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 401-500 of 4651 articles
Published March 31, 2022
Most salespeople agree that advance prep for important prospect meetings is a precursor for successful call outcomes. However, based on my observations from working with hundreds of salespeople over the years, many continue to just "wing it." Sales call after sales call, they leave the entire outcome to chance.
Published March 31, 2022
HP Indigo delivered strong performance in 2021, and the team headed out to Colorado for DSCOOP 2022 armed with enthusiasm and lots of news. In this sponsored interview created from written answers provided by HP Indigo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, HP Indigo and Industrial Go To Market, Haim Levit, shares an update and a look ahead.
Published March 28, 2022
Chuck Lobaugh, a FASTSIGNS franchise owner from Hilton Head Island, S.C., talks to WhatTheyThink's Kelley Holmes about his long history in the printing industry, why he became a co-branded FASTSIGNS location, and the advantages it gives him as a small business owner in challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published March 25, 2022
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 24,534 employees in NAICS 541850 (Outdoor Advertising). This NAICS actually grew post-Great Recession, with a slight decline mid-decade before climbing back up to 27,620 establishments in 2017. 2018 and 2019 saw a drop in employees. In macro news: AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) indicates that demand for design services continues to grow, boding well for commercial real estate construction and thus signage projects.
Published March 25, 2022
RIP Stephen Wilhite, father of the GIF. A recyclable, reusable, lidless, strawless beverage cup. Stunning ballpoint pen art. A special deal on USB graphene heated vests. A map showing the latest sunrise times if DST were made permanent. How to fold plastic shopping bags for easy storage. A two-piece engagement/wedding ring that is assembled during the wedding. The longest-burning lightbulb is in Livermore, Calif. Bones are more complex than we thought. A portable, rollable AI-driven chessboard, and a set of playing cards than can turn into a chess board. A glowing ceramic tardigrade night light. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published March 24, 2022
Kelley Holmes interviews Kevin Lee of Pineapple Payments at the NPSOA Owners Conference in San Antonio, Tex. Pineapple Payments is a payment technology company that provides print owners with a simple and secure payment processing system to collect their accounts receivables via credit card payments.
Published March 24, 2022
At Dscoop, Frank Arostegui, Executive Vice President of American Litho, talks about how the company first went digital in 2017 with an HP 12000. They are now at capacity and are considering a second one. They also acquired a PageWide T240, were able to migrate a lot of work over to it, and 12 months later bought a T250. Both are now at capacity.
Published March 21, 2022
Jeff Searson & Dan Niblo, Founders of Packaging Lab, talk about how they are only company that offers flexible packaging in as fast as 24 hours with no minimum quantity. The company relies on automation and HP Indigo digital printing. They went into this year’s Dscoop with specific needs, which were met.
Published March 18, 2022
January 2022 shipments came in at $6.64 billion, down from December’s $7.09 billion. We’re starting the year better than we did 2021 and reverting back to our normal seasonality trends.
Published March 18, 2022
Remember Letraset? There is now an online store dedicated to dry transfer type. Bullish forecasts for digital textile printing. The history of corrugated cardboard. Stephen Colbert’s NFT heist movie trailer. 3D-printed living pods made from graphene-infused cement. Now-classic 20th-century novels weren’t always well-received when first published. Netflix’s new passive-aggressive crackdown on password sharing. A unique approach to portable electric outlets. Construction options that benefit local pollinators. Yukiko Morita’s handmade Bread Lamps are real bread with LEDs inside. Mike Tyson’s new bitten-ear-shaped cannabis edibles. A human slinky! All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published March 17, 2022
Tom Ling, Founder and Owner of Anaheim, Calif.’s Advantage Color Graphics, attends his sixth Dscoop and talks about the value he gets from collaborating with his peers, and learning what others have been exploring—in this year’s case, flexible packaging.
