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December 23, 2005
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS
I've never done any Christmas shopping online, and I probably won't again this year—it's too late now for us last minute shoppers. But there are a growing number of consumers that are using the Internet as their preferred destination for shopping, and not just for seasonal gifts, but any and all products and services. And why not? Technology makes it so easy to order online, and the easier it is, the more people will do it. It's that very premise that drives arguably the most successful printing operation on Canadian soil today. Earlier this month I was invited to an annual trade media event hosted by MAN Roland Inc., this year's destination: Detroit. After a sumptuous dinner in a refurbished downtown mansion, the group was shuttled to the Detroit Newspaper Partnership facility to witness the printing of the next day's Detroit Free Press on new MAN newspaper presses. The next morning we crossed the border to visit what Yves Rogivue, CEO of MAN Roland Inc. refers to as, "a role model of how CIM [computer integrated manufacturing] applies to this industry." "Welcome to the future," said Rogivue upon welcoming us to VistaPrint's Windsor, Ontario, printing plant. Although the company may be MAN Roland's poster child for CIM, VistaPrint is much more than an automated pressroom. It's an intelligent online algorithmic software development company that carries out sophisticated online marketing and automates production to produce print at pennies an order, delivering profitability unheard of in the commercial printing business.
Through online orders from around the world its software automatically gangs-up business card orders and other business stationery jobs on a 40-inch press sheet to optimize production through full-size sheetfed presses or smaller sheets through digital colour presses. "I really think VistaPrint has the potential to be one of the biggest disruptions to the printing industry since the photocopier," says Robert Keane, founder/CEO of the company. Keane states a key objective of the company's operations is to standardize, automate, and integrate every aspect of the value chain. Through continual software development (they have some M.I.T. PhD's writing code, and to date they have six patents and 30 patents pending) the company is able to "impose standardization" on customer designs, allowing for basic layouts leading to simplicity for the customer. Those customers are the small office/home office businesses, of which VistaPrint estimates there are 38 million in North America/Europe. The company is already servicing business in 120 countries through two printing operations (Windsor and the Netherlands). VistaPrint went public this past September 30th raising net proceeds of US$61.4 million. "Investors consider us to be a technology company more than a printing company," says Keane. Some numbers:
The scary part is Keane believes the company is less than 10% of the way to reaching its potential. "I really believe technology can drive strong growth in this industry," he says. Most of their labour is in post press, with about 70% of the labour cost involving putting orders in boxes. The next step is to automate that process. Although its plant is in Windsor, the company's headquarters is Lexington, Massachusetts. When asked why they set up in Canada, Keane notes, "It's not a tax haven," but Windsor's proximity to the highly populated Great Lakes region, as well as a labour cost advantage, along with the services and solid infrastructure in the region played a role. The Windsor plant operates 24 hours a day/five days a week, but ramps up to six or seven days during the holiday season. Equipment includes: Two HP Indigo 3050 presses and two HP Indigo 5000 presses (digital printing accounts for about 20% of orders); a Kodak (Creo) platesetter is dedicated to each press line; two five-colour MAN R700 presses with coaters; just bringing its third MAN R700 press into commission; has ordered its fourth full-size press, a MAN Roland 10-colour with inline foil, the first of its kind in North America!; automated Polar cutting systems. The company owns enough land adjacent to its existing building to double the size of the current plant if and when necessary. Leveraging technology to attract customers, make business easier for customers and automate production can lead to success, that was the take-away message behind this visit. In some way, this should be an inspirational story for those searching for good news in this industry. The dynamics of the printing business are changing, recognize the potential and make a difference in your company. All the best to you in the New Year! Doug Picklyk
Recent glowing reports from consultants combined with high activity levels at industry trade shows reveals wide format digital inkjet printing was the trend of 2005 and will continue to grow. A recent report from I.T. Strategies, consultants on the digital printing business, is bullish for vendors of inkjet technology and consumables. It suggests worldwide sales of wide format inkjet (24-inches and wider) and narrow format inkjet hardware (desktop), along with the media and chemistry, will show compound annual growth of 7% between now and 2009, revenues rising from US$42.1 billion in 2004 to US$58 billion by 2009. The largest contributor will be ink sales, making up over 50% of the total. The newest wide format digital inkjet hardware and consumables were on display recently at the SGIA Digital Expo, held December 8–10 in Phoenix, Arizona. Attracting over 5,400 people to view exhibits from 147 companies, this event was developed following the cancellation of the annual SGIA event scheduled for earlier this year in New Orleans. Canadian attendance was strong at the Digital Expo with both vendors and visitors on hand to explore the latest in the rapidly changing world of wide format technology [Canadian Printer was there.] DuPont officially launched its new CromaPrint 22UV flatbed/roll-to-roll 86-inch wide UV curable digital printer at Graphics Canada in November through its Canadian distributor Cascades Resources. The SGIA event marked its American debut, and DuPont displayed two sold signs on the CromaPrint stand, one to The Advocate in Pictou, Nova Scotia and another to the Emerson Group in Toronto.
