PERSONAL bests

Raising the Bar for Print Buying

As adoption of digital printing has spread and evolved in the marketplace, it has become a catalyst for changes that extend beyond the way ink (toner) is put on paper. What people buy has been impacted by the short run, on-demand and variable data printing capabilities enabled by the technology. How people buy is also changing as digital printing provides impetus for the development of Web-to-print solutions.

The printing industry saw its share of dotcom startups promising to revolutionize the way business is done, but the concept gained limited traction. Digital printing was one area where e-commerce/e-procurement did gain a foothold, though. Currently, the successes of these early adopters are serving as a model for a second wave of online print buying and procurement solutions, now dubbed Web-to-print.

[The Business Objective]

Jim Beam Brands (JBB) is an operating company of Jim Beam Brands Worldwide, an international distilled spirits and fine wines company that manufactures and markets more than 80 brands in 160 countries. To facilitate promotion of those brands, the firm decided it wanted to make a Web-to-print solution available to its marketing professionals so they could order customized printed materials more easily.

JBB turned to NCL Communications, a division of Consolidated Press located in Elk Grove Village, IL, which it had been using as a printing supplier for more than 20 years. The goal was to create an online ordering system, supplemented by faxes for additional capabilities and services, to support the management of collateral materials and fulfillment of personalized pieces.

[The Proposed Solution]

NCL offers quality sheetfed printing, variable data marketing services and extensive binding/finishing capabilities. Depending on the job, the work it does for JBB may be produced on a Xerox DocuColor 6060 digital color press or an eight-color, 40˝ Komori Lithrone perfector with waterless capabilities and an aqueous tower coater.