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During Graph Expo, I had the pleasure of meeting with Benny Landa to learn more about the progress of Landa Nanographic Printing since it took many of the headlines at drupa 2012. We also discussed other initiatives Mr. Landa has underway in Landa Labs, which has the tagline "Big Things from Small Particles." Read More
Being busy does not equate to delivering results. We are so caught up in the culture of busy we forget to reflect on why we're doing what we do and how it contributes to the results we seek. Read More
According to research conducted by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) Sales Executive Council (SEC), the Internet has changed the way that customers buy. Customers no longer want suppliers-they want business partners that can show real value by providing business problems. Read More
This week, today, to be precise, the annual SGIA Expo kicks off at the Las Vegas Convention Center and runs October 18–20. There is a tendency in pre- and post-trade show coverage to recite a litany of vendors, products, and specifications, but one of the important things to understand about the wide-format market is that it is all about applications. Read More
For the record I just flew back from San Francisco on the red-eye to meet some east coast obligations, and haven't had the time or energy to compile my notes and observations from the American Magazine Conference just concluded. So what you are about to read is free flowing stream of semi-consciousness. Read More
I think that my friend Drew Davis has an expression in his lectures that captures the essence of Angie's List printed magazine quite well, he says "that the only thing that distinguishes you in a digital world is print" Read More
Graph Expo 2012 was quite a different show than previous years, for a lot of reasons that our Senior Editor, Cary Sherburne, discusses in this article. Read More
Dr. Joe is focused on denial but not in a myopic way. That may make sense once you dig into the column. Or like a lot of his columns, it may drive you to muttering all day. CNN claims that the USPS is being bailed out by election spending. That is, if you believe a decrease is an increase. And much more… Read More
At Graph Expo 2012, WhatTheyThink livecast a speakers series live from the show floor. The WhatTheyThink.com Speaker Series, designed as a "show within a show," featured engaging discussions with industry experts, end-users and seasoned professionals moderated by the editors of WhatTheyThink.com. Read More
In the July/August Edition of the Harvard Business Review, Matthew Dixon published an article entitled The End of Solution Sales. Customers no longer need suppliers because they can find out a great deal of information on their own. This article discusses the concept of "insight selling," which involves bringing value to customers that can't be found on the Internet. Read More
Nobody else could have made as persuasive a case for an as-yet unproven technology as Benny Landa did at Graph Expo when he captivated a crowd with his vision of nanographic printing. Read More
If you listen closely, you can hear the new, quieter sound of Graph Expo. It's easier on the ears, and it makes for a much improved trade show experience. Read More
The interview component of the hiring process is often the weakest link in winning the talent war. Too frequently the interviewee is better prepared for the interview than the interviewer. One of the greatest challenges that senior executives face is to build a team of talented employees; and getting the interview component of this process right is critical. Read More
The web-to-print market is fragmented and hard to determine clear leadership or market share. EFI's acquisition of OPS consolidates the market (slightly). EFI's market share will grow, their product offering will be more comprehensive, and OPS will benefit from EFI's well developed channel partnerships. Read More
Marketers across a variety of business segments are beginning to look at QR codes as a "silent salesperson" that can bring a competitive edge. This article provides examples of this trend within the automotive, retail, and real estate markets. Read More
Scanning through industry publications that cover wide-format digital markets can be a daunting task for any company just approaching this area. The purpose of this article is to focus in on the center of the wide-format digital bulls-eye, and find out the markets and products that make up a majority of the money made using this technology. Read More
We've all seen them: Bibles, directories, prospectus documents and other publications printed on paper so thin you can almost see through it. And those pharmaceutical inserts that seem to be folded a gazillion times before they are inserted into tiny boxes. These printed products have typically been produced in long runs using conventional offset printing, bucking the trend of shorter runs with more customized content. Why? Because paper that thin simply can't be run through a digital press, especially a sheetfed digital press...until now. This white paper discusses how revolutionary technology in both web --- and sheetfed digital presses has brought lightweight papers and the applications that require them into the realm of digital printing, while at the same time opening the door to new applications and cost savings on existing applications. Read More
With this sixteenth article of the series, David begins to look at companies and their 'future' production inkjet offerings and applications. In this article he looks at companies that were offset or electrophotography (EP), but are integrating inkjet into their product lines. Read More
The Fuji J Press 720 was the only inkjet press to win an InterTech award for 2012. As with any piece of equipment the market and needs of the customer should dictate the piece of equipment. This press allows for an easy integration into the offset environment due to its hybrid nature and use of existing bindery equipment. Read More
The month of October brings a brace of major trade shows for the printing industry; October 7–10 brings Graph Expo, as it always does, to McCormick Place in Chicago, while October 18–20 brings the annual SGIA Expo to the Las Vegas Convention Center. WhatTheyThink will be on the prowl at both shows with video, actual written reports, and more. Read More
Repositioning a printing company involves making hard decisions about how the printing market is shifting to new and different media, developing the right product and services, and effectively communicating this transformation to customers and prospects. This article describes how Illinois-based Segerdahl group repositioned itself as SG360° to evolve with the market. Read More
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. Read More
