Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Shipments of Secondary Products & Misc. Receipts by Printing Industry

I Told You This Was Going to Happen

The news reports were so predictable. “The government's index of prices paid by consumers was unchanged in July from the previous month, but the closely watched inflation gauge recorded its largest over-the-year decline in 59 years.” That's the way CNN said it on Friday.

Printing Can be a Growth Market

Did you know that there is a company whose business is printing, that calls itself a printing company, but which is categorized as a high-growth organization by many organizations like Deloitte and Inc Magazine. The company is Mimeo.com and Deloitte identified it as the 25th fastest growing technology company in the New York region in 2007. Admittedly in 2006 it held the 10th spot on this list so its growth is slowing slightly. However since few companies that call themselves printers ever make it on any list for rapid growth there must be something special about Mimeo. Also very few printing companies have a list of investors including venture capital, private equity funds and innovate leaders in high technology.

Prologue to PRINT

The PRINT 09 event is only a few weeks away. A lot of printers are asking if it will be worth a trip. Yes, it will. They should publish Bill Lamparter’s Must-see’um and Worth-a-look lists in advance so youknow what to expect. I think there will also be a few surprises.

Books On Demand: The Book Publisher’s Dilemma, The Printer’s Dilemma and Opportunity

Not long ago, futurists believed that we would all be reading our books electronically by now—either on a computer screen or on a handheld electronic book. While I have yet to invest in a Kindle, quite a few of my favorite books are available in one electronic form or another. Even today, though, the reality is that I would rather curl up with the processed corpse of a tree than look at one more display screen.

TransPromo: A B2B Twist

Yesterday, InfoPrint Solutions and Sinclair Oil announced a TransPromo partnership that has a slightly different twist than the programs we normally hear about. Most of the TransPromo case studies tend to focus on business-to-consumer applications: Companies who place marketing or educational messages on statements, invoices, notifications and other consumer (customer) communications, reducing costs and often converting these mundane documents from a cost center into revenue generators.

Hyping a Recovery Doesn't Help Anyone, Until You Actually Have One

There is such a desire for good economic news that the press and others plant the good news at the top of the story and then hide the details in plain sight in paragraph 3, where they know no one will find it.

Change in Number of U.S. Commercial Printing Employees Per Establishment

Ink Optimization Made Easy

At the recent IPA Technical Conference, Chromaticity introduced an ink optimization solution that, according to the company, reinvents the way color separations are produced, a process that has remained relatively unchanged for decades. WhatTheyThink spoke to Ian MacKenzie, Chromaticity’s Vice President of Marketing, to get more detail about this bold statement and what it might mean to the industry.

It’s About the Conversation… Not the Campaign

Over the past five years, my columns have espoused the value of variable data and integrated campaign management. While I continue to be a firm believer in relevant messaging and cross-media communications, I am quickly learning that in today’s wired and social media world, the market has taken yet another turn. Marketers are focusing on the importance of social media, and they will start seeking partners that go beyond integrated marketing campaign management. These marketers are hoping to tap into the conversations that are taking place via social networks as they move from a monologue to a true dialogue with customers. As we move into 2010, the rise of social media will require solutions providers to deliver and support a new concept: Integrated multi-channel conversation management™.

Is This Heidelberg’s New Digital Printing?

Selling Mailing Services: Getting Started

If you have decided to add mailing and/or fulfillment services to your offerings, remember that you will not be alone in this dynamic market. Mailing and fulfillment service providers have been around for years, some producing the same types of work they always have, while others recognize the changes wrought by the digital age. Your closest competitors will be:

Doctor, When Will I Feel Better?

As far as excitement goes for economy watchers, the first full week of any month is as good as it gets. That's what dull lives we economists lead.

Change in Number of U.S. Commercial Printing Employees

Down the tubes

Web-to-Print: We need a new name

Kodak – Completing the Digital Printing Picture

In the previous article on the Kodak event in Dayton I concentrated on the Kodak Stream continuous inkjet technology and the new Kodak Prosper Press platform. At this event Kodak also spent time on covering the Kodak Versamark VL series continuous feed inkjet color presses and the Kodak Nexpress SE and Digimaster EX300 sheet fed digital presses.

Kodak – On Stream to Prosper?

Following the drupa event last year the major question that was being asked was what impact the new continuous feed color inkjet presses would have on the offset printing market. The vendors of these new presses took different positions in the areas of the market where they felt their presses were most appropriate. Most of them certainly saw their presses impacting in certain areas of the offset market where moderate quality on uncoated paper was a requirement, for example for newspapers and books.

An Examination of Business and Workflow Models for U.S. Newspapers

It's About Time We Got Smart About Chaos

On August 3, Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield's book, Chaos Scenario, will be released. The content has been previewed for a quite a while, and I cited it a few years back. Since the time of his first column about it, titled “A Look at the Marketing Industry's Coming Disaster,” much of what he projected has come to pass.

Change in Number of U.S. Commercial Printing Establishments

Beyond Web-to-Print, Drew Swankie of R and R Images

A year ago at drupa, HP announced an OEM relationship with Press-sense to bring to market HP’s SmartStream Director Web-to-fulfillment workflow solution, citing key benefits, components and features including:

Digital Packaging… The Time Has Come

Digital press technology for packaging printing and graphics has been around for more than a decade, but momentum is currently building behind end-user investments and hardware developments by technology providers. In today’s market, it is clear that digital package printing represents a recession-proof and profitable market opportunity. With today’s available technologies, the emergence of inkjet, and the needs of brand owners, short run digital technology is truly poised to take off.

The Next Industry Changing Technology?

Occasionally there are developments within this industry, often referred to as disruptive technology, that have the potential for fundamentally changing the market. The arrival of thermally imaged non-ablative CtP plates that came to market in 1995 is an example of such a disruptive technology. I have just come across another such disruptive technology that could have a similar impact to that of thermal CtP in changing the industry.

Make a Decision—Today!

You may have heard pundits say that it doesn’t really matter what you do—just do something. The trick in the printing industry is, don’t try to do everything.

US Commercial Printing Annual Payroll Per Employee

When Demand Rises, Prices Rise; When Demand Falls, Prices Fall

That's the basic law of economics when the supply of a good or service is constant. There's been some discussion of late about the scarcity of print workers and the need for many thousands of them. One of the clues as to whether or not there is true demand for or a shortage of workers is the change in wage levels that the marketplace offers. If wages are up, there is greater demand for workers; and if wages are down, there is obviously not. Wages are the prices set by the interaction of workers and employers in a marketplace for long-term work. Higher wages attract workers who had previously been outside the industry; lower wages inside one industry send discouraged workers elsewhere.