Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Did You Know Interest Rates Have Been Falling?

The Fed has been so reticent about raising rates, and in the process, rates for the 10-year US Treasury actually were negative in February. No, that’s not market rates, that’s the 10-year rate less the year-to-year Consumer Price Index. Since that time, the rate calculated in this manner has moved up 80 basis points. The rate peaked in September 2015 and it’s been down since then. The Fed is having problems making the decision to raise rates, and often announced more rates in a future period but increasing rates at a slower pace. They have a target inflation rate of 2% (which means you lose about 25% of your savings over 10 years on a compounded basis). If you believe that the inflation rate is calculated in a manner that makes it seem lower than it actually is, then the Fed’s desire to see inflation at the 2% rate before they start pushing interest rates higher may be be difficult to reach or sustain. That means long term rates will stay artificially low (on purpose) for a longer period of time than most experts expect.

What Makes Mail “Interesting”?

85% of people will open mail if it “looks interesting.” But what makes mail “interesting”? While we tend to talk about the elements of direct mail in isolation, the reality is, it’s not one element or the other—but a combination of elements whose results are multiplicative rather than additive—that make mail interesting. It’s important to get that combination right.

The New Xerox: What It Means for Software Strategy

Senior Editor Cary Sherburne recently spoke with Xerox executive Jacob Aizikowitz about his new role as head of the new Xerox Software Products Group to learn more about how the new Xerox is bringing together its diverse software development efforts.

Target Marketing: It’s Time to Differentiate Your Business!

A number of very large and profitable companies got their start by focusing on specific market segments, and the same is true for some service providers. Aiming your marketing efforts at a target market can offer a number of benefits. This article focuses on those benefits and outlines the steps that print service providers should take to get started with a targeted marketing approach.

Understanding Order Entry from Your Customer’s Perspective

Too many online order entry tools are discounted because the printer fails to see the value from their customer’s perspective. Don’t let your competitors use your customer experience to replace you.

A Look at 3 Great QR Code Applications

Even with AR/VR on the rise, QR Codes are still very much an important and functional tool for marketers. This blog takes a look at three recent and well-crafted uses of QR Codes.

Sappi 2020Vision: One Paper Company’s Aggressive Plan for the Future

What’s the future of the paper business? One company has a bright vision of its future and is making the requisite changes to get there. Senior Editor Cary Sherburne spoke with Mark Odgers, Director, Packaging Grades at Sappi North America, to get more details.

Preference and Data and Prices, Oh My!

Prices tell us a lot about how media is changing and what’s ahead. It’s funny – the categories that are growing the most are the ones where prices are dropping. That’s strange. But media preference surveys can be misleading because they can assure media producers of the love of the marketplace, and divert their strategic attention to competitors impinging on that affection. What does Mary Meeker know? A trade association executive says she’s biased. That’s okay. Dr. Joe has different data.

Former Xeikon CEO Wim Maes Lands at Summa NV.

People seem to move around a lot in our industry, and sometimes it is hard to keep track. In this edition of “Where Are They Now?” we share Wim Maes’ thoughts on his new gig at Summa NV.

Five Steps to Helping Your Clients Optimize the Customer Experience

Customer Experience (CX) is the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship. This interaction is made up of three parts: the customer journey, the brand touchpoints the customer interacts with, and the environments the customer experiences (including digital environment) during the engagement. This article explores why the customer experience should be a top priority for marketers.

Print Software Evaluation – First Define the Problem It Solves

Every software tool sets out to solve a set of problems, all too often the problem is never defined because the sales process focuses on solutions, benefits, and features. Take the time to understand the problem print software solves and most importantly whether you have that problem!

PDF For Packaging: The Missing Link in Digital Packaging Production

In this article, David looks beyond the hardware at prepress, and how new developments will play a significant role in driving the growth of digital packaging production. This is not surprising, since we have been here before in other areas of the industry.

Making Tracks: Signage, QR Codes, and Customer Journey Analytics

QR codes are great for “making print interactive,” but in today’s high-data marketing environment, they also have a more important purpose: making print measurable.

Marketing Mix Trends 2010-2016: Winners and Losers

Highlights from Target Marketing’s annual Market Mix Trends report, including trends in direct mail (both personalized and traditional), FSIs, email, online search, and mobile.