Published March 17, 2022
Tom O’Brien President of Greenville, N.C.’s Acculink and Accuflex Packaging, talks about his history in the industry. He founded Acculink in 1980 and had always been in the digital cut-sheet space. Currently, a strong focus of the company is on e-commerce fulfillment for popular photogift/photocard brands, printing customer photos on items like mugs, neckties, mousepads, and cards.
Published March 15, 2022
Matt Chapman, Vice President of Smartpress, an online printing business founded in 2009 and based outside Minneapolis, talks about the benefits of attending last week’s Dscoop.
Published March 15, 2022
Joe Avery, Owner of Point B Solutions, talks about some new initiatives his company is pursuing following the recent acquisition of another company, such as expanding into packaging. Point B Solutions also produces a lot of highly variable direct mail for food clients.
Published March 14, 2022
Chuck Werninger is a well-known name in in-plant circles as a successful in-plant professional and evangelist for print. We had the opportunity to speak with him on a wide range of topics regarding in-plant operations, how he has been able to drive change within the Houston Independent School District, and on the value of print in general.
Published March 11, 2022
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 70,507 employees in NAICS 33995 (Sign Manufacturing). This NAICS category tumbled in the wake of the Great Recession, ultimately climbing to 76,944 employees in 2019. In macro news: Inflation continues to continue to climb.
Published March 11, 2022
The wreck of the “Endurance” was found—as was footage of it actually going down. The magazine cover as a contrary indicator. The Gender Pay Gap Bot called out hypocritical companies on IWD. Why do bottles have indented bottoms? And why did bottles used to have rounded bottoms? An excellent webinar on graphene in textiles. Hooking synthesizers to plants, for some reason. Seattle is being sued by fish. A “smart mirror” that actually sounds kind of cool. A box of human heads was stolen from a truck in Denver. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly salvaged miscellany.
Published March 10, 2022
Joel Miller, Owner of FASTSIGNS of Manchester, CT & FASTSIGNS Newington, CT, talks about his two businesses, their history, and the benefit of being a franchisee of FASTSIGNS. Joel also shares details of an interesting project for a smoothie shop that leveraged financing for his customer through FASTSIGNS enabling them to spend more on the project and achieve better results.
Published March 9, 2022
Lucy Swann has been designing beautiful surface patterns for the fashion industry for many years and has an extensive knowledge of the sector, particularly children’s wear. She is living the dream and doing what she loves. Having recently diversified to launch her own scarf collection, here she shares her inspiring creative journey and what the future holds.
Published March 9, 2022
I’m calling out some nonsense, and what better place to start than the internet? It is home of social media, which is unequalled for nonsense.
Published March 9, 2022
Augmented reality has hit a milestone. It is no longer a niche technology used primarily for entertainment and brand-building. Thanks to simple games on fast food packaging or the ability to take selfies with virtual celebrities and share them on social media, it has evolved into a true revenue-generating tool. For printers looking for opportunities to build new revenue streams, AR has arrived.
Published March 9, 2022
The winner of this year’s FASTSIGNS/Wide Format & Signage Project of the Year is FASTSIGNS York (Pa.), whose major rebranding of the Shippensburg University football team’s training facility caught the judges’ eyes.
Published March 9, 2022
Entering a location, maybe a book shop, and having the book you want printed and bound within a few minutes -- this is the promise of Gutenberg One.
Published March 9, 2022
The U.S. January jobs report was surprisingly strong, adding 467,000 positions. In addition to the "Great Resignation" phenomenon, it was expected that jobs numbers would be more in the 150,000 range. In addition, average wages rose 5.7%. This has led some pundits describing the trend as "The Great Upgrade" – many employees leaving existing jobs not to stay home, but rather, to find jobs with higher pay and a better work/life balance. But the job growth is not equal across all industry segments. And many in the textiles and apparel industry still struggle to find enough workers. There is a lack of skilled workers in North America due to the outsourcing to Asia and other parts of the world that began in the 1970s.
Published March 9, 2022
It's all about quality, not quantity, when it comes to human resources.
Published March 9, 2022
Finding signage opportunities in academic applications.
