Tag Archives: digital

Scodix Inkjet Spot UV––What?

Posted on November 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

Few know that Israel has invented and produced what I think is the most impressive digital printing equipment. First, came the Indigo digital press, and now comes Scodix. Scodix is a digital inkjet printer that can lay down clear gloss UV ink on preprinted sheets. So, what’s so cool about this?

Well to start, anyone in the industry knows the “wow” effect that spot UV has on the end user. But at the same time, everyone can attest to the “shock factor” when it comes to the cost! Needless to say, the traditional methods of applying spot UV have been reserved for plentiful marketing budgets and long offset runs. With a digital device like Scodix on the market, the Israelis are again changing the standards, much like digital print did to offset in the ’90s.

Scodix does a few cool things that traditional offset spot UV cannot:

  1. Economical short runs
  2. Variable content
  3. Variable depth, finish, surface area

The whole idea is that this technology can open up another dimension on print. As the VP of marketing, Ziki Kuly says best, “print has always been a two dimensional medium.” With the addition of this digital spot UV, Scodix is bringing print into the third dimension!

The real question is: Where can we implement this new technology to increase our return on investment?

 

Author: John Mehl

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Pitney Bowes Offers Up a Cloud-Based Transpromo Product! Will Google Play Ball?

Posted on September 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

A few months back in my post “Transpromotional Printing: Will Google Get on Board?” I predicted that Google would develop a product that would tie in its online advertising to printed statements. Transpromo advertising is a great way for marketers to vertically sell their current customer bases, but it is very hard for smaller companies to implement. Because of this growing pain, I had thought that Google would come up with a standardized solution. Since then, I have stumbled upon a few interesting things.

First, Google did investigate something like this. It ran a program called Google Print Ads. This started back in 2005 as a limited program in publications such as Maximum PC and Budget Living. The idea was to sell the less-desirable ads––such as quarter-page ads––in an auction format. Google would let the advertisers set their own pricing, similar to how AdWords works. The thought was that this would attract a larger base of online advertisers that wanted to transition easily into print advertising. Since this venture never proved to be successful, Google decided to shut down its efforts in 2009 and focus on how it could better serve the print advertising market.

Second, Pitney Bowes just started to offer a web-based, or––to use a common buzzword––cloud-based, transpromo service. The company hasn’t released many details on how this will work or what market it is targeting, but it is promising. If Pitney Bowes can build this functionality into its hardware, then it can really reach a wide array of customers.

To sum it all up, transpromo advertising is an amazing way to keep your customers engaged. Since you already communicate with them on a periodic basis, this advertising is a cheap or almost free way to get the word out. Because there is some programming and technology involved in bringing this to market, however, it hasn’t really caught on with the smaller to medium-sized companies. Therefore, the industry needs a larger company to take the reins and build a solution that is easy to implement into companies’ current hardware. Google could for sure figure out a way to do this, but I think that Pitney Bowes may be an even better candidate given that it is already so heavily established in the print and mailing markets.

If you had an easy way of incorporating transpromo into your statements, would you jump on board?

Author: John Mehl

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HP Introduces the T400 Inkjet Web Press

Posted on July 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Back in March, HP introduced the newest addition to its line of high-speed inkjet web presses. The T400 is the first of its kind to offer a full-size web width of 42 inches. HP has again opened the door to opportunities that were never before available in the digital print industry. This fills the gap between where digital laser presses stopped and traditional offset presses began. Now quantities from 500 to 5,000––books with high page counts or direct mail applications, for example––are seen as perfect candidates for these machines.

Of course, these high-speed inkjet presses require a substantial investment in finishing equipment, but a traditional offset plant may already have invested in that equipment. The T400 is special in that it can deliver on a 42″ roll or split that web into two 21″ rolls to match most preexisting finishing equipment.

Since HP started installing its T200 and T300 high-speed inkjet presses in 2010, these presses have already printed 1.46 billion pages. Acclaimed print enthusiast Frank Romano, a man I was privileged to study under at Rochester Institute of Technology, has stated that this press is at the “top of the industry,” meaning that this is now the standard of print! Not to mention that in all aspects concerning speed, flexibility, and image quality, this press trumps all the competition.

It is additions like the T400 that will continue to keep the print industry alive and well. Being able to pair variable print with amazing speed is what will allow marketers and advertisers to target exactly who and what they want, when the time is relevant. I honestly can’t wait for the first opportunity that drives me to use this press; it will be a true joy to work with such spectacular innovation.

So, what opportunities do you see this machine opening up for you?

Author: John Mehl

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President Obama Cancels the Printing of the Federal Register

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 1 Comment

In an address to the public, posted to YouTube on June 12th, President Obama announced an end to the printing of the Federal Register. Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.  In his video the president refers to these documents as, “expensive doorstops,” since they have been available online since 1994.

