Making the Leap to Becoming a FASTSIGNS Franchisee

Published April 19, 2022

Dan Stutzman, a FASTSIGNS franchisee from Erie, Pa., talks about the history of his company and how he converted to a FASTSIGNS business. Dan also talks about the support his business gets from the corporate side of the franchise business.

Kurt Michalak of Fortis Solutions Group Talks Growth

Published April 19, 2022

Kurt Michalak, Fortis Solutions Group’s Director of Manufacturing for the Central Region, talks about how the company has grown from five plants to 15 in five years. The company specializes in everything from pressure-sensitive labels to flexible packaging, with a press mix that is 70% flexo, 25% digital, and just under 5% offset. They have also acquired a fleet of HP Indigo presses, expanding from four to 25 in those five years.

Printing Industry Annual Payroll—2010–2019

Published April 8, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, US establishments in NAICS 323 had an annual payroll of $20.2 billion. Payrolls dipped during and in the aftermath of the Great Recession. They rose, at least on a current dollar basis, over the latter half of the decade, coming in at $20.7 billion in 2019. However adjusting for inflation, payrolls declined by -13% over the course of the decade. In macro news: forecasters are not expecting a happy Q1 GDP report.

Around the Web: Caption Cursing. DALL-E Drawing. Dash Delight. Poem Pageant. Shape Shifting. Disease Detective. Dull Day. Speaking Spores.

Published April 8, 2022

Automatic speech recognition systems add age-inappropriate captions to children’s YouTube videos. An AI technology that will let you create digital images by describing what you want to see. In praise of the em dash. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” Improving the recyclability of flexible plastic packaging. Graphene may save lives. Required reading: “The Price of Nails Since 1695.” What was statistically the most boring day in history? Mushrooms speak! A mobile phone umbrella, for some reason. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s dead serious weekly miscellany.

Graphco Holds Open House at EZ Mailing in Indianapolis

Published April 5, 2022

Graphco President Chris Manley is joined by EZ Mailing Owner Kevin Bennet on the final day of a two-day open house dubbed "The Unfair Advantage" by Graphco. They discuss the company's beginnings as a mail only shop to a full service printer and mailer now with offset, digital, and wide-format capabilities.

CustomXM’s Paul Strack on How the Pandemic Changed His Company

Published April 4, 2022

Sometimes a major crisis like a global pandemic helps a business focus, change, and better prepare itself for the future. Paul Strack, President of CustomXM, shares how this happened with his print business.

Catching Up With a FASTSIGNS Master Franchisor from Puerto Rico

Published April 4, 2022

José Corujo, FASTSIGNS Franchise Partner from Puerto Rico, talks to Kelley Holmes about his three centers there and 10 years of experience as a franchisee. José also discusses selling a center in the Dominican Republic as a Master Franchisor, as well as what it means to be a part of the FASTSIGNS franchise network.

Around the Web: Linedock Lamp. Circular Storybooks. Cornea Cleverness. Creative Cancelling. Brain Boosting. Poster Panoply. Coin Cuisine. Block Battle.

Published April 1, 2022

A Ukrainian designed lamp to benefit Ukraine. CAD-designed 360-degree pop-up books. A contact lens-based display. Delivering medications via (different) contact lenses. Using carbon monoxide to synthesize high-quality graphene. Dyson introduces combination noise-cancelling headphones/particulate-cancelling air purifier. Turns out no one really wants IQ-enhancing brain implants. However, a brain implant helps a “locked in” ALS patient communicate. A special exhibition of Krautrock concert posters. A new documentary featuring Mel Brooks pays tribute to the automat. A vacuum that sucks and sorts LEGOs. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s dead serious weekly miscellany.

Now it Can be Told: Why Printing Shipments Declined! (April Fools 2022 Edition)

Published April 1, 2022

In this exclusive report, we found a modest positive relationship between the decline in average consumption of margarine and the value of printing shipments.

Shroud of Turin (Audio)

Published March 31, 2022

When IT Drives Operational Decisions (Audio)

Published March 31, 2022

Needed: Quick-Turn Labels

Published March 31, 2022

A trio of OEMs share what to expect in label printing trends.

Print Franchise Review 2022

Published March 31, 2022

Print franchise networks struggled, like many businesses, in 2020. But most of them have bounced back almost to 2019 levels and are seeing good growth going into 2022.

Print Franchise Review 2022

Published March 31, 2022

Print franchise networks struggled, like many businesses, in 2020. But most of them have bounced back almost to 2019 levels and are seeing good growth going into 2022.

Your Package Has Been Delivered

Published March 31, 2022

Look outside your front door and the chances are that there is at least one, if not multiple cartons stacked up. They are not just stacked up by your front door. it is a growing global phenomenon.

ISA Sign Expo Preview

Published March 31, 2022

Innovative Fibers Are Set To Improve Textile Sustainability.

