Print Inspection: Are You Still Trusting to Luck?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Russ Hicks

What is quality in terms of a printed item? How do you evaluate perfect print? Do all brochures need to be exactly the same? Things get a bit more exacting when you talk about postage stamps. Flaws in printed stamps have been known to sell for large sums of money, making fortunes for those that spot them, and making headlines for print for all of the wrong reasons. Money: now there is another thing! Perfection in a £20 note is imperative. Quality is king.

On the subject of money, we also need to appreciate the purchasing power of the great British food producers. Drive a hard bargain they most certainly do, and packaging, of course, is no exception. Customer inspections are now forcing significant financial penalties on printed packaging providers when defects are found. In a market where thin margins are standard, the only solution is to provide detailed inspections post printing, prior to dispatch.

Printers up and down the land are screaming on reading this post: “Our print is perfect!” If we asked for proof, however, could it be provided? Many high security items, as well as packaging, are checked by human eye. How reliable is the human eye? In “technical speak” the human eye can see a variance to a Delta-e level of 5 or perhaps 4 on a good day. An electronic inspection system can work to level 1.

Customers in all walks of life are now demanding 100% inspection, 100% quality. They don’t, of course, expect to pay more for this. What is the printer to do? A change in mind set is required perhaps. Whilst inspection systems might have been seen as an added cost, they now need to be viewed as an essential investment. People are an expensive overhead, and none too reliable when it comes to quality examination. Kit might be an expensive up front cost, but it will be able to pick up on the tiniest flaw, if desired, and will work tirelessly for many a year. Automation will provide an effective ROI by both eliminating customer claims and providing an additional sales argument for your business.

With all of the many challenges facing printing, this basic one of quality produced can be met and answered immediately. We firmly believe that printers will ignore this issue at their peril. Once more we need to take a leaf out of the Japanese business handbook: 100% inspection, 100% quality is recognized as the Japanese standard. Why not make it the British standard too?

Posted in Print News, Technology | Tagged inspection, print, printing, quality | Leave a reply

Offset Enters a New Era

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Russ Hicks

Whilst many of the leading printing press manufacturers still appear to be keen to suggest to you that the good times will be making a comeback sometime soon, we all know the reality. Digital has changed many markets, and print is one of them.

The Internet has totally revolutionized the way we get our news: this has meant a swift decline in newspaper sales. OK, they may not have hit rock bottom just yet, but many leading titles must be sinking towards the kind of numbers that make it just too expensive to print. Printed books have also found little to enjoy in the world of smartphones, tablets and Amazon.

Traditional printing equipment suppliers are suffering from a number of challenges, many of which are well highlighted in the white paper recently released by the Ipex 2014 team. The Internet itself is changing the way that many people consume previously printed information, and also the ways in which they distribute their words and spaces.

The ability of digital equipment to produce printed product that incorporates variable information is having an effect. Yes, this has been slow to catch on. It certainly hasn’t reach the dizzy heights anticipated by the digital pioneers back in the early years, but the personalisation package is growing and is having an effect on traditional print requirements. A printer recently explained to me that whist his business was now 50/50 in terms of digital v. litho output, the digital work was contributing 80% of his profits because of the complex, personalised nature of the work, and the “cheap as chips” attitude of far too many litho printers.

Digital engines have also eaten up the litho market from the bottom end: these printing systems are very good at the efficient production of small quantities. The sales effort from digital service providers is also focusing on making a customer’s orders smaller. You don’t need X,000 copies today – you only need a few hundred. This plays to the strengths of their products.

Where does that leave the big German heavy metal merchants? One has this week explained how a 2.5% price increase in its presses is going to solve everything; a second, at the end of last year, proudly boasted that orders placed for the year had just topped 100 machines (worldwide!); whilst the third is trying to convince the us all that its Q3 figures are wonderful, despite it still showing a big red 32 million Euro’s year-to-date.

