 5:20 PM

TEXTILES

Microban Scentry and Scentry Revive:

Innovations in Odor Control for Textiles

Microban recently released Scentry Revive, the second generation of a unique odor control fabric finish that was developed in response to brands seeking a more innovative approach to odor control. This approach could reduce the number of times a piece of clothing needs to be washed - its primary environmental benefit.

Story by Cary Sherburne

I

n a recent article, we covered the value and importance of, and new developments in, functional fabric finishes that extend fabric utility. Since then, we learned about another innovative and quite unique set of fabric finishes from Microban that offer a different approach to odor control. We spoke with Brian Aylward, Microban’s Director of Liquid Antimicrobial Research and Development, to learn more about the company and its latest efforts to bring innovation to odor control in textiles.

WhatTheyThink: Mr. Aylward, let’s start with a little background about Microban and its work in the textiles industry.

Brian Aylward: Microban works with more than 250 brand partners, and our antimicrobial and odor control solutions are featured in more than 1,000 products globally. In textiles, Microban is focused on being the world’s leading provider of these products. In that respect, we offer a wide array of product solutions to our customers around the world. We also see ourselves as a leading innovator of textile functional finishes, as we strive to develop new and improved products to control odor or inhibit the growth of bacteria, mold, etc., on various textile products.

WTT: It sounds like you have two different approaches to this.

BA: Yes. Our textile portfolio is divided into two segments: antimicrobials and odor neutralizers. Our traditional products include antimicrobials that inhibit

the odor-causing bacteria on textiles. By blocking bacterial growth, antimicrobials prevent odor from building up on a garment while you are wearing it or while it is in the hamper. In 2014, we began reaching out to our brand partners to ask what they were looking for in terms of new innovations. We got a lot of feedback that customers wanted to see some innovative alternatives to the antimicrobial chemistries that are traditionally used. We set out on a research project to design what ultimately became Scentry, our first odor neutralizing technology, which was launched in 2015 and is in use by a variety of customers.

WTT: How does Scentry work?

BA: It is an odor capture technology designed to specifically attract and trap the odor molecules that make up the characteristic smell of sweat, preventing the odor from coming back off the textile.

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

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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TEXTILES WTT: How is Scentry Revive different, and why would someone choose one over the other?

BA: Launched this year, Scentry Revive is our secondgeneration textile deodorizing technology. Like Scentry it works by capturing and neutralizing odors, but with a greater level of performance. Revive continuously neutralizes odors, and that will allow consumers who have a Scentry Revive-treated garment to re-wear it without odor buildup. Both Sentry and Sentry Revive provide a different means of odor control vs. traditional antimicrobials. Scentry is a nice solution for garments that are going to be washed. This is because Scentry acts like a sponge, which traps and holds odors. Once a Scentry-treated garment is worn, it can go into the wash, and the washing process releases the odor.

This recharges the Scentry treatment for the next time the garment is worn. Scentry Revive neutralizes odor more continuously. We see that best used for textile applications where the item may not be washed as frequently, or for footwear that doesn’t get washed at all.

WTT: Do they both last for the traditional specification of 40 to 50 washings?

BA: Yes. WTT: Was there a specific issue with antimicrobials that brands were trying to avoid?

BA: No. Our partners were looking for something different that could set them apart in the market.

WTT: Are Scentry and Scentry Revive applied at the mill?

BA: Scentry and Scentry Revive can be applied to fabrics during the dyeing and finishing process. We work closely with textile mills to ensure these treatments are optimized. Both products can also be applied to yarns WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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making them great options for socks as well.

WTT: Do Scentry or your antimicrobial treatments have any limitations with regard to print—analog or digital, direct-to-fabric or heat transfer?

BA: We do have customers that are looking to print on these treated fabrics. To ensure that’s possible, we work extensively during product R&D to ensure new products like Scentry have minimal impact on processes the textile will go through after the finish is applied. We also work to ensure new products don’t significantly impact fabric properties like hand feel, wicking, etc.

WTT: There’s a lot of discussion these days about sustainability, or the lack thereof, in the textile industry. Do these products help with that at all?

BA: While our primary thrust is leading the odor control space, a key area that we—and our customers— focus on is the sustainability trend. Customers are concerned about water and energy consumption during the textile manufacturing cycle, landfill issues with discarded textile-based products and the like. Our goal is to make sure we are designing sustainable solutions that help our customers achieve those objectives as well. The angle that helps our customers market their products is around the water and energy savings from reduced laundering of garments. If we can extend the time between washings, it helps our customers’ customers cut down on their energy and water consumption. Plus, washing is what wears out your garments most quickly.

If you can cut down on the amount of washing, you cut down on the rate at which you are disposing of garments. Less washing also reduces the microfibers that are shed into the waterways system.

WTT: A professor and researcher at the North Carolina State University College of Textiles, Dr. A.J. West, told me, “If you don’t have to wash your socks every day, but every other day instead, we can save about four billion gallons of water just on socks alone.”

Are there any limitations on fabric types with these finishes?

BA: We typically design solutions to cover an array of different fabric types. Most of the odor problems are in polyester and poly-Spandex garments in sportswear. We definitely focus on those areas, but we have solutions that can be used with cottons, nylons, linens, etc.

WTT: What might we expect to see from Microban in the future?

BA: Watch this space. We are continuing to innovate, and we have an eye to launching new products to the marketplace. We’ll be happy to share more you as we do.

Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21028437 ■

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10/29/18 1:09 PM

WORKFORCE

Who Cares About Price?

B Story by David M. Fellman

ack in January, I wrote about “The Importance Of Selling Yourself.” The seed for that column was an article I found online in the Harvard Business Review. The author, Steve W. Martin, wrote “6 Reasons Salespeople Win or Lose a Sale,” presenting findings from his years of win-loss analysis and research.

Obviously, selling – or not selling – yourself was one of those reasons.

However, I bookmarked the article because Martin raised another issue -- the difference between price conscious, price-sensitive and priceimmune.

Three Categories “Price plays an important role in every sales cycle,” Martin said.

“Since it is a frequent topic during buyer conversations, salespeople can become fixated on the price of their product and believe they have to be lowest. However, decision makers have different propensities to buy, and the importance of price falls into three categories. For ‘price conscious’ buyers, product price is a top decision-making factor. For ‘price sensitive’ buyers, product price is secondary to other decision-making factors such as functionality and vendor capability. For ‘price immune’ Dave M. Fellman Dave M. Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, Raleigh, NC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Reach him at dmf@davefellman.com .

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buyers, price becomes an issue only when the solution they want is priced far more than the others being considered.”

If you can figure out where your buyer fits on that scale, you’ll be way ahead of the game.

Price and Profit If you can sell at higher prices, you’ll make more profit. That’s a pretty straightforward concept, right?

In execution, though, it often suffers from the perception that a low price is the best way to define value. As Martin points out, that’s true of some buyers, but not all of them.

I use the term “Price Monsters” to describe buyers who make all of their buying decisions based strictly and only on price. I like to ask printers to tell me what percentage of buyers they think fit that category, and the answer usually represents a very small percentage. My own feeling is that 20 percent would be the high end of the range.

So here’s the question. If only 20 percent – or less – of all print buyers are price conscious/Price Monsters, why should you be so focused on offering everyone your lowest price?

Risk Tolerance In my experience, the factor most likely to affect a buyer’s

position on price is his or her risk tolerance. Printing is a custommanufacturing industry, and a lot can go wrong between an order and a finished, delivered product.

That can include everything from quality failures to service failures to the failure of the product to do what the buyer wants/needs it to do.

That, to me, suggests several questions to be added to your repertoire. In addition to the spec questions, I’d like to see you ask: “How much risk do you feel with a project like this? What could go wrong, and how bad would that hurt?”

A high level of risk and a low level of tolerance would be a pretty good indicator of price immunity. A low level of risk and a high level of tolerance would be an equally good indicator of price consciousness.

Think about the difference between a marketing manager who needs something turned quickly for a trade show and a purchasing manager ordering a commodity item with no particular deadline. I’m not suggesting that you gouge anyone when they’re desperate, but I am suggesting that you want to sell at the high end of your range whenever you can.

You should have a range on every estimate, from the premium price you’d like to get to the lowest price you’d be willing to offer – in other words, the lowest price that would provide you with a satisfactory profit margin. And don’t ever forget that your secondary goal on every quote is to get the order. Your primary goal is to run a profitable business.