Industry 4.0: Leading the Transformation

Industrial revolutions are momentous events, and many historians agree that there have been three to date. Interconnected digital technology might be triggering the fourth revolution, and this article explores the actions that printers should take to remain at the forefront of Industry 4.0.

Mailers Weigh in on USPS

How is the United States Postal Service perceived by key members of the mailing supply chain? A recent Idealliance study lays it all out, the good, the bad and the ugly. While there is certainly room for improvement, and it is unclear what the USPS response to this study will be, be sure to read to the end for a view of what mail and communications would be like if the USPS wasn’t functioning as well as it is!

EskoWorld: A Unique Experience

Last month, I attended EskoWorld for the first time. This was the 26th EskoWorld, so I am a little slow on the uptake. But the event was well worth attending and had quite a different feel from other user groups I have attended.

Product Spotlight: Kodak PRINERGY Cloud

Your print business runs on software, more and more of that software is being delivered via the cloud where resources can be precisely controlled and scaling (both up and down) is configurable in real-time. Kodak’s flagship workflow product – PRINERGY Workflow is no exception to taking advantage of what cloud computing can do to a printer’s production workflow.

Conversations on Print - Ep 2: Being a Data Driven Company - Featuring Susan Moore

In this podcast we talk to Susan Moore about the various roles Susan has had in the printing industry: supplies sales, printing business owner, MIS platform provider. We talk about becoming a data-driven company and how MIS transitions are hard but they create a great opportunity to restructure your business model and to transition to today's world.

Small Printers are Big Business – May 2017 M&A Activity

Global franchise system owner of Mail Boxes Etc. acquires US-based printing franchise system PostNet, Standard buys Epic, ICV Partners moves upstream with LeadingResponse, and more.

Friend to the Industry Kip Smythe Has Died

Sadly, the industry lost one of its loyal behind-the-scenes advocates, Kip Smythe. His coordination of efforts involving industry research, statistics, standards, trade, and others, was appreciated by everyone who worked alongside him. Dr. Joe has a special remembrance.

Recovery Indicators Move to Half Here, Half There; Shipments and Profits Fall, Concerns Raised

US commercial printing shipments and profits are in a pattern that suggests another re-set of media communications strategy is underway. The national employment data looked great on the outside, but were disturbing on the inside… again. The latest publishing revenues suggest that content’s kingship status is not what everyone thinks it is.

What Google Trends Has to Say About QR Code Searches

QR Codes have been trending. What does a deeper dive into online search data tell us about interest in QR Code adoption and usage? What market categories show the greatest curiosity? Here’s a look at what Google Trends has to say.

Inkjet Helps BMS Make a “Statement”

Printing and mailing customer communications, statements, and bills is a critical business process that can benefit from outsourcing. This article explores how BMS Technologies is capitalizing on the transaction document outsourcing services opportunity by supporting its customers’ ever-changing needs and investing in inkjet technology.

Software is our Primary Business Tool

Buy, implement, build – software is part of your everyday business life now. It is the primary tool of all businesses.

Measuring Efficiency with Overall Equipment Effectiveness

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) can be used to both measure your production efficiency, as well as use it as a tool for making equipment purchasing decision.

Show Me the Money: Why Strategic Buyer Financial Disclosure Is Normal in Printing Industry M&A and What to Do About It

In the world of strategic M&A among privately-owned print, mail and graphics communications companies, seller due diligence into the buyer is a common practice.

Six Big Mistakes That Aspiring Wide-Format Printers Can Make

Wide-format and specialty and specialty printing are where a lot of the action is today. But expanding into these new areas is not without its pitfalls. Here are some worth avoiding.

Augmented Reality: Will it Revolutionize Packaging?

Augmented Reality has the potential to open a world of possibilities for brand owners who are seeking to drive an immersive consumer interaction with their products. When applied to packaging, the digital information is visible through mobile or tablet devices and is enabled by an app. Customers are becoming more receptive to AR, and this article explores how brand owners are leveraging packaging to integrate the technology into the customer experience.

