Winning with Inkjet Means Developing Strategies, Addressing Challenges

After a pleasant evening of networking, enjoying each other's company, good food, and live music, day two of the 2023 Inkjet Summit began with a morning networking breakfast before attendees settled in for the first session of the day. Barb A. Pellow, manager, Pellow & Partners, led a panel about the importance of differentiating with value add.

Pellow started by asking two questions to frame the discussion: What are the reasons customers use print, and why do they select certain providers?

The answers, provided by NAPCO Research, were clear. Customers are looking for high-value and high-quality products and services. To illustrate how to serve print buyers and offer them what what they value most, Pellow was joined by three commercial printers.

From left, Barb A. Pellow, Pellow & Partners, leads a value-add panel featuring Christopher DuBach, Phoenix Innovate; Gretchen Renaud, PrintMail Solutions; and Craig Jones, TGI Direct.

Christopher DuBach, executive VP, Phoenix Innovate (Austin, Texas), explained that his company, which he described as an omnichannel marketing company, operates like an agency when it comes to adding value. The products and services the company provides, however, move beyond a typical agency.

"One of the things that we do that’s different is that we step outside where an agency lives," he said. "We dig a little deeper when we start with a client.”

Phoenix Innovate not only provides traditional print services — which accounts for only 1% of its business — it does research, database analytics, performance metrics, and strategic planning for its customers; content development; design; delivery; warehousing and fulfillment; distribution; automated marketing services; and execution.

DuBach explained the company's goal is to bring all marketing and printing needs under one roof. To meet all of its customers needs, Phoenix Innovate has heavily invested in production inkjet. Although it does still run offset equipment, DuBach doesn't see it as a process it will continue to invest in.

“We believe offset will not be our future," he said.

PrintMail Solutions (Newtown, Pennsylvania) has a slightly different approach. Gretchen Renaud, VP of operations, explained that the company primarily serves community banks with document delivery. The fully digital shop sees its biggest value as being a single source of document management for its customers. That includes operations, customer service, marketing, IT/security, and end users.

“We’re taking on customers that were previously in-house, or in-plants," she said. "[It's important to] have the confidence that we can do the work for them at the same or a higher level."

One of the most critical aspects of the services PrintMail Solutions offers is consistency. It's something Renaud described as being incredibly important to its customers.

“Having a consistent experience across [customer] channels” is what the company is focused on.

TGI Direct (Fort Worth, Texas) provides print and services for the health care industry. One thing Craig Jones, COO, explained is critical for the company is to continue to educate its employees on the health care programs it provides services for, such as Medicare.

“When we got efficient on the health care side, it opened up our value add to our marketing clients – direct mail – our volumes have gone through the roof,” he said.

One driving factor in TGI Direct's ability to provide its customers with what they need has been inkjet. Similar to Phoenix Innovate, TGI Direct has an offset press, but it doesn't plan to go continue investing in offset as a solution.

“We will not go back to offset, it’s not our model," he said. "The digital world is where we’re going to go and grow.”

Don't Get Held Hostage in The Cloud

Following Pellow's panel, Pat McGrew, managing director, McGrew Group, took the stage with to explore the pros and cons of working in the cloud. McGrew explained that many people have misconceptions about what the cloud is ... and no, she doesn't mean the fluffy white ones in the sky. Instead, it's a secure system that can house applications, process and store data, and communicate across locations.

Pat McGrew, managing director, McGrew Group.

“One of the values we immediately saw was this idea that we could centralize where processing happens but then share the data around multiple facilities," she said.

She explained the different functions of the cloud and provided advantages and potential pitfalls of making the switch. One of the biggest things though, is understanding its capabilities and its what the costs will be before investing because, she explained, "you don’t want to be held hostage in the cloud."

Why Finishing Estimations Are Never Accurate

After her informative morning session, McGrew took the stage again after an informative round of sponsor case studies. This time, she addressed one of the biggest challenges facing printers: finishing bottlenecks. And what is causing these bottlenecks? Labor. Not only are labor rates going up while challenges finding and new maintaining workers persist, understanding costs associated with labor is a lingering challenge.

“If you’re not accounting for every touchpoint, every time someone touches something to move it into the next process, you don’t have a true understanding of your costs,” McGrew explained.

She offered a few solutions to mitigate these issues. First, she said it's critical to think about finishing first.

“The concept and design of finishing should be considered when the job is conceived," she said. "That’s how you avoid costly problems in finishing.”

Another solution is to "walk your workflow."

“We’ve never seen an estimation for finishing that was accurate. It’s always underestimated," she said.

She explained that most printers underestimate the amount of time they need for finishing because of the human touch aspect and "someone wasn’t in the right place when they needed to be." That's why it's important to do a self-assessment.

Walking your workflow can also help identify inefficiencies in the process.

“The efficiency you think you’re getting might not be the efficiency you’re getting,” she cautioned.

Once bottlenecks in finishing have been addressed, however, it can enable expanded opportunities.

A Look at the Numbers

To provide a look at what print buyers are looking for and how it impacts inkjet, Nathan Safran, VP of research at PRINTING United Alliance, presented some key findings.

When commercial printers were asked what they're investing in for their operations, 79% said they are funding investments in growth, technology, and people. The factors influencing those decisions have evolved, Safran said.

Nathan Safran, VP of research at PRINTING United Alliance, gave attendees a look at what print buyers are really looking for.

Going back a few years, the focus was on page volume, but that has changed. “It’s not the growth of page volume, it’s about the growth of profitability,” he said.

Safran also addressed one of the biggest print buyer misconceptions, which is that print is not eco-friendly (74%). That means print service providers need to make sure they have the right communication about their sustainability strategy.

When Marco Boer, VP of IT Strategies and conference chair, took the stage to close out the day's sessions, he said the printing industry has some work to do when it comes to sustainability.

“We’ve got an image problem,” he said. And it's up to print service providers and associations, like PRINTING United Alliance, to put in the work to change the perception of the printing industry.

Much to Consider

Day two of the Inkjet Summit concluded with another round of case studies presented by event sponsors. Further, it included rounds of 1:1 meetings between vendors and attendees. These meetings, held in a "speed dating" format, allow both parties the develop a deeper understanding of available solutions and how they can help.

A Lucky Night

As is tradition at the Inkjet Summit, the second evening included a networking dinner and a boisterous casino night, during which Summit participants were able to "try their luck" at a variety of table games. Truth be told, investment in inkjet technologies and the systems and services that support them is the best bet in the house.

Attendees tested their luck at the annual Casino Night.

Attendees tested their luck at the annual Casino Night.