Brand fraud costs the world economy billions of dollars each year, as consumers are deceived by inferior and possibly harmful knockoffs of luxury goods, medicines, and consumer products. With monetary damage like this—and even more severe consequences, such as in the case of bogus medicine—it is essential that package printers and converting companies take proactive steps to protect their customers’ brands and products from external threats.
Today’s printing and converting companies have to be distinctive. In some way, shape, or form, they have to be a valuable (and hopefully invaluable) resource to their customers. There are innumerable ways this can be accomplished and there’s obviously no cookie-cutter path to success.
KENNESAW, Ga.—Heidelberg USA regards the high attendance at its sixth annual “Brats and Dots” open house as an indication that printers are continuing to evaluate new equipment and looking to invest in solutions that will help them secure their businesses for the future, despite the flagging economy.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.—The Business of Green Media Conference—which will address "bottom line" issues about not only how to implement sustainable practices, but how to do it profitably—will take place on the Cal Poly campus on January 22.
Pittsburgh, Pa.— The Ben Franklin Honor Society of the Printing Industries of America inducted 12 new members at its annual black-tie dinner and awards ceremony on Friday, November 14 in Las Vegas, Nev., during the Printing Industries of America fall board meeting. The 2007 Naomi Berber Award recipient, Archer was the chairman of the board of Printing Industry Association of Georgia in 1998 and was named PIAG's 2005 Ben Franklin Award recipient for her tireless involvement and service to her business, the printing industry, and her community. Dennis Balas co-chaired the research, development, editing, and publishing of the printing industry's consummate resources BRIDG'S and GRACoL 1-6, which brought process controls and proper upstream image preparation to the printing industry. Hirsch has served the industry as president of NAPIM, the founder/first president of Los Angeles Printing Ink Production Club, a past board member of PIASC, and a sponsor for many of PIASC's seminars, conferences, and annual meetings. Tom Saggiomo is president and CEO of Agfa Graphics in Ridgefield Park, N.J. Founder of Lastra America that was acquired by Agfa, Saggiomo was instrumental in the introduction of the computer-to-plate technology to the graphic arts industry. Steven Schnoll is managing director of Schnoll Media Consulting, New Providence, N.J. A highly respected consultant on new technology issues, Schnoll started his print career in the late 60s at Jersey Printing Company.
“The conference agenda addresses the myriad of issues and approaches to help participants understand and install sustainable procedures in difficult economic times,” said Harvey Levenson, head of Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department. Because of the need to assist the graphic communication industry to ‘reinvent’ itself and grow in light of economic cutbacks, the conference will focus on ‘Being Lean, Green and Profitable in a Shrinking Economy.’
Package design is increasingly being driven by customer needs—indeed, consumers and brand managers alike are demanding packaging that is more customized, personalized, specialized, or “promotionalized” than ever before. Package designers also are altering packaging to enhance perceived product quality or desired marketplace positioning. These market trends are leading to shorter production runs; they also require package printers to adapt processes quickly and inexpensively. Below are 20 tips from Heidelberg on how to get the most from your package printing in the current industry environment. 1) Be flexible. Packaging is increasingly diverse, making it crucial for package printers to employ the most adaptive and flexible
RESTON, Va.—For the third year in a row, the GRAPH EXPO MUST SEE ‘EMS Committee has named management information systems (MIS) as the most critical technology for printers to employ for success in this changing print market. MIS topped a list of the six technologies deemed most important for printer survival in 2009 and beyond. The announcement offers a preview of the MUST SEE ‘EMS—a list of the most compelling emerging and evolving technologies to be found at GRAPH EXPO—and the many cutting-edge graphic communications technologies attendees will find at the show. The MUST SEE ‘EMS are a highlight of the 13th Edition EXECUTIVE
KENNESAW, Ga.—Heidelberg has announced the lineup of its Print Media Academy (PMA) educational seminars open to all 2008 Graph Expo attendees. NAPL’s Andrew Paparozzi and PrintBuyersOnline.com’s Suzanne Morgan will join Heidelberg packaging, prepress, and sheetfed experts to offer 15 free seminars covering the latest industry trends and business issues. Heidelberg’s PMA provides industry training and seminars year-round in key locations across the globe. At Graph Expo, the PMA will temporarily come to Chicago’s McCormick Place to serve as a hub of industry thought leadership during the tradeshow, to be held Oct. 26-29. “Heidelberg is committed to fostering industry education through our PMA and
In both conventional printing and package-printing environments, the term “workflow” denotes the steps in an end-to-end production process designed to yield a specified product. In commercial environments, these steps include trapping, screening, RIPing, imposition, color management, proofing, and platemaking, in addition to other labor-intensive front-end tasks. Package printing adds layers of complexity, due largely to combining graphical and structural information in a single, production-ready file, as well as to handle innumerable matched inks and varnishes, step-and-repeat, and a variety of packaging-specific production challenges. Workflow integration is playing an increasingly important role in decision making for consumer product companies (CPCs) and retailers concerned with
