4 ■ October 3, 2010 • GRAPH EXPO
Official Show Daily • Cygnus Graphics Media
GRAPH EXPO’s Executive Outlook T
E
ager of attendees came to McCormick Place a day early for Saturday’s Executive Out- look, GRAPH EXPO’s annual
pre-show technology trends conference. During the course of a full day, they gained new perspectives and insights on how to prosper in today’s new era of print. The formal conference culminated with the Must See ’em selections (at right) presented by Program Administrator Bill Lamparter of PrintCom Consulting. Leading off, NAPL Chief Economist Andy Paparozzi urged listeners to “cre- ate our own recovery. That means not waiting for the elections, the Christmas season, the economy or anything else.” Recovery has been—and will continue to be—slow going, he projects, pointing out that commercial printing industry sales from January to July were down nearly 16% in 2009 but only slightly above -2 % for this year. But key indi- cators such as GDP, consumer spend- ing, industrial production and private employment all are up over a year ago. Because progress has been painfully
slow and unsteady. The feeble recovery will continue for several more months, Paparozzi said, noting there are no quick fixes because of the deep hole of debt the U.S. has dug. NAPL expects total commercial print- ing industry sales to grow between 1% and 3% in 2011—but that’s still $13.4 billion (15%) below 2007 levels. Papa- rozzi’s advice to the nation’s printers: “Don’t wait for clarity; create clarity,” the economist says. “Don’t make the same mistakes that the fallen leaders of print have made. Embrace the structural changes taking place in our industry. Think market redistribution. Establish yourselves as experts who know your customers’ businesses intimately and can make them more successful.”
“What industry are we in?” Next to the podium was Steven Schnoll, Managing Director of Schnoll Media Consulting, New Providence, NJ, who examined what printers need to do to participate in an e-centric environ- ment. Schnoll, a 40-plus year industry veteran with a reputation for thinking outside the box, contends that GRAPH EXPO attendees are members of the content and communications industry— not the printing industry, per se. He has concentrated much of his energy over the past few years on converging technologies where print providers can extend their expertise to new profit cen- ters. “Printers can migrate their business model from traditional, mass-produced paper-based products to an integrated multimedia series of enhanced commu-
nications with the most effective technol- ogy mix,” the media consultant stressed. Schnoll focused on vertical markets primarily served by media integrated providers that can offer the range of services required to capture the largest, most profitable clients for their custom- ers. “Today’s integrated plans are a combination of offset printing, data ana- lytics, targeted HTML email messages, digital personalized print and mobile/e- readers, with content as the common denominator. “The key to cross-media success is helping transform the way your customers handle their content,” he noted. “How indispensable are you to your customers?” he asked, adding that analytical direct marketing makes customers stick because printers are viewed as a partner versus a supplier.
he Must See ‘ems technology and product recognition awards is sponsored by the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) and conducted independently by the PrintCom Consulting Group.
Must See ‘ems and their companion
Worth-a-Look products were selected from the more than 2,000 individual products being shown at GRAPH EXPO by just over 500 exhibitors. A product or technology achieves Must See ‘ems recognition as deemed compelling by a panel of industry experts for a large number of exhibition attendees. Products identified as compelling but of impor- tance to a more limited audience have been identified as Worth-a-Looks.