Published March 9, 2022
If you’ve been paying attention at all, self-service is a critical trend in almost every industry. We are doing things for ourselves that our parents would never have dreamed of. Complex financial transactions, complex real estate dealings, and complex ordering of expensive and custom manufactured items - all online, all in a self-service fashion. It's starting to look like we might only interact with software to procure just about anything.
Published March 9, 2022
Digging into the results of our "Business Outlook Survey" for the our annual "Printing Outlook 2022" report, they showed an industry that has largely recovered from 2020, but faces some new challenges and some older challenges now writ large. We’re not exactly back to normal, but we’re closer than we thought possible in a long time.
Published March 9, 2022
Founded by Yankees Hall-of-Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera, the Mariano Rivera Foundation provides youth in under-served communities with one-to-one mentorship, vocational training, college preparedness and STEM learning. Its flagship training program, "Print, Design, and Packaging Development," is run out of a church property in Gainesville, Fla.
Published March 9, 2022
For the most part, print and packaging service providers today are busy again. In fact, some of those I have spoken with say they are too busy. Is that a thing? However, they all to seem to have the same two problems; available paper and available personnel. These problems were already gaining some visibility under the surface pre-pandemic, but became severe and more obvious post-pandemic.
Published March 8, 2022
Kevin Hebert, FASTSIGNS Franchise Owner from St. Charles Parish, La., speaks with WhatTheyThink VP Kelley Holmes at the FASTSIGNS Annual Convention about what it means to be a part of the FASTSIGNS network.
Published March 4, 2022
In January 2022, all printing employment was down -2.6% from December, with production employment down -4.1%. Non-production printing employment offset that a bit by being up a modest +0.9%.
Published March 4, 2022
An animated history of the English language. What would Wordle have looked like in the 1980s? Why do new books smell different than old books? The myths and realities of books bound in human skin. The typeface used on German license plates was designed to thwart forgery. Fast-fashion knitwear faces a knockoff problem. Graphene guest stars on an episode of NCIS. VR boots that simulate walking. A drummer with an AI-enabled bionic arm. Heavens-Above tracks the satellites currently orbiting over your location. The origin of the potato chip. When in Salem, Mass., visit the museum dedicated to Ouija Boards. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published March 2, 2022
Clint Ehlers, franchise owner from Willow Grove, Pa., discusses how he became a FASTSIGNS franchise and the research he conducted for the decision to start this business. Clint also discusses being elected to the International Franchise Association board.
Published February 25, 2022
The emerging field of “liquid electronics”—and graphene is there! Redesigning corporate logos with a Medieval theme. The Great ReShuffling: meet the new buzzword, same as the old buzzword. An actual, physical object will be the most expensive photograph, bizarrely. Google introduces Roboto Serif. Self-adjusting water-based eyeglasses—in low- and high-tech versions. Coca-Cola’s tepid approach to its refillable bottle program. Beam a 3D hologram of yourself with PORTL. An update on robot restaurant servers. Also: the first robot hotel. A boat full of luxury cars bursts into flames. A robot fish powered by heart cells. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published February 25, 2022
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 2,378 establishments in NAICS 541850 (Outdoor Advertising). This NAICS actually grew post-Great Recession, with a slight decline mid-decade before climbing back up to 2,765 establishments in 2018. 2019 saw a massive drop in establishments. In macro news: Q4 2021 GDP revised up to 7.0%.
Published February 25, 2022
Richard Helmey, a co-branded FASTSIGNS Owner from Houston, Tex., talks about being a member of WhatTheyThink and how he got started as a FASTSIGNS co-brand location. Richard also talks about some of the applications his business has worked on.
Published February 18, 2022
What happens to all the T-shirts printed for the team that lost the Super Bowl? A more recyclable approach to beverage containers. Using LEGO for letterpress printing. Samsung is partnering with Patagonia to address the problem of microplastics produced by washing clothes. Test your skills at color matching. Certain types of solvent inks are now regulated as controlled substances by the UK. Graphene-based inks can help with low-power hot water heaters. Carvana’s auto-buying robot buys a seven-year-old car for more than the owner had paid for it. Hardware-as-luxury-jewelry is apparently a thing. A new perfume smells like french fries. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published February 18, 2022
As 2021 drew to a close, December printing shipments came in at $7.00 billion, down from $7.10 billion in November, keeping with the usual seasonality of a slow December. For 2021 overall, we came in at $82.87 billion for the year, just below 2020’s $83.73 billion.
