Every so often a new technology arrives that may have an impact on changing a market or replacing an earlier technology. I have just attended a new product launch from Océ and Canon at which they announced a new “breakthrough” technology for digital printing. This is a technology that is the basis for their new Océ VarioPrint DP line of monochrome printers. This is an imaging technology called Océ DirectPress. This technology is a toner based printing technology that does not use light, static charge, developer or toner oils or mixtures, high temperatures or generate any ozone. There is no imaging process using laser or LED imaging and with no traditional electrophotographic approach with its inherent potential for variability in the process. The claim for the new process is to provide high consistency and quality across jobs, time and machines. Océ claim this is a true digital technology for monochrome printing where there are no variables that can affect the output of jobs.

The new VarioPrint DP line has four models with print speeds of 95, 105, 120 and 135 pages/minute. The product line is designed to fit in with the Canon sheet fed monochrome printers and the high-speed and high-quality VarioPrint 6000 product range. The product is initially only available in Europe, and the product is priced in the range of €35 -45K. Océ are targeting what they see is an increase in demand for monochrome printing as corporates look to cut their printing costs by switching away from color printing. Océ also see that corporate CRDs are upgrading older monochrome systems also wanting to link new systems into the same workflow systems as are used for high-speed transactional and other printing. The press runs using the Océ PRISMAsync workflow for printing, scanning and copying.

It is interesting however when one looks at this DirectPress technology to see that it is not new but a regeneration of the technology used in the earlier CPS range of color presses. This was a range of presses developed in the early 2000s that used seven colors for imaging and that were ideal for a range of uncoated and non-smooth substrates. The following is taken directly from a data sheet for one of these presses. “Océ Direct Imaging uses voltage and magnetism. No light is used to create an image. It is directly created on each imaging drum electronically, thereby providing highly accurate color registration and image fidelity. The image is transferred from the drum using Océ Copy Press technology that presses the image to the paper, at a low-fusing temperature. The result is highly consistent print quality without any waste of toner.” The technology is almost the same today but using only a single color. The speed of the press is roughly the same as the CPS press would run at a speed around 20 pages/min in color where there would be seven imaging passes to build up the color.

In addition to the DirectPress technology Océ is also introducing Océ HeatXchange. This is an energy saving technology that takes heat out of the fused printed sheets by cooling and transfers this to new sheets entering the printing process. It is claimed that this can reduce energy consumption by up to 30%

This technology is ideal for use in monochrome whereas it was too slow and limited for the color market. The quality is excellent for the corporate market but not as good as the quality from the latest Variostream 6000 printers. It is ideal for uninterrupted working and the press has a duty cycle that enables it to run for long periods particularly when equipped with multiple paper trays. The press is also available with a range of inline finishing configurations as well as scanning of documents for printing.

Another Offset Supplier Going Digital

“Clays in £5m digital equipment spend”

Clays is ramping up its digital book printing capability with a £5m spend on new kit, allowing the firm to offer publishers a wider range of print-on-demand options.

Clays managing director Kate McFarlan described the new system as the result of a “unique partnership” between Clays and Timsons. The high-speed integrated line will comprise a duplex monochrome press built by Timsons, feeding book blocks through to a Muller Martini binding line to provide either perfect bound paperbacks or lined book blocks, with JDF controls for full automation. The new system, which is set to be installed in spring 2012, will offer “full flexibility on reel sizes, substrates and book formats”. Details about the digital print engine technology are being kept under wraps for the time being.”

It is interesting that a Muller Martini line is being used rather than the Magnum line developed by a team that had worked for Timson in Canada.

Clays are one of the largest book printers in the UK and have recently invested in digital printing with a Kodak Versamark VL series press, in preparation for moving to a Kodak Prosper press. Recently Kodak has installed a Prosper 1000 monochrome press and it is understood that this has now gone into production. While the Timson press’s details are still under wraps one has to speculate that it is likely to be using Kodak’s Prosper print heads, however that is purely specification and we will have to wait to find out more about this. Hopefully Timson will bring their new press to drupa next year.

It is interesting to see a number of offset press suppliers moving in the digital direction, but at this time we are only seeing European offset press suppliers moving in this direction. One has to wonder what is happening in companies like Komori, Goss and Mitsubishi and whether we can expect to see announcements from them before next year’s drupa.

Putting the Wow in any offer requires understanding and delivering value. If you want to understand the value of TransPromo, you need to look at it from a few different perspectives:

• What does marketing (your customer) value?
• What creates value for the organization producing the document?
• What does the end-recipient of the document (your customer’s customer) value?
• If you can understand and deliver value for all three of those groups, Wow! What an offer!

