Printing Industry Blog
Who’s Epicomm and what have you done with NAPL/NAQP/AMSP?
By Cary Sherburne on Monday, January 19, 2015
Today, the alphabet soup of NAPL/NAQP/AMSP, one of our favorite industry associations, is getting rid of the unwieldy name generated by a series of mergers and acquisitions in favor of brand-new branding as Epicomm. I spoke with Ken Garner, CEO of Epicomm, to learn more about the what and the why.
We Remember Robert Howard
By Frank Romano on Monday, January 12, 2015
Robert Howard, the genius behind the dot matrix printer and the direct imaging press, among many other technologies, passed over the holidays. He was 91. Chairman Bob, as he was called, was surrounded by his wife Kit and family
Nous sommes CTD
By Patrick Henry on Monday, January 12, 2015
In the midst of the grief and the loathing that last week’s terrorist attacks in France stirred in all of us, there was one small scrap of comfort that touched close to home: the fact that no innocent people were killed at the print shop where the Charlie Hebdo gunmen made their final stand.
A few clarifications from Benny Landa
By Cary Sherburne on Thursday, December 18, 2014
Following our publication of the latest update from Landa Digital Printing, published last week, I spoke with Benny Landa to clarify a few things.
More on Ricoh's Acquisition of PTI Marketing Technologies
By Cary Sherburne on Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Last week, Ricoh invited a group of press and analysts to a discussion about its acquisition of PTI Marketing Technologies. As our readers will remember, Ricoh made an investment in PTI in 2012 and has since trained its sales force on selling PTI solutions, including MarcomCentral and FusionPro (FusionPro is sold as a standalone and also is embedded in MarcomCentral). During the session, Coleman Kane, President & CEO of PTI Marketing Technologies, and Ted Takahashi, Ricoh’s Senior Vice President, Production Print Global Marketing Center, shared thoughts and comments and answered questions.
Adobe Creative Cloud: Moving At the Speed of Light
By Cary Sherburne on Tuesday, October 21, 2014
An Update on Océ Products from Canon
By Adam Dewitz on Friday, October 10, 2014
The week before Graph Expo, I was invited to Océ's Global Commercial Printing Business Days at its Customer Experience Center in Poing, Germany. This event include in printing company executives, press, and analysts from all over the world for a preview of Océ's new and upcoming products as well as insight into its market strategy. It also served as the launch for the ImageStream 3500 production inkjet system that Océ unveiled in May.
BoSacks Speaks Out: Where's the hope for magazines?
By Bob Sacks on Monday, October 06, 2014
An interesting professional sobriety hit the magazine business last week that was a long time in its maturation. The MPA moved us off the teat of accounting for print ad pages as our franchise enabler and instead offered a solution of cross-media oversight. Concurrent with this move was the decision to no longer make public the accumulated printed ad page stats. This move attempts to take the consistently depressing news about declining page counts off the front page and to make them available only to MPA members and their affiliates.
Commentary on HP Splitting into Two Companies
By Cary Sherburne on Monday, October 06, 2014
The annocument from HP that it will split into two different companies is not unexpected, given the public discussion and rumors about spinning off or selling the personal systems and printing business, including the recent failed merger with EMC.
The Future Has Been Disrupted...What Now?
By Eric Vessels on Friday, September 26, 2014
Dr. Joe Webb and Richard Romano, authors of Disrupting the Future and Getting Business, are out with their latest release This Point Forward. I just finished reading it and wanted to let you know what I think and share some details on the WhatTheyThink teams activities at this years Graph Expo.
RetailMeNot's report tells retailers to "stop doing something old," referring to us
By Dr. Joe Webb on Thursday, June 19, 2014
RetailMeNot's report and the infographic are essential reading for print business owners because they offer a media executive's perspective on the nature of print. The executives perceptions of digital media are quite clear: "Seventy-five percent believe that digital consistently delivers better ROI – or "promotional performance" – at a lower cost than non-digital."
BoSacks Speaks Out: Magazine Revenue and the numbers.
By Bob Sacks on Thursday, June 05, 2014
The magazine industry only produces revenue by having a product worth selling. I am happy to report that the industry still produces tens of billions of dollars in revenue. But as an industry the count of sales of magazines has been declining in both newsstand copies sold and subscriptions bought.
A look at the Océ ImageStream 3500
By Adam Dewitz on Friday, May 30, 2014
Canon has made a breakthrough in production inkjet printing with the announcement of the Oce ImageStream platform. This new production inkjet system can print on any paper including coated papers without requiring separate paper treatment with a primer or bonding agent. This development provides Canon with a production inkjet platform to handle commercial print applications including books, magazines, and high-quality direct mail.
The Future of WhatTheyThink
By Adam Dewitz on Friday, April 11, 2014
On Wednesday we announced that Randy was leaving WhatTheyThink to focus on a hyperlocal business network called Georgia CEO. Here is some historical context on Randy's departure.
Unisource/WhatTheyThink Digital Print Survey Results Released
By Adam Dewitz on Friday, April 04, 2014
Last year Unisource approached WhatTheyThink to collaborate on a survey of digital printers to identify quality concerns and production challenges in day-to-day operation faced by owners of toner-based digital printing equipment.
RIT to Hire New Administrative Chair for School of Media Sciences
By Adam Dewitz on Thursday, March 27, 2014
73% of online adults in the US now use social networking sites
By Adam Dewitz on Thursday, January 02, 2014
A new study released by The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 73% of survey respondents actively use social media with 42% using multiple social networking sites.
Printing Industries Alliance Hosts A Solid and Satisfying “Innovation Forum” on Long Island
By Patrick Henry on Friday, March 22, 2013
Regional printing trade shows mostly are things of the past - vendors can’t justify the expense of exhibiting at these local affairs, and printers can’t find the time to attend them. All of the above may be true, but in spite of that, members of the industry still find value in the knowledge-sharing camaraderie that only face-to-face encounters can provide.
Is Kodak Finally Nearing the End of Its Journey from Silver Halide to Silver Lining?
By Patrick Henry on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Kodak has had some serious losses to report lately. But, the company insists that other numbers make more sense to focus on as it drives ahead with its plan to emerge from bankruptcy.
The Publishing Revolution Revisited
By Bob Sacks on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
BoSacks Speaks Out: I have a publishing epiphany to relate to you that comes from a man who died in 1799. But before I tell you of his wisdom, I will tell you a little personal history which explains how I retrieved this 18th century wisdom.