Understanding the Software Development Process

Making good software is like building a nice home, it takes multiple resources who are coordinated to deliver on your needs. The more a printer understands the software process, the better they will be at managing it for internal projects or influencing the software roadmap of their vendors.

No Time for Automation? Try Lean

You may not be able to make a commitment to implement full workflow automation, but this does not mean you should write off workflow efficiency gains entirely. Why not try going lean instead? This printer did.

Specialty Printing and Events: Made for Each Other

Commercial printing is evolving into specialty printing, and opportunities abound—if you know where and how to look for them.

Inflation-adjusted Shipments per Employee

The Commerce Department’s revisions to industry shipments show a much different picture of a key metric for the industry, sales per employee. The chart was created using 12-month moving totals of inflation-adjusted shipments and the 12 month moving average of total industry employment. The latest reading through March 2017 is $182.65 per employee, a meager +1.5% higher than it was at the end of 1992. It fell from a peak of $195.51 which was just before the burst of the housing bubble, the rise of social media platforms, tablets, and smartphones. The fall in this calculation has some interesting characteristics. Historically, large printing businesses focused on magazines, catalogs, and newspaper inserts, had sales per employee that were significantly higher than the industry averages, anywhere from 30% to 50% higher.

Inkjet: Finding the Path to Profitability

Advances in inkjet technology have print service providers asking “not if, but when” they should invest. This article highlights recent interviews with a number of inkjet users to find out the critical strategies they are following to accelerate their organization’s path to profitability.

New Xeikon President Benoit Chatelard Shares Vision for the Future

In late March, Xeikon announced that Benoit Chatelard, at the time the Vice President, Production Printing, for Ricoh Europe, would be joining the company as President & CEO Digital Solutions, Flint Group, Xeikon’s parent company. Chatelard began his new role May 8th, and speaks with Senior Editor Cary Sherburne about his vision for Xeikon.

The Danger of Rushing to a Solution

We want to be efficient, we want to feel smart. When we hear even the first words of a challenge, we categorize it and start trying to solve it based on our available tool set. This prevents you from a real understanding of the problem.

Last CTP Innovations and High Quality Printing Innovations Case Dismissed

Another Major Victory for the Printing Industry: The largest of the most recent patent troll cases against the printing industry and its OEMs was dismissed.

The Changing Specialty Printing Market: New Opportunities Big and Small

The same technologies that have enabled the proliferation of wide-format graphics are also profoundly changing the traditional specialty printing market. Here’s how print service providers can take advantage of the “nichification” of commercial print.

Where’s the Workflow?

Despite all the talk about the need for automated workflow, printers are still not rushing to invest in these solutions. How long can they hold on to fractured and inefficient workflows without this becoming a serious liability?

Commerce Department Revisions Send 2015 and 2016 Shipments Down More than -4%

We love numbers, especially when they go in a direction we like. Accuracy of the information we use in decision-making should not be a matter of liking numbers, the numbers are what the numbers are. What happens when one set of numbers you relied on are revised on the basis of new and better information and describe a different scenario than before? Dr. Joe helps sort it out… we think.

Xerox Forum: Connecting Your Network!

Under the “Connecting Your Network” theme, the 2017 Xerox Forum focused on business growth opportunities in today’s dynamic graphic communications market. This article highlights announcements and speakers from the event.

Your Customer’s Lack of Change Management Kills Web-to-Print Adoption

People don’t like change, they need to be led through change because the transition between “how you’ve always done it” and the “new more tech-focused way to do it” can be a river of misery.

Omni-Channel Communications: Secrets of Success

Marketers’ love affair with a digital-only strategy has begun to wane, and while they are continuing to invest in digital channels, print is regaining ground as an important part of the overall media mix. This opens the door to a more active role for print service providers in moving upstream and becoming engaged with helping marketers develop and execute an effective omni-channel strategy that aligns with the way consumers want to interact with brands. We spoke with some experts to learn their secrets of success.

FESPA 2017 Showcases European Wide-Format Introductions

Last week, FESPA 2017 drew attendees from across Europe and beyond to see the latest in wide-format and specialty printing technology and applications.