TransPromo, which involves leveraging transaction data to deliver relevant, personalized customer communications, provides this opportunity. The capability to add relevant marketing content to transaction documents, such as statements, invoices, and electronic payment notifications, is tremendously valuable to marketing because it allows the marketing budget to be used more efficiently and, in many cases, more effectively. For example, TransPromo can:

• Replace direct mailings to customers by leveraging campaign content on the transaction document
• Reinforce and promote campaigns delivered via other channels (see our new ad on MTV! Visit our website for the latest discounts!
• Generate improved response rates and develop stronger customer relationships by making offers that are relevant to each reader and delivering “point-of-need” content triggered by customer data

Relevant offers have been shown to increase response rates by 300% over those that are simply personalized, according to research conducted by PODi. Similar studies conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) indicated that personalization alone can boost response rates by 44% over static communications, while personalization plus color can take response rates up 135%. When campaigns are personal and relevant (defined as one-to-one content) and produced in color, response rates increased by 500% over static — meaning that relevance provides a bump of 365% over personalization and color alone. Transaction documents provide the customer data that enables relevant campaigns — and relevance delivers stronger response rates.

While TransPromo is usually positioned as a solution for the marketing folks because of its proven ability to increase response rates, decrease campaign costs and shorten campaign cycle times, it has tremendous value for print production operations as well. Print service providers and in-plant printers maximize profits by streamlining document processing to the nth degree (or to the sixth sigma if you prefer.) This means maximizing the “up time” of all equipment and simplifying warehouse operations. TransPromo enables many of these benefits in a black and white environment — and offers even more Wow when you add color. With TransPromo:

• Inserts can be turned into “onserts.” This avoids batching mail to fit selective inserter limits and can allow mail to be manifested, potentially reducing postal spend and bypassing physical presorting machines
• Inventory management of physical inserts and setup of inserts on intelligent inserting equipment can be eliminated, increasing up-time for inserters and reducing storage and handling costs
• The relevant messages will also be delivered online for your e-presentment clients (which is not usually the case with inserts)

Printers are also happy to add another profitable service area to their bag of tricks with the ability to manage and report on campaign messages. While marketing departments have many tools for managing campaigns on other channels, few have extended their technology to support TransPromo. Providing the ability for your customers to leverage their existing campaigns and digital assets on the transaction documents you produce for them has the added value of deepening ties with marketing and making your services more “sticky.”

The final bonus in the TransPromo value chain goes to the end-customer, who receives a document tailored to their requirements with valuable offers based on an understanding of their buying habits. They will also be less likely to receive additional annoying and irrelevant offers from the sender, perhaps slightly diminishing the clutter in their mailbox (or inbox). Well-executed TransPromo initiatives have been proven to improve customer loyalty and reduce customer attrition.

A solution that saves money and generates better response rates while making operations more efficient and keeping customers more satisfied? It sounds like TransPromo is a winning proposition.

Visit OceWowFactor to download the InfoTrends white paper entitled Electronic Use of Transaction Data, a Catalyst for TransPromo Across ALL Chanels.

Putting the Wow in any offer requires understanding and delivering value. If you want to understand the value of TransPromo, you need to look at it from a few different perspectives:

• What does marketing (your customer) value?
• What creates value for the organization producing the document?
• What does the end-recipient of the document (your customer’s customer) value?

If you can understand and deliver value for all three of those groups, Wow! What an offer!

TransPromo, which involves leveraging transaction data to deliver relevant, personalized customer communications, provides this opportunity. The capability to add relevant marketing content to transaction documents, such as statements, invoices, and electronic payment notifications, is tremendously valuable to marketing because it allows the marketing budget to be used more efficiently and, in many cases, more effectively. For example, TransPromo can:

• Replace direct mailings to customers by leveraging campaign content on the transaction document
• Reinforce and promote campaigns delivered via other channels (see our new ad on MTV! Visit our website for the latest discounts!)
• Generate improved response rates and develop stronger customer relationships by making offers that are relevant to each reader and delivering “point-of-need” content triggered by customer data

If want to read the rest of this article and for more like it, visit www.OceWow.com to download the July Newsletter!

Transform your customer’s statements into their best customer communications vehicle… with personalization and relevant content.

 TransPromo communications take a standard bill or statement and add meaningful marketing messages — in other words, integrating a TRANSactional document with proactive PROMOtional marketing. The changes in postal rates and technology have created an environment where TransPromo makes good business and economical sense for many companies. TransPromo can be implemented in black and white, yet enhancing a statement or bill with color can significantly enhance response. These formerly routine documents can help you sell additional products and services and build brand loyalty.

 Study after study shows that statements command the most attention among many other common forms of customer communications. With so much attention paid to this document every month, there is huge potential to communicate directly with each customer on a “one-on-one” personal level.