Published March 31, 2022

It is estimated that some 60% of apparel is made of petroleum-based polyester or polyester blends. As the world moves to diminish its reliance on petroleum, polyester fabrics are an attractive target.

Pre-Call Prep Leads To Better Prospect Meetings

Published March 31, 2022

Most salespeople agree that advance prep for important prospect meetings is a precursor for successful call outcomes. However, based on my observations from working with hundreds of salespeople over the years, many continue to just "wing it." Sales call after sales call, they leave the entire outcome to chance.

HP Indigo Brings New Products, New Energy to DSCOOP 2022

Published March 31, 2022

HP Indigo delivered strong performance in 2021, and the team headed out to Colorado for DSCOOP 2022 armed with enthusiasm and lots of news. In this sponsored interview created from written answers provided by HP Indigo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, HP Indigo and Industrial Go To Market, Haim Levit, shares an update and a look ahead.

The Cat and Mouse Game (Audio)

Published March 31, 2022

A Marketing Lesson from Walter the Cat

The Advantages of Being a FASTSIGNS Co-Brand Location

Published March 28, 2022

Chuck Lobaugh, a FASTSIGNS franchise owner from Hilton Head Island, S.C., talks to WhatTheyThink's Kelley Holmes about his long history in the printing industry, why he became a co-branded FASTSIGNS location, and the advantages it gives him as a small business owner in challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outdoor Advertising Employees—2010–2019

Published March 25, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 24,534 employees in NAICS 541850 (Outdoor Advertising). This NAICS actually grew post-Great Recession, with a slight decline mid-decade before climbing back up to 27,620 establishments in 2017. 2018 and 2019 saw a drop in employees. In macro news: AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) indicates that demand for design services continues to grow, boding well for commercial real estate construction and thus signage projects.

Around the Web: Meme Memorial. Clever Cup. Ballpoint Brilliance. Vest Value. Ring Wrangling. Light Longevity. Bone Benefits. Playing Portably.

Published March 25, 2022

RIP Stephen Wilhite, father of the GIF. A recyclable, reusable, lidless, strawless beverage cup. Stunning ballpoint pen art. A special deal on USB graphene heated vests. A map showing the latest sunrise times if DST were made permanent. How to fold plastic shopping bags for easy storage. A two-piece engagement/wedding ring that is assembled during the wedding. The longest-burning lightbulb is in Livermore, Calif. Bones are more complex than we thought. A portable, rollable AI-driven chessboard, and a set of playing cards than can turn into a chess board. A glowing ceramic tardigrade night light. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Kevin Lee Explains Pineapple Payments

Published March 24, 2022

Kelley Holmes interviews Kevin Lee of Pineapple Payments at the NPSOA Owners Conference in San Antonio, Tex. Pineapple Payments is a payment technology company that provides print owners with a simple and secure payment processing system to collect their accounts receivables via credit card payments.

American Litho’s Digital Printing Journey

Published March 24, 2022

At Dscoop, Frank Arostegui, Executive Vice President of American Litho, talks about how the company first went digital in 2017 with an HP 12000. They are now at capacity and are considering a second one. They also acquired a PageWide T240, were able to migrate a lot of work over to it, and 12 months later bought a T250. Both are now at capacity.

Packaging Lab’s Unique Business Model

Published March 21, 2022

Jeff Searson & Dan Niblo, Founders of Packaging Lab, talk about how they are only company that offers flexible packaging in as fast as 24 hours with no minimum quantity. The company relies on automation and HP Indigo digital printing. They went into this year’s Dscoop with specific needs, which were met.

January Shipments: Let’s Get This Year Right

Published March 18, 2022

January 2022 shipments came in at $6.64 billion, down from December’s $7.09 billion. We’re starting the year better than we did 2021 and reverting back to our normal seasonality trends.

Around the Web: Lasting Letraset. Fabulous Fiberboard. Pod Power. Criticizing Classics. Sharing Shaming. Plug Portability. Bee Bricks. Bright Bread. Ear Edibles.

Published March 18, 2022

Remember Letraset? There is now an online store dedicated to dry transfer type. Bullish forecasts for digital textile printing. The history of corrugated cardboard. Stephen Colbert’s NFT heist movie trailer. 3D-printed living pods made from graphene-infused cement. Now-classic 20th-century novels weren’t always well-received when first published. Netflix’s new passive-aggressive crackdown on password sharing. A unique approach to portable electric outlets. Construction options that benefit local pollinators. Yukiko Morita’s handmade Bread Lamps are real bread with LEDs inside. Mike Tyson’s new bitten-ear-shaped cannabis edibles. A human slinky! All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Advantage Color Graphics’ Tom Ling Attends His Sixth Dscoop

Published March 17, 2022

Tom Ling, Founder and Owner of Anaheim, Calif.’s Advantage Color Graphics, attends his sixth Dscoop and talks about the value he gets from collaborating with his peers, and learning what others have been exploring—in this year’s case, flexible packaging.