Creating Value with a Technological Infrastructure

Savvy print service providers recognize the need to offer relevant, integrated services to an ever-changing market. Investing in the right technologies will play a key role moving forward. This article discusses some of the technological areas that can fuel growth in today’s complex marketplace.

Births and Deaths of Commercial Printing Establishments, 2010 to 2014

The Commerce Department tracks the number of business establishments by industry, and among he more interesting reports is the calculation of new and closed businesses. The data take a while to be released, and these new data about 2014 were recently made available. There’s a word of caution here. If someone was a corporation and decides to become a partnership or a proprietorship, that counts as one business closed and one business opened. And then there’s “poor man’s mergers” where two business owners decide to close their two businesses and open one new one. Same people, same equipment, no real change except to the tax authorities and government statisticians. The most important number is the net change of births less deaths. In the worst of the recession, the net number was 6% of establishments. For 2014, that had fallen to a little more than 2%.

Leading Technology Change

Change management is considered a soft skill (maybe because it can’t be measured easily in a spreadsheet). Change management can cause a lot of hard problems with technology change when it ignored.

Legacy Printing Companies Fade Into History – April 2017 M&A Activity

Sheridan Group is sold, Intelligencer joins with Pemcor, Kennedy Group and Resilience Capital form Lux and buy National Label, ProAmpac and Resource Label acquire, summary of equipment manufacturing deals, and more.

Economy, Employment, Print, and Management Decisions

The economy is showing signs, but no one can figure out what kind of signs they are. GDP is down, employment is up. Apple confounds the analysts with a financial report worthy of corporate envy, but the analysts were not happy, and seem to blame Apple for the analysts bad guesses! And then there’s printing shipments: let’s change the subject… it seems many printers are doing just that by changing the process. Do policies in your company insulate you from the detection of market changes and opportunities? It’s not always denial, it’s procedure. That’s not a good thing.

QR Codes Growing in Use for Mobile Banking and Payments

Even as people continue to hate on QR Codes, we see them popping up in more and more places, including mobile banking and payments. This article takes a look at three places we regularly see QR Codes in the world of mobile payments and why we should pay attention.

Annual Summit Educates Printers on the Ins and Outs of Inkjet

Attendees at the recent Inkjet Summit reported that inkjet technology is mature, profitable, and offers printers a variety of options in terms of size, format, and speed. The event attracted 48 sponsors and 139 attendees from commercial print, direct mail, book manufacturing, data center, service bureau, and in-plant operations.

NPES, PIA and Idealliance: The Strategy Moving Forward

Last month, NPES announced it was taking on sole ownership of the Print/Graph Expo show franchise in order to give it the flexibility to make necessary major changes to the show. Senior Editor Cary Sherburne spoke with both Printing Industries of America and Idealliance to get their take and to better understand what their involvement would be moving forward.

Strategy vs. Tactics in Print Software Projects

A print software strategy is a definition of where you want to end up – an objective, a goal for how you want all the software components in your business to work together.

Spectrum Printing Weighs in on Idealliance’s G7 Master Facility Qualification Process

Tucson-based Spectrum Printing recently underwent the Idealliance G7 Master Facility Qualification process by leveraging G7 Expert, Jeff Collins, National Color Solutions Manager for Konica Minolta. We checked into learn more about the process and the early results. We’ll touch base again in about a month to find out what longer term benefits the company has achieved.

Wide-Format: Shelter From the Coming “Third Wave”?

We are about to be hit by a “Third Wave” of technology disruption that will negatively impact the demand for print. Or will it? Not all print is created equal these days. Here are some suggestions for how to weather the storm.

Investing in the Value of Print

As reaching consumers across multiple channels becomes more difficult, marketers’ budgets are rising to meet the challenge. This article explores how print service providers can add value to the overall marketing strategy through investment in core print products, analytics, and digital integration.

Printing Industry Lags Other Manufacturers in Defined Management Processes

In what is not a surprise to many, the job shop operational structure of many printing businesses put the industry near the bottom of all manufacturing industries in terms of its management processes.

Does This Print Software Fit into Your Technology Stack?

There is no “one software package” that runs your entire business. Businesses of all sizes have a technology stack (a collection of software). How well your technology stack fits together (like a beautiful puzzle) greatly determines your success in today’s market.

