As I prepare to head to Chicago for Graph Expo, I have been thinking about what I would be looking for at the show if I were a print service provider. Clearly, I am not. I am one of those pundits that sits on the sidelines and makes prognostications. But as part of my private client consulting and my role as an industry journalist, I do speak with many, many print service providers. Some are very innovative and forward-thinking; others are not. But I always learn something.

What prompted this particular musing was a conversation I had the other day with Bill Lamparter of PrintCom Consulting. Bill, as most of you probably know, has headed up the Must See 'ems award process for GASC for the last several years at Graph Expo. One often neglected aspect of that process is the identification by a panel of experts of the top technologies printers must employ to survive into the future. This year, for the third year in a row, the group identified the most critical technology for survival in 2009 as Print MIS. Lamparter further defines that as a packaged MIS solution, stating, "The reason we defined it that way is that many of the 'MIS' systems folks have ginned up at home are in fact nothing more than a spreadsheet, primarily being for estimating and terribly out of date." According to 2007 data from PrintCom, about 50% of sheetfed offset companies have an MIS... meaning that 50% don't! Lamparter also points out that many companies that do have an MIS have not fully implemented it and are not taking advantage of the real-time data to run their businesses better.

The second, and even more interesting "technology" that was identified was developing an IT competence. Lamparter explains, "Everyone is talking about printers diversifying, that they need to be in variable data. That they need to be involved in structuring the projects, analytics, data handling, and they need server farms. There are a whole litany of things involved. How do you do all of this and have zero IT competence? You can't do it."

Graph Expo is a great place to get your arms around these two areas of technological focus. All of the players are there, and most bring experts that can talk with you one-on-one about the topic in general, and of course, how their offerings can specifically help you. Look at the Big Iron, of course. But if I were a printer ... I would be spending most of my time at the screens and talking to the experts. I would want to leave with good ideas and the beginnings of an action plan on how to proceed with leveraging MIS and gaining a greater IT competence. Perhaps you are already there. But there is always something new to learn, and Graph Expo is a great place to do so. Hope to see you there!

Cary Sherburne
Sherburne & Associates
www.SherburneAssociates.com
Cary@SherburneAssociates.com

Monday @ Graph Expo '08 and the crowds are certainly not indicative of what we hear about the economy. Many companies understand that the only way to win in this climate is to not to wait until the weather changes, but to just get more innovative on their choice of rain gear. And by that I mean changing the way they sell, market, and position themselves and their offerings.

As I walk the floor, it is interesting that whereas in the past at Graph the front booths are very crowded with printers looking at presses and other hardware, where we are (4851) is smack dab in to middle of workflow, VI, Web to Print and Cross Media solutions and clearly these booth are as busy or even more busy. I think the industry is finally realizing that the brains of the service provider's operation is at the front end (no pun intended).

There are other things that become evident as I walk the floor. It is definitely a digital world. Whatever press you see, and it could be a large Heidelberg, Xerox iGen4, and wide format devices, everything is driven digitally and more important integrated into a digital workflow. For example, a pop-up greeting card in the Xerox booth not only uses XMPie software to drive the personalized text and graphics, but the same system is used to drive a digital cutter. Pretty neat stuff. And in the XMPie booth, visitors scan in their badges and magically the data gets incorporated into a Flash movie. Who would a thought it possible a year ago?

There's lots of talk about printers in these bad times changing their business model, but not so fast... you have to know what you want to do and what resources you need to do it. That is why the show is so important. So walk around, ask lots of questions and shop with care and intelligence and you should be just fine. After all, Gutenberg had rainy days too.

Larry Zusman
Xerox Corporation
XMPie

The first PIXI entrant I saw this year was a three-dimensional point of purchase display for a children's book. It was vivid green and had a friendly dinosaur, a CD and the display stand was personalized for the very bookstore in which it would be used. The print quality was great, the design of all the components and the concept and execution just rocked. I immediately thought, "Whoa, this could be a keeper."

As it turned out, my fellow final round judges --Dan Adler and Andreas Weber-- agreed. While we worked independently in judging the different entrants, we soon found we scored the innovative entry from deBudelse in the Netherlands higher than any others and easily wound up as Best in Show. Another entry from the same firm took first place in the new business applications category. These guys do great work and it was great to chat with Harry Mennen of deBudelse last night.

