Digital Printing-Production Inkjet - Continuous Feed (Color)

Tribune Direct is the direct mail printing offshoot of the Chicago Tribune Media Group, perhaps best known for its venerable Chicago Tribune newspaper. Its value proposition is a three-pronged attack: direct mail strategy, program management and creative development.

Now that some of the early adopters of inkjet production presses have had a chance to shake out the jitters, where do things stand? What drove these companies to jump in early and what has their experience been?

Cathedral is a $25 million provider of direct mail and transactional/promotional (transpromo) printing that is demonstrating the ability to lead by example and adopting the latest in digital printing technology, including a Xerox CiPress 500 waterless inkjet production press.

Darwill has made a name for itself in direct mail by continually changing, adapting and adding services to meet the evolving needs of its customers. “The Océ ColorStream 3500 system makes our large-scale production much more manageable now, and the system offers a scalable solution as our business grows.”

Webcom announced its second major capital investment in the past 18 months, bringing its total to an impressive $20 million. The latest investment will involve installation of an HP T350 Color Inkjet Web Press to complement a T300 model installed just over a year ago.

Fenske Media is a highly successful, family-owned, multichannel marketing solutions provider that caters to a national clientele of banks, financial institutions and non-profits. Its smallest customers have lists in the 25,000 to 50,000 range. A Kodak Prosper 5000XL inkjet press is just the latest addition to its digital production aresenal.

IWCO Direct will deploy the Océ ColorStream 3500 inkjet printing system at its Chanhassen, MN, facility. “We are committed to digital continuous color printing, and we expect to lead the way in integrating it appropriately into our customers’ direct mail streams,” said Jim Andersen, IWCO Direct president and CEO.

Mercury Print Productions will use the inkjet press to boost its ability to produce short-run and on-demand books in color, meeting publishers’ needs in the education/textbook market. The company plans to increase its already significant business from the largest publishers.

O’Neil Data Systems’ HP T350 produced a single-day peak volume of 2.69 million pages and, during the month of December, it printed 1.61 million pages a day, on average, across 30 production days in the month.

One of the key drivers for the printing industry is going to be digital technology. Digital printing offers personalization, cost savings, improved output options and the ability to migrate traditional offset volume to a value added digital services business model.

This webinar explores emerging market opportunities driven by digital color printing (both toner based and inkjet) combined with the availability of an expanded array of substrates. You will hear from your peers in the industry about how they are tapping into direct mail market expansion, books on demand, photo merchandise and digital packaging by combining the right digital press with the right paper. 

Key areas that will be explored include:
1. Perspectives on the market growth areas for digital applications
2. Case histories from service providers that are building new business models around on demand publishing, packaging direct marketing and photo merchandise and critical requirements for success
3. Recommendations for participating in the market transition

To view this free webinar, click here!