Business Management - Industry Trends

According to the Future of Small Business Report, “The next 10 years will see a re-emergence of artisans as an economic force.” These artisan entrepreneurs are not just bakers and chocolate makers, they’re designers, authors, manufacturers of small but exclusive lines of luxury items, niche consultants, life coaches...the list goes on.

Wikoff Color has converted space in its Fort Mill, SC, manufacturing plant into an energy-cure inkjet ink manufacturing facility and cleanroom suitable for the demanding requirements of producing inkjet inks. The facility houses some of the industry’s most advanced manufacturing and test equipment, providing an ideal environment for manufacturing inkjet inks.

Though the Wilen Group may have one eye constantly peeled on the future, the other (from a printing point of view) is focused on the world of direct mail. The overall organization acts as a full-scale marketing services provider, from concept to delivery, and cringes at being pigeon-holed as a printer, mailer or ad agency.

Despite all the hype about iPads and Kindles, U.S. magazine publishers are making far more money on the Web and generally wondering when their tablet investments will pay off.

In fact, though no one seems to talk about it, the real game-changing technology for subscription magazines has been browser-based editions—that is, digital replicas that can be read on any computer. Many a B2B publication has shifted 50 percent or more of its subscription base to these simple page-flip editions, but few print-and-digital publications get even 10 percent of their circulation from tablet editions.

A new report is now available on ReportsnReports.com, titled “Global and China Printing Ink Industry Report, 2012-2015.” Some of the key areas the report focuses on includes the status quo, competition pattern and development outlook of the global printing ink industry, as well as operation, printing ink business and business in China of six global printing ink enterprises including DIC and Flink.

BCC Research estimates the global market for industrial inkjet printing hardware and consumables was valued at $1.5 billion in 2011 and $1.9 billion in 2012. By 2017, the market is projected to approach $7.4 billion after increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8 percent since 2012.

Gilson Graphics in Grand Rapids, MI, has installed Fujifilm’s ColorPath Sync color management solution to work with the Fujifilm J Press 720 and J Press Web. The solution has enabled Gilson to take on a project at a local university to produce a high-profile Faculty Awards Program, on Sappi Opus stock.

Inkjet Summit 2013 was a success! Will you be there in 2014?

BR Printers, headquartered in San Jose, CA, is reportedly one of only two printers in the United States currently utilizing the Extended Media Dryer for the Ricoh InfoPrint 5000. According to Adam DeMaestri, president, adding the dryer enables higher ink coverage, faster drying times and enhanced color vibrancy on a broad range of substrates.

As routine communications have become largely electronic, paper’s role as a mark of status has only grown. Can an exclusively electronic diploma, passport, or military commission document even be imagined? Will the bride’s family announce a wedding with advertising-supported Evites, and will the photographer supply only digital files recording the event?

The more important the gesture, the more imperative a handwritten note, in part precisely because people find handwriting more difficult now. Even a commercially produced card signals that the sender has taken the trouble to visit a shop, select the proper design, find a stamp, address it, and mail it.