So after my meetings and demonstrations and discussions, I would have to admit that HP had every right to be excited.

While the news of the NUR and MacDermid ColorSpan acquisitions were necessary—such as the discontinuation of the Scitex XL 2200 and the NUR Fresco and Tango as the Scitex and NUR product lines were consolidated—it was even more interesting to hear about HP’s next technology developments and R&D investment: latex ink.

Out of all the announcements that came out of this pre-drupa graphic arts summit—even the news of the HP Inkjet Web Press, HP SmartStream, the HP Indigo 7000—latex ink has a much broader application going forward—at least in my opinion, for the wide- and grand-format markets. HP’s commitment to find an alternative ink technology (other than solvent) and one that is environmentally-friendly, is a daunting task. While I believe the
“green” or “sustainability” movement/trend with the printing industry is a key driver to innovation in this arena, it takes more than a good idea to shift an industry. There has to be a strong financial reason for end-users—print-for-pay providers—to make such a drastic shift from current technology, some of which has been doing a good job for their customers.

From the small glimpse I’ve seen—the ink, printed samples, new printhead technology, the various presentations and discussions with the product mangers and experts—I think this technology has legs, has the ability to become one of the next steps in the evolution of the wide-format industry.

HP, however, is not unique in trying to develop a new ink technology to replace aggressive solvent. Industry-wide, there seems to be a general consensus that solvent has a short life span, but until an alternative is found that offers the same kind of reliability and product characteristics—outside durability, scratch- and smudge-resistance, the ability to print on the same range of media as solvent, the ability to print on flexible media surfaces without cracking, a wide color gamut—and a low or comparable price point, there is limited reason for many to switch. Especially because these inks require a new printing platform.

According to HP, the new latex inks—which are 70 percent aqueous-based—will offer both the price point and all the same properties as solvent inks but without the harmful VOCs. This is all well and good, but the one snag, as mentioned before, is that these inks won’t work in the current range of printing equipment currently on the market. The new inks have been developed for use with the Edgeline printheads which offer a 4.25-inch-wide swath and 10,000+ nozzles per head.

But right now, the real question is this: Will print providers spend the money on a new printing platform to support the new inks when the current line of printers and services are working well to meet their customers’ needs and expectations? That’s one question I can’t answer at this point, partially because the new printers with the ink and head technology have yet to be released—or even shown.

HP has said the printer—or a glimpse of the printer—will be available at drupa in a few months and I am interested in seeing how this technology will be used, especially in its initial application. As of now, mum’s the word on any printer product details—although I’ve heard the printer is impressive. I guess I’ll have to wait until drupa to make any final observations or conclusions about the new printer and inks.

And then there’s always the question of what the print provider wants to offer their customers—or what their customers are asking for. If a new print platform with environmentally friendly inks that can print on any solvent media and 30 percent of UV media is what they’re looking for, this might be a wise investment for them. But, it would have to be taken on a case by case basis.

But then, there is still the media that needs to be taken into consideration. While the ink might be environmentally friendly, it’s only one piece of the larger puzzle. Creating environmentally-friendly print media is the next step to creating a truly green printing option. While the new latex inks can print on vinyl, that doesn’t really provide a fully “green” solution. HP also announced the availability of media with recycled content, but this is also an area that requires innovation and I know several companies are already researching media alternatives to the environmentally-unfriendly and low-cost media currently on the market.

The potential is there. But will HP convince the print-for-pay providers that they have the best “green” solution? At this point, the product with the best properties and price point will probably be the winner and HP is one of the players in the field. Do I think this is the right solution? Maybe. For some, this will probably be the answer they’re looking for and the cost of putting in a new printing platform/system is simply the cost of doing business and staying on the leading edge. Others might look for options within their current capabilities. But, no matter which way you look at it, the “green” or environmentally-friendly trend is driving change within the graphics arts market—whichever segment you belong to. Product innovations such as this are defining the wide-format industry and helping to drive the market forward.

There were more entries this year than there were two years ago and I have to say that there were some really great entries into the contest. From vehicle and fleet graphics, to interiors (lots of home décor applications which were very cool) and outdoor applications, the entries covered it all.

It’s always so interesting—to me at least—to be able to see what shops can do with the materials and the equipment they’re given. They might be working with their own in-house design department or an ad agency, but they still have to make the project work and make the client happy with the finished product. The graphic has to be able to effectively communicate the advertising message. It needs to be visually appealing without being too busy. It needs to be installed well. It needs to be functional. It needs to made sense in terms of venue and audience. If it’s a great graphic but it reaches the wrong people, the project isn’t a success because it failed its primary purpose.

Bottom line: It needs to work.

Most, if not all, of the entries in the MACtac Awards worked—which made it equally difficult to judge them. But then, that’s where all the fun is.

