Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

EFI Focuses on Sustainability at ITMA 2023

Published July 26, 2023

WhatTheyThink's Adam Dewitz speaks with Scott Schinlever, COO of Global Inkjet Business at EFI, about emerging trends in the textile space, particularly the importance of sustainability, EFI's focus on this area, and the launch of their ecoTERRA Solution.

Observability 101: If It Moves, Measure It—And Use Tools to Act on That Data

Published February 22, 2022

From digital storefronts, to workflow, to hardware, modern print production systems now support the ability to monitor the state of system. We now have a tremendous amount of data at our fingertips. Using modern observability techniques, we can use data from software and hardware to make business and operation decisions that create better buying experiences for our customers and make production efficient and more profitable.

Observability 101 - Audio

Published January 20, 2022

From the halls of MIT to the command lines of Silicon Valley, observability has morphed to include tools and techniques that take system monitoring, such as how long a process takes to complete, exceptions, errors and failures, to a new level that creates a single source of truth and instrumentation to provide actionable insights and business intelligence.

The Evolution of Dscoop

Published April 19, 2018

Jon Bailey, CEO of UK-based Proco and Dscoop board member, talks about the evolution of Dscoop from a US event to a series of worldwide events and now an online community via the new Dscoop.com platform.

Dscoop "Operator Saturday": A Peer Group for Print Operators

Published April 10, 2018

Chris Reine, Indigo operator/engineer at Franklin Press, talks about a Dscoop-organized peer group for HP Indigo operators called "Operator Saturday." The program brings together operators of HP Indigo presses for a long weekend of knowledge sharing, education, and networking.

Dscoop Launches Academia Program to Engage Students

Published April 9, 2018

Charles Ohiaeri, Chief Fulfillment Officer with Zazzle and Dscoop board member, talks about the new Dscoop Academia Program. The program's goal is to bring college students, professors, and printing companies together to develop skills, foster new talent, and provide opportunities for collaboration between industry and academia.

Standards Update: Barcode and Digital Watermarks for Active and Intelligent Packaging

Published July 11, 2017

Laura DiSciullo, SVP of Marketing and Product Management at GS1 US talks about the history of GS1, they created the UPC barcode, and barcode and digital watermarks technology that is enabling active and intelligent packaging.

G7 at Spectrum Printing

Published June 7, 2017

Idealliance and Konica Minolta recently teamed up with Spectrum Printing in Tucson, AZ to bring the G7 Master Facility Qualification to the printing company's offset and digital pressroom. Ken Huizenga, Production Manager at Spectrum Printing, discusses the impact G7 has had on their ability to secure clients who were frustrated with other printer's inability to match color across jobs and production equipment.

Active and Intelligent Packaging Are Creating Customer Engagement Opportunities

Published June 6, 2017

Larry Logan, Chief Evangelist at Digimarc Corporation, provides an update on the state of the art in digital watermarking, active and intelligent packaging, and new opportunities for customer engagement with packaging.

Packaging Insight from Jean-Charles Morisseau: Packaging Trends Affecting Brand Owners

Published May 31, 2017

Jean-Charles Morisseau, Chairman of global design and pre-media agency Diadeis talks about packaging trends affecting brand owners and packaging artwork teams including consolidation of processes and suppliers, and packaging driving e-commerce content creation.

Color Management Pro Jim Raffel on G7 and the State of Color Reproduction

Published May 23, 2017

Jim Raffel, CEO of ColorMetrix, shares insight into what he's seeing in the industry with the continued adoption of Idealliance's G7 as a method to provide common visual appearance across various print processes including industrial print applications.

Steve Portrude of Harwill Express Press Recommends Idealliance and Its Experience Conference

Published May 15, 2017

Steve Portrude, President and CEO at Harwill Express Press, promotes the benefits of being an Idealliance member and the value printing company executives receive by attending its annual Experience Conference.

Merrill Corporation an Early Adopter of Sheetfed Production Inkjet

Published July 21, 2016

Patrick Foley, Senior Vice President Operations at Merrill Corporation talks to WhatTheyThink about being an early adopter of the Océ VarioPrint i300 sheetfed production inkjet platform. Patrick shares how the platform fits Merrill's business.

