Wide-Format & Signage June 2020

JUNE/JULY 2020

8 2020 Top 100 Small Commercial Printers 21 Technology Outlook 2020 58 SGIA/PIA Merger Explained

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EDITORIAL ─ Our 2020 Technology Outlook

WE ARE AN INDUSTRY OF

Adam Dewitz Chief Operating Officer adam@whattheythink.com

PRINT GEEKS

T

he printing industry is full of geeks. We obsess over the minor details of putting drops of ink on paper, metal, wood and everything else. We obsess over building finishing departments that transform printed material into finished products. We get wide-eyed over the latest machinery. We ogle over highspeed presses with inline finishing like it is a McLaren at a stop light. Being a print geek transcends organizational rank and is a trait of owners, sales reps and operators—everyone.

Every four years, print geeks from around the world descend upon Düsseldorf, Germany, to see current

A key to transformation is finding the right technology at the right price and updating your processes to embrace automation and efficiency.

Read More…

Find article at PrintingNews. com/21133267

4

best-in-class printing technology and future technologies. My first drupa was the 2008 event and the launch of Landa. Does it get any better than that?

For the past few years, product managers and engineers across the industry have been busy preparing for June 15, 2020—the first day of drupa 2020—to unveil the latest innovations. And then the world literally stopped in its tracks as a coronavirus took over with the spread of COVID-19.

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

Many companies decided to publicly launch their new innovations via virtual presentations and press.

To amplify these technical achievements, WhatTheyThink created a platform for suppliers to the industry to get their messages out, and for printing companies to more easily stay up-to-date with the latest announcements as they plan for the future of their businesses. Our 2020 Technology Outlook starts on page 21 and focuses on five key technology areas: Software & Workflow, Production Inkjet, Labels & Packaging, Wide-Format, Signage & Apparel and Print Finishing. In the following pages of this magazine you will read about these technologies shaping the future of print production.

At the end of May 2020, we celebrated printing technology with a week-long webinar series and the launch our 2020 Technology Outlook Guide. Please visit http://whattheythink.com/techoutlook to access these resources.

The COVID-19 crisis has provided an opportunity to transform business practices including how we interact with our customers and receive and process their job orders, how to improve workflow, and how to introduce automation and increase quality, all while becoming more efficient and profitable. A key to transformation is finding the right technology at the right price and updating your processes to embrace automation and efficiency. ●

For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10013323

VP, GROUP PUBLISHER Kelley Holmes kelley@whattheythink.com 772-579-7360 PRODUCTION EDITOR & MANAGER Amy Hahn amy@whattheythink.com EDITOR Jessica Taylor jessica@whattheythink.com

CON JUNE/JULY 2020

MANAGING EDITOR Richard Romano richard@whattheythink.com SENIOR EDITOR Cary Sherburne cary@whattheythink.com

Special Feature

2020 TOP 100 SMALL COMMERCIAL PRINTERS

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Paul Zimmerman paul@whattheythink.com 973-727-1376 PRESIDENT Eric Vessels eric@whattheythink.com 740-417-3333

By Richard Romano

8

COO Adam Dewitz adam@whattheythink.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Henrik Christiansen Pat McGrew John Giles Jennifer Matt Elizabeth Gooding Mary Schilling

David Zwang

Special Coverage

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WhatTheyThink (ISSN 2642-3189) (USPS 500-850) Volume 43, Number 8 is published ten times per year in January/February, March, April, May, June/July, August, September, October, November, and December by WTT Media, Inc., at 2038 Ford Parkway #218, Saint Paul, MN 55116. Periodicals postage paid at Saint Paul, MN and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WhatTheyThink, 2038 Ford Parkway #218, Saint Paul, MN 55116. Subscriptions: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the U.S. to qualified subscribers. Publisher reserves the right to reject non-qualified subscriptions. Annual subscription prices in the U.S.A $95; Canada $125 USD; all other countries $150 USD. Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2020 WTT Media, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recordings or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission. WTT Media Inc. does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person or company for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material herein, regardless of causation. The views and opinions in the articles herein are not those of the publishers, unless indicated. The publishers do not warrant, either expressly or by implication, the factual accuracy of the articles herein, or of any views or opinions offered by the authors of said articles.

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- PAGE -

21

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW

What's in Your Workflow

By Pat McGrew

26

PRODUCTION INKJET

32

LABELS & PACKAGING

36

FINISHING

40

Inkjet Outlook - Interesting Times Ahead

By Elizabeth Gooding

Packaging is Transforming

By David Zwang

Fence-Free Collaborative Robots 4.0

By Henrik Christiansen WIDE-FORMAT, SIGNAGE & APPAREL

Wide Format, Signage and Apparel Technology

By Richard Romano

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

NTENTS COLUMNS

WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE

44

MIMAKI’S VIRTUAL UNVEILING

Mimaki expands product portfolio with 3D printer, OKI partnership and dual-ink-set textile printer.

By Cary Sherburne & Richard Romano

48

SPREADING SMILES NOT COOTIES

50

THE FUTURE OF PIGMENT INK TECHNOLOGIES

52

SPEEDPRO EAST BAY DECLARED WINNER OF COVETED 2019 PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD

54

PRINTFACTORY OFFERS ALTERNATIVE WORKFLOW

Personalized masks bring a little humor during difficult times.

By Mary Schilling

57

58 60

Gijsbert Harmsen of Neenah Coldenhove discusses Texcol digital transfer paper.

By Cary Sherburne

TRAINING PAYS OFF

How to maximize prepress training.

By John Giles EXECUTIVE Q&A

SGIA/PIA Merger Explained

By Cary Sherburne EMAIL IS NOT AN ONLINE PRINT ORDERING SOLUTION

Good customer service isn't always about responsiveness.

By Jennifer Matt

Turning an emergency hospital corridor into a pathway of the hospital’s rich history.

Toby Burnett talks about PrintFactory's offerings, differentiation and strategy for the future.

By Cary Sherburne

52

60 50 DEPARTMENTS

4 Editorial

44

64

Classifieds/Supplier Directory

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SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100

By Richard Romano

E

ach year, Printing News invites small commercial print business owners to participate in our “Top 100 Shops Survey.” The key word is “small.” We set an upper limit for participation at $25 million in annual revenues. Our Top Shop this year just barely made the cutoff at $24.99 million, although one suspects they’d have been perfectly happy to be over the limit!

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

In 2019, the shops included in our Top 100 list accounted for more than half a billion dollars in revenue— $549,411,144, an increase of 9.3% from 2018. However, sad to say, a certain mitigating factor will likely prevent most shops from seeing any kind of increase in 2020 revenues. If we look at revenues for our top shops, three out of 10 (31%) said 2019 saw a 10%+ increase over 2018—but, not unexpectedly, that same amount are expecting a 10%+ decrease in 2020 compared to 2019.

The theme of this year’s Top Shops survey was unfortunately, COVID-19.

We conducted our survey in March and April, so the survey responses reflect an industry in the midst of the crisis. The top six shops were all coping with the crisis in different ways, all of them successfully. (This could very well be why they are “Top Shops.”) Although the crisis obviously doesn’t retroactively affect their 2019 revenues, some of the initiatives that made them this year’s Top Shops have contributed to their successful battling of the crisis, even if the crisis has forestalled

initiatives and plans for 2020.

Applications

wide-format printing and/or signage in the past two years, 7% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 15% have no plans to add it, and 4% will outsource it. Most shops that have ever been likely to add wide format have added it—and it remains a highgrowth, highly profitable business for them. ● Textile/fabric printing for soft signage—only 9% of our Top Shops have added textile printing for soft signage in the past two years, and 15% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months. Soft signage is not a big priority for our Top Shops, at least inhouse: 46% have no plans to add it, but 22% will outsource it if they need to. Soft signage is such a potential growth area that this is really a missed opportunity for our Top Shops. ● Textile/fabric printing for garment printing/decorating—12% of our Top Shops have added

Color digital printing/ copying is performed by 84% of respondents and accounts for, on average, 23.3% of shops’ revenues. Four-color process color printing is performed by 63% of respondents, and accounts for 17% of revenues. Wide-format printing (>36 inches) and signage are performed by 83% of respondents, and wideformat printing accounts for 11.9% of revenues and signage accounts for 9.7%.

Binding and finishing are performed by 89% of respondents, but only accounts for 9.6% of revenues.

We asked our respondents about the extent to which they had been adding—or planning to add— various kinds of technologies and services. ● High-speed production inkjet (like HP PageWide, Canon Océ ColorStream/ ImageStream)—22% of our Top Shops have added high-speed production inkjet in the past two years, 13% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 50% have no plans to add it, and 6% will outsource it if they need to. ● Wide-format printing (like signs, displays, banners)—73% of our Top Shops have added

textile printing for garments in the past two years, and only 3% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months. This is less of a priority than soft signage: 53% have no plans to add it, but 27% will outsource it if they need to. ● Direct-to-garment printing—9% of our Top Shops have added direct-to-garment printing in the past two years, 6% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 53% have no plans to add it, and 25% will outsource it. This is another missed opportunity, and promotional items like T-shirts, tote bags, etc., are in high demand. That said, these kinds of items (and the specialty items discussed in the next bullet point) are heavily tied into events, which are on hold for

Demographics One company in our Top 100 spans three centuries—Zander Press, founded in 1899. The newest company in our Top 100 is Sir Speedy Tampa, founded in 2017. The median founding date for all companies in the Top 100 was 1986.

The majority of our respondents have one location; some of the franchises reported as many as 28 locations (AlphaGraphics). In the Top Six, two locations is the average. In terms of employees, our Top Shop this year (Firespring Print) topped the list at 154 (148 of them full-time). The mean number of employees for all 100 shops is 29 (median 22).

9

SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100 the time being. But when events start to take place again, there will be a pent-up demand for these kinds of items. (During the current crisis, custom-printed face masks are a high-growth area, and if re-opening stipulations require masks to be worn in public spaces, could continue to be a growth area.) ● Specialty or industrial printing (like coffee mugs, golf balls, smartphone cases)—11% of our Top Shops have added specialty or industrial printing in the past two years, 8% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 45% have no plans to add it, but 30% will outsource it if they need to. ● Corrugated packaging printing—4% of our Top Shops have added corrugated packaging printing in the past two years, only 4% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 61% have no plans to add it, and 26% will outsource it. In our three or four years of asking this question on various surveys, we have never seen abundant interest in corrugated or other kinds of packaging. ● Folding carton printing/converting—Likewise, only 5% of our Top Shops have added folding carton printing in the past two years, 7% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 59% have no plans to add it, and 22% will outsource it. ● Flexible packaging printing/converting—A scant 1% of our Top Shops have added flexible packaging printing in the past two years (and no one in the past year), although 8% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months. Still, 62% have no plans to add it, and 23% will outsource it. Of the various kinds of packaging, flexible packaging is the least likely to be pursued by general commercial printers. ● 3D printing—4% of our Top Shops have added 3D printing in the past two years, 5% plan to add it in the next 18 to 24 months, 69% have no plans to add it, and 11% will outsource it if they need to. We expect interest in 3D printing to start to increase this year, especially as entry-level machines (such as recent introductions from Mimaki) lower the barriers to entry. At the same time, 3D printing of personal

10

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

protection equipment (PPE) during the current crisis has raised the profile of 3D printing. ● Printed electronics—Finally, only 1% of Top Shops have added printed electronics, and only 1% plan to. Three-fourths (74%) have no plans to add it, and only 9% are even interested in outsourcing it. Unlike some of the items on this list, we don’t really see printed electronics as a major opportunity (remember 15 years ago when everyone was going to be pumping out RFID antennas?), but smart labels and smart packaging could represent unique opportunities for those eager to pursue it.

As has been the case for the past couple of years, wide-format printing has penetrated pretty far into the small commercial printer market, and as we’ll see below, shops see substantial opportunities in wide format and signage. Other kinds of specialty printing are still on the lukewarm side, but as we come out the other side of the crisis, we will likely see some movement in these areas, especially if their customers have a demand for those kinds of items.

Top Challenges When we look at the list of top challenges, we first need to have a look at the 18% who selected “other,” which consists almost exclusively (but not entirely) of “COVID-19.” The current crisis is also reflected in the top two challenges—national and local economic conditions (selected by 72% and 62% of our Top 100, respectively). After that, the more “evergreen”

capital investment plans for 2020. So we’re not that surprised that the top investment item for our Top 100—workflow automation software—was only selected by 20%. Indeed, many shops are finding that this is a good time to make needed improvements in production infrastructure and workflow.

Looking Forward How this year will end is still—as of this writing in early May—very much up in the air. challenges like finding qualified sales people (34%) and capabilities of sales personnel (30%) start to show up.

The big differential between the top two and the rest reflects the extent to which the current crisis is weighing on everyone’s mind. No one is sure what “normal” will look like, but in some ways, we’ll know we’re back to normal when print business owners can start griping about their sales guys again.

Top Opportunities For most of the industry, things are kind of on hold at the moment, but in my conversations with some of the Top Shops, they had certain initiatives planned for 2020 which they will get right back to pursuing once things get remotely back to normal. As a result, the survey doesn’t reflect a lot of perceived opportunities at present, with the top item—hiring new salespeople—only selected by 37% of respondents.

Planned Investments We know from other surveys we have conducted that investment plans for 2020 are on hold at present, although our WhatTheyThink “Fall 2019 Business Outlook Survey”—conducted before anyone had heard of “coronavirus”—found that the majority of print businesses had no substantial

As I have spoken to our six Top Shops, the feeling is one of cautious optimism. These print businesses are not immune from the current crisis, and are bullish on things getting back to relative normalcy in a reasonable period of time.

The Top 6 #1 Firespring Print For the second year in a row, we congratulate CEO Jay Wilkinson, COO Kevin Thomas and the staff of Firespring Print (www.firespring.com) for coming

11

SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100 in at number one in our said, “and we have had to do an across-the2020 Top Shops, with 2019 board reduction in compensation for all of sales of $24,994,812, up our salaried team members and reduced 3% from 2018. Founded hours for all of our hourly team members. in 1992, the company has We’ve spread it out and have been able two Nebraska locations— to navigate through with no layoffs or Omaha and Lincoln—and furloughs.”

154 employees.

As you can tell from this issue’s cover CEO Jay Wilkinson and COO Kevin “We were really happy image, the teams also meet virtually on Thomas of Firespring Print, Inc. with how 2019 went Zoom. for us,” Wilkinson said. “We didn’t have as steep a One of the things that Wilkinson is especially growth as we’d had in previous years, but we shored proud of, and is a primary focus, is Firespring’s conup a lot of aspects of our business, especially in martinued drive to use the work that they do to make a keting services, in the branding, design and strategy positive impact in their community. work we do essentially as a print marketing agency.

“The thing that we hang our hat on, that we That work has stabilized, and while we didn’t have spend so much of our time, effort and focus on,” massive growth in revenue, we did experience subWilkinson said, “is our ‘Power of Three’ program, stantial improvement across the board and in our where we give 1% of our top-line revenue back to profit margins, which was the focus for us.” nonprofits in our community, 2% of our products Firespring started in 1992 as strictly a printer— and services—mostly print and marketing—to nonas an AlphaGraphics franchise, actually. In 2000, profits that need help and 3% of our people—every Wilkinson bought out the franchise agreement, he team member volunteers one full day every month said, “to be able to pivot our company to be able for the nonprofit that aligns with their personal to offer more products and services, because the mission or passion.” internet had started to grow and we wanted to do In 2014, Firespring became certified as a B or website development and marketing services.”

Benefit Corporation, which meets the highest stanSince that time, Firespring has evolved the mardards of verified social and environmental perforketing services side of the business, an emphasis mance, public transparency and legal accountability that has led to clients wanting help with creating to balance profit and purpose. archetypes and persona development.

According to Firespring’s “In 2019, we tripled, if not quadrupled, the busi“2019 Yearbook and Annual ness that we did specifically in helping our clients Benefit Report,” they are with their marketing by developing archetypes, “using business as a force for which is helping them understand their natural good.” ethos, their natural wiring as a company,” Wilkinson The company also hosts said. “Every company has DNA that that makes myriad events in and out of them a little different than others. So we develop the plant over the course of archetypes for each business and then we develop a year (well, a normal year), personas that make it easy for them to understand such as daily plant tours, to whom to communicate and how to communicate barbecues, bowling nights, to those people so that they’re consistent.” puzzle days and one 2019 Wilkinson is looking forward to regaining the event called “Bring Your “Giving an F” recognizes momentum once the crisis passes, and Firespring, Parents to Work Day.” a Firespring employee who has gone above and like just about everyone else in the industry, is man“We had a hundred beyond the call of duty aging as best they can. parents in the building and and has delivered at the very highest levels.