Find article here: PrintingNews. com/21027175 ■

WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 1:14 PM

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10/29/18 1:14 PM

VIDEOS

Seamless Cloud-Based Mailing Solutions Scott Eganhouse, Vice President of Business Development for TEC Mailing Solutions, talks about the importance of cloudbased mailing, and winning a Red Hot Technology Award.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21025656

Durst True Digital Tile Production Durst Gamma DG, the first Single Pass Digital Glaze/Structure Printer in production in a glazing line at Ceramiche Piemme, Italy showing the potential of a TRUE DIGITAL tile production.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21025837

Ricoh Unveils New Workflow and Data Analytics Solution Ryan Kiley, Director of Strategic Production Services for Ricoh USA, talks about the company’s new workflow automation and print shop management tools.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21026344

Digital Defense: China Chip Hack Infiltrates U.S. Firms Digital Defense is a live webcast hosted by Bloomberg Technology’s cybersecurity reporter Jordan Robertson. This week, Robertson discusses a major hardware supply chain attack from China.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21026350

Supply Concepts Unleashes the Xerox Iridesse Discover more: Learn more about why Supply Concepts is so excited about the many capabilities of their new Xerox Iridesse Production Press.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21026351

EFI Textile Ecosystem Experience the textile workflow from design to cut and sew with the EFI Textile Ecosystem. EFI has a solution to improve productivity, quality and to optimize the textile process.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21026605

Oki Pushes the Envelope Arthur Verwey, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Oki Data Americas, discusses their newest technologies in digital envelope presses.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21027066

Frank-ception: Taking On a New Dimension at PRINT 18 Frank is beside himself over Augmented Reality (AR)-enabled print at PRINT 18, which he demonstrates on an iPad. Find video here: Printingnews.com/21027127

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 12:38 PM

Xante Makes an Impact at Print18 Robert Ross, President of Xante, talks about the success he had with Print18 in their new, interactive classroom booth, plus the excitement of bringing home three new technology awards.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21025439

Alliance Graphics & Printing Has the Océ ColorStream Series Alliance Graphics & Printing has experienced faster turnarounds, seamless operation, and new business opportunities with the help of the Océ ColorStream® 3700 inkjet press.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21027631

Pat McGrew on UGE Pat McGrew, Director of Production Workflow at Keypoint Intelligence, discusses what UGE means for the future of print.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21027911

New RSA Releases Help Boost In-Plant Productivity Vince Tutino, Senior Product Manager for Rochester Software Associates (RSA), discusses three updated products designed to increase productivity and automation for in-plants.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21027923

Mutoh Installer Justin Pate Wraps the Side of a Vehicle Mutoh’s Master Installer, Justin Pate, teaches you how to wrap the side of a car.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21028156

Monitor Calibrations Basics - How to use ColorMunki Software Learn how to calibrate your monitor to ensure your prints match what you see.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21028159

Global Graphics On the New PDF 2.0 Martin Bailey, CTO of Global Graphics, talks with Dave Zwang about the exciting new PDF 2.0 and what it means for the printing industry.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21028318

The Present and Future of SGIA Ford Bowers, President and CEO of SGIA, talks about this year’s final SGIA Expo—as well as the future of the association and the expo, as both change with the industry.

Find video here: Printingnews.com/21028337

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

For Rocken Graphics,

Business Is On the Move Gibsonton, Fla.’s Rocken Graphics has carved out a unique niche among print service providers: signage and tent graphics for traveling carnivals. We spoke with Kenny Smith, founder of Rocken Graphics, about how he got into this market, as well as how his product offerings extend beyond simple printed graphics.

Story by Richard Romano

P

rint service providers often carve out unique niches, or serve highly specific vertical markets, but Gibsonton, Fla.’s Rocken Graphics may have one of the most singular client bases in all of print: traveling carnivals. If you have ever been to the funfair when it rolls in town, you know they are mobile amusement parks that

include rides, food and merchandise vendors, shooting galleries and other games, as well as various human and animal acts. They set up in one particular location for a week or two, then pull up stakes and move on to the next location.

Carnival folks need graphics—very Richard Romano Richard Romano has been writing about the graphic communications industry for 20 years. He is an industry analyst and author or co-author of more than half a dozen books.

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bright and vibrant graphics to attract carnival attendees—and that’s where Rocken Graphics comes in.

Launched 18 years ago, founder Kenny Smith started his career in those very carnivals and discovered that necessity was the mother of invention, at least in terms of his business.

“I was in the food concession business,” Smith said. “I had six food concession trailers on the road, and my wife and I travelled. I couldn’t find anyone to make graphics and signs for us, so I bought my own plotter and software and started doing my own.”

He soon learned that other carnival vendors had the same problem.

“There were several other people that couldn’t find anyone to do it for them either, so they started asking me to make them signs. Eighteen years later, the food trailers are long gone and all I do is make signs, graphics, prints and tents.”

Rocken serves traveling carnivals all over the country.

Their equipment lineup includes four Mimaki wide-format printers and a Roland SP 540, as well as two laminators, several sewing machines and two RF welders that weld the canvas material used to construct tents. Rocken Graphics also has the distinction of having purchased SAI’s 10,000th software subscription, specifically, of Flexi, SAI’s design tool for sign and display graphics.

Tents are big in the carnival world, and Smith has worked with Snyder Manufacturing to develop a canvas material used for carnival tends.

“We started testing it about six years ago,” Smith said. “It’s very vibrant. They do a lot of laminated material and they do some extruded material. Snyder is a major supplier to the tent industry, and the material that we use is a printable structural material.”

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE In addition to printing, Rocken Graphics also designs and develops prototypes for different structures.

“We just came out with a new frame,” Smith said. “It’s new to us, but it’s not new to the industry. It’s like the stage trussing that they put up at concerts that the lights hang from.

We’re using that style of trussing as a frame for tents. It’s heavy-duty and our prototype is 19 feet tall.

“That was printed using a Mimaki JV33 on 16-ounce structural tent material from Snyder manufacturing. That project was completed in-house. From concept to completion, everything is done in-house.”

As with many of Rocken’s projects, it started as a prototype that Smith shows to potential customers.

“This is a concept that I came up with, and right now we’re shopping it around.”

It is also a “modular” design that can be customized to the individual.

“I took that design out to a fair in Perry, Ga., and showed it to different potential customers. They said, ‘I like that, but instead of putting “lemonade” on it, can we put “corn dogs” on it?’ Absolutely.

And it may be instead of the front awning they want three awnings, or they don’t want any awnings, or they want to lower the bottom signs.

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Because I have a background in the carnival and amusement industry, it gives me the opportunity to go to this customer and say, ‘Here’s the concept, but we can do this, this or this for your application.’”

Rocken Graphics also does more conventional, but no less vibrant, signage and table covers.

While Smith’s customers present him with design ideas, he does all the actual design work himself, while for much of the installation and construction of graphics, tents and other materials, Smith works with contracted installers.

One of Smith’s major challenges is common among print service providers in a labor market with 3 percent unemployment: finding qualified help.

“That’s it; everything else is great,”

Smith said. “Business is right on par, technologies are right on par. We’ve got all the equipment we need.

We just can’t find a qualified labor force. The labor market is very tough right now.”

As a result, he is looking to automation. At the Industrial Fabrics Association International Expo in Dallas, he’ll check out an automated CNC fabric cutter.

One of the advantages of being in such a niche market is that he doesn’t really need to do a lot of outbound marketing. Word of mouth and social media, as well as some industry trade shows, comprise the majority of Rocken’s marketing strategies. And it seems to be working; Smith has little interest in expanding the markets he serves.

“I don’t have time!” he said.

The company produces about 500 jobs a month. And as the graphics have an average lifespan of about five years, there’s a lot of repeat business.

So the next time you take the kids—or just go yourself—to the local funfair, and you’re eyeing the concession stand signage, think of the company that has likely produced it. Find article here PrintingNews. com/21028194 ■

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NEW PRODUCTS

▲ Infigo exhibits at SGIA for the first time Infigo Software allows companies to be at the forefront of automation and personalization, using technology with creativity to drive brand engagement and brand loyalty. From fine art to finishing, outdoor advertising, digital signage, inkjet, soft signage and many more, Infigo Software can advance the print capabilities of any business in any sector. A key OEM partnership and of particular interest at SGIA was the Enfocus PitStop integration. The innovative Enfocus PitStop software provides a powerful tool that analyzes artwork automatically for errors, flags items to be addressed and can even auto-correct, saving time and manual input, ensuring accuracy in any output that requires PDF of any size for any display. The OEM partnership with Enfocus means that Infigo Software’s Catfish customers are able to license the Enfocus preflight and correction functionality as a cost- effective add-on, driving automation, saving time and ultimately driving down costs.

www.printingnews.com/21025881

▲ SCREEN unveils new Near Infrared Dryer for Truepress Jet 520HD inkjet web press.

