Category Archive

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our most recent white paper, sponsored by RICOH, examines the many factors that combine to create a quality inkjet solution for a particular market need. The production workflow and quality sensitivity varies significantly from one application segment to another. While some companies may be replacing one technology platform with another, others are challenged to maintain compatibility between inkjet and toner or offset platforms.

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.

We picked up some new pricing and details on the RISO Valezus T2100 in Dallas last week. Check out this overview and video of the RISO booth at Printing United.

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.

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.

One challenge that companies new to inkjet face is to move customers from a model where they control paper buying to one where they are expected to choose from a list of approved papers. Another challenge is to get customers to send files that are designed appropriately for the paper selected and the device it will be produced on. One tool that can help with both of these challenges is what is known as a fingerprint file.