Girls Who Print Touch TDown in the Printerverse he Printerverse (Booth 3867) at GRAPH EXPO 15 was the landing site of the annual convocation of Girls Who Print. GWP founder Mary Beth Smith kicked off the event and called it “awesome to see so many Girls Who Print.” Smith, referred to as Girl No. 1, received a tribute from Girl No. 2, Deborah Corn, who noted that GWP would never have existed were it not for Mary Beth Smith, whom she termed “a force of nature.” “When you join Girls Who Print, you join a tribe, a sisterhood, and a family,” Smith told the attendees. “I look around this room and I see people I didn’t know five years ago. If I have a question, I know there are people I can reach out to for the answer. And they, in turn, know they can reach out to me.” A flutter of anticipation swirled around who would walk off with a tiara and the coveted golden Girlie statuette. Last year’s Girlie winner, Denver-based Inkjet Evangelist Pat McGrew of HP, was called upon to make the announcement. After a short preamble, McGrew revealed the winner to be Cary Sherburne, Senior Editor and Director of Services, WhatTheyThink? Sherburne, McGrew, and Smith then joined a panel of Girls Who Print, whose other three members were Twyla J. Cummings, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology; Kelley Holmes, Group Publisher of Printing News; and Julie Shaffer, Vice President, Digital Strategies, with Printing Industries of America. Asked by Corn to identify the women who most profoundly impacted their careers, panelists gave an array of insightful responses. For Sherburne, the most influential woman was a Xerox colleague, for Cummings her two grandmothers and a mentor at Kodak. A beloved high school yearbook staff advisor was Holmes’ inspiration, while McGrew cited a Spanish teacher and Smith a music director. Shaffer selected a legendary print industry figure. The next question centered on how the industry’s female professionals can be heard, without inviting stereotypes. McGrew spoke of having a father who continually urged her to do and be anything she wanted. Visibility is as much a part of being heard as being heard, she added. As for advice they would give their younger selves today, Shaffer and Smith both said they wished they’d embraced technology at earlier ages. Holmes said she’d found any challenge one faces in life will eventually have a way of serving them well, even if that doesn’t take place immediately. Cummings would have advised herself to go into business rather than chemistry. Finally, Sherburne said the guidance she’d offer the much younger her was “take more risks, and know when it’s time to move on.” Hatteras Opts for Streamlined Efficiency with an Upgrade to EFI’s Midmarket Productivity Suite Hatteras Inc., one of Southeast and Central Michigan’s leading diversified printing companies, will fuel its growth and streamline business management workflows across its six manufacturing and customer service locations by implementing the new EFI (Booth 1902) Midmarket Productivity Suite MIS platform. The new purchase was announced during GRAPH EXPO 15. Implementing the new Midmarket Productivity Suite is an evolution from the EFI PrintSmith business management software currently used at Hatteras, which started as a quick printing firm 37 years ago. “We have produced almost 100,000 job tickets on PrintSmith software, and it was a great purchase for us when our company was smaller,” said Phil Kitkowski, Vice President of Operations. “But our team members have more tasks to handle today than ever before, and individual talent—no matter how good—isn’t infinitely scalable. This new MIS upgrade will help empower our team members to better manage the full range of services Hatteras offers.” On top of the six million digital press impressions Hatteras runs each month, the company also offers wide format inkjet and high-volume sheetfed and web offset printing and binding. Plus, it operates a turnkey warehousing and kit packing operation, as well as multiple on-site corporate print centers. “Hatteras is very automated within each of our service operations, but we want to connect the islands of automation we have presently to bring more cohesive efficiencies to the entire company,” Kitkowski noted. “With the new workflow suite from EFI we will be able to manage the business as one operation and not as multiple manufacturing lines, further improving the level of service we provide to our customers. Plus, this will finally allow us to connect Operations and Accounting in one seamless package, something that has become an increasing issue for us recently.” Xplor Explores EOmni-Channel Communication ven as many individuals and companies are still trying to wrap their heads around the idea of multi-channel communication, now we have “omni-channel communication,” a topic that was explored in “The Emergence of Omni-Channel