Tom O’Brien Talks About His 41 Years in the Business

Published March 17, 2022

Tom O’Brien President of Greenville, N.C.’s Acculink and Accuflex Packaging, talks about his history in the industry. He founded Acculink in 1980 and had always been in the digital cut-sheet space. Currently, a strong focus of the company is on e-commerce fulfillment for popular photogift/photocard brands, printing customer photos on items like mugs, neckties, mousepads, and cards.

Smartpress’s Matt Chapman on Attending Dscoop

Published March 15, 2022

Matt Chapman, Vice President of Smartpress, an online printing business founded in 2009 and based outside Minneapolis, talks about the benefits of attending last week’s Dscoop.

Point B Solutions Produces Highly Variable Direct Mail

Published March 15, 2022

Joe Avery, Owner of Point B Solutions, talks about some new initiatives his company is pursuing following the recent acquisition of another company, such as expanding into packaging. Point B Solutions also produces a lot of highly variable direct mail for food clients.

Houston Independent School District: An education in-plant success story

Published March 14, 2022

Chuck Werninger is a well-known name in in-plant circles as a successful in-plant professional and evangelist for print. We had the opportunity to speak with him on a wide range of topics regarding in-plant operations, how he has been able to drive change within the Houston Independent School District, and on the value of print in general.

Sign Manufacturing Employees—2010–2019

Published March 11, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 70,507 employees in NAICS 33995 (Sign Manufacturing). This NAICS category tumbled in the wake of the Great Recession, ultimately climbing to 76,944 employees in 2019. In macro news: Inflation continues to continue to climb.

Around the Web: Wreck Retrieval. Cover Clairvoyance. Container Questions. Salmon Suits. Battling Baker. Menschy Mirror. Head Heist.

Published March 11, 2022

The wreck of the “Endurance” was found—as was footage of it actually going down. The magazine cover as a contrary indicator. The Gender Pay Gap Bot called out hypocritical companies on IWD. Why do bottles have indented bottoms? And why did bottles used to have rounded bottoms? An excellent webinar on graphene in textiles. Hooking synthesizers to plants, for some reason. Seattle is being sued by fish. A “smart mirror” that actually sounds kind of cool. A box of human heads was stolen from a truck in Denver. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly salvaged miscellany.

Smoothie Shop Leverages FASTSIGNS for Relocation Project

Published March 10, 2022

Joel Miller, Owner of FASTSIGNS of Manchester, CT & FASTSIGNS Newington, CT, talks about his two businesses, their history, and the benefit of being a franchisee of FASTSIGNS. Joel also shares details of an interesting project for a smoothie shop that leveraged financing for his customer through FASTSIGNS enabling them to spend more on the project and achieve better results.

A Creative Journey in Fashion (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

Lucy Swann has been designing beautiful surface patterns for the fashion industry for many years and has an extensive knowledge of the sector, particularly children’s wear. She is living the dream and doing what she loves. Having recently diversified to launch her own scarf collection, here she shares her inspiring creative journey and what the future holds.

I Call Nonsense: Let's dissect some internet tropes (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

I’m calling out some nonsense, and what better place to start than the internet? It is home of social media, which is unequalled for nonsense.

How To Use Augmented Reality To Generate Revenue (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

Augmented reality has hit a milestone. It is no longer a niche technology used primarily for entertainment and brand-building. Thanks to simple games on fast food packaging or the ability to take selfies with virtual celebrities and share them on social media, it has evolved into a true revenue-generating tool. For printers looking for opportunities to build new revenue streams, AR has arrived.

2022 FASTSIGNS/Wide Format & Signage Project of the Year (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

The winner of this year’s FASTSIGNS/Wide Format & Signage Project of the Year is FASTSIGNS York (Pa.), whose major rebranding of the Shippensburg University football team’s training facility caught the judges’ eyes.

The Book-Of-One Produced On Site (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

Entering a location, maybe a book shop, and having the book you want printed and bound within a few minutes -- this is the promise of Gutenberg One.

How To Educate The Next Generation In Apparel (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

The U.S. January jobs report was surprisingly strong, adding 467,000 positions. In addition to the "Great Resignation" phenomenon, it was expected that jobs numbers would be more in the 150,000 range. In addition, average wages rose 5.7%. This has led some pundits describing the trend as "The Great Upgrade" – many employees leaving existing jobs not to stay home, but rather, to find jobs with higher pay and a better work/life balance. But the job growth is not equal across all industry segments. And many in the textiles and apparel industry still struggle to find enough workers. There is a lack of skilled workers in North America due to the outsourcing to Asia and other parts of the world that began in the 1970s.

Did We Learn Anything?

Published March 9, 2022

It's all about quality, not quantity, when it comes to human resources.

Up with Higher Education (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

Finding signage opportunities in academic applications.