But at the end of the day, and no matter how they ultimately rated in the final standings, all the entrants in this PIXI design competition were flat out great. In the three years I have been honored to be a PIXI judge the bar for success has gotten much higher, as has the level of design innovation. Designers around the world have been looking at digital printing not only as a way of producing their work, but as way of making it better, stretching the envelope, doing things they couldn't do any other way. Sure, great designers can do terrific work regardless of how a particular piece will be produced. But digital printing technology enables them to stretch their limits --and their visions-- more easily and reach new levels of excellence. In case you missed it, I shot a quick little video at the judging that gives a look at some of the entries. Check it out at http://members.whattheythink.com/allsearch/video.cfm?id=36516.

I'll miss judging next year --it's a three year term-- but I'm looking forward to seeing how much higher the bar, the visions, and level of innovation is in 2009.

Noel Ward
Industry Analyst & Journalist
WhatTheyThink.com

For information about all of the PIXI Award winners, please visit the Xerox Newsroom.
 

It’s Monday evening and I’m thinking about what I’ve learned so far at Graph Expo, the largest US graphic communication trade show held each year in Chicago, Illinois. Let me share a few not-so-common thoughts on how I planned to thrive at this year’s show.

In case you don’t know me, I’m not your usual show goer…

I will admit some of the tips in my "Thrivers Guide" may be too late for you to consider but not to worry, next year is a “Print” year. Held every 4 years, it will be the largest graphic commutation trade show held in the world in 2009. You can use these tips for next year—or any year for that matter.

Muir’s Thrivers Guide to Trade Shows

1. Get a hotel close to the show. I’ve done my years up in town and I enjoy heading up town to see a show or have dinner, even stroll the park, but when it comes to travel to and from the Chicago Convention center…nothing beats the Hyatt. Three words: No Cab Necessary.

2. Bring a pair of comfortable shoes. I’ve done some years with a few trade show vendors “working a booth.” Whether you’re standing there or you’re cruising the floor you gotta have comfy shoes. I’m a Clark’s man. How about you?

3. Schedule appointments in 30-45 minute blocks. No one hour meetings. Let them know what you want to get out of the meeting, have them do the same and get it done. You need time to decompress from what you saw, heard or shared as well as time to get to your next appointment. You’ll be thankful you have that 15 minute window. Some people go to Graph Expo to see technology while others go to see people. Some do both. I go for the people, the technology…and the city!

4. A tip taken from Frank Romano, master trade show thriver, has served me well over the years. Take the first day to walk the entire floor. While on your walk about keep a show guide or notebook handy to jot down what or who you want to see in more detail. I’ve taken to using my little digital camera to snap photos of what I want to see later, study your notes and pictures that night and make a detailed game plan for the subsequent days.

5. The following day hit your targeted stops. For me I usually have three groupings: people I want to see, technology I want to see and seminars I want to attend. Take a few notes about each interaction. What did I want to learn? Did I learn it? Why or why not? Was there anything new I learned? How will I apply it? What do I do next to capitalize on what I learned?

6. Each night send a follow up note for each business card you collected (or gave out) that day saying thanks, restating what you talked about or what you saw, and what actionable items are you looking for from them and what actionable items will you do as a result of your meeting. Doing it each night helps you remember what you learned sooner and keeps the amount of work to a minimum. You won’t do it if the pile is an inch thick or more.

7. I gather what I learn into three categories, yours could be different, but having some way to aggregate the information can help you take it in and apply it. I group things into how will it help me strategize for my future? How will it help me develop existing/new products or services? How will it help me sell? How will it help me produce what I do? How much can I save? How much will I make? How much will I lose if I don’t do anything about it? The last question acts as a motivator too. These are my questions I ask myself to organize what I’m learning, what are yours?

8. Get out and unplug. You’re in Chicago. Walk in Grant Park. Have a great dinner. Take in a show. Take at least one night and do something totally “non-industry” related. You need that as part of a reward for coming and doing the work to make your work beneficial. Do this more than once if possible. Do it once each day. But don’t do it so much you forget why you took the time to come and learn and share.