“Our revenue is down about 30%,” Wilkinson we did a tour,” Wilkinson

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

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SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100

(Above) Firespring’s “Culture Club” is the group of the men and women who have been chosen to represent their teams when planning initiatives, events, and activities—of which there are many. (Right) Community service has been part of the Firespring story from day one. Today, every team member gets one paid day off each month to give back to the community in any way they’d like. In 2019, team members volunteered 12,172 hours to local organizations, which comes to a financial impact of $631,118.

said. “It was a really interesting derivative of the ‘Bring Your Kids to Work Day,’ and it was way more fun and interesting with the parents than it ever has been with the kids.”

The company’s team spirit was put to the test in early May when one of the production workers in the Omaha facility tested positive for COVID-19.

Firespring immediately shut the facility down over a weekend to thoroughly sanitize it.

“Fortunately, that team member had been already home quarantining for more than a week because he wasn’t feeling well, and all the people that had been in vicinity of him have been tested and have been cleared,” Wilkinson said. “So we feel like we isolated it quickly based on our safety precautions, but it’s still an issue to think about. That’s the reality we’re in today.”

#2 iColor Printing & Mailing Inc. Founded in 2008 by brothers Adil and Omar Khan, Los Angeles-based iColor Printing and Mailing (https://icolorprinting.net) has its roots in the early 2000s as predominantly a marketing company.

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

Today, the company has five locations across the U.S. and has a presence in India. The company has 120 employees and came in second in our Top Shops survey with 2019 revenues of $24,584,842. iColor is a full-service print business that does a little bit of everything in house, from sheetfed to heatset web, to digital printing, to grand format.

“There are only a few things that we don’t do,” Adil Khan said, “one of them being perfect binding.”

In 2019, iColor took a deeper dive into digital printing.

“One of the things that we added in 2019 that was so cool was an HP Indigo 12000 digital sheetfed press,” Adil Khan said. “At the end of 2019—and it’s just getting up and running now— we added the HP T240 PageWide digital web press. That’s really helped us scale our business, just getting the excitement going, and we’ve partnered with HP to bring a new level of print to our customers.”

The two traditional markets iColor has served are education and healthcare, but in 2017, they started accruing a substantial retail business for major chains around the country.

“Our customer demands have gone from high volume to short-run, high-quality work,” Adil Khan said. “Some of the posters that we’re doing for our retail customers feature customization by location.” iColor also expanded its wide-format capabilities with an HP Latex printer, which also helped further grow the retail side of the business, producing billboards and bus shelter ads.

The hardware iColor bought in 2019 was pretty pricey, so the strategy for 2020 is more on the software side.

“We’re looking at more of a technical approach in terms of software solutions than actually adding more equipment,” Adil Khan said. “We’re integrating now with our customers on a digital level. With

organizations like school districts, we’re tying in to their SSO, getting authentication tokens, and working with companies like Clever, where we’re able to make a seamless experience for schools.

We’re integrating with [customers’] platforms, whatever their CRM platforms are. We’re working with Salesforce Marketing Cloud. There are so many different places that we’ve got our programming team to work that has helped enable us to get more business at a higher profitability.” iColor is fortunate in that they have been able to work through the current crisis.

“It’s taken some toll on our production, but we’ve been blessed to stay busy during this,” Adil Khan said. “We were quick to act and assemble a team that is cleaning all of our facilities. I’m proud to say that, with the company being as small as we are, we were kind of ahead of it.” iColor identified early on the need to be able to weather changes—in whatever form they take.

“The printing landscape is just changing,” Adil Khan said. “It’s not as easy as it used to be, that’s for sure. I think what we’ve done successfully is we adapted to the change. That’s the company model that we’re working with. ‘Innovate and elevate’ are two terms within our company that we try to make sure that we follow every day.

“We’re looking to have a great 2020.I know we’ve got a hiccup, but hopefully L.A. opens back up soon and so does the rest of the world. We’re going to continue marching.”

investments, HBP has heavily invested in UV technology.

“We put in an eight-color UV press and converted a whole pressroom to UV, which really opened up some possibilities with uncoated sheets using four-color process,” Snyder said.

The company also invested heavily in its mailing business.

“Right now, our mailing department is one of our top areas that is staying busy.”

A downside is that a lot of HBP’s association work involves trade shows and other events, which have come to a standstill, and in terms of education, schools have moved online.

“So we’ve definitely gotten hit,” Snyder said.

“Profits are good, and we got our PPP money, so we’re just going to have to ride the storm out.”

Before things went south in March, HBP had been looking at expanding its digital capabilities.

“The biggest thing that we’re looking at is our digital department,” Snyder said. “We’re looking at inkjet and some different possibilities there. I don’t know exactly what we’re going to do, but certainly we’re going to wait until some of this gets sorted out.”

#4 Professional Printers Inc. (PPI) With two locations, in Columbia and West Columbia, S.C., and 120 employees, Professional Printers Inc. (www.proprinters.com) comes in at

#3 HBP, Inc. Founded in 1903, HBP (hbp.com) is one of the oldest companies in this year’s Top 100.

HBP has two locations—Hagerstown, Md., and Falls Church, Va.—and 137 employees. Revenues for 2019 were $23,077,000.

As for the keys to HBP’s success, “I would say it’s a combination of investments and focusing on our core markets,” said John Snyder, president.

HBP’s core markets are associations, education and educational publishers. In terms of

number four in this year’s Top Shops, with 2019 revenues of $21,444,000.

In 2019, the company focused on two essential strategies: expanding its already mature sales force and upgrading the company’s digital print capacity.

“We’re very salesfocused as a company,” said Jimmy Kohn, CEO, chairman emeritus and

Jess MacCallum, president of Professional Printers Inc.

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SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100 Rank

Company Name

Management

1

Firespring Print, Inc.

Jay Wilkinson

2

I Color Printing & Mailing Inc.

Adil Khan

3

HBP, Inc.

4

Professional Printers

5

Allen Printing Company

6

Cedar Graphics, Inc.

7 8 9

Year Founded

Number of Locations

Total Employees (FT+PT)

Lincoln, NE

1992

2

154

$24,994,812

Los Angeles, CA

2008

5

120

$24,584,842

City, State

2019 Sales

John Snyder

Hagerstown, MD

1903

2

137

$23,077,000

James S. Kohn, Jr.

West Columbia, SC

1968

2

120

$21,444,000

Shannon P. Heffington

Nashville, TN

1931

1

123

$17,000,000

Salma and Hassan Igram

Hiawatha, IA

1986

2

84

$15,000,000

Allegra Asheville

Dave Campbell

Asheville, NC

1998

5

50

$14,579,000

Sir Speedy Printing

George Coriaty

Whittier, CA

1979

1

35

$13,725,000

Alphagraphics

Chuck Stempler

Seattle, WA

1989

6

76

$13,066,590 $12,800,000

10

Influence Graphics

11

Lewis Color, Inc.

Ronald Sizemore

Long Island City, NY

2005

1

49

Thomas E., Randy & Justin Lewis

Statesboro, GA

1961

5

93

12

$11,800,000

Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail

Michael Marcantonio

Plymouth, MI

1978

2

65

$10,466,831

David Kovacs

Cranbury, NJ

1996

2

0

$9,907,916

Dan Pulos

Chatsworth, CA

1989

1

20

$8,400,000

13

Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail

14

S2K Graphics

15

Dynamark Graphics Group

16

PDC Graphics

Scott and Tom Fulner

Indianapolis, IN

1972

3

54

$7,936,000

John Rosenthal

Southampton, PA

1997

1

46

$7,500,000 $6,800,000

17

AlphaGraphics Cultural District

Bill And Clare Meehan

Pittsburgh, PA

2000

1

28

18

Postal Instant Press of Alaska

Shelley Bramstedt, Jan & John Tatham

Anchorage, AK

1979

1

42

$6,682,000

19

The H&H Group

Mary Kohler

Lancaster, PA

1973

3

49

$6,400,000

20

Integra

21

AlphaGraphics #004

22

AlphaGraphics

23

Foust Inc.

Rick Richter, Gene Egan

Crestwood, IL

1989

2

21

$6,375,596

Mike Sparaco and Darin Osborne

Tempe, AZ

1988

1

38

$6,269,465

Grant Richey

Bountiful, UT

1994

1

30

$6,179,782

Mike Foust

Amarillo, TX

1909

1

55

$6,000,000

24

Graphtech

Jon Williams

Harrisburg, PA

1992

1

39

$5,878,800

25

AJ Images, Inc.

Janet Greebel

Roselle, NJ

1967

1

22

$5,380,773

26

AlphaGraphics #011 Camelback

Larry Furlong

Phoenix, AZ

1981

28

28

$5,110,921

Bob Hindman

Clinton Township, MI

1984

1

21

$5,105,800

Eileen Rosenzweig

Sarasota, FL

1980

1

27

$5,004,684

Kathy Morgan

Irvine, CA

1989

1

20

$5,000,017

Bob Cap

Gilbert, MN

1971

1

9

$5,000,000

Barbara Izzo

Brentwood, TN

2004

1

22

$5,000,000

Jeff Fraley

Lexington, KY

2007

1

27

$4,900,000

Bruce & Linda Pansky

Downey, CA

1969

1

22

$4,893,000

Peter Lineal

Hoffman Estates, IL

1980

1

31

$4,806,012

Oklahoma City, OK

1996

1

40

$4,779,259

27

American Graphics Printing Co.

28

Sir Speedy

29

Digital Services Enterprises, Inc.

30

AAI

31

AMi, Inc.

32

Southeast Mail Service

33

Jeb-Phi Inc.

34

Plum Grove Inc.

35

Impressions Printing

Jeff Summerford

36

Allegra Print & Imaging

Darwin Buehler

Little Rock, AR

1991

1

22

$4,700,000

37

K-B Offset Printing, Inc.

R. J. Caravan

State College, PA

1902

1

36

$4,560,600

38

Bradsher & Bright, LLC

Jim Bright, Melissa & Gary Bradsher

Franklin, TN

2012

1

27

$4,404,406

39

Trinity Press

Joe Dye

Norcross, GA

1984

1

17

$4,360,674

40

Winn Communications, LLC

Brian Johnson

West Valley City, UT

2015

2

25

$4,239,788

41

Moran Graphics Inc.

Richard Moran

Chicago, IL

1994

3

26

$4,215,000

42

Bayside Printing Inc.

Rose Mary Bundscho

Houston, TX

1973

1

30

$4,210,000

43

Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail

Kyle & Jonette Spencer

Helena, MT

1982

1

26

$4,200,000

44

Graphic Creations, Inc.

Jim Caughorn, Jr.

Knoxville, TN

1987

1

25

$4,178,251

45

Bethlehem Business Forms

Frederick Fenselau

Bethlehem, PA

1986

1

34

$4,117,736

46

Allegra Print • Sign • Design

John Flynn

Dulles, VA

1988

24

24

$4,018,429

47

Econo Print Inc.

Jim Berry

Billings, MT

1969

2

23

$3,949,000

48

Sir Speedy Midway

Alexis & Brian Lenz

Carrollton, TX

1988

1

23

$3,946,600

49

Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail

John Fergusson

Richmond, VA

1991

1

24

$3,907,000

50

ASAP Prints

Nikki Smith

Winter Haven, FL

2001

1

12

$3,810,000

51

Scott’s Printing & Design

Scott Beyer

Montrose, CO

1978

3

28

$3,800,000

16

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

Rank

Company Name

52

Absolute Printing Inc.

53

Vastav Inc.

54

PIP Marketing/Signs/Print

55

Minuteman Press

56

Salem Printing & Blueprint, Inc.

57

Yotta Sky Group, Inc.

58

Pro Print, Inc.

Management

City, State

Year Founded

Number of Locations

Total Employees (FT+PT)

2019 Sales

Kelly Carlin

Marietta, GA

1988

1

26

$3,736,897

Pratul Kumar & Anita Srivastava

Carrollton, TX

1994

26

27

$3,694,862

Shane Parker, Scott & Chris Cochran

Peoria, IL

1978

2

28

$3,652,805

Michael Orr

Boca Raton, FL

1978

1

26

$3,600,000

Brenton Field

Salem, OR

1946

5

27

$3,549,500

Jose Manuel Gutierrez

Miami, FL

2012

2

18

$3,520,000

Michelle Radcliffe, Michael & Gene Hayes

North Kansas City, MO

1981

1

22

$3,500,000 $3,491,466

59

PIP Printing Riverside/Corona

Justin Tracy

Riverside, CA

1968

2

18

60

Pxpohio

Linda Scott

Reynoldsburg, OH

1971

1

26

$3,485,157

61

AlphaGraphics

Jeff & Michael Burgard

Bozeman, MT

1967

1

21

$3,468,465

Steve & Emily Albritton

Tampa, FL

2017

1

19

$3,459,147

Peter Marcus

Tucson, AZ

1990

1

0

$3,404,510

Robert Pelzek & Michael Tarby

East Longmeadow, MA

1976

1

24

$3,343,033

62

Sir Speedy

63

Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail

64

PIP Marketing Signs & Print

65

AlphaGraphics

66

Firesprint

Carmine Camerato

Boston, MA

2003

4

18

$3,284,134

Gene & James Hamzhie, Mark Kistler

Omaha, NE

2007

1

20

$3,200,000 $3,125,420

67

AlphaGraphics Layton

Jerron Hale

Layton, UT

2002

1

17

68

Printdallas, Inc.

Sherry Perry

Dallas, TX

1985

1

13

$3,091,112

69

Copycats Second Avenue Corp.

Ruth Starer

New York, NY

1984

1

17

$3,012,947

70

Trucolor

71

Sir Speedy Printing

72

Allegra Print Mail Marketing

Sallie Gold

Greenville, SC

1980

1

19

$3,007,780

Michael Klugerman

Washington, DC

2005

1

14

$3,002,879

Therese & Pat Mahoney, Kelly Parkinson, Joe Dimauro

Saline, MI

1973

1

32

$2,929,154

73

PIP Triad & Triad Signs

Jimmy Brumley

Burlington, NC

1983

2

21

$2,918,464

74

Wet Ink, Inc.

Edward Rothschild

Arvada, CO

1996

4

24

$2,830,000

75

Sir Speedy Printing

Jody Weber Shaw

Winston-Salem, NC

1974

2

21

$2,800,000

76

Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail

John Ferrari

San Diego, CA

2006

1

9

$2,800,000

77

Allegra Naples

Paul Kessen

Naples, FL

1982

1

21

$2,760,000

78

Master Printing Group, Inc.

Jeremy R. Dobos

Cleveland, OH

1928

2

22

$2,750,000

79

Tops Printing, Inc.

80

Sir Speedy

81

Allegra Print • Signs • Design

82

Yellowdog

83

AlphaGraphics

84

Zander Press Inc.

Steve Britton

Bryan, TX

1986

1

20

$2,714,190

GIK Inc.

Raleigh, NC

1990

1

14

$2,686,637 $2,685,000

Clyde Moses

Show Low, AZ

2007

1

16

Jennifer & Dan Mulligan

Denver, CO

2005

1

23

$2,667,868

Paul Van Veldhuizen

Sioux Falls, SD

1997

1

13

$2,586,651

Beth Wenzel, Kris Bastian, Darcy Zander-Feinauer

Brillion, WI

1899

1

21

$2,580,000

85

Pinney Printing Company

Charles Arp

Sterling, IL

1910

1

15

$2,564,725

86

AlphaGraphics

Andy Selcho

Sandy, UT

1996

1

16

$2,563,025

87

Sir Speedy

88

H&H Graphics

89

PIP Printing

90

FASTSIGNS of Omaha

91

AlphaGraphics

92

Allegra

Patrick Welch

Cranston, RI

1986

1

16

$2,547,436

Michelle Leissner

Vernon Hills, IL

1978

1

15

$2,500,000

Jennifer Allen & Mike Maystead

Palo Alto, CA

1973

1

12

$2,437,461

Robert Danielson

Omaha, NE

1991

1

12

$2,400,000

Richard Schepler

Charlotte, NC

1998

2

19

$2,384,015

Eric & Ben Van Kerckhove

Cedar Rapids, IA

1981

1

18

$2,346,693

93

Sir Speedy

Evan Bloom

Westbury, NY

1992

1

14

$2,328,112

94

Sir Speedy

Laurence Nye & Mike Levangie

Orlando, FL

1980

1

14

$2,322,497

95

Colormarx Corporation

The Mcnaught Family

Sacramento, CA

1969

3

13

$2,271,449

96

AlphaGraphics

Brandon Bagley

Chandler, AZ

2008

4

15

$2,230,726

97

U. of Houston Copy & Print

Nalan Giannukos

Solon, OH

1949

1

14

$2,200,000

98

Novex Systems LLC

Michael Piaser

Houston, TX

2010

1

30

$2,200,000

Todd Hinson

Rocky Mount, NC

1990

1

9

$2,185,668

Michael & Steven Duhr

Cleveland, OH

1907

1

12

$2,125,675

99

Allegra

100

Foote Printing

17

SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100 U.S. Army veteran. “Our prospecting, recruitment and retention of the sales team has been critical to our success. Some companies would silo themselves and go after, say, healthcare or other verticals, whereas with our company, it’s more of a smorgasbord. We’re a big job shop. We still have situations where people can come in off the street and get something printed, and we’ll work with our major accounts and produce a 260,000 run of a visitor’s guide.”

