WhatTheyThink is the global printing industry's go-to information source with both print and digital offerings, including WhatTheyThink.com, WhatTheyThink Email Newsletters, and the WhatTheyThink magazine. Our mission is to inform, educate, and inspire the industry. We provide cogent news and analysis about trends, technologies, operations, and events in all the markets that comprise today's printing and sign industries including commercial, in-plant, mailing, finishing, sign, display, textile, industrial, finishing, labels, packaging, marketing technology, software and workflow.
Displaying 1101-1200 of 4651 articles
Published February 15, 2018
Mark Hischar, President and CEO of KBA North America and Chairman of the Association for Print Technologies talks about the Association’s rebranding initiative and the upcoming Print 18 event.
Published February 5, 2018
WhatTheyThink surveyed printing business owners and executives: "In the next 12 months, which of the following will be your biggest business challenges?"
Published February 1, 2018
Xerox and Fujifilm announced a deal to combine Xerox and the Fuji Xerox joint venture into a single company called Fuji Xerox. Industry Analysts share their reaction to the deal.
Published January 29, 2018
EFI is going into its third year with the Reggiani portfolio of fabric printing equipment. EFI has recently brought new products to its textile portfolio to ease the transition into digital production including the EFI Reggiani VOGUE and EFI Reggiani ReNOIR FLEXY.
Published January 23, 2018
PIA’s Color Conference grew attendance by about 30% compared to 2017, with 25% of attendees representing the brand/design community. For anyone with a color-critical role, this is an excellent venue to increase color knowledge, network with peers, and have in-depth in-person conversations with conference sponsors about solutions that can assist with specific challenges.
Published January 19, 2018
Are you ready for a cloud migration? Here is the fourth and final post in a four-part series on "cloud readiness" criteria put together by experts.
Published January 12, 2018
Are you ready for a cloud migration? Here is the third in a four-part series of posts on criteria put together by experts.
Published December 14, 2017
Elizabeth Gooding, President of Inkjet Insight, talks about the new venture and the ways it can help inform those serious about inkjet about both devices, paper, software, and other equipment. The site brings a lot of information together in an easy to use way and Elizabeth highlights them.
Published December 12, 2017
David Biro, Director of Paste Screen and Industrial Inks for Sun Chemical discusses the movement toward energy curing and the advantages associated with this type of curing for packaging applications. He also talks about some of the challenges associated with this kind of curing.
Published December 11, 2017
Jeff Peterson, President of FSEA, gives an overview of the association and how it serves members through their Odyssey show, magazine, and webinar events. He also discusses how new digital technologies like MGI and Scodix take specialty effects to the next level as well as a new study done in conjunction with Clemson University that showcases how end users tend to see embellished print first over standard package printing.
Published December 7, 2017
Pat McGrew, Director of Production Workflow Service at Keypoint Intelligence - InfoTrends, talks about how workflow is often underfunded in a printing operation and how proper investment and strategy can increase profits.
Published December 5, 2017
When we think about the cloud, we think about benefits such as anytime, anywhere access, cost savings from the elimination of servers, and automatic updates. But there is one benefit that many people don’t think about—computer agnosticism.
Published December 4, 2017
Dean Durhak, Product Manager at SAi talks about their FlexiSign Software and also sign.com, a consumer facing application that drives sign making demand online and routes jobs directly to the nearest production facility.
Published November 30, 2017
Matt Swain, Group Director at Keypoint Intelligence - InfoTrends talks about the benefits for consumers and marketers of the USPS Informed Delivery program.
Published November 29, 2017
Whether it’s for administrative, production, or marketing initiatives, the cloud brings significant benefits to businesses of all sizes. One of those benefits, and one that is the easiest to implement, is collaboration. Let’s take a closer look at this low-hanging fruit from the cloud.
Published November 29, 2017
Matt Ellison, Senior Ink Chemist at Dart, talks about the importance of the ability to recycle and low migration ink given their focus on disposable packaging products. He also discusses the changing nature of inks in the print for packaging industry.
Published November 27, 2017
Todd Fayne Principal Engineer at PepsiCo talks about major trends affecting consumer packaged goods and the technical considerations required for next generation packaging that includes interactivity, functional advancements, and other consumer focused features.
Published November 22, 2017
Gavin Jordan-Smith Vice President, Industrial Print and Graphic Communications at Konica Minolta provides an update on Konica Minolta lastest advancements in inkjet head technology and new applications these advancements are enabling in industrial and commercial printing.
Published November 21, 2017
Darrell Moore, President at Modern Litho, talks about his printing business and how he's saving money through the Graphic Arts Alliance purchasing cooperative.
