Julie Shaffer, Printing Industries of America’s Vice President of Digital Strategies is giving the opening keynote presentation, “Printing’s Role in a Multi-Media World,” at the 22nd Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference being held by the Information Management Institute (IMI) at the Scottsdale Cottonwoods Resort & Suites in Scottsdale, Arizona on January 30-February 1, 2013. IMI’s annual Ink Jet Printing Conference is the only U.S. ink jet printing industry event devoted entirely to ink jet printing technologies, markets, and applications. Given the printing industry’s current interest in ink jet printing and the ongoing rapid expansion of ink jet technology into new and exciting applications, IMI has offered all Printing Industries of America members a $300 discount on their 22nd Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference registration fee (making it $795) as well as a $200 discount on the registration fee (making it $495) for the other programs earlier in the week: Ink Jet Deposition Course (Jan 28-29), Ink Jet Printhead & Selection Course (Jan 28-29), 3D Printing Symposium (Jan 28-29) and AWA Inkjet & Digital Label/Packaging Print Seminar (Jan 29-30). For additional details about the conference, view the IMI website at www.imiconf.com. If you are a Printing Industries of America member and would like to take advantage of IMI’s special offer, contact Sam Shea at sshea@printing.org for more...

The 2012 Third Quarter Print Market Update has just been published by the Printing Industries of America Economic and Market Research Team. With that, we’d like to share some of the numbers relating to digital processes contained in the report. As is typical of our membership demographics and the overall industry, a majority of the respondents to the market survey listed sheetfed as their primary process.  However, 120 of the 182 respondents offered toner-based digital printing, while 34 of the respondents offered inkjet printing. These processes accounted for 16% and 4% of respondents’ total print sales respectively. In addition, more than 50 of the respondents engaged in wide- and super-wide-format inkjet printing. The latest Print Market Update also tracks the percentage change in total print sales through the last eight quarters. Beginning in Q4 2011 and going through Q3 2012, the respondents to our survey noted year-to-date increases in total toner-based sales of 8.5%, 5.2%, 8.0%, and 5.3%. Likewise, year-to-date increases in inkjet sales of 10.9%, 11.1%, 3.8%, and 2.4% were reported. All Printing Industries of America members can download the Quarterly Print Market Updates (along with many other resources) for free here. Our Economics and Market Research Team emails the results of these market surveys to all participants eight weeks after the end of each quarter and posts the results online two weeks later for all members to view. This data is also used to write Flash Reports and economic forecasts. The survey is emailed to the main contact at each member company three weeks after the end of each quarter. To be added to this email list please contact Ed Gleeson at egleeson@printing.org or...

Printing Industries of America’s Joe Marin has recently published a new white paper, free to all members, titled Your Website: Keep it or Start Over?. This white paper describes—from a printer’s perspective—how to make sure your website is properly optimized for search. Just a few of the topics covered include: -How to assess your own website: Update or start over?-What message should your website convey to get new business?-Key steps to successful SEO for your website…and so much more! To download the white paper, members simply need to login and then click...

Recent articles in USA Today and Forbes have highlighted the growing 3D printing market. 3D printing, which has roots in industrial prototyping, is the “printing” of objects by devices that function somewhat similar to inkjet printers or plotters. Devices that create 3D models from Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) programs have existed since at least the 1990’s. Basically, 3D printers use plastic or other materials to create models layer by layer. If you’ve never seen one of these devices in action, do yourself a favor and search YouTube for videos of 3D printers. Traditionally, the major markets for these printed models (or prototypes) have been engineering, automotive, and architectural businesses. Recently, though, this process has been used in applications ranging from toy models to jewelry and even prosthetics. The research firm Wohlers Associates estimates sales for all 3D printing products and services worldwide at $1.66 billion in 2012 and approaching $3.1 billion by 2016. Stratasys, a Minneapolis company that developed some of the first 3D printers, partnered a couple of years ago with Hewlet Packard to create the HP Designjet 3D printer series. The cost of the device is reported to be in a range equivalent to about $17,500. Stratasys also offers 3D machines under their Dimension and uPrint lines. One more major vendor, the Z Corporation, which has a product line that includes a number of 3D printers, 3D scanners, and 3D software, was recently acquired by 3D Systems. Could your company expand to offer 3D printing services? It seems that many of the skill sets of digital press operators would translate well to 3D printing. There are, of course, companies that specialize in this, and checking them out might be worthwhile. A San Francisco-based company named Moddler prints 3D models, and, as you might guess from their Bay-area locale, Moddler’s primary market is the animation and special effects industry. Shapeways offers online creation and ordering of personalized products that are produced with a 3D printer. Their site has community/social media feel and their business model really is 3D web-to-print. My Robot Nation is a startup founded by veterans of the gaming industry. The site allows users to create and personalize full-color 3D models of...

Along with following the latest trends in digital printing, we at the Digital Printing Council also keep our eyes on innovative developments in social media and marketing technologies.  When we heard about an upcoming event at the New York Public Library (NYPL) called “Find the Future: The Game” we were so intrigued that we knew we had to share it. “Find the Future: The Game,” a combination interactive online game/real-world scavenger hunt, will coincide with NYPL’s Centennial Festival weekend, which takes place from May 20 to May 22 and honors the 100th birthday of the Library’s landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The custom designed, alternate reality game will have players collaborating and solving clues with the aid of laptops and smartphones. Their goal? Locate 100 significant artifacts from NYPL’s collection—and write about them. Before it opens to the public, a group of 500 players will have the chance to experience the game in a unique “Write All Night” lock–in event at the Schwarzman Building. The pre-selected players will assemble into small groups and search for the hidden artifacts among 70 miles of books—including 40 miles of underground stacks not normally accessible to the public. Upon finding each artifact, players will record their discoveries using smartphones and a custom built iPhone/Android QR code App. Additionally, each hidden artifact will present players with a specific writing prompt. The responses to these prompts will then be used to create a collaborative book, which the Library will actually publish and add to its public archives. As stated in the FAQ section of the game’s website “It is the first game in the world in which winning the game means writing a book together—a collection of 100 ways to make history and change the future, inspired by 100 of the most intriguing works of the past.” For a chance to participate in “Write All Night,” prospective players (18 years or older only) must register on the game’s website (http://game.nypl.org/) and respond to the following prompt: “Just imagine who you are ten years from now. What do you want for the world? What extraordinary goal do you want to achieve? When you have a vivid picture of your future, just fill in the blank: In the year 2021, I will become the first person to_______________.” Responses will be judged on creativity, originality, and determination. “Find the Future: The Game” also contains a unique social component. Right now, you can visit the game’s website to read and vote on entrants’ responses to the initial query about where they see themselves in ten years. Then, once the game has been “unlocked” by the participants in the overnight event, individual responses to the writing prompts for each artifact...