Digital, offset and IT InfoTrends Group Director Jim Ham-
ilton covered products and trends in digi- tal technologies—both toner and ink- jet—that continue to expand their share of the print market with higher image quality and faster speeds. “Digital is mainstream,” Hamilton showed, empha- sizing inkjet’s growth. Inkjet’s largest barrier right now, he added, is its inabil- ity to print on economical coated papers. There’s also a fair amount of experi- mentation with larger formats, includ- ing the B2 format for digital, and a lot of new cutsheet toner products. Hamil- ton addressed market changes in high- speed continuous feed digital color. “Content still is king,” he proclaimed, “but delivery is multi-channel.” Conventional offset printing, with a $50 billion market in the U.S., contin- ues to evolve, with technologies and products that broaden the process’ high- quality economic reach to both shorter and longer press runs. Preeminent litho consultant Ray Prince reviewed the products that are keeping offset com- petitive in the new era of print. “IT Trends and Necessities” was a panel discussion about running a print business and production operations based on information and analysis. “It takes use of the computer and informa- tion technology to create today’s profit- leader companies,” said ConsultWare’s Don Goldman, who has been involved in print IT from the early days of devel- oping estimating systems. He and Jeff White, EFI General Manager of Mon- arch Systems, talked about how appli- cation of information can be used to enhance the new era business of print. Joining them was James Pilcher, Man- ufacturing VP/GM of Freeport Press (Freeport, OH), and Jim Tomblinson, Operations Director at Modern Litho- Print, Jefferson City. Mo.
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Product Technologies: Software
Agfa Graphics (Booth 824) :Apogee Impose
Color-Logic (Booth 155) Process Metallic Color System
Program reveals change in new era of print 2010 Must See ‘ems announced at event By Mark Vruno
Pitney Bowes (Booth 3601) TransPromo Portal
Presses: Offset Products Direct Imaging (DI) Press Presstek, Inc. (Booth 2600) 75DI direct imaging press
Offset-Digital Imprinter Eastman Kodak (Booth 1227) Prosper S10 Imprinting System
Offset Printing Plates Agfa Graphics (Booth 844) Amigo TS Eastman Kodak (Booth 1227) Trillian SP Thermal Plate
Epson America, Inc. (Booth 617) Stylus Pro 7900CtP System
Digital Presses Production Color - Sheetfed Fujifilm NA Corp. (Booth 627) Digital Inkjet J Press 720 Hewlett-Packard (Booth 1200) Indigo 7500 Toner Digital Press
Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Booth 2244)
The Technology Dozen and Critical Survival Implications
T
o be winners in the new era of print printers must be willing to invest and use new era technology. A doz-
en technologies that have survival implica- tions for most commercial printers were identified by the Must See ‘ems Selection Committee. See implementation of these Must See ‘ems products on the exhibition floor. The survival technologies are: 1. Computer – IT
Effective use of the computer with the application of information technology (IT) was voted as the most critical survival applications of technology. 2. Multiple Products
Acquiring and implementing the knowl-
edge, skills and technologies necessary to leverage print content and formats into a variety of multiple products/multiple media ranked second in the overall list. 3. Automation
Automation into print production is key, starting with the use of standalone auto- mated systems or equipment and evolving into integrated automation moving toward ‘lights-out’ or hands-off manufacturing. 4. Unique Materials Creative use of unique materials, such as coating and equipment and associ- ated technologies to enhance the value and application of print is critical to standing apart from the competition. Also included in this category are unusual die-cutting and folding.
5. Web-to-print Complete web-to-print capability
reducting the amount of human interven- tion includes the automation of print from customer inquiry to the pressroom and into distribution. 6. Planning
This includes both business planning and production planning with strategic and tactical direction including technology components.
7. & 8. Digital Printing An understanding of direct marketing
requirements and mailing capability are important ingredients for production digi- tal printing success and are ranked in sev- enth place, almost parallel with production digital color printing.
9. Market and Product Specialization This requires in-depth knowledge of the segment along with specialized technolo- gies and equipment to produce relevant and unique print products. 10. Marketing Service Provider Printers must adopt the technology, skills and business approach to convert from being a conventional printer to a marketing service provider. 11. & 12. Up-to-Date Equipment Up-to-date equipment for the press-
room, closely followed by binding and fin- ishing, ranked 11th and 12th respectively, including the integration of binding and finishing into press production lines.
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EskoArtwork (Booth 217) i-cut Suite (digital pre-production) interlinkONE (Booth 969) QReate and Track
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