Published November 16, 2017
Mick Rowan (Director) and Adrian Fleming (Sales Director) at PrintIQ share their vision and approach to a cloud based management workflow system that goes beyond traditional MIS.
Published November 15, 2017
John Braceland of Graphic Arts Alliance talks about the member-run purchasing cooperative and how it helps printing companies increase buying power and save money on equipment and supplies.
Published November 13, 2017
Dan Johansen, Marketing Manager at Ricoh, talks about their new Ricoh Pro T7210 flatbed device shown at SGIA. With new ink development, this device is able to produce custom graphics with a large diversity of substrates.
Published November 9, 2017
Randy Paar, Marketing Manager for Large Format at Canon Solutions America, talks about flatbed printers and the ability to print on different substrates and opening up the possibilities to enter the packaging market as well. He also discusses their High Flow Vacuum configuration which allows printers to enter these new markets.
Published November 8, 2017
Lawrence Chou at San Diego-based MGX Copy LLC talks about the company's recent expansion into a East Coast facility, their approach to in-house print software development, and attracting tech workers to the printing industry.
Published November 7, 2017
Cloud production doesn’t have to be complicated. A simplified definition, along with three ways to use the cloud for business, change the conversation from “why should I?” to “what’s the big deal?”
Published November 7, 2017
Christian Unterberger, CMO & EVP of Production Printing Products at Océ talks about unification of product development and what that means for Canon's continous feed and sheetfed production printing products. Unterberger hints at the development of a packaging solution.
Published November 6, 2017
Lisa Fine, President of RadTech, joins us from their first Printing & Packaging Conference in Philadelphia to talk about the great interest generated along with a brief overview of some of the content offered to attendees of the event.
Published November 2, 2017
Mark Hicks, President at Copy Express in Lexington, Kentucky, joins us from a customer open house event to talk about his production environment and their acquisition of a new RMGT 9 offset press.
Published November 2, 2017
Copy Express President Mark Hicks and Prepress operator Allen Wallace talk to us from a recent open house about how they have invested in a new system from CRON-ECRM and the impact it is having on their business.
Published November 1, 2017
Pat Foley, Senior Vice President Operations at Merrill Corporation, talks about adopting production inkjet within its operations. Merrill has had 3 phases of inkjet implementations within its operations to address customer applications, offset-to-inkjet, and toner-to-inkjet.
Published October 30, 2017
Brian Dollard, Director of Strategic Planning and Business Development, at Ricoh talks about Ricoh's strategy with the company's newly formed organization that focuses on commercial and industrial printing.
Published October 26, 2017
Two printer case studies on speeding receivables show another way that cloud business can save print shops money.
Published October 25, 2017
NextPage CEO Gina Danner talks about recruiting the next generation of works to join the industry. As the industry continues its transformation there is a need for workers beyond traditional production jobs. Danner shares her insight on staffing at her company.
Published October 24, 2017
IMS Direct a provider of critical communications has started to transition from toner to production inkjet with an investment in the Canon Océ i300 sheetfed device. Productivity and uptime is critical factor to meet customer delivery schedules.
Published October 19, 2017
Colby Kibbe a PGSF scholarship recipient and now a Project Manager at EFI talks about what drew him to the industry. Scholarship and internship programs influenced his interest and growth in the industry.
Published October 18, 2017
Ken Fultz General Manager at Bookmasters talks about how production inkjet printing is changing book production. Bookmasters has gone through three transitions offset to digital toner to production inkjet. Hear their story.
Published October 17, 2017
Dr. Erica Walker an Assistant Professor in the Department of Graphic Communications at Clemson University talks about attracting students to the industry and helping them match career goals with different training and education levels.
Published October 16, 2017
Dr. Joe Webb and Richard Romano talk about the production of a special edition of their new book The Third Wave that included interactive print elements.
Published October 12, 2017
Cloud experts Slava Apel and Joseph W. Webb, Ph.D., debunk the top 10 myths about moving to cloud-based production and business workflow.
Published October 12, 2017
Earlier this year NPES announced a strategic business plan with an ambitious new direction. WhatTheyThink spoke with Thayer Long to talk about its implementation and some the initial programs coming from the plan. These include a new data analysis platform and a partnership with the CMO Council to create a resource for brand marketers call the Brand Inspiration Center.
Published October 12, 2017
Chicago-based Darwill will be the first US company to install the Océ ProStream 1000. The company selected the ProStream to fulfill customer demand for high quality color applications on coated stock. Mark Deboer talks about how critical it is to have networking and peer education at events like thINK have helped them get up to speed on the evolving production inkjet ecosystem.
