(continued from page 1) GRAPH EXPO 15: Trailblazing Transformation! And of course software can drive transformation. On Tuesday, EFI (Booth 1902) announced that Michigan based printing company Hatteras Inc. purchased an EFI Midmarket Productivity Suite featuring EFI Pace MIS software. “The technologies offered at GRAPH EXPO show that commercial printing businesses are pivoting to address higher-value digital applications,” said Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI. “The traffic EFI witnessed this year clearly indicates that our customers are seeking digital production efficiencies, integrated workflow, better color management, higher-quality imaging and media versatility, which are all prerequisites to profiting from the many changes taking place in our industry.” Transformation can also apply to what is actually printed. MGI’s JETvarnish 3D, iFOIL, and other specialty finishing equipment allow what the company calls “variable-data finishing.” “In terms of brand management, there is a tremendous opportunity for personalization and customization,” says Jack Noonan, Marketing Coordinator for MGI (3013). “We’re helping printers not just print more effectively and creatively, but sell and market more effectively.” The value that specialty finishing offers is transforming print samples into sales tools. “Our digital enhancement technology can help printers grow their businesses and develop new revenue streams by presenting an added value enhancement.” GRAPH EXPO 15 has been a good one for MGI, garnering the company a MUST SEE ’EMS Award in the Postpress and In-Line Finishing category for the iFOIL T. “For us, this has been a fantastic show,” Noonan remarks. Vendors are also joining forces to transform their business reach, such as Komori (Booth 1248) and Screen, who announced the partnership as GRAPH EXPO opened its doors. Commented Kosh Miyao, Komori President and COO, at the time of the announcement, “This is a key component to our transformation process.” Jacki Hudmon, Sr. VP of Sales for Komori, added that another part of Komori’s transformation was to become a “print engineering service provider.” (continued from page 1) Another transformation has been what some exhibitors have found to be an accelerated sales cycle. Whereas in past years, booth visitors would spend five minutes or less and just have a badge scanned, “People are staying in the booth for 20 minutes,” says Robert Ross, President and CEO of Xante (Booth 431). “We’re generating higher-quality leads.” Not only that, he adds, “on the first day, we had people competing to buy the units in the booth. They’d say, ‘I want to carry this one out the door.’” “It’s been a busy show, and we sold a lot of product,” says Don Dubuque, Director of Marketing for Standard Finishing,” (Booth 831). “It’s been a busy booth the whole show, and it looks like we’ll exceed our sales targets at the show. We’re happy with what we’ve seen so far. The customers seem to be happy, and the right customers are here.” “Traffic has been phenomenal,” says Beth Ann Kilberg Walsh, VP of Marketing Communications and Customer Engagement for Xerox (Booth 613). “We’ve had a lot of excitement and interest with the Rialto 900 as well as the iGen 5. At the same time, we’ve been pleased with the activity around our FreeFlow solutions. Our theme is ‘Just Let the Work Flow’ and people have been flowing in.” “The show has been fabulous,” notes Annette McCrary, Director of Strategic Marketing Programs for Ricoh Americas (Booth 1231). “We thought last year was record-breaking, and we’ve been amazed that we’re even busier this year. We were busy all day Sunday, which was highly unusual with the Bears game. The traffic has been non-stop.” “KBA (Booth 213) is very pleased with the turnout at GRAPH EXPO 15,” says Eric Frank, VP of Marketing for KBA. “It’s not only been a good quantity of people, but the quality of attendees has been excellent. We saw more traffic than we expected, and we’re very pleased with the results. We’ve gotten a tremendous amount of leads, and very high-level attendees came in from major corporations to talk to our management team. A big thumbs-up.” “We’re pretty pleased,” comments Mal Baboyian, Executive VP, PPS and LFS, for Canon Solutions America (Booth 1213). “The big leads were for the ImagePress 10000, that’s been a big hit for us here. It’s a new product just being delivered toward the end of the year, and it’s been getting tremendous attention.” “GRAPH EXPO 15 has been a tremendous success for AccuZIP!” acknowledges Kristen McKiernan, President of AccuZIP (Booth 1258). “We were able to execute our vision of a high impact booth showcasing several new products and technologies to achieve a level of engagement that far exceeded our expectations.” Another important transformation is transforming products into profits, and prospects into customers. Goss International (Booth 853) made two high-profile sales—a Goss Magnum Compact press to Pflugerville, TX’s Community Impact Newspaper, and a 16-page, five-unit Goss Sunday 2000 press to Kansas City, MO’s Henry Wurst Inc. “GRAPH EXPO is a great venue for meeting the customers we want to meet,” says Michael D’Angelo, Managing Director, Americas, for Goss. “We’re having a good show. There’s always an excitement in a show environment, and it continues to be a very strong show.” “We are very excited to be here, and our booth traffic has been really heavy,” says Kay Du Fernandez, VP of Strategic Business Development for Konica Minolta (Booth 1913). “This is a great opportunity for our sales and our marketing teams to really focus on the brand, as well as bringing in customers and prospects to close deals, This is a great venue for that.” Specifically, Konica Minolta got a commitment from Martin One Source, a Champaign, IL-based commercial printer, for a bizhub PRESS 2250P on Monday. This will be the second one the client has purchased. The first was delivered yesterday. “Our technology investments are driven by passion for our customers,” says HP’s