 Through the use of targeted, personalized statements, DST Output has helped customers unleash the power of this opportunity and created deeper, more meaningful relationships with their customers. Cheryl Kananowicz, Vice President and Dave Smith, Operations Manager share how DST Output does it.

By Andy Gerry

I work at a company that is heavily focused on the online user experience for consumer and corporate identity risk management services – and I’m also a print guy. You might think that print wouldn’t be that important of a competency for us, but you would be wrong. Intersections Inc.  is recognized as the preferred partner of major financial institutions providing custom identity management solutions. Clients leverage Intersections’ identity management solutions, offered under their own privately branded labels.

Private labeling. Branding. Corporate Identity– –just a few reasons print is important.

Supporting our customers’ unique brands online is relatively straight forward; doing the same in print is more complex and expensive.  While many of our customers are serviced online for monitoring, alerts and extensive drill-down reports, the majority of our customers still prefer printed fulfillment kits.   

Each customer who successfully enrolls in one of our credit and identity risk management services, either through one of our corporate partners or directly with Intersections, is sent a printed guide for using the services. It is a welcome kit, a user guide, and almost always contains their personal credit data and scores.  This welcome kit sets the tone for the quality of the service that they have enrolled in.

In the past, Intersections created these guides by matching offset printed covers with dynamically produced booklet content. The covers were on heavy, die-cut stock in full color and the booklets were dynamically generated using Group1’s DOC1 and printed in black and white on an IBM 4100 with near-line booklet maker.  While the content was informative and the covers were produced using our clients’ brand colors, the inside didn’t offer a customer experience that was comparable to what Intersections delivers online. For those customers who preferred print to online, there was a tangible lack of color and brand palate inside the guide.

We are always trying to deliver greater flexibility and value to our direct clients – the financial institutions who private label our products – as well as the end consumers of those products. By early 2009 we were convinced that going to a dynamic, full-color environment was the way to remain the leader in our industry. After an exhaustive evaluation of technologies on the market, considering both toner and inkjet solutions from a variety of manufacturers, in 2009 we selected the Océ JetStream 1000 system for printing and GMC PrintNet to compose the documents.

The redesign, reengineering and redeployment of our guides and other documents on the new platform has been tremendously successful. Not only can we support dynamic branding with ease, but we can use color dynamically to highlight key information for consumers and draw their attention to personalized information, much the same way that we do online.  This is not to gloss over the complexity and the hard work it took to architect a high integrity solution that supports multiple partners in a true white paper environment.  It took longer than originally scoped and we learned many lessons on the way.

The good news is that originally we knew we needed two engines for redundancy and failover, but were unsure if enough of our clients would be willing to adopt color to warrant the two engines.  The best case has happened and by the end of the year the majority of our materials will now be printed in full on demand color in our new environment.  Along the way we’ve eliminated the risk of managing preprinted inventories, eliminated the matching process and are able to deliver a superior product to clients and our end customers in a very cost-effective way. Making the printed experience consistent with the online experience – priceless!

Since the conversion to full color, Intersections’ financial services product was rated “Best in Class” by Javelin Strategy & Research (September 2010) and we were ranked among the 500 Top Technology Innovators Across America (2010 InformationWeek 500, September 2010). I’d like to think that us print guys (and gals) had something to do with that!

While the needs of on demand book printers vary widely based on order size, overall volume and platform, arguably, high volume on demand book printing requires some of the most complex workflow automation of any printing environment. Even transaction printers and direct mailers could learn some interesting tricks from visiting a dedicated on demand book printing site. Even with relatively standardized book sizes, there are many variations in book sizes and types:

• Monochrome books with color covers
• Color books with color covers
• Different finished sizes for books with perfect binding, case binding, or saddle stitching

The books themselves may use one or more presses to create the book block and another type to create the cover. There are laminators, trimmers, multiple types of binders and camera devices to integrate between the trimmers and binders to verify quality throughout the process. At the end of the production line, regardless of printing type or finish size, the completed book order must come together for packing and shipping in the most efficient manner.

The goal of book printing workflow is to allow each order to navigate through the complete production, finishing and shipping process with the minimum amount of human intervention and the highest level of productivity and quality. In addition, there is a need for tight integration with MIS, web-to-print and JDF/JMF communications protocols.

Like many well-orchestrated processes, the true beauty in book printing workflow often is found in the front end planning. Like a chess master, the workflow solution needs to be able to look at the whole board (the book order) and see 15 moves ahead to know what sorting, grouping and batching is going to enable the highest productivity for that day’s orders. An effective solution will allow batch management of all jobs prior to the start of printing grouped efficiently by size, imposition, run length and color and finishing requirements.

