Business Management - Industry Trends

Mitsubishi Imaging Sponsors 2013 Inkjet Summit; Dave Bell Talks Inkjet Paper
May 14, 2013

Mitsubishi Imaging’s Dave Bell, director of digital paper sales, spoke to attendees at the 2013 Inkjet Summit about the overall benefits of coated inkjet paper, and the unique advantages of Mitsubishi’s latest offering, the SWORD iJET 4.3 Gloss, for maximizing the capabilities of today’s high-speed inkjet presses.

Muller Martini is a Key Participant in First-ever Inkjet Summit
May 9, 2013

Muller Martini’s innovations in machine scalability and workflow adaptability resonated with participants at the first-ever Inkjet Summit held last month at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. “Best Sponsor Presentation” went to Andy Fetherman, director of digital solutions at Muller Martini.

Asian Papermaking Growth has Countered Shrinking Capacity in America and Europe
May 8, 2013

While the paper industries in Europe and North America have been scaling back production or eking out slow growth (depending on the sector), the healthy appetite of Chinese mills for recovered fibre has helped provide the necessary demand to keep the market in balance.

If 2013 turns out to be a tipping-point year for basic materials demand in China, the consequences for the paper and board industries and the recovered fibre sector that helps feed it could be considerable.

Wide Format: Big Reasons to Invest
May 7, 2013

Who buys wide format graphics, what they buy, top purchasing criteria: turnaround times, run lengths, sizes, applications, substrates.

Changing Times for the Paper Segment
May 7, 2013

Paper procurement USED to be a strategic function. For printers, it was an opportunity to leverage scale of spend to better serve our customers and in so doing, to beat the competition and convert opportunities into profitable business. I cannot remember a single occasion when I had to turn down an order because I couldn’t get the right paper.

Go EAST Young Bindroid!
March 4, 2013

It would be fair to say that the combined China-India-Asia print market is now the largest in the world. But the EU firms don't have an easy ride. There are hundreds of local Chinese manufacturers (like JMD Machinery Group) competing fiercely for the business. Still, the bindery is alive and well. It's just that much of it is now in China.

MIT Unveils 4-D Printing
February 28, 2013

Skylar Tibbits, a trained architect, designer, computer scientist, as well as a TED2012 Senior Fellow, recently presented a new concept at TED2013: 4-D printing—where materials can be reprogrammed to self-assemble into new structures. Apparently, this is just the tip of the iceberg in manufacturing with minimum energy consumption.

“If we combine the processes that natural systems offer intrinsically (genetic instructions, energy production, error correction) with those artificial or synthetic (programmability for design and scaffold, structure, mechanisms) we can potentially have extremely large-scale quasi-biological and quasi-synthetic architectural organisms,” noted Tibbits.

PostNet’s View on the Future of Print: An Interview with CEO Steve Greenbaum
February 22, 2013

As a leader in the printing franchise business, PostNet has grown steadily and profitably to over 200 million in revenues with 700 franchises worldwide. Noting that only 50 percent are in the United States, Steve Greenbaum, PostNet’s chief executive and founder, said it took 30 years to build his company to where it is today.

5-Day Mail Delivery: Your Door to More Business
February 13, 2013

We’ve all seen the signs for years. Three pieces one day. Five the next. Mondays, now that’s another story...10 pieces in my mailbox this week. While our e-mail inboxes are bursting from perpetual overload (I’m lucky if I keep mine under 100), our physical mailboxes become emptier and emptier.