Sussex, Wis. – Color Ink, Inc. and its Printing Industries of America Affiliate partners recently hosted a one-of-a-kind digital boot camp on June 2-5, 2019 at the Color Ink facility in Sussex, WI. Nineteen individuals from print facilities from across the country participated in the event with attendees rating their overall experience a five out of five.

Tearing a page from the success Color Ink has experienced with digital production print over the past decade, the event showcased a variety of digital printing and finishing platforms in a “real world” production environment. The boot camp helped industry professionals understand digital production print, make choices on purchasing equipment, implement it in their facility and sell it in the marketplace.

Some of the most progressive vendors and suppliers in the digital print market sponsored and actively participated in the event. This included FujiFilm, Komori America, North American Plastics, Zund USA, GPA Specialty Substrate Solutions, Konica Minolta Business Solutions/MGI, Agfa, Neenah Paper, Precision Graphics and CWT Worktools USA. Several Printing Industries of America Affiliates also partnered on the ColorUp Digital Bootcamp, including the Florida Graphics Alliance, Great Lakes Graphics Association, Graphic Arts Association, PIA MidAmerica, Printing Industries Alliance and Printing Industries Midwest.

The idea for a digital boot camp sprang from a lunch meeting between Todd Meissner, president of Color Ink and Joe Lyman, president of the Great Lakes Graphics Association this past fall. Both believed an event hosted in a print facility where attendees experience a “deep dive” to learn from a seasoned print owner could be a huge success. This idea is confirmed by Joe Olivo, president and co-owner of Perfect Communications, who attended the event. Olivo said, “Attending the ColorUp Digital Bootcamp was a great investment. Being able to see a variety of digital production processes under one roof coupled with the open discussions among participants and presenters allowed me to gain perspective that would be almost impossible to obtain in any other setting.” Vance Kapalczynski, president of American Printing also agreed, saying, “The extremely open approach of Color Ink and their staff offered attendees an unfiltered opportunity to have questions answered and further build on a resource network to assist in making the best decisions for their respective companies.” Finally, boot camp attendee Joey Dixon, vice president of operations at GM Direct Marketing, said, “Most conferences you get to see equipment or software run in a controlled environment. However, we were able to hear and see both sides of the equation, the supplier side and the in-shop, day-to-day real-world side. The ability to see and ask questions of Color Ink operators and staff as they go through the set-up and running projects was priceless.”

Meissner and Lyman both agree based on the success of the first boot camp, more ColorUp Digital Boot Camps will be held in the future. Meissner says, “We are already looking to hold another in May 2020. Make sure to mark your calendar!”

To learn more about the event, visit www.colorupinc.com.