Carl Dantas, former head of Compugraphic, dead at 83

A lifetime is filled with many people. In 1971, I joined Compugraphic Corp. as their first marketing communications manager. Carl Dantas was then the VP of Operations. As the two founders, Bill Garth and Ellis Hansen, became less involved, Carl moved up the ranks to head the company.

Esko Presents Flexo Innovation

On a recent visit to Belgium, I attended a Esko press briefing scheduled in conjunction with the company’s Flexo Innovation Day customer event.

To Deliver Powerful Customer Experiences – Get Personal

In today’s competitive marketplace, brands are all vying for the eyes of consumers. Ask yourself: Does your campaign inspire engagement or action? Is it timed to reach the recipients at a precise moment? Are you targeting consumers across their preferred communication channels?

Print Is the “New Media” at ISA Sign Expo

Neon. LED. Channel letters. Wooden signs. Magnetic letters. Aside from dynamic digital signage, the “new media” in the sign industry is, strange as it may sound, print. The International Sign Association’s Sign Expo 2017 wrapped up last weekend. Here are some highlights from the show floor and beyond.

Importance of Hard Data: How Soft Data Can Mislead Decision-Makers

Every generation has a different perception of what the world is like. That difference may be appearing in surveys of consumer confidence and similar measures that businesspeople and economists have relied on. Hard data can be so cold, and those surveys added context and perspective with a view toward the future that historical data could not. Now it seems that “soft data” is softer than thought and may be misleading decision-makers about the marketplace.

A Greater Emphasis on Marketing Attribution

The ultimate objective of marketing attribution is to help marketers track their marketing and media efforts and determine the impact on their overall business. Priorities are shifting toward cross-channel measurement, and savvy print service providers are getting into the game!

NPES “Bold New Direction” for 2020 and New Ownership for Print/Graph Expo

NPES has unveiled what it characterizes as a “bold new direction” with its 2020 Strategic Plan. The organization has been evaluating its performance and considering where it wants to be as an organization by 2020 – and what value it can and will bring to the printing industry. NPES has assumed full ownership of the PRINT and GRAPH EXPO tradeshows.

Clear Communication with Print Software

Clear communication is essential when implementing print software. When you don’t ask clarifying questions, you assume that if there were more relevant details about the integration they would have shared them with you. Do not assume. Ask clarifying questions. Be that annoying person who keeps asking questions.

Proof That Adding Images Improves Conversion Rates

Intuitively, we know that adding images to direct mail, displays, and wide-format graphics adds grabs attention, but these statistics from real-life campaigns show that adding images does more—it actually improves conversion rates.

Xeikon Café and the Xeikon Panther Strategy

Xeikon Café marked some significant Xeikon announcements, including the company’s entry into the production inkjet business and a leadership transition. The event, held at Xeikon headquarters in Belgium, drew more than 800 unique international visitors and was supported by about 40 partners.

An Eye for Detail: The Many Layers of Digital Artist Bert Monroy

Berkeley-based digital artist Bert Monroy has spent more than three decades creating intricately detailed digital fine art. His most complex image is part of a new software retrospective exhibit at the Computer History Museum.

One Canon Event Shares Good News, Surprises

Canon didn’t disappoint with its One Canon event in Boca Raton last month. About 40 journalists and analysts gathered to hear the latest news and engage with Canon customers. It’s always a pleasure to hear from Joe Adachi, Canon USA Chairman and CEO, who kicked off the event with a broad corporate overview. And a surprise product launch occurred during the event as well.

The Emphasis on Mobile Creates New Opportunities for Enterprises

Today’s brands are learning from early mistakes through trial and error, careful consideration of user engagement, and knowledge of effective use to further enhance their mobile strategies. Even non-traditional partners like print service providers are learning how to provide support. This article explores how enterprises can capitalize on the mobile opportunity.

What Do the Navy’s Blue Angels Have to Do with Print?

I grew up in the shadow of Navy base Moffett Field in Mountain View CA, and later lived near Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth NH, and had the opportunity to see many Blue Angels shows and practice sessions. So it was quite an experience to hear from John Foley, a retired U.S. Navy Commander who led the vaunted Blue Angels, a keynote speaker at Dscoop.