The good news to focus on in the print machinery market is surely in the shape of our close friends from the land of the rising sun. Mitsubishi and near neighbours Ryobi are seeking consolidation and the pooling of smart ideas to create the type of press that the market will need going forward. Results of the Japanese giants discussions will become clear half way through the year. Would it be fanciful to imagine these two great companies coming up with something game-changing? Watch this space.

Posted in Litho Printing, Print News, Technology | Tagged digital print, litho print, packaging, print, printing, printing technology | Leave a reply

Exhibiting Success

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Russ Hicks

The exhibition: for such a long time a “given” for many companies in so many industries. Recent news items featuring several major players and IPEX 2014 suggest that some businesses are calling the show format into question. Our take on it is that an exhibition is still a very valid promotional vehicle. However, the decision to exhibit needs to be taken after consideration of strategy, not just because a close competitor is taking xx square meters.

One major issue for too many companies has to be the lack of a coherent marketing plan, associated strategy, and detailed tactics. For too many years, too many companies have treated the exhibition as a marketing activity in its own right. Potential exhibitors need to appreciate that, in reality, this never has been the case. It certainly isn’t the case in these cash strapped times. The show is just one promotional tool at a company’s disposal.

It is also important to recognize that the days of turning up to a stand and simply expecting an audience to be provided have gone. Sure, the show organisers will do their bit to promote the event as a whole, but exhibitors also have to contribute by working hard to ensure that the people they want to see are there. Far to few exhibitors have customers and prospects at the core of their exhibition promotion, and therefore find it almost impossible to gauge the success of their investment after the event.

Prior to making such a spend, the potential exhibitor needs to be equipped with a marketing plan as a basic starting point, closely followed by a marketing budget. Whilst it is not the one and only reason for being at an exhibition, most exhibitors will need to generate sales during a show. Does the potential exposure offered by any particular exhibition fit in with your plan; how many sales are needed of the products being exhibited to pay back the associated costs of being at the show; do forecasts suggest that a sufficient visitors are likely to be at the show to achieve such a level of sales (how many have you invited?); are there sufficient funds available in the budget to indicate the affordability of the initial stand investment? Don’t forget to include all of the associated costs: these might include, but are not limited to, staff [the cost of full time staff and temporary staff], accommodation, meals, transportation between hotel and venue, hospitality, promotional literature/items, pre-show promotion, stand build, transport costs of any equipment involved, set-up costs, etc, etc. Believe me, even the smallest of stands at a major show costs a hefty sum.

Following this major mathematical exercise, the smart marketing manager will then be looking at alternatives: if the company didn’t spend this large chunk of cash on an exhibition stand, what other marketing activities could be actioned instead of an exhibition. Again, the alternatives need to be weighed up against the objectives in the plan. Which avenue is likely to achieve the objective, or if both can be estimated to provide equal success, which is the most cost effective way of winning the game.

Whilst completing this paper-based exercise, we have to appreciate that exhibitions are not the only strategy in the marketing game. Yes, they might have been a successful venture in the past. However, this is the present, and it isn’t always going to work, especially as a market enters the mature phase. Traditional print, for sure, has to be in that camp: new product developments in litho printing are few and far between.

The bottom line has to be: stop doing something just because other businesses are doing it. Understand what it is that you are trying to achieve. Will an exhibition help you towards successfully achieving your goals?

For the bigger picture see “Explore”, the newly release white paper from IPEX on the shape of printing and communications.

Posted in Print News | Tagged digital print, ipex, print, printing, strategy | Leave a reply

Second Mitsubishi Press for Glossop Cartons

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Russ Hicks

Glossop Cartons has announced details regarding the installation of a second Mitsubishi printing press at its Glossop, Derbyshire premises. The four-colour Mitsubishi D3000LX B1-format litho press incorporates inter-deck UV drying, end of press coating, as well as IR and warm-air drying solutions.

This latest Mitsubishi joins a V3000 press from the Japanese manufacturer at the award winning retail printed packaging specialist.