“Product that needs to be saddle-stitched is probably our sweet spot, as is our die-cutting,” President Jess MacCallum said. “We have two diecutters, so a lot of our growth has been in die-cutting products, oversized brochures, pocket folders and things like that.”

Complementing PPI’s 40-inch Heidelberg presses (in two-color, four-color, six-color and eight-color configurations) and six-color Heidelberg Web-8, the company invested in digital printing with an HP 7900, allowing the company to expand into short-run and variable-data printing.

It’s the customer base, from small local businesses to Fortune 500 companies, that MacCallum feels is the key to PPI’s success.

“Our biggest strength is our diversification and client base,” he said. “We look to new business development every year, and securing new accounts has been one of our strengths as a company.”

PPI’s focus for 2020 has been to discover customers’ evolving needs and find creative and efficient ways to meet them—and that includes helping cope with the current crisis.

“We have two plants running 24/7, nobody has been laid off, and everybody’s still working,” MacCallum said.

Although regular print volume has dropped, PPI has been busy helping out the community and customers. With less than one week’s notice, the company was able to retool to create medical face shields for a local company, producing and delivering much needed PPE to front-line workers.

“Over 200,000 units were shipped in a fourweek period,” MacCallum said.

In addition, PPI handed out 1,000 personal

18

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

hand-sanitizers to customers along with their proofs; printed and distributed 2,000 activity books to the community free of charge, and published a single-use cough shield template online that could be printed on 8.5 x 11-inch paper and made at home.

At the end of the day, it’s all about the customer.

“We’re thankful for our customers,” Kohn said.

“That’s something we’ve always focused on. It needs to be win–win—the company needs to win, but our customers need to win.”

#5 Allen Printing Company Two companies in this year’s Top Six were in the Top Six last year— Firespring (see #1) and Allen Printing Company (www.allenprinting.com), which, as it happened, was also at number five last year.

Founded in Nashville in 1931 by the eponymous Mr. Allen, Allen Printing has been a familyrun business since its inception. Mr. Allen had transferred the business to longtime employee Howard “Bunkus” Crump, and then was passed along to Crump’s step-grandson Tony Pack. The company was then transferred to Pack’s daughter, Shannon and her husband Paul Heffington, both of whom run Allen Printing today. The company has one location in Nashville, 123 employees, and its 2019 revenue—$17,000,000—represents a 13% increase over 2018.

A lot of that growth was driven by Allen’s push into new markets, such as the restaurant industry, “which has taken a beating right now, but in 2019 actually had been doing pretty well,” Paul Heffington said. “As we’ve delved into some of those different industries and once we got our footing, we were able to pick up four, five, six, seven others in that area. We did that with banking. We got our foot in the door at one or two places and were able to go, ‘OK, this is what the industry is looking at or needing,’ and then we came up with a customer service plan that would make it easy for them to deal with us.”

Allen Printing is all about customer service—their web header reads “Workin’ Hard and Bein’ Nice since 1931”— and Heffington has attributed a lot of the growth over the past few years to the company’s customer service.

“People want customer service, and that’s been something that has dropped over the last couple of years, not just in printing but basically across the board in every industry,” Paul Heffington said. “Our staff have done a phenomenal job in just giving good, solid customer service, and it shows.”

Like everyone, Allen Printing is looking forward to getting back to normal—and is being proactive about it.

“The biggest opportunity is for us to actually be able to figure out what normal is going to be,” Paul Heffington said.

“So for us, it’s trying to quickly jump back in with our customer base and say, ‘OK, what can we help you open back up with? Can we help you with a direct mail campaign? Banners?

Signage? Can we help you with throw-away menus?’”

Allen is also paying attention to what the eventual guidelines for business reopening will be.

“We’re trying to beat them to the punch and go to our customers and say, ‘Here’s what we can offer.’ We’re trying to be part of the solution, not just reactionary. We’re doing our research into antimicrobial synthetics for menus and different things like that.”

Being able to jump on new opportunities as they present themselves has been a key ingredient in Allen Printing’s success.

“We’ve tried to be nimble and able to adjust as opportunities present themselves,” he said.

“That’s kind of where we’ll

For more information, visit Printingnews.com/10005202

19

SPECIAL FEATURE ─ Top 100 be with all the shakedown. There are going to be, unfortunately, some companies that will shut their doors and some opportunities that will fall into our lap, so we want to be prepared for that, and figure out how we can expand on those and go deeper into whatever industries opened themselves up to us.”

#6 Cedar Graphics, Inc. Founded in 1986, with two locations near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Graphics (www.cedargraphicsinc.com) rounds out our Top Six Top Shops, with 2019 revenues of $15,000,000.

“One of the big things that we did, and have been doing, is to keep increasing our storefronts,” said Humza Igram, president. “We’ve signed up a few additional storefronts this past year and that really helped a lot. Some of them are former inplant print shops that converted over, others are just looking at implementing more efficiencies.

Additionally, we got a couple of new customers that were doing personalized digital printing and other work that came with that, like gift cards and other items. And wide format just continues to grow for us.”

Where once the company’s clientele was heavily concentrated in higher education, for which Cedar Graphics produced brochures and mailings, the company has seen its customer base diversify.

While higher education is still their bread and butter, said Igram, “a big Internet company is doing a lot of their business internet mailings through us.

(Left to right): Scott Burnett, Hassan Igram, Humza Igram, and Justin McDonald of Cedar Graphics.

20

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

A testing company is doing Read More… a lot of work with us. Retail Find article at stores do a lot of mailings and PrintingNews. com/21133270 catalogs. So our customer base is spread out pretty widely, and we continue to reach out and grow those different areas.”

Cedar Graphics also does a lot of work for specialty printers that outsource their commercial jobs.

“There’s a packaging printer, and we do their commercial work, and there are university print shops that just do certain kinds of work. We do the offset work for them,” Igram said. “We’re not a trade printer, but we do a lot for other printers, either because they don’t have the capability to do it or they’re higher-end items for them.”

The COVID effect was a little time-delayed for Cedar Graphics, but they were prepared for it.

“Another big market for us is nonprofits, specifically Islamic nonprofits,” Igram said. “And with Ramadan being right now [April 23–May 23], there are a lot of mailers that went out in March, so we stayed very busy in March—busier this March than we were last March—and the first week in April. But we knew that we were going to get hit with it.”

Even after the crisis hit, the company kept busy, and produced face shields early on.

Cedar Graphics is also taking advantage of “productive downtime.”

“We’re keeping people busy with all those projects that we didn’t have time to work on, whether it’s equipment maintenance, certifications, marketing, white papers, just general continuous projects,” Igram said.

They are also boosting their workflow automation and preparing to become a beta site for a new digital press in June.

Cedar Graphics is always upgrading its equipment—“probably more than we should,” Igram admitted — although major investments are on hold for the time being.

“But other than business being down,” he added, “we’re trying not to change too much from the way we normally operate.”

Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey, and congratulations to this year’s Top Shops! ●

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW

WHAT'S IN YOUR WORKFLOW Take a tour of your system to streamline your workflow.

By Pat McGrew

D

o you have a workflow map for your production?

Something simple that documents how work moves from department to department, process to process and on to delivery?

Or, perhaps you have a standard operating procedure binder that identifies the software and processes used to take work in, process and deliver it? If you have one or both things, congratulations. You are a rare company!

Sadly, most printing companies today can’t name all of

the software that is installed.

In many cases they pay maintenance for software that is no longer in use, have multiple competing solutions for different projects, and include freeware downloaded on personal devices as part of the workflow. Some of the mission critical software components in use may not have been upgraded as new releases became available, while other software may have been bought for tasks that could have been handled by existing solutions.

How does this happen in a modern printing environment?

It is a time and resource problem, but it is also a lack of understanding when it comes to what workflow is and how it directly informs the profit on every job produced. When new equipment is acquired, there are intense discussions about the total cost of operation (TCO) and the nuances of consumables pricing. Software solutions may be treated the same way on acquisition, but over time they become part of the wallpaper.

It is a dangerous turn of events when we stop seeing the wallpaper over time. We miss the

21

New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

little tears at the edges or stains around the light switches. When the workflow is part of the wallpaper and not considered a strategic asset, we miss the inefficiencies that develop.

This situation can be addressed today, no matter what type of shop you run - in-plant or print-for-pay, transactional or commercial. A workflow should be efficient and scalable, save production costs and add to operational efficiency. To join the army of companies who are optimizing their workflows, start with a walk. Grab your favorite note-taking device and tighten your shoelaces.

Tour Stop 1: Bring the Job Onboard ● What software tools are used to capture job specifications, check on available consumable inventory needed for the work, and make the job available for scheduling? ● Is there estimating and quoting software in use?

How is it updated to capture changes in paper and other consumable costs? Does the software also estimate finishing and shipping costs? ● How much of this is done in spreadsheets and emails? ● Is the process different for each salesperson? ● Do you have one or more web-to-print solutions or digital store fronts?

You’re looking for loops. How

22

many loops through phone calls, emails, text messages, walking to the desks of colleagues (when we’re allowed to do that again), and multiple follow-up communications to get a job ready to head into production. Some of it can’t be helped, but these loops have a cost that is often hidden when the jobs are estimated.

While I have you, can your workflow accommodate change orders? Where do they start?

How is production notified?

How is accounting notified?

The best practice is a process supported by software that allows you to capture the information about every job, no matter where it originates, in a consistent and reliable manner.

No spreadsheets or notebooks that hold the real information.

That software could be part of your ERP or MIS system, your business management system, your digital storefront/web-toprint solution, or it could be a standalone solution. The process should not be to capture the information and enter it into the system of record after the job has gone into production.

Once you have gathered your intelligence at this tour stop, it’s time to move to the next stop.

Tour Stop 2: Getting Ready for Print For transaction print organizations much of the work of setting up a job to print is done once when the contract is signed for the work, and perhaps when new products are brought in. The

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

job specifications do not change much, if at all. The requirement may be to preflight to verify that all assets are available for print.

Often, color management is bypassed. Once the file has been through preflight it heads for the job scheduling queue.

Commercial and direct marketing print can be more complicated. Color should be managed. Files should be preflighted. And each process should be set up for automation. Whether it is through hot folders or scripted routines, once a job is pronounced on board it should move through automated routines that only demand human intervention if there is a problem.

As you tour your workflow, what do you find? ● Is every job touched by people? ● Is there some automation? No automation? Do you have one or more preflight tools? Do they get used for every job or only to diagnose problems? Is color management done efficiently? ● Is there an approval process at this stage? How many loops are normal? ● What happens when a job is ready to print. How is that information passed to the next handoff?

Identify the tools that people are using and consider if they overlap. Do you have automated handoffs from process to process, or is it physical? Every touchpoint is a dollar sign, so

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW start to add them together.

Now we arrive where the rubber meets the road – the production process.

Tour Stop 3: Prepress Infrastructure Preflight and color management are essential elements, but they are not they full story of getting ready for print. They touch specific processes of getting a file ready, but you also need to have all of the job information pulled together for the production team. There are also decisions about how to get the job on the press. The starting questions to ask as you continue the tour of your workflow processes are: ● Are you using electronic job tickets? ● Do you use physical job bags? ● Is Imposition/Ganging/ Nesting a manual process? ● Are you co-mingling jobs for efficiency? ● How can you tell if work is moving through the plant efficiently?

Most printing plants have some process to track every job. Some are physical, some are electronic and many are hybrid. Your ERP, business management or Print MIS may be your tools of choice to identify every new job and track it through onboarding to completion and billing. There may be a parallel process that involves job bags that carry a copy of the job specifications, a print or design sample and finishing

instructions. In some shops the entire process is controlled with bar codes that are scanned at each process stop, while other companies have moved to JDF/

JMF to pass information with the job as it moves from process to process and to update operations and customer-facing dashboards.

For more information, visit Printingnews.com/10004777

23

New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

If you are walking through the workflow and you use job bags, how secure are they?

Do some go missing? Are they updated in real time, or stacked for updating at the end of the day? If this is not a real-time process, it will be easy to over schedule or under schedule equipment and miss changes in substrate inventory. So this is a good time to consider updating, augmenting or creating an automated job ticketing and job management process.

Start with the obvious. Do you have a process and a software tool set for job ticketing and job management? If you do, are you using it to the fullest extent possible? Years of workflow assessments indicate that this is a common area for tools that are under used leading to more and more manual job processing.

If you work in a print space where imposition or job ganging/nesting is part of the process, this is a good time to look at those tools. The market is beginning to see the rise of new tools that are packed with smart learning features, libraries of imposition options and an array of tuning tools. Imposition shouldn’t be a manual process today, so if people are your imposers, look into the options.

Tour Stop 4: Getting on the Press When it comes to moving the file to the press there are several touchpoints that you should encounter. There is the job scheduling to control

24

queue management. There are the operator controls that give them some measure of flexibility for getting a job started and marketing it complete.

When you are on your workflow tour, what are you finding at each of these stops? How many touchpoints do you find?

Is job scheduling “one and done” or is it a constant and iterative process driven by delivery date changes and delays caused by earlier processes? What tools are in place, and what is being managed in spreadsheets and on whiteboards?

Now look at something you might not have thought about: how the operators interact with the press. On some presses the operator has freedom to change color management settings and alter print speeds.

The result can be a magnificent print, but is it the print the client approved? How locked down is your digital front end and your process for print changing? How much time is spent getting jobs ready to print, and how often are jobs re-run because of incorrect profile settings, wrong substrates or other issues. Capturing this information and working toward a level of automation that reduces the chances of needing job re-runs drives margin to the bottom line. Even if operators log in and out of a machine, assessments tell us that this information is often

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

not reviewed against expectations, schedules and rework requirements.

Remember that for every step in your workflow it is likely that you have vendors who have supplied software to you and who would be open to discussing your options for additional team training and eduRead More… cation to Find article at help your PrintingNews. com/21132738 teams make the best use of what is there. Also consider firing some of your vendors – that is, un-installing software that you aren’t using and don’t plan to use. Review your accounting to ensure you aren’t paying maintenance on solutions that your team doesn’t use. And take the time to look for freeware being used in production to determine if you need to mitigate some risks. Freeway is not all bad and neither are open source solutions, but it is imperative that everyone understand how they are used and if there are risks.

This is an on-going dialog, so review, walk your workflow, understand your current workflow costs, and come back with your questions. If you have great ideas to share, let me know! Send your stories to me at pcm@mcgrewgroup.com. ●

Pat McGrew has more than three decades as an evangelist for technology in communication. She is an author and regular writer in the industry trade press.

SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW Look at these products as you evaluate your workflow:

Preflight and Prep

Solimar Systems - ReadyPDF ReadyPDF is the latest innovation from Solimar Systems for their PDF-centric workflow software platform, Chemistry. www.printingnews.com/21133007

Preflight and Prep

Enfocus PitStop Pro 2020

Imposition

Enfocus technology enables PitStop Pro and Server to ‘see’ the visual content of a PDF file. PitStop will be able to look for images and graphical shapes such as logos to check if they are present or absent in a PDF file.

Onyx Graphics - TruFit ONYX TruFit, is new shapebased nesting software. Using artificial intelligence to search millions of combinations for precise nests and media utilization. www.printingnews.com/21133014

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Fundamentals is a Digital Front End with software components that are essential to bring your press to market.

Timereaction is a cloud-based project management and collaboration platform for small and midsize companies.

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Timereaction

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In The Hardware

Global Graphics Suite Direct drives print jobs directly to the printer electronics without ever touching a disk. www.printingnews.com/10005548 Color Management

Spot Nordic - Spot Matching System The Spot Matching System (SMS) is a color palette for 21st century demands in design, where color consistency is a key factor.

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New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

INKJET OUTLOOK -

INTERESTING TIMES AHEAD Top trends in production inkjet technology

By Elizabeth Gooding

T

here is no question that we are living in interesting times and nothing is quite as we might have expected at the end of 2019. The production inkjet market is no different. In looking at the “Inkjet Technology Outlook for 2020” and beyond, it’s helpful to look back at 2019 and how we might expect to recover.