9. Share what you learned. When you get back have a meeting with your team. Have a meeting with your customers. Do it immediately. Share with them the top 10 things you heard, you saw, you did while at the show to help facilitate sharing and learning in your organization and with customers. It’s even better when two or more people go to the show and talk about what they saw. Two people see the same thing differently. Appreciate the diversity and open your mind to learning from others. If you think your way is the only way, you’re lost already.

10. Plan for next year. Grab your notebook and jot down what you want to do more of or less of next year. How will you do it differently? How will you enjoy it more? How will you make more from your time and effort? You get the idea.

Do these and you’ll thrive at any trade show. Even better, why not share a list like this with your customers and let them take it to their customers and help everyone get more from their trade shows? Hmmm.

Tune in tomorrow I’ll share specifics on what I saw and heard. But for today, plan to thrive all you can…it beats surviving any day.

-Peter Muir, President, Bizucate Inc.
 

Harry Mennen of De Budelse accepts the 2008 PIXI Best of Show award from Xerox President Ursula M. Burns.

They call them Premier Partners because they lead the industry. And at the PIXI (Printing Innovation with Xerox Imaging) Awards dinner at the Chicago History Museum on the first evening of the Graph Expo Show Oct. 27, members of the Xerox Premier Partners Global Network lived up to their name.

The Premier Partners is a global network of nearly 800 of the world’s top print providers from 48 countries, all dedicated to developing new business opportunities with digital technologies. The annual PIXI awards honor excellence and innovation in digital printing.

In this year’s expanded program of 42 PIXI awards, 22 went to 21 Premier Partners. Premier Partners member De Budelse of the Netherlands, won two awards, including Best of Show, for a children’s book, complementary CD and accompanying personalized sales display. They also won the top award in New Business Applications, for commercially available personalized chewing gum.

It was a fun evening, hosted by Xerox Production Systems Group Vice President of Marketing Val Blauvelt. She kept the ceremony moving along with an upbeat presentation. Xerox President Ursula M. Burns joined her to make the Best of Show award, and PSG President Quincy Allen physically presented the awards. Many of the industry’s leading print providers, consultants and editors attended.

Several winning entries drew spontaneous applause for their audacity and effectiveness. One, a “Mission-Impossible”- style invitation produced on disappearing paper, got an enthusiastic response when Allen demonstrated how it disappears when immersed in water. That application, produced by Merrell Remington & Associates of Salt Lake City, won the Most Innovative Use of Technology Award. Merrell also received a hearty response for its other award, second place in direct marketing, for an invitation to a presentation on Amazonian plant customs that induced 139 attendees from 120 invitees. And Gorant Candies won Best of North America for its prototype packaging for up-scale chocolate bars, and won everyone’s confection affection by providing samples for everyone.

Still, as vice president and global executive director of the Premier Partners program, I was especially proud of the winning Premier Partners. In addition to De Budelse’s achievements, three won Best of Region awards: Top Advertising of Singapore for Asia Pacific, 7Renk of Turkey for Developing Markets and dsicmm of the U.K. for Europe. Two won first place awards: The Digital Centre of Australia in Books and Manuals, and Trendcommerce of Switzerland in Direct Marketing. And yet another won the first-ever Environmental Award: Kempenfelt Graphics Group of Canada.

For more on the winners, read the press release or go to the PIXI web site, where a full list of the 2008 winners soon will be posted.

If you’re a print provider, it’s not too soon be begin thinking about entering the 2009 contest!

A hearty congratulations goes out to all of the 2008 PIXI Award winners!

Bob Wagner
Vice President, Xerox Creative Services Business and Xerox Premier Partners Global Network
Xerox Corporation

After months of email, phone calls, conference calls and webinars, it's such a pleasure to have face-to-face meetings. As an industry consultant, I've had the opportunity to have meetings with customers, partners colleagues and friends. People meeting people face-to-face -- talking business. It's been refreshingly productive. To look someone in the eye and read their body language is what we humans crave. Electronic communication has a need and a purpose, and the real benefit of Graph is to connect as humans ... they got the tag line right this year. Graph is the show place to make real connections that impact your business.

Lois Ritarossi
Senior Consultant
Gimbel & Assoc.