SCREEN’s flagship, high-speed production, inkjet web press has made yet another leap toward becoming the preferred technology for printers looking to either augment or replace aging offset equipment. “When we introduced the 520HD press a little over two years ago, the market was surprised by its offsetlike image quality,” Ken Ingram, president of SCREEN Americas, said. “It was the first time high speed inkjet demonstrated the capability for effectively printing jobs that previously were the domain of only toner or offset. With that benchmark reached, SCREEN recognized the 520HD’s potential would be realized with dedicated, ongoing product development.” The new SCREEN NIR Dryer technology, built into the existing press frame and structure of the 520 HD, extends drying performance for both lightweight uncoated stocks and heavier weight, coated litho substrates. The result is an expanded range of applications and even higher productivity on difficult to dry substrates. Operators create substrate profiles with embedded drying protocols at different print resolutions and ink limits.

www.printingnews.com/21027560

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The SpyderX is a ‘workhorse’ at Color Ink

Color Ink, a family-owned commercial printer established in 1984, is experiencing new business growth with the SpyderX, a versatile production-class UV digital inkjet press for sheetfed and roll-fed substrates. “The SpyderX is one of the best values for a mid-range flatbed printer,” said Todd Meissner, president at Sussex, Wisconsin-based Color Ink. “It’s a workhorse.” Designed and manufactured by Inca Digital, the SpyderX, distributed exclusively in North America

by Fujifilm, allows for production of a wide variety of high-quality output. Utilizing Fujifilm Uvijet XS ink, developed specifically for the SpyderX, it delivers high-speed production up to 2,476 square feet per hour (230 square meters per hour) with pinpoint accuracy. Color Ink continuously seeks out and invests in the newest technologies to provide their clientele with solutions tailor made for a modern marketing era.

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▲ Arjowiggins Graphic showcases DigiPeel HD at SGIA

▲ Epson Introduces Direct-to-Garment Solution for 100 Percent Polyester Printing

Epson announced a new Direct-to-Garment (DTG) pretreatment solution for polyester garments available for Epson’s DTG solutions – the SureColor F2000 and F2100. The easy-touse solution keeps with the traditional DTG workflow, while greatly expanding revenue opportunities to include industries that primarily feature 100 percent polyester garments, such as team sports apparel, activewear, imitation silk and leather, and accessories. “To date, the direct-to-garment industry has been limited to printing on 100 percent cotton or cotton-polyester blends,” said Timothy Check, senior product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. “This new polyester pretreatment solution will open opportunities for direct-to-garment printing and customization for new industries, as well as open doors to onsite garment customization at sporting events – everything from neighborhood runs to national triathlons.”

www.printingnews.com/21027899

Arjowiggins Graphic, the leading manufacturer of environmental and specialist paper solutions, demonstrated the print performance of the DigiPeel HD paper at this year’s SGIA EXPO in Las Vegas. Fabienne Cocheteau, Specialities Marketing Manager of Arjowiggins Graphic says: “A year since we launched DigiPeel HD, we’re delighted to be able to demonstrate the product’s performance validating the product on some of the most advanced digital and screen printing technology available on the market. Designed to provide the flexibility and full color brought by digital printing as well as the soft touch and washability resistance given by screen printing, our DigiPeel HD paper is the best paper solution for textile printers, graphic digital printers and garment manufacturers.” Arjowiggins Graphic’s DigiPeel HD has been designed to create the best results for industrial textile printers and garment manufacturers. Using heat transfer, with both cold and tepid peel to ensure smooth easy release, DigiPeel HD is ideal for printing logos and images onto textiles using digital press and screen printing. Full color printing capabilities create photo realistic printing results with optimal reproduction of original colors.

www.printingnews.com/21027898

▲ Canon Solutions America Showcases Industry-Leading Canon Technology at 2018 SGIA Expo Canon Solutions America, Inc.’s Large Format Solutions division showcased its latest large format print solutions during the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association’s (SGIA) 2018 Expo. At this year’s show, Canon Solutions America presented its latest high-quality large format display graphics applications with a special emphasis on its large format printing systems for higher volume production. Designed for versatile, higher volume production of high quality large format display graphics printing onto rigid substrates, the Océ Arizona 6170 XTS UV flatbed printer was on display for attendees to experience its exceptional image quality that provides countless opportunities to increase wide format revenue. The award-winning technology is perhaps most beneficial in its ability to give users a variety of digital print applications that directly impacts and boosts display graphics productivity.

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NEW PRODUCTS

▲ HP Unveils New Large Format Print Solutions for Signage and Décor

▲ AnaJet, a Ricoh company, reveals its newest high-quality Direct-to-Garment printer AnaJet, a Ricoh company, unveiled the latest of its strategic investments to enable customers to produce high-quality, high-margin prints. The new RICOH Ri 1000 Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printer delivers incredible flexibility and image quality in an affordable, easy-to-use package, perfect for both new and experienced users. The RICOH Ri 1000 will be available to order in the US through AnaJet with shipments expected in Winter 2018. “Ricoh and AnaJet understand our customers’ need to diversify revenue streams through new printing technology,” said Karl Tipre, CEO, AnaJet, Inc. “We’re proud of its speed, versatility, ease of use, and ability to deliver vibrant, high-resolution graphics. The RICOH Ri 1000 is our most user-friendly, fullfeatured DTG machine yet.” The RICOH Ri 1000 prints full color graphics at 1200 x 1200 dpi on garments of a diverse array of sizes, colors and materials.

www.printingnews.com/21028030

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Roland DGA Announces New VersaWorks 6 RIP Software to Power-Up User Efficiency and Performance

At SGIA 2018, HP Inc. demonstrated new large format printing solutions and technologies designed to create new business opportunities for sign, banner, display, and wall décor printers with high-value applications. “New HP large format printing capabilities radically enhance the versatility for signage and décor focused print service providers, helping to ignite business growth and adapt to future needs,” said Dave Prezzano, vice president and general manager, Americas Graphics Solutions Business, HP Inc. “We continue to innovate across our large format portfolio with new products and solutions to enable our customers to say ‘Yes!’ to nearly any print job imaginable.” HP debuted the HP Latex R Series Printers in the Americas for the first time – both the HP Latex R2000 Plus Printer and HP Latex R1000 Plus Printer - HP’s first truly hybrid latex printer.

With capabilities for printing on both flexible and rigid materials, the latex printers use HP’s environmentally friendly Latex inks and useinnovative White Latex Ink and unique ink recirculation system that allows it to consistently print high-quality “true white” without creating waste.

Roland DGA Corporation, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers, 3D milling machines, and other innovative digital devices, announced the release of new Roland VersaWorks 6 RIP and print management software for its inkjet printers and printer/cutters. Roland VersaWorks includes a broad range of features to streamline the entire printing process by generating high-quality print data that optimize print functionality, ink output, and media use. The new VersaWorks 6 RIP software builds upon the outstanding core-functionality and user-friendliness of Roland’s previous RIP, incorporating a new HARLEQUIN RIP dual-core engine and other improvements that increase the overall performance and ease of use. VersaWorks 6 provides 64-bit native support to maximize performance from the latest 64bit operating systems and improve the processing of complex data, such as vector images and multiple layered files. It also provides support for processing PDF files natively to quickly render transparencies, drop shadows and other special effects the way they are intended to look in the design.

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▲ ▲ Esko takes a leadership role at SGIA Expo explaining how automation offers industrial-level productivity While exceptional speed and acceleration is one way to increase digital finishing table productivity, perhaps the more impactful way is to reduce downtime due to manual feeding and stacking. It not only reduces idle time; wherever you have manual material handling, you also have damage and waste, and the level of rework can be high. Esko explained how it is at the forefront of digital finishing automation during SGIA Expo 2018. “In digital finishing there is an alarming amount of waste. We see it all the time when we work with customers. Our role at Esko is more than just providing the leading hardware and software solutions,” explains Esko Director of Product Development, Frank Adegeest. ”We work with our customers to identify all areas of waste and to improve their operational efficiencies, leading to industrial-level productivity.”

www.printingnews.com/21028113

▲

Durst with P5, LED and MAPS at SGIA Expo 2018

Durst showcased its largeformat capabilities and new developments at SGIA Expo - featuring the new P5 Series with the flagship P5 250 HS. The flatbed printing system impresses with industrial productivity and print quality comparable to consistent litho that sets new standards in this segment, both technologically and in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In roll-to-roll wide format printing, Durst presents the successful Rho 512R production machine with new LED UV curing technology.

The new LED ink developed by Durst benefits from higher adhesion and less odor. In terms of performance and reliability, the Rho 512R LED is in no way inferior to its standard configuration and also offers additional production features. Another premiere at SGIA is the new Durst Professional Services (DPS) GmbH, which will provide customers with consulting and integration services, software development, contract management and trainings in the future.