At the end of April, I.T. Strategies published “Digital Production Print Markets: Table 2. Worldwide Continuous Feed Inkjet Print Market (Production Financial Models for The Coronavirus Documents) as Percentage of 2019 Value I.T. Strategies Recession,” which looks at many economic factors to propose a potential timeline for the pace represent the worldwide market. The U.S. print of digital print equipment investment to return to market and the economy as a whole was stronger 2019 levels. While the report was developed for a than most other regions coming into 2020 and may world-wide OEM audience, the reporting of “recurexperience a quicker recovery. Also specific segring revenue” for the OEM can be seen as a proxy for ments, such as packaging and labels are likely to the return of overall print volumes. recover more quickly. Interestingly, the projected The report provided projections on both a recovery trajectory also varies by platform. The con“V-shaped” and a “U-shaped” market recovery with tinuous feed inkjet market for production docuthe former being both more positive and more likely. ments is a relatively mature one in segments other I want to emphasize that all of these tables than commercial print. Emerging segments, such as graphic intensive commercial print applications are very cost sensitive and will be slower to consider high capital outlay. This is reflected in Table 2, which shows recurring revenues (a proxy for print volumes) snapping back very quickly as the existing inkjet users in mature markets come back on line. Also consider that one of the largest segments of this market, transaction printers, never went dark and may even have seen a bump in volumes.

By contrast, cut-sheet or sheet-fed inkjet equipment investment is projected to bounce back more quickly than continuous (see Table 3) and to continue to grow by double digits Table 1. Worldwide - All Digital Print Markets as Percentage of 2019 Value I.T. Strategies year-over-year. While sheet-fed inkjet is a less

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

PRODUCTION INKJET

Table 3. Worldwide Cut Sheet (Sheet-Fed) Inkjet Print Market (Production Documents) as Percentage of 2019 Value I.T. Strategies

mature market than continuous, for all but the B-1 format, sheet-fed is on average a significantly lower investment reach than continuous.

Looking back at 2019 product releases can also shed some light on the variations in momentum. Last year, new introductions in inkjet were focused on four major areas: ● Continued expansion into commercial, graphic arts markets ● Driving down costs in more mature inkjet markets ● Opening up the labels and packaging segment ● Continued development of hybrid inkjet presses across all segments Our focus for Tech Week was on the first two of those items, since David Zwang prepared excellent coverage of the labels and packaging segment. It’s notable that the majority of the launches in 2019 focused on the sheet-fed inkjet market. (Details on each of these devices can be found on the Inkjet Insight Device Finder at InkjetInsight.com) Read More…

This is a fairly robust list Find article at of product releases for a PrintingNews. com/21133057 year in which we might have expected OEMs to hold back some releases for drupa 2020. It’s interesting to note that over 80% of new device releases where sheet-fed. While Screen and Canon offered some significant upgrades to their continuous web

offers, the Ricoh Pro VC70000 was the only major new web-fed device introduction. As we entered 2020, and drupa 2020 was postponed until 2021, OEMs needed to rethink their launch strategy. There are device announcements planned that are general knowledge, but analysts like me have signed nondisclosure agreements that prevent us from writing about them, so we are waiting for drupa 2021 to talk about things we learned about in 2018. Interesting times!

The notable exceptions are new device announcements from HP and Canon, both of which are targeting the graphic arts market with web-fed and sheet-fed offers respectively.

HP PageWide Web Press T250 HD and Brilliant Ink In March, HP announced the HP PageWide Web Press T250 HD and Brilliant Ink. The new Brilliant Ink and HP Optimizer fluid enhancements open up the range of stocks and coverage options as compared to previous PageWide Web presses by eliminating the need for two separate fluids to enable compatibility with porous and non-porous media.

Selective jetting of Optimizer, rather than anilox application, also reduces fluid use and enables higher ink coverage. When printing on ColorPRO certified inkjet media with Brilliant Ink, Optimizer is not required.

In addition, the T250 HD offers native resolution

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New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

PRODUCTION INKJET of up to 2400 dpi with dual drop weights to simulate a grayscale head. The T250 HD press operates in three speed modes: ● Quality Mode: 2400 dpi with dual drop weights at speeds up to 250 feet (76 meters) per minute. This mode delivers the highest quality for the press using dual—low and high—drop weights. ● Performance HDK Mode: CMY 1200 dpi (single drop) with K at 2400 dpi (dual drop) at speeds up to 500 feet (152 meters) per minute ● Performance Mode: 1200 dpi, single drop weight at speeds up to 500 feet (152 meters) per minute The press has a web width of up to 22 inches (559 millimeters) and a print width of up to 20.5 inches (521 millimeters) and, similar to the T240, should support media weights of 40- 250 grams per square meter and up to 10 pt. It will ship with an inline spectrophotometer system.

A cornerstone of HP’s strategy, and one which can extend development timelines, has been maintaining an upgrade path for existing customers.

HP will provide an upgrade path to the T250 HD and Brilliant Ink on a platform-by-platform basis beginning with the T200 installed customer base.

Estimated upgrade costs run at around 15% of the cost of a new press. The new presses are expected to begin shipping by the end of 2020.

Canon VarioPrint iX Series Sheetfed Inkjet Presses In April, Canon announced two new devices based on their iSeries sheet fed line. The VarioPrint iX3200 and the iX2100 are the same in all respects except speed producing up to to 10 million and 7 million A4 impressions per month respectively.

Customers can upgrade from one to the other with a license fee, however there is no upgrade path from the current iSeries/iSeries+ to the iXSeries.

The key advances of the iX series over the iSeries are: ● Native resolution of 1200 dpi as compared to iSeries+ at 600dpi ● Updated inks to support new printheads ● Expanded media range (60 – 350gsm/40#

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

text – 130# cover uncoated and 90 – 350gsm/60# text – 130# cover offset coated) ● Instant media switching with a printer input module supporting four trays of up to 4,500 sheets (with ability to connect multiple PIMs for max of 13,500 sheets in 12 trays) ● Enhanced drying to enable high coverage ● Improved registration control ● A post-fixation unit using instant heat combined with humidity to stabilize the humidity level of the paper stable and maintain flat print which is critical for perfecting and finishing The combination of new heads and inks firing smaller droplets also enables a speed increase of approximately 8%, but more importantly the iX series devices will run mixed media jobs at full speed, which was a challenge for earlier iSeries models. Like the previous models, the iX series use

Looking forward to 2021 and beyond, we expect to see additional market entrants focused on the high-end commercial printing market.

ColorGrip spot-delivered primer to enable compatibility with a broader range of media.

Canon will continue to market the iSeries+ in the appropriate market segments while focusing the iX Series devices on the more demanding commercial printing segments. The first device was targeted for installation in Europe in May with rollout in the U.S. in the third quarter.

Looking forward to 2021 and beyond, we expect to see additional market entrants focused on the high-end commercial printing market. Komori announced their Impremia NS40 B1 sheet-fed press in 2019 and plans to finally unveil it at drupa 2021.

Driving continued innovation starts with the components of the finished devices including print heads, RIP software, DFEs and drying systems. It’s interesting to note that while we see continued

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New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

PRODUCTION INKJET innovation and partnership from companies like Memjet, several OEMs including Ricoh and Xerox have moved toward verticalization of their offers and away from using third-party print heads.

Another area where we expect to see significant activity heading into the redeployed drupa, is hybrid inkjet or retrofit printing.

Hybrid systems like the Colordyne 3600 Series AQ – Retrofit Printer which is powered by Memjet, allows the customer to get more value out of existing equipment by enabling pure digital jobs, traditional jobs

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

and mixed work, all without increasing labor costs.

As production inkjet hardware and software components become more readily available for bespoke development, we expect to see an uptick in business for inkjet integrators and emerging OEMs to drive specialized solutions to the market. ●

HP PageWide Web Press T250 HD and new Brilliant Ink Growing the capabilities of commercial inkjet printing, the HP PageWide T250 HD with HP BrilliantTM inks offers new versatility to expand application range with wider gamut printing on a broad range of papers.

The new flagship 22-inch continuous inkjet HP PageWide T250 HD, features HP Brilliant Ink and expanded media versatility for high-volume commercial, publishing, transaction, and direct mail applications. Advancements in the new HP PageWide T250 HD, also to be made available as upgrade options, include: HP Brilliant Ink delivers a new CMYK ink set offers an extended gamut, specifically designed to print with high quality on coated and uncoated offset media with one press.

Expanded application range with the digitally printed HP Optimizer.

HP’s Quality Image Check vision system monitors print quality in real-time and provides the operator with performance insights while running the press at speed. www.printingnews.com/21120955

Canon VarioPPRINT iX Canon announced the varioPRINT iX-series, a sheetfed inkjet press from Canon featuring iQuariusiX technology.

For customers with production volumes of 1 to 10 million A4 images per month, the new press combines the image quality and media range of offset or liquid toner systems with the productivity and cost efficiency of inkjet.

Print more than 9,000 SRA3 images per hour (or 320 A4 images per minute) on a wide range of media, including offset coated paper from 90 to 350gsm. You can produce high volumes of the full spectrum of commercial print applications, from marketing collateral and premium direct mail to catalogues, magazines and books.

The varioPRINT iX-series enables productivity gains and measurable improvements in overall running costs compared with other cutsheet production print technologies. The latest iQuariusiX technology at the heart of the new iX-series combines three key innovations: a breakthrough drying system,new proprietary polymer pigment water-based inks and iQuarius quality control technologies for image quality. www.printingnews.com/21133040

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

For more information, visit PrintingNews.com/10005824

New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

PACKAGING IS

TRANSFORMING This is just the beginning

By David Zwang

L

abels and Packaging are a fairly strong Koenig & Bauer and safe market segment for print everything from the transport service providers. to imaging and providing signifThe global COVID-19 panicantly enhanced automation demic of 2020 will undoubtedly and control. The use of visual have an impact on the supply and other sensing technolochain and consumer purchasgies combined with digital servo ing, with behavioral changes in controls, enables less operator the short term, and some poteninvolvement and better control. tial affects in the longer term.

Further enhancements include But even before the pandemic, sleeve technology for rapid job purchasing habits were changchanges, automatic impression ing, demands for flexible packsetting, color monitoring, regisaging, product segmentation, ter and auto cleaning as well. mass customization and personThere are many new CI alization, and supply (common impression) chain connectivity flexo presses making it Read More…

(Industry 4.0) were to the market, providing Find article at already part of packmuch better registration PrintingNews. com/21133061 and media handling. The aging realities. To address these new Koenig & Bauer Evo line realities, packaging press and of 3 CI flexo presses designed for solution manufacturers have short, mid-sized and long runs been transforming existing and can run up to over 600 meters developing new technologies. per minute with web widths up to 2000 millimeters. Bobst has Flexo Rebirth and focused on digitizing their entire Digitization line of products as evidenced by To keep up with the changthe DigiFlexo solutions with ink ing demands and increase on demand (IOD). The Gallus quality, flexo is digitizing. This Labelmaster supports up to digitization hasn’t changed 16 different process positions, the basic concepts of flexogincluding ink color, embellishraphy; however, the digital ment, die cutting and can run up enhancements are affecting to 200 meters per minute.

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WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

Offset For folding carton and even label work, in addition to flexo, offset is still the most productive high-quality solution.

Heidelberg has been one of the leaders in that space for decades. However, very much like flexo, there has been a digitization makeover of these presses to accommodate the new market requirements. In addition to Heidelberg’s push to stop productivity enhancements, they have introduced Heidelberg

FoilStart Cure, which permits metallic finishing effects with cold foil on in-mold labels (IML) with LED UV on a Speedmaster XL 106.

Digital Presses While flexo and offset have been predominant technologies, depending on application, not all SKUs are long runs. On top of that all products go through lifecycle stages from the initial introduction, growth, maturity and ultimately decline. While the elapsed time in each of

LABELS & PACKAGING Fujifilm

cut off lengths.

One of the constraints on production inkjet reaching the speeds needed to compete with flexo is how to handle the volume of data required to drive the imaging engines. Global Graphics has developed the first direct-to-printhead processHP Indigo

Xeikon

these stages can vary based on the product and market acceptance, the stages are a constant.

As we move to print solutions to satisfy the requirements of shorter “on-demand” runs, a number of things happen. First of all, the digital toner and inkjet solutions are slower than the conventional flexo solutions, which means that the total available production capacity of the press is less. Although, some of the digital solutions are getting faster as well.

The Fujifilm J Press 750S, B2+ press is the third generation of their J Press line of sheetfed inkjet presses. It is a high-quality performance workhorse that has a native resolution of 1200 x 1200 and runs at 3,600 sph.

While it is used for commercial work it is also used for short run folding carton work.

The new Xeikon CX300 Cheetah label press has picked up some innovations from the newly introduced SIRIUS platform, but it is a different platform. The new Cheetah 2.0 platform will support field upgrades

across series from a CX300 to CX500 providing an increase in print width to increase productivity or application shifts from labels to flexible packaging at up to 30 meters per minute.

The HP Indigo line has been refreshed increasing the processing speeds by up to 30%.

They have increased their process speed to 180 meters per minute. That doesn’t mean that the presses will necessarily run at that speed today, but it does provide an imaging platform to support higher speeds.

In addition, HP has announced a new imaging architecture LEPx for their new “Series 6” press moving the imaging from the current CI drum to inline print stations with an imaging belt. The V12 press currently runs at up to 120 meters per minute (400 fpm), so it is targeted at production inkjet and even flexo or flexo hybrid.

Koenig & Bauer RotaJET is a CI inkjet press that operates at 150 meters per minute, with variable

ing pipeline using desktop class CPUs creating a future-proof solution to keep up with the latest production inkjet presses.

This is a very significant development and is truly a game changer and will undoubtedly open the way for more productive digital print packaging solutions.

Hybrid In packaging, the concept of hybrid equipment approaches that combine different printing and finishing technologies is commonplace. It is less about hybrid technologies and more about the application of the hybrid technologies. Flexo and digital are a couple ways to address those needs and have found a growing role in label and even some flexible packaging applications.

This new hybrid technology is designed to be cost effective at very short, short and medium run lengths. The latest product is the new UTECO Sapphire EVO W product production

33

New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

inkjet press designed for flexible packaging. The “W” refers to “wide” since this press has a 1250 millimeter (49 inch) width. The EVO W is not the first Sapphire, but it is the first to be powered by Kodak ULTRASTREAM technology.

The press supports a higher resolution of 600 x 1800 dpi at up to 150 mpm (492 fpm).

Mark Andy Digital Pro is a new 77 fpm toner-based press that can be upgraded with inline finishing capabilities, including single slot die station or with a semi rotary die module. This compliments their existing flexo product lines, which can also include inkjet and finishing modules.

The Canon LabelStream 4000 consists of an Edale flexo transport, and an FFEI and Canon imaging and control system. The Fujifilm Graphium press shares some similar features to the LabelStream 4000.

The Gallus Labelfire combines digital printing technology with the benefits of conventional flexo printing and further processing technology and is raising the bar in label printing. Koenig & Bauer Durst has three hybrid presses in their current lineup.

The DeltaSPC flexo and digital inkjet, their modular CorruJET hybrid flexo/digital corrugated platform which just came out of beta and the new VariJET, a seven-color folding carton press which is designed with flexo, offset and inkjet printing capabilities and will be going into beta end of this year, or early next

34

year. It will be shown at drupa in April, and they will be ready to take orders.

Bespoke Changing market demands go beyond the packaging process itself to packaging types, repackaging and how to change to support the new distribution demands. Designed well, purpose-built or bespoke solutions provide more cost effective and timely solutions with fewer setups and less handling. This concept is evidenced in the HP and partners pouch factory for under $3 million.

Actega Metal Print, a division of Altana AG, acquired the Landa technology shown as a technology demo during drupa 2016 and rebranded it EcoLeaf. The EcoLeaf process uses a trigger

HP Indigo 25K

the new Indigo V12 digital press.

Sei laser has been developing laser systems since 1982 and is focused on packaging production processes. The sei Labelmaster can run up to 100 meters per minute and is used in-line on label and flexible packaging products, while the Packmaster WD can run up to 500 meters per minute performing scoring, perfing and die cutting on a range of flexible packaging. Their Paperone 5000 is designed for laser die cutting and creasing cartons and can run up to 2500 sph. Highcon has four different model sheetfed laser die cutters. Their sheet fed solution includes inline cutting and creasing without the need to make any external dies or counters for folding cartons and corrugated at up to 5,000 B1sph.

Nordmeccanica Karlville Thermal Solvent Less Laminator Laminator

image with a mono layer of Nano sized metal pigment flakes, that are attracted to the trigger image. The result is a metallized print. In an agreement with AB Graphic International, the EcoLeaf will be available for the ABG Digicon Series 3 finishing press, which will be available for

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

Karlville Pouch Maker

The markets are continuing to transform. As a result, labels and packaging will continue to transform. Today, the press and finishing technologies are available to address these new market transformations and will continue to develop even further. Stay tuned! ●

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

LABELS & PACKAGING

Graphium Graphium is for converters and printers producing labels, packaging and specialty print that want to increase margins and revenue streams on their short to medium job runs. www.printingnews.com/11065107

Koenig & Bauer Durst- CorruJET and VariJET Digital post-printing directly onto corrugated board sheets with the new CorruJET. Based upon experience gained with the digital web press RotaJET, the CorruJET was developed specifically for the corrugated industry. www.printingnews.com/21133227

Labelmaster The Gallus Labelmaster features extensive modules, delivering flexibility, it has straightforward operation with automated presetting functions.