Mississauga, Ontario-based equipment manufacturer Gandinnovations, attracted crowds to its line-up of Jeti wide format printing systems, particularly its flatbed UV Jeti 3150. Other key exhibitors at the SGIA event featured in the following gallery include: Fujifilm Sericol, Xeikon, Vutek (a division of EFI), Mutoh, and ColorSpan.
Some of Dr. Joe's key musings:
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Momentum in Print 2006 is a new event being presented by Adobe and being held January 22 to 24 at the San Francisco Marriott, San Francisco, CA. The event is expected to draw up to 700 industry leaders and will include a keynote addresses, panel discussions, tutorials, debates, and demonstrations. Registration is US$395 before December 23, or US$495 after. Visit www.adobe.momentuminprint.com The 31st annual Graphics of the Americas trade show is co-locating with Xplor International's Global Conference to be held February 3-5 at Miami Beach. www.graphicsoftheamericas.com. The Toronto Club of Printing House Craftsmen is holding its annual Gala on February 18 to celebrate local International Gallery Award winners. For more information contact Gail Slater gail@queenstone.org The 38th Goss Metro Users Group conference will be held at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Resort in Arizona, co-hosted by Tucson Newspapers and The Arizona Republic. The event will run from Saturday, February 25 through Wednesday, March 1. For more information visit: www.metrousers.com NAPL's TOP MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE is being held March 1-5 at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes, Orlando, Florida. This annual meeting is designed for CEO's, company owners and executives to focus on strategic leadership issues. http://www.napl.org The next PIA/GATF Executive Leadership Conference will be March 12-16 in Oahu, Hawaii at the J.W. Marriott. www.gain.net NEXPO 06, largest annual newspaper exhibition and conference, is being held April 1- 4 at McCormick Place in Chicago. http://www.nexpo.com
The annual Vue/Point Conference is being held this year between April 10 to 12, once again at the Hilton in the Walt Disney Resort, Orlando. This conference is a great opportunity to learn from other real-world experiences. http://www.gasc.org Connect 2006, the 7th annual EFI users' conference takes place April 30th through May 3rd at the Venetian Resort, Las Vegas. The conference theme is "Expand Your Opportunities," offering sessions on topics ranging from MIS tools to growing a business with super-wide format digital inkjet printing. www.efi.com/connect06 The 48th Annual Binding, Finishing and Distribution Seminar, hosted by the NAPL, will be held May 2-4 at the Marriott O'Hare Hotel, Chicago. This event is developed for bindery managers, manufacturing/operations executives and warehouse supervisors. http://www.napl.org ON DEMAND Expo 2006 will be held May 16-18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia. The trade show and conference about all things related to digital printing, is co-hosted with AIIM, an IT focused show about content management. For more information http://www.ondemandexpo.com Don't miss the NAPL & PIA/GATF Sheetfed Pressroom Conference running from June 11-13 at the Marriott O'Hare Hotel, Chicago. These sessions cover numerous technical and managerial issues through seminars and general sessions. http://www.gain.net, http://www.napl.org The All In Print China 2006 is scheduled for June 14-16 in Shanghai. Exhibit categories include printing equipment, pre-media equipment and software, electronic and database publishing equipment, computer to plate technology, book binding and print finishing equipment as well as paper converting equipment and package production technology. www.mdna.com The five-day intensive NAPL & PIA/GATF Management and Leadership Institute is scheduled to run from June 19 to 23 at the Waukesha County Technical College in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. This program is designed for developing skills in financial management, production management, sales management, and graphic communications management. http://www.napl.org The 2006 Canadian Printing Industries Association (CPIA) Convention will be held in Vancouver, BC, September 14-16. For more information contact www.cpia-aci.com The 87th annual IAPHC Convention (International Association of Printing House Craftsmen) will be held August 18-23 at the Melia Turquesa all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico . For more information visit www.iaphc.org SGIA '06 will be held in Las Vegas (Las Vegas Convention Center) from September 26 to 29. www.sgia.org The annual Graph Expo and Converting Expo, held at McCormick Place in Chicago will run from October 15 to 18. For more details visit http://www.gasc.org Print World, formerly called Print Ontario, will happen November 18 to 20 at the National Trade Centre, Exhibition Place in Toronto . For information on the Web visit: http://www.printontario.com 2008 Drupa 2008 will be held from May 29 to June 11, 2008 at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf Germany. There will be over 2,400,000 square feet of exhibition space with an expected attendance of over 300,000. www.drupa.com For more events in your area, here are links to regional associations: B.C. http://www.bcpia.org; http://www.vcphc.org/ Canadian Printer E-News Keep up to
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Heidelberg CEO Bernhard Schreier has confirmed the company will be entering the large format sheetfed offset press category with units up to 63.8 inches (162 cm). Schreier first alluded to the developments at a press conference prior to PRINT 05 in Chicago back in September. The new press models, called the Speedmaster XL 142 and Speedmaster XL 162, will be unveiled at DRUPA 2008. 
IPEX 2006 is taking place from April 4-11th at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. It will mark the largest international print show for 2006.