Self-Service Resistance in the Print Industry (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

If you’ve been paying attention at all, self-service is a critical trend in almost every industry. We are doing things for ourselves that our parents would never have dreamed of. Complex financial transactions, complex real estate dealings, and complex ordering of expensive and custom manufactured items - all online, all in a self-service fashion. It's starting to look like we might only interact with software to procure just about anything.

Printing Outlook 2022: Back to the Future or Groundhog Day? (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

Digging into the results of our "Business Outlook Survey" for the our annual "Printing Outlook 2022" report, they showed an industry that has largely recovered from 2020, but faces some new challenges and some older challenges now writ large. We’re not exactly back to normal, but we’re closer than we thought possible in a long time.

The Bridge Between Under-Served Students And The Printing Industry Workforce (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

Founded by Yankees Hall-of-Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera, the Mariano Rivera Foundation provides youth in under-served communities with one-to-one mentorship, vocational training, college preparedness and STEM learning. Its flagship training program, "Print, Design, and Packaging Development," is run out of a church property in Gainesville, Fla.

How To Engage And Educate Tomorrow's Print And Packaging Workforce (Audio)

Published March 9, 2022

For the most part, print and packaging service providers today are busy again. In fact, some of those I have spoken with say they are too busy. Is that a thing? However, they all to seem to have the same two problems; available paper and available personnel. These problems were already gaining some visibility under the surface pre-pandemic, but became severe and more obvious post-pandemic.

What It Means to Be a FASTSIGNS Franchisee

Published March 8, 2022

Kevin Hebert, FASTSIGNS Franchise Owner from St. Charles Parish, La., speaks with WhatTheyThink VP Kelley Holmes at the FASTSIGNS Annual Convention about what it means to be a part of the FASTSIGNS network.

January Graphic Arts Employment—Print Production Drops from December, Non-Production Up Slightly

Published March 4, 2022

In January 2022, all printing employment was down -2.6% from December, with production employment down -4.1%. Non-production printing employment offset that a bit by being up a modest +0.9%.

Around the Web: Language Learning. Smell Search. Creepy Casing. Teutonic Typeface. Nefarious Knockoffs. Graphene Guest. Bionic Basher. Tater Tale. Witchy Ouijas.

Published March 4, 2022

An animated history of the English language. What would Wordle have looked like in the 1980s? Why do new books smell different than old books? The myths and realities of books bound in human skin. The typeface used on German license plates was designed to thwart forgery. Fast-fashion knitwear faces a knockoff problem. Graphene guest stars on an episode of NCIS. VR boots that simulate walking. A drummer with an AI-enabled bionic arm. Heavens-Above tracks the satellites currently orbiting over your location. The origin of the potato chip. When in Salem, Mass., visit the museum dedicated to Ouija Boards. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

The Journey to Becoming a FASTSIGNS Franchisee

Published March 2, 2022

Clint Ehlers, franchise owner from Willow Grove, Pa., discusses how he became a FASTSIGNS franchise and the research he conducted for the decision to start this business. Clint also discusses being elected to the International Franchise Association board.

Around the Web: Wet Wattage. Quit Questions. Pricey Picture. Revising Roboto. Liquid Lenses. Bottle Battle. People Portal. Robot Restaurants Redux. Hellish Hotel. Car Carnage. Cardiac Cod.

Published February 25, 2022

The emerging field of “liquid electronics”—and graphene is there! Redesigning corporate logos with a Medieval theme. The Great ReShuffling: meet the new buzzword, same as the old buzzword. An actual, physical object will be the most expensive photograph, bizarrely. Google introduces Roboto Serif. Self-adjusting water-based eyeglasses—in low- and high-tech versions. Coca-Cola’s tepid approach to its refillable bottle program. Beam a 3D hologram of yourself with PORTL. An update on robot restaurant servers. Also: the first robot hotel. A boat full of luxury cars bursts into flames. A robot fish powered by heart cells.  All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Outdoor Advertising Establishments—2010–2019

Published February 25, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 2,378 establishments in NAICS 541850 (Outdoor Advertising). This NAICS actually grew post-Great Recession, with a slight decline mid-decade before climbing back up to 2,765 establishments in 2018. 2019 saw a massive drop in establishments. In macro news: Q4 2021 GDP revised up to 7.0%.

WhatTheyThink Member and FASTSIGNS Co-Brand Owner Richard Helmey

Published February 25, 2022

Richard Helmey, a co-branded FASTSIGNS Owner from Houston, Tex., talks about being a member of WhatTheyThink and how he got started as a FASTSIGNS co-brand location. Richard also talks about some of the applications his business has worked on.

Around the Web: Giving Gear. Clever Containers. LEGO Letterpress. Mitigating Microplastics. Gamut Game. Controlled Consumables. Carvana Craziness. Haute Hardware. Potato Perfume.

