Blogs

What happens when your nonprofit customers feel like they have an advisor on their side, one that does more than just print materials?

We all need to reach ever-increasing direct mail response rate goals. This is a challenge. Here’s how to solve it.

How good is your operational data? Here are some things to consider when evaluating your operations.

Heidelberg’s Digimatrix 60 FC is perfect for commercial printing operations looking to bring more of their finishing solutions in-house. The small diecutter and foil stamper is offered at a price point attractive to smaller operations. PRINTING United Booth 10143.

Demonstrating a wide range of finishing technologies for the commercial sector, Muller Martini’s booth at PRINTING United will be solutions-focused — offering technologies that ease workflow and eliminate finishing makeready. PRINTING United Booth 10543.

The company’s new TEXWEB550LX is a high-speed web coater that offers new features.

The new, high-gloss printable laminate film from Nobelus offers scratch-resistance and can be used for gluing, foil stamping, UV coating, and more. It is intended for direct mail, magazines, folding cartons, and other applications. PRINTING United Booth 10141.

We have seen lots of advances in adhesives for bookbinding over the years, with PUR (polyurethane reactive) adhesive being the last major game changer. But there is now a revived interest in protein-based adhesives.

Quick! Name two consumables that are indispensable to operation in the bindery. If you named adhesives as one, you'd be on the mark. But...if you included knives, (yes, they are a consumable), you would be quite savvy. Cutting and trimming are part of almost every finishing operation. And the quality of those cuts are essential to the quality of the finished product.

HP’s Indigo 12000 HD system is increasingly being used for applications such as professional and wedding photo prints. The system’s high-definition writing head doubles print resolution and outperforms the quality of most offset printing. PRINTING United Booth 6407.

What follows is an interview with Rosemarie Breske Garvey, VP at Blooming Color in Lombard, Ill. Blooming Color is doing some pretty spectacular work beyond traditional four-color printing and I wanted to learn more.

Dscoop is part tradeshow and part education event, with an agenda that included A-List keynotes and mentalist Lior Suchard as emcee. The sessions were the expected array of customer success stories, successful selling solutions and product reviews, but there were also a variety of sessions covering finishing, packaging and 3D printing.

Heidelberg’s Speedmaster XL 106-5 press is the machine of choice for a Canadian sheetfed printer: Its integrated LED drying technology gives companies additional product options, as well as a way to access higher-margin printing opportunities. PRINTING United Booth 10143.

Citing the need to increase capacity and gain a competitive advantage, the perfecting press from RMGT was the perfect choice for a growing business. This and other solutions from the company will be represented in Dallas. PRINTING United Booth 9551.

OK, I digress from my usual finishing tech. discussion this week. Although I’m on the digital finishing side, I spent enough time in the high-volume offset world to become quite familiar with publication, periodical and catalog production.

The need to protect and secure the data is becoming increasingly critical. Have you considered these potential causes of data loss?

The data enrichment process can help marketers, agencies, and service providers develop successful, customized material.

A targeted direct mail list is extremely effective. Analyzing the most effective list can help you identify prospective customers.

The use of color in direct mail is very important. The right colors can increase your response rates. Why is color so important?

Sometimes marketers get stuck in a direct mail rut. They find a direct mail format that works and just stick to it.

Without considering postal requirements, PSPs can cause their clients to lose money and delay the delivery of mailpieces.

The imagePRESS C850 offers print speeds of up to 85 letter-size images per minute, duplex, long-sheet printing, and can handle heavier, coated or textured stock. The imagePRESS C850 also features in-line finishing options including creasing and trimming. PRINTING United Booth 7016.

Xerox recently unveiled the Iridesse. Now that the glitter has settled, there are a few questions to explore about its possibilities.

The grapevine has been ripe the past weeks, but now the news is finally out. Fujifilm has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the majority holding of Xerox Corporation and will merge Fuji Xerox with Xerox.

The revised Alchem-e™ software platform supports high-volume production of customer communications, and helps direct marketers, transactional processors, book publishers, and others secure data and simplify production environments. PRINTING United Booth 11654.

As printers continue to offer more applications created across diverse print technologies, a universal workflow is key.

Incorporating automation into your workflow can boost customer loyalty, improve your efficiency and increase your competitive edge.

A new initiative could succeed in pushing back against the printing industry’s recruitment crisis where past efforts have failed.

Keep your eyes open for changes that are coming, and for changes that you want to introduce into the marketplace.

Face it, we read about and experience a level of employee engagement in the printing industry that is much less than desired.

With the expansion of wide-format printing, companies like Kennickell Group are able to offer a variety of wide-format options.

There is a way to get into the wide-format business and experiment with the concept without committing to huge capital expenditures.

The billboard might be the descendant of one the oldest forms of human advertising but it’s proving to the perfect partner for digital.

Barbara Pellow shares a story of a PSP that used Clickable Paper to deliver an omni-channel experience to a professional sports team.

Here are a few examples of what marketers are doing to optimize the print/mobile customer experience and maximize marketing spend.

Printers have barely begun exploiting interactive print and more importantly, to sell the concepts to their customers.

Landa Digital Printing captured the attention of drupa 2012 and 2016. However, news had been pretty quiet, until last week.

Durst Phototechnik and Koenig & Bauer are making production-level digital printers for both folding carton and corrugated applications.

The 7th annual Inkjet Summit kicked off yesterday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., with more than 300 attendees.

Gina Ferrara digs deeper into her research with Madison Advisors on color migration and digital delivery.

The use of CMYK+ is poised for moderate page volume growth, based on several factors.

The perception of color is dependent on three distinct variables — the light source, the object and the receiver.

Don Piontek shares some of the diverse finishing applications and systems he’s come across in his career.

During a recent trade show, Don Piontek looked for the newest finishing technology and he found innovations in mechanical binding.

In the search for new finishing developments, Don Piontek received a LinkedIn press release alert on something called “Vpaper.”

At the beginning of 2019, buyers of publication grades will be paying about 25% more for paper than they did just 18 months earlier.

Did you know that paper absorbs moisture in the air, which can impact quality? Here’s a short guide on paper in relation to humidity.

Understanding your carbon footprint can decrease your consumption of energy and materials, reducing your carbon emissions.

It looked like a good fit. The seller, unfortunately, didn’t see it that way.

As a trade association president, I knew that one of my most important jobs was to offer our members a friendly, well informed, third-party perspective on strategic business issues. Today, our New Direction Partners clients want the same thing: not just information about the mechanics of M&As, but also a genuine understanding of the industry and the mindsets of the people who own those companies.

For many years, I had the privilege of serving in leadership positions with Printing Industries of New England (PINE), the largest printing trade association in the Northeast. Then as now, I was greatly impressed by the resiliency of our members and their ability to adapt to changing business circumstances.