The Fed’s Balance Sheet and the S&P 500

The financial markets were rattled a little bit by the recent minutes of the Fed meeting where they discussed the unwinding of their interventions and the ballooning of their balance sheet. The data are reflected in the St. Louis Fed Adjusted Monetary Base. The chart shows how the run-up in the S&P 500 stock index relates to the Fed’s quantitative easings

Excel, PDFs, Paper, and More People (automation-less)

We apply tools from our toolset to solve business challenges, often those tools create silos of data and processes inside our company that prevent us from becoming a truly data-driven organization.

Labels: Hybrid Printing Production Solutions can bridge QPC

In this article, David looks at the role of Hybrid Press Solutions to bridge the gap between conventional and digital label production, and even a takes a glance at what these types of solutions mean for other types of packaging.

Something’s Happening and It Just Doesn’t Feel Right

Friday’s unemployment report of 4.5% showed a thriving, healthy labor market in an economy bursting with growth. Not so fast… the cross-currents of the economy are quite different depending where you are, especially in the suffering retail markets. Media technology changes are letting communicators switch from gas guzzlers to more finely tuned approaches that squeeze budgets but offer similar results. There are print businesses thriving in this chaos, and Dr. Joe explains why even they have to remain vigilant and proactive.

Changes Coming to EPA’s Hazardous Waste Regulations

The Environmental Protection Agency made some changes to its “generator standard” regarding the safe disposal of hazardous waste. Here is what the printing industry needs to know.

View into the Future of Printing Process Control - March 2017 M&A Activity

Danaher adds Advanced Vision Technology to Pantone and X-Rite platform, Ripon acquires Maquoketa, Vomela goes commercial, private equity backs outsourcing packaging to China, and more

Are You Promoting Event Marketing?

A look at the benefits of event marketing and why printers should be promoting their ability to offer event marketing support.

TransPromo, 2017-Style

Marketers face the challenge of getting their messages out in a way that cuts through this clutter and encourages desired behaviors in recipients. This article discusses how today’s marketers are increasingly leveraging statements and other transactional documents as a marketing platform, and how these documents are becoming a more integral part of the overall customer experience.

Good Data, Bad Personalization

This article looks at the missed opportunities of a data-driven mailer created by a top brand and encourages readers to ensure that their own clients use data in a way that is effective rather than simply elevating the cost of a piece unnecessarily.

Print Software Execution is the Differentiator

I wish you could just buy the right print software product and it would make you successful. You can’t. Success with software takes your execution. Software doesn’t implement itself, vendors can’t implement it without your active involvement.

A Case Study of Patent Abuse: Patent Trolls on the Run — The Printing Industry Is Winning

This is a follow-up to my July 2016 White Paper entitled, “A Case Study of Patent Abuse: Printing Industry Faces New Nemesis Impacting Growth and Employment—Patent Trolls.” This article reviews the outcome of the previous cases and presents a “heads-up” regarding two new plaintiffs: Shipping & Transit LLC and the Freeny Brothers. It also introduces two “Printing Industry Heroes Among Us,” inventor Joyce Vogt and Intellectual Property attorney Nate St. Clair II.

Xerox introduces a new line of Versant Digital Presses and More...

The new Xerox® has been very busy lately. In addition to its largest ever product launch of 29 workplace printing devices last week, today the company introduced a new line of Versant® presses to replace the existing models, with many new features that exceed the competition’s current offerings and complement the growing line of Xerox production print engines.

Do You Know Where Your QR Codes Are?

When adding QR Codes to printed materials, it’s critical to understand where they are being placed (and whether they are even scannable) as much as it is why they are being used and the content to which viewers are being driven. Examples of where not to place QR Codes if you want people to scan them.

Print To Play an Expanded Role at Upcoming ISA Sign Expo

ISA Sign Expo 2017 is back in Vegas, with four days of educational sessions, a packed exhibition hall, and some brand-new partnerships and colocations, including the Collaboration in Packaging Production (CPP) Expo.