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FLEXcon Introduces New Painted-on-Look System for Textured Walls Designed for Faster Removal in One Piece FLEXcon Company, Inc. has announced the availability of a Painted-on-Look Cast/Urethane System. This system is ideal for interior/exterior signage and wall graphics that are applied to rough, textured surfaces, including sealed and unsealed concrete, and brick. Graphics are applied with a foam roller and heat, and take on the look and feel of the textured surface. “This Paintedon-Look Cast/Urethane system offers the perfect combination of printability, conformability, and durability required for this type of application. In addition, graphics remove cleanly and in one piece, saving de-installation time and money. This offers a substantial advantage over competing products, many of which become brittle when heat is applied, resulting in the graphics breaking apart into pieces. This in turn means a longer, messier, and more difficult and expensive removal process,” said Jodi Sawyer, Market Development Manager, at FLEXcon. In contrast, FLEXcon’s Painted-on-Look Cast/Urethane System provides durability, scratch resistance, conformability, elongation, and heat resistance that exceeds the performance of calendered and cast vinyl systems. FLEXcon’s system offers an improved, true “painted-on-look” for textured wall graphic applications, with better adhesive contact and faster removal in one piece.

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OFFSET PRINTING © bearfotos/Freepik

Highlights of Offset Printing Story by Jeffrey Steele

I

f one of the benefits of great print jobs is to grab the attention of those who will eventually see the output, then today’s offset printing is achieving stellar results. Whether it is through color, sparkling effects or even 3D-like images, offset is commanding the attention of consumers.

That, however, is by no means the only benefit of using offset printing these days. Offset can help print service providers achieve labor, cost and materials reductions, meet tight turnaround demands from customers, better manage inventory and broaden the variety of output they can produce, enabling them to tackle new and profitable markets.

How do PSPs use printing to solve customers’ needs? One way is by catching the eyes of consumers, according to Eric Frank, senior vice president of marketing and product management with KBA North America in Dallas, Tex. “In today’s competitive market, Jeffrey Steele In addition to Printing News and Wide-Format and Signage, Jeffrey Steele’s articles have appeared more than 2,000 times in such publications as Barron’s, Chicago Tribune, and more.

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brands are seeking unique print processes that will influence a consumer to purchase their product or elevate their image,” he said. “PSPs can offer their customers different eye-catching and attention-grabbing effects. One of the most popular is the use of custom PMS colors to match a brand identity and ensure that large solids allow the product to stand out in a crowded marketplace.”

Also popular is shine-producing inline cold foil. To accomplish this effect, paper is wrapped in a thin layer of foil film to create an attention-grabbing metallic effect.

Print buyers can choose fluorescent, clear, translucent, dull gloss or create holographic looks, he said.

If print buyers want to add emphasis to particular parts of their design, spot varnishing is the trendy choice in print coating.

“Spot varnishes create image clarity so intense, it’s close to 3D,” Frank said. “So a customer’s logo or brand images will literally jump off the page. Spot varnishing can be done in several styles, including matte.

When reticulation varnishes are used with inline coating applications, the emphasis will provide a strong texture finish.”

Offset printing is a cost-effective method of producing print when considering cost per piece, added

Doug Schardt, senior product manager with Komori America in Rolling Meadows, Ill. Offset was traditionally used for mass production of the same output.

However, technological advances have altered the concept of mass production. These days, offset presses are exceptionally efficient at minimizing time and waste associated with each job and between jobs, Schardt said.

“The proverbial crossover point between offset and digital is still a number that is unique to each shop,” he added. “When a job is destined for offset, the pricing advantage alone can meet a tightening budget.

“Another aspect to consider is speed to market. A lot of material can be in actual use just a few hours after the request. If heavy board or conversely very lightweight stock is needed, the offset press can handle either. Additionally, meeting the demand for value-added printing services such as specialty coatings, reticulation, metallic inks and a host of other enhancements are all open to the offset printer.”

Latest trends Current offset printing trends are characterized by major and minor influences, Schardt said. One commonly embraced model calls WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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OFFSET PRINTING for high productivity, leading to a low- cost product that retains quality and is quickly delivered. The other is a value-added approach, using all the latest coating techniques and processes designed to visually enhance a printed piece.

“There is quite a lot that can be done,” he said. “Emphasizing visual appeal is usually neither fast nor inexpensive, but it is rewarding.

Secondarily, there are trends toward segmentation, such as IML and other lightweight stocks, packaging and PMS utilization along with pile logistics, LED and HUV in place of traditional UV, automation, electronic sheet inspection during production and the list goes on.”

Frank believes the many new product launches helping PSPs become more efficient, offer higher quality and become more competitive, all combine to make this an exciting era in the printing industry. Inline systems, among them those measuring and controlling color and quality, have provided important components for any successful PSP. This year, he notes, his company introduced QualiTronic NextGeneration, a revolutionary package of innovations for its inline measuring systems that measure every single sheet on Rapida sheetfed offset press.

Other important trends being embraced by KBA North America customers include Instrument Flight Color Control by System Brunner and new drying formats such as LED-UV. The former was recently awarded G7 certification from IdeaAlliance, due to the fact it can monitor and control a production press run according to G7 gray balance and tonality specifications. This is the world’s first press control system to elevate G7 from a calibration procedure to complete process control system from prepress to pressroom.

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As for LED-UV, it “is one of the hottest and most discussed trends in the printing industry today,” Frank said. “KBA North America has taken the lead as experts in the field, discussing its advantages and benefits and how it has been successfully implemented into the commercial market by KBA North America.

Currently, the firm is selling presses into the packaging, commercial and in-mold label markets with LED-UV.” Among other important trends are autonomous printing on sheet-fed offset printing presses. This trend enables PSPs to make the best use of their staffs and reduce the number of touches required to print jobs, Frank said.

“Take, for example, Simultaneous Plate Change, which removes and reinstalls all of the plates on all printing units in 50 seconds.

“Parallel washing can take place while changing plates using the computer-driven make-ready from the operator console.

“KBA North America has also developed ErgoTronic AutoRun on Rapida presses that have been key features to accomplish autonomous printing on a daily basis all year long.

ErgoTronic AutoRun starts a jobchange fully automatically as soon as the production of the previous print job is completed, and then resumes production automatically once necessary make-ready steps are completed. This cycle is then repeated over and over until either the operator cancels the auto-run function or all the jobs on the prepared job list have been printed.”

Revenues, profits with offset Turning to the question of how PSPs can earn greater revenues and profits with offset printing, Schardt said updating equipment is key. PSPs who don’t undertake such updates will be at a disadvantage against

printers with new presses.

“Constant improvements are being made and they make a difference in both productivity and cost.”

Another way to reap greater profits from offset is to utilize the technology that comes with the press, he said. After installing a new press, PSPs typically either elevate the shop to the level of the new press, or bring the new press down to the level of the shop.

“Take the time to choose the former,” he said. “Also, use the press as a selling tool rather than a production tool. There are many ways to do this, and I’d encourage everyone to explore them all.

“Another good practice is to stabilize supplies and techniques quickly. It isn’t cost efficient to spend weeks or months searching for the best ink or best blanket or best fountain solution at the best price.

“Finally, keep an eye on production. Make sure you are always improving . . . Let the press vendor help with issues that might still need some refinement.”

Frank said PSPs enjoy greater profits by gaining their own internal efficiencies. Every moment on press costs money, so PSPs are incorporating inline quality control and logistics systems, streamlining the print process and reducing steps.

New technology is helping PSPs better manage their inventory and stock, leading to less reorder expense. PSPs are also broadening their own applications with a variety of premium substrates, such as special paper, board and plastic, Frank said.

“These substrates add extra value to a customer’s print job, giving them more prominence to their brand, and an air of higher quality. In turn, the printer can count on greater revenue and profitability.” Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21027172 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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TEXTILES

Gerber Technology’s Ideation: Inspiration for

Textile Design & Manufacturing Senior Editor Cary Sherburne recently traveled to Miami Beach to join more than 300 people at the Gerber Technology Ideation event, the company’s software users’ group. This educational and networking event is in its 20th year. The enthusiasm among the more than 240 customers and prospects in attendance reflects the efforts the company has made to listen to customers and stay ahead of the trends.

Story by Cary Sherburne

S

ince we launched our textiles section in January, I have had the pleasure of attending a number of textile-related events, and I have to say that Gerber’s Ideation is one of the best I have seen yet.

The conference is dedicated to fashion and retail professionals who rely on CAD and Product Lifecycle Management software. They were offered a full day of handson training in the latest features of the Gerber software portfolio, followed by two days of break-out sessions, panel discussions and hands-on workshops. There were also many demonstrations, strategic executive sessions and networking opportunities, as well as presentation of in-depth inspirational case studies.

With dozens of sessions across three different tracks plus several general sessions, everything ran completely on schedule. In fact, the conference Cary Sherburne Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries.

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actually ended early.

Gerber has been a player in the apparel industry for 50 years, and this was the 20th year of Ideation.

