Why It's the 'Right Time' to Be in the Printing Industry

As Inkjet Summit headed into its final day, it got off to a strong start with a panel moderated by Printing Impressions’ editor-in-chief and content director Mark Michelson. He led a group discussion titled “Inkjet Adopters Describe Their Journeys,” where he was joined on stage by three commercial printers who have made the switch to inkjet successfully.

Rick Baker, the president of PRINT Tech of Western PA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cheryl Kahanec, CEO of Morton Grove, Illinois-based Quantum Group; and Jim Beaudoin, director of Digital and Print Lettershop at EPI in Battle Creek, Michigan, all shared their stories of how they first got into inkjet, where they see it today, and perhaps most importantly, what their attending peers should be thinking about as they consider making the same leap.

When it came to first making that investment, Baker noted that it came to a point where “we just had to make this move, and it’s been very positive.” He admitted that before he invested in the platform, he was concerned about his ability to fill the capacity, but, he said, once it was installed and work started migrating to production inkjet from the other equipment in the shop, it got to the point where they had to increase square footage so they could add another cut-sheet inkjet press. And now, he said, they have added continuous-feed inkjet as well, as the volumes have grown enough to support it.

Kahanec, however, noted that she took a slightly different approach when it came to making the production inkjet investment. “I always worried as well about filling the devices,” she noted, “but I ultimately took the approach to get the equipment that makes sense at the time, and not worry about the future or the past.” She said that she focuses on what the business needs to serve clients now, and makes the investments to ensure she can produce the quality and speed they require. And the approach has paid off, with Quantum seeing tremendous growth in areas that weren’t on its radar — or played a small role — just a few short years ago, such as mailing and fulfillment.

For Beaudoin, the inkjet journey started decades ago, when he worked at another printing company. Then, he noted, they were pushing the boundaries and “doing things that everyone said couldn’t be done” with the burgeoning technology. “That brought us to a whole other level,” he said, “and then that led to other opportunities.”

Today, he notes, EPI is doing a lot of book blocks and cards on its production inkjet equipment, but he still continues to look for applications that previously wouldn’t have been produced at a print shop. Games and puzzles, he said, are examples of applications they have done very well on inkjet.

Beyond the Print

Of course, printing is only half the story when it comes to any kind of commercial work in our industry. The other half is how are you going to finish it, and production inkjet is no different than any other technology in that regard.

Kahanec noted that Quantum originally had a very traditional bindery, and took that approach to its production inkjet lines as well. But, she said, it quickly realized that wasn’t going to work. “We’ve grown into more in-line and nearline,” she said. “We set up full lines that are doing the same thing, taking the print right into finishing as it’s being printed.” One example of how that improved the efficiencies is that she noted it used to take a staff of 12 to finish and sort pieces into the mail trays, and now the combined mailing and finishing line is just four people. “It increased our overall efficiency, and made everything much faster,” she said.

Kahanec is also a big believer in cross training, and has implemented an incentive system that rewards operators who are not only trained on but run additional equipment. “The more presses they know how to run,” she said, “the more additional premiums we pay them. So it’s an opportunity for them to make a little extra money depending on what they’re doing for us. It has worked out well.” That program crosses both the offset and digital press lines as well, and has made it into something the staff wants to do, rather than making it feel like a punishment.

Baker has moved to a nearline system as well, noting that especially when they added the cut-sheet inkjet equipment, finishing rapidly became a bottleneck. “The press is just cranking out rolls like crazy,” he said, noting his next investment will actually be a second finishing line to further balance the load, as well as provide redundancy on the finishing side.

So what advice did the panelists have for attendees, as well as any other commercial printers considering making the shift into production inkjet?

“Hesitation will kill you,” stressed Beaudoin. “You need to jump on the technology I have heard people say they only do contract work, but my experience is that the work will come to you.”

Baker said that printers also need to “due your due diligence. Whether it’s cut-sheet or continuous-feed, work with your OEMs. They’re all great — you can’t go wrong with any of them. My advice would be that if you’re thinking about [investing in production inkjet], just do it. Zero percent of people are dissatisfied — I haven’t heard of anyone who invested in inkjet and regretted it. I personally wish I would have done it sooner — the profitability is a no brainer.”

“Customers want their product when they want it, so you need to get stuff to market faster," Kahanec noted. "Really look at the needs of your customers." She said that in many cases, making the switch to production inkjet can actually be harder on the employees and company culture than on customer work, so taking the time to get their buy in, and get them passionate about the technology is necessary for long-term growth.

In the end, the panel was diverse, with all three using production inkjet to grow their businesses in very different ways. It is a testament to just how versatile the technology is, with the ability to transform your commercial print business only limited by your creativity and drive.

In-plant Impressions' Editor Bob Neubauer took attendees through a look at inkjet in the in-plant world.

Inkjet in an In-plant World

In-plant Impressions' Editor Bob Neubauer took the stage to share the state of inkjet in the in-plant world. After giving a brief history of in-plants and how far back they date, Neubauer highlighted some of the in-plants that have invested in inkjet and some of the reasons they've chosen to do so. He gave the commercial printers in attendance some insight into the types of work in-plants produce in-house, as well as some of the applications they work with commercial printers to fulfill.

Market Segment Deep Dives

As is customary each year, Inkjet Summit provides a series of breakout sessions focused on giving attendees market segment deep dives, led by some of the industry's thought leaders. Marco Boer, vice president of I.T. Strategies, took attendees through the state of the book manufacturing industry; Pat McGrew, managing director of McGrew Group navigated essential communication in the transactional space; Barb Pellow, manager of Pellow & Partners, addressed marketing channels with a look at direct mail; and PRINTING United Alliance's own Content Directors Mark Michelson (Printing Impressions) and Bob Neubauer (In-plant Impressions) explored inkjet's role in the commercial and in-plant segments, respectively.

Wrapping Up a Successful Event

Conference Chair Marco Boer, vice president of I.T. Strategies, closed out the final day's sessions with a look at the numbers followed by an event wrap-up. Boer explored output volume by print technology and provided attendees with some insight into the volume decline and growth in the document (-9%), publishing (-6%), and packaging businesses(+3%). He explained that both paper and a lack of labor have affected these declines, however, despite this, both document and publishing spaces remain large. Further, while more pages will continue to transition to inkjet, he said "there isn't enough capital in the world to fully transition from offset to production inkjet printing."

To close out the educational sessions before turning attendees over to the final rounds of 1:1 meetings and the evening celebratory activities, Boer shared some key takeaways from this year's event. He explained that we're at a complicated time in the industry.

"We live in this hyper-connected, global world now," he said, "something that happens in Ukraine could dramatically affect your ability to run your press because maybe a chip was made in Ukraine, and it's not available right now."

Making things more complicated, he said the printing industry's business model is broken and companies need to culturally change their understanding of what is profitable. But there's a lot of hope. "This is the moment we've all been waiting for," he said. It's the moment to change the business model; create additional value and revenue; and leverage inherent benefits of digital printing.

"This is truly the right time to be in the industry," he said.