Published October 12, 2017
Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Arcis Solutions talks about single pass document security that can be added to a production print white paper factory.
Published October 12, 2017
Wes Clayton at Lindenmeyr Munroe talks about paper for production inkjet and how inkjet device advancements are increasingly producing high quality output on both coated and uncoated stocks.
Published October 11, 2017
Ford Bowers, President of SGIA, talks to WhatTheyThink about the announcement that they'll retire the SGIA Expo brand after 2018 and launch a new show called Print United in 2019 in cooperation with NAPCO.
Published October 10, 2017
During the Océ ProStream US launch and thINK forum kickoff, Francis McMahon Senior Vice President at Canon Solutions America, shared recent management changes and the company’s product and market strategy. In 2018 the company will launch its B2+ production inkjet system as it continues to bring systems to market for the commercial printing segment of the industry.
Published October 5, 2017
WhatTheyThink spoke with Phil Riebel, President of Two Sides North America, about recent initiatives at the print advocacy organization. These include advertising outreach in consumer media and a recently completed survey of over 10,700 consumers on media preferences. The results reveal a strong preference for print when it comes to recreational reading with 72% of global respondents indicating they prefer printed books, compared to only 9% preferring e-books.
Published October 3, 2017
EFI's Nick Benkovich at talks about "The Journal of the Job" a narrative that explores the connected events and systems involved in print production.
Published October 2, 2017
WhatTheyThink spoke with Rob Daleman, VP Corporate Marketing at Quadient about the company's strategy and product portfolio after the integration of GMC Software, Human Inference and Satori Software is announced at the beginning of September.
Published September 26, 2017
The Printing Industries Alliance has launched a new initiative that aims to increase the market share of print. WhatTheyThink talked to Tim Freeman, president of the Printing Industries Alliance, and Marty Maloney, Executive Director of the Print Drives America Foundation about the goals of this initiative and how this effort is different from previous advocacy efforts.
Published September 25, 2017
Frank Romano talks to Dr. Joe Webb and Slava Apel about their new book on using the cloud in your print business.
Published September 21, 2017
The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) has launched a new campaign that includes a poster and brochures that show students various career paths in graphic communications. Dr. Joe Webb talks with John Berthelsen, VP of Development about the campaign. Watch to learn more about how you can get involved.
Published September 18, 2017
WhatTheyThink sat down with NPES President Thayer Long at the end of Print 17 to talk about what worked with the changes to the Print show and the evolution of graphic communication trade shows in the US.
Published September 13, 2017
RMGT is running its 9 Series perfecting press live at PRINT 17. Chris Manley, President of Graphco, talks about bringing heavy iron to the show and recent customer placements.
Published September 12, 2017
Bob Barbera, Senior Manager Marketing at Canon USA, talks about the latest release of its PRISMAsync Color Print Server. The debut PRISMAsync Print Server v5.2 is at PRINT 17.
Published September 12, 2017
A time lapse of the show floor opening on day 2 of Print17 showing the buildup of people waiting to get on to the show floor and the release when the show opens at 10am.
Published September 12, 2017
Todd Zimmerman (Division President at Fujifilm) and Andrew Copley (Head of Graphic Communication at Xerox) discuss the details around the recently announced expansion of their reseller partnership.
Published September 11, 2017
Live at Print 17: Kevin Goeminne, CEO of CHILI Publish talks the latest products announcements, partnerships, and continued expansion in the US market.
Published September 11, 2017
Mal Baboyian of Canon U.S.A talks about the portfolio of products and solutions that Canon has on display at Print 17.
Published September 11, 2017
At Print 17 Canon announced the Océ VarioPrint 6000 TITAN. Jennifer Kolloczek, Senior Manager, Product Planning & Marketing; Production Solutions Division at Canon USA talks about the Océ VarioPrint 6000 TITAN and Canon toner-based digital print portfolio.
Published August 11, 2017
We are coming up on the 25th anniversary of the Xeikon roll-fed digital color printer. Frank shows some of the classic work done by this venerable machine, which is still helping printers worldwide to make money.
Published July 25, 2017
Ed Zumbiel shares his thoughts on Zumbiel Packaging's exciting new digital-flexo hybrid packaging press for folding carton production. The press includes the first installation of Kodak PROSPER 6000S production inkjet press for folding cartons production.
Published July 21, 2017
Frank opines about blank comic books going back to print, paper made from stone, and all the waste generated by online retail. These are not related, except in Frank’s warped mind.
