The convergence of three major events—On Demand, AIIM, and Xplor’s XDU—and one little one—Drupalcon—made for an interesting hike around the Boston Convention Center. Spring in Boston, especially the first week in March, is an iffy proposition at the best of times, but this year the city enjoyed some of its most beautiful spring weather in years! Sadly, we were all inside, basking in the fluorescent light.
Before we dive into the key events, let’s clear up a little confusion about Drupalcon. It’s not about the upcoming drupa 2008 in Dusseldorf. Drupal is an open-source content management platform used for web development, blogs, forums, and other “community-driven websites.” The Drupal Association holds conventions and conferences around the world, and this year’s just happened to fall at the same time as the three co-located events mentioned above.
With that explanation out of the way, let’s turn back to the “big three.” Print service providers were given an awesome opportunity to learn more about the latest tools—business applications, software, and hardware—to help grow their businesses. On Demand is focused on digital printing and production, while AIIM concentrates on document capture, digital asset management, storage, and archiving. Xplor’s XDU (Xplor Document University) offered nearly 150 educational sessions on document creation, composition, output, and mailing. For anyone concentrating on the delivery of business and marketing communication, it was heavenly.
What were the “big stories?” Considering that drupa is just around the corner, most of the vendors are holding their big announcements and splashy presentations close to the vest. There were a few things that jumped out, particularly on the software side.
From Data-Driven Publishing to Variable Data Printing
The most interesting development, I think, is that the number of variable data printing (VDP), web to print, and multi-channel campaign management tools are still going up! And we’re seeing some of the hardware vendors getting into the action as well. Hardware companies are buying (Xerox’s acquisiton of XMPie a couple of years ago, HP’s recent acquisition of Exstream) or partnering (Canon reselling Printable Technologies’ FusionPro Web) to be able to offer a “complete” solution.
What’s the point? Charlie Pesko of InfoTrends pointed out in his keynote presentation that we could all be examining these new market opportunities:
Custom Publications
Custom Wallpapers/Textiles
Personalized Marketing Collateral
Customized Greeting Cards
Books on Demand
TransPromo
Photo Publishing
Personalized Direct Mail
Short Run Packaging
Digital Signage
What do all of these applications have in common? All of them—except short run packaging and digital signage—are built around customization. The common thread is “one-off”, “one to one”, and/or digital printing. Applications built around customization and digital printing also require customized solutions, including hardware, software, workflow, substrates/coatings, fulfillment, content management, and royalty/rights management.
In other words, production is increasingly data—and software—driven. It’s not your father’s print shop any more!
Binding and Finishing—It isn’t done until it’s finished!
Complementing the emphasis on books that I saw—from personal publishing to photo books—there were a number of solutions for mechanizing or automating the production of books. Not all finishing needs to be in-line and totally automated; short run book production can be done efficiently with a range of equipment, such as Unibind’s binding systems. Unibind, by the way, introduced a line of environmentally friendly “green” photo books made from natural and recycled materials including recycled boards and linen cloth covers.
Online and offline binding and finishing solutions were offered by GBC as well. They’re not just bindery people any more; GBC also offers a broad range of laminates ranging from “pouch” laminating systems for moderate volumes to roll laminates for high volumes. And, lest we forget, for “end of document life,” GBC has a full line of shredders for departmental or production use.
Duplo’s Ultra 145A and 205A ultraviolet document coaters were on display in the Fujifilm booth. The coating on the demonstration pieces—applied over a deeply colored photo of a tiger—was smooth, even, and glossy without being garish. Nice! The Ultra coaters also handle paper up to 20.5” wide, allowing for some creative and efficient use of stock.
Going Green
A key trend that every show attendee could not help but be aware of is the growing concern about printing’s effect on the environment. InfoTrends’ Charlie Pesko reminded his audience that consumers—recipients and users of print—are becoming vocal about the environment:
85% are willing to switch brands or purchasing habits to make tomorrow a better place
92% labeled protecting the environment as a top concern
73% said they were willing to pay more for environmentally conscious products.
