Higher print costs are nothing new, and there’s no sign of them letting up. Factors like energy costs, labor pressures, inflation, logistics disruptions, and postal costs are converging on the printing industry and causing higher prices. Rather than moving in isolation, these factors are combining and intensifying. This article explores some of the key pressures that the printing industry is facing. Read More
By dispensing with job titles and focusing strictly on the jobs, a non-hierarchical shop in Brooklyn is charting its own course to success in the New York City metro area print and publishing market. Read More
Let’s celebrate the good things! By donating 35,000 bag labels, Wise helped collect nearly 40,000 in food donations for people in need in the Minneapolis, Minn. area. Read More
Outside of competent people, the biggest constraint on the long-term success of your business is the lifetime value of the commercial relationships contained in your customer base. In the article, Wayne Lynn explores how to drive growth when the only constraint you have left is found in the sales department. Read More
When Haley Haar took over AlphaGraphics in Kansas City, the business generated about $600,000 annually. Today, she has led the company in a growth path approaching $2 million in annual revenues through careful strategic planning and a deep understanding of customer needs and requirements. Read More
In this Product Showcase video, Jon Congdon, Skandacor's Print Embellishment Fanatic, talks about the FINISHPro 3D 1623 Flatbed UV Resin Printer, designed to add raised embellishment effects. Read More
The productivity promises of robotics and AI sound almost too good to be true, and yet somewhere between the trade show demos and your actual production lines, there’s a gap that nobody seems to want to address, but understanding it is the single most important thing you can do right now to position your operation for success over the next decade. Pat McGrew and Ryan McAbee talk about the J-Curve. Read More
The executive report looks back at 2025 and the first few months of 2026 and ahead to what the industry can expect, economically and technologically, in the latter half of 2026 and into 2027 and beyond.
The report includes current and expected business conditions, top business challenges, top business opportunities, and planned investments for 2026.
April 2026 saw printing industry employment overall generally flat, down 0.4% from March. And while production employment was up 0.6%, non-production employment was down by 2.5%—basically the reverse of what we saw in March. Read More
Labor shortages, production bottlenecks, and growing workflow complexity are forcing print service providers to take a closer look at robotics and automation. In this article, Keypoint Intelligence examines where robotics can deliver the greatest operational impact, the challenges PSPs should prepare for, and the practical steps companies can take to build a more efficient and stable production environment. Read More
According to the latest edition of County Business Patterns, in 2023 there were 360 establishments in NAICS 323117 (Books Printing). This represents a decrease of 33% since 2010—although establishments were up from 2021 to 2022. In macro news, inflation in April grew 3.8% year-over-year. Read More
2026 kicked off with January shipments coming in at $7.08 billion, down from December’s $7.19 billion. Not a very auspicious beginning to the year. Read More
According to the latest edition of County Business Patterns, in 2023 there were 5,854 establishments in NAICS 323113 (Commercial Screen Printing). This represents an increase of 31% since 2010. In macro news, real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.0% in Q1 2026 Read More
10 Things PSPs Should Consider Before Adopting Robotics: What You Need to Know to Begin the Journey
Why Highly Targeted Communications Make Digital Print Essential to Modern Marketing
Wide Format in 2026: How Technology Is Reshaping Competitive Advantage
WhatTheyThink's web roundup miscellany
A sign-writer created the visual style of music festivals. The “2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year” winners. AI appears to be catching on among the Amish. Sony has upgraded its wearable air conditioner. How to easily reuse produce bags. A complex digital water clock. A Nobel Prize–winning technology is able to extract water from dry air. Yes, it is possible to be allergic to water. Laser-induced graphene on Kevlar enables multifunctional structural composites. The “most desired” place in each of the 50 states. “The rise in plastic surgeons asked to create ‘AI face.’” K-pop band BTS has teamed with Oreo to release limited edition OREO x BTS Cookies. Welcome to WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany. Read More
A new film pays tribute to Roger Cook, designer of the standard Department of Transportation sign symbols. Dory Sign is a 5.2-in. E Ink display designed for small signage applications. Four men were convicted of smuggling cocaine in Xerox printers. An online gallery of phone booth photographs. Converting a hamster wheel into a phone charger. Putting AI in charge of a radio station. May 25 is Towel Day! Researchers develop ultra-sensitive graphene aerogel pressure sensor for flexible e-skin and wearables. How to tune rubber chickens. Could rice be the new graphene? “Vape sommeliers: the next frontier in fine dining?” Welcome to WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany. Read More
In Japan, a colored ink shortage has led a major snack company to decolorize its chip bags. The worst counterfeiter in the country was the most successful. Can an AI agent run a coffee shop? Digg (remember that?) is back—as an AI news aggregator. We all know “the house number font”—but where did it comes from? The world’s first ordained robot monk. “RIP social media.” GMG’s (not GMG Color) graphene coating boosts air conditioning performance. A chessboard that administers an electric shock to players who make bad moves. The American Oil Company’s (AMOCO) 1958 map of space depicted some of the unsolved space mysteries of the day—and some remain unsolved. “Scientists Think the Fifth Dimension May Exist.” An ice cream spoon automatically turns your cellphone to silent mode. Welcome to WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany. Read More
Correcting us about the Pentel 8 color pencil. An artist who transforms discarded cartons into “collagraphs.” Ask.com (né Ask Jeeves) has been shut down. Some “wearables” from 100 years ago. An electric vehicle available for under $100—but you have to be under five years old. Personalize the planet with NASA’s “Your Name in Landsat.” “Talkie” is a large-language model (LLM) that has been trained solely on text sources from before 1930. When in Amsterdam, be sure to visit Micropia, a zoo that collects bacteria and microbes. Plaid Technologies provides update on graphene coating initiative for drone systems. A meter-long robotic tail to help people keep their balance. Previewing “Project Hail Mary.” Would you eat a “perpetual stew”? Welcome to WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany. Read More