Real time quality control and reporting is critical as well. Bar codes are used to identify and track each job from start to finish, matching book blocks with covers and enabling routing through finishing, fulfillment and delivery. If any part of a job is damaged or produced at lower than acceptable quality, the barcode can be scanned and a reprint of the necessary components or the complete book itself can be automatically generated. Meanwhile the order entry system is continually updated so that inventory levels, order status and even the end customer can be kept informed. When book printing workflow is fully tuned to the production environment, it delivers thorough and integrated job management resulting in significantly increased productivity and cost savings. In fact, many book printers compete mainly on the strength of their workflow management capabilities.

Consider too that all of this complex choreography may be conducted using devices from completely disparate manufacturers to produce orders coming from a myriad of sources. In some ways, book printing may seem simpler than the complexities faced with data-driven transaction print or personalized direct mail – but when it comes to workflow, they wrote the book.

By David Smith

In the past, and for many companies currently, check printing has been slow and expensive. Checks required special stocks, MICR printing – often on dedicated machines or slower mixed-use machines. When checks are only part of the mailing, this often means a separate matching step that further slows down the process. Ideally, checks would be printed in-line with the rest of a job on the same paper and at high speed. This has been a challenge in the past due to the resolution and droplet control on inkjet devices as well as the lack of MICR capabilities.

The challenge of printing checks digitally from a blank roll at relatively high speeds has been overcome due to the higher resolution of the Drop-On -Demand (DOD) print heads and the development of a jettable MICR ink. Resolution of 600 X 600 is now very common at speeds of up to 600 feet per minute when producing output that doesn’t require MICR, but when printing checks the speeds are more in the 400 feet per minute range. While these speeds are not comparable to the offset space, they are significantly faster than the traditional cutsheet and continuous EP devices commonly used to produce checks digitally. With the higher speeds, and the ability to print from a virgin roll, the overall cost of check production can be significantly reduced using the latest high speed DOD printers. 

Jetting the MICR ink initially caused a significant reduction in print head life, but manufacturers have been able to resolve the excessive wear issues through improvements to the print heads plates. Other recent breakthroughs in the production of digital checks from a blank roll include:

• Integration of selective perfing equipment
• Ability to use a 20# bond or 50# offset sheet
• Digital pantographs
• Micro printing
• Drop out inks

The ability to use a 20# sheet can significantly reduce your postage spend in a multistage per envelope scenario.  At DST Output, initially we were advised that we would be required to use a 24# sheet, but in our testing and in the validation process we discovered that a 20# sheet meets all bank processing requirements.  The use of a digital pantograph, drop out ink and a micro print line meets the three security features requirement allowing for use of the Padlock icon on your digital checks.  The digital pantograph is a license that needs to be purchased annually at the printer level and each printer needs to be individually Check Payment Systems Association (CPSA) certified.  

In testing the MICR signal strength at DST Output over a 18 month period, the readability level has far exceeded CPSA specifications and is consistently better than what we experienced using EP printers.  In those 18 months of check printing we have produced over 10 million checks without a reported issue in terms of readability from our client’s service provider.  We are now printing checks at 800 pages per minute versus 150 pages per minute and our costs on white paper at that speed are quite a bit lower than what they were on preprint.  Getting more mail produced in one day has the added benefit of increasing postal density and reducing postal costs for our clients.

Overall, digital check printing on white paper has become an everyday non-issue allowing for reduced cost and quality that meets or exceeds US banking requirements.  

David Smith is the Operations Director for DST Output in El Dorado Hills California.

I have to admit that I’m becoming a true believer in the benefits of full-color white paper solutions. This is somewhat surprising since I’ve often been the person saying “black and white is good enough” for many of my client’s applications. (I made money designing those nifty paper stocks!) But, I’ve been watching inkjet technology evolve for some time and have been increasingly impressed with the advances in flexibility, control of ink droplet size, paper handling, power consumption and workflow from a variety of manufacturers. The tipping point has been the opportunity to see an increasing number of solutions in production.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Press Go webinar with DST Output on the opportunities and challenges involved with adding full color capabilities to a black and white operation.  DSTO has the distinction of operating the largest digital full color print factory in the world (I’ve been to their El Dorado Hills site and it is impressive). DSTO shared details on several case studies where their clients had achieved significant savings by going to a white paper solution. Key savings areas were:

• Reduction in postal costs by consolidating jobs into a single run and thereby increasing the number of mail pieces that qualify for the maximum postal discounts.
• Reduction in storage and management of multiple paper stocks and selective inserts
• Elimination of separate direct mail pieces to existing customers (replacement with full page, dynamic in statement promotions). In many cases, clients didn’t just save money – they made money.

In addition to the savings that accrue to the customer, DSTO drove down their own costs as well. They reduced costs associated with inventory management, paper changes and improved inserter efficiency. At the same time, they were able to reduce turn times and improve quality metrics. DSTO estimated that by going with a full color, white paper in solution that also supported MICR, they were able to produce two to three times the volume with half the warehouse space and seventy-five percent less staff.  