Commenting on this latest acquisition, Jacky Sidebottom, Managing Director of Glossop Cartons, said: “We had been seeking the right press to accomplish a complex printing task for our business for some time. The coating unit and the coating know-how of the team at M Partners were key to our decision to purchase our second Mitsubishi machine.

“Our V3000 press has been extremely reliable and has performed wonderfully and consistently for us, so we had no doubts whatsoever about the print quality on offer from Mitsubishi, it was all about the specific coating task that we had to achieve. Other press suppliers, including both German and Japanese manufacturers, were unable to supply the solution for us in our time frame. M Partners, with their knowledge, gave us the solution to our request and gave us a real working fix.”

The new purchase allows Glossop Cartons to produce “film-ready” skin pack cards in one pass – something that had previously required two machine processes. As the largest UK producer of skin packaging, this advance provides a further significant competitive advantage to Glossop.

“Previously we had added coating to the cards as an offline process. This ageing offline unit needed upgrading, but we were finding it difficult to purchase a suitable replacement. Incorporating the coating routine into the printing pass was the ideal solution, but too many coating “experts” were saying it couldn’t be done,” added Jacky Sidebottom.

M Partners litho specialist and head of sales, Gary Doman, said: “I was convinced that the Mitsubishi coating unit, combined with our in-company expertise and experience, could provide the answer to the questions being posed by the team at Glossop Cartons. We worked closely with the coating supplier and experimented with a variety of transfer mechanisms in the coating unit itself. The right components helped us to solve the puzzle!”

Skin cards are used to produce retail packs typically found in the DIY and car accessory market sectors.

Glossop Cartons is a well-known UK manufacturer of quality retail packaging solutions, including litho printed cartons, sleeves and wallets, blister pack cards, and skin pack cards. The company involves itself in both the design and manufacture of packaging that is suited to a wide range of products. From initial packaging concepts through design, production and delivery, the team at Glossop Cartons make it their business to be imaginative in offering packaging that is both cost effective and innovative.

“This latest addition to our production capabilities illustrates our approach to packaging very well,” said Jacky Sidebottom. “We make it our business to be aware of the requirements of packaging in our customers own marketplace.

“A typical scenario would involve us presenting our initial concepts to a customer for approval – concepts that will have been thought through carefully. Based on a detailed brief we will provide plain CAD samples in production materials. With these samples the customer can check the style, functionality and visual impact of a packaging design and gain approval and commitment from their customer at a very early stage of development. The creative graphic design element can then follow. At Glossop we can now print one off graphics onto the production material, creating a cut-out prototype sample or samples for our client to present to the product buyer, adding that final touch of style that will best market a product or range.”

About M Partners

In 2010 M Partners took on the management of both sales and service for Mitsubishi Litho Presses in the UK and Ireland. This representation joins established products such as GUK folding and inserting equipment, and Steinemann laminating products. More recently, 2011 saw the business expand into the digital market following an announcement regarding MGi digital printing and finishing equipment; and market-leading post-press inspection equipment from Mabeg.

M Partners offers manufacturers considerable marketing and business expertise across both the printing and packaging sectors and provides high-quality national coverage for sales, support and technical service.

The Joint Managing Directors established M Partners Ltd in 2006 after gaining many years of industry experience in senior management roles at a major press manufacturer and used equipment dealer. They were responsible for corporate and product marketing for pre-press, press, post-press and service, plus operational control for digital, consumables and used equipment divisions.

ENDS

Posted in Litho Printing, Print News | Tagged mitsubishi, packaging, print, printing | Leave a reply

Get Your Coat(ing), You’ve Pulled!

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Russ Hicks

Readers with long, dusty memories might recall a blog from last year detailing why “Print is Not a Commodity”. Whilst, on the face of it, not everybody will agree with that suggestion, with an appreciation of the definition of commodity, and the potential differences that one can introduce to a printed item, it is hard to place a rational argument against the statement.

