Hybrid Printing at Scale: 1Vision Proves It’s a Viable Strategy

Businesses that embrace convergence have become more widespread in the printing industry, with some commercial printers expanding into new technologies to supplement shrinking segments and shifting demands. As digital technology adoption increases with these changes, some companies are finding the perfect balance is in a hybrid printing environment, one that pairs digital and analog technologies for production harmony. One of those companies is 1Vision, a PRINTING United Alliance member company headquartered in Houston, Texas, with locations in Denver, Colorado; Jackson, Mississippi; and Louisville, Kentucky.

The operation is still around 70% offset by volume, notes CEO Allen Taheri, and he doesn’t see that changing any time soon.

“High volume right now still has to go offset,” he points out. “Gang run work — we still do a fair amount of that — and then high-volume, long-run booklets, we still run on offset. We have a very robust digital platform , but if you’re looking at purely tonnage, 70% of our volume still runs offset.”

Despite that, digital printing is still a key part of 1Vision's business strategy. A true hybrid operation, it runs more than 20 inkjet addressing lines, which allow the company to handle the still healthy volumes of direct mail it produces. Taheri also notes it is running HP Indigo 120Ks in all of its locations, giving it the ability to shift work to the platform where it best fits.

A Strategic Approach

While a hybrid printing environment looks great on paper, though, how does it actually work in practice?
There are a number of factors Taheri calls out that can determine whether a job is run offset or digital. First up, he notes, is timing.

“During our peak periods, it doesn't matter what it is, it's going to run on one of the pieces of equipment, because it’s got to get out the door,” he says. For jobs that need to get out quickly due to client needs, digital is often a great choice. 1Vision can run, finish, and get it out in as little as a few days. On the other hand, when it has a bit more time to work with, offset might be a better choice for that same job, being able to gang it with other work as part of a longer run.

Another consideration he looks at is the number of sheets a job will need, with 5,000-8,000 sheets or fewer typically being the sweet spot for digital. Anything more than that is a better fit for offset, although during peak periods, he notes, jobs will be prioritized and run on the equipment that has capacity.

One consideration he doesn’t look at: substrates.

“We’re pretty set on the papers we run. We run very little specialty or outside the box substrates,” he says. “We basically run five paper types in all of our plants, and those are our core products. I don’t like the custom manufacturing of the printing business, where everyone’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve got 80 million types of paper to choose from.’ That is absolutely not how we sell.”

And if a customer asks 1Vision to run a job on a something it doesn’t offer, such as a 100-lb. gloss stock?

“I’m like, yeah, sorry, it's against my religion,” Taheri laughs. “I'll find a different paper I can give you so you’re going to have to use our house stock. We put our customers in the mold of what we want them to run, and it keeps inventory simpler. It keeps our volume simpler, it keeps everything much easier for us to manage. That’s how we operate our business.”

Hitting the Mark

Quality is a given no matter what equipment a job is run on, but that doesn’t necessarily mean jobs have to look identical across every platform. One point Taheri stresses is that at the end of the day, it’s more important to ensure the customer is happy, than to hit a specific number or target.

“As long as I know that our customers are happy with the output they get on our digital sheets and our offset sheets that come across all four plants, then we’re doing our job,” he says. Further, he notes that the idea of trying to make things look identical across very different technologies is impossible, no matter what some would suggest. “There’s no way that our wide-format stuff matches the offset,” he continues. “I mean, they just don't look the same.”

That doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all though. All of 1Vision’s plants are G7 certified, and he ensures all the equipment can hit those standards. So even if the output might not match perfectly across different printing technologies, they all hit the visual targets, and Taheri notes that he’s never had any of his big customers come back and complain that the orange didn’t match across a brochure and a billboard, for example. They are always very happy with the visual look and feel, no matter what printing technology was used to produce it.

Another way the company maintains quality is that teams are specialized in the production department. While Taheri notes that in Houston there is some cross-training between offset and digital, for the most part, staff is focused on getting the most out of just one type of equipment. This allows them to focus on quality output and knowing the ins-and-outs of a single piece of equipment rather than trying to know a little bit about everything. The finishing department, however, is cross-trained across everything within its realm.

