Inkjet Summit Sparks Enthusiam

Production inkjet presses are not plug-and-play systems. Marco Boer, VP of IT Strategies, made that very clear in his closing remarks at the fourth annual Inkjet Summit in April.

Successfully implementing production inkjet technology means changing the entire culture of your business and taking a fresh approach to your workflow, software, finishing, applications, sales efforts — everything, insisted Boer, who served as conference chair of the sold-out event.

“It is truly going to change your culture,” he said.

Elizabeth Gooding of Gooding Communications Group and Brett Birky with Urban Fulfillment Services address the transaction market segment during a breakout session. Birky talks about his in-plant’s success with inkjet printing.

The 100-plus printers in the room hung on his every word. They were all there to learn how they could get a piece of the expanding production inkjet pie. None of them left disappointed.

“I have been in the industry for 25 years now and this was one of the best printing events that I have ever attended,” praised Jud Posner, pressroom manager at the Church of Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center, which recently installed a Fujifilm J Press 540W inkjet press. “From Marco’s opening keynote address, through all of the different seminars, case studies and breakout sessions I probably learned more over the three days at the Summit than I have in the two years that I have been working on my own research and due diligence on inkjet technology.”

Jud Posner (center) with the Church of Scientology International listens to a speaker during one of the case study presentations.

The Inkjet Summit, held at the elegant Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, near Jacksonville, Fla., has become the industry’s top event for inkjet education. Attendees this year hailed from data management firms, advertising agencies, commercial printers, insurance companies, banks, religious institutions, universities and more. A record 21 in-plant managers attended this year.

From left: Lora Connaughton and Charity Beck of the University of North Texas chat with Debbie Cate of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center during dinner.

All attendees were hand-picked by the summit’s organizers, nGage Events and NAPCO Media (owner of In-plant Graphics and Printing Impressions). They spent three days networking and learning from one another, while enjoying a nonstop program of keynotes, panel discussions, case studies and user conversations. The near-constant flow of information provided printers with an in-depth look at everything involved in making inkjet work for them.

Unique Opportunity

“The Inkjet Summit is a unique opportunity to meet directly with the best and brightest business leaders, thought leaders and critical vendor contacts all in one small venue,” noted Chuck Werninger, senior manager of Administrative Services at the Houston Independent School District.

Attendees listen to a case study presentation from Standard Finishing Systems.

“The educational information on the planning and requirements for both the front and back ends of the inkjet presses was particularly helpful for my business justification as we move in that direction in the near future,” added Lora Connaughton, director of Printing and Distribution Solutions at the University of North Texas.

Attendees were split into four market segments based on their business focus: books, direct mail/marketing, general commercial and transaction. Sponsors presented case studies for each segment, experts offered industry research on those markets, and inkjet users lent their experience to some insightful, very interactive discussions.

Roger Chamberlain (second from right) of the Cincinnati Insurance Co. networks during a reception.

The enthusiasm of attendees and sponsors alike was very high, with many compliments going to organizers for bringing the two groups together in such an intimate setting. The event included scheduled one-on-one meetings between individual printers and appropriate vendors, an approach that drew praise from all sides.

“It was great to have the most respected industry experts all in one place,” remarked Bret Johnson, production supervisor at the Mayo Clinic, “with the ability to have in-depth conversations about business questions, challenges and opportunities while learning from others that have been down this path.”

Scheduled one-on-one meetings gave sponsors and attendees an opportunity to forge relationships. Here, Brett Johnson of Mayo Clinic talks with representatives of BCC Software.

Rock Solid Technology

After $20 billion of R&D investment in inkjet technology so far, said Boer, “the technology is rock solid.” There are now both cut-sheet and roll-fed inkjet presses available, and the number of inkjet-treated substrates continues to grow. Ink prices are coming down. The production inkjet market is growing at a 27% compound annual growth rate, he said. Last year about 250 billion inkjet pages were printed, he proclaimed, and nearly 1,500 systems have been installed worldwide.

The quality of inkjet printing has drastically improved, he insisted. And while he acknowledged it is still not offset quality, he stressed that it doesn’t need to be.

“I think you might be very surprised at what people are willing to accept,” he noted — especially when they learn of the lower cost.

Kelly Hogg of the University of Virginia takes notes during a presentation.