Communications,” Xplor’s Keynote Breakfast and Panel Discussion Tuesday morning. Sponsored by Canon Solutions America (Booth 1213), Crawford Technologies (Booth 344), and Xerox (Booth 613), the event was moderated by InfoTrends’ Matt Swain and featured a panel comprising Dan Beery, Director of Composition Management for RR Donnelley; Mark Laube, COO of Microdynamics Group; and Randy Seberg, who works with Innovairre. Omni-channel, said Beery, “is a single administrative source of content driving communications in an optimized way.” In multi-channel communications, each channels exists in its own functional silo, while in omni-channel communications, customers experience a brand. In other words, it’s one silo with many functions. Today, omni-channel communication is anchored on one end by print—typically direct mail or transactional—and on the other by mobile. In between, there are other peripheral channels, such as the desktop-based web, instore kiosks or display graphics. While users Mark Laube, COO of Microdynamics Group; Dan Beery, Director Composition Management of RR Donnelley; and Matt Swain of InfoTrends. have their preferred ways of communicating, the reality, Swain said, is that “depending on time of day, they might interact with you on a different device.” The desktop at the office may be the laptop after work, and the tablet or mobile phone at night. Very often, omni-channel communications begin with print, which is the gateway to other channels. To that end, then, “How do we optimize the print?” asked Swain. Today, Quick Response (QR) codes and Augmented Reality (AR) are the major methods, but, he stressed, “you need to be smart about how you’re making that content interactive. A QR code that drives you to a non-mobile-optimized website is a horrible experience.” Viva the Inkjet Revolution There is a revolution going on and it is inkjet. That was the topic of Tuesday’s session hosted by the Print Media Centr. Speed, quality, and versatility in technology continue to improve at a rapid rate. According to the panelists, inkjet technology has evolved and improved more in the past five years than in the previous 30. When asked by Deborah Corn, Principal for Print Media Centr what made the ideal customer for the new inkjet technology, the panel responded that “it depends.” It depends on what application the customer has. Dustin Graupman, VP and General Manager, Xerox (Booth 613), said the key is finding an ideal customer who had the applications to enable the initial investment. “Helping the customer succeed is new or novel for Xerox. We help customers identify which aspects of their business they want to transform and help them plan the process. We start by working it out in the factory and then make sure it works on their production floor. The next step is to help them with marketing and the sale of the service,” said Graupman. Guy Broadhurst, Vice President, Technology & Client Development, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America (Booth 1213), said selling to the ideal customers depends on the application the customer needs and reason for why they need it. “Our job is to help identify the applications and goals and what is the best equipment to get it out,” said Broadhurst. “We suggest the product that best suits the customer. Much of our inkjet equipment is upgradable in the field. We want to make sure we provide the speed and price points to make the customer successful.” David Murphy, WW Director of Marketing and Business Development, Pagewide Web Press Division, Graphic Solutions Business, HP (Booth 1202), reported that his customers are transferring work from their current equipment. “In inkjet you need the vendor to work with the customer over the life of the machine,” Murphy said. “It is a partnership that will cross generations to deal with the migration challenges. Our customers are making a multi-million dollar investment, so we have to work with them in ways to build demand for more pages. At HP, we help customers integrate the new inkjet equipment with their existing equipment. Customers can no longer be restricted to one box.” All the panelists agreed that upgradability was an important factor in the inkjet solution decision. The upgradability factor will protect your investment as future improvements are made. Many improvements will now be made in the field. Versatility is another factor inkjet now offers. New technologies have broken the inkjet’s 100 ppm barrier and it now provides speeds in the 3,000 to 4,000 ppm range. Color quality has increased, but it is affected by the speed and coverage of the machine. Color and speed work together to provide staple quality that meets the expectations set by the customer. 14 September 16, 2015 | GRAPH EXPO Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com
GraphExpo Show Daily September 16, 2015
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