The Future of Hybrid Printing

So does Taheri believe hybrid offset and digital environments are here to stay, or does he see that changing in the coming years? The answer might surprise you — he is still very bullish on offset.

“I think both positions are going to stay firm,” he says. “I think that you basically had a huge drop of printing volume over the years, then you started having steadily 3-4% increases, then you had another drop, then you have 3-4% increases, and I think that we’ve hit that plateau where it either makes sense or it doesn’t. Until somebody comes up with a technology that allows for digital costs to be closer aligned to offset, and allows the throughput to be at the same ballpark — because that’s the two things that you’re fighting with — [offset and digital will both remain strong].”

Price is another consideration. Taheri points out that click and ink costs can both be quite a bit higher with digital, even with the newer technologies. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense financially to move a job over, even if the volume might suggest a digital run. On the flip side, the costs of firing up an offset press for a short-run job when there isn’t enough work to gang together makes digital an attractive financial option in those cases. Both of them, he stresses, have their strong points, and a savvy shop will run them side-by-side.

Taheri notes he is watching several technologies to see where the industry goes next. 1Vision is currently the beta site for the Komori J-throne 29 digital press at the company’s Houston site, which Taheri hopes to get into full production in the next few months. He has also talked to HP about its latest offerings in the Indigo lineup, although he admits he hasn’t had time to see those in person yet to make an honest comparison.

“Supposedly, [the new HP] prints 20,000 sheets an hour, so it’s faster than Komori double sided,” Taheri says. “I haven't done a cost study on it at all, but if you can do finishing in-line, and your throughput is that high, then maybe there’s a shift that could happen there. But if their ink cost is still so much higher than what you would pay for just straight UV offset, then no,” digital will still not be a full offset replacement. He continues, “I think there’s some cool digital technology that’s going to come out, but nothing that I’ve seen is remotely close to offset costing when it comes to the total cost of output.”

In the end, Taheri notes that it’s not technology that will make a commercial printing business profitable or not — it’s focusing on the right applications and the right customers.

“We do a little bit of everything — we have a wide-format department, we have a promo department, so we do everything,” he says. “But overall, I think that a lot of people are always down on our industry, but it is still growing in certain market segments. The people that are really going to continue struggling are the people that only focus on regular, commercial printing — and I feel like the transactional business is where this industry is hurting — but in direct mail, if you’re focused on one single vertical that’s powerful, you can do well. Or if you’re diversified in all verticals, I think you can do well, but it’s got to be at scale. The people that dabble, where it’s only half a million dollars of their business, it may help you get other business, but at that point, it’s a hobby. It’s not a real division of a company.”

He notes that to be successful, commercial printers — and really all printers in all segments — need to focus more on being the experts at the verticals they target, rather than seeking to add technology or innovation for the sake of saying you have it. Being a successful hybrid printer isn’t just about having multiple technologies on the floor, it’s about embracing their strengths and weaknesses and being strategic about new investments to make sure they complement the work and the customer base.
He also notes that a critical component is finding vendors that are willing to be true partners across the board.

“I treat them as partners, and I tell them, ‘I’m gonna beat you up on the pricing, but at the end of the day, if you’re not making money and you’re not gonna answer my phone calls after the sale, this is not going to be a good relationship, so make sure that you’re not making all your money off of my company but you’re making enough to where you’re going to take my phone calls, and then from there we can build a relationship.’”

Having that back-and-forth, and knowing the vendor is reliable if and when an issue does come up, is an important consideration when making any investment, he notes, not just choosing digital or offset. He gives those relationships just as much weight when evaluating new equipment as he does elements like cost and productivity. In the end, it is a business, he stresses, and everyone needs to walk away with money in their pockets to have a successful and healthy printing industry.

Commercial printers can successfully run a hybrid operation where both digital and offset technologies blend together seamlessly, as 1Vision so clearly demonstrates. It’s a perfect example of how success comes not from focusing on the technology itself, but from ensuring the customer is satisfied with the quality — and receives it when and where they need it, every time.