Archives
Don't be a museum piece
Jul 01, 2011Midway Village is one of thousands of living history museums scattered throughout the United States. It has a museum full of indoor exhibits, but the main draw is its outdoor collection of restored pioneer-era buildings. Midway Village features 26 historical structures, including a general store, hardware store, blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, town hall, police station, plumbing shop, bank, hotel, hospital,
Michael Scott, have you met The Printz?
Jul 01, 2011How do you leverage social media to promote digital, offset, wide-format and photobook capabilities? Canada's TPH/The Printing, a quick printing specialist with 70-company owned locations, recently wrestled with this B2B branding challenge. Teaming with Endeavour Marketing (Toronto), TPH launched a series of seven videos starring The Printz. This shaggy Nordic character something like a cross between
Feeding the elephants while searching for greener pastures
Jul 01, 2011Until a few years ago, printers could earn a living just by being good operators paying attention to executing well in sales and manufacturing. They weren't profit leaders but they could get by, doing the same old things a little differently. Now, doing the same old things just doesn't work at all, and more than one third of all printers have disappeared. The dual challenge The economics of a printing
7 tips for continuous improvement
Jul 01, 2011Our company has spent the past two years implementing lean manufacturing principles throughout our operation. During this time, we've learned a lot and realized tremendous benefits. The biggest benefit printers will notice with lean is a reduction in process lead times, resulting in lower costs, higher quality and improved on-time deliveries. This translates into greater customer loyalty and a higher
Avoid a tablet generation gap
Jul 01, 2011If you want to know if someone is 35 or older just sneak a peek at the bottom of their feet. Our soles are dirty and calloused from powering our Flintstone Mobiles. A Pew Research report found: Millennials (AKA the 18-34 year olds) are the only generation that is more likely to own a laptop computer or netbook than a desktop: 70% own a laptop.
Seeing the light
Jul 01, 2011IST METZ held its Fifth UV Days at its sprawling headquarters near Stuttgart, Germany, this May. The three-day event, which attracted about 550 attendees from 30 different countries, featured four printing demos on sheetfed, digital, label and pad printing equipment. IST converted part of its massive Plant 2B building into a temporary UV Lounge complete with couches, chairs and refreshment stations.
Industry | Events 2011
Jul 01, 2011Introducing PMA (www.pmai.org), The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations, recently launched CliQ (www.cliqworld.com) with how-to tips, product reviews and monthly photo contests. CliQ brings extensive changes to the PMA 2011 annual convention. PMA has formed a partnership with the Consumer Electronics Assn. to co-locate CliQ (formerly the PMA show) with the 2012 International CES , scheduled
Printers to the trade
Jul 01, 2011Wholesale printing is a sensitive business. One trade shop will serve numerous commercial printers, some of which are sure to be competitors. Integrity is everything in this segment of the market, says Raymond J. Prince, vice president of NAPL's Technical Consulting Group. In my opinion, 95% of [printers to the trade] are great, but a few have salespeople who do not recognize the special relationship
How to save money on ink
Jul 01, 2011We all like to save money on our raw materials, but there are good ways and bad ways to do it. The cheapest ink might be what you need to do the job. Or, it very well might not be what is needed, and it could be costing you a lot of money. Test a set of inks for at least 30 days on press in production. If there are issues with quality or service, they will show up in this timespan. I have several
Cookie support
Jul 01, 2011The annual cookie program is a major fundraiser for the Girl Scouts of the Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Council (River Valleys) (www.girlscoutsrv.org). Encouraging Scout participation is critical to the success of the program. In the past, staff had provided vital information through a monthly e-mail that only reached parents or troop leaders. River Valleys felt that communicating directly
Improving the USPS
Jul 01, 2011The annual National Postal Forum (NPF), held in San Diego, May 1-4, 2011, hosted approximately 4,000 attendees. Here are some highlights relevant to U.S. printers: Free Confirm Data Effective with the anticipated pricing change in January 2012, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will begin offering free Confirm mail tracking data for mailers participating in Intelligent Mail Full-Service. Remember,
Benefit from change
Jul 01, 2011The new, electronica-esque drupa song was written to express drupa's themes of dynamics, optimism and a focus on the future. Messe Dsseldorf promises it will get you in the mood for the May 2012 show. See www.drupa.com.
