Editor’s Note Technology Drives Change As the sign and graphics industry evolves, technology improvements and innovations will continue to lead the way. By Denise M. Gustavson 4 Wide-Format Imaging | April 2015 www.MyPRINTResource.com GROUP PUBLISHER Kelley Holmes kelley@Wide-formatimaging.com | 800-616-2252 x6104 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Denise M. Gustavson denise@wide-formatimaging.com | 800-616-2252 x6218 Contributing Editors Pamela Mortimer Jeffrey Steele Mark Vruno Joann Whitcher CORPORATE OFFICE 1233 Janesville Avenue, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538 Phone: 800-616-2252 Account Executives Kimberly Jorgensen x6103 | kimberly@wide-formatimaging.com Paul Zimmerman x6214 | paul@wide-formatimaging.com Media Production Representative Connie Wolf x1679 | Connie.Wolf@cygnus.com Art Director Yuly Osorio x1732 | Yuly.Osorio@cygnus.com CIRCULATION Jackie Dandoy Jackie.Dandoy@cygnus.com 800-547-7377 x1711 For change of address or subscription information, call 877/382-9187, fax 920/563-1704, or circ.wideformatimaging@omeda.com REPRINT SERVICE To purchase article reprints please contact Nick Iademarco at Wright’s Media at 877/652-5295 ext. 102 or e-mail niademarco@wrightsmedia.com LIST RENTALS Elizabeth Jackson ejackson@meritdirect.com | 847-492-1350 x18 CEO Paul Bonaiuto President Chris Ferrell CFO Ed Tearman SVP, Strategy & Business Development Blair Johnson VP, Marketing Gerry Whitty VP, Technology Eric Kammerzelt VP, Production Operations Curt Pordes Excecutive Vice President Gloria Cosby VP, Human Resources Ed Wood This summer will mark my 17th year reporting on the sign and graphics industry. While I could still be considered a “newbie” compared to some of the PSPs in the market, it has been more than enough time to see how much the market has changed over the course of those years. Gary C. Schellerer, COO and VP of operations for ER2 Image Group, Bloomingdale, IL, has several years on me, starting in the industry 25 years ago when he was 18. He has seen the dramatic changes—more than a few times. But what was the driver of that change? According to Schellerer, it is technology. Just walk the floor at any of the industry trade shows and you can see the R&D departments have been churning out new equipment every six months or so. Some of these devices only have incremental changes, which can make it difficult for PSPs to justify a new capital expenditure. Others, however, feature brand new technology. Look at how HP’s latex printers and Memjet’s single-pass head technology has changed the market. “What you spent $1 million on five years ago could be matched with $350,000 today,” pointed out Steve Smits, president of Chicago-based Vision Integrated Graphics Group, LLC. “From our point of view, over time, the technology continues to push the capacities of machines to produce a wider variety of output more efficiently, and from a smaller footprint,” added Guy Timothy, president of Salt Lake City, UT-based Vision Graphics. “Outside of production, the technologies that we perceive as being most valuable to the marketplace are focused in the ability to surround the client with tools to simplify their work, including work submission, review, and approval.” Productivity is key for shops. No matter how many bells and whistles a new device has, if it’s not increasing productivity and helping to reduce waste, shops are not interested. “Latex technology and HP Indigo print technology has helped reduce environmental impact and increase productivity. Overall, VMS achieved a 20 percent higher productivity due to its Lean Metrics,” said Visual Marking Systems’ CEO Dolf Kahle. “Faster printers with better UV inks and tighter resolutions have changed our approach to production,” noted Kirk Green, CEO of Ferrari Color. “Companies in our industry can now create images much faster without sacrificing any quality and, in fact, the print consistency has actually improved.” “The companies that flourish are the ones bold enough to see the change early and adapt their business quickly,” said Schellerer. “The companies that suffer are the ones that resist change.” Of note: Be sure to check out what technology WFI’s readers thought was the best in 2014 in the Readers’ Choice Top Product Awards starting on page 18.
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