Print and packaging buyers are going to respond to the “voice of the customer” and they will look for alternatives. As a result, paper manufacturers and distributors are FSC-certified, printers are applying for Chain of Custody (CoC) certification, and even designers can get an FSC-Xpert design certification. FSC Canada proudly notes that Canada is the world’s leader in FSC:
Over 25% of the world’s FSC-certified forests are in Canada
The largest FSC-certified forest, 5.5 million ha, is in Alberta
Four regionally specific forest management standards are in place: National Boreal, British Columbia, Great Lakes St. Lawrence and Maritimes
To learn more about these programs, go to www.fsccanada.org, where you will find lots of resources.
The On Demand Conference also offered sessions for service providers to learn more about environmentally friendly alternatives. Infoprint Solutions and HP shared the podium with printers Sandy Alexander and Finlay to talk about a wide variety of ways to “go green.” While in the Fujifilm booth, I picked up the company’s Energy newsletter—volume 3, number 3. This 8-page booklet introduces Fujifilm’s Green Policy, and covers topics ranging from processless plates to VOC-free pressroom products.
Green guides were everywhere! I picked up materials from Mohawk—their eco*guide—and xpedx, who have put together a CoC Printer program in partnership with an FSC-certification auditor to help printers through the process.
Some Friendly Faces at On Demand
As I strolled down the aisles I saw many friendly faces; here are some companies you might recognize:
Montreal-based Objectif Lune—market
er of Atlas Software (PrintShop Mail) —announced new capabilities for its PlanetPress Suite.
PlanetPress Suite, Version 6.2, includes new features for creating high impact documents, with features including the integration of Microsoft Excel business graphics, clipping capability, and programming and workflow functionalities to make variable document development more productive.
Sharing their booth this year was DirectSmile, developer of “variable imaging” technology. If you haven’t seen names spelled out in snowflakes, daisies, birds, or any number of other “custom fonts,” you are missing something!
Avanti Systems, hailing from Toronto, highlighted a new electronic scheduling board to help printers control ever-shortening turnaround times.
With Avanti’s new scheduling module, production planners can view all jobs in production, and add or modify jobs using “drag and drop.” With this solution planners can:
Reduce schedule conflicts and overtime
Maximize the use of production capacity
Identify bottlenecks
Improve customer satisfaction
Other modules include estimating, fulfillment, data collection, and a full web to print solution with online catalogs and ecommerce. (www.avantisystems.com)
Fujifilm Graphic Systems
Companies such as Fujifilm and Kodak are not just film companies any more; both have moved into graphic arts and print production in a big way. The faces on the following page from Fujifilm Canada are knowledgeable about the full print supply chain:
Digital Workflow
Computer to Plate (CtP)
Imaging Consumables
Inkjet Medias
Display Graphics & Printing (Wide Format)
Pressroom
Digital Proofing
Digital Printing
Konica Minolta again offered the bizhub PRO series, a solution perfect for short run personalized direct mail.
They also highlighted Printgroove this year—it’s an automated modular production print workflow solution teamed with the bizhub PRO products. Printgroove is particularly suited for copy centres and small to medium print service providers and delivers online job submission, automated job ticketing and quoting, print queue management, finishing management, and shipping and billing.
PrintLink
While Myrna and Arnie can find you the employees you need, whether you are looking for sales or technical staff, Arnie also has his thumb on the pulse of the industry. Ask him where the industry is going and he can give you a pretty good feel for the next six months or year.
His outlook: Business looks pretty good, people are hiring. From 2000 to 2002 the “inventory” of available applicants vastly outweighed the number of job openings. Now there are openings, but for people with technical skills. That doesn’t just mean computer programmers or software operators; sales people with technical understanding are in high demand.
The demand for the wares of On Demand—not to mention Xplor and AIIM—will only increase in the years to come; it was my pleasure to report on the outlook from this year’s show in Boston.