Published February 18, 2022

What happens to all the T-shirts printed for the team that lost the Super Bowl? A more recyclable approach to beverage containers. Using LEGO for letterpress printing. Samsung is partnering with Patagonia to address the problem of microplastics produced by washing clothes. Test your skills at color matching. Certain types of solvent inks are now regulated as controlled substances by the UK. Graphene-based inks can help with low-power hot water heaters. Carvana’s auto-buying robot buys a seven-year-old car for more than the owner had paid for it. Hardware-as-luxury-jewelry is apparently a thing. A new perfume smells like french fries. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

December Shipments: No Christmas Miracle

Published February 18, 2022

As 2021 drew to a close, December printing shipments came in at $7.00 billion, down from $7.10 billion in November, keeping with the usual seasonality of a slow December. For 2021 overall, we came in at $82.87 billion for the year, just below 2020’s $83.73 billion.

Sign Design UX Dos & Don’ts (Audio)

Published February 17, 2022

Employ a functional graphic approach for positive way-finding user experiences, top designers advise.

Core Publishing Solutions: A Dramatic Shift In Application Mix Enables Ongoing Business Growth (Audio)

Published February 17, 2022

Core Publishing Solutions offers publishers the convenience of seamlessly switching titles between offset and digital runs, and has installed two sheetfed inkjet presses and three wide-format web-fed inkjet presses, having nearly four billion pages on its digital presses.

Sign Manufacturing Establishments—2010–2019

Published February 11, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 5,824 establishments in NAICS 33995 (Sign Manufacturing). This NAICS category tumbled in the wake of the Great Recession, ultimately climbing back up to 5,865 establishments in 2019. In macro news: Inflation continues to climb.

Around the Web: Meme Manufacturing. Wordle Weary. Decoding Dickens. Privatizing Palettes. Recycled Rubber. Terrific Toaster. Tomato Tale. Snowy Sobriquet. Feather Fracas.

Published February 11, 2022

A “paper engineer” creates printed, pop-up versions of classic memes. More Wordle variants. Better than the DaVinci: the Dickens Code. Privatizing specific hexadecimal colors for NFTs (or something dubious like that). Graphene-based rubber. An award-winning non-electric toaster. Why are tomatoes red? The suspense is over: Minnesota has eight new snowplow names. Spit-take warning: “Pillow fighting could be the next great combat sport.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Catherine Monson on FASTSIGNS’ Terrific 2021

Published February 11, 2022

Kelley Holmes talks with Catherine Monson, CEO of Propelled Brands, at the FASTSIGNS Convention, which opened this week in Grapevine, Tex. FASTSIGNS' parent company Propelled Brands has been putting together a family of business-to-business and service-oriented franchisors with the recent acquisitions of NerdsToGo My Salon Suite. The jewel in the crown is FASTSIGNS, which had a banner year in 2021, expanding to 761 locations in eight countries.

Post-Pandemic Profits on the Upturn

Published February 4, 2022

Shipments have been slowly climbing back from the pandemic recession of 2020, but profits have been on a sharp upturn. However there still remains a bit of a profitability gap between the two major asset class distinctions.

Around the Web: Groundhog Galore. Replacement Rodent. Extra Eyesight. Translation Trouble. Superfluous Sockets. Super Supercapacitors. Timeless Tomes. Pointless Product. Tesla Trouble. Coin Couture.

Published February 4, 2022

All about Groundhog Day. Tetrachromats have an extra photoreceptor that lets them see 100 times as many colors as the rest of us. 7-Eleven is testing touchless “floating holographic displays” for self-checkout. A mistranslated sign inadvertently advertises free alcohol. A gigantic, 60-socket power bank could fully charge 5,000 smartphones with 3,000-mAh batteries. A gallery of “automated furniture.” Enhancing the energy storage capacity of graphene supercapacitors used in solar heating. A search engine that finds full-text public-domain books. Why would anyone program a self-driving car to ignore stop signs? A chainmail cocktail dress made from pennies. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly wintry miscellany.

Throwing Shades - What you need to know about textiles and color management (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

Color management continues to be a hot topic in commercial print, packaging and display graphics. But what about textiles?

Alon Bar-Shany Q&A – Transformations; the keys to success

Published February 4, 2022

Alon Bar-Shany has been on the front line of this transformation for over 25 years at HP, rising to general manager of HP Indigo, one of the leaders in the transformation to digital printing. Since leaving HP, he has continued his journey in industry transformations, most recently as the Chairman of Highcon, Executive Chairman of Redefine Meat Ltd. and Chairman and CEO of Twine Solutions.

I'm Sorry, Dave: The rise of AI in print and packaging (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

We have all read about or seen lots of Sci Fi stories in our lifetime. While they are fascinating and capture the imagination, they have always seemed somewhat detached from our day-to-day lives.

Automation Starts with Your Print MIS/ERP (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

Automation is about finding those recurring patterns and then taking them out of the hands of humans and into the realm of software, so that repetitive tasks can be done programmatically.