Patent Troll Targeting Printing Companies that use Common Web-to-Print Functionality

Published December 15, 2015

A company called High Quality Printing Inventions, LLC, is using a patent initially granted to Moore (now R.R. Donnelley) to file patent infringement lawsuits in the U.S. District Courts in a litigation campaign against several printing companies using common web-to-print functionality.

TJ International's Angus Clark on Transitioning Book Production to Production Inkjet

Published December 10, 2015

WhatTheyThink's Adam Dewitz talks to Angus Clark, CEO at TJ International about transitioning book production from offset to production inkjet.

Catching up with Jon Budington of Global Printing and Global Thinking

Published November 17, 2014

A few weeks ago at the RIT CMIC Summit we had a chance to catch up with Jon Budington, CEO of Global Printing and Global Thinking. Jon told us about launching Global Thinking to provide web and marketing services to its clients and introduces the next phase in its business as looks it to focus on cross-media information delivery.

An Update on Océ Products from Canon

Published 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.

A look at the Océ ImageStream 3500

Published 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.

2013 Newspaper Revenue

Published April 23, 2014

Circulation revenue for U.S. newspapers recorded a second consecutive year of growth, rising 3.7% to $10.87 billion in 2013 according to figures released by the Newspaper Association of America. Total revenue was $37.59 billion in 2013, a loss of 2.6 percent over 2012.

The Future of WhatTheyThink

Published 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

Published April 4, 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

Published March 27, 2014

73% of online adults in the US now use social networking sites

Published January 2, 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.

Today is “National Print Day”

Published October 23, 2012

Today is “National Print Day” according to grassroots campaign to promote print as an environmentally and socially responsible medium vital to communication.

How people get local news and information in different communities

Published September 26, 2012

A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project looks at the source of local news and information across varying different community types in the U.S.

Toshiba Halts National No-Print Day Campaign

Published June 21, 2012

HP Will Not Participate in Ipex 2014

Published June 21, 2012

“HP has decided not to participate in Ipex 2014, as we are shifting our marketing and sales focus to more local and application-specific events, as well as to customer business-development programs such as Dscoop-sponsored events that help our customers profitably grow their businesses.”

Women in the Graphic Communication Industry

Published May 24, 2012

How are women faring professionally in the printing, publishing and graphic communication industry today? That is a question Dr. Twyla Cummings, Associate Dean and Professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at RIT has studied over the past 11 years.

Kodak Loses Trade Ruling In Patent Case

Published May 21, 2012

Kodak lost a trade ruling in its patent case against Apple and Blackberry maker Research in Motion.

Leaked Memo Spotlights Kodak's drupa Results

Published May 9, 2012

An article published in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle is getting a lot of buzz at drupa this morning. The paper published comments from an internal memo Kodak co-President Philip Faraci sent company-wide on the company’s success at drupa.

drupa 2012 International Media Briefing

Published March 7, 2012

Last week fourteen companies gave a preview of what they will bring to drupa 2012 during a series of media briefings at a conference center on the trade fair grounds of Messe Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Mark Angelson tapped by Mayor-elect Emanuel to tackle Chicago's budget mess

Published April 21, 2011

ITC to reexamine Kodak's patent dispute with Apple, RIM

Published March 25, 2011

Post Office News: Layoffs, Closings, Saturday Delivery

Published March 24, 2011

Your Business Card is CRAP!

Published March 23, 2011

I somehow missed this video that has been on YouTube for a few years (Click through to watch).

LetterMpress: A Virtual Letterpress on Your iPad

Published March 2, 2011

John Bonadies, a graphic designer in Champaign, Illinois is seeking $15,000 in funding on Kickstarter to develop a virtual letterpress environment for the iPad.

