Features

 People want to know if their promotional print spend is delivering. So is digital technology - and its integration with print - fulfilling that requirement? We asked PSPs for their comment…

Simon Creasy takes a post trade show look at the newest product launches for the digital inkjet print market.

Catherine Cresswell and Ron Gilboa of Keypoint Intelligence consider whether UK PSPs not rushing headlong into apparel printing are missing out.

What are manufacturers doing about roboticised machine handling, and will PSPs get a good ROI from their investment in more automation?

Imagine making 50% margins on your inkjet printed products! Well, there’s a design company in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, that thinks it can do just that.

What’s having the greatest impact on your business at the moment?

The newly published Image Reports 2019 Widthwise survey does suggest that printers are reflecting on environmental matters. Are you one of them - and is your view impacting your business as well as the world around you?

Quarmby Colour in Leeds has been revealed as the first UK installation for the EFI™ VUTEk® h3 superwide format hybrid LED inkjet printer. However, it won’t remain an h3 model for long, as Quarmby has already opted for the field upgrade to the higher-throughput VUTEK h5 model.

Employee engagement and morale are frequently dismissed as functions of HR and dealt with via team building days or by putting a ping pong table onsite. But is that the best way of getting the best from you people? Apparently not. Here are some pointers to achieving more beneficial results.

With a turnover of 200m Euro and over 1m customers, Onlineprinters is one of Europe’s biggest Web-to-print providers. CEO Dr Michael Fries has said that “print companies that embrace industry transformation” will do well, and that he expects online print shops in Western Europe to continue a two-digit growth in turnover over the coming years. So should you be looking to W2P? Given the group’s bold expectations for continued growth, I met with Simon Cooper, MD of UK-based subsidiary Solopress, to talk strategy – and find out where wide-format fits in.

By Lesley Simpson

Do you know your legal responsibilities on things like fire ratings when it comes to printable wallcovering? Doing so will not only keep you above the law, but help you have better discussions with architects and other potential customers. Suppliers are helping raise the issue - look at what Papergraphics is doing for example.

Want to know what’s happening at grassroots level in the large-format print sector? Here’s the heads-up on the soon-to-be-published Widthwise Report 2019.