Category Archive

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.

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.

The current challenges with online advertising underscore the need for print including direct mail, on-statement marketing and point-of-purchase advertising to drive marketing return on investment. Inkjet is a key player in this mix.

Jacki Hudmon, of Komori America talks to Elizabeth Gooding about why Komori is the best kept secret in production inkjet. Komori has committed to the market with a portfolio of inkjet products with multiple types of inks, multiple types of heads and even multiple approaches to getting the ink on the substrate in order to serve different aspects of their commercial print-focused customer base. Watch now to learn about Komori’s growth roadmap.

Elizabeth Gooding talks to Rick Herlevic, Director of Plant Operations at Century Marketing Solutions about the introduction of an HP PageWide Web PressT230 inkjet solution into their direct mail/commercial printing operation. CMS is the in-plant arm of CenturyLink, and also has a sales force and an array of outside clients.

Inkjet Insight maps out I.T. Strategies North American print volume data to explore opportunities for production inkjet technologies. The map looks packaging, publishing, and document application categories. Production inkjet has been successful with applications that have light ink coverage printed on uncoated stocks … namely, transactional, direct mail, and some book applications. Many of these applications were converted from high-speed roll-fed toner devices and inkjet provided economic and process benefits and by adding color. Inkjet also provided the ability to add value to printed pages. It’s useful to look at the entire market to help put this area of success in perspective and to think about the requirements for expanding adoption.

The catalog market looks unexpectedly bright for 2019, both due to retail brands embracing direct mail and advances in inkjet technology to meet the needs of this challenging application segment.

Printing from the first tower allows ink twice as long to dry helping reduce roller build up and print defects in finishing.

Andy Gordon discusses the strategic role of production inkjet and the importance of developing a technology stack to drive business transformation. He discusses an NPR Freakonomics interview with Ford Motor Company’s CEO, Jim Hackett and the lessons to be learned that can apply to the printing industry.

If you are using inkjet coated or primed offset coated paper, different papers will have different porosity levels on each side of the sheet.

2019 Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion   US Postal service is encouraging mailers of color messaging to sign up for the discount mailing promotion.  They are offering an upfront postage discount to

“To the inkjet world changing their name to Pixelle is quite fitting as it is Glatfelter’s performance inkjet brand compatible on high speed inkjet devices.” -Mary Schilling Find Pixelle Performance

Most inkjet printer manufacturers are either private (Durst) or part of a larger public company for which inkjet is only an element of their portfolio (HP, Canon, Ricoh, etc), so

In this video Elizabeth Gooding shows the event magazine developed by WhatTheyThink and Printing News and the trend toward inkjet compatibility with offset grades.

Karen Weil, Director of Procurement for IWCO Direct, shares her impressions of Inkjet Insight’s market research on paper supply and her approach to securing paper for her client’s projects.

RISO, Inc. will be launching the T2 twin-engine cut sheet production inkjet platform at Chicago’s PRINT18. This printer is designed for the transactional, direct mail and the short run book publishing markets and can produce up to 320 color impressions per minute.

Highlights from the latest Smithers Pira report: The Future of Inkjet Printing to 2023 project that the value of the global inkjet market will rise at 9.4% over the next five years. As the global print market transforms, shifts in buyer demands—short runs, versioned and personalized products—and higher quality are aligning with the capabilities of inkjet. This is making it a key focus for technology developers. This analysis shows that inkjet will grow by deepening its penetration into existing markets and exploiting new emergent market opportunities through 2023.

Managing your workflow resources, understanding potential bottlenecks and the corresponding job attributes that will trigger them is essential to meeting SLA performance expectations in an inkjet environment. Tim Cooper of NCP Solutions, an OSG Company, provides expert insight on identifying constraints and measuring for success.

Mike Dietz, Executive Creative Director with IWCO Direct discusses best practices in designing for digital and approaches to customer education on the wonders of production inkjet.