Published June 12, 2017
Richard Romano talks to George Folockman, Diretor of Business Development at Esko, about advancements in POP display workflow and finishing.
Published June 7, 2017
Jeff Collins, National Color Solutions Manager at Konica Minolta, walks us through the G7 process. 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.
Published April 14, 2017
Frank uses a book authored by RIT student Akshat Pardiwala to demonstrate that the cover often makes the book. He shows two versions to make his case.
Published April 10, 2017
Steve Zweber, the Director of Manufacturing & Distribution Services at Thomson Reuters Core Publishing Solutions, talks about the company's diverse bindery operation and how its focus on continuous improvement has made much of its equipment short-run capable. That being said, the company is adding a new piece of equipment that can equally handle web offset and digital output. Hear the full story.
Published March 27, 2017
Martin Bailey, CTO of Global Graphics, shares information the initiatives the company has underway to better support manufacturers of inkjet presses during the development process, as well as the company's role in conducting interoperability events around the launch of PDF 2.0 to ease its entry into the market.
Published March 27, 2017
Guy Gecht, EFI's CEO, discusses the state of the inkjet business, from signs and displays to packaging, building materials and textiles. He outlines the opportunities for printing businesses these emerging applications present. He points out that inkjet printers are opening the door to a plethora of specialty applications that can fuel business growth.
Published March 14, 2017
One constant amidst the turmoil and transformation of Kodak in recent years has been the company’s intense focus on R&D for its flexographic printing technologies. To hear Chris Payne tell it, concentrating on flexo has yielded some of Kodak’s biggest strategic dividends in the aftermath of its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013.
Published March 1, 2017
At Hunkeler Innovationdays, HP announced the HP Pagewide T235HD, positioned as a more entry level device as compared to the Pagewide T240HD. General Manager of the HP Pagewide Industrial Division explains the difference and the strategy behind the product.
Published February 27, 2017
Lou Prestia, Senior Product Line Manager at EFI, talks about the role a digital RIP plays in streamlining workflow for a hybrid offset/digital production platform. He describes the ideal hybrid workflow, recommending that the file be prepared for offset, using the digital RIP to convert the offset file to digital as needed. Get the full story.
Published February 22, 2017
Randy Vadagriff, VP of R&D for Enterprise Inkjet at Kodak, gives us an overview of the Kodak booth at Hunkeler Innovation Days. Featured are the Prosper S-Series Imprinting System, the Prosper 6000C Full Color Press, as well as Ultrastream technology unveiled at drupa.
Published February 21, 2017
Ricoh's Mike Herold, Eric Staples, Nick Fiore, and John Blyth take us on a tour of the Ricoh booth at Hunkeler Innovation Days. They discuss the VC60000, Pro C9110, and software solutions.
Published February 1, 2017
Fred Van Alstyne, COO at Content Critical Solutions in New Jersey, serving the insurance, financial services and government markets, The company has been up and running with production inkjet since January 2014. "It was the best decision we ever made," he says.
Published January 10, 2017
Tim Baechle, Director of Global Print Media Markets and Technologies at Idealliance, joins Senior Editor Cary Sherburne to discuss how Printing Industries of America and Idealliance collaborate for the benefit of the industry. He also discusses the DNA and mission of Idealliance as it pursues its global objectives. He also outlines a new program call Brand Q on which the two organizations are collaborating.
Published October 11, 2016
Over 450 people are attending the thINK inkjet conference this week in Boca Raton, Florida. Dave Johannes, Senior Vice President, Operations at IWCO Direct and Eric Hawkinson, Senior Director of Marketing at Canon Solutions America talk about how the conference is structured to focus on peer-based education.
Published September 30, 2016
At Graph Expo we had a scheduling error. The result was so bad and so hilarious that we had to share it. We'll probably regret publishing this video later.
Published September 21, 2016
David Zwang, Chairman of the Ghent Workgroup, talks about the role of PDF in packaging as it moves digital. The organization has developed a specification on its way to becoming an ISO standard that includes not only the file components but a standardized way to communicate embellishments and other aspects of packaging production to enable increased automation.
Published September 19, 2016
Josh Hope, Senior Manager, Industrial Printing, for Mimaki USA talks "live" from the SIA show floor about the company's current equipment portfolio of flatbed UV and dye-sub textile printers.
Published May 26, 2016
If a verbal broadside is what it will take to get the attention of a complacent printing industry, then a verbal broadside is what Warren Werbitt is prepared to deliver. Here, he asks why the industry doesn't do more to keep itself from being devalued by people who ought to be saluting printers for bringing "life to the world." He also wants to see more young people taking part both at the company level and at industry conferences and trade shows.
