November 2000 Issue
Good E-views
The e-commerce arena has proved favorable for package printing suppliers, but their routes to success may surprise you. by Susan Friedman, Editor Postcards back from the trenches of e-commerce imply that the same e-business plan won't ensure online profits for every package printing supplier, but several overriding concepts should hold true for any Web-based sales initiative. Here, several suppliers share the common threads their varied e-ventures have shown. The Explorers: Adhesives Research, a splicing tapes manufacturer; Avery Dennison's Fasson Roll North America Div., a label materials manufacturer; Copac, an offset and rotary letterpress package printer; and Wilson Manufacturing, a rotary die manufacturer Finding #1:
Got the Hook Up?
Using the speed and accessibility of the Internet, digital data transmission lessens the foibles of file transfer. by Diane L. Moore, Contributing Editor The days when package printers could depend on slow modems, out-dated computers, and sometimes less-than-reliable FTP sites to send and receive customer files are over. And the very idea of sending ZIP and JAZZ cartridges back and forth from printer to customer? No longer an option. In today's high speed world, sending files via the Internet has become the norm—no longer the exception. In just the past three years, printers have seen the decline in ISDN, T1, and T100 connections—replaced
Shining Without the Spotlight
With a keen ability to put industry before the individual, Rex Williams has helped secure the future of the IADD. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor A painting without a signature? An article without a by-line? A movie without credits? Achievement without specific acknowledgement isn't exactly commonplace in today's world; pats-on-the-back seem contracted before the first ounce of effort is expended. It's understandable, then, that the International Association of Diecutting and Diemaking should want to shine its spotlight squarely on Rex Williams, general manager of Dies, Inc., in Kansas City, whose specialty lies in making "stars" out of other members, through example and
Short-order Impact
Developments in presses and ancillary equipment have made gravure's consistency and vibrancy viable for short runs. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor Call it the "me" generation of packaging. Individualized, shorter runs are on the it-list of customers across the gamut of package printing processes. Fifteen years ago, this wasn't particularly good news for gravure, the king of long-runs. The larger set-up costs and longer pre-production time involved in printing with cylinders rendered "short-run gravure" a near-oxymoron. The evolution of quicker-change presses and innovative ways of engraving, however, has introduced gravure into the shorter-run arena. And with set-up costs on a steady decline,