Rational arguments, however, do not pay the bills! Therefore we would like to present our guide to getting the most from coatings: a six-point plan to turn your the coating unit on your press into a company savior!

The first issue to clear up, I guess, is about how you use your coating unit right now. My hunch is that you will be using it on any everyday basis to add a sealer to the work that you are printing in order that you can move orders swiftly into the finishing area, get the work out of the door, and get the invoice raised. Nothing wrong with that any of that of course. Do, however, use that method of working as a sales tool as well: we coat our printed work to ensure that it is dry to the touch in order that we can work on the job quickly and efficiently in our post-press department without marking or scuffing the job. That is a sales argument for buying from your company!

Now, let’s get creative. How about adding coatings as a decorative feature of your print. You will need to work closely with your in-house designers / pre-press team, as well as your customers and their design people or agency. The more people right at the beginning of the process that understand the features that you can offer with your coatings the better.

Work closely also with a supplier of coatings consumables. Nobody knows better than these people about what coatings can be created. You will, I can promise, be surprised and delighted at the range of effects that you can add to a basic print. Assuming that you have a coating unit already on your press all of these “added value” coatings can be applied by you for little additional cost.

OK, you will need to invest some time to understand more about coatings, but M Partners can offer you a slick and quick training course in that area. You will need to train your operators perhaps, and you will certainly need to purchase the coatings themselves. Apart from those small investments you are good to go! Even more importantly, you are good to add value to your work and charge extra for it.

Generally speaking, litho print has a massive advantage in this added value area. Digital print can be enhanced by coatings, but only as a separate post-press operation. This means another machine, another set-up cost, and another print run, which takes more time. Your in-line coater can add this value as part of the same print run.

Some packaging printers that we know have specified their presses with double coaters in order to take this potential even further. Such presses can then add both matt and gloss coatings to cartons to create even more attractive special effects. There is no reason why this approach cannot be taken into commercial print: the likes of book covers, promotional materials, greetings cards, magazine covers, and many other applications spring to mind.

Another application for a coating unit: the application of glue! Yes, we recently installed a machine where the user needed a better solution to add an adhesive substance to a piece of print. We solved their problem by using a coating unit. It saved the business another process, and is therefore paying for itself extremely quickly.

The moral: Coating, think creatively! The coating unit can be a printers’ salvation!

Posted in Litho Printing, Print News, Technology | Leave a reply

Just Too Many Presses?

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Russ Hicks

Being a press supplier, I guess it’s quite difficult for us to say that there are too many companies manufacturing printing hardware. However, we have to be realistic: times have changed. The advanced technology in the latest presses, the changing needs of the consumer, the significant advances made by digital printing equipment, and the lack of readily available finance are all factors.

Press technology that has been incorporated within machines for the last few years makes the current crop of kit ultra-productive. At the same time, developments in internet technology and computer hardware have reduced the need for print in a great number of previously profitable niches. Digital printing products are mopping up the print needs at the lower end of the market, whilst demands are changing in other sectors: newspapers being a particular case in point, with a whole generation of people simply not in the habit of buying a daily.

Add all of the above together and you get a society that is less than hungry for more printing equipment. Perhaps it is something to do with this combination of issues that has led to the dire situation at the German press manufacturer Manroland.

In addition to the state of the market, Manroland also had to cope with a majority shareholder that had no obvious desire to be in print. In fact, the initial intention of Allianz was to float the company. Then along came the banking crisis. The second major shareholder, MAN, had already taken a significant sideways step away from printing: a wise move perhaps.

More details on the final fate of the business are unlikely to be known until the New Year, which is going to mean a very uncomfortable Christmas for some 6,500 Manroland employees. We can only wish them well, and hope for some swift but well thought out decisions regarding the future of one of the best known names in the industry.