Packaging Boom and What it Means for PSP's

Published February 4, 2022

Ceramic Tiles & the Recirculation Revolution (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

Ceramics tile decoration has become a crucial application for industrial inkjet. A brief retrospective on the market can set the stage for the technology advances that enabled the success in ceramics, particularly with respect to the importance of nozzle-based recirculation in print heads.

Take Out the Laborious Part of Labor with Metrics (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

How to use observational platforms to keep your business running smoothly.

Arms of Love: New automation options for wide format (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

It took some time, but automation is gradually creeping into wide-format printing, especially on the flatbed side. Many wide-format printers pride themselves on producing bespoke projects and specialty “one of a kind” applications. And, after all, haven’t us industry pundits and analysts—and vendors—been pushing this kind of approach?

Talent and Culture as a Competitive Advantage (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

Talent and culture have not been given the deep attention that strategy and capital have historically had. The printing industry is no exception. However, competition grows stiffer with the passage of time. Rapidly changing technology has created a transparent world where any sort of advantage rapidly deteriorates.

Resizing our Carbon Footprint - Is Sustainability in reach for Textiles and Apparel? (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

Customers Demand Greener Options: A Guide to Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Fabric and Textile Printing—Print Customers Are Increasingly Requesting Greener Materials (Audio)

Published February 4, 2022

Print customers are increasingly requesting and specifying greener materials, helping their supply chains become more sustainable. Large-format printing is no exception; and the industry has responded by providing machines that use less electricity, processes that use less water, curing that utilizes less heating, while also focusing on developing newer, greener substrates and materials.

Scott Schinlever on EFI’s Inkjet Business

Published February 3, 2022

Scott Schinlever, COO of EFI’s Global Inkjet Business provides an update on the EFI inkjet business, encompassing such disparate markets as wide format, textiles, corrugated, and ceramic printing.

All Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing Employment—2010–2019

Published January 28, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 16,147 employees in 322299 (All Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category bounced up and down over the course of the 2010s, ending with 15,177 employees in 2019. In macro news: Yesterday was Q4 GDP Day!

Around the Web: Graphene Galore! Blood Book. Sayonara, SATs. Salacious Solving. Bad Bedding. Suspense Sting. Top Tales. Dairy Devices. Compromised Cars. Robot Restaurant. Retro Runners.

Published January 28, 2022

Graphene-Info updates all its graphene market reports. Saddam Hussein’s “Blood Qur’an.” The SATs to go all-digital in 2024. Sweary and lewd versions of Wordle. Due your research before naming bedroom furniture products. Where did the “three notes of suspense” originate? A new book looks at Haruki Murakami’s T-shirt collection. Here we go: “wearables for cows.” A teen hacker gained remote access to Teslas around the world. Inside the Beijing Olympic Village cafeteria. Sneakers designed like old VHS tapes. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

November Shipments: Reversion to the Mean

Published January 21, 2022

November 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.99 billion, down from $7.29 billion in October, and the first month that shipments dropped since early summer. Year to date, January-to-November shipments are $75.56 billion, only a bit off 2020’s January-to-November number of $76.36. If we have a really good December, 2021 could come in slightly above 2020.

Around the Web: Conquering Corrosion. Spent Signage. Talking Tech. Shambling Shelves. Periodic Poetry. Gone Games. Mechanical Masterpieces. Dish Delight.

Published January 21, 2022

Graphene-based anti-corrosion primer applied in the UK. Reverse-engineering Wordle. Las Vegas’s Neon Boneyard is a sign-based history of the city. What technology will invade our lives in 2022? Useful robots are simply self-driving shelves. A periodic table of haiku. What happened to Atari? Mechanical versions of classic paintings make art interactive. A useful feature of Starlink’s satellite dishes has an unforeseen consequence. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s New Year’s miscellany.

Sanitary Paper Product Manufacturing Employment—2010–2019

Published January 14, 2022

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 19,221 employees in NAICS 322291 (Sanitary Paper Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category bounced up and down over the course of the 2010s, ending with 19,593 employees in 2019. In macro news: CPI increased 0.5% in December.

Around the Web: Toaster Tech. Car Color. Tongue Texting. Dynamic Dumbbells. Pointless Purloining. Malicious Meters. Face Fitbit. Snow Solution. Troubling Tie-In.

Published January 14, 2022

A graphene-based toaster. A BMW covered with E Ink panels can change color at the push of a button. A “smart retainer” for tongue-based text messaging. Alexa-based smart dumbbells can adjust weights via voice command. “The Spine Collector” scams book editors for manuscript copies of forthcoming books, for seemingly no reason whatsoever. QR code-based parking meter scams. An electronic mask can detect leaks. A liquid based bubble clock. How did people clear roads before the snowplow? Walmart’s special “Pain Box” DVD edition of “Dune.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s Wordle-winning miscellany.