According to CEO Mohit Uberoi, the company has a strong balance sheet, and its investors are investing in the future.

“We plan to be here for 50 more years,” he said.

“We have a threepronged strategy for investment: we’re spending money internally for development, collaborating with others in the industry and we’re acquiring.”

The company recently announced the acquisition of MCT Digital, adding modular laser cutting technology to its existing portfolio of finishing hardware and related software. During the event,

Gerber announced another acquisition, San Francisco-based Avametric, a developer of cloth simulation technology. This enables fashion brands to deliver highly accurate 3D renderings of their products on customizable avatars for e-commerce and augmented reality (AR) applications.

Gerber was working with Avametric for a year, integrating Avametric’s fabric simulation engine into its AccuMark 3D platform. Now, with Avametric part of the Gerber family, even tighter integration is possible, and the Gerber library of avatars will be significantly expanded, among other benefits.

Avametric was so excited about joining the Gerber family that they WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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TEXTILES flew in 25 staff members to the event.

The goal is to build an end-to-end 3D platform, including a virtual try-on capability that can make it easier for consumers to make fashion choices online—and hopefully reduce the number of online apparel purchases that are returned.

Clearly, the “collaborating with others” plank of Gerber’s strategy is working well, with nearly 20 partner sponsors at the event, and many others participating in the Gerber community.

One announcement at the show we found particularly interesting

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was a partnership with OnPoint Manufacturing and PAAT, launching the FashionTech Platform 1.0. It includes software, equipment and consulting to set up a purchaseactivated fashion model with a digitally integrated e-commerce and on-demand design to print, cut and sew microfactory operation. Watch for a more in-depth discussion of this partnership in an upcoming interview with J. Kirby Best, OnPoint and PAAT’s chairman.

Between the OnPoint and Avametric capabilities, Gerber hopes to spur growth in on-demand

apparel manufacturing, enabling manufacturers to go from order to a finished personalized garment in less than three hours, a concept that will revolutionize the fashion industry and encourage more reshoring of apparel manufacturing.

Finally, in terms of internal investments, Gerber’s AccuMark software saw two releases in the past year, with 558 new features and enhancements, while its Yunique PLM is now a 100 percent cloud-based SaaS model with releases every six to eight weeks. Gerber Technology has more than 100,000 software seats

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TEXTILES in the market, making it the largest fashion tech software provider. The company also recently launched the Gerber Technology Community with more than 1,000 software users participating. That number is likely to grow quickly as more users learn about the value the portal can bring.

Gerber also announced the opening of a new FashionTech Innovation Center in New York City, scheduled to be up and running by summer 2019, that will feature a complete workflow, from creative to digital print, cut and sew. Next year’s Ideation event will be held in New York.

Karsten Newbury, SVP and General Manager since 2014, reported that Gerber PLM cloud adoption has more than tripled over the last year, with 605 customers planning to adopt 3D technology in the next year.

“Our theme is embracing digitalization, and that is more than adopting tools and technology,” he said. “We help clothe the world— more than 8 billion people and things. We empower customers to create great fashion products, with tools, support and an end-to-end workflow from consumers to design, to production and all the way back to the consumer.

“We also help our customers and consumers connect the virtual world with physical reality, and to provide a more personalized consumer experience. Companies that create personalized experiences for customers grow two to three times faster, and consumers spend as much as 40 percent more when engaging with a personalized experience.”

Mary McFadden, the company’s Executive Director of CAD Product Management, reported that in January 2019, AccuMark in the cloud will be generally available to customers in North America, for a fee of $350 per month with a one-year commitment.

She also talked about the company’s 38 Printing News November 2018

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partnership with ExactFlat, a 3D to 2D flattening tool enabling 3D files to be transferred to production patterns for non-apparel applications such as furniture, transportation interiors, boat covers and more. The patterns are then ready for nesting and cutting, simplifying the process.

“We help clothe the world—more than 8 billion people and things.

We empower customers to create great fashion products, with tools, support and an end-toend workflow from consumers to design, to production and all the way back to the consumer.”

Another new capability is the ability to read X-Rite AxF and Vizoo files into AccuMark 3D for photorealistic virtualization, a capability that can help reduce the need for physical samples, speeding the product development process.

Other highlights of the event included:

■■ A n inspirational keynote by fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff, who operates the largest global fashion house founded by a female Millennial.

Two years ago, she transitioned her business to see-buy-wear, eliminating the conventional fashion show held six to nine months before collections are actually available. She has also implemented amazing technology in her stores, including interactive mirrors that let customers Facetime with friends as they make fashion choices, and that offer up suggestions for complementary apparel and accessories. Lighting can even be adjusted to align with the environment in which the garment will be worn. You can even order champagne to your dressing room. In strategizing for her business, she said, “We think like companies that can potentially disrupt us.”

■■ Three fashion shows, which included a show with five finalists in the Student Design Competition, allowed attendees to vote for the final winner.

Students were invited to be inspired by Pantone’s Color of the Year 2018 (Ultra Violet) and a palette of related colors.

The designs were stunning, and the final decision was difficult.

Tyesha Wilson from Fanshawe College was the lucky winner with an amazing evening gown.

Two other fashion shows featured designs from Yoga THAT and Swedroe by Ariel.

During and following the event, we were able to interview a number of Gerber partners and speakers, which we will write about in the coming weeks. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21028193 ■ WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 5:31 PM

CASE STUDY

Thoughts on Selling Your Business Story by Tom Crouser

Y

our business isn’t worth much unless it’s a real business, regardless of the rumors at the trade show. And, yes, real printing businesses sell. And, no printers don’t get to make valuation rules. The bankers who lend your buyer the money to pay you make the rules.

Business brokers sell most businesses in the U.S. Estimates are that only about 35 percent of businesses for sale, sell. Most brokers, however, won’t list the business unless it has $100,000 of income before owners’ compensation per year (sales – direct materials – wages paid to others – overhead = income before owner’s compensation). That’s often $500,000 of sales or more.

If you’re not making $100 thousand per year, it doesn’t mean it can’t be sold. It just means that it will usually be sold for parts, accounts, equipment, etc.

Regarding broker’s fees, 8 percent to 10 percent is common. If you finance the business for the buyer over time, usually the entire broker’s commission is still due at closing.

Now, don’t sign up a business broker without restrictions. A broker should bring you real buyers.

What’s a real buyer? Anyone with Tom Crouser Tom Crouser can be reached at tom@ cprint.com for more information on how CPrint International can be of help to you in your business or call his cell (304) 541-3714.

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money enough to buy is a start. A downsized executive from a different industry with a golden parachute is perfect. One of my clients wanted to choose between an employee with no money, a paper salesman with no money or the mailing house in town with money who wanted to expand into printing.

Also, don’t try to control from the grave. You own and direct the business until you don’t. At that point, the buyer owns and directs. So, while I know you had loyal employees who were with you for years, and you feel the need to reward them in some way, give them some of the proceeds from the sale. However, don’t try to negotiate an employment contract for your brother-in-law in your deal.

If you and your spouse draw similar salaries from the business, don’t for the three to five years before you sell. Why? There is a process called normalization, which allows you to deduct some excess expenses before calculating income before owner’s compensation.

For instance, you might get to deduct medical insurance for you and the family, some club memberships and some other items. Understand this isn’t between you and the buyer.

You two can agree to anything you want. However, bankers will do their own valuation, and they are usually very reluctant to accept normalizations.

They will typically allow only one salary to be removed from wages before calculating income before owners, EBITDA, free cash flow or

any of the other methods they may use. So, if you are paying yourself and your spouse both $100,000; then it’s better to pay one $150,000 and the other $50,000, at least for the period being valued.

Here’s the hard part. To get the most, you need to sell when sales and income are on an upward trend.

Why would you sell if everything is going so well? Because you’ll get a lot more cash out of it than if you wait until it’s on the other side.

Remember, if you’re coasting, you’re going downhill.

What do you do if the business isn’t growing? Well, take less money for it or fix it. Either or both can be done. If you’d like to attend my “What’s Your Business Worth” webinar or one of our other presentations, click over to www. cprint.com and sign up for Tom Crouser’s CPrint Newsletter, or just email tom@cprint.com. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21029260 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 5:15 PM

WORKFORCE

The Talent Shortage

Conundrum

Story by Debra Thompson

M

ore than 6 million jobs are going unfilled in the US as employers struggle to find applicants who can do the work. 46% of US employers say they can’t find workers with the skills they need, according to ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey Q3, 2018.

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

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Job quitters rise to a 17-year high.

The most workers since 2001 quit their jobs in July seeking better opportunities, with openings rising to an 18-year high. The number of positions waiting to be filled rose by 117,000 to 6.94 million from June, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Those voluntarily leaving their jobs rose to 3.58 million, or 2.4% of the workforce, as economic expansion and confidence buoyed workers’ quest for better positions.