Posted in Digital, Litho Printing, Print News | Tagged litho, manroland, print, printing, printing industry | Leave a reply

M Partners Going for 2012 Gold with Steve Scott

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Russ Hicks

With the London 2012 Olympics very much on the horizon, M Partners, Hackbridge, Surrey, has announced the renewal of its long running sponsorship activity with Steve Scott, a hot medal prospect for Team GB in the Double Trap shooting event.

Twenty-five year old Scott was a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner two years ago, and is a two-time European Champion and former World Junior Champion. Last year, 2011, saw Steve set a new British scoring record with a 147/150 – beating the existing 146/150 record score that he had equalled back in 2007 – as well as medalling in the British Championships.

M Partners, a sales, marketing and distribution company for a number of equipment manufacturers in both the print and packaging markets, has provided sponsorship for Steve for several years now, and is looking forward to him taking to the Olympic stage on home soil: “Steve has enjoyed life at the top of his chosen discipline for the last decade. It would be really exciting for him to be able to take gold at this summer’s Olympics, and M Partners will be right behind him, supporting him all the way,” said Murray Lock, joint managing director of M Partners.

About M Partners

In 2010 M Partners took on the management of both sales and service for Mitsubishi Litho Presses in the UK and Ireland. This representation joins established products such as GUK folding and inserting equipment, and Steinemann laminating products. More recently, 2011 has seen the business expand into the digital market following an announcement regarding MGi digital printing and finishing equipment; and market-leading post-press inspection equipment from Mabeg.

ENDS

Posted in Print News | Leave a reply

Playing the Print Management Game

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Russ Hicks

So, as a business with branches all over the country, and a wide variety of printed product in use every day, from the humble business card through to the 200-page catalogue, your business is just so in need of a print management company to handle all of your paper-based needs. But what does the typical print management business actually bring to the table, and what do they really deliver?

Taking the print buying headache away from your business certainly appears to be a benefit, and the print management companies just about all suggest that savings per annum of 10% for your business will go straight to your bottom line. But, hang on a minute, that’s what they said last year – can they really be saving us 10% year-on-year? And did we really save 10% last year?

Certainly image standardisation is something that you would expect every print management company to be able to deliver to a client. Professional quality print too has to be a given. But how easy are print management businesses making the whole print buying process for Britain’s medium to large businesses?

Many PM’s claim to offer an “open book” policy with regard to their buying and selling activities. In reality this usually offers very little clarity to customers, as volume paper and print deals continue to mask the actual cost of specific printed items.

That actually poses another question for the PM company: with their apparent buying power why is it that they appear to make an additional margin on top of their management fees. Should this not provide some benefit to the client? It might be a naïve thought, but shouldn’t the client be expected to gain from their own print volume?

We believe that top print management companies need to bring a broader view to the market. The best one’s should certainly be using the benefits of web-to-print systems effectively, providing the customer with a great degree of control, including feedback with regard to production progress where reasonable. They should also be aiming to provide a significant amount of training in order to help customers understand its own printing requirements better.

The ultimate goal should be to create efficiencies for both sides of the partnership. Areas of focus for this might include cost effectiveness: providing an understanding to staff of the costs involved in the printing process, and what solutions might serve the customer best. The very best of print management businesses should be helping the customer to appreciate the full gamut of communications tools – print being just one part of the set.

Posted in Print News | Tagged click charge, digital print, print, printing | Leave a reply

How is Your Click Charge?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Russ Hicks

In our day-to-day world of work we talk to print-based businesses quite a lot. Many, of course, have recognised the need to move into the digital production environment – why wouldn’t they? The developments in this sector have been significant in recent years. The quality provided by the latest swathe of machines is rarely considered a significant factor for the vast majority of printed products, and the variable data products that can be created provide the supplier with a great point of difference when compared to static litho printing.

One issue, however, that still appears to need some clarification and understanding is the beast known simply as the “click charge” – the price charged by many digital equipment suppliers for each page produced by the hardware that has been provided.

Click charges have their fans most certainly – and with good reason. They also, however, need to be examined very closely. A clear understanding of what is included within the very small, fraction of a penny amount that is often quoted is most certainly a basic requirement for anybody entering into such an agreement.

