The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, Fujifilm. Fujifilm’s Graphic Systems Division is proud to continue our long-standing support of Printing Industries of America and the 2016 President’s Conference. Our loyalty to PIA and its members aligns with Fujifilm’s prevalent role in the graphic communications industry.  Fujifilm stands apart based upon our broad perspective on both the legacy, analog components of your business, along with every aspect of the newer options for digital print production. Whether it’s pressroom supplies or the premier portfolio of offset and flexo printing plates and equipment, we’ve got you covered. When it comes to digital print, we span the gamut from toner-based solutions to hybrid combinations of traditional and digital, to the cutting edge of 100% digital for applications ranging from commercial to packaging to wide-format. Our commitment to our collective industry is second to none, both in terms of personnel and investments. In the North America market alone, we have a combined field sales and service team of more than 325 skilled professionals. Over the past 10 years we have invested more than $1 billion in targeted acquisitions in the digital print technology category and continue to invest more than $2 billion annually on R&D. Fujifilm’s newly renovated and expanded Chicago Technology Center encompasses more than 23,000 square feet and offers a wide array of printing solutions, from offset to packaging, wide format to narrow-web labels, digital toner presses to high-speed production inkjet presses, and workflow to color management. Fujifilm delivers a first-hand and hands-on educational experience for print providers, all in one facility. Onsite visits to the Chicago Technology Center include one-on-one demonstrations allowing you to run your files on your substrates, VIP tours, Technology Summits, and industry events. We can arrange a private tour for you and your company as well. With the most diverse product and solution portfolio in the graphics industry, Fujifilm can provide an insightful, close-up experience on how the latest innovative technologies can expand and grow your printing business. Your attendance at the President’s Conference is a testament to your leadership approach within your organization; seeking to network and learn from subject-matter experts and your peers is a key success factor in our ever-changing industry. If you are a current customer, thank you for your business—we don’t take our business relationship for granted. If you aren’t currently a Fujifilm customer, we would appreciate the opportunity better understand you and your business, and how we can apply our perspective, commitment, and innovative approach to your needs now, and in the...

The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, Heidelberg. Let’s view the print process as a car manufacturing production line. It’s designed, tested, and highly monitored to achieve the highest level of efficiency at the lowest unit cost and at a set quality level. Print is a manufacturing process and should be viewed in exactly the same way. Automation and color monitoring (importantly it must be spectrophotometry!) has led to print being a honed process, not an art. Equipment investment should therefore be judged on its ultimate output cost per sheet. Productivity of your investment far outweighs any initial premium you may pay for that piece of equipment. If you are hanging onto older, paid-off equipment, I can almost guarantee that the latest equipment used by competitors has a lower cost per sheet, including the fact that their cost rate includes paying back that new investment. Let’s look at an example in the finishing department, which tends to be the area using most of the older technology, i.e. lacking regular replacement investments to keep pace with technology. How Can I Save? Let’s take a look at the average cost to produce a 16-page signature on a two-shift operation: With an older folder, manufacturing at just 5,800 sheets per hour, you’re spending an average of .00763 cents per folded signature. With a new folder, such as a Stahlfolder KH 82, manufacturing at 11,000 sheets per hour, you will cut the cost down to an average of .00433 cents per folded signature. This means if you are running 2.8 million sheets per month, you have the potential to save over $9,000 a month with the newer machine. That’s an annual savings of $108,000. The same analysis needs to be carried out across every cost center, plus the combined capacity of linked processes also needs to match. The most efficient printers load the business from back to front (finishing to prepress), therefore maximizing billings, reducing work in progress, and even adjusting cost rates daily to fill the capacity of each cost center. It’s a waste of investment funds, time, and cash flow if one process is highly productive—only to hit a significantly lower capacity wall downstream. If you ran a car manufacturing line, would you produce 8 wheels for each...

The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, Heidelberg. Let’s view the print process as a car manufacturing production line. It’s designed, tested, and highly monitored to achieve the highest level of efficiency at the lowest unit cost and at a set quality level. Print is a manufacturing process and should be viewed in exactly the same way. Automation and color monitoring (importantly it must be spectrophotometry!) has led to print being a honed process, not an art. Equipment investment should therefore be judged on its ultimate output cost per sheet. Productivity of your investment far outweighs any initial premium you may pay for that piece of equipment. If you are hanging onto older, paid-off equipment, I can almost guarantee that the latest equipment used by competitors has a lower cost per sheet, including the fact that their cost rate includes paying back that new investment. Let’s look at an example in the finishing department, which tends to be the area using most of the older technology, i.e. lacking regular replacement investments to keep pace with technology. How Can I Save? Let’s take a look at the average cost to produce a 16-page signature on a two-shift operation: With an older folder, manufacturing at just 5,800 sheets per hour, you’re spending an average of .00763 cents per folded signature. With a new folder, such as a Stahlfolder KH 82, manufacturing at 11,000 sheets per hour, you will cut the cost down to an average of .00433 cents per folded signature. This means if you are running 2.8 million sheets per month, you have the potential to save over $9,000 a month with the newer machine. That’s an annual savings of $108,000. The same analysis needs to be carried out across every cost center, plus the combined capacity of linked processes also needs to match. The most efficient printers load the business from back to front (finishing to prepress), therefore maximizing billings, reducing work in progress, and even adjusting cost rates daily to fill the capacity of each cost center. It’s a waste of investment funds, time, and cash flow if one process is highly productive—only to hit a significantly lower capacity wall downstream. If you ran a car manufacturing line, would you produce 8 wheels for each...