After 50+ years in the printing industry, and over a thousand articles, Andy's final article looks back to where it all began and looks forward to what the future may hold. Read More
Heidelberg recently hosted a customer event at its North American Print & Packaging Technology Center in Atlanta for nearly 100 printing professionals and WhatTheyThink's Senior Editor Cary Sherburne was there. We spent an extra day with Heidelberg executives and product managers to gain more insight into what we saw at the event and at drupa as well as to discuss future strategies for Heidelberg in North America. Read more. Read More
The process of assessing people for specific jobs is one of the most important tasks within an organization. Winning the talent war can impact all aspects of your business from sales, management effectiveness, client retention as well as product/service innovation. Read More
In 1978, Gregory Muzzillo and a college friend founded Proforma because they saw an opportunity to start a business with no capital investment. Print distributors are independent agents that sell the services of printing firms. This article discusses how Proforma expanded its business and those of its customers by moving to a visionary franchise model. Read More
Given present trends, the industry could be dominated by a relative handful of firms in a few years. Some companies can grow profitably into this new landscape. Others can make a safe exit before it fully unfolds. Each outcome demands a strategy-now. Read More
Will inkjet ink prices come down? Sean Smyth of Digital Demand World, the publication for the digital print industry, looks at the current trends Read More
The Fed took a look at the economy last week and panicked. In printing industry terms, they increased their run lengths and their page counts, and there's more money printing on the way. It's not much, just $1.4 trillion. What's a few billion dollars amongst friends? Read More
Web-to-print has to become the set of tools that enable printers to be competitive on the web. This is a whole lot more than a B2B business card site. It requires us to rethink the way we shop for solutions and partners. Read More
Over the years there has been an enormous amount of discussion about how the Internet "killed" the newspaper industry. I do not believe that it is a true statement - at least the murder did not take place as a cause and effect relationship. Read More
For the majority of its 65-year history, Bridgeport National Bindery (Agawam, MA) established its name by providing bookbinding. In 2003, Bridgeport began printing to satisfy the demand for single-run production. This article outlines how BNB has evolved its services to meet customers' changing needs. Read More
In last week's feature, guest writer Dan Marx outlined five "essential truths" about wide-format printing, and in his introduction he mentioned that he's witnessed "a full-blown revolution: a complete movement away from old-school analog technology." Over the past several months, as I have spoken to equipment manufacturers and suppliers for these weekly features, as well as other analysts, one thing that always comes up is the fact that more and more traditional printing companies are expanding into wide-format printing Read More
This white paper deals with some of the most immediately beneficial strategies that leaders can pursue in increasing their opportunities to survive and thrive. We show how to make an immediate impact and how to improve your long-term business fundamentals. Read More
Dr. Joe explains last Friday's employment report, takes a look at employment in our industry, and explains why ad agency revenues are going up when everything else seems to be going down. Speaking of down, sit down before you read his comments about the latest recovery indicators. Yes, Dr. Doom seems to have infiltrated this column, again. Read More
Optimizing the performance of your sales organization can be accomplished by great strategy and superior execution but if you don't begin with the best talent available, successfully executing your strategy will be comprised. And you won't be able to identify, recruit and select the best talent if you don't have a structured, effective set of processes in place. Read More
Like many other local companies, Pel Hughes was affected by Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the company transformed itself from a traditional commercial printer into a marketing service provider. This article outlines the services that Pel Hughes offers its customers and also explores its success with "Drip Marketing" campaigns. Read More
Dan Marx, Vice President Markets & Technologies, SGIA, draws out some "essential truths"-real kernels of wisdom-that can benefit any company looking to enter wide-format or grow their existing efforts in this area. Read More
Food packaging safety is become a more prominent area in the United States. Insuring that chemicals and odors do not penetrate the package is of great importance to the end customer. Sun Chemical has designed a system of products and procedures to do this. Read More
Workflow automation has the potential to help both print providers and print buyers boost productivity and save money, and yet it is one of the most under-utilized software category today. Read More
Caslon, the management company of PODi, the digital printing initiative, recently analyzed PODi case studies in the financial services industry to determine if there are common challenges and interesting solutions for those challenges. Read More
Senior Editor Cary Sherburne recently had the opportunity to visit two X-Rite and PANTONE locations, in Grand Rapids MI and Tewksbury MA, respectively, including hands-on with X-Rite instrumentation, a tour of the manufacturing floor, discussions with software engineers, and time with the company’s CEO Tom Vacchiano. Read More
Ricoh recently made a significant investment in PTI Marketing Technologies. Barb Pellow interviewed two company executives to garner a better understanding of the implications of this transaction. Read More
In last week’s feature, we spoke about flatbed wide-format printers, and remarked that one of their big selling points was that they could print on a bewildering variety of materials—increasing the number of applications that creative shops could develop, the more niches shops could carve out for themselves, and the better they could serve their clients. Read More
The effectiveness of your recruiting, hiring and promoting strategies has a definitive impact on revenue and profit streams. In a time of industry transformation, when high performing employees are required, it is even more critical that you examine and re-engineer the processes you use to hire talented sales professionals. Read More
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