Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Lee Gallagher of Infoprint Solutions talks about a consumer preference survey

Published December 11, 2009

The Truth About the Institute for Graphics and Imaging

Published December 10, 2009

Filip Buyse of Prism talks about the critical competency of MIS

Published December 10, 2009

GMC's Bill Parker on the changing face of customer communication

Published December 8, 2009

Peter Winters on resoures available in making the marketing services provider transition

Published December 7, 2009

Ricoh's Carl Joachim talks about IKON integration

Published December 4, 2009

Deb Cantabene of Xerox talks about key survival technologies for printers

Published December 3, 2009

GMC's Peter Müller talks about their data analytics business

Published December 1, 2009

FedEx Office and UPS Face Off with Online Offerings

Published December 1, 2009

We recently spoke with The UPS Store's Christa Martin (VP of Product Development & Management) and FedEx Offices Anthony Norris (VP of Digital Access Marketing) about their businesses and competitive positioning in the marketplace.

FujiFilm North America Reorganization: A Few More Details

Published November 30, 2009

Consolidated Graphics’ Jim Cohen on the State of the Industry and CGX

Published November 30, 2009

As this recession drags on, WhatTheyThink is reaching out to various companies to see how they are doing, and what they are doing to survive and thrive. We had the pleasure of speaking recently with Jim Cohen, Executive Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions at Consolidated Graphics. He had some very interesting insights to share.

KBA CEO Helge Hansen talks about navigating disruptive change

Published November 30, 2009

Presstek Sells Lasertel

Published November 23, 2009

How Valuable Are You in the Marketing Supply Chain?

Published November 23, 2009

I recently read two reports issued by the CMO Council that are definitely a must-read for anyone in our industry. Taken together, the two will arm innovative print service providers (dare I say marketing services providers??) with much of the ammunition they need to start a conversation at the highest levels in customer marketing organizations. Here are a few highlights, and some of them are pretty scary!

Screen's Robert Prah talks about DI presses and the move to digital

Published November 20, 2009

Canon and Océ: More Details

Published November 19, 2009

Canon's Acquisition of Océ: The Details

Published November 17, 2009

Following Canon’s announcement that it would acquire Océ, WhatTheyThink spoke with a number of sources to get more detail on this significant acquisition and continued sign of industry consolidation. While Canon proposes to purchase Océ at a 70% premium on the stock value, it works out to about 50% of Océ’s annual revenues. The press release is fairly detailed about the terms and conditions.

GMC's Jeff Devoyd talks about the infrastructure needed for customer communications platforms

Published November 17, 2009

Following the Prinergy Saga

Published November 16, 2009

There was quite a firestorm of online activity following a post at Prepress Pilgrim indicating that Kodak was moving its Prinergy development efforts to Israel and laying off everyone at the Willingdon Avenue plant in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. This started rumors that Kodak was shutting down development of Prinergy. PrintCEO blog posted a Kodak statement with the company’s assurances that Prinergy is alive and well, and fully supported by Kodak. WhatTheyThink contacted Jon Bracken, Kodak’s General Manager, Unified Workflow Solutions, in the Burnaby location to get more details on the company’s move.

GMG's Paul Willems on the importance of ink optimization

Published November 16, 2009

David Murphy of RISO talks about inkjet for smaller printers

Published November 13, 2009

Frank Miller, President of Responsive Solutions on web-to-print

Published November 12, 2009

Bill Parker introduces latest GMC video series and talks unified communications

Published November 10, 2009

Kodak's Aaron Tavakoli talks about their Insite Campaign Manager

Published November 9, 2009

George Fry of Convertible Solutions talks about converting paper stocks for digital printing

Published November 6, 2009

Keith Kanak of BFC talks about streamlining prepress workflows

Published November 5, 2009

John Foley of interlinkONE on the importance of multi-channel offerings and social media

Published November 3, 2009

SmartLinc's Scott Kwiatkowski on Lean Manufacturing

Published October 30, 2009

Xerox Launches Enterprise Print Services

Published October 29, 2009

Elie Khoury of Alwan on why color management is still something printers struggle with

Published October 29, 2009

EFI's Patrick Morrisey talks about online training with IPA

Published October 29, 2009

Felt and Wire: Mohawk Creates Buzz in the Designer Community

Published October 27, 2009

Mohawk Paper Mills Create Buzz in the Designer Community Do a Google search for “felt and wire” and most of the hits on the first two pages refer to Mohawk’s recently launched Felt and Wire blog, and even more recently launched Felt and Wire Shop.