Published May 17, 2016
David Schawk (SKG Global) argues that because consumers are exposed to so many other influences, the pursuit of perfection in the look of packaging is no longer enough. Brand owners and packaging producers must learn to think of packages as “digital portals to non-linear consumer experiences.” He gives an example.
Published May 4, 2016
Nick Bruno, President of Harris & Bruno, shares some last-minute advice about attending drupa 2016, the premier printing show in the world. Planning to go? Don't forget to spend time with digital finishing solutions where lots of advances will be shown.
Published April 28, 2016
Chris Harrold, Vice President and Creative Director at Mohawk, talks about Mohawk's support for digital-friendly fine papers over the last 17 years and its recently expanded non-paper portfolio for wide format inkjet. He also explains the role of Mohawk's Print Innovation Center and gives examples of beautiful print that reflect the re-emergence of the importance of print.
Published April 26, 2016
Mike Duggal, CEO of Duggal Visual Solutions in New York, and Conference Chair for Dscoop 11, talks with Senior Editor Cary Sherburne about the Dscoop experience and what makes it different from other organizations. He shares a very personal experience as an example.
Published April 21, 2016
Adi Chinai, Managing Director at King Printing, talks about the massive paradigm shift that has occurred in book printing. He states that in the last 10 years, there has been more change than in the previous 30 years with the advent of production inkjet and the software driving it, to a near-lights-out model
Published April 18, 2016
Guy Gecht, EFI's CEO, talks about the importance of drupa 2016 for graphic arts professionals. He points out that for many trade shows, it is about what we have now, but drupa is about where the market is going. See all the vendors in one location, each with a different view of where the industry is going.
Published April 14, 2016
HP's David Murphy, Director of Marketing, PageWide Web Press talks to Cary Sherburne about Jetcomm 2 taking place this week in San Antonio, TX. Jetcomm is the user community of HP PageWide Web Presses. The community comes together once a year to share ideas, hear from experts on emerging trends, and network with their peers.
Published April 14, 2016
This week's recommended reading and articles of interest to media and printing executives.
Published April 7, 2016
Richard Romano talks to SGIA’s Marci Kinter about the latest trends in sustainability, its growing importance, and how the print community can help brand owners meet their sustainability goals.
Published April 6, 2016
Jim Hamilton, Group Director at InfoTrends, talks with Senior Editor Cary Sherburne about what to expect at drupa 2016 and the importance of North American printers making the trip. "It's the experience of a lifetime," he says.
Published April 1, 2016
Most of the time our interviewers, interview subjects, and videographers get it right. There are occasions, however, when things don't go quite as planned. Here's a look at the past year along with some of our favorite funny animations!
Published March 30, 2016
Richard Romano talks to Mark Geeves of Color Logic and Touch 7 about how “one mouse click can change your life.”
Published March 29, 2016
"Orchestrating" media means bringing the right channels together in successful marketing campaigns. John Puterbaugh, Ph.D., managing partner and chief digital officer of the BlueSoho division of QuadGraphics, explains how print enriches the mix by generating interest and engagement.
Published March 28, 2016
At PRIMEX East 2016, Ken Garner and David Steinhardt talked about how the printing trade association Epicomm, under Garner's direction, came to a mutually beneficial merger with IDEAlliance, of which Steinhardt is CEO.
Published March 23, 2016
Richard Romano talks to Don Brown, owner of Graphic Vision, on the company’s transition from commercial printing into wide-format printing.
Published March 21, 2016
Richard Romano talks to Wes Shinn, Co-owner of PVS In-Store Graphics, on the wide range of specialty printing projects his company tackles, as well as and how PVS works with customers to produce highly unusual and unique applications.
Published March 14, 2016
Richard Romano talks to Ricoh VP John Fulena about Ricoh’s wide-format equipment and current trends in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) printing market.
Published March 10, 2016
School Datebooks serves 12,000 schools in 14 countries. Jeff Bapst, VP of Production, is getting great results with production inkjet for its academic planners, introducing more color and reducing the amount of offset printing required.
Published March 9, 2016
Richard Romano talks to Steven Moreno, CEO of My Prints, on the company’s emphasis on apparel and costume printing, and the advantages and challenges of digital dye-sublimation textile printing.
Published March 7, 2016
Lawrence Chou, CEO of MGX Copy, an online commercial printer with 100% digital printing, talks about his "dim the lights" operation, rather than lights-out, and their focus on the customer experience. The company recently added 4 Ricoh PRO C9110 digital presses to its production platform and has aggressive future expansion plans.
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