These results are pretty compelling but they didn’t come without some challenges, for example:

• Getting your customers to give up the preprinted stock (and check stock) for a standardized plain stock. You won’t get the benefits of a white paper solution without the white paper.
• Training operations staff – you need to have operators that understand the loose-web press environment but think like a transaction printer in terms of factory controls and post-processing.
• Training customers – document design, file handling and proofing are all different in the color environment and setting expectations early will make your transition – and your customers’ – smoother.
• Estimating for full color inkjet solutions is tricky business and needs to be continually monitored to make sure that job specs don’t change dramatically. Luckily, tools are available to support this process.
• If you want to get the full benefits of a “full color with MICR” solution on white paper, you will need to invest in software to add security features and a back end perfing solution. Also make sure that the MICR option is not just MICR mixed in with the black ’cause that gets expensive fast.
• If you’re not printing color now, you’ll want to make sure you have enough network bandwidth to handle full color files and understand the impact of different levels of graphics on throughput.

Finally, it needs to be said that not everyone has the volumes that DSTO has to make this type of solution efficient. While there are a variety of models available for different volume thresholds, the move to a full color inkjet platform should not be taken on as an “if you build it they will come scenario.” I’ve helped several customers evaluate the business case for moving to full color white paper and the case needs to be made based on a firm’s existing business – not the promise of future deals. The business case and volume threshhold is completely different when looking at toner devices and, of course, cut sheet versus continuous. Quite often, in those cases it is a cost justification that has to be made based on meeting the color requirements of the marketing department (which may not extend to transaction documents).

Very quickly, full color digital inkjet solutions for transaction printing have moved from a “marketing opportunity” to an operational imperative for many companies looking to reduce costs. At the same time, that operational imperative comes with a huge marketing upside for printers and their customers. Anything that gets operations and marketing people to agree gets a big hallelujah from me!

You access a recorded version of the  webinar here. Watch it an you might become a true believer too.

Paper making has changed over the past decades. The industry uses renewable energy more that ever, it has reduced water usage and has increased the use of recovered fiber; forest certification and chain of custody now insure the end user that the right things are being done, really!

But it also has been keeping up with the advancing technologies in printing and imaging today. With today’s digital presses paper makers need to work hand in hand and enhance the sheet to work and be qualified on the many machines out there in the market place. Paper like any product has many different variables that go into the making of a sheet.

Because toner and inkjet behave differently than ink, they usually require special papers. Some paper manufacturers offer grades for both digital and offset litho, so that jobs can include sheets printed by both processes. Take Inkjet for example. Inkjet printing is was originally designed mainly for home, home office, and small business use, but is becoming increasingly common for commercial applications. For best results on inkjet printers, use papers specifically designed for digital inkjet technology—with optimized smoothness, sizing, sheet formation, special coating, or enhanced brightness. Inks for drop-on-demand inkjet printing are pigment-based rather than dye-based. This means they are water-soluble and therefore less permanent than inks used in offset printing or toners used in laser printing (electrophotography). Non-water-soluble, lightfast inks are now available for industrial use. Combined with fade-resistant papers, they enhance photo longevity and color fastness. Some printers feature a custom color match (Pantone Matching System – PMS) for high-resolution jobs. Printers can also provide a color chart to designers. 

For Digital laser methods; Static electricity is how toner-based printers work, so humidity control is important. Some digital presses have built-in temperature and humidity control systems, but except for a few models, you will need a humidity-controlled environment. Higher temperatures increase the likelihood of humidity-related problems, including curling, blistering, cracking, etc. The higher the speed, the more heat generated. Proper paper conditioning prior to and during printing are important. Ideal conditions are 45% humidity and 75ºF (24ºC).

Specifically designed digital laser printing papers provide the best performance. Better “runnability” and end results are obtained with ultra-smooth surfaces and high brightness. Because the color range is limited compared to offset printing, laser digital printing is not recommended for color-crucial jobs (i.e. paint or fabric swatches).

Choosing the right media and then the right printing technology pared with the right paper can be tricky but a good printer and paper supplier can help. Trust them to help you get your message across!

In my last post I talked about the impact of workflow on in-plants and how it can help them stay relevant to the organizations they support. Now, as we shift our focus to the commercial print environment, there’s a temptation to focus on the similarities. Both serve customers, both aim to grow volumes and both are under pressure to offer more services, improve efficiency and compete more effectively. That’s where the similarities end.