By Dr. Ronnie H. Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, and Tai McNaughton, Economist, Printing Industries of America Even companies with in-house printing capabilities rely heavily on commercial printers for their business printing needs. Why? A recent survey of 400-plus marketing and business executives jointly conducted by Printing Industries of America and FedEx Office revealed the answer. The survey respondents were managing marketing activities at medium and large companies across different industrial sectors. According to the survey respondents, there are several important reasons to use commercial printers—nine specific reasons listed in the survey were cited by over 7 out of 10 respondents. Product quality was given as the number one reason to rely on a commercial printer, followed by volume considerations, cost issues, color consistency, and color accuracy. A key takeaway is that customers recognize the array of advantages that commercial printers provide compared to their own in-house capabilities. The survey delved further into the quality and color complexities inherent in print jobs. According to the customers surveyed, commercial printers outperform in-house printers in meeting these challenges. Overall, respondents confirmed that there were lower instances of content being displayed incorrectly, color consistency problems, color accuracy problems, and product quality challenges when using a commercial printer over using an in-house printer. The most significant advantage for commercial printers over in-house shops was in product quality and color accuracy. Which of these Challenges Has Your Company Faced in the Last 12 Months? Customers also expressed the belief that commercial printers are better at addressing the various challenges of processing print projects, such as budgeting, time management, and communications issues. This is particularly true for completing jobs on budget. The only print process challenge in which in-house print shops outperform commercial printers is communicating the requirements for the job, and the difference was small. The findings, contained in an eight-page Flash Report, show a competitive advantage for commercial printers compared to customers’ in-house print capabilities. PIA Member companies can read the full...

By Dr. Ronnie H. Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, and Tai McNaughton, Economist, Printing Industries of America Even companies with in-house printing capabilities rely heavily on commercial printers for their business printing needs. Why? A recent survey of 400-plus marketing and business executives jointly conducted by Printing Industries of America and FedEx Office revealed the answer. The survey respondents were managing marketing activities at medium and large companies across different industrial sectors. According to the survey respondents, there are several important reasons to use commercial printers—nine specific reasons listed in the survey were cited by over 7 out of 10 respondents. Product quality was given as the number one reason to rely on a commercial printer, followed by volume considerations, cost issues, color consistency, and color accuracy. A key takeaway is that customers recognize the array of advantages that commercial printers provide compared to their own in-house capabilities. The survey delved further into the quality and color complexities inherent in print jobs. According to the customers surveyed, commercial printers outperform in-house printers in meeting these challenges. Overall, respondents confirmed that there were lower instances of content being displayed incorrectly, color consistency problems, color accuracy problems, and product quality challenges when using a commercial printer over using an in-house printer. The most significant advantage for commercial printers over in-house shops was in product quality and color accuracy. Which of these Challenges Has Your Company Faced in the Last 12 Months? Customers also expressed the belief that commercial printers are better at addressing the various challenges of processing print projects, such as budgeting, time management, and communications issues. This is particularly true for completing jobs on budget. The only print process challenge in which in-house print shops outperform commercial printers is communicating the requirements for the job, and the difference was small. The findings, contained in an eight-page Flash Report, show a competitive advantage for commercial printers compared to customers’ in-house print capabilities. PIA Member companies can read the full...

For someone who has never been to the TAGA Annual Technical Conference, the thought of attending might seem a little daunting. Organized by PIA’s Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA) group, the conference provides the opportunity for members to learn about the latest industry advances and those of related fields, as well as brainstorm with other experts about solving problems and roadblocks in order to move our industry forward. Members come to the Annual Technical Conference from all over the world and from all facets of the graphic arts industry. To give you a better understanding about what you can expect at your first TAGA Annual Technical Conference, we spoke with Birgit Plautz, TAGA Board Member, Manager of Technical Services at GMG Americas, and longtime conference attendee.   PIA: Thanks for speaking with us Birgit. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do at GMG Americas? BP: Here at GMG Americas I oversee our support and service department as Manager of Technical Services. This means leading a great team of help desk and field engineers throughout the Americas. Typically I also support our sales team on trade shows, work with our customers and channel partners, and interface with the printing industry through various organizations, technical committees, and conferences. PIA: Sounds like you don’t have a problem staying busy! How did you first learn about the TAGA Annual Technical Conference? BP:  I met the former Managing Director, Dr. Mark Bohan, at the Color Management Conference in Phoenix in 2011. I was new in the role and in the country at that time, and this was my first conference in the United States. We ended up having a longer conversation about conferences in our industry, which is when he suggested I should participate at TAGA. PIA: So you’ve had other experiences with PIA conferences. That’s interesting. What was your first experience at the TAGA Annual Technical conference like? BP: That’s actually a quite funny story. I got a call on a Friday afternoon from my German colleague Juergen Seitz. He was supposed to speak at TAGA in Albuquerque last year. He said he couldn’t go, due to a strike at the airline, asking me to sub for him on Sunday. So, I got on a plane and learned the presentation a day before my speaking slot. Luckily I was familiar with the topic, so I just had to learn how to convey his intention. The best thing about it was that it got me to go to the conference, even though I usually like a little bit more lead time. It turned out that it was actually the most interesting conference I’ve been to so far—at least...