These statistics are extremely alarming with the effect that employers need to be spending more of their time focusing on hiring and retention strategies. Technology is redefining rather than replacing

in-demand roles. Every industry is impacted, and for many positions, the same skills are needed, resulting in increased competition for finding the talent.

Lack of applicants, experience and skills are top drivers of the talent shortages. Here are the top 10 most in-demand job roles in the United States according to OECD Employment Outlook.

1. Skilled Trades – electricians, welders, mechanics 2. Drivers – truck, delivery 3. Sales Representatives – B2B, B2C, Customer Service 4. Health Care Professionals – doctors, nurses, other nonnursing health professionals Continue on page 50 WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 6:09 AM

EVENTS

Announces Partnerships in Key Markets for 2019 Show InPrint USA, the international exhibition of print technology for industrial manufacturing, is less than six months away and the organizers, Mack Brooks Exhibitions, have been announcing some exciting partnerships and plans for the show in recent weeks.

Story by Melissa Magestro

I

nPrint USA, the international exhibition of print technology for industrial manufacturing, is less than six months away and the organizers, Mack Brooks Exhibitions, have been announcing some exciting partnerships and plans for the show in recent weeks. Being held in Louisville, Kentucky next April, InPrint is driving connections between print technology suppliers and implementers in a multitude of manufacturing industries.

The National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), Wallcoverings Association, Flexible Packaging Association, and Kentucky Automotive Industry Association (KAIA) have all joined on as association partners of InPrint USA 2019. Each partnership represents a different and emerging area of industrial print, allowing for more conversation between designers and manufacturers within the community.

NAPIM is the only national trade association for the printing ink industry whose purpose is to promote the development and improvement of its members by fostering greater understanding Melissa Magestro Executive VP at Mack Brooks she oversees the N. American show teams organizing leading b-to-b exhibitions including InPrint, ICE USA etc. Please email melissa.magestro@ mackbrooks.com

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and knowledge of the printing ink industry. The partnership will benefit both the association’s members and the shows’ exhibitors by bringing all parties together to explore how inks and coatings can open new opportunities, such as conductive inks used to print functional electronics and food-grade inks that can indicate spoilage.

Wallcoverings is one of the fastest growing sectors of industrial print according to IT Strategies. The Wallcoverings Association partnership will bring together industrial print providers with wallcovering designers, manufacturers, and distributors seeking the latest in digital print technology. “Our partnership with InPrint USA will help expose our membership to new design and customization possibilities available with industrial print,” said Matt Bruno, Executive Director of the Wallcoverings Association. “This is a good opportunity for our members to learn about the technology and how it can grow their business.”

The Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) has served as the voice of the flexible packaging industry since 1950 and its mission is to connect, advance and lead the flexible packaging industry through its members. InPrint USA is co-located with the International Converting Exhibition (ICE USA), and the partnership with FPA will allow attendees of both shows to crosseducate themselves on the latest in the converting industry as well

as print technology for flexible packaging. The Flexible Packaging Pavilion on the show floor will feature FPA members and be a key focus area for attendees looking for flexible packaging innovations.

Leading automotive manufacturers are already discovering how digital print can revolutionize the printing of automotive components, and InPrint’s partnership with the Kentucky Automotive Industry Association (KAIA) will only advance this revolution. “It is critical for our members to be aware of new solutions and technology for automotive manufacturing and we are thrilled that InPrint USA is bringing cutting-edge solution providers right to our backyard,” said Dave Tatman, Executive Director, KAIA. Industrial print is the emerging technology for so many facets of manufacturing – allowing for short run, customized projects to increase efficiency and profitability. InPrint USA the only exhibition dedicated to this technology and innovation. Mack Brooks Exhibitions, the organizers of InPrint USA, continue to grow the show, with companies such as Fujifilm, Siegwerk, Roland DGA and Engineered Printing Solutions as exhibitors, and focusing their vision on being the go-to resource for innovation and technology for the industry. InPrint USA will be held April 9-11, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. Learn more at inprintusaexhibition.com. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21029515 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 12:32 PM

WORKFORCE

Make Your Print Business a

Learning Organization A print business that learns is one that has a foundation for tracking its business processes and improving on them. From a cultural standpoint, a learning organization has to be able to talk openly about mistakes made from all levels of the organization.

Story by Jennifer Matt

H

ow many things in your print business get done repeatedly?

A lot.

A business is really a group of people who come together to execute upon business processes over and over. For printers, these repeated processes include things like taking an order, doing an estimate, printing a job, closing a sale, closing the accounting month, or fulfilling an inventory order, etc.

We do the same thing over and over again. How do we make sure we’re getting better at it?

Is your print business a learning organization? Does it have the things

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

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in place to make sure it’s getting better at those repeatable processes?

Why should we focus on the repeatable processes?

When something gets done 10 times per day and you shave seven minutes off the process through process improvement you save…

■ 70 minutes per day ■ 5.8 hours per week ■ 37 working days per year! (yikes)

The Required Foundations of a Learning Organization

1. Document Your Most Important, Most Repeated Processes You cannot learn if your process is optimized unless you have it written down. I’m not talking about a long-term study or a complicated diagram. Start really simple; write down each process step. You would be shocked by how much argument there will be inside your organization to come to agreement on what the current process is. If there is a lot of argument, I can 100% assure you that

your process has tons of room for improvement.

Don’t overcomplicate this step. My favorite tool is Post-it® Notes. (Let me give you a hint: make sure you buy the brand Post-it® Notes because the cheaper ones sold on Amazon are horrible. They curl up, they don’t stick, they are really useless.) You can use a list, you can write it on napkins. You just have to write it down and then get your team to do the important work of all getting on the same page on this process. This is a conversation and it might feel like a waste of time (arguing about where people store files or who sends the emails), but it’s really important. As soon as you start asking your team to define a process, they “automagically” start thinking about how to improve it.

One warning about this process: don’t talk about how you think you should be doing a process; document how you are actually doing this process. No judgement. If your people happen to be printing out every job WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 8:59 AM

WORKFORCE ticket they process and keeping their own version of a file system under their desks in many case boxes (this is a real story), get that out on the table without judgement. You have to understand and accept the process as it is in order to create the process as it should be.

2. Solicit Feedback from Everyone Involved in the Process for Process Improvements The goal is to do processes faster, more efficiently, with fewer errors, so focus the group on coming up with ideas for improvement. The best process improvements I’ve seen are incremental; you decide on some good ideas, you move forward on them, and then you reassess because you essentially have a new process to assess. Rarely is it necessary to blow a whole process up at once.

Remember, you have a business to run as you do this process improvement.

One word of warning for this phase. For most printers, I would suggest you limit the use of the word “automation.” It is a popular buzzword that is overused.

Automation is a high goal; we take a business process that humans are currently interacting with and we remove them and “automate” the process without human intervention.

That is the most extreme definition of automation, but I think its the definition most humans think of.

Business leaders dream of total automation where labor costs are removed, accuracy is perfect, profits soar, and they are on the beach. Sales people selling automation software like to plant this dream in the heads of all their prospects.

Automation is a goal, but process improvement is the reality that most printers should focus on (it is a lot less sexy and it doesn’t end with you on the beach). I love it WhatTheyThink - Printing News

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when printers are considering very expensive automation software and their human powered-business processes are really inefficient. The fact is, no automation software tells you during the sales process that for true automation to happen you have to have really efficient workflows first. So even if you invest in the automation software, you’ll be forced to document your processes and improve them before you can fully utilize the automation software.

3. Schedule Regular Process Reviews Process improvement never ends and it never should be all-consuming.

You need to regularly step back from the process and allow more improvements to be made. The organization gets smarter as they use processes. If you have regularly scheduled process improvement events, the people in your organization will be on the lookout for what to bring to those meetings.

The start of process improvement was to write the process down; that started the organization to think about how efficient the process is.

The regularly scheduled event to review processes will plant another seed into your organization that we are going to continue to improve on this process. The auto-magic part of this is that people want to be a part of the solution so they will start looking out for continuous improvement opportunities.

4. Once Processes Are Defined, Use Tools to Manage Them My current favorite software tool for managing recurring business processes is Process Street. This is a tool you use once you have your process defined and you want to run it over and over again. We use this tool to deploy software, bring new hires on board, close the monthly books, etc. We built out processes for each of these things and we run

a checklist to track the process every time. It is especially helpful when the process requires a certain task order and involves many people. Process Street’s application is super flexible and can get really complicated with built-in workflows to other technologies through Zapier. Get your process down before you start playing with tools.