Preliminary 2021 Business Conditions: Help Ruin This Chart!

Published January 7, 2022

We are sifting through the preliminary data from our 2021 Print Outlook Survey, and so far we have found that 17% of print businesses reported that revenues in 2021 increased more than 25% over 2020, and a further one-third (32%) saw revenues up 10–25%. But our survey is still open, so here is your chance to wreck this chart.

Around the Web: Public Property. Compelling Covers. Required Reading. Pre-PARC. Lego Lettering. Graphene Galore. Clever Clicker. Tongue TV. Fast Fitness. Visual Visage. Piscine Pilots.

Published January 7, 2022

Winnie the Pooh is ours now! The best book covers of 2021. What was the best book of the past 125 years? A history of the graphical user interface. All the latest textile-based graphene developments. Samsung’s new TV remote can harvest energy from your router’s radio waves. Sony’s new Bravia Cam allows you to control your TV via gestures. A lickable TV screen to sample televised tastes. McDonald’s in China is installing exercise bikes. A display, app, and platform for displaying digital facial expressions on masks. Fish can now drive cars. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s New Year’s miscellany.

October Shipments: Still On the Rise

Published December 17, 2021

October 2021 printing shipments came in at $7.23 billion, up from September’s $6.99 billion. This is the third month in a row in which shipments increased. Year to date, January-to-October shipments are $68.21 billion, a bit off 2020’s January-to-October number of $69.03. Unless November and December are higher than expected, 2021 will come in slightly below 2020.

Around the Web: Locked Letters. Coffee Creativity. Clever Clip. Terrific Toaster. Neat Knife. Graphic Glasses. Lego Largesse? Ornithological Oddballs. Strategic Syrup. Gingerbread Ginmill.

Published December 17, 2021

Mary, Queen of Scots: champion paper folder. “Coffee spill art.” Redesigning the binder clip. The smartest toaster was invented in 1949. An Internet-enabled cutting system for printers. A monocle/eyewear system for display graphics. Is it really better to invest in Lego’s than gold? The future of the swag bag? Birds aren’t real! Taping Canada’s strategic maple syrup reserves. The future of work from home? Miller High Life’s gingerbread dive bar. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing Employment—2010–2019

Published December 10, 2021

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 35,368 employees in NAICS 32229  (Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category bounced up and down over the course of the 2010s, ending with 34,770 employees in 2019. In macro news: Beige Alert!

Around the Web: Polly’s Paper. Printable Pianos. Toilet Tour. Milk Monitors. Rapid Rejection. Arm Artifice. Perilous Press. Bogus Bomber. Pachyderm Parade. Nutty Nutcracker. Crazy Condiment.

Published December 10, 2021

Meet Polly Verity: paper sculptor. Printing playable, paper-based pianos. An exhibition of artistic toilet paper holders. New technology can detect and warn of bacterial contamination from inside a milk container. Introducing the Journal of Universal Rejection. Graphene-based batteries headed for the EV market. Attempting to use an artificial arm to fake vaccination. William Bullock, the ill-fated inventor of the web rotary press. The FBI suspected the inventor of the Tickle Me Elmo doll of being the Unabomber. How to prove the safety of the Brooklyn Bridge? A terrifying nutcracker powered by an explosive piston. “Terry’s Chocolate Orange Mayonnaise,” for some reason. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

October Graphic Arts Employment—Print Production Up, Non-Production Also Up

Published December 3, 2021

In October 2021, all printing employment was up +1.0% from September, with production employment up +0.9%, and non-production printing employment up +1.2%.

Around the Web: Handy Hemp. Digital Donuts. Tarmac Trouble. Cool Calendars. Punctuation Peril. Sheet Chaise. Printed Peeper. Droid Dante. Robot Reproduction. Barbecue Busking.

Published December 3, 2021

Hempitecture manufactures hemp-based insulation and other construction materials. NFTs jump the latest of many sharks. Graphene helps fill in potholes. A brief history of the Advent calendar. Is the apostrophe on the way out? A chair made of interleaved sheets of paper and held together by friction. The first-ever recipient of a 3D-printed prosthetic eyeball. Robot artist Ai-Da tries her hand at poetry. A rolling piano barbecue that grills food while the keys are struck. The “social distancing zapper.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Stationery Product Manufacturing Employment—2010–2019

Published November 19, 2021

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 24,349 employees in NAICS 32223 (Stationery Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category declined slowly over the rest of the decade, ending with 15,678 employees in 2019. Also: following up a BoSacks tweet about newspaper circulation.

Around the Web: Lovin' 'Letters. Follicle Fabrication. Canine Calling. MySpace Memories. Freaky Furby. Bar Bots. Better Batteries. Unspun Unveiled. Plague Planet. Plushie de Pain.