SEI - Laser LabelMaster

www.printingnews.com/21070126

www.printingnews.com/2133257

Heidelberg Speedmaster 106 and Gallus Labelmaster

Actega EcoLeaf and ABG

The machine for frequent job changes, consistent quality with steady production speeds of 18,000 sheets per hour in straight printing or perfecting mode. www.printingnews.com/12213974

HP Indigo V12 Digital Press

A complete roll-to-roll system for die-cutting and digital finishing.

A sustainable metallization technology that significantly reduces the amount of material, waste, cost and production time for creating decorative embellishments. www.printingnews.com/21133450

The HP Indigo V12 Digital Press is a narrow-web label press, printing at 120 Linear meter per min with all the capabilities of HP Indigo’s technology for label production. www.printingnews.com/21120954

VariJET Digital sheetfed printing for the folding carton market. The VariJET 106 integrates inkjet technology into the platform of the Rapida 106 offset press. www.printingnews.com/21133229

Kodak/Uteco Sapphire EVO W (ULTRASTREAM) The Sapphire EVO from Uteco, powered

by KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology offers hybrid digital and analog printing for packaging. www.printingnews.com/21233238

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New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

FENCE-FREE COLLABORATIVE

ROBOTS 4.0 Cobots and robots change the print industry.

Read More…

Find article at PrintingNews. com/21133061

By Henrik Christiansen

I

t all started when some clever guys at a Danish university spotted a market, which had been totally ignored by the established robot manufacturers. Small, easy-to-program robots for simple tasks, which normal robots could not handle, because they were too big and/ or too complicated to program.

In the process, it appeared that such small robots also could bypass the established robot security requirements (fences, scanners etc.), so suddenly the fence-free robot was born just because of the small robots’ limited performances in speed and payloads.

These university guys founded Universal Robots - and the rest is history. UR quickly cemented its marketing position as the robot manufacturer of fencefree robots (branded collaborative robots or cobots), and even though the conventional robot manufacturers also entered this significant new market, the small UR cobots are today synonymous with fence-free, small and easyto-program robots.

Sales of cobots increased 23% in 2018 versus 5% for conventional robots. The sales volume of cobots is still small, but the trend

36

is clear: new markets have been discovered for small robots. Does this indicate a paradigm shift, or is it just a result of the general robotic development and clever marketing?

What is collaboration?

Fence-free cobots are slow and have limited power, because otherwise they can´t be close to operators. So the central question is: What is collaboration?

The official definition is: Two or more persons working together for a special purpose, which in robotics means an operator and a robot working together.

The robot industry does not address collaboration but uses its 4-point safety regulation chapter (ISO/TS 15066): 1. Safety rated, monitored stop 2. Operator guided robot operation 3. Speed & separation monitoring 4. Power & force limitation Applications based on speed and separation monitoring can have very powerful robots working in fence-free areas with f.ex. safety scanners. Depending on the operators’ proximity, the robot either slows down or stops when operators enter

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

the area and continues its work when they leave. These applications are suitable, if the operators only enter the area from time to time, but meaningless, if they are there all the time.

Applications based on power and force limitation can have operators in the robot’s working area all the time. The robot is allowed to touch but not harm operators, so the robot must be slow and have limited power – and must work with harmless tools and payloads. It must also have built-in pressure sensors, which stop the robot immediately, if a counter pressure from operators is detected.

These applications are smart if operators are constantly in the work area, but make less sense if operators only enter occasionally.

The application, not the robot, must be approved as harmless to be allowed as fence-free. And the definition of harmless is both complex and restrictive.

All robot cells can be fence-free.

The big misconception among many new robot buyers is that fence-free robots are synonymous with cobots, while the reality is that all robot cells can be fence-free. Taking fencing out

FINISHING of the equation, the fundamental question is not if there can be operators in the robot area, but how often and for how long will there be operators in the robot area? Reducing the performance of fast robots for a limited time is much smarter than using slow and expensive cobots all the time.

It is all about performance and price. The going price for a UR 10 (10 kg payload) without tools and programming is around $38,000, while a comparative price for a Yaskawa GP12 (12 kg payload) plus safety scanner is around $35,000, and the performance (depending on the payload) is roughly the double.

The choice is easy.

Examples from the printing industry In the printing industry, several applications with cobots have been introduced recently.

F.ex. the Cobostack from MBO has been greatly – and fairly - received by the market, because it relieves the operator from lifting heavy materials to pallets. But this is not a collaborative job, because if the robot performs its job well, there is no need for an operator in the working cell, except for pallet changes (which also could be automated), and consequently no need for a cobot – but it was chosen, because it is fence-free.

Another example is Rob from Swissqprint, which lifts single sheets from a pallet to an inkjet printer and back again after printing. If the robot performs its task well, there is no

need for an operator in the working area, except for pallet changes. The cobot was chosen, because it was fence-free. An even greater paradox is, that for bigger table sizes the cobot lacks reach, so a much more flexible solution could have been obtained with a conventional robot with a longer reach combined with a scanner.

In the future, all robot cells must be fence-free.

Another paradox of UR’s unquestionable cobot marketing success is that the market now starts to demand that not only simple, easy-to-program robots, but all robot applications shall be fence-free. So the real paradigm shift in robotics was not the introduction of small cobots, but that their appearance initiated the shift toward all robot applications being fence-free.

The big safety protection challenge The real challenge in industrial manufacturing environments is not how to make a small

cobot work together with an operator in a production cell, but how to protect the operators in a total production area with many robotic production cells, where operators only enter the cells now and then. Several software developers are working on solutions, and when they are ready for commercialization, we will see a total shift in how robots can be used in various industries.

Ease of programming The iPhone didn’t kill Ericsson and Nokia because of technology but because of ease of operation, and UR’s approach with a kind of iPad concept for programming was very smart. However, what can be programmed?

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New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

The programming tool (teach pendant) for conventional robots looks totally outdated and makes programming look complicated.

However, it gives the skilled programmer many possibilities.

The whole cobots concept is focused on simple applications programmed via iPad-like programming units, but without a perception of the complexity of specific applications, it is easy to jump to conclusion that small cobots can be used for all kind of applications.

Graphic Robotics basically works with very complex applications based on flexible materials such as paper and everchanging flows of new jobs.

We have stopped counting the number of times printers have asked us to develop a simple robot application for this or that, because as soon as we scratch the surface of the application, it immediately becomes complex.

This doesn’t mean that there are no simple robot applications in printing - there are a lot of them - but it means that each application must be evaluated carefully.

The only approach to a successful development of a robot application is to study it carefully before selecting the appropriate robot, not the other way around. If the application turns out to be complex, a robot with a powerful controller as well as complex programming is required. Then it is time to consult professional robot application developers with knowledge within the specific industry. Anything else could

38

end up being very expensive.

Having said this, it would have been good, if the established robot manufacturers had understood the iPhone message in due time, but new generations of teach pendants are coming.

Hybrid cobots A logical development is a robot that is a cobot and a fast industrial robot, when needed.

Some of the industrial robot manufacturers have developed such hybrids, but one could question the wisdom of such a hybrid, because the application must define if a cobot is required or not. But it is of course always smart to hedge the future and invest in a robot that can be both, if one is unsure of potential future applications.

Collaborative robots 4.0 A robot can only do what it has be programmed to do. Not even the most advanced AI

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

concepts can change this. The same goes for vision control, which also must interact with something already programmed.

In the printing industry with flexible materials and everchanging flows of new jobs, the robots can be integrated into production lines as process robots, and then it is impossible to try to program all thinkable alternatives in advance, because there will always be a new, unpredictable alternative – which not only stops the robot but the total production line. Consequently, the need for the skilled print plant operator to be able to communicate with the robot cell and make appropriate adjustments on the run is fundamental.

Graphic Robotics has solved this fundamental programming challenge by having the basic programs running the robot cell, while the operator can adjust the job-related parameters on the run and in this way

Henrik Christiansen is Sales & Marketing Director and part owner of Graphic Robotics in Odense, Denmark and has long experience in the printing industry.

Since 2011 he has worked with robots for the printing industry.

FINISHING communicate with the programs. This is real collaboration.

it can be run via a user-friendly interface.

The interactive Graphic Robotics operator touchscreen

Collaborative process robot cells can be used in many industries.

It also means that the total robot cell can be run via a separate screen or via menus on the production line’s operator screen, which makes everything more integrated. No operator should ever be asked to use a teach pendant to operate the robot, so “easy to program” doesn’t exist, because it is Graphic Robotics’ and other system integrators’ task to develop the robot cell so

Printing is just one industry that requires sophisticated process robot cells with onthe-run operator corrections.

The demand for advanced collaborative process robot cells will increase dramatically in the future, simply because the robots’ ever more powerful controllers will expand the possibilities for making such applications.

We have decided to brand this

concept Cobots 4.0, so the new shift in robotics will be real collaborative process robot cells, and they are already here, because Graphic Robotics has them. ●

The focus of 2020 Technology Outlook Finishing webinar focused heavily on finishing automation and post-COVID production strategies.

Specifically this webinar addressed how COVID 19, labor shortages, and human limitations are affecting bindery and finishing operations, and what exciting technologies are available now, and in the pipeline, to help printing companies work smarter, faster, and with a much smaller margin of error. Think: automation, robotics, and data. The webinar also cover creativity in times of chaos and crisis, and how finishing has been a differentiator for printers during the pandemic.

The webinar covered products and technologies from Duplo, Highcon, Standard, Technau, Muller Martini, W+D, MGI, Scodix, Kolbus, Heidelberg, Bobst, MBO, B&R Moll and others.

Hear how digital transformation and automation within your bindery and finishing operations by viewing the webinar playback at http://whattheythink.com/webinars/225/

iCE-LiNK is the evolution of Horizon’s pXnet digital workflow system

Highcon Beam

iCE-LiNK incorporates what has been learned from pXnet environments and taking advantage of advancements in technology such as 5G and the growing integration IoT in our personal and business activities. iCELiNK is a Cloud based subscription service that is scalable to fit current and future needs.

The Highcon Beam 2 digital cutting and creasing solution extends the digital finishing revolution to mainstream production. With a speed of up to 5,000 sheets per hour, this machine was developed as a solution to the challenges facing folding carton converters and print service providers.

www.printingnews.com/21133707

www.printingnews.com/21113359

Konica Minolta MGI JETvarnish 3D The small operational footprint of the JETvarnish 3D One allows printers, finishers and converters to have an in-house full production and prototyping print embellishment system without screens, dies or plates. www.printingnews.com/21111929

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New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

WIDE FORMAT, SIGNAGE AND APPAREL TECHNOLOGY

By Richard Romano

B

ack in April, I received a press release from SNA Displays, a manufacturer of LED signage systems, whom I have profiled on a few occasions. They had recently provided 10 LED displays as part of the Albany (N.Y.) Airport’s major renovation project.

That’s my home airport and since I usually fly Southwest, I looked at the accompanying image rather forlornly.

Someday, I hope to see the new signage in person—should we be allowed to go to events again.

I have written often over the past six years or so about the growth of dynamic digital signage (DDS), signage that in its initial incarnation used LCD screens to display video, Power-Point-like slides, and even piped-in data sources such as stock tickers and weather updates. DDS has been penetrating into all kinds of locations, from hotel lobbies, to restaurants and bars, to hospitals and doctors’ offices, to general business reception areas and, yes, to airports. In recent years, as the Albany Airport example indicates, DDS is still a high-growth form of signage, but LED displays are starting to replace LCD, especially as the quality of the display (i.e., the “resolution”) gets better, and almost photorealistic imagery and animations can be piped to the displays.

remain the most common elements of signage. New systems from Massivit and Mimaki provide a range of 3D printing options, from entry-level to highend 3D print production for retail applications and even the fast-growing collectibles and gaming markets. (See the feature on Mimaki’s latest 3D printing systems on page 44.)

Wide-Format Printing On the wideformat printing front, we have reached a kind of maturity in the market; we have The EFI VUTEk D3r. not seen too many truly revolutionary products. Rather, new product introductions have been more evolutionary, boosting speed, productivity, automation and filling in gaps in vendors’ portfolios to offer entry-level or mid-range options. Let’s run through some recent introductions.

EFI has launched a new mid-range roll-to-roll printer line, the VUTEk D3r and D5r LED inkjet printers, younger brethren to the VUTEk 3r+ and 5r+ units. The D3r and D5r printers, are at 3.5- and 5.2meters wide respectively. The D3r, which debuted last January at EFI Connect, when we still had events, prints up to 2,196 square feet per hour, and the D5r at up to 2,626 square feet per hour. The new printers also offer white and clear inks, as well as a “Museum” print mode. The new models are designed to produce high-end signage, décor, outdoor graphics and other applications.

EFI’s newest

New Dimensions Another growth area in the signage world is 3D printing. Recent WhatTheyThink and Printing News surveys (see for example, the Top 100 Small Printers feature starting on page 8) have found that 3D printing has yet to appear on print businesses’ radars, but they have a place in wide-format and signage providers in that they can be used to create channel letters, among other things, which

40

Epson SureColor T2170.

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

The Fujifilm Acuity Ultra.

WIDE FORMAT, SIGNAGE, AND APPAREL product is the 3.2-meter EFI Pro 32r+ wide-format roll-to-roll LED printer, designed to be an economical, all-in-one, production-level printer, capable of speeds of up to 2,756 square feet per hour in fourcolor plus optional white or clear ink. It offers a variety of white print modes, and can print up to five layers of white including an opaque white layer, selective or spot white, or a white layer that can serve as a light diffuser in backlit applications.

This spring, Epson refreshed its SureColor T

signage and more. The Acuity Ultra is also available in a 3.2-meter version.

HP has expanded its Latex R series—R standing for “rigid,” as the R series is a hybrid flatbed/ rollfed system. The three models in the Latex R series include the brand new entry-level HP Latex R1000, which is by default a sheetfed unit with a rollfed option available; the HP Latex R1000 Plus which comes in a sheetfed or rollfed configuration; and the high-productivity HP Latex R2000 Plus.

The R1000 and R1000 Plus support media up to 64 inches wide, the R2000 Plus media up to 98 inches wide. The HP Latex series now offers white ink, which had long been absent from HP’s Latex line and is a welcome addition. Media loading and handling have been improved and those as well HP Latex R1000. as software upgrades are available to existing Latex R Series customers.

LogoJet celebrated its 15th anniversary with the announcement The Roland VersaUV LEF2-300D. of its UVx40R PLUS, an enhanced edition of UVx40R tabletop UV flatbed printer, for The Roland IU-1000F. the printing and decoration of three-dimensional series of printers designed for technical printitems. The enhanced machine features a longer ing and the AES (architecture/engineering/conprint bed to accommodate larger media sizes—18 struction) market. Two years ago, Epson debuted x 24 inches, offering 33% more print area than the a desktop 24-inch wide-format technical printer, earlier model. the SureColor T3170/T3170x. The new SureColor Roland continues to tweak its benchtop flatbed T2170 complements the earlier model as a more UV printers to tap into the growing tchotchkeentry-level device, with a price point about $200 printing market. The new VersaUV LEF2-300D less than the earlier desktop unit. For somewhat is a UV unit that allows direct printing (and simularger workgroups, the new 24-inch SureColor lated embossing) on three-dimensional items such T3475 and 36-inch SureColor T5475 replace the as smartphone cases, awards, souvenirs, giftware, SureColor T3470 and SureColor T5470. These leather goods, electronic devices and more. The new models also use Epson’s new high-capacity new unit is larger than previous units in the series, 700mL cartridges. supporting a height of up to 7.87 inches which is Last year, Fujifilm launched the latest in its twice that of previous LEF2 models.

Acuity series, the Acuity Ultra, a 5-meter superLast Fall, in the Before Times, Roland launched wide UV press that supports printing multiple rolls the IU-1000F high-volume UV flatbed printer, simultaneously. It prints on a wide variety of matewhich prints on up to 4 x 8-foot rigid boards weighrials with its low-density Uvijet inks and can thus ing up to 99 pounds at an average speed of ~35 print things as diverse as billboards, backlit signage, boards per hour in “Draft” mode and 10 boards indoor displays, trade show graphics, POP signage, per hour in “Quality” mode. The new flatbed uses high-value graphic art, backlit displays, interior CMYK + Gloss and White GREENGUARD Golddécor and wall coverings, outdoor displays, outdoor certified UV inks, with a Primer ink option to

41

New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

promote greater adhesion on fussy substrates.

In 2019, North America saw the migration of the Karibu—the swissQprint Karibu that is, the company’s 3.4-meter UV rollfed printer which was launched at PRINTING United last October. The Karibu offers nine freely configurable channels (CMYK + 5 colors).