5. Post-Mortems I know, this word refers to death but I’m not using it in that way.

I’m talking about an event you schedule in order to learn from past incidents. You lose a sales deal, so schedule a brief post-mortem to analyze why you lost it and most importantly how you would change your processes moving forward so you don’t lose again for the same reason. A post-mortem is easy to schedule but most cultures don’t accept the kind of transparency and openness required for a post-mortem to be effective. Everyone, starting at that top of the organization has to be open to admitting mistakes.

Everyone; starting at the bottom of the organization needs to feel safe admitting mistakes. If you employ humans, you employ a species that is good at making mistakes. If you are a human and you run the organization, you are also good at making mistakes. Mistakes are where most organizational learning happens. When organizations hide from mistakes by simply moving on without a post-mortem, the mistake will keep happening.

When an organization has the foundation of learning intact in the form of documented processes, a call out for improvement suggestions from all involved, regularly scheduled process reviews, and the culture to run post-mortems, they will learn, evolve, and they will thrive while others fall behind. Find this article at: PrintingNews.com/21028208 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 8:59 AM

TEXTILES

Ariel Swedroe:

Best Fashion Story Ever!

What were you thinking about at 8 years old? Probably not the career that would be your life’s passion. That’s when Ariel Swedroe began her fashion career. At age 11, she began exploring digitally printed fabrics.

Story by Cary Sherburne

A

riel Swedroe has always had a passion for fashion.

“When I was in first grade,” she said, “I came across a flyer for a fashion summer camp at DesignLab Miami. I was able to attend, and I fell in love. I’ve been working in fashion ever since. And that’s where I met my mentor, Angie Cohen.”

Cohen founded DesignLab Miami in 2010 with a creative studio in North Miami specializing in teaching Cary Sherburne Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries.

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and promoting all aspects of the fashion industry, including sewing, textile design, fashion technology, 3D printing, laser cutting and biocouture.

“We believe in cultivating young, creative minds,” Cohen said, “which was the primary motivation for opening the design studio. We have programs for both children and adults, geared to both short- and long-term goals. We also have several in-school programs in the Miami area. DesignLab also offers sewing parties, custom workshops and sewing camps, all of which have contributed to the growth, reach and success of the business.”

When she opened the business, she was told she wouldn’t be able to teach a child. Her response? “What?

Okay, I will show you. Kids are smart. You just have to give them an opportunity, It’s about potential and

belief. We empower them.”

That’s exactly what she has done for Ariel and innumerable other children and adults.

Ariel has to balance school and her passion for fashion with her business, Swedroe by Ariel.

“I’m not going to lie. When I first started, it was actually easy, no big deal. Just go to the studio after school every day. But I now go to a demanding magnet school that has a fashion program. It’s the numberthree school in Miami Dade County.

I’m taking college classes in high school. It’s hard to keep my grades up, and at the same time go to my studio every day, which is 30 minutes from school. But I know what I want to do. I love fashion, love working with my grandfather. It’s hard work but worth it.”

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10/29/18 4:58 PM

TEXTILES

Ariel’s 84-year-old grandfather, Robert Swedroeis an architect and an artist.

“I always watched him create his artwork. He’s created more than 900 collages, and he is still making them.

When I learned about digital printing of fabrics in the fifth grade, I knew I wanted to digitally print his collages onto fabrics. I made a little collection for myself and showed it to him. He was in shock, but he loved it, thought it was a great idea. So we decided to collaborate, and that’s how Swedroe

by Ariel came to be.”

Ariel has been using design software, AccuMark from Gerber Technologies, to translate designs into fabric patterns.

“I can mirror, make the image smaller, or overlay designs onto the fabric so I can manipulate the artwork for each component. Funny story, before I started using Gerber, I put a red butterfly on the crotch of a bathing suit. I didn’t know how

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the ultimate product would look. I just asked the program I was using to make a pattern. We had to do it over again. Now I can see what the finished garment looks like and manipulate it. If I want a butterfly to take up a whole panel, I can do that.”

All of Ariel’s products are manufactured in Miami. Most of her fabrics are printed by American Sublimation using heat transfer dye sublimation on polyester-based fabrics such as neoprene and lycra.

American Sublimation uses ESS printers from China, according to William Montoya, its owner. Fabrics are then sent to House of Llull Atelier for cut-and sew. House of Llull specializes in swimwear and athletic wear and uses Gerber AccuMark to produce paper markers.

Ariel also uses Spoonflower for some of her production, including cotton and silk.

As if this isn’t enough, Ariel also helps DesignLab Miami with some of

its non-profit work.

“Last year we went to Colombia to teach girls ranging in age from 13 to 17,” Cohen said. “Ariel had just turned 14 and they were inspired by her story. We were there for a whole week in a workshop with no air conditioning, and Ariel worked really hard. My partner and I provided the machines, tables and other materials.

“By giving these girls the skills to create their own businesses, we helped them start believing in themselves. Now those girls are standing up for themselves. They are sewing and selling what they are making. And hopefully it will help end the cycle of poverty.”

The machines are now traveling to Bogota for a project to train 30 women coming out of jail, to teach them to sew and sell their products.

“This will be a continuing effort,” Cohen said. “We are planning a similar project in Mexico.”

Once she graduates from high school, Ariel plans to continue her education.

“My dream school is Central Saint Martins in London. I really hope I will be able to go. I’m already working on building a portfolio.

I definitely want to continue my education in Europe.”

I think she’ll make it happen, don’t you? Find article here: PrintingNews. com/ 21029145 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 4:58 PM

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW Software & Workflow Continued from page 17

no foundation on which to think critically for themselves. You can’t teach people all the features of a software application. Most of them are too complex, and it would be a waste of time. Each user is going to rely on different aspects of the software for their particular business needs.

Good implementation has to be about real foundational learning.

For example, we recently built an online solution for the labels and packaging space. One of the fundamental features of this system is that 100 percent of the data it exposes to customers online is from the underlying Print MIS. This foundational idea has to be understood, not just mentioned, not just listed on a PowerPoint slide.

When printers first started using this system in production, they asked questions that revealed that they did not understand this key fundamental aspect of the system. “How do I change the price of the product on the website?” This question reveals a lack of understanding of the core aspect of the system. When you say, “One hundred percent of the data in the solution comes from the MIS,” that includes the price of the products.

In our experience, it takes several weeks of using the system to understand that you control what your user sees and experiences on the website by changing the data in the Print MIS. We adjusted our

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The reason fundamental understanding is important is that it allows the users to think for themselves. Once they understand some core aspects of the system, they can figure things out on their own. implementation to stress this from the beginning. It hasn’t removed all the questions, but it has greatly decreased the number of weeks before printers start to get it on their own.

Fundamental understanding is important because it allows the users to think for themselves. Once they understand some core aspects of the system, they can figure things out on their own. Those things are remembered at a much greater rate than having someone tell them how to do it once.

Good software implementation is a co-creation between the vendor and the customer. You cannot sit back and passively be fed the knowledge about the software from the vendor. An excellent implementation takes effort on both sides. If both of you are focused on the goal of understanding the software, not jumping into the tasks right away, it really helps. The leadership of this has to be with the print vendor, because they are the holder of the knowledge.

Everybody wins when a software tool is implemented well. My colleague, Jane Mugford, always calls me when a certain phase in an implementation happens. It’s when the end users bring new software ideas to solve their business challenges. It sounds something like this: “Currently we have Dorothy managing a spreadsheet of our customers who get regular shipments of products. Couldn’t we schedule those to go into production in the MIS and then auto-generate the email notifications to customers?”

When this happens, you have set in motion something that you can’t even control—nor would you want to. Your people are going to dive into every corner of your business and find all the ways they can use the software to make your business run better. It’s a very good day in the life of your business. Jane and I celebrate with a phone call and a high-five emoji in Slack. Find this article at: PrintingNews.com/21028191 ■

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10/30/18 8:39 AM

TEXTILES

Textiles Continue from page 15

and coatings with graphene are more robust and flexible, and chemically inert so they don’t corrode, and they don’t have ill effects as a result of temperature. This makes them ideal for the wearable electronics environment where you have sweat, salt, water, rain, as well as real mechanical stresses.

You need to be able to wash things.

We have put our printed electronics through 50 complete wash and dry cycles with detergent without losing functionality. And they are a very thin coating. Going back to our paper analogy, if you are using graphene, and you print on a surface with binders and other things in your inks and coatings, it lays on the surface, like papier mâché with single sheets of paper. But when you use other particles, like carbon black, it’s like using papier mâché with whole reams of paper, and the bonding between the particles is not very good.

WTT: And when you combine graphene with other materials, what are some examples there?

JL: In this case, you are blending the graphene sheets with other materials such as polymers, plastics or rubber, and you are strengthening the material. Rubber for tires is a good example here. It not only enhances the strength and thermal stability of the tire, but it improves the rolling resistance. When driving, you lose as much energy through the rolling resistance of your tires as you do through aerodynamics—wind resistance. This becomes an important factor in fuel efficiency for vehicles and can make tires last longer. While this is not commercially available for tires yet, we do have a collaboration with Reliance Industries of India, one of the largest synthetic rubber producers in the world, and we are working on scaling commercialization with partners like Reliance.