Published November 19, 2021

Newsletters continue to thrive. Making ink from human hair. The “DogPhone,” for some reason. “MySpace nostalgia,” also for some reason. Integrating a Furby into a modular synthesizer. Robot bartenders streamline drink-making. A graphene-based battery charger accelerates charging speed. 3-D weaving can produce one-off pants in 10 minutes. The Human Library aims to promote more empathetic human relations. This week’s animal plagues had a 2020 feel to them. A bread plushie.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s plague-ridden weekly miscellany.

September Shipments: We Got Good News and We Got Bad News

Published November 12, 2021

September 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.93 billion, up from August’s $6.87 billion. It’s not a massive increase, but we’ll take it. Year to date, January-to-September shipments are $60.48 billion, a bit off 2020’s January-to-September number of $60.97. Can we close the gap in Q4?

Around the Web: Better Breathing. Climate Catastrophe. Mrs. Mural. Tome Time. Phone Future. Zillow Zaniness. Tube Trouble. Bear Blending. Dead Doornails. Claus Crisis.

Published November 12, 2021

Robotic textiles that can help you breathe better. Fast fashion’s major manufacturing hubs may soon be under water. A robot painter sows the seeds of marital discord. A clock that displays the time using quotes from books. What will the smartphone of the future look like? The world’s first active heating fabric—thanks to graphene! An Indiana town is luring workers by offering free grandparents. Zillow shuts down doomed AI-based real estate valuation business. A “handheld toothpaste manipulation device” that will put toothpaste back in the tube, for some reason. Photoshopping Paddington Bear into every movie. The origin of the phrase “dead as a doornail.” The labor shortage is now getting real: there is a shortage of Santa Clauses. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Around the Web: Robot Record. Living Lava. Digital Doors. Kooky Kafka. Goofy Glasses. Vaccine Vocab. Meta Misinterpretation. Clever Cards. Arrested Android. Truck Tech. Sustainable Spirit.

Published November 5, 2021

A writer, musician, and AI collaborate on a new album. Seen on Halloween: a human lava lamp. Replacing clear glass cooler doors with dynamic displays, for some reason. A recently unearthed collection of drawings shows a playful side of Franz Kafka. Good grief: are full-face sunglasses becoming a thing? The OED chooses its Word of the Year. Memo to Facebook: “Meta” is similar to the Hebrew word for “death.” MasterCard adds distinctive notches to its credit, debit, and gift cards for the visually impaired. Graphene integrated into trail running shoes. Ai-Da, an “artist robot” detailed in Egypt on suspicion of espionage. Air Vodka: “the world’s most sustainable spirit.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing Employment—2010–2019

Published November 5, 2021

According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 50,879 employees in NAICS 32222 (Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category peaked two years later at 54,175, declined slowly over the rest of the decade before shooting back up to 51,811 employees in 2019. In macro news, Q3 GDP growth is up 2.0%.

Around the Web: Blue Blues. Token Tracking. Prince Printing. Diminished Denim. Fridge Flaming. Golden Graphene. Mountain Messaging. Munster Music. Silly Strings. Festive Franks.

Published October 29, 2021

The latest supply chain victim: blue paint. Adobe Photoshop to add “Prepare as NFT” option. 3D printing system maker Stratasys partners with Prince’s Paisley Park. Making denim production more sustainable. Amazon is now a bigger shipper than FedEx. You can now get nasty emails from your refrigerator. Graphene + gold = smart windows. Interesting facts about “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” A lost hiker ignores calls from rescuers. A long lost musical album from The Munsters. Hot dog-flavored candy canes. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

September Graphic Arts Employment—Print Production Up, Non-Production Down

Published October 29, 2021

In September 2021, all printing employment was up +0.8% from August, production employment up +1.1%, and non-production printing employment up +0.3%.

Other Paperboard Container Manufacturing Employment—2010–2019

Published October 22, 2021

According to County Business Patterns, in 2019, there were 18,741 employees in NAICS 322219 (Other Paperboard Container Manufacturing establishments), a drop from 21,954 employees a year earlier, and the lowest ebb for this NAICS category. In macro news, new business formation goes “bezonkers.”

Around the Web: Fruit First. Font Follies. Public Papers. Graphene Gums. Android Artist. Resignation Reality. Pulling Plastic. Citation Silliness. Toy Telephony. Venerable Venue. Spider Sleepwear.

Published October 22, 2021

Fun facts about the word “orange.” A 1909 patent for a font that can be read either from left to right or right to left. How typeface choice can impact learning and comprehension. Public radio may help save newspapers. Graphene’s uses in dental applications. Meet the Flingbot and its approach to abstract art. What’s behind The Great Resignation? An approach to removing ocean plastic that just might work. A traffic camera confuses a T-shirt with a license plate. Fisher Price’s classic Chatter Telephone can now make real calls, terrifyingly. A new book celebrates the Fillmore East. Get comfy in (or terrified by) giant tarantula pillows. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.