Guest Contributors share what's on their mind regarding the printing and graphics industry.
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Tomorrow's World is Packaging and Industrial Print
By Frazer Chesterman - Thursday January 3, 2013
Just after Drupa, Andy Tribute - Print guru – claimed that the future for print lay in the opportunities for inkjet technology in both packaging and Industrial Print. He explained "Inkjet technology has lots of potential in these areas. They are both getting better and better in terms of quality, and these markets are ones that will drive print forward. It is worth owning some intellectual property within the industrial space, at least." I believe he is right, let me explain why? Most manufacturers agree that the huge growth of Digital graphics which probably began around between 2002 -2005 and has continued to grow, is now maturing, some would even say stagnating! The great migration from analogue to digital in sign and graphics... -
Labels: Adding Value to Packaging
By Jules Lejeune - Monday August 20, 2012
by Jules Lejeune, managing director FINAT The evolution of supply and demand for self-adhesive labels is not just a matter of collecting and interpreting industry statistics and quantitative indicators. Especially in the last three to five years, macro-economic factors such as the twin crises of bank credit and sovereign debt, and the associated volatilities, have distorted the picture of underlying longer-term trends and developments. What are these underlying trends? How is the label industry positioned in the context of the broader packaging industry? What is driving demand for labels in comparison to alternative decoration technologies? What is the label printer’s share of the total added value created along the supply chain? How... -
Working with GPO Successfully and Profitably Requires Expert Know How
- Wednesday June 13, 2012
by Deborah Snider, Senior Vice President, e-LYNXX Corporation Working with the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) to supply the federal government with printing is very different from working with private sector commercial accounts. Fundamentally, GPO is contrarian to everything printers know about selling customers. With commercial printing, printers large and small learn how to treat customers. Selling is requisite to gaining new business. Relationships are paramount. Pricing is based on what the customer is willing to pay. And when it comes to minor disagreements, the customer is always right, and if the relationship is sufficiently deep, even the cost for fixing the problem can end up in the next job. GPO is... -
Successful GPO Print Suppliers Form Partnerships
- Monday May 14, 2012
By Deborah Snider, senior vice president, e-LYNXX Corporation Three quarters of all printing for the federal government is provided by public sector printers, and that is a proud partnership that dates back to when the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) opened its doors on March 4, 1861 – the same day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the 16th President of the United States. For 151 years, the GPO has depended on thousands of printers nationwide to keep the public informed. In her FY 2013 appropriations request for the GPO, acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks told the U. S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations, Committee on Appropriations: “Other than congressional and... -
Procurement Innovation Can Drive Productivity Gains
- Tuesday May 8, 2012
By William Gindlesperger, chairman and CEO, e-LYNXX Corporation Innovation is required if the United States is to regain the level of productivity that it enjoyed toward the end of the 19th Century through the mid-20th Century. However, innovation by itself is not enough. Just as our parents and grandparents adopted electricity, the automobile, credit cards and airplanes in the period from 1870-1950, businesses and organizations of the 21st Century must embrace change. This is one of the conclusions of the McKinsey Global Institute Report on Productivity, prepared by McKinsey & Company in February 2011. “U. S. infrastructure is not only inadequate to meet the needs of a dynamic, growing, and productive economy, but its quality has...