Published February 17, 2022
Employ a functional graphic approach for positive way-finding user experiences, top designers advise.
Published February 17, 2022
Core Publishing Solutions offers publishers the convenience of seamlessly switching titles between offset and digital runs, and has installed two sheetfed inkjet presses and three wide-format web-fed inkjet presses, having nearly four billion pages on its digital presses.
Published February 11, 2022
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 5,824 establishments in NAICS 33995 (Sign Manufacturing). This NAICS category tumbled in the wake of the Great Recession, ultimately climbing back up to 5,865 establishments in 2019. In macro news: Inflation continues to climb.
Published February 11, 2022
A “paper engineer” creates printed, pop-up versions of classic memes. More Wordle variants. Better than the DaVinci: the Dickens Code. Privatizing specific hexadecimal colors for NFTs (or something dubious like that). Graphene-based rubber. An award-winning non-electric toaster. Why are tomatoes red? The suspense is over: Minnesota has eight new snowplow names. Spit-take warning: “Pillow fighting could be the next great combat sport.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published February 11, 2022
Kelley Holmes talks with Catherine Monson, CEO of Propelled Brands, at the FASTSIGNS Convention, which opened this week in Grapevine, Tex. FASTSIGNS' parent company Propelled Brands has been putting together a family of business-to-business and service-oriented franchisors with the recent acquisitions of NerdsToGo My Salon Suite. The jewel in the crown is FASTSIGNS, which had a banner year in 2021, expanding to 761 locations in eight countries.
Published February 4, 2022
Shipments have been slowly climbing back from the pandemic recession of 2020, but profits have been on a sharp upturn. However there still remains a bit of a profitability gap between the two major asset class distinctions.
Published February 4, 2022
All about Groundhog Day. Tetrachromats have an extra photoreceptor that lets them see 100 times as many colors as the rest of us. 7-Eleven is testing touchless “floating holographic displays” for self-checkout. A mistranslated sign inadvertently advertises free alcohol. A gigantic, 60-socket power bank could fully charge 5,000 smartphones with 3,000-mAh batteries. A gallery of “automated furniture.” Enhancing the energy storage capacity of graphene supercapacitors used in solar heating. A search engine that finds full-text public-domain books. Why would anyone program a self-driving car to ignore stop signs? A chainmail cocktail dress made from pennies. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly wintry miscellany.
Published February 4, 2022
Color management continues to be a hot topic in commercial print, packaging and display graphics. But what about textiles?
Published February 4, 2022
Alon Bar-Shany has been on the front line of this transformation for over 25 years at HP, rising to general manager of HP Indigo, one of the leaders in the transformation to digital printing. Since leaving HP, he has continued his journey in industry transformations, most recently as the Chairman of Highcon, Executive Chairman of Redefine Meat Ltd. and Chairman and CEO of Twine Solutions.
Published February 4, 2022
We have all read about or seen lots of Sci Fi stories in our lifetime. While they are fascinating and capture the imagination, they have always seemed somewhat detached from our day-to-day lives.
Published February 4, 2022
Automation is about finding those recurring patterns and then taking them out of the hands of humans and into the realm of software, so that repetitive tasks can be done programmatically.
Published February 4, 2022
Published February 4, 2022
Ceramics tile decoration has become a crucial application for industrial inkjet. A brief retrospective on the market can set the stage for the technology advances that enabled the success in ceramics, particularly with respect to the importance of nozzle-based recirculation in print heads.
Published February 4, 2022
How to use observational platforms to keep your business running smoothly.