Textiles and Apparel Perhaps the biggest development in textile and apparel printing is perhaps the growth of pigment inks. Pigment ink printing is driving growth in digital textile printing as an alternative to dye-sublimation as well as other kinds of dye-based printing, be

The Durst P5 platform.

it analog or digital.

The killer app for pigment inks is their versatility; one ink can print on a wide range of natural and synthetic fabric types, and don’t The Epson SureColor F3070. require the extensive washing, steaming and other water-intensive pre- or post-printing processes, which makes pigment inks an environmentally friendly alternative to other textile printing methods.

Before March’s FESPA was cancelled, Durst had been looking forward to continuing to show off its P5 digital production platform, which had been launched at FESPA 2019 in Munich with the P5 350 and P5 210 printing systems, and has since grown to include the 250 HS and 200 HS. Durst is heavily involved in a variety of sectors—display and signage, corrugated and packaging, industrial printing, as well as textiles, and had been looking to use FESPA to showcase its pigment-based textile printing capabilities.

Direct-to-garment (DTG) printing is a growth

42

WhatTheyThink - Printing News | June/July 2020

area, and earlier this year Epson launched its first “industrial” direct-to-garment unit, the SureColor F3070. It can print custom garments on variety of fabric types including cotton, linen and rayon, at a speed of about one full-size shirt in about a minute.

Kornit has been a long-time player in the directto-garment arena, and back in January (you remember January?) at Impressions Expo, the company introduced its Kornit Vulcan Plus, a next-generation system for DTG mass customization, capable of delivering more than 2,000 retail-quality impressions in a 12-hour shift. Kornit also launched the Storm HD6 Lite system, bringing industrial DTG printing to smaller businesses. The Storm HD6 Lite is specifically designed to allow commercial printers to move to the The Kornit Vulcan Plus. industrial market and broaden their production capabilities.

Mimaki has also been pretty active in the textile printing space; for an update on what they have been up to, see the feature on page 44.

Finishing As in commercial printing, finishing is an important consideration for wide format and signage shops. While that primarily means a rollfed X-Y cutter for paper, vinyl, or other soft materials, large cutting tables can improve productivity and expand the number of applications that can be produced.

Improvements to cutting tables boost speed and various kinds of automation—be it softwareor hardware-based, involving conveyor SEI X-Type laser plotters systems or robotic arms that load and/or offload printed boards. The tooling also increases on a regular basis, and there are hundreds of swappable tools that a table can support that offer a great deal of flexibility in what and how you can cut. It’s not just knives; tables also support routers which “rout” or bore out board, plastic,

WIDE FORMAT, SIGNAGE, AND APPAREL wood or other thick material, and there are tools for tables that can mill, perforate, crease, engrave and even create Braille lettering. Some tables can also automatically swap out the tooling, based on the parameters specified in the cut file.

Once a rare and pricey option (like many things...), laser cutters have been coming into their own.

Cutting tables from Esko (the Kongsberg line), Zünd, Gerber MCT and others offer laser modules that can be swapped in and out, while companies such as Trotec Laser offer their own dedicated laser cutting systems and tables. For a closer look at laser cutting for wide-format and soft signage, applications, see my feature “Cutting Remarks” in our May issue.

A company that has just come on my radar is Italy’s SEI Laser, a 40-year-old manufacturer of laser cutting systems, including some specifically designed for wide-format applications. Specifically, the SEI

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The new SEI X-Type laser plotters are designed for cutting and marking on paper, card stock, leather and faux leather, hide, natural and technical textiles, rubber, wood, plastic, glass, marble and more.

The Road Ahead By the time you read this, hopefully we will be on track to head to the fall events for the next wave of product and technology introductions. ●

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43

WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE ─ 3D & Dual Ink-Set Printers

MIMAKI’S VIRTUAL

UNVEILING Mimaki expands product portfolio with 3D printer, OKI partnership and dual-ink-set textile printer.

By Cary Sherburne & Richard Romano

M

imaki—and many others— had big plans for FESPA, which has now been postponed to the fall.

But it is still important to get the word out on new product offerings so businesses can stay informed with the latest information as they plan for a future beyond this awful pandemic. That’s why companies like Mimaki are turning to virtual events—not to replace rescheduled events like FESPA, but to provide interim updates so businesses can keep operating based on the best possible information.

In addition to the virtual press conference the company held, Mimaki is hosting a fiveweek Virtual Print Festival (https://www.mimakieurope. com/virtual-print-festival/) with experts providing detailed information and video demonstrations from the company’s Amsterdam showroom.

Interested parties can also book a “Virtual Coffee” session if they are looking for more detailed one-on-one sessions.

During the press conference,

44

Ronald Van Den Broek, general manager for EMEA sales

several major announcements, besides the Virtual Print Festival, were made: ● A new addition to the company’s 3D printing portfolio; ● Addition of two OKI wide format printer families to the Mimaki wide format portfolio; ● Expansion of available ink sets for dual-ink textile printers first shown at ITMA; ● UJV100-160 entry-level roll-to-role printer available to non-EU countries; and

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

● Addition of a BOFA air purifier unit to the SWJ320EA 3.2-meter solvent printer.

Accelerating Growth in 3D Printing Mimaki was one of the first to introduce a full-color 3D printing solution with its 3DUJ-553, using inkjet technology to print relatively small solid objects in full color with a unique water soluble support material that makes it easy to remove support structures after the object is printed.

Now the company has added a new 3D printer to its portfolio, sourced from an OEM partner, that is ideal for use in the sign & display graphics market. The Mimaki 3DGD-1800 (with GD standing for Gel Dispensing) can produce hollow objects up to 1.8 meters in height in about seven hours.

Part of the strategy around 3D printing for Mimaki, according to Ronald Van Den Broek, general manager for EMEA sales, is an interest in collaborating to drive more adoption of the technology for a broader range of applications. In the case of the 3DGD-1800, Mimaki has partnered with another manufacturer to acquire a proven solution that has specific relevance to the sign and display graphics market and is synergistic with other solutions in the Mimaki product line. The objects produced by the 3DGD1800 are hollow and translucent (basically white) and can

be shrink wrapped to quickly decorate them using Mimaki wide format print output, for example. Plus, these large objects are ideal as promotional items; for example, a retailer could use a large reproduction of a bottle of suntan lotion or a beer mug to promote a sale on the product.

Since objects are hollow, they can also be lit from inside.

In addition, these lighter-weight 3D printed objects can be incorporated into 2D signage to add interest, depth, lighting and more.

With Mimaki’s expansive global presence and dealer/distributor network and presence in 150 countries, there is the potential of increased sales.

Mimaki has potential in the sign and display graphics market with a different route to market than the original OEM. — Van Den Broek, general manager for EMEA sale

“Mimaki has potential in the sign and display graphics market with a different route to market than the original OEM,” Van Den Broek said. “By adding this product to the Mimaki portfolio, we can increase the total sales

of this technology by exploring markets where Mimaki and its network have access.”

That, according to Van Den Broek, can not only accelerate adoption of 3D printing for sign & display graphics applications, but also could conceivably result in price decreases as volumes grow in the future. For Mimaki customers, this new 3D printer adds some very interesting value to the Mimaki ecosystem. We can expect to see more from Mimaki on the 3D front in the future as the company, according to Van Den Broek, is beefing up is 3D division.

Mimaki and OKI Team Up In another major announcement, Mimaki is teaming up with OKI to take charge of the OKI ColorPainter H3-104S and M-64 product families, representing OKI’s wide format product portfolio. The OKI

branding and pricing will remain the same, but Mimaki will pick up distribution, service, support, warehousing, etc. This adds 100 dealer/distributors to the Mimaki channel.

“Our task at present is to integrate the OKI dealer network into the Mimaki operation,” Van Den Broek said. “In the meantime, Mimaki is investigating the potential of introducing the OKI products into the Mimaki dealer network and vice versa.”

The M64-S offers the best high pigment solvent ink in the market, according to Bert Benckhuysen, senior product manager EMEA, making it ideal for wrapping and deep wrapping (requiring extra stretch) applications. It also offers a special high-density one-pass print mode for backlits, eliminating overprints and saving almost 2X in ink consumption. The H3-104S offers double-sided

45

WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE ─ 3D & Dual Ink-Set Printers Continued from page 45

printing and an optional mesh printing kit. Another advantage of the OKI ColorPainter products is exceptional outdoor durability, up to eight years with the 3M MCS warranty.

When Machine and Ink Pricing Is an Obstacle …

Mimaki also announced that the UJV100-160, a roll-to-roll UV LED printer, will be available for delivery to non-EU countries from May 2020. It’s designed to fit where machine and ink pricing is an obstacle to investment. This 1.6-meter printer produces 1200 dpi output, an up to 23 square meters per hour. It features two-layer printing with white+CMYK or CMYK+white and also has a clear ink option. Once printed, it is immediately ready for finishing.

two rolls of different substrates can be printed simultaneously, including the ability to print different images on each roll.

More Flexibility for Textile Printing Finally, the Mimaki TX300P1800 MKII, which was previewed at ITMA, is now available. This unique textile printer has the ability to use two different ink sets. At ITMA, it was showing with pigment/dye sublimation and pigment/direct sublimation configurations.

Now it is also available as a dye sublimation/direct sublimation configuration. This is made possible with exchangeable platens, with a vacuum platen for paper and an ink receiving channel for direct printing. The printer can still be acquired as well with a dedicated ink system, with a choice of reactive, acid,

Cleaner Air, Healthier Work Environment Mimaki’s SWJ-320EA solvent printer will be available with a BOFA Air Purifier Unit that virtually eliminates any odor or VOCs from solvent printing. The printer has been in the market for some time, but the BOFA unit will be available starting in May. The unit is very easy to install—it takes about a half hour and can be an end-user install.

This printer also offers a twin roll feature where

46

Mimaki’s SWJ-320EA solvent printer

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

pigment, Read More… direct subFind article at limation or PrintingNews. com/21132048 disperse dye. This printer is ideal for small runs or sampling. The dual-ink configuration provides an added level of flexibility for printing textile applications.

Looking Ahead This virtual press conference unveiled a robust collection of new announcements, but Mimaki is not stopping there.

You can expect to see even more news from the company leading up to FESPA in the fall, and at the show in Madrid.

A final comment: I sit through a lot of these briefings, both in-person and virtually, and this briefing by Mimaki was exceptionally well done. Kudos to the team! ●

MIMAKI IN 3D Mimaki recently launched its new 3D printer (see main article), which brings its 3D printing offerings up to three models targeted at three different kinds of end users.

The first is the 3DFF-222, an entry-level 3D printer designed to allow print service providers to get their feet wet in 3D printing.

“We see it as a great way for printing companies to have a kind of accessible entry point into 3D printing,” said Josh Hope, senior manager, 3D Printing & Engineering Projects, Mimaki USA. “At this point, anybody in the printing and signage industry looks at 3D printing and says, ‘I know this is going to impact me somehow and at some point, but I’m not really clear on when or how that’s going to happen.’ I think that small machine is a great way for a printing company to say, ‘I can start to get familiar with the technology, the terminology, learn about prepping files for 3D printing, and I can do it in a way that I can make something that’s usable, whether it’s a jig for my flatbed printer or a small mold for thermoforming.”

A step up the 3D printing food chain is the 3DUJ553, which prints using a photo polymeric resin.

“In some ways, it’s similar to traditional printing because we are, much like a UV flatbed machine, jetting a liquid through industrial inkjet heads and UV curing it to a solid,” Hope said. “From that standpoint, it’s very similar to anybody who’s had a UV flatbed printer.”

The 3DUJ-553 is intended for product prototyping and short-run production of items like collectibles, or “things that need to be high detail and very color accurate but don’t necessarily need to have a lot of strength or durability,” Hope said.

One user of this device is the Smithsonian Institution, which is using it to complement their 3D scanning capabilities. The Smithsonian has been 3D-scanning objects in their collections and using them for online virtual reality (VR) tours (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtualtour), and are then using that data to 3D-print objects, as well. According to a January 2020 press release, the first 3D printing project undertaken by the Smithsonian Exhibits’ (SIE) studios,

based in Landover, Md., was—appropriately, it would turn out—“to create full-color 3D printed models of viruses that are enlarged with great detail for hands-on engagement with visitors in the ‘Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World’ exhibition currently on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.” It’s alas closed to the public, at least as of this writing in early May. The third model is the brand new 3DGD-1800 which, as Cary noted in the main article, “can produce hollow objects up to 1.8 meters in height in about seven hours.” “[The 3DGD-1800] is really more of a POP machine,” Hope said. “That’s probably the closest to a true signage printer out of the three of them, because you can do things like channel letters and POP displays with it. You can then take what comes out of it and paint or wrap it.”

The 3DUJ-553 in particular has been seized on by the collectibles industry. One company in particular is Funko (www.funko.com), which makes collectable vinyl toys.

“They’re incredibly popular and [Funko] has the licensing for the Marvel movies, Harry Potter and

Funko also licenses Star Wars figures—complete with Baby Yoda, natch.

all that kind of stuff, and they use the machine for prototyping those,” Hope said.

Manufacturer Milwaukee Electric Tool Company (www.milwaukeetool.com) is also a 3DUJ-553 user for a very specific reason.

“We were the only full-color 3D machine that Continued on page 66

47

WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE ─ Personalized masks

SPREADING SMILES

NOT COOTIES Personalized masks bring a little humor during difficult times.

By Mary Schilling

S

ix months ago, if someone told me that there was a shortage of masks, I would have guessed that they were talking about a particular Halloween costume for their kid, or maybe ski apparel. Of course, everyone is looking for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which, in 2019 I thought referred to my firearms. In 2020, the general public got a crash-course in masks and mask wearing and the fragile supply chain that was strained to the breaking point by the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

We learned N95 masks are different from the rectangular surgical masks (as seen on every medical TV show ever) and provide a higher level of protection and filtration. After initial guidance that masks were not needed by the general public, regular cloth masks are now recommended for the general public, grocery and pharmacy workers, and even for healthcare workers who are not providing direct patient care.

While manufacturers are trying to ramp up

48

production of masks, N95 masks are in particularly short supply. These masks include a filter made through a process called melt blown extrusion that fuses thousands of ultra-fine, nonwoven fibers. It is a complex process using specialized machinery and specialized training, so ramping up is a challenge. This means that output is being reserved for the healthcare industry, but there is still not enough inventory to keep front-line workers protected.

Face Masks as a Cottage Industry Homemade face masks have become critical to the supply of PPE’s for hospitals, nursing homes, first responders and the general public. There are many patterns found on the internet which completely cover required facial area from ear to ear.

People are wearing homemade masks sewn from bandannas and random fabric.

The few times I’ve been out of quarantine, I noticed most of the masks were boring, solid color

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

fabric or just white medical looking.

Everyone looks like zombies, not the frightening brain eating ones, but skittish zombies, slowly moving without looking up, tired and burnt out and not smiling under their sterile masks.

Since protective masks have become part of our daily lives, it seems like social distancing is creating an atmosphere where everyone is afraid of each other. In a time when the world needs caring and empathy, our EQ (emotional intelligence) has plummeted because we cannot see the expression on a person’s face. I miss smiles, don’t you?

This challenge also occurred to many nurses and doctors. When fully decked out in protective gear they look more suited to walk on the moon than to give patient care. Imagine what this looks like to the patient – particularly children. To create a less stressful and more personal experience for the patient, some first responders and medical staff have taken pictures of themselves smiling and pinned the picture to their shirt.

If masks are to become the new normal, let’s make them represent who we are underneath (or secretly want to be), what we enjoy or just something entirely goofy. With a little imagination, printers can use masks to bring smiles instead of fear while slowing the spread of coovies (COVID cooties.)

Once the perfect print fabric was found, it was time to search the Internet for mask patterns.

Those with a folded or a flat pattern did not provide the shape to show the depth and imagery I was envisioning. I wanted to make the graphics look as lifelike and 3D as possible. As funny as it sounds, the process started with measuring faces of quarantined household family members and taking an average for a finished size.

The drawing shows a wider pattern for those making medical type masks. This expands the actual mask to cover ear to ear and allows the printed fabric ends to fold back over the elastic and

Repurposing Hardware to Print Smiles I have a wide format Canon printer with aqueous dye inks that I usually use for for demos, proofing and testing RIP configurations for ColorGate and print customers. In April, this great resource got a new purpose. Normally I print on paper roll stock, but figured I could try some printable fabric to use for face masks.

After testing several fabrics and thicknesses, I discovered a compatible 6mil, machine washable (hand wash preserves colors longer), waterresistant polyester which is a lightweight, wicking, wrinkle- and tear-resistant cloth from Aaron Graphics. This cloth produces excellent quality with a low-ink synthetic setting on the Canon.

backing. But if you are making these for the general public and you need to save printable fabric, as you can imagine this printable fabric is expensive, there are different ways you can finish the sides of Continue on page 63

49

TEXTILES ─ Digital Transfer Paper

THE FUTURE OF PIGMENT INK

TECHNOLOGIES Gijsbert Harmsen of Neenah Coldenhove discusses Texcol digital transfer paper.