While in-plants are under the gun to justify their value-add to the enterprise and prevent defection to external providers – those same external providers are wrestling with their own set of challenges.  Not the least of which is relentless pressure to deliver a profit month after month. In addition they must combat print suppression efforts,  satisfy the diverse requirements of more knowledgeable and demanding customers and make the transition from purveyor of ink to integrated service provider. All this at a time when core commercial print applications are under siege by alternate communication channels, the commercial print market is consolidating, volumes are declining and business in general remains stuck in an aimless recessionary grind.

Amidst this potent brew of challenges, digital print is increasingly seen as a requirement for survival, one that opens up new applications, opportunities and sources of revenue. Despite overall decline, the total print opportunity for 2011 is estimated to be an astounding 10 trillion pages. Of that number 2.1% or 216 billion pages are digital print – a number that’s expected to nearly double to 3.9% by 2014.

So if you’re a commercial printer looking to get your share of the growing digital opportunity, what’s workflow got to do with it? A lot, as it turns out. In fact, workflow can mean the difference between a print operation that’s rooted in the dark ages and one equipped to satisfy the expectations of 21^st century customers. Can streamlined digital workflow help commercial printers survive – or better yet, thrive – in the second decade of the new millennium? Yes -and here’s how:

1. As commercial print shops invest in digital print production, through workflow, they can expand their product offerings and expand into new markets that were originally out of market, becoming a true marketing services provider.
2. Software opens up the potential for commercial printers to handle multiple file formats and sizes, which allows for greater flexibility in the number of applications supported.
3. With a digital workflow, commercial print shops can store jobs electronically and print them digitally on demand. This, in turn, eliminates the need for longer runs and warehousing printed inventory.
4. With the ability to store files electronically, commercial print shops can turn jobs around quickly with minimal labor and processing, enabling a just-in-time production process.
5. As access to information increases and marketing messages become more targeted, a digital workflow that supports variable data and marketing messages enables commercial print shops to produce targeted, relevant communications that generate a better return on investment.
6. To meet demand for faster turnaround, shorter runs and variable data requirements, commercial print shops can implement web-to-print solutions that will offer the benefits of an online ordering system.
7. With digital workflow products that enable variable data document composition or streamlined make-ready, commercial print shops can diversify their product portfolios with value-added products and services.
8. With web-to-print and variable data solutions and increased application flexibility, commercial print shops can further strengthen customer relationships.
9. Overall, with digital workflow solutions that seamlessly route applications to digital print engines, commercial print shops can reduce production costs and improve efficiency.

In summary, an efficient digital workflow can facilitate the transition to integrated services provider, improve productivity and efficiency, enhance customer relationships and position commercial print shops to capture new opportunities. Want to weigh in? I’m interested to hear your take on the impact of a digital workflow on commercial print shops.

Every print services provider knows the drill – quote too high and you risk losing the job – quote too low and you risk losing money. Balancing these risks requires both art and science. Nowhere is this balancing act more challenging than when estimating complex color jobs.

For many print providers, the three-variable quote equation is:  cost plus target markup plus or minus a “gut factor” based on current demand and available capacity.

The “gut factor” takes away a percentage of the markup when the market is slow, and increases the markup when demand is high. Printers use varying levels of tools and analysis to come up with each of the three variables in the main equation. Some refer to static pricing books, some create sophisticated spreadsheets and others may use commercial estimating software tools that use many variables to estimate the costs of the job and add a designated markup – but the fudge factor is always in there somewhere. That’s because most people don’t totally trust the cost numbers that get spit out of a computer.

That’s because costs are both complicated and dynamic.

Typically costs encompass people, processing and technology costs – each made up of many sub-components. On the face of it, “People” includes labor, service and monthly or yearly maintenance contracts, “Processing” includes running costs like paper, ink, and power; and “Technology” includes capital and leased equipment costs. The complicating factor is that capacity on each piece of equipment is dynamic, and the level of efficiency on one piece of equipment impacts the capacity of other pieces of equipment. People, Processing and Technology are inextricably linked so a job that requires multiple stock changes on a continuous inkjet printer reduces the potential capacity of the print device, increases labor usage and impacts inserter efficiency as well. Since jobs to be quoted may vary significantly – a catalog approach would have to include a “worst case scenario” on efficiency thereby potentially inflating pricing. Even printers who use estimating tools tend to apply a “gut check” if they know a particular job is either very simple or more complex than average.

The situation takes on a whole new level of complexity when the device in question is a full-color inkjet machine – and don’t forget the potential for built-in MICR. These machines offer your clients tremendous cost savings potential, which can make you more competitive – but only if you get the quotes right – RIGHT?

Now your “processing costs” aren’t just about a single ink and a single coverage percentage – you’ve got C+Y+M+K and maybe plus MICR, each multiplied by a different coverage percentage and unit cost. Again – do you use the most expensive ink as your baseline? An average? Either way could dramatically skew your estimates – particularly when MICR is in the mix, since it is roughly 13 to 15 times more expensive than other inks. Here, the gut check just won’t do – it’s critical to have tools that not only let you test ink coverage and costs in advance, but monitor usage/coverage for the life of the job and see if it stays true to your estimate.