The end of the printed Federal Register is the start of a new era at the Whitehouse.  For decades millions (if not billions) of documents have been printed and distributed almost directly to the recycling bins.  Miles and miles of red tape have forced the government to print every piece of legislation regardless of the fact that it’s available online. There’s been mixed reactions to this message throughout the printing industry, but I have to say I side with the president.  When it comes down to it, political/legal documents are better viewed online.  Being able to search their content rather than skimming through hard copy. Instead of thinking about how the president is bashing our industry, we should be following in his footsteps and thinking how our clients could benefit from eliminating their printed materials and taking them to a digital media?

President and CEO of Printing Industries of America (PIA), Michael Makin’s response to this announcement was outright telling.  His response can be plainly categorized as a misinterpretation of the president’s message.  It is evident that he is in denial about the state of the printing industry.

Have a look: http://www.myprintresource.com/video/10286890/pias-michael-makin-voices-concerns-over-president-obamas-anti-print-comments

In the end, it makes sense for this document, and documents alike to only be available online.  While not everyone was able to obtain a hardcopy, everyone is able to view it online. So lets take a moment and think; what material do we print on a regular basis that is better suited online?

Author: John Mehl

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Is digital printing the new standard?

Posted on June 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

As digital printing is gaining more and more popularity, we have to take a step back and think; at what point will digital become the standard for print quality?  I won’t lie, I still prefer the quality of offset over digital, but that could just be my love for the smell of ink!  In all seriousness though, there is something about a perfectly printed offset sheet that still sets the standard for me. However, with digital presses such as the HP Indigo, that quality is put to the test. Traditional plastic based toner presses (Xerox iGen) still have some catching up to do, and I’m not sure if they will ever equate to that of offset.

Inkjet now is a whole different world. It used to be that a customer would supply a laser print of their project and ask the printer to improve upon that quality. But, today some customers supply an inkjet proof with their job and ask us to keep the quality the same! This, as we know can almost be an impossible task. There is at first the difference in the dot structure. Inkjet being continuous tone, and offset being line screen, but, that’s not the problem. Today a $100.00 desktop inkjet printer can be using seven or more ink colors!  They have the traditional CMYK + light magenta, light cyan, matte black, photo black, and some even having a gloss optimizer! The gamut of these printers far surpasses that of any traditional four-color offset press.

So, how do we handle this? You could print all your offset jobs using six-color processes (hi-fi printing). Or, you can have the difficult, yet appropriate conversation with your client to which that what they had supplied, just isn’t achievable given the processes at hand.

Basically what this boils down to is that you need to keep yourself and your client educated and updated on the latest technologies and processes. If you have a better understanding, your job will be easier. But, I didn’t answer my own question; what is the new standard? And for this, I would have to answer inkjet, for its quality is unsurpassable!

So, how can you use what you know about inkjet printing to your advantage?

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Xerox Acquires More Market Share Through Larger Sheet Size

Posted on May 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Back in 2010, Xerox released its latest update of the iGen digital printing press. The iGen4 was positioned as the “all new iGen” by Xerox. Most iGen owners who have transitioned from iGen1 up to iGen3 were not thrilled to hear of a new update. The updates were primarily in software, with subtle hardware fixes. The update from iGen3 to iGen4, however, is a great leap. One of the biggest things is the ability to print up to a 14.33″ x 26″ sheet, the largest size possible for a sheet-fed digital printing device. There are also other interesting quality-control upgrades that I will touch on below.

Many may think that a larger sheet size on a digital press wouldn’t be such an improvement. As digital equipment tries to catch up to offset equipment, however, this sheet size has been the one thing that’s been holding digital back. Think about trying to print a cover for an oblong 11″ x 8.5″ book. The cover itself would be 22.5″ x 8.5″ plus bleeds. This was impossible until the iGen4! This large-sheet capacity has given digital printers the opportunity to print materials that were once achievable only on offset equipment.

One of the drawbacks of printing a larger sheet is having to control the color across a larger surface. Xerox has introduced some new equipment to take care of this. First, an inline spectrometer is used to automate color adjustments and calibrate the equipment from sheet to sheet to ensure quality. There is also an auto density controller that Xerox says will virtually eliminate streaking and banding (though I find this very hard to believe since this is the largest complaint with all plastic-based toner machines)!

Lastly, one of the new features of the iGen4 is its use of Xerox’s new “dry ink,” which is basically a nice way of saying plastic-based toner. The only difference between the old toner and the new toner is the fact that this toner is generated from scratch, allowing the toner particles to be identical in size and color. Xerox refers to this process as “chemically born toner” meaning that instead of the toner be refined from one particle to the other, these particles are specifically generated to be toner. This will help to ensure that the quality of the toner is spot on and will increase the overall quality of the print.

It’s great to see that Xerox is taking the bull by the horns and making digital equipment that rivals that of offset. But the question still looms: Will the claims Xerox makes in its marketing materials hold true when you get the iGen4 in house? I would dare to say, with the proper maintenance and calibration routine, yes, but if you forgo that routine, the quality will begin to fade quickly!

So, what new opportunities will this press open up for you?

Author: John Mehl

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