Published February 4, 2022
It took some time, but automation is gradually creeping into wide-format printing, especially on the flatbed side. Many wide-format printers pride themselves on producing bespoke projects and specialty “one of a kind” applications. And, after all, haven’t us industry pundits and analysts—and vendors—been pushing this kind of approach?
Published February 4, 2022
Talent and culture have not been given the deep attention that strategy and capital have historically had. The printing industry is no exception. However, competition grows stiffer with the passage of time. Rapidly changing technology has created a transparent world where any sort of advantage rapidly deteriorates.
Published February 4, 2022
Published February 4, 2022
Print customers are increasingly requesting and specifying greener materials, helping their supply chains become more sustainable. Large-format printing is no exception; and the industry has responded by providing machines that use less electricity, processes that use less water, curing that utilizes less heating, while also focusing on developing newer, greener substrates and materials.
Published February 3, 2022
Scott Schinlever, COO of EFI’s Global Inkjet Business provides an update on the EFI inkjet business, encompassing such disparate markets as wide format, textiles, corrugated, and ceramic printing.
Published January 28, 2022
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 16,147 employees in 322299 (All Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category bounced up and down over the course of the 2010s, ending with 15,177 employees in 2019. In macro news: Yesterday was Q4 GDP Day!
Published January 28, 2022
Graphene-Info updates all its graphene market reports. Saddam Hussein’s “Blood Qur’an.” The SATs to go all-digital in 2024. Sweary and lewd versions of Wordle. Due your research before naming bedroom furniture products. Where did the “three notes of suspense” originate? A new book looks at Haruki Murakami’s T-shirt collection. Here we go: “wearables for cows.” A teen hacker gained remote access to Teslas around the world. Inside the Beijing Olympic Village cafeteria. Sneakers designed like old VHS tapes. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published January 21, 2022
November 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.99 billion, down from $7.29 billion in October, and the first month that shipments dropped since early summer. Year to date, January-to-November shipments are $75.56 billion, only a bit off 2020’s January-to-November number of $76.36. If we have a really good December, 2021 could come in slightly above 2020.
Published January 21, 2022
Graphene-based anti-corrosion primer applied in the UK. Reverse-engineering Wordle. Las Vegas’s Neon Boneyard is a sign-based history of the city. What technology will invade our lives in 2022? Useful robots are simply self-driving shelves. A periodic table of haiku. What happened to Atari? Mechanical versions of classic paintings make art interactive. A useful feature of Starlink’s satellite dishes has an unforeseen consequence. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s New Year’s miscellany.
Published January 14, 2022
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 19,221 employees in NAICS 322291 (Sanitary Paper Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category bounced up and down over the course of the 2010s, ending with 19,593 employees in 2019. In macro news: CPI increased 0.5% in December.
Published January 14, 2022
A graphene-based toaster. A BMW covered with E Ink panels can change color at the push of a button. A “smart retainer” for tongue-based text messaging. Alexa-based smart dumbbells can adjust weights via voice command. “The Spine Collector” scams book editors for manuscript copies of forthcoming books, for seemingly no reason whatsoever. QR code-based parking meter scams. An electronic mask can detect leaks. A liquid based bubble clock. How did people clear roads before the snowplow? Walmart’s special “Pain Box” DVD edition of “Dune.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s Wordle-winning miscellany.
Published January 7, 2022
We are sifting through the preliminary data from our 2021 Print Outlook Survey, and so far we have found that 17% of print businesses reported that revenues in 2021 increased more than 25% over 2020, and a further one-third (32%) saw revenues up 10–25%. But our survey is still open, so here is your chance to wreck this chart.
Published January 7, 2022
Winnie the Pooh is ours now! The best book covers of 2021. What was the best book of the past 125 years? A history of the graphical user interface. All the latest textile-based graphene developments. Samsung’s new TV remote can harvest energy from your router’s radio waves. Sony’s new Bravia Cam allows you to control your TV via gestures. A lickable TV screen to sample televised tastes. McDonald’s in China is installing exercise bikes. A display, app, and platform for displaying digital facial expressions on masks. Fish can now drive cars. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s New Year’s miscellany.