Salfity. “We partner and innovate with them to pursue new opportunities and evolve their businesses; we grow with them. We have targeted platform advancements that help our customers overcome conventional limitations, break application boundaries with continued innovation, and successfully enter new markets.” Let the transformation continue. Creating a Value Proposition for Today’s Workforce leadership levels of our industry. Epicomm must create a value proposition that is compelling and relevant to both “Baby Boomers” and “Millennials.” Our industry is moving through an unprecedented period of discontinuity. It’s a period characterized by many challenges, but even more opportunity. Epicomm will continue to be an indispensable resource to our members as we help business leaders make better decisions by providing best practices, resources, research, tools, information, and advocacy. As a leading industry organization, Epicomm has a responsibility to develop and support industry initiatives that benefit the entire related supply chain. Examples include, but are not limited to, driving much needed postal reform legislation and supporting the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAREF) in its commitment to attract and retain a new generation of workers. Show Daily: How do you see your background influencing your stewardship? Ken Garner: The more than three decades I spent as a print and mail service provider gave me an excellent foundation for serving Epicomm’s members. The challenges faced by “non-profit” and “for profit” organizations are not so different. Members/customers need to be well-served by the delivery of compelling, relevant, and differentiated value. This process must drive a positive return-on-investment for both the members and their association. My business background helps me to better relate to Epicomm’s members. I understand what keeps them up at night and I appreciate what it takes to lead a successful business. I have enormous respect and admiration for those who work in our industry. There are occasions when I am able to share the benefit of my experience in helping members successfully navigate through difficult situations. Show Daily: What are the key takeaways you want members to come away with from this year’s GRAPH EXPO? Ken Garner: They need to invest the time to participate in all the show has to offer. They need to come with an open mind to new ideas, concepts, processes, and equipment. The experience at GRAPH EXPO should be an integral part of their business planning process. GRAPH EXPO is so much more than an exhibition of equipment. It’s a laboratory and a classroom possessing the answer to your “next big idea” question. It’s a place to network with subject matter experts and colleagues. GRAPH EXPO is a required experience for moving your company forward. Show Daily: What are the top industry trends impacting your members in 2015? Ken Garner: Consolidation continues as the industry still has not reached a balance between supply and demand. The rate and pace of consolidation is not what it was during the heart of the recession, but there is still plenty of merger and acquisition activity in both the supplier and service provider segments. There has been an awakening to the reality that for the majority of companies committed to sustainable growth, maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. More leaders recognize that change, particularly when implemented in planned increments, is now a requirement for success. Some still have a tendency to translate every business challenge into the need for increased sales. While some sales growth is necessary, it’s not the answer to every business challenge. Many of our members have been diversifying their value propositions understanding that to maximize their value to customers and prospects, they need to be able to manage multiple communication channels including social and mobile media. These same companies now understand that they must practice what they preach; they must market their companies utilizing crafted multi-channel campaigns instead of relying on slick feature and benefit brochures alone. There is a growing awareness that our industry’s growth and development will require the recruitment and retention of a workforce with a new and different set of competencies and capabilities. Developing and managing complex marketing campaigns with sophisticated tracking capabilities and the use of more precise data requires a new generation of managers and staff. Getting the “right people on the bus, in the right seats” will be one of the keys to business success. Show Daily: What is the latest news from the U.S. Postal Service in terms of its viability and overall health? Ken Garner: Our new Postmaster General Megan Brennan and her leadership team will continue to battle significant challenges. Perhaps the most significant is legislative. Congress seems unwilling and unable to help. Attempts to introduce and pass legislation that would unburden the Postal Service from obsolete and unnecessary imposed costs have, up to this point, been unsuccessful. Meanwhile, postal leadership has developed and executed a number of measures to effectively manage the costs under their direct control. Industry has not agreed and supported all of the Postal Service’s initiatives, but the fact is that the financial results under their direct control have shifted to the positive. With a few exceptions, the working relationship between industry and postal leadership is positive and productive. Efforts have been developing that involve an unprecedented collaboration between industry, the Postal Service, and postal unions to formulate and introduce a legislative proposal that would benefit those three major stakeholder groups. GRAPH EXPO 15: Ken Garner, President & CEO, Epicomm PrintingNews.com/12114908 62 September 16, 2015 | GRAPH EXPO Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com
GraphExpo Show Daily September 16, 2015
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