Coming up in the next few months in addition to the travel, I have the honor and pleasure to be a part of a new Awards program sponsored by Oce North America. The “Green Reprographer of the Year” award will be announced on May 14, and will recognize the print-for-pay reprographer who has made the most compelling strides to incorporate environmentally conscious practices into its business operations. For more info, make sure you click over to the website http://www.oceusa.com/greenreproaward.

And this award is in addition to Wide-Format Imaging’s own Reprographic Shop of the Year award that we’ll present at the IRgA convention in May. We’re looking forward to wading through all of the nominations (due March 19th!). You can find more on the Awards here: http://www.wide-formatimaging.com/web/online/Industry-NewsTrends/Wide-Format-Imaging-Announces-Call-for-Entries/1$2462. A PDF nomination form is available on the website or in the March issue.

Also, next week—courtesy of HP—I’ll be winging my way to Israel for HP’s pre-drupa briefing and I was asked to be a special guest blogger on the HP website regarding my thoughts on the announcements planned for this special pre-show press conference. I’ll be sure to share my comments here as well.

According to Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of the company’s Imaging and Printing Group during Hewlett-Packard’s Print 2.0 press summit back in May and again in August, it a future vision and it’s designed to look at the future of printing and it’s movement—from the desktop to the web—which is creating a world of “mash” media. This, then, enables people to take all forms of digital content—words, photos, videos, songs—and mash them together.

“We’re here to talk about the new era of imaging and printing,” said Joshi. “We want to look at future to look at how to grow the business. Internet, intranet—the net will be the key enabler. It will change the industry.”

The business has already started to shift, according to Joshi, from printer to printing.

According to the figures Hewlett-Packard supplied during this summit, worldwide the amount of printed pages in 2006 was 49 trillion pages: nine percent were digital (creation to digital to consumption/printing) whereas 91 percent were printed via analog means. By 2010, the numbers are estimated to grow to about 53 trillion pages, 10 percent of which will be digital.

If you make the transfer to dollars (or opportunity) you’re talking about a market in 2006 of $240 billion and $296 billion in 2010.

But the market keeps changing.

“The Web will play a very important role,” said Joshi. “The web empowers the customers to create the content. We need to make sure we understand that and how to increase the pie. We want to get all that content that is created by users and customers and rive them to printing.”

But what does this all mean for print service providers?

I’m not exactly sure. While I can see the consumer application (i.e. giving the consumer the choice to print photos at home, or at a retailer, or via a larger output facility), I haven’t quite gotten my head around the PFP/PSP part of the equation.

According to HP, it’s about community. It’s about joining those who create with those who print.

What do you think? Is this viable? Do-able? Are you already part of Print 2.0?

In mid-January, I had the chance to visit Oce North America in Chicago for its Productivity Challenge—an Oce-sponsored press event where I had the opportunity to test some competitive monochrome and color CAD systems hands on. It was certainly a unique event that brought up some interesting questions and ideas about the true measure of productivity and speed and what it really means to have a workable, usable piece of equipment. I made some mention of this in my February editorial, but didn’t have the space to go into any details about what I did.

The first day, we had the chance to put the Océ TDS700, KIP 5000, and Ricoh 480W to work, running the same jobs on each piece of equipment.

Océ TDS700—$50,700 List Price; Included: Print Engine - four rolls plus cut sheet tray, Océ Power Logic Controller, Océ TC4 color-enabled scanner, Océ Scan Logic software, Océ Color Logic software, Océ Print Exec Basic software & GUI kit.

KIP5000—$36,505 MSRP; Contained: KIP5604 STF with color scan-to-file, start-up kit.

Ricoh—Exact pricing was not available at the time because of the controller being a separate PC, but we are estimating that the MSRP is around $36/37k with no color scanning option.

Oddly enough, I was one of the only journalists/analysts in attendance who actually had any previous experience running wide-format printers, so at least that part wasn’t too strange for me.

We had six exercises that we ran through for each printer—to get a feel for how they all worked and processed jobs and how an operator would work with the files and the machines. Using the job submission tools provided with each printer, we had to:

1. Print Job Submission: We had to submit a multiple source print job that included mixed file types (both plot-ready and TIF files) that were all the same size. If for some reason a job didn’t print, we had to find out why and then collect the output.
2. Print Job Submission—Multi-sizes: We had to submit a multiple source print job that included mixed file types (both plot-ready and TIF files) and create two collated sets. If for some reason a job didn’t print, we had to find out why and then collect the output.
3. Print Job Submission—Mixed sizes: We had to submit a multiple source print job that included mixed file types (both plot-ready and TIF files) in various sizes and create two collated sets. If for some reason a job didn’t print, we had to find out why and then collect the output.
4. Copy Job: Using the output we printed in the first exercise, we had to make a copy (two collated sets) while the system was still outputting the pages from the third exercise.
5. Copy Color Drawing: Using a previously printed color drawing, we had to make a copy.
6. Media Loading: Change out a roll of media.