Published December 17, 2021
October 2021 printing shipments came in at $7.23 billion, up from September’s $6.99 billion. This is the third month in a row in which shipments increased. Year to date, January-to-October shipments are $68.21 billion, a bit off 2020’s January-to-October number of $69.03. Unless November and December are higher than expected, 2021 will come in slightly below 2020.
Published December 17, 2021
Mary, Queen of Scots: champion paper folder. “Coffee spill art.” Redesigning the binder clip. The smartest toaster was invented in 1949. An Internet-enabled cutting system for printers. A monocle/eyewear system for display graphics. Is it really better to invest in Lego’s than gold? The future of the swag bag? Birds aren’t real! Taping Canada’s strategic maple syrup reserves. The future of work from home? Miller High Life’s gingerbread dive bar. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published December 10, 2021
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 35,368 employees in NAICS 32229 (Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category bounced up and down over the course of the 2010s, ending with 34,770 employees in 2019. In macro news: Beige Alert!
Published December 10, 2021
Meet Polly Verity: paper sculptor. Printing playable, paper-based pianos. An exhibition of artistic toilet paper holders. New technology can detect and warn of bacterial contamination from inside a milk container. Introducing the Journal of Universal Rejection. Graphene-based batteries headed for the EV market. Attempting to use an artificial arm to fake vaccination. William Bullock, the ill-fated inventor of the web rotary press. The FBI suspected the inventor of the Tickle Me Elmo doll of being the Unabomber. How to prove the safety of the Brooklyn Bridge? A terrifying nutcracker powered by an explosive piston. “Terry’s Chocolate Orange Mayonnaise,” for some reason. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published December 3, 2021
In October 2021, all printing employment was up +1.0% from September, with production employment up +0.9%, and non-production printing employment up +1.2%.
Published December 3, 2021
Hempitecture manufactures hemp-based insulation and other construction materials. NFTs jump the latest of many sharks. Graphene helps fill in potholes. A brief history of the Advent calendar. Is the apostrophe on the way out? A chair made of interleaved sheets of paper and held together by friction. The first-ever recipient of a 3D-printed prosthetic eyeball. Robot artist Ai-Da tries her hand at poetry. A rolling piano barbecue that grills food while the keys are struck. The “social distancing zapper.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published November 19, 2021
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 24,349 employees in NAICS 32223 (Stationery Product Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category declined slowly over the rest of the decade, ending with 15,678 employees in 2019. Also: following up a BoSacks tweet about newspaper circulation.
Published November 19, 2021
Newsletters continue to thrive. Making ink from human hair. The “DogPhone,” for some reason. “MySpace nostalgia,” also for some reason. Integrating a Furby into a modular synthesizer. Robot bartenders streamline drink-making. A graphene-based battery charger accelerates charging speed. 3-D weaving can produce one-off pants in 10 minutes. The Human Library aims to promote more empathetic human relations. This week’s animal plagues had a 2020 feel to them. A bread plushie.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s plague-ridden weekly miscellany.
Published November 12, 2021
September 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.93 billion, up from August’s $6.87 billion. It’s not a massive increase, but we’ll take it. Year to date, January-to-September shipments are $60.48 billion, a bit off 2020’s January-to-September number of $60.97. Can we close the gap in Q4?
