Knowledge Base

Too often, the term “in-plant” has become homogenized. It is used as a generic term for any organization-owned print operation. When we take a closer look, we see that in-plants have varied names, especially when broken out by vertical market. These differences are important for OEMs to understand, and buyers to communicate when evaluating production inkjet.

Inkjet is having an impact on every segment of the print market. While adoption has been slower in some segments than others, the need for inkjet presses to stay running has caused a ripple effect across segments. Many print organizations who invest in inkjet quickly seek to diversify their book of business in order to fill their inkjet presses, minimize marginal running costs and maximize revenue.

Is inkjet eating toner’s lunch? In some areas, yes. But, as long as there are many types of print organizations, there will be a need for many types of printing devices. One size does not fit all. Your mileage may vary. Definitely see the dealer for details.

The Ricoh Interact 2019 event followed the best practices for business development, customer education and ongoing measurement recommended to attendees.

Dave Phillips of Paragon Customer Communications is back with more details on 2 very different UK sites where cutting edge inkjet equipment coexists with some more “old school” tech. Dave provides insight on working with inkjet and coated paper, best fit of different inkjet technologies and the implications of GDPR requirements for transaction printers and direct mailers.

An updated to our series of tools is a fully customizable Process Color Guide for our premium members. Designed as a fan book, the guide can be printed on each of your approved inkjet papers and supplied to customers as appropriate for their design project.

Many buyers in 2019 are looking to complement or replace their offset production capabilities. High speed inkjet is gaining acceptance in a market with high print quality and color expectations. We are talking about high end, high value printing such as marketing collateral, magazines and catalogs. Read on for a round up of factors in evaluating presses for this market and top OEMs making the cut.

Pat McGrew and Elizabeth Gooding discuss the component parts of a Do-It-Yourself inkjet solution and the pros and cons of DIY.

What is and is not included in the maintenance contract sound like basic questions – but listening for the RIGHT answers to these important questions is more nuanced than you might think. This is the second in a series on inkjet maintenance agreements.

Mary Schilling will be in Belgium next week presenting to a mixed audience of creative and production professionals hosted by Group JOOS Unlimited Digital Solutions.  Group JOOS are experts in converting big data into hyper-individualized cross marketing communication through digital, print and augmented reality. We are excited to announce this year’s program will be held at the Roosekes Breem Venue on June 4, 2019, focusing on “Better Match-Better Return through Cross Marketing and Inkjet Printing through Inkjet Insight’s Great 8 Program

The USPS wants to keep mail relevant within the marketing mix. This year they are offering new and emerging technologies incentive programs for direct mail. Direct mail campaigns incorporating Augmented Reality sent before August 31, 2019 are eligible for a 2% postage savings.

Dave Phillips, Site Director for Paragon Customer Communications has a lot to say about the global printing market and where inkjet fits. In part 1 of this series, Dave provides an overview of the Paragon global footprint spanning 45 countries and the distinct approaches of their 2 UK sites.

This is the second in a series of videos with Jacki Hudmon, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Komori America. In this interview, Jacki discusses the factors influencing inkjet quality at Komori and how that relates to offset production quality.

Pretty much everyone is familiar with the Pantone swatch / tint book which shows the CMYK, RGB and HTML values used to reproduce each swatch color, or tint, as accurately as possible in standard print and onscreen applications. The problem is that production inkjet is not really a “standard” print application.

Whether you already own inkjet presses or you are in the market looking for your first, one of the big questions in the due diligence process revolves around maintenance programs. Pat McGrew provides top questions to ask and explains why they matter.

Coated papers being more expensive, we expect higher quality from the printed piece. Gloss coated, which holds the ink high on the surface, will show any defect from inconsistent pre-coating, print head jetting and even inconsistent paper coating. Note that, even though we may not see a difference in surface coating, offset coated papers can come with inconsistencies that originate at the paper mill. If coating is not evenly applied across the entire paper machine, the roll or ream you receive will print and dry differently than the one before.

Alex Joos CEO of Group Joos in Belgium shares his company’s inkjet journey. Group Joos provides traditional commercial printing services, transactional and administrative communications, omnichannel solutions and security printing.

Pete Gjerness, long-time in-plant print executive, tackles the main questions that drive requirements for evaluating an inkjet press.

There’s more at stake than pretty print – files that are inefficient, or just plain bad cost a lot of people time and money. Designing for inkjet comes with great responsibility – are you ready? Or should we find you a radioactive spider?

There’s more to using data in an inkjet environment than personalization, versioning, security and augmented reality– although those are all great uses. Data can be used to drive quality, efficiency, revenue and profit. Elizabeth Gooding talks (fast) about some of the best ways to put data to work.