Unlike the attendees of the first Inkjet Summit in 2013, he remarked, “you are no longer an early adopter.” Margins will continue getting squeezed as more printers add inkjet technology. Don’t wait until presses become more affordable, he cautioned.

“The longer you wait, the more you’re going to find yourself at a disadvantage,” he warned, and the more likely you’ll find yourself fighting to hold onto your business.

A record 21 in-plant managers attended the Inkjet Summit. Among them were (front row, from left) Doug Maxwell (Brigham Young University), Roger Chamberlain (The Cincinnati Insurance Co.), Lora Connaughton (University of North Texas), Charity Beck (UNT), Pete Gjerness (U.S. Bank) and Dino McCann (The Christian Broadcasting Network). Back row, from left: Kelly Hogg (University of Virginia), Ryan Sondrup (BYU), Bret Johnson (Mayo Clinic), Chuck Werninger (Houston Independent School District), Debbie Cate (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center) and Jud Posner (Church of Scientology, International).

The biggest cost of implementing inkjet, he said, is not the machine, it’s the learning curve. If you wait, you’ll just be giving your competitors time to go through that curve themselves.

The Shell Game is Over

Boer’s message was emphasized by keynote speaker Jamie Huff, of Progressive Impressions International (Pii), whose company drastically altered its entire business by adding inkjet technology. A few years ago, Huff noted, Pii spent millions preprinting shells; today, “we’re basically an inventoryless shop,” he said.

More than just replacing offset presses, though, inkjet enables Pii to offer new and exciting applications to customers. This added value is what inkjet users need to promote, Boer emphasized.

“Don’t think about this as a replacement for offset necessarily; at the end of the day … you really have to think about how you’re going to squeeze out more value.”

You need to meet with customers, analyze their current applications, show them what inkjet technology can do for them and help them discover new printed products that will help them improve the value they can offer their clients.

Throughout the Summit, current inkjet users imparted lessons they learned (often the hard way). In one panel discussion, John Jeffrey Bogart, VP and managing director of Freedom Graphic Systems, noted that the jobs he expected the company would get after adding an inkjet press, such as financial services work, were not what they got. Instead, clients in the retail industry dominated the customer list. Inkjet allowed Freedom Graphic Systems to offer new applications that hadn’t previously been considered.

VDP Stokes Inkjet’s Value

Dave Johannes, senior VP, operations at IWCO Direct, noted that variable data printing is where the true value of inkjet lies. If you’re only going to print static pages, you won’t get as much as you could from inkjet.

Posner, from the Church of Scientology’s in-plant, related an early misstep, when his shop initially used offset paper on its inkjet press, with low quality results. After switching to inkjet-treated paper the quality improved dramatically. By negotiating with the paper vendor, the in-plant worked out a deal allowing it to pay less for this inkjet-treated stock than it was paying for offset stock, he revealed.

Brett Birky, senior VP of operations for Urban Fulfillment Services LLC, spoke at two sessions about his in-plant’s two inkjet presses, used to print mortgage documents with very fast turnaround times. Selecting the right workflow software, he revealed, was a major part of the process, since workflow is crucial for streamlining operations and getting files to print seamlessly.

Canon Solutions America accepts the "Company to Watch For" award. From the left, Mark Subers, Printing Impressions; David Pesko, nGage Events; Michael Poulin, Director, Product Marketing, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America; Tonya Powers, Manager, Marketing – Graphic Arts Segment, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America; and Philip McKay, nGage Events.

Ralph Graves, of TCS, a Time Inc. company, related how justifying inkjet required his operation to re-imagine many well-established processes. Some 2,700 offset-printed forms had to be transitioned to inkjet, and workflows that could accommodate both single-piece jobs and those with more than a million pages had to be built.

Boer gave attendees a preview of the inkjet technologies expected to be shown at drupa. He noted that image quality on these newer devices will be higher, as will substrate compatibility and productivity.

As the Inkjet Summit drew to a close, attendees were given the chance to pick the best case study presentations, and the winners were revealed at an awards ceremony on the final night. Canon Solutions America was named “Company to Watch,” and  Xerox, Kodak, Ricoh and HP all received Best Sponsor Case Study Presentation awards. From their enthusiastic response, attendees felt this year’s Summit was a great experience and well worth their time.

“Everything about the Summit, from an attendee viewpoint, was perfect,” lauded Posner. “I very much enjoyed the jam-packed schedule and … my head was definitely spinning with ideas and solutions that I can implement in our operations.”