Imagine that you have a job of one million pieces that started out with five or seven percent ink coverage and crept up to 20 percent coverage over time as your client added more graphics and messaging to the document. Are you still charging the same price you quoted six months ago? Do you have clauses in your contract to adjust pricing based on actual coverage? If you don’t, you could be bleeding money for the life of the contract.

What’s needed is a way to calculate the number of dots for every color in a sample and break out percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, MICR or spot color coverage in order to generate more accurate quotes and collect essential color data on jobs in production. (Océ PRISMAproduction Truecost is a unique and valuable tool developed expressly for this purpose)

Another key, and often overlooked, factor that impacts costing is paper. Not the cost of the paper itself – that may be volatile but is at least directly measurable. I’m talking about the impact of the paper you use on the efficiency of the printer. Again – the linkage between People, Processing and Technology. Using papers that are not certified for a particular device can have dramatically negative results – increasing paper wastage,  “downtime” on the machine and potential fines for missed SLAs, and of course the potential to use more ink than required for the job due to absorption factors. Most print manufacturers have catalogs of paper that they have tested, certification programs with vendors and teams available to help you make wise paper choices. Take advantage of these resources both in selecting papers (or helping your customers to select papers) and in developing estimating guidelines that take into account the expected performance.

Estimating will always include the “art of the gut” to some extent, but the science is getting better and better.

What are your experiences with the challenges of estimating – especially when it comes to inkjet? I’m interested in hearing your take on the role job costing plays in creating accurate quotes – and the role quotes play in painting a brighter profit picture.

By Jack Miller, Principal Consultant, Market-Intell

In the world of digital print and paper, “nirvana” is a press that is capable of producing offset quality at a competitive cost on the same papers that printers use on their offset presses.

 For the most part, coated and uncoated offset papers run reasonably well with toner-based digital laser printing, but toner is expensive. Now, the next generation is here: low cost, high speed digital ink jet web presses made news at Drupa in 2008, Print09 last year, and IPEX this year. These are the Océ JetStream, the HP T300, and the Kodak Prosper, presses that are capable of commercial production output volumes with variable data.  Xerox also introduced a new production inkjet technology at IPEX, and while this technology is not yet commercial, it is  promising.

 Now, the challenge is paper.

Inkjet inks have high water content, and tend to soak into uncoated papers or sit up on coated papers where they may smear. For uncoated papers, HP and International Paper introduced ColorLok technology for desktop printers. This technology involves a calcium chloride-based chemical that is added at the paper mill and adds minimal cost. With the introduction of the T300 color inkjet web press, HP followed up with ColorPRO, a similar technology for inkjet presses. Abitibi Bowater, Georgia-Pacific and Stora Enso all produce ColorPRO qualified papers. The ColorPRO program requires that mills meet quality standards audited by HP. The HP T300 can also apply a “bonding agent” that enables printing on ordinary uncoated paper.

Coated papers, however, remain a challenge.

The list of available coated papers for ink jet is limited (see Table 1). HP’s ColorPRO technology is not designed for coated papers, nor is the bonding agent (although some coated papers do work better with the bonding agent.) Océ, HP, and Kodak are all working with the leading coated paper manufacturers. Appleton Coated reports that they are jointly developing high-speed inkjet coated media with HP, and the first such product is the Utopia Book Inkjet 45 lb. Matte Text.  Appleton Coated also offers coated papers in matte and dull finishes for direct mail and commercial printing applications. The Utopia Inkjet family, including Utopia Book Inkjet, does not require the use of the bonding agent. Appleton Coated has also worked with Kodak to qualify this grade on the Prosper press.

NewPage is also working on coated inkjet, and is working with glossy papers. I saw some beautiful books printed on NewPage 80 lb. Gloss Inkjet with the HP T300. This sheet is specially formulated for the HP T300 and is available on an inquiry basis. Other weights and finishes will be available as market demand increases.

Table 1 Coated Inkjet Papers

 The two market areas that are finding the most immediate traction are books and direct mail. For books, waste factors are high, logistics are expensive and returns remain a major factor. Digital solves these problems, and even though paper costs may be a bit higher, the economics remain favorable. Digital book printing can be a one-off printed by Amazon or by a digital book printer like Lightning Source, but for these “new generation” digital ink jet presses; this is about medium length runs and keeping the printing cost under control, while slashing inventory and logistics costs. For direct mail, the economics are equally compelling. It is much better to print 500,000 copies of personalized, targeted direct mail and get a response rate of 8 to 10 percent than to print a million copies and get a 2 percent return.