Investor firm petitions for sale or turnaround at Kodak

Published March 2, 2011

Discussion with Marc Olin on EFI's acquisition of Streamline

Published February 17, 2011

WhatTheyThink spoke with Marc Olin, EFI’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Professional Print Software, about EFI's acquisition of PrintStream provider Streamline Development. PrintStream is a provider of management information systems.

GPO's Squeaks Discovers Type Comic Book makes WasteBook 2010

Published December 21, 2010

“Problem is, the color isn't pink or light pink or even off pink...it's luscious.”

Published December 16, 2010

Costly spoilage during production of redesigned $100 bills

Published December 6, 2010

Vertis goes bankrupt again

Published November 18, 2010

Adobe “not for sale”

Published November 17, 2010

Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayen denied reports that he has been negotiating with Microsoft about a possible acquisition.

eBooks Spiral Upward

Published November 10, 2010

A look at Americans and their gadgets

Published October 20, 2010

A new study released by Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project takes a look at “Americans and their gadgets.” The 15 page report (PDF here) identifies key appliances of the information age: laptops, cell phones, tablet computers (like the iPad) and e-book readers (such as the Kindle) , game consoles, and MP3 players and who is using them.

IRS to stop mailing income tax forms

Published September 28, 2010

The Internal Revenue Service plans to stop mailing paper income tax forms. The IRS cites (PDF) continued growth in electronic filing and cost cutting for the change. According to the IRS nearly 100 Million people prepared and filed their taxes electronically in 2009. The Washington Post reports the change will save the agency $10 million a year in printing and postage costs.

J.C. Penney to Quit Catalogs

Published September 27, 2010

J.C. Penney continues its shift to electronic media with plans to quit is traditional catalog business in favor of e-commerce and retail store sales. This announcement comes the company discontinued its “Big Book” catalogs last Fall.

Industry Veteran Dick Gorelick Passes Away

Published September 13, 2010

What’s Your Next Big Equipment Investment?

Published August 12, 2010

During yesterday's WhatTheyThink webinar Frank Romano and David Zwang Preview GraphExpo 2010 we polled the audience asking, “What’s Your Next Big Equipment Investment?”

U.S. Postal Service Proposes Price Increases

Published July 6, 2010

The U.S. Postal Service has proposed increasing the prices to help close a projected $7 billion budget shortfall in 2011 Fiscal Year. Under the proposal the cost of a First-Class stamp 2 cents to 46 cents. Periodicals will see an 8 percent increase, catalogs rates will increase 5.1 percent and Standard Mail will see a 23 percent increase.

Joss Group Buys the Seybold Report

Published June 10, 2010

RBI Retains Graphic Arts Monthly Assets

Published May 10, 2010

Reed Business Information is retaining ownership of Graphics Arts Monthly, Graphic Arts Blue Book, and Converting. RBI plans to use the subscription list from these titles to generate leads through the company's business-to-business marketing unit Mardev-DM2.

Obama taps union leader to become Public Printer

Published April 16, 2010

NAPL, PIA, NPES offer “Joint Leadership Summit”

Published April 15, 2010

Pazazz Printing to Restructure

Published March 10, 2010

Pazazz Printing has filed a Notice of Intention to restructure the company under Canada’s Companies Creditors Arrangement Act. President Warren Werbitt says, “Pazazz file a Notice of Intention to preserve and maximize the value of the business.”

Mitsubishi Not Exhibiting at Graph Expo 2010

Published March 3, 2010

MLP USA has announced that the company will not be exhibiting at Graph Expo 2010. MLP USA will instead pursue an alternative program this year for marketing to printers who either attend or don’t attend the show.

Xerox Files Patent Suit Against Google, Yahoo

Published February 23, 2010

Xerox is suing Yahoo and Google for for alleged infringement of its patents on Internet search and e-commerce.

Heidelberg, Komori not exhibiting at Graph Expo

Published February 17, 2010

GASC informed WhatTheyThink that Heidelberg will not be at Graph Expo 2010. Komori has also indicated they are passing on the show. The trade show floor is an indicator of where the market is going. Innovation and advancement in offset technology is leveling off, while digital printing is rapidly evolving.

Articles by Adam Dewitz