Published November 12, 2021
Robotic textiles that can help you breathe better. Fast fashion’s major manufacturing hubs may soon be under water. A robot painter sows the seeds of marital discord. A clock that displays the time using quotes from books. What will the smartphone of the future look like? The world’s first active heating fabric—thanks to graphene! An Indiana town is luring workers by offering free grandparents. Zillow shuts down doomed AI-based real estate valuation business. A “handheld toothpaste manipulation device” that will put toothpaste back in the tube, for some reason. Photoshopping Paddington Bear into every movie. The origin of the phrase “dead as a doornail.” The labor shortage is now getting real: there is a shortage of Santa Clauses. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published November 5, 2021
A writer, musician, and AI collaborate on a new album. Seen on Halloween: a human lava lamp. Replacing clear glass cooler doors with dynamic displays, for some reason. A recently unearthed collection of drawings shows a playful side of Franz Kafka. Good grief: are full-face sunglasses becoming a thing? The OED chooses its Word of the Year. Memo to Facebook: “Meta” is similar to the Hebrew word for “death.” MasterCard adds distinctive notches to its credit, debit, and gift cards for the visually impaired. Graphene integrated into trail running shoes. Ai-Da, an “artist robot” detailed in Egypt on suspicion of espionage. Air Vodka: “the world’s most sustainable spirit.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published November 5, 2021
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 50,879 employees in NAICS 32222 (Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing establishments). This NAICS category peaked two years later at 54,175, declined slowly over the rest of the decade before shooting back up to 51,811 employees in 2019. In macro news, Q3 GDP growth is up 2.0%.
Published October 29, 2021
The latest supply chain victim: blue paint. Adobe Photoshop to add “Prepare as NFT” option. 3D printing system maker Stratasys partners with Prince’s Paisley Park. Making denim production more sustainable. Amazon is now a bigger shipper than FedEx. You can now get nasty emails from your refrigerator. Graphene + gold = smart windows. Interesting facts about “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” A lost hiker ignores calls from rescuers. A long lost musical album from The Munsters. Hot dog-flavored candy canes. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published October 29, 2021
In September 2021, all printing employment was up +0.8% from August, production employment up +1.1%, and non-production printing employment up +0.3%.
Published October 22, 2021
According to County Business Patterns, in 2019, there were 18,741 employees in NAICS 322219 (Other Paperboard Container Manufacturing establishments), a drop from 21,954 employees a year earlier, and the lowest ebb for this NAICS category. In macro news, new business formation goes “bezonkers.”
Published October 22, 2021
Fun facts about the word “orange.” A 1909 patent for a font that can be read either from left to right or right to left. How typeface choice can impact learning and comprehension. Public radio may help save newspapers. Graphene’s uses in dental applications. Meet the Flingbot and its approach to abstract art. What’s behind The Great Resignation? An approach to removing ocean plastic that just might work. A traffic camera confuses a T-shirt with a license plate. Fisher Price’s classic Chatter Telephone can now make real calls, terrifyingly. A new book celebrates the Fillmore East. Get comfy in (or terrified by) giant tarantula pillows. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published October 20, 2021
Kelley Holmes talks to Canon USA’s Bob Barbera about Canon’s PRISMA workflow solutions, the new cloud-based PRISMAprepare Go for remote job submission, and PRISMA Home, a standard platform for users to manage all their PRISMA solutions.
Published October 19, 2021
Andy Fetherman, Vice President of Sales and Technology at Muller Martini, shares his thoughts about the importance of automation, not only in the bindery, but as an integrated workflow across the entire process. He notes some of the advances the company is making and what we should be looking forward to in the future. He also reports seeing a shift beginning from a preference for near-line finishing to the more efficient and less labor intensive in-line model.
Published October 18, 2021
Franchise Services’ David C. Rice talks to Kelley Holmes at the Sir Speedy, PIP and Signal Graphics International Vendor Show about Franchise Services’ conversion program for independent printers to become part of a franchise.
Published October 15, 2021
August 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.87 billion, up from July’s $6.47 billion. Year to date, January-to-August shipments are $53.42 billion, not far off 2020’s January-to-August number of $53.68.
Published October 15, 2021
A deluxe print edition of the story that inspired The Thing. A 14-foot long robotic pen. Waymo’s self-driving cars are flocking to a dead-end street in San Francisco—and no one knows why… A Paris restaurant replaces its chef with a robot. The Casa Grande (Ariz.) Neon Sign Park. The lack of an apostrophe in a Facebook rant gets an Australian man sued. Apps that delete words from stories leaving just the punctuation. Graphene-enhanced bed sheets. PrimaLoft improves its manufacturing technology for insulation used in garments. China’s “Grannies from Hell.” Hand-crocheted plush octopuses. “The Schnauzer Chariot of Kazakhstan.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly blasting Shatner into space miscellany.