New approach to mechanical binding
Jul 01, 2011The EcoBinder coil binding system from Kugler-Womako (www.kw.kpl.net), a Korber PaperLink company, eliminates traditional plastic combs or wire spirals in favor of 22-mm wide printable paper rings. Input and output stations are located next to each other one worker can operate the entire machine. In the semi-automated version, bundles are inserted by hand. At 15 cpm and with no manual intervention
Reducing the book's carbon footprint
Jul 01, 2011The Green Press Initiative's Book Industry Environmental Council encompassing publishers, printers, paper suppliers and non-governmental organizations aims to achieve a 20% reduction in the book industry's carbon footprint by 2020. In 2007, their study concluded annual emissions are 12.4 metric tons, as an industry, and about 8.5 metric lbs. per printed book. Cascades' Julie Loyer explains the group's
Successful first year for Twin Rivers
Jun 01, 2011Maine-based Twin Rivers (www.twinriverspaper.com) is celebrating its first year of business achieving accomplishments in the areas of energy reduction, productivity improvements, product innovation and environmental sustainability. Twin Rivers manufactured 380,000 tons of free sheet and hybrid-groundwood papers in its first year. Over the next year, the company plans to aggressively grow in select
Double wide
Jun 01, 2011William J. O'Neil founded O'Neil Data Systems in 1973 to produce time-sensitive investment research publications. O'Neil went on to launch Investor's Business Daily in 1984. In 2011, thanks to its arsenal of continuous-feed inkjet web presses, the Los Angeles-based company is delivering massive amounts of customized information at speeds that were unfathomable even a few years ago. Pitney Bowes puts
Thrifty printers know their paper
Jun 01, 2011The ink (and often, bonding agent) contributes nearly 30% to the cost of an inkjet printing job, and the paper only contributes about 10%, or less, to the cost. Optimize absorption and ink-fastness for inkjet savings, advises this white paper from Finch. See Managing the Variable Characteristics of Inkjet Substrates for Profitability at www.finchpaper.com. Katherine O'Brien is the editor of AMERICAN
Paper choices made simple
Jun 01, 2011Boise (Boise, ID) expands its comprehensive sustainability initiative, Choices, with the goal of providing professional guidance to help customers or consumers make informed, effective choices about the use of paper. Boise created Choices as an open forum to discuss corporate responsibility, profitability, bottom-line value and positive social impact. The program provides educational tools, ideas
Inkjet for the rest of us
Jun 01, 2011The current high-speed inkjet web presses from vendors such as HP, Oce, InfoPrint, Screen and Kodak are exciting but impractical for most general short-run commercial printers. They're too expensive, too large, and too limiting for the range of substrates and formats commercial printers need, says David Davis, a director at Interquest (www.inter-quest.com). They're great for many specialty providers
What's your basis of comparison?
Jun 01, 2011Fuji's halfsize J Press targets short-run jobs. Although the press has some paper handling and other elements that are familiar to offset printers, it's clearly an inkjet press. Is it fair to compare the cost a J Press to that of a traditional 4-up offset press? As is the case with almost every product introduction, there is a premium for new technology, says Steve Sanker, director of digital inkjet
Paper a la carte
Jun 01, 2011Online publishing platform Blurb has launched ProLine featuring Mohawk (www.mohawkpaper.com) Superfine and Mohawk proPhoto papers. ProLine papers include two finishes: Pearl Photo and Uncoated. The ProLine Pearl Photo finish is Mohawk proPhoto with a luster semigloss surface that emulates real photographic papers. ProLine Uncoated is legendary Mohawk Superfine Ultrawhite in Eggshell finish. These
Heidelberg sells its first Ricoh Pro C901
Jun 01, 2011Heidelberg announced German printer Stnings is the first to buy a Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition from the offset press vendor. Heidelberg announced its global sales partnership with Ricoh just prior to digi:media, which took place in Dsseldorf from April 7 to 9, 2011. We can create high-quality short runs and personalized mailings, flyers and catalogs, said Stefan Willms, technical manager at
First Oce ColorStream 3500 to French printer
Jun 01, 2011Oc announced the first installation for its Oc ColorStream 3500 inkjet printing system at service provider Corus in Fontenay-sous-Bois near Paris. Corus designs and prints transactional documents. Typical jobs include bank statements, insurance statements, pay slips, invoices, subscription and payment notices from around 400 companies across all business sectors. Corus typically prints 20,000 jobs
Metallics education
Jun 01, 2011Curious About Print: Your Guide to the World of Curious Metallics, shows how to enhance creative applications during prepress, ease production, and accentuate printed communications and package designs using these papers. Printed using digital, offset and UV, the guide offers hints and tips to optimize image selection and reproduction, advice on working with metallic and UV inks, and recommendations
Swiftly downstream
Jun 01, 2011Harlequin (www.eharlequin.com), the world's largest publisher of romance novels, recently eliminated finishing bottlenecks with integrated, inline digital print and binding equipment. Its distribution center in Depew, NY, employs advanced conveying technology to minimize product damage and downtime, reaching a throughput rate of more than 1,000 paperback books per hour. High-volume publisher's need