Integration. I thought about ending this entry there. I have been following the whole JDF movement since it began early in this decade, and like most things, it took a little longer to get going than any of us thought it would. But today, we are just about at the point where, as CIP4 CEO Margaret Motamed said a few years ago, JDF is as basic as plumbing, or USB ports. The suppliers to the industry have done a great job of supporting the standard, and most have moved away from using custom tags that make interoperability difficult, truly supporting integration of multivendor environments. We are starting to see more applications certified through the GATF program. This is all great news for the industry, on both the buy-side and sell-side.

At Graph Expo, this transformation was really in evidence. Not that people were spending a lot of time talking about JDF. They almost don't need to anymore. But it is the "soft underbelly" of almost every offering on the show floor. This is critical to the future viability of the industry as we work to take cost out of the equation, add more value, and meet the shorter cycle times that today's market requires.

For a buyer of technology, then, JDF makes it easier to integrate solutions in a multivendor environment, and certainly, in any discussions with suppliers, buyers should ascertain that the offerings are JDF compliant, that they are certified or that there is a plan to get there, and feel comfortable that the investment they are making will support the increased integration needs they have going forward.

But as operations people will tell you, it isn't always that easy to actually get the integration done, and then to ensure that your marketing and sales efforts adequately promote the competitive differentiation this streamlining brings to your operation. That's the other area I found interesting at the show: most major suppliers to the industry have stepped up their efforts to help customers with this challenge. Sure, the suppliers have always offered fee-based professional services, but often they were out of reach for smaller businesses from an affordability perspective. But today, suppliers are repackaging these services in such a way that even the smallest businesses can take advantage of the expertise suppliers make available to better position their businesses. The New Business of Printing Business Development Services from Xerox are a good example. The company has a team of 12 consultants around the country, and is working to certify a stable of independent consultants as well. For fees as low as $2,500, printers can engage an expert who can help with business or marketing plans, technology selection, implementation plans and more.

The bottom line? Many of the barriers that once stood in the way of a print service provider transforming his or her business are falling away. The resources are there. Take advantage of them!

Cary Sherburne
Sherburne & Associates

The crowds were moderate at best, but at least for the larger print engine vendors this show seemed to end on a positive note. It's hard to say for sure until the leads are pursued and tracked and deals are signed, but I did see a goodly number of SOLD! signs on everything from smaller light production devices right up through high-end production digital presses. Of course, these were not impulse buys. No one goes to a print show and suddenly thinks, "Gee, I think I'll buy a XeiPrint VarioGen 8000." The signs showed off the consummation of deals that had been in process for some time and were finalized at the show. Still, that's real positive because it shows that some print providers are moving forward and seeing the glass as half full.

In addition, vendor execs I talked with told me visitors to their stands were asking the "right" questions: not info-gathering, tire-kicking stuff, but the nuances of mixed datastreams, production workflows, integration with networks and mailing systems, expectations of peak period performance and support and more... the things you ask when you're narrowing down choices and getting ready to do some serious application testing before pulling the trigger.

This is positive news, especially given the vagaries of the economy and the availability credit. The real numbers will come out in a few days, but Graph Expo 08 seems to have turned out to be a decent show. What came though in many conversations I had was that since none of us can do much about the economy we all just need to pay attention to business, keep marketing, work smart, and keep our eye on the ball.

Noel Ward
Industry Analyst and Journalist
WhatTheyThink.com

The panelists at the Xerox Premier Partners Executive Breakfast Briefing on
sustainability were, from left: Steve Damman, QuantumDigital; Robert Kashan,
EarthColor Patricia Calkins, Xerox; Chris Hutson, DCG: Digital Color
Graphics; and Bob Wagner, Xerox.

Here’s one view on why sustainability is an issue that we’ll be grappling with for a long time: The earth’s population is currently around 6 billion. To provide the resources for everyone to share the Western World’s standard of living would require the resources of three planets, according to the United Nations Environment Program.

That was how Patricia Calkins, Xerox vice president of Environment, Health and Safety, set the stage at the Xerox Premier Partners Global Network Executive Breakfast Briefing on sustainability, Monday, Oct. 27, at the Hyatt Regency at McCormick Place. It featured a panel of Calkins and three CEOs from leading Xerox customers, members of the Premier Partners, describing their “green” initiatives.

I organized and hosted the breakfast forum, and I’m the global leader of the Premier Partners, a global network of nearly 800 leading print providers from 48 countries.