By Cary Sherburne

A

t Heimtextil 2020, Neenah Coldenhove introduced a new digital transfer paper for natural fiber fabrics. Although an estimated 60% of apparel is made from polyester or polyester blends, that still leaves 40% that uses natural fibers such as cotton, linen and rayon. As pigment ink technologies improve, the industry has looked to those inks to increase the range of fiber types that can be printed digitally. To date, that has typically meant direct-to-fabric. That changes with Texcol, a unique new offering from Neenah Coldenhove, designed specifically for heat transfer onto natural fiber fabrics. We spoke with Gijsbert Harmsen of Neenah Coldenhove to learn more.

WhatTheyThink: Gijsbert, thank you for speaking with us about this exciting announcement. Although our readers are likely very familiar with Neenah Coldenhove, let’s start with a bit of background on the company.

Gijsbert Harmsen: Coldenhove paper mill was established in 1661, and we

50

were under private ownership until 2017, at which point we were bought by Neenah. It has been a good marriage. Neenah has a group of paper mills producing fine and specialty papers. Coldenhove has two paper machines. One of these machines primarily focuses on dye-sublimation papers. In fact, we have produced sublimation papers for rotary screen printing since 1970. In 1996, we began to consider the potential of analog printing moving to digital and determined that we needed a paper that covers digital printing. That led to the invention of the first digital dye-sublimation paper and Coldenhove’s entry into digital printing. We are a market leader since then, and had a patent on that paper that was valid until last year.

WTT: What got you moving toward the development of Texcol?

GH: A couple of years ago, we began thinking about what would be the next generation of digital papers, and we saw that pigment inks were very big in analog decoration of textiles at 50%, but in digital, it was only at 3%. We believed that growth would most likely be in the pigment ink arena

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

for digital textile printing in the future. So we started developing a paper that you could print with pigment inks and transfer to a cotton or cotton blend. We introduced the first sneak preview at ITMA 2019 with the goal of getting to know the market requirements better. We wanted a very controlled introduction.

The market is very big, but we want to make sure we do it right.

WTT: You showed this on a larger scale at Heimtextil 2020; is it commercially available now?

GH: Yes. We continue to work with customers to optimize the paper. We have spoken to hundreds of companies, and they are telling us, “What you guys have is revolutionary.” But we are also fielding a lot of questions and requests from customers about what it should do with regard to washability, hand, crock, lightfastness, etc. Currently the version we have is Version 1, a paper with multiple coating

layers. You print on the paper as you would do with any dye-sub paper. The only thing you have to do is change out the ink on any printer that can use pigment inks, such as some from Mimaki, Epson, MS, Reggiani, Ricoh, etc.

It’s more determined by the type of print head and which type of pigment inks you need to use.

We have tested all of these, and it works with all of them.

WTT: What challenges have you seen?

GH: The challenge we currently see is that the paper is very suitable for applications not in direct contact with the skin, because after the transfer process, the cotton has a coating on top of it that feels a little stiff.

It’s not really suitable yet for fashion or bed covers or pillows.

The Version 1 technology is better suited for things like partition walls, bags, hospitality curtains, sun screens. Our technological people are working on Version 2 that will be suitable

for other applications. We can’t project right now when that will be available, but as soon as possible. The end point vision is a product with only two steps— printing and calendering—that will deliver colors exceeding what you would achieve with analog printing. We are still in a learning curve and are looking for customers who are willing to collaborate with us. We are asking them to send us fabric samples, which we will print and send back to them for feedback.

WTT: We are used to hearing about heat transfer dye-sublimation paper for use on polyester and polyester blends. You talk about transfer paper. What are the differences?

GH: Sublimation transfer paper has a coating which releases the ink under heat and pressure. During this sublimation process, the ink goes into the polyester fiber which has been opened up by the heat.

After cooling off, the fiber closes again, and the ink is encapsulated inside the fiber. So with sublimation, the coating is

merely a temporary carrier of the pigment of the ink. With transfer paper, the coating on which you print totally transfers to a substrate. So there is a 100% release of a paper coating. This means also that the ink is not inside a fiber, but on top of a fiber.

WTT: What about ink consumption?

GH: It delivers a huge savings in ink over direct digital printing, an estimated 33% less ink to get the same result. It also has good fastnesses; for example, a dry crock rating of 5 and Read More… a wet crock Find article at PrintingNews. of 4.5. These com/21131535 characteristics are very good.

There is also less waste with this process because you don’t have the feed-in and feed-out waste like you do on a direct-totextile printer.

WTT: Are there limitations on fabric types?

GH: It doesn’t work on silk, and wool is too rough. But it works on pretty much all of the other natural fibers as well as polyester and polyester blends.

WTT: Does it require any pretreatment or special coatings on the fabric?

GH: No, and that’s a good thing as it gives a massive environmental advantage. ●

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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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE ─ Project Of The Year

SPEEDPRO EAST BAY

DECLARED WINNER OF COVETED

2019

PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD

Turning an emergency hospital corridor into a pathway of the hospital’s rich history.

S

peedPro East Bay was announced as the 2019 winner of the SpeedPro Project of the Year with the “Highland Hospital History Wall” project at Highland Hospital, a renowned regional trauma center in Oakland, Calif. The award-winning project required custom graphic, high-quality

wall murals with layers to showcase the hospital’s rich history in a high foot traffic emergency department corridor.

Wendy Jung, the owner of graphic design firm Jung Design, recommended SpeedPro East Bay as a preferred printing and install partner based on past project

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experience. Originally, the project was to create digital displays, which was ultimately scrapped due to budgetary constraints.

Together, Jung and SpeedPro developed an alternative project proposal of large-size wall murals on two corridor walls, each measuring 31-feet long by 9-feet tall which required no structural change to the walls or additional power or data infrastructure to support digital displays, all while staying within budget.

“The design and

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

decision-making process took several months,” said Nicole Verduzco at SpeedPro East Bay. “We needed to have buy-in from all hospital stakeholders for the final proof, which required months of providing samples and mockups. We were honored to be able to support the hospital’s decision-making process and consult with our collective creative design, printing and installation expertise.”

To capture Highland Hospital’s history as a one-time

nursing school and recognize nurses who worked there in years past, multiple building remodels, the Spanish architecture, and the nearby healing gardens and landscape in the project design, Jung and the SpeedPro designers needed to incorporate low-quality, vintage 1930s archival photographs and turn them into large-scale wall murals. Partnering with a highquality scanner who could scan at 24,000 dpi and higher, the team digitized the photographs that could be scaled up 80 times.

The SpeedPro team recommended using PVC-free wall vinyl with a matte laminate, which would protect the vinyl from wear-and-tear of the emergency corridor’s foot traffic, finger oils and bumps or scratches from passing hospital

beds. Additionally, the project required 32 acrylic panel graphics to better project the murals.

SpeedPro East Bay reverse printed the images on vinyl and wet-applied the graphics to the acrylic panel’s backside, safely showcasing the images’ rich color and detail.

Once the images were printed, the SpeedPro East Bay team layered colored panels behind the images to add depth and an extra dimension to the design. Additionally, floating caption-text descriptions were added to the layers for each image within the murals.

The murals and layering were secured with metal standoffs.

“Once we received the green light from the hospital for the project, Jung and the SpeedPro team moved quickly to limit

any disruption the installation could have on the essential corridor and completed the project within just five hours,” Verduzco said. “As hospitals are the front lines of defense for our community today, we’re proud of what we were able to accomplish for the Highland Hospital staff and patients and are thankful for being awarded the 2019 Read More…

Project of the Find article at Year award.

PrintingNews. com/21133695 “As with many ambitious and large-size projects, choosing and consulting with a professional graphics provider and installer as early in a project as possible is essential to a worry-free installation and a very appreciative client like Highland Hospital.” ●

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TEXTILES ─ PrintFactory

PRINTFACTORY OFFERS ALTERNATIVE WORKFLOW Toby Burnett talks about PrintFactory's offerings, differentiation and strategy for the future.

By Cary Sherburne

P

rintFactory offers a RIP-based workflow for wide format printers in a Software-asa-Service (SaaS) or Perpetual Licensing model. The company has about 17,000 active installations, supports more than 2,000 physical devices and has about 40 employees. We spoke with Toby Burnett, the company’s Director EMEA and North America, to learn more about the company’s offerings, differentiation and strategy for the future.

WhatTheyThink: Toby, can you provide us with some background on the company?

Toby Burnett: We were a service bureau, and we needed a RIP. Our CEO is actually a programmer, and he had started to build a RIP for a printer he bought in the late 1980s or early 1990s. That led into creating our own PDF engine and different desktop tools for the sign making segment. We merged this product set with a proofing technology we also had, to make PrintFactory; creating a full RIPbased workflow with built-in color management. Over time, we added functions for different markets, including textiles.

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WTT: What do you see as your key differentiator?

TB: Because of the holistic way we process work, we can reduce errors and reduce the amount of time it takes to prepare files for digital large-format printing. Large-format printing can be error prone as every job is different and takes different applications to complete. We deliver those application sets with our RIP to create a workflow suite—where all the elements use the same PDF engine.

Whatever our customers see on the screen in our editor and layout applications is what will print, and we eliminate 90% to 95% of errors, including nearly 100% of color issues while also introducing ink savings and reducing material wastage by

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

about 20% each. Job preparation time is cut at least in half.

WTT: How does it handle a physical device for which you may not have a driver?

TB: We can support other devices for a total fleet management approach; if you need to send files to a toner device that is not directly supported, we would send a RIPed file in PDF, TIFF or PostScript format to the network RIP that ships with the machine.

WTT: Explain the workflow.

TB: PrintFactory operates with either Mac or Windows.

The operator receives the file, opens it in “editor” for preflighting, and can edit the file and check that it is ready for print.

Textile producers might want to make additional colorways from a single design—this would take place here. Then in “layout,” it can be nested, or repeated; our textile-specific tools offer the necessary step-and-repeat algorithms for these users. Our applications take very little training because the interface is similar to applications they are used to working with, such as those from Adobe. When the job is sent to the RIP, we are actually sending an XML job ticket that specifies the PDF file location and any edits that have been made. There is no highresolution data processing until the job is RIPed, so it’s a highly efficient workflow.

WTT: What do you mean by the edits?

TB: We don’t make hard changes to a PDF. The changes are recorded inside the workflow which makes it very fast.

We are not building a lot of new files. A typical workflow for textiles, for example, that requires different colorways would bring a design into Adobe Illustrator, duplicate it, set new color values, save PDF number two, then change the color and save PDF number 3, etc. We don’t do that.

We use only the original PDF, we set the colorways and the stepand-repeat patterns, and submit these as XML instructions to the RIP. The RIP reads the job ticket, makes the color changes, applies the step-and-repeat pattern, and prints the job. It means much less data created, easier job management, and a true WYSIWYG result. This approach means we can do just-in-time layout, speed up productivity and give more flexibility to operators.

WTT: Sticking with textiles for a minute, how do you handle sampling before a production run?

TB: We can quickly produce samples on a smaller printer that emulates a larger printer, like a Durst, for example. We can factor in bleaching, environmental conditions—if we have the information, we can factor

that in. This also means that if the job needs to be reprinted six months down the road, it will print exactly the same. We have built-in device and color management on two levels: device recalibration back to the same start point using a closed-loop device-link profile, plus another device-link profile specifying conditions, like RGB or GRACoL or SWOP or an analog device.

WTT: What about distributed fleets?

TB: We have an automation solution to connect sites and manage distributed fleets, ensuring they can all print to the same standards.

WTT: What you have described so far sounds like a fair amount of manual intervention. What about an environment where you have lots of jobs coming in via web-toprint, for example?

TB: Files that come in via webto-print can pass through an automated prepress process, only involving an operator for exception processing. In that case, the file is dropped into “editor” for repairs and then introduced back into the workflow. Files can be ganged for production of like files together; for example, if they are to be produced on the same substrate or across a Read More… pool of like Find article at devices. It is PrintingNews. com/21132036 possible to even specify different factory locations if you have multiple production sites.

With virtual production planning, you can see the job in the

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TEXTILES ─ PrintFactory workflow but let the system make the decision about which files go where. We can include barcodes and/or cut files so once they are printed, they can be taken to finishing for cutting.

WTT: Any other automated functions?

TB: We also have dynamic scheduling and dynamic nesting.

With XML under the hood, we don’t actually nest any of the image files but rather, read the XML ticket that comes from an MIS or the web-to-print solutions at the very last minute when the job is being produced.

The automation module sends an XML ticket to the RIP telling it to grab a specific PDF, send it to a certain printer, and with a specified layout order and which cutter will be used. The RIP generates the cut file on the fly.

WTT: How do you integrate with the rest of the operation?

TB: We have a robust and well-documented API, and we can deliver bidirectional integration with an MIS, sending data to the MIS. Using our automation technology, we open up the API via web sockets so you can cull every piece of information you can see in the UI, whether on the desktop or via an automation job.

WTT: What about estimating ink costs prior to printing? That’s a pretty big demand these days.

TB: We calculate ink usage based on coverage and the droplet size defined in the driver.

If you tell the system how much your ink and media costs are, it will give a cost per job.

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WTT: Can you give me a customer example for signs and display graphics?

TB: One example is Signtech, who used PrintFactory to achieve consistent color across their printers and boost production by 25%. Our cloudbased plan meant there was no capital outlay on software, giving them an immediate ROI. It also had an impact on staff morale, as the bottlenecks disappeared, and it reduced overtime costs, too. One benefit was the ability to create profiles in under 10 minutes, allowing the team to take real ownership of the color management process.

And, as the device-link profiles are frozen into what’s known as a “golden state,” they can also re-calibrate any printers being affected by color drift in just a couple of clicks—essential for jobs that are printed weeks or months apart. The EcoSave module is using less ink without compromising on color fidelity, and the bottom-line savings are business-wide.

WTT: How about a textiles customer?

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

TB: Artex is a premium textile manufacturer. With PrintFactory, the team has cut down the amount of material being unnecessarily wasted as they try to match finished products with fabric samples printed much earlier in the season.

Artex monitors this closely using the dashboard. We supported Artex on-site during the transition to PrintFactory. The software’s tools are easy to use, but we did showcase the automated workflow’s load-balancing capabilities to the production team: if a printer goes down for any reason, PrintFactory now redirects jobs to a second device and still guarantees production of the right color. This kind of automation removes the need to calibrate manually, repeatedly, which slows everything down. They also liked our browser-based reporting tools.

These monitor ink and media usage, which makes it possible to work out far more accurate job costings and—with this level of detail —that in turn means Artex can offer a more competitive proposition. ●

MANAGEMENT ─ Prepress Training

TRAINING PAYS OFF How to maximize prepress training.

By John Giles

A

Read More…

Find article at reader recently forwarded me an image of a document they were PrintingNews. com/21132043 trying to estimate for prepress costs. Basically, it was a 2020 yearly calendar with the 12 months on one page. The issue was how long it should take to create it. The prepress staff estimated five or more hours to create the calendar. The owner thought the time estimate was too high.

I agreed with the owner. I knew there were inexpensive, predesigned 2020 calendar templates available online. But even with that, a prepress person with basic InDesign skills should be able to quickly create the calendar from scratch.

The owner said the prepress person was a good, reliable worker and had an eye for design, but he did take a long time to create the job and even longer to make edits and customer corrections. He knew there were some holes in the prepress worker’s knowledge, but the company was too busy to provide time for training. The prepress person just used what knowledge he had to get something out so it could be delivered on time. Luckily, the owner felt the prepress person was trainable and could learn the tasks, if he had the time to learn. He began steps to improve his prepress person’s performance. ● Test the staff for their core proficiency level. There are dozens of online sites that provide assessments of a prospect’s skills like the the American Graphic Institute (agitraining.com). It offers an InDesign skills assessment to help understand a user’s ability level. There are also several sites that furnish free interview questions (with the answers) so you can learn what the applicant knows. ● Block out regularly scheduled time for training. You should invest at least a two-hour block a week so the prepress staff can pursue training without interruptions. Where will you get the time? From the time they save in future work because they are more efficient. Prepress and design software are constantly being upgraded and it is the responsibility of the print shop owner to keep his staff current. ● Find prepress power user sites online. There are hundreds of online sites where prepress power users post and exchange information to make an operator’s life easier and a prepress department more profitable. Key words to use in a search are Adobe (application name) actions, Adobe (application name) plugins, Adobe (application name) addons or Adobe (application name) scripts. ● Check to see if the prepress staff is using the tools they already have. For example, Adobe products come with tools preinstalled to allow an operator to set up templates and style sheets to cut production time of repetitive jobs such as newsletters. Taking the time to set up style sheets for a newsletter can dramatically cut the production time the next time it is due. If your designers and typesetters aren’t using style sheets for repetitive work, they are wasting time. ● There are literally thousands of hours of video training on YouTube that address almost every task performed in a print shop. Whether it is a video about an InDesign procedure, fixing bleeds with Enfocus Pitstop, fixing an image problem with Photoshop or showing users how to create a database with Excel, the advice can grow your bottom line. One of the easiest ways to make money in the prepress department is to leverage your staff knowledge to give you a competitive edge and increase your profit margins. ● John Giles is a consultant for the printing industry who works with Tom Crouser and CPrint International to help printers prosper. Contact John at (954) 224-1942, john@cprint.com, or johng247@aol.com.

