NEARLY TWO decades ago a major production trend called “print on demand” emerged. Its effects not only changed the way documents were produced, but also how they were stored, packaged and shipped—and, more importantly, how quickly they needed to be fulfilled. Then the “Internet revolution” took hold and once again traditional in-plant applications were impacted. Forms moved to laptop computers while rate guides and directories became Web sites.
If you couldn’t already tell from the numerous news stories IPG publishes each month, digital color printing is a hot topic for in-plants. One more sign of this came at Graph Expo last month when more than 60 in-plant managers packed into a special digital printing seminar, co-hosted by IPG and the IPMA. The 90-minute session featured six different speakers—three vendors and three in-plant managers—who provided a ton of useful information about selecting, cost justifying and marketing digital color printing equipment.
The In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) held its first online chapter meeting on Tuesday, and it was a big success. Though it was organized by the Portland, Ore., chapter, participants spanned the country, joining in from Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Indiana and other places. “This is really a historic first for the IPMA,” proclaimed Dana Bauer, of Fred Meyer’s Portland-based in-plant. The meeting was facilitated by Ricoh’s Production Printing Business Group (PPBG), with Greg Cholmondeley serving as host. Participants phoned in and also logged in to be able to watch PowerPoint presentations. Mike Loyd, a Ricoh program marketing manager, gave a presentation
The In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) is about to hold its first online chapter meeting. Organized by the Portland, Ore., chapter, the virtual meeting will take place Tuesday, September 23 at 11 a.m. The meeting will take place via WebEx, a Web conferencing site. Presenters will share PowerPoint slides and spreadsheets, and participants can ask questions either verbally or with a chat feature. At the meeting: • Debbie Pavletich, IPMA President & Michael Loyd, IPMA Past President will offer some inside information about exciting new plans for IPMA. • Jean-Luc Devis, Director, Washington State Dept of Printing, will do a short segment called
InfoPrint Solutions Co., a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announces another step in its on-going program with the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council through the formation of the Corporate and Faculty Leadership Committees, in support of a milestone research initiative. These groups of leading marketers, experts, authors and academics will provide insight to support InfoPrint’s commitment to and continual drive to educate the marketplace on the value of TransPromo. The company has also been working in partnership with the CMO Council to launch several pilot TransPromo projects with blue chip brands across North America.
Once you have the customer’s disk in your hand, you are already losing money. The file is in the wrong format 80 percent of the time, and the disk often doesn’t include the original files and EPS images. This assertion was made by John Kaufman, segment marketing manager at Ricoh Americas Corp., in a recent issue of Ricoh’s Production Print News. Not everyone is your customer, Kaufman wrote. These one-and-done jobs are never profit makers, but profit breakers. You need customers who will help you achieve and sustain profit and growth. You need devoted customers who understand the value you bring to the
DIGITAL PRINTING technology had its strongest showing yet at Drupa 2008, the world’s largest graphic arts trade show. The two-week event, which took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, last month, lived up to its billing as “The Ink-jet Drupa,” with “green printing” being the only challenger as a show theme, since virtually every exhibitor touched on it. About 391,000 visitors prowled the 19 halls of Drupa this year, (see sidebar about in-plants that attended), checking out the 1,971 exhibitors from 52 countries. Most of the attention, though, centered on the new digital printing devices, particularly those in the ink-jet category—though with prices ranging from $1
BY MOST accounts, the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference in Tunica, Miss., last month was one of the best ever. Attendance was up, enthusiasm was high and the presentations were engaging, informative and well attended. True, it was a virtual oven outside, with daily temps in the mid-90s, but the action was all indoors, from the big vendor fair on the first day, to the excitement of the awards banquet on the last. “The participants seemed more serious about finding out new information this year,” observed Glenda Miley, manager of Auburn University’s CopyCat operation. “I noticed that most of the
The CMYK flood gates have opened and everyone seems to be saying it in color. Before deciding whether or not to implement full color printing, read this article by Ricoh’s Kurt Konow, data center segment marketing manager. Among his suggestions, he advises in-plants to first: • Discuss and create with document owners an appropriate color strategy • Target one or two initial applications for full color integration • Estimate appropriate costs and timelines for the projects Read the full article at www.ricohdatacenter.com/rc_dc2_thinking_email.html
InfoTrends has signed up several industry leaders as sponsors for its second annual TransPromo Summit, taking place August 13-14 at the New York Hilton. Exstream Software, HP, InfoPrint Solutions, Kodak, Océ, Pitney Bowes, Riso and Xerox have all committed to participating in the event as Platinum Sponsors. Other sponsors will include Printable Technologies, Ricoh and Solimar. The TransPromo Summit is designed to educate attendees on the strategies, techniques and tools for fusing the traditional transaction document with marketing messages to enhance customer communications, improve customer retention and increase revenue. “The educational program will bring together senior executives and managers from the vendor, service provider