About 135 attended, and they peppered the panelists with questions on this important issue. That’s not surprising: a poll of the Premier Partners that was released at Graph Expo found that 75 percent of members now see sustainability as a core, “must-have” capability. Click here for the full survey results.

The three customer panelists were Steve Damman of QuantumDigital, Austin, Texas; Chris Hutson of DCG, Digital Color Graphics, Indianapolis, Ind.; and Robert Kashan of EarthColor, based in Parsippany, N.J. They all went green for similar reasons — ultimately to do the right thing for the community, their employees and future generations. Their customers also appreciate and demand it. While sustainability initiatives can be expensive, they generate environmental — and sometimes cost — savings, and they are a requirement in more and more requests for proposals, the panelists noted.

Damman reported that QuantumDigital has a modest, but well-documented program that is showcased in its customer materials. “When you show yourself to be a leader by bringing sustainability up before your customer asks, that helps make you a market leader in their eyes as well,” he said.

Chris Hutson of DCG, Digital Color Graphics, described how DCG captures heat generated by its Xerox iGen3® 110 Digital Production Press to fully heat its plant, generating dramatic savings. “We have a sign in the lobby letting visitors know the heat they feel is recycled from our press,” he said.

Robert Kashan of EarthColor, described his company’s well-funded and comprehensive green program, which has a dedicated sustainability director and bio-oxidizers that make the plant’s air cleaner than the air outside. “I feel fortunate that we have the scale and revenue base to support these initiatives,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

All in all, it was a great event. If you weren’t able to attend, a podcast of the session will be available here shortly.

Bob Wagner
Vice President, Xerox Creative Services Business and Xerox Premier Partners Global Network
Xerox Corporation
 

About 100 people attended the Opportunities Lunch Panel at Graph Expo Oct. 27.

The Opportunity Panel, from left, Dr. Joe Webb, Gina Testa, Larry Zusman and Gavin Jordan-Smith.

Traffic at Graph Expo in Chicago was a little slower than in recent years, but nearly everyone visiting the Xerox booth was a highly qualified customer or prospect. Apparently, those who made the investment to attend the show were the serious customers in search of opportunities in our suddenly shaky and unpredictable economy.

And the place to learn about opportunities at Graph Expo was “The Opportunities Panel” — billed as a “power lunch with Xerox and the PIA/GATF” — on Oct. 27 at the McCormick Hyatt Regency adjoining the show. About 100 print providers packed the room to hear the thoughts of a panel of experts led by Gavin Jordan-Smith, Xerox vice president, Commercial Print and Prepress Segments.

The panel reprised a session we held at On Demand with the same panelists: Dr. Joe Webb, industry consultant and director of WhatTheyThink.com's Economics and Research Center; Larry Zusman, manager, Worldwide Marketing, XMPie, Inc.; and me. I manage Xerox business development programs.

Of course, circumstances were very different this past spring. At that time, said Jordan-Smith, “We knew a recession was coming, but we didn’t know if would be this bad. The question is, ‘How do print providers adjust to find the opportunities?’”

My view is that crises typically present some of the greatest opportunities. As I said on the panel, we don’t like to change unless we have to. A crisis can make people re-think and re-strategize their business, and to invest in areas that lead to growth, rather than being complacent. The three areas where our industry has the greatest opportunities to improve are with lean manufacturing to eliminate waste, MIS systems to get a better understanding of their profitability, and by marketing themselves.

Dr. Joe brought an economists perspective. “It’s easy for people to become obsessed with the economy,” he said. “But you don’t do that for yourself, you do it for your customers. Few times come along like this, when you can lift an organization’s burdens and help them. The economy is something we navigate, not something to fear.”

Larry Zusman reminded us to continue tracking new technologies for opportunities. “We have to get smart about what’s going in the under-25 world,” he said. “From a teen’s perspective, Facebook is like what Google is to us,” and as the new generation enters the business world, they’re likely to bring Facebook with them. “You can’t ignore it, because it’s not ignoring us,” he said.

Our consensus: The low hanging fruit may have been picked, but for those who prepare, strategize and continue to invest, many opportunities remain.

Gina Testa
Vice President, Channel and Customer Business Development
Production Systems Group, Xerox Corporation