57

EXECUTIVE Q&A ─ Printing United Alliance

SGIA/PIA

MERGER

EXPLAINED Ford Bowers, President and CEO of the combined organization, reveals many of the details.

By Cary Sherburne

F

ollowing the Printing Industry of America’s (PIA) agreement with APTech (formerly NPES) to relinquish its ownership in the Graphic Arts Show Company (producer of Print/ Graph Expo), the association was bound by a three-year non-compete agreement, which has now expired. That led to the much-anticipated merger of PIA with the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) effective May 1, 2020. As a result of the merger, Ford Bowers was elevated to President and CEO of the combined organization. Michael Makin, current President and CEO of Printing Industries of America, became an Executive Vice President of the unified organization. We spoke with Bowers to glean more details.

PrintingNews: Ford, first of all, congratulations on the merger. Perhaps you can explain for our readers why this was a merger and not an acquisition.

Ford Bowers: In the trade association world, you can’t acquire because there is no stock. There are different mechanisms for combining associations. You can officially do a merger where you create an entirely new corporate entity; or you can

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have a merger where one survives and the other gets folded in – which is what is happening in the background here. Both organizations were 501c6 trade associations, qualified non-profit organizations. In this merger, the underlying legal entity that was PIA goes away and SGIA survives but will be renamed to reflect the fact that it is, in effect, a new organization.

PN: What about governance? Does the board representation change?

FB: Yes. Eight members of the board will be from the PIA community. We’ll have a total of 29 board members to begin with.

PN: PIA was providing some level of support to a few other organizations. What happens there?

FB: We will still provide association management services for the National Print Owners Association (NPOA), as well as the Western States Printing Alliance, a PIA affiliate. TAGA has a separate board and governance, but we will continue to run their conference. In the past, PIA provided some management services for the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation, but that was separated out some time ago.

PN: Can you shed any light on how or whether the affiliate structure will change?

FB: The affiliate structure is still in place.

Each is an independent 501c6 trade association. We are still working out the final agreements between the new entity and the affiliates. As we did prior to the merger, we will continue to provide the services and programs they are used to getting for their members as we work out how to integrate them into one entity. We’ll give them access to even more services in the coming months.

PN: Has the financial structure changed for the affiliates in terms of the fees they will pay to SGIA now?

FB: Yes. In most cases they will pay less. We have shifted to a flat fee per printer member. We are still in negotiations on the exact outline of the services agreement.

PN: You indicated the combined organization will be renamed. Has that name been determined yet?

FB: As we announced on May 7, the new name

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

will be PRINTING United Alliance. SGIA will be retired as a name moving forward, as will Printing Industries of America.

PN: We noted that Michael Makin is now an Executive Vice President in the combined organization. What specifically will his role be?

FB: There are two primary things he will be doing in the short term. First, he’ll be working on relocating the offices in Pittsburgh to right size that facility. As of April 30, we had 22 employees there, and now will have 15 or 16. We expect that to take two to three months. He will also continue to work with Lisbeth Lyons on legislative affairs. That’s been very much a focal point with everything going on with COVID-19. Lisbeth will be reporting to him.

He’ll be involved in other things as they come up.

PN: They did a great job on getting printing companies designated as essential businesses.

FB: Yes, they did!

PN: What do you see as the overall benefit of this merger for everyone involved?

FB: If you are looking at it from the perspective of printer members, the idea is that we have an association that has a very broad range of services and programs, regardless of the segment they are in – commercial print, wide format, textiles, industrial. It’s one association where you can get help with resources, research, environmental health and safety, training and more. It gives them a better ROI on their membership investment. Besides, few printers are now just one thing or the other. They play in different ponds. So why not have an association where all the ponds are in one place?

This is especially valuable as they expand the segments they serve. The industry writ large is fragmented from a trade show and association perspective. From a 40,000-foot level, that means we punch well below our weight on major issues like legislative affairs. Lobbying on the Hill heretofore was done on behalf of a print market of some $175 to $185 billion in revenues with 700,000 employees. Now we can add to that packaging, apparel and industrial, and by representing them as a whole, lobbying will be much more effective.

There are also benefits with respect to workforce development, which begins in trade schools

and college programs. You need an association that can watch and develop plans across all of the potential disciplines someone might choose, from sales and business management to production. The idea is to have an overarching association that can help solve some of the problems by representing the breadth of the industry. We are not there yet. It will still require partnership and collaboration with other associations and entities. Bigger is not always better, but it does create some new possibilities.

PN: While we have you, what are your thoughts about PRINTING United in October in Atlanta in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?

FB: We are hopeful we can conduct it, but it is too early to know for sure or what the effect will be relative to travel and comfort level. There are a lot of events that are scheduled prior to October at the Georgia World Congress Center including the International Woodworking Show in September that typically has attendance of 100,000 and uses the entire convention center. We will only be using Halls B and C. So we will see what happens there. Hall A was converted to an overflow facility for COVID-19 patients. As long as there isn’t a spike, that should be able to be dismantled. So there are questions around whether the Georgia World Congress Center will be open and how many exhibitors will participate. But there is also a question around whether people will want to get on a plane to travel to a large event like this. I believe there will be a lot of pent-up demand to travel, but we need to watch it week by week and make plans accordRead More… ingly. We are working closely Find article at PrintingNews. with the Johns Hopkins Center com/21132722 for Health Security specializing in mass gatherings on all decisions relating to the health and safety of all our staff, exhibitors and attendees to optimize the onsite experience. We will continue to consult directly with Johns Hopkins on a monthly basis up until our event as well as work closely with staff at each event host site and local governing authorities to ensure that we are adhering to both mandated and recommended practices to make all venues as safe as possible. ●

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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW ─ Print Order Solution

EMAIL IS NOT AN ONLINE PRINT

ORDERING SOLUTION

Good customer service isn't always about responsiveness.

By Jennifer Matt

T

he COVID-19 global pandemic has caused a lot of strongly held beliefs to quickly fall by the wayside: “Working from home doesn’t work for our company culture.”

“Virtual training doesn’t work.”

“We have to be face-to-face to make big decisions.”

“Sales has to happen in person.”

“Collaboration only happens when our employees are in the same building.”

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WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

“We are a relationship-based company; an online strategy is for companies doing business with strangers.”

The overall economy and the print industry will come out of COVID-19 looking much different. My fear is that companies who have been “defaulting to print communications” for decades will take this opportunity to think about communication alternatives. In the thinking about alternatives, leadership will look at what it takes to procure print and what

they find might push them in the direction of the alternatives.

Buying print isn’t convenient, easy or labor-free for the print-buying customer.

Most print procurement happens via email.

When I analyze customer service departments, it makes me cry to see email chains with customers that are tens or sometimes more than 100 responses back and forth. Our industry has been doing this for decades; we don’t even see that it’s a complete pain in the ass for the customer. We judge our customer services teams by response times. I’m not against responsiveness, I’m against having to be responsive over and over and over again because it takes so many touches to get a job from initial inquiry to the press. Do you know what responsiveness feels like when you get 10+ emails on every order? Harassment!

I think we have measured responsiveness too much and have not measured efficiency enough. It’s time to start measuring the number of customer touches per job like a golf score—the lower the better. How can your team reduce the number of touches it takes to get an order from initial inquiry into production? Think of every touch from the perspective of the customer. You are filling their email inboxes with little “to-dos”—you are spending your customers’ time without any notion of a budget or value of their time.

I know what a lot of you are thinking, “My customer emails me all the time; what am I supposed to do?” You are right. You can only control your side of the communication, but you have to take control of what you have control over. This could be as simple as writing down what needs to be captured for a job to be ready to move into production. This sounds so simplistic, but believe me, so many printers we engage with don’t have this captured anywhere and each of their CSRs has a different idea about what is required.

If you list everything that has to be “known” or “agreed upon” to put a job on press, then you can start grouping those things into well-planned communication touch points. Again, this is only organizing your side of the equation. If your CSR team did this together, they would undoubtedly learn from

each other. And there is a chance Read More… the team will start acting with a Find article at little more consistency. When a PrintingNews. com/21131817 team member is out - the others can easily pick up where they left off. You don’t have to buy any software; you don’t have to make any infrastructure investments. You just need to ask your CSR team to start thinking about their job from the customer’s perspective.

Now a lot of your CSRs agents will say, “Our customers love talking to us.” I’m not talking about the perspective of are your customers willing to communicate with you. I’m talking about if their boss monitored how much time they were spending ordering and managing their print business with you—that perspective. The perspective of the people paying the people responding to your 10+ emails per order.

I’m sure you’re all thinking of exceptions to why this won’t work. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m going to quote the Twitter handle of a processed meat brand: Steak-umm (a bizarre source of insight during COVID-19).

When addressing a business process, there are always exceptions. A business process is “never that clean.” It doesn’t have to fix everything or address every scenario. A business process is meant to be the default process for the majority of the events. Lots of businesses get trapped in the “if I can think of a few exceptions, then the business process simply can’t be optimized because we need to be flexible!” You know what flexible means? Be prepared to keep throwing people at business process problems (cutting into your profits), and worst of all also requiring more labor time/effort from your customers making you less competitive. It’s a lose-lose.

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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW ─ Print Order Solution I like to say, the most expensive thing you spend is your customer’s time.

In 2008, companies laid a lot of people off. When talking to the folks who “survived” that downsizing, you hear the same thing: they had two jobs before, then after the layoffs they got another two to give them a total of four. COVID-19 might give each “survivor” another couple jobs. The humans working at your customers were busy coming into

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.

COVID-19, but when the dust settles, whoever is left is going to be expected to do even more with less resources. They will be looking for vendors who can save them time. ●

DISCUSSION

By Dino Scalia The “Strongly held beliefs” you call to question due to the current situation are dead on. Some have practiced and honed the necessary skills to function well in what many are calling the new normal for years and they will embrace your message completely. They also have the ability to see the ambiguity in the many moving parts of our business but keep the customer at the center. So true that giving thought from the customers’ perspective will make you more efficient and not what some see; a pushover... I have seen so many instances where Companies and leaders spend more time protecting their internal processes and employee responses above the Customer. Your article is an excellent call out to adapt for survival for those who can’t or won’t step back and gain perspective.

By Dennis Kelly Jennifer, this article cuts to the core of what we all have to focus on to survive this crisis and thrive in the era to follow. What a great call to action!

By Patrick Parry I do not agree with some of the statements Jennifer makes at the beginning of this article:”Many of the changes taking place now will persist, even after we’re all vaccinated or have developed widespread herd immunity.” - you are assuming “vaccinations” are going to be the solution to this problem?... not a good idea to jump to this conclusion just yet.“Working from home doesn’t work for our company culture.” - I think this will still be true for a lot of companies, (at least for us it will). Maybe some people, (like Management, Sales Reps or IT), can work remotely, but our CSR’s work much better with “handson” methods. That means they have to be in the shop “over-seeing”, getting first-hand updates, Touch/ Feel the product, ask the RIGHT questions before the job walks out the door.“Virtual training doesn’t work.” - In some cases, it still will not work after the Pandemic. We still have quite a bit of “analog” type employees that have never latched on to “virtual training”. Their way of training is “hands-on”. This is not going to change anytime soon.I do agree with other points Jennifer makes regarding repetitive communication with our customers. Saving time can be as good, (sometimes much better), than saving money.

I continually bring this point up to my employees.Response time vs. How fast do you get results? That is what I got out of this article... thanks Jennifer.

Join the Conversation here - http://whattheythink.com/r/100549 62

WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

Continued from page 49

the mask and use less fabric.

Who Let the Dogs Out? At Inkjet Insight and our partners, WhatTheyThink, we have some pretty creative people. We put our heads together and started designing different graphics, taking photographs and searching stock photography sites for cool and colorful graphics.

Knowing everyone smiles when they see a dog, the process started with dog face designs as they could create a 3D effect when sewn properly. Then added some fun smiling faces and sayings. From Basset Hounds and Saint Bernards to smiles and funny faces, the artwork began to form.

Small Problem- I Don’t Sew Lucky for me, I know some incredibly talented seamstresses who were extremely excited about the project. They customized the normal pleats in the mask to accentuate the jaw line making the dogs come to life. This change also gave the masks a more comfortable customized fit to the face.

A handmade mask will not offer the same protection as a This project was created to N95 hospital mask, show your fun side and make you say? Not so fast. people smile.

Those on the frontlines working directly with the virus, can place the mask over an N95 to prolong its useful life. Everyday people need face masks to help protect them from catching and passing on the virus and

(Left) Amanda modified the pattern to create the life like effect. (Above) Smaller width pattern shown.

these will more than do the trick.

I am excited to say, this mask project has grown to production at three sites sewing all types of animals and graphics onto the masks. What started as a quarantine project of my own is now spreading smiles to our heroes in the medical profession and adventurous shoppers across two states, and now even the Dominican Republic.

Smiling Inside and Out If you can’t decide on a certain mask style, then just be yourself. I’m not a big fan of selfies, but I make and exception for taking a smiling picture of yourself to use for a mask.

Be a cat, dog, duck or maybe your bearded co-worker Read More…

(Hi, Adam.)

Find article at PrintingNews.

After a couple of months com/21131860 in quarantine, we can now all relate to why our dogs are so excited to go outside for car rides. Wearing our custom masks help us by protecting ourselves and others while bringing smiles in these challenging times. To order see: www.facebook.com/pg/ ShareSmilesNotCooties/photos/ ● Mary Schilling is co-owner of www.InkjetInsight.com and the owner of www.SchillingInkjetConsulting.com.

She consults with paper mills, fluid and inkjet machinery suppliers and end users. She writes technical inkjet industry and training articles.

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WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

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WIDE-FORMAT & SIGNAGE ─ 3D & Dual Ink-Set Printers Continued from page 47

being one of the bigger markets for that full-color 3D printer, but that’s becoming a major market for it,” Hope added.

Digital art is a topic I have been covering for 25 years, and “digital sculptors” are using 3D printing for various kinds of art. David Harroun is a Mimaki user who specializes in ocean- or surfing-related 3D sculptures. The Mimaki machine is well-suited to this kind of work.

“Not only can it do 10 million colors, but it also prints with clear and then we can add color to the clear so you can get all these different tints,” Hope said. “So he’s able to do translucent ocean waves where you can actually see sea turtles swimming through the wave and it’s all 3D printed in one piece. They’re absolutely fantastic.”

It’s interesting that we often think of 3D printing as a relatively new area, but it’s actually been around for a very long time. For example, the oldest 3D printing user group in the U.S. is more than 30 years old.

“As we’re bringing these machines to market, we’re talking to people who have had 3D departments for 15, 20 years,” Hope said.

Mimaki has also recently partnered with Adobe, which had acquired a company called Substance, which makes 3D texturing and painting software, and is integrating 3D tools into its Creative Suite. Substance also holds a 3D design contest called Meet MAT, where artists are given what is essentially a “blank canvas”—an unadorned robot figurine that serves as the mascot of the contest—which they then paint and texture and submit. The second annual Meet MAT contest just finished, and this year, Mimaki had signed on as a sponsor and is outputting the winning entries.

“We’re really excited to The Mimaki 3DUJ-553, in addition to printing full color, can also print clear, and then see how that expands and add color to the clear, which artist David Harroun has used to create stunning sea what new markets that sculptures. David Harroun’s 3D-printed sea sculptures often have a surfing or ocean leads us into,” Hope said. theme. See Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9SkYiYF-pL/ could hit their signature Milwaukee Tool red color,” Hope said.

Another high-profile 3D printer user is Hero Forge (www.heroforge.com), which has an interesting concept. Tey have an online character builder where customers can design their own characters for role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

“They did a Kickstarter campaign for this where they had hoped to raise $46,000 to fund the expansion of their website to allow people to design these characters in full color,” Hope said.

“At the end of the Kickstarter campaign, they had raised $2.3 million.”

And a company called Mixed Dimensions (https://mixeddimensions.com) specializes in spaceships, having contracts with Star Trek Online and Eve Online.

“From the online game, you can design your own ship,” Hope said. “You can then hit a button, which will send the file to Mixed Dimensions and they will print out your customized spaceship and send it to you so you can have that on your desk as you’re playing these games.”

Printing equipment manufacturers—be they 2D or 3D—often find that their products get used for applications that they had not anticipated.

“We were not thinking of the gaming market as

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WhatTheyThink - Wide-Format&Signage | June/July 2020

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