Advanced Data-Driven Marketing Techniques and the Role of Print

Data is the future. The emergence of combined business intelligence and analytics platforms has fueled what Gartner calls “the democratization of analytics,” under which “every business process becomes an analytics process and every user is an analytics user.” Nowhere is this change more evident than in marketing organizations where analytical expertise is a skill that all marketers must increasingly embrace.

US Commercial Printing Shipments on a Per Capita Basis

Yes, that sounds boring, but the data have been made interesting by including details about the last forty years or so of industry history and technological change. We added some statistical forecasts from our models that take the data out to 2025. When we started this chart almost ten years ago, those outlying years were near zero. They’re not any more (whew!). The data are inflation adjusted and based on the population data and forecasts of the US Census Bureau. It’s interesting how there are periods of relative stability, a change, followed by another period of stability. Technological change has been a much bigger factor affecting consumption than general economic conditions.

Embrace the Stupid

You can call it change management, I prefer the wise words of Seth Godin – change requires you to embrace stupid. Our market requires all of us to keep learning, “the pre-learning state is stupidity.”

Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things: Why Printers and Packaging Converters Should Take Notice

On a recent visit to Switzerland, I had the opportunity to spend time with Antoine Preisig, General Manager EMEA for X-Rite Pantone. Preisig joined X-Rite a year ago with a diverse background in the dental, IT and consumer electronics industries. He shared his thoughts on how Industry 4.0 is changing the world – and our industry.

New Strategies Start to Gel at Canon One Event

Earlier this month, Canon Solutions America hosted its annual analyst and press event in Boca Raton, Fla., debuting new wide-format technologies and market strategies.

Profits and Capex and Bears, Oh My!

Industry profits for 2016 were higher than 2015, but big printers were not riding high, they were writing down. Big used to mean big, but now small and medium are the rage as the changing nature of print demand makes the theme of short-run specialties for long-term profitability a big idea. And then there’s capital investment that makes all that possible. Its rebound continues in a manner that reflects a different industry. Is the post-election business enthusiasm a bubble about to burst? Dr. Joe explains.

Arnold Printing: Hiring Done Right!

Finding salespeople who are capable of consistently hitting or surpassing their sales targets can be the difference between success and failure for a print/marketing service provider. Arnold Printing recently retooled its sales team, and this article explores the steps that the company took and the challenges it faced along the way.

Do Printing Companies Really Need to Offer Marketing Services?

Do print buyers really want printers to offer marketing services? A recent survey of Print Buyers suggests they don’t. Now what?

Ad Agency and Publisher Revenues

Advertising agency revenues are having a slow rebound from their pullback in 2015. Publisher revenues are still having problems as ad pages and circulation are contracting. Clearly, agencies are finding other areas to garner revenues, especially in managing digital initiatives. Mobile communications are where their latest opportunities are, especially with website redesigns, creating the look and feel of content marketing for their clients, and assisting clients as they sort through the analytics that marketing automation offers.

What Makes Print Ecommerce Weird?

Selling print online requires knowledge of how to both accept artwork and deliver print assets to the manufacturing facility. Generic ecommerce firms don’t understand this which can cause printers to spend their time and money educating resources about what makes print ecommerce unique.

Fashion Fabrics Present Boom Opportunity For Digital Printers

Leveraging inkjet technology into the textile industry is presenting an increasingly compelling opportunity for mainstream print equipment and consumable suppliers, according to the latest research from Smithers Pira.

Imagine Losing Money for Ten Years in a Row And Staying in Business

It’s a famous example of a large public company that defied gravity - Trans World Airlines (also known as TWA for those of us old enough to remember the brand) famously posted ten consecutive money-losing years and continued to operate, essentially living off capital generated from its once successful legacy enterprise. No small company could ever lose money and survive for an extended period measured in decades!

The Future of Book Manufacturing:Integration and Automation

Automation is playing a growing role in book manufacturing, as evidenced by the sophisticated solutions on show at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2017

Data-Driven Marketing: The Opportunity for Print Service Providers

With the advent of data-driven marketing, print providers with agency services are uncovering opportunities in strategy, creative, programming, and content development when it comes to enhancing relevance and results for clients. Although data-driven marketing is becoming more widely used, it is still in its infancy. This article explores how print providers with agency services are embracing data-driven marketing skills to gain a strategic advantage.

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