Published October 12, 2021
In this video sponsored by Canon, learn how the image sensing unit on the Canon imagePRESS C10010VP can automate repetitive tasks, monitoring and adjusting front-to-back registration and color accuracy. The sensing unit measures 32 color patches and 8 registration marks to help maintain consistent results and minimize operator intervention.
Published October 8, 2021
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 30,048 employees in NAICS 322212 (Folding Paperboard Box Manufacturing establishments). Employment in this category stayed fairly steady throughout the decade, then spiked in 2019 to 47,980 employees. In macro news, sales of light vehicle sales plummeted in September 2021, even as profits reached record highs.
Published October 8, 2021
The latest trend in book cover design. A DIY “open source ereader.” A new subscription service for under-appreciated books. “The digital death of the collector.” Turning waste into graphene. Celebrating masks. Biohacking DNA to take over gene sequencing computers. How much would Bach make on Spotify? AI helps Beethoven finish his Tenth Symphony. A gallery of “Strava art.” An ill-advised vending machine for china. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly fat bear miscellany.
Published October 7, 2021
Kelley Holmes talks with Richard Lowe of Franchise Services Inc. (FSI) at the Franchise Services show in Las Vegas about how FSI helped support its franchisees during the pandemic.
Published October 1, 2021
In August 2021, all printing employment was up +0.4% from July, production employment up +0.4%, and non-production printing employment also up +0.4%.
Published October 1, 2021
Amazon’s new “household robot.” Raven vs. Drone. A calculator that converts normal units to wacky units, such as llama’s spits or bees. The “wonder material” poses national security issues. A 3D map of all the underwater Internet cables. A robot built to spray graffiti. “The world’s first crypto asset trading hamster.” Using AI to summarize books. Are “Zoom booths” in offices likely to be a thing? (We hope not.) How to reduce the environmental impact of your jeans. “I’m not sure Google Sheets is the best way to experience theater.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published September 30, 2021
Kelley Holmes talks to Steve Albritton of Sir Speedy Tampa at the Franchise Services Convention. Sir Speedy Tampa had come in at #36 on the 2020 WhatTheyThink | Printing News Top 100 Small Commercial Printers survey, and Steve talk about how the company managed to thrive during the pandemic year.
Published September 29, 2021
In this video sponsored by HP Indigo, Motti Silberberg's, Series 6 Cold Function Manager, shows how consumable components like the blanket, PIP, and acid drum were designed to accommodate the very high speed of the V12 press.
Published September 24, 2021
According to County Business Patterns, in 2010, there were 84,136 employees in NAICS 32221 (Corrugated and Solid Fiber Box Manufacturing establishments). Employment in this category dropped abruptly in 2012, then continued to rise over the course of the decade, peaking in 2018 at 88,399 before dropping again in 2019. In macro news, three estimates of Q3 GDP.
Published September 24, 2021
Scientists have invented a white paint that cools the surface ton which it is applied. Unlocking a mystery of graphene oxide. How to make a living, growing plant-based wig. Scientists create rechargeable light-emitting plants using nanoparticles. Nike develops easy-to-put-on sneakers for people with disabilities. Relive old memories with a gallery of classic 1980s and 90s computer book covers. AI-generated movie posters. Etsy shops now offer a variety of vaccination card holders. A surprisingly extensive list of fictional worms. The impending age of the smart toilet and your—ugh—“analprint.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Published September 21, 2021
Kelley Holmes talks with EFI’s Ron Teller at the Sir Speedy, PIP and Signal Graphics International Vendor Show about new integrations and modules for PrintSmith Vision Print Management Software.
Published September 17, 2021
July 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.45 billion, down from June’s $6.69 billion. Year to date, January-to-July shipments are $46.44 billion. At this point in 2020, year-to-date shipments were slightly higher at $46.83. The recovery is proving more challenging than the actual pandemic, it seems.
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