Many users will certainly identify with the benefits for low-cost start-ups. Little or no capital outlay is a great way to start a business of course. However, growth can often be high-jacked due to the click charge that was imposed on the business in those early days. Penalty charges for exceeding the agreed amount can often be excessive, and even the hardware itself can be incapable of handling the increased workload.

The important first step prior to agreeing any such charge is to understand exactly what is included in the number and what is not. It might be typical to have toner and spare part prices included, but are there any limits to these within your specific contract? Are service charges included for the hardware, and do these have any limitations? What about service costs for the machine if the user exceeds his monthly contract limits, and what about the servicing or upgrading of software elements of the product?

Talking with print producers on this whole topic reveals a whole series of question marks about current contracts. The reality is that most businesses really don’t know exactly what they have signed up for, and the penalties that can be incurred if they stray outside the boundaries of the contract.

I suppose the biggest concern that all of this fostered in our minds as we conducted a number of similar conversations with print-based businesses across the country was: if the business has no clear idea of what they are actually paying for, and what impact any penalty clauses could have, how does it create realistic quotations for the work that it is seeking to produce, and how can it calculate any true profit margins on the turnover that it is producing?

Do you have a click charge contract in place? Can you answer all of the questions below? Does your contract include:

A penalty charge for less clicks than agreed – how much?
A penalty charge for more clicks than agreed – how much?
Service charges: what hardware elements are covered and what are the parameters? Can you reclaim the clicks produced during the service operation? Do you have a procedure for doing that?
A procedure for reclaiming clicks when inferior / poor quality images were created due to hardware/software issues?
Toner costs: does this include a “coverage” clause? How is this factored into the click charge. What other consumable items are included within your contract.
Is the actual purchase of the hardware included in your payments?
Sheet size issues: is the click charge for standard A4 sheets? What about A3 pages? Simplex or duplex?
Any annual increases in the basic click charge, or does it stay the same for the life of the contract?
Any sliding scale in terms of the amount of copies produced? This might allow the business to grow at a more cost effective rate.
Details of penalties with regard to early termination of the agreement, or making adjustments to the terms during the course of the agreement.

If you are still in the negotiation stages of a contract, use the above as a guide as to which areas you might be able to negotiate on. Certainly the first price offered by the eager machine sales person is not going to be the best price! Create a deal that is right for you, not the supplier.

Posted in Digital, Print News, Technology | Tagged click charge, digital print, print, printing, printing industry | Leave a reply

Print Power: A Point to Prove?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Russ Hicks

We are delighted to see the promotion of the Print Power campaign on the PrintWeek.comweb site. It is high time that somebody provided a point of focus for a major UK industry. We hear all too much these days about printers going bust, running short of cash, unable to invest, and simply finding life tough. It’s not all bad! Hopefully this web site will help, as it grows, to point out the positives, the investments, and all of the good things about print.

In its own words, “Print Power is a unique European organisation dedicated to promoting print media through focused marketing and advertising messages that communicate effectively. The organisation comprises a wide range of companies representing the entire print media value chain — production, distribution, printing, content and delivery — thus benefiting from the expert know-how and extensive experience that these many companies possess.”

Currently it points out some extremely important facts about the industry: for example the UK print industry employs 140,000 people in some 10,500 companies. That’s a big chunk! We are also the fifth largest print producing country in the world. The sector has a turnover of more than £14 billion according to latest available figures.

The site explores the benefits of traditional printed products, and also highlights more recent print media innovations. Positive news items are highlighted on the site, as well as case studies focusing on a range of printed products and their benefits.

Run-of-page adds will be used to promote the whole Print Power concept. A selection of the ads that will be used is also shown on the site.

We can only wish this venture the very best of luck! It is in the interests of all of us associated with print that it succeeds.

Posted in Digital, Print News | Tagged digital print, litho printing, print, printing, printing industry | Leave a reply