Jack Miller

The range of papers suitable for continuous-feed inkjet printing continues to expand. Still, market penetration for high-speed production inkjet remains low as challenges remain for high ink coverage, high-quality graphics applications. The market is experiencing strong growth as challenges with ink and paper are being met every day as the industry develops a deeper understanding of the value proposition for continuous-feed inkjet. Consultative selling is essential, not only for paper mills, but also for printers, to sell the value proposition and also to better understand the market needs.

In an unlikely ménage of capitalism, environmentalism, and rock 'n' roll, on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Steve Liesman of CNBC were jamming with Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, environmentalist, tree farmer.

There are opportunities in digital print for packaging, but also challenges. Among the challenges are selling the value proposition to end users, format, and workflow. One solution at PRINT 13 was the Xanté Excelagraphix 4200P, which Xanté COO Mark Swanzy says is unique in terms of high-speed, small footprint, and high-quality printing.

The biggest paper news during the PRINT 13 show in Chicago this past week, was the announcement by International Paper of the permanent closure of its Courtland, AL, mill. As to the show itself, digital remains front and center, and within digital, papers treated for continuous-feed aqueous inkjet, continue to be the buzz.

The presses are good. The substrates are good. The software is good. And, as Cathy Cartolano, VP of sales and technical services at Mitsubishi Imaging (MPM), says, image quality is "scary close" to offset. So why doesn't continuous-feed inkjet dominate the market?

This week International Paper announced that it is in talks with Unisource regarding a proposed merger of xpedx, International Paper's distribution business, and Unisource. So what will this mean?

Printers face a number of tradeoffs in selecting presses, ink and paper for production inkjet. This article will explore the challenges and solutions relating to paper in key applications, including transactional and transpromo, book, direct mail and general commercial printing.

Will the current round of coated paper price increases hold? If the mills reduce supply because of cost pressures, then the increases will hold. History suggests that if the increases do hold, they may well evaporate over the next few months.

There are a lot of areas that are open to negotiation—credit terms, delivery schedules and minimums, lead time, inventory programs, order sizes, etc. You might have the highest price, but offer advantages in all of the other areas.

There are two big problems with the theory of incremental paper volume. Incremental volume is not the lowest-cost business; it’s actually the highest-cost business. If you produce less and use less raw material, you will cut the most expensive production costs, not the least expensive

We’ve recently been talking about coated paper prices as if there’s a single entity called coated paper. Of course, it’s not that simple. There are a lot of different coated papers and, too, coated papers compete with uncoated papers—not to mention electronic forms of communication.

Paper consumption in North America is declining. This is a structural decline, and not just a cyclical decline. That means we can’t expect paper demand to “return to normal” when the economy recovers. This is the new “normal.” That point is not in debate, though experts do differ on the rate of decline.

The issue, of course, is supply and demand. While some may disagree on the precise numbers, there is little doubt that demand will decline next year. The supply side is much more complex. Will coated mills chase prices lower?

If there is any good news for printers, it is that paper prices may be bumping up against a ceiling. Coated paper does have continuing overcapacity, putting pressure on prices, and uncoated prices have risen to the point where coated prices are sometimes lower than uncoated.

The growth in print decoupled from general economic growth in the ’90s, which has challenged the entire supply chain. One of the most innovative and exciting developments is CelluForce, a joint venture between Domtar and FPInnovations.