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Onward! You have power. Use it. By Noel Ward, Editor@Large Back in bad old days of the Great Recession about 20% of printers went away. Some were acquired, some merged with other firms and some just pulled the plug. There are analysts who claimed the recession culled out businesses that were...

Thanks, kinni. Excellent points, although Mr. Quadracci may be something of an exception. He knew what he was getting and had the pockets to cut a deal. And the clout and brand name to make vendors pay attention. See how it works for a guy buying one Indigo 10000, a single iGen 5, or a lone...

by Noel Ward, Editor@Large When do you think we’ll see the Last Print Trade Show? I’m not talking conferences with pipe and drape booths and pop-up backdrops. I’m thinking of the “mine’s bigger than yours” extravaganzas with high-dollar machinery beneath rotating aerial displays. Places where...

Thoughts on Marketing Through an Economic Crisis by Noel Ward, Editor@Large It is fascinating how conversations in this aberrant age change directions and how points of view evolve over phone calls or emails or text messages instead of over dinners and drinks. Some recent conversations have...

by Noel Ward, Editor@Large Somewhere in the back of your head there’s stuff you probably don’t like to admit. Like some of the operations in your shop, for instance. How many require multiple steps and even multiple people? What are those extra steps and processes really costing you? You...

By Noel Ward Editor@Large Over the past few years I’ve watched a group of transactional and direct mail printers carefully and strategically shift from monochrome toner machines to full-color toner and inkjet presses. Most banished old black-only toner boxes from their operations, but kept...

I posted this in Editorials, but it seems to fit here too. I just got off a con call with some clients that sell printing equipment and supplies throughout North America. With a bunch of people in all four U.S. time zones I think we were pushing the edges of the Go To Meeting servers, but we...

No surprises, except that the drupa press release made it look as if the postponement came more from local and governmental pressure than concern for the attendees.

By Noel Ward, Editor@Large I just got off a con call with some clients that sell printing equipment and supplies throughout North America. With a bunch of people in all four U.S. time zones I think we were pushing the edges of the Go To Meeting servers, but we got it all done. But that’s not...

By Noel Ward, Editor@Large So you go home at night, leaving the lights on because they turn off automatically. Your autonomous car drives you home and closes the garage door behind you. Back at the shop the 49 jobs in the queue run under full automation. Since no one is there you check in...

Consider a Riso. They come in various flavors and can be cheap to own. They mostly use oil-based inks and don' have the resolution of aqueous inks, but can do a good job. Worth checking out.

by Noel Ward, Editor@Large Back in the day when the digital printing market was not much larger than a few specks of toner on a page, a colleague snarked to me that the biggest crowd at a print show focused on digital printing was at a small booth selling equipment that enabled gold or silver...

By Noel Ward, Editor@Large I was Skyping with some guy in Shanghai, wondering how much support I’d get out of a call to the far side of the world. I was in Germany and had bought Chinese software to convert a video file my normal editing software didn’t like. The guy in China apologized...

It's strange. I was thinking of Dick late last week, no idea why he came into my head, and now I hear of his passing. Dick was a total original. And one of the best, because he always said what he thought and was often right. RIP, Dick.

by Noel Ward, Editor@Large Color is in demand in all types of documents, making color management a critical part of Digital Printing 5.0. Managing color on one device/press can be an easy task with the correct tools and processes. But managing color to ensure printed pages are consistent and...

by Noel Ward Editor@Large Silly me, always being optimistic. I really thought that by now, 26 years after the first full-color digital presses were rolled out, that graphic designers might be a bit more savvy about the capabilities of modern digital presses. Nope. As it turns out, many are not...

by Noel Ward, Editor@Large [Download Digital Printing 5.0: Beyond the Press: Defining the Infrastructure for Operational Success ] So you pulled the trigger and put the big new printer on your shop floor. But success is not about the box. What makes a bottom-line difference is how you meet the...

By Noel Ward, Editor@Large In this age of rapidly evolving technology knowledge can make the difference between success and mediocrity…or even failure. This goes way beyond knowing your customers and the markets you serve. These days, that stuff just lets you put up a sign and open the front...

by Noel Ward, Editor@Large Henry Ford used to say the Model T came in any color you wanted as long as it was black. That was pretty much how purveyors (and buyers) of digital presses and copiers thought until the mid-1990s. Toner was all black all the time. Then, along came a couple of presses...

This is not an unusual number in my experience. When we had both kids at home and on a moderate plan we were paying more than that ($18K-$25K) when you factor in deductibles and other out of pocket costs. OK, it was more because I'm a sole proprietor and had to pony up all the money, but it...