For now, the installed base of digital inkjet presses is small, but as the base grows, run lengths at the mills will lengthen and costs will come down. This will provide a stimulus to demand for digital print, and the range of applications will increase. The new presses have been described as “disruptive technology,” i.e. technology that will change the rules of the game. And ultimately, these new rules will mean more digital inkjet papers.

 Jack Miller is Principal Consultant, Market-Intell, a supplier of strategic consulting and “Need to Know” market intelligence in paper, print and packaging. He can be contacted at jack.miller@market-intell.com     

We are truly in the golden age of printing. It’s an exciting time full of technology convergence, disruption and acceleration. Along with all of this is the necessary sorting out true cost/benefit of any technology including the energy used to run it. As the old adage goes, you can’t track what you don’t measure. This writing explores that philosophy as it pertains to power consumption.

It is generally accepted that digital printing costs less to both you and your customers in terms of both time and money in specific situations, and although this can be true, the question here is how does power fit into the equation?

Hybrid printing facilities have a variety of options when it comes to jobs that at the outset seem more efficient through the use of one technology over another. Do you run it offset or digital? Preprint shells and imprint data or run an otherwise black-only variable data color job on a digital color press? Sure, time and cost can be calculated in terms of BHC and necessary turn around, but for each piece of equipment what is the true cost of the power used to run it?

The power it takes to run digital versus offset equipment can and should be measured on an isolated basis. There are many permanent and portable power meters and data-loggers on the market generally ranging from $600 to $3000 for a three-phase-capable unit. This cost can be viewed as a quick payoff investment to get a true picture of how much power is consumed by each piece of equipment in the shop for a specified duration, either under load, idle or “off”, provided the results are utilized to proper advantage.

For instance, platesetters, digital presses, cutters &c. all are under idle power when not in use. By calculating the idle time power draw and then isolating a production run under full load, a true picture of the actual cost can be achieved. Now how about warm-up time? Obviously a cutter doesn’t have much of one, while a digital press does. Most shops have these machines powered up all day long, idle or not. How much money could be saved by turning off idle devices when not in use? Of course the same can be said for idle workstations, lighting and climate control, but that’s not the focus here.

On the other hand, offset presses, with the exception of associated compressors, chillers, agitators, recirculators, UV units, thermal oxidizers… well, you get the point, along with folders, stitchers and some types of packaging equipment do not draw active power when not in use. They do however draw at the very least phantom power. In all cases, the question comes down to whether there’s a warm-up time, and how much power that activity consumes and whether or not a lockout device should be employed to completely power down when it would otherwise be “turned off”.

Once the true power consumption costs are calculated for any given piece of equipment how could this play into your organization’s strategy? Here are some thoughts:

1. Benchmark costs for power used for jobs on specific equipment;
2. Track unused idle time and phantom power draw, and find ways to eliminate the same;
3. Report on isolated power consumption as part of a formal Life Cycle Analysis (LCA);
4. Use power consumption as an evaluation tool to cost one technology over another;
5. Integrate power isolation metrics into upper management’s continuous improvement dashboard;
6. Incentivize and empower employees to reduce energy use;
7. Empower customers to make the choice of technologies partially based on energy use;
8. Integrate a power reduction strategy into the organization’s sustainability reporting;
9. Normalize power conservation into the organization’s DNA;
10. Become a champion and tell your story to the masses.

What other ideas can you come up with?

Orange County Printing (OCP), a Consolidated Graphics, Inc. (NYSE: CGX) company, has launched Forte Select, a line of personalized promotional gift and apparel items.   Unlike traditional promotional product providers, Forte Select enables users to create one-off pieces such as mugs, mouse pads, and t-shirts that are personalized with individuals’ names, images, or other custom content.  

“We are among a select group of companies offering the ability to personalize promotional products, and view this capability as a way to broaden and enhance the marketing resources of our customers,” said Tarek Korraa, president of Orange County Printing and creator of Forte Select. “Our customers are demanding a more personalized marketing experience, and now we can offer uniquely customized promotional products in addition to our custom pulp products such as photo books, custom calendars and variably printed direct mail pieces.”

 These personalized promotional products are printed through a dye-sublimation or digital inkjet process, and enable customers to avoid the costly setup fees, quantity minimums, and other costs that are inherent considerations when producing most promotional products.

Please forgive me for posting an advertisement – but I really liked these videos. (Actually – I  posted the “Old Spice Guy” video awhile back so I’m already in the dog house.)

There are a whole bunch of variations out there on the “sound sculpture theme.”  I would have described it more as a “color dance.” The campaign (scupture? dance?) was put together by the Dentsu Agency in London and is a great example of how “soft-selling” via social media can work.

I guess anything that helps our industry promote the beauty of color printing is probably not a bad thing – right?