Articles By Lois Ritarossi

Lois Ritarossi, CMC®, is the President of High Rock Strategies, a consulting firm focused on sales and marketing strategies, and business growth for firms in the print, mail and communication sectors. Lois brings her clients a cross functional skill set and strategic thinking with disciplines in business strategy, sales process, sales training, marketing, software implementation, inkjet transformation and workflow optimization. You can reach Lois at HighRockStrategies.com

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Featured image for “Two Printers. Two Processes – Part 2: BOCES”
July 15, 2021

Two Printers. Two Processes – Part 2: BOCES

Interview with New York State, Cattaraugus Allegany Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) on why inkjet and toner work well together.
Featured image for “Two Printers. Two Processes. Part 1: Quantum Group”
June 22, 2021

Two Printers. Two Processes. Part 1: Quantum Group

Do commercial print shops need more than one print process? Hear from 2 companies with a mix of technologies on why they do.
Featured image for “Ready to Future Proof your Workflow?”
June 15, 2021

Ready to Future Proof your Workflow?

How do print providers future proof their workflow and effectively manage their SLAs?
Featured image for “Print Provider Innovates with Introduction of NANOLAM Antimicrobial Media”
April 29, 2021

Print Provider Innovates with Introduction of NANOLAM Antimicrobial Media

US Print Provider teams up with scientists in Japan to develop media with long-lasting antimicrobial properties embedded in the PET substrate.
Featured image for “Book Printing: a Multi-Technology Market”
March 30, 2021

Book Printing: a Multi-Technology Market

90% of all books are still printed on offset equipment. So where exactly does inkjet play in the book printing market? Let’s find out.
Featured image for “3 Trends Driving Direct Mail ROI”
March 2, 2021

3 Trends Driving Direct Mail ROI

The evolution of programmatic and trigger based marketing mail has accelerated with inkjet. Get the proof points from Polaris Direct, Data Axle and Postalytics.
Featured image for “Making the Best-Informed Investment Decision”
February 3, 2021

Making the Best-Informed Investment Decision

Investment volatility isn’t limited to GameStop. Buying a press with shifting print volumes is nerve-wracking.
Featured image for “Healthcare In-Plants Thrive Despite the Pandemic”
January 6, 2021

Healthcare In-Plants Thrive Despite the Pandemic

Healthcare companies of all types continue to face the brunt of the pandemic. The people managing the in-plant print operations continue to respond to dynamic changes in business conditions and the need for print, signage, and mail.
Featured image for “Back to School, Back to Work, Need a Sign?”
November 3, 2020

Back to School, Back to Work, Need a Sign?

Lois Ritarossi recently interviewed three managers of in-plant print operations at school districts. They shared their stories of responding to change over the spring, summer, and the start of the new school year.
Featured image for “In-Plant Managers: Assess, Adapt and Grow”
October 13, 2020

In-Plant Managers: Assess, Adapt and Grow

In-plants are experiencing changes at every level.
Featured image for “How to Stay Informed in a Remote World”
September 9, 2020

How to Stay Informed in a Remote World

Fall is around the corner and the question is how to make the right decisions for new equipment and technology without live events. Should organizations continue to postpone capital investment decisions? As we move into the last quarter of 2020 it is time to make many decisions.
Featured image for “In-Plants do Your Customers Know you are Open?”
June 10, 2020

In-Plants do Your Customers Know you are Open?

The current situation has demonstrated the need to continually communicate internally and externally. Senior leaders expect managers and teams to get the work done. While they may not need to know all the details, ongoing communications are critical.
Featured image for “Maintain Now or Pay Later”
May 19, 2020

Maintain Now or Pay Later

Inkjet presses from many equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have delivered on the promise of lower cost, higher throughput, and better uptime. Many in-plant print operations attribute part of their success to their inkjet adoption strategy. Performing regular preventative maintenance is the  key to drive uptime and excellent image quality.
Featured image for “Can In-Plants Change Workflow without Change Management?”
March 24, 2020

Can In-Plants Change Workflow without Change Management?

Successful inkjet production means transforming the workflow. Defining new workflows that deliver the right information in the preferred format to the right person at the right time – and track it at each step in the production and delivery process using your new equipment requires hard work and leadership. Lois Ritarossi suggests key steps to evaluate and guidance on change management and leadership in workflow redesign.
Featured image for “In-Plants: Educate your Customers”
February 5, 2020

In-Plants: Educate your Customers

Do your customers know everything you can do for them? Education drives ideas and new applications. In-plants that are growing take the time to educate their customers about all their capabilities by hosting events and taking on marketing to educate and demonstrate the benefits of print to solve business and communication needs.
Featured image for “In-Plants, Inkjet and Paper Costing Philosophy”
January 9, 2020

In-Plants, Inkjet and Paper Costing Philosophy

In-plant operations evaluating papers need to take a broader perspective of what cost means in an inkjet environment. There is a potential domino effect on cost when low grade papers are used in high-end devices that corporate procurement teams need to understand.
Featured image for “Inkjet the USPS and Getting Ready for 2020”
November 25, 2019

Inkjet the USPS and Getting Ready for 2020

Offering new ideas to your organization while leveraging the USPS promotions may set the stage for positive change in 2020. Using inkjet platforms to enable print mail operations to enhance the usefulness of mail and take advantage of the various USPS promotions, while delivering value to consumers and postage savings to their organizations. A win, win, win.
Featured image for “New Inkjet Applications and Efficiencies for In-Plants”
October 10, 2019

New Inkjet Applications and Efficiencies for In-Plants

Many in-plants justified investment in inkjet platforms based on three criteria: reduced cost of running inkjet over older print devices, increased speed, throughput, and the elimination of pre-printed shells. However, newer inkjet technologies from several manufacturers have improved image quality and substrate flexibility opening up a range of new opportunities and continuing to drive efficiency improvements.
Featured image for “In-Plants’ Challenges: Organizational Visibility”
August 21, 2019

In-Plants’ Challenges: Organizational Visibility

In-plant managers are challenged every day to meet the complex and evolving needs of their organizations. In-plants with stronger alignment with their internal customers have been able to justify new equipment like inkjet and expand their capabilitiesI recently spoke with print mail managers from three different in-plant organizations. My intent was to get their perspective on the challenges in providing relevance to their organizations.
Featured image for “Inkjet Justification – Cost & Benefits of Manufacturing”
July 16, 2019

Inkjet Justification – Cost & Benefits of Manufacturing

With the evolution and variety of inkjet options now available, smaller volume print operations like small and medium size in-plants are now considering inkjet adoption. The justification and cost analysis for inkjet is not as straight forward as the cost of acquiring previous new printers. In evaluating the cost of inkjet adoption there are many considerations beyond the cost of acquiring the printer. While there are varying opinions and models for comparing total cost of ownership (TCO), a detailed cost analysis should compare total cost of finished pieces leaving the facility and the opportunity for impacting the results of printed communications.

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