Jeff Platt of Pitney Bowes talks about mailing list accuracy

Published October 27, 2009

Forrest Leighton of Canon talks about leveraging new technologies

Published October 23, 2009

“Recession, Schmecession,” says EFI’s Guy Gecht

Published October 20, 2009

At the EFI press conference at Print 09, CEO Guy Gecht took a very different approach, using the “Recession, Schmecession” theme and tying a top ten attributes for success into the value of various EFI products. While we won’t be talking about the products specifically here, we thought his top ten attributes for success were worth delving into and took the opportunity to speak to Guy directly, hoping he would share his thoughts with our readers. Herewith the results!

HP's Francis McMahon talks about DSCOOP and the value of user groups

Published October 20, 2009

Bob Doyle of Superior Mailing Services talks about direct mail and information integrity

Published October 20, 2009

Prism's Filip Buyse talks MIS adoption rates and educating customers on it's use

Published October 19, 2009

Jerome Wilson with CCV talks about JDF and closing a deal

Published October 16, 2009

Peter Winters on the transition from being a printer to marketing service provider

Published October 15, 2009

The Rise and Fall of Mallard Press Part 2

Published October 14, 2009

The recent closure of Mallard Press caught our eye. While I don’t know Bob Gay or the company personally, a review of its web site revealed a company that appeared to be on the right track and making the right investments for the future. Bob Gay was kind enough to speak frankly with us about the factors that led to the demise of the company.

Kevin Marks of Pitney Bowes on the Intellijet System

Published October 14, 2009

Jerome Wilson describes doing a deal at EFI Connect

Published October 14, 2009

Patrick Bolan of Avanti talks about why IT is so important

Published October 13, 2009

The Rise and Fall of Mallard Press

Published October 12, 2009

The recent closure of Mallard Press caught our eye. While I don’t know Bob Gay or the company personally, a review of its web site revealed a company that appeared to be on the right track and making the right investments for the future. Bob Gay was kind enough to speak frankly with us about the factors that led to the demise of the company. Perhaps there are lessons here for others in the industry who may be teetering on the edge or worried about the future.

Riso's David Murphy talks about their ComColor inkjet system

Published October 12, 2009

Romano’s Association Consolidation Piece is Well Worth Reading

Published October 9, 2009

Mallard Press has Closed

Published October 6, 2009

Remember DAX and Sprockets?

Published October 2, 2009

I recently ran into Patrick White, an industry veteran I had not seen a long time. In the late 1990’s, Patrick was regarded as one of the industry’s leading prepress consultants and was the recipient of NAPL’s 1998 Technical Leadership Award. In 1995, he founded Digital Art Exchange, known as DAX, as an integrator of ISDN (remember that??) and related technologies for prepress connectivity applications.

PrintLink HR Bible Must-Read for Printing Owners/Managers

Published October 1, 2009

Xerox's “Game Changing” ACS Acquisition

Published September 28, 2009

Education and Integration the Name of the Game at Print 09

Published September 25, 2009

Last week, Barb Pellow wrote an article on WhatTheyThink about Print 09 emphasizing that people came to the event with a purpose, and much of that revolved around education. She highlighted Executive Outlook and the conference sessions, as well as WhatTheyThink’s first-ever in-person educational event, the Print CEO Forum, along with the significant networking opportunities attending a show like Print 09 offers. I wanted to add to that perspective. I think many of the exhibitors also did an excellent job of providing in-booth educational opportunities. Of course, they were there to sell products and services, but they also put forth extraordinary efforts to emphasize the educational element.

RR Donnelley, HP Announce Innovative Technology Alliance to “Revolutionize Printing”

Published September 10, 2009

A Few Hot Items to Check Out at Print 09

Published September 8, 2009

Print 09 is just around the corner, and exhibitors have been busy ensuring that they have the right mix of information, hardware, software, education and entertainment to make this an outstanding show.

A Sea Change in Printing Trade Shows?

Published August 28, 2009

Print 09 is shaping up to be an interesting show. The Graphic Arts Show Company has continued to shift the shape of the show based on changing industry dynamics. In case you haven’t visited the show site, it is being billed as myPRINT and has lots of great features to help attendees plan their show experience and navigate once they get there. The show company is even doing a cross-media campaign with mailings linked to personalized URLs. Visitors to the show site can customize their experience there as well, by specifying the type of visitor they are: commercial printer, in-plant printer, print buyer, etc., and being presented with the most relevant content.

2009’s Top Ten Technologies for Survival

Published August 21, 2009

Each year for the last several years, I have taken the time to speak with Bill Lamparter, who coordinates Executive Outlook and the Must See ‘ems program for Graph Expo/Print, to learn more about what went into the Must See ‘ems panel decision about top technologies. This year was no exception.

TransPromo: A B2B Twist

Published August 11, 2009

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.

Ink Optimization Made Easy

Published August 7, 2009

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.

Articles by Cary Sherburne