Now, while none of these seem too hard, it was certainly interesting to see what printers were able to complete the jobs and which were not; how easy or difficult it was to print and scan at the same time; and how jobs were output, collected, and collated. Every system had a different workflow, a different set-up, a different job submission tool, a different way to perform the same task. What works for some shops, might now work for others because of space considerations or other system configuration issues.

But getting the opportunity to work with the machines certainly was a lot different than getting a demo or watching someone else use and operate the printer.

And those same thoughts were reflected again on Day Two when we turned to the color CAD units: Océ TCS500, HP 1055cm plus, and the HP 4500.

A few details about the printers: We used them in their standard configurations, running them side-by-side.

HP 4500—Featured 256 MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive; two rolls standard (42-inch width), and the HP 4500 embedded Web Server for job submissions. List price: $29,995 for the multi-function system, $13,495 for the printer-only configuration.

HP 1055cm plus—Featured 64 MC RAM, 7.5 GB hard drive, and job submissions were done directly from the native application through a print driver. List price: $8,795.

Océ TCS500—Featured 1 GB RAM, 80GB hard drive; one to three media rolls (36-inch width), Océ Print Exec Workgroup LT for job submissions. List price: $32,140 multifunction system, $14,340 printer-only (Océ TCS300).

After receiving demos on all of the printers, we had four exercises to perform:

1. Experience how fast an “E-size” color line schematic prints in the fastest mode.
2. Experience how fast two “D-size” black-and-white drawings printed in the fastest mode.
3. Experience how the printers deal with mixed originals (a document containing both area fills and text).
4. Media Loading: Change out a roll of media.

Were any of the systems perfect? No. Each had their own quirks and characteristics, some good, some bad, some ugly.

A few things that made a big difference in workflow and usability revolved around:

• Warm up times—at initial start-up and in “sleep” modes
• How the printer collated and collected the finished output: front vs. back of the machine; flat collection trays vs. angled ones that take up less floor space
• The scan station—a separate unit vs. a unit that sits on top of the printer, but that also brings up the ever-present concern about floor space in what tends to be a very crowded shop environment
• Processing time: How long it takes to spool and print the file, and re-print if necessary
• Walk-up features—Touch screen usability and ease-of-use
• Job interruption features
• Media handling

Has anyone had the opportunity to do some of this kind of testing? I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences.

Let me explain.

Right now, I’m a huge fan of Stargate: Atlantis and one of its actors, David Hewlett, decided to try his hand at writing, directing, and starring in an independent film—a dark comedy called “A Dog’s Breakfast”—during the last hiatus in January 2006.

But now that the film’s complete, he’s been trying to market it, deciding on a little “squirrel marketing” (as Hewlett calls it) or more commonly known as Guerilla Marketing—a word-of-mouth, grass roots effort to promote the film using his fans and the Internet to get the word out.

And it’s working.

Through his own website and blog (www.adogsbreakfastmovie.com), Hewlett has asked fans to get involved: from posting posters where appropriate, to talking up the film with local TV networks, radio stations, and theaters, to designing original posters and other merchandise. With an LA screening already behind him and a signed distribution deal with MGM, it seems like a little word-of-mouth marketing went a long way.

And this brings me back to my initial thought about marketing, and its importance within the wide-format industry. In reality, many of you (shop owners, print providers, graphic communications companies, etc.) play a huge role in the marketing process for various manufacturers around the world. But, how much marketing do you do for your own business?

While I know some companies have crack marketing staffs, others don’t—for various reasons. But, through the years, I’ve also noticed that word-of-mouth marketing is a staple for many, many businesses in this particular market. What better testimonial could you have than one of your happy customers telling a potential customer what great work you do?

This brings me to my questions: What role does marketing play in your business, and why? What was your greatest marketing success? And how do you measure success? I’d be interesting in hearing from you, and even getting samples/examples of some of your best campaigns.

While we don’t have a film to promote or a base of science fiction fans (and geeks) willing to help, I’m sure there are plenty of stories and examples that you can share. I mean, if you don’t toot your own horn, who will—apart from your very satisfied and happy customers, that is?

As you can see, we’ve remodeled a little here at Wide-FormatImaging.com—and we hope you like our new look!

Don’t worry, all the articles and news you’ve come to expect is still here, but you’ll have access to much more relevant and timely content—from daily news updates to our weekly eNewsletter to monthly online-only features as well as our Buyer’s Guide to help you to find the specific product or service you need—just to name a few.

So, feel free to wade in and let me know what you think about the site—what you like, what works for you, and what doesn’t—I’m eager to hear your comments!

So, sit back, pull up that keyboard, and mouse and make yourself at home.