WTT: I understand you are also working with AFFOA on fiber WhatTheyThink - Printing News

14-15,47_Graphene.indd 47

Top: Touchpad iron-on graphene electronics. Above: Vor-flex graphene enhanced rubber. Right: Vor-ink graphene ink flexo prints.

computing. How does graphene fit in there?

JL: With graphene being one of the strongest materials known, it enhances mechanical properties.

There are two ways we use graphene with fibers. You can blend it into the fiber itself and then spin it.

Because graphene sheets are so thin and flexible, you can spin and draw the fiber to a much greater degree, while with normal particles, you would introduce flaws into the fiber as you spin and draw it. The other way is as a coating or sizing. Just like our other coatings, graphene sheets are wrapped around the fiber itself, creating a conductive layer or introducing thermal properties.

One of the thigs we are looking at with other AFFOA members as a commercial area is incorporating the graphene electronics into wearables and clothing to create an electronics ecosystem within the apparel, like graphene-based touch pads that you can incorporate into the sleeves of a garment to control devices, all the way through to safety sensors, indicators, and biometric type devices. For example, workers who are remote or lone workers could have apparel that would alert them to a dangerous situation such as presence of hazardous gas.

WTT: This is an exciting area, and we appreciate you helping our members understand it in more of layman’s terms. Any closing thoughts?

JL: It is an exciting area. You don’t have to look too far out into the future to imagine that almost everything that is done in hard devices in cases right now will be migrating into more flexible, softer formats, and into clothing itself, with the exception, perhaps, of the screen, which could be accessed through augmented reality glasses or some other means.

It’s also interesting to note that one of the fastest growing areas is in voice interaction, voice control, and touch control, and those can be integrated into clothing with some of the technology that is being developed right now. One of the things I love about it, and that I think will be a huge benefit of this type of technology, is that we will have it with us and accessible to us but not have it be something we have to take out and focus on all the time, ignoring other things in the world around us. I like to think about flexible and apparel-based electronics as something that will be present and accessible all of the time, but not with the same level of constant distraction and demand for attention that our screens are today. Find article here: PrintingNews.com/21028161 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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10/29/18 12:26 PM

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 5:11 PM

CLASSIFIEDS 

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WORKFORCE Workforce Continued from page 40

5. Teachers 6. Office Support – administrative assistants, receptionists 7. Technicians – quality controllers, technical staff 8. Management/Executive 9. Restaurants/Hotel Staff 10. Manufacturing – production and machine operators The OECD went on to say, “In the digital age, employment will not always require a college degree, but will rely heavily on continual skills development as even the most traditional roles are augmented with new technology.”

It’s time for a new approach to attract and retain top talent in today’s marketplace. First let’s address some ideas to attract: ■■ Job seekers primarily want to know how much they will make, what they are expected to do and whether they can get the job. Information about the company – like its mission and culture – are least cared about, therefore, if you put a paragraph in about that, put it at the end. Candidates prefer to do their own research from the company website and through places like Glassdoor and Indeed.

■■ Putting salary ranges in the job advertisements may give employers a competitive advantage when trying to attract candidates. That’s because most job seekers look first at a position’s compensation and benefits when scanning a job posting, then at the job’s required qualifications and duties, according to new research from LinkedIn. ■■ Listing noncash employee benefits in job ads also 50 Printing News November 2018

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motivates applicants to apply.

Therefore, listing a number of benefits, such as health care, dental insurance, employee discounts, paid time off, flexible hours, work from home, 401-k, etc. will also help.

■■ Appcast and LinkedIn data revealed that brevity is best when it comes to job ads. Their research shows that jobs with shorter titles have higher apply rates. Therefore, keep job titles to essential words only. Also, you want the title to match what the candidate thinks the job is, not what you call the job internally.

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■■

It’s time for a new approach to attract and retain top talent in today’s marketplace.

■■ Q ualifications should be short and should be bulleted and easy to scan. Also keep in mind, that you may want to ease up on the qualifications if the job is hard to fill and add more if you are getting deluged with applicants.

■■ Investing in retaining your top performers is just as critical in today’s marketplace as attracting new employees. Many employees have experienced stagnant wages and very little growth potential. With so many jobs opening up in the current economy, good employees will now take the opportunity to

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■■

explore and jump ship when they find the right position. So here are strategies that you can put in place to avoid losing a great employee.

Identify individuals who have growth potential within the organization and provide them with accelerated training programs that will be critical to success in the digital age.

With predictive performance assessments available, you can make sure the individual has the intelligence and the personality drivers in place before you make the training investment.

Do a review of what you are currently paying employees.

How long has it been since their last raise? Is it a fair wage for the position? You can look on several different websites such as Salary.com, Payscale.com or the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see what different positions average in wages.

Consider improving or adding additional benefits such as increasing vacation time or providing well-being incentives.

An on-site fitness program, flexible working arrangements, financial education, retirement coaching, etc., are ways of boosting employee engagement.

Communicate – Communicate – Communicate: I cannot stress enough how important it is to talk with, and listen to your employees regularly. Find out what is on their mind, what they need to do a better job and what goals and desires they have for growing with the company. Showing a genuine interest in any employee will go a long way.

Find article here: PrintingNews. com/21025046 ■ WhatTheyThink - Printing News

10/29/18 6:10 AM

INSIGHTS

Association Insights: ISA Attending ISA International Sign Expo 2019 can be the competitive edge that your company needs in a growing economy.

Story by Lori Anderson

A

sk any ISA International Sign Expo attendee why they come to the event and it won’t take long to get around to comments about exploring the large tradeshow floor, looking for new products.

With more than 210,000 square feet of tradeshow floor—each inch packed with innovation—it is easy to see why it captivates attendees.

However, if you step back from the initial response, I think you’ll find reasons for attending that are a bit more nuanced: to grow business, to keep your company moving ahead and to fight off competition.

Attending ISA Sign Expo 2019 can be the competitive edge that your company needs in a growing economy.

I saw an article in Forbes that offered five ways to tell if you are ready to grow your business. In the article, author Mike Kappel outlined the need for regular customers and regular profits as an important foundation before a company pursues growth. But he also noted that if your industry is growing, you should be too.

There are indicators all around that the sign, graphics and visual communications industry is in the

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

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midst of tremendous growth and significant innovation. We have new products that truly are transformative to the ways that we do business.

Just think back a few years ago and consider how much faster and accurate printers are now, and the clarity of digital displays. That’s not even considering 3D printing and other innovations.

It isn’t just anecdotal. The “ISA Sign Industry Quarterly Economic Report” shows continued growth into 2020. The report, compiled by IHS and Vandiver Associates, analyzes each segment of the market upstream and downstream to allow users to stay current with evolving business conditions. Its analysts expect growth at about 3 percent in the last half of 2018, just slowing a bit into 2019 and 2020.

So let’s check off that box: The sign, graphics and visual communications industry is growing.

Another of the Forbes five was if “you have too much business.”

I know that many of you feel challenged to keep up with all the opportunities that are presenting themselves. You’re busy. And it might be tempting to think that you have all the work you can handle.

But consider this: If you turn down a good project because you’re too busy, someone else will find a way to get it done. Do you want to give that competitive edge to a company in the next town over?

While it may seem that attending ISA International Sign Expo 2019 can impact your most precious resource— time—studies show that events like this can actually be a timesaver.

According to the Center for

Exhibition Industry Research, attendees say that tradeshows save their company time and money. Where else can you see more than 600 sign, graphics and visual communications suppliers and manufacturers in one location? If you tried to have each exhibitor visit your company in a year, you would have to have more than two in each work day.

CEIR research also shows that attendees see tradeshows as great places to buy, because they can comparison shop in one location.

While there are many ways to grow a business—acquiring new customers, selling more to existing customers, adding a new location— many businesses choose to expand into related fields. A print shop may add fabrics, for instance, or signs.

As the only event that showcases the breadth of the sign, graphics and visual communications industry, ISA International Sign Expo 2019 eliminates the need to attend multiple tradeshows to find ways to expand into some of these related markets.

If growth is on your to-do list for 2019, circle April 23-26 on your calendar and visit www.signexpo.org to register and select your housing.

We’re back in Las Vegas this year.

One big change, though: The event runs Tuesday-Friday—a slight shift in our typical schedule.

It’s an investment of time and money that will pay off, not just for your company leaders, but also for staff that you’re grooming to help you capitalize on that next wave of growth. I hope to see you there!

Find article here: PrintingNews.com/ 21027174 ■ November 2018 Printing News

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