2018 Feb/Mar

A Paradise of Decorative Processes

by Lara Copeland, assistant editor, PostPress

Situated in the Western Caribbean Sea, the picturesque Cayman Islands offer sandy beaches, colorful wildlife and deep-sea adventures. Wanting to inspire a positive longing for a sunny vacation, the structural design team at Bertelsmann Printing Group (BPG), located in New York, New York, decided to showcase the range of decorative services it offers by including pictures from the Islands on its latest marketing piece. Thinking outside the box (no pun intended) and beyond a standard rectangle, the team created a 44-sided polygon – called a Tetracontakaitetragon.

To house the polygon, Bertelsmann also designed a highly textured, decorative box to further illustrate the company’s capabilities and to facilitate distribution. Inspired by the Russian nesting doll, where one surprise is hidden inside a second that is inside a third, the piece also included preprinted M&Ms inside the many-sided globe, giving clients a sweet reward.

“The 44 panels offered us the ability to mix finishing techniques to offer tactile, visual and sonic (unknown rattling candy) impressions,” noted BPG Vice President Sean M. Twomey. “The piece begs the client to pick up the polygon and interact with it, and we know that a consumer often buys a product after they touch it.”

Incorporating pictures of the Cayman Islands allowed Bertelsmann to highlight the power of print and print decorating. Three silver holographic foils are used throughout the piece. The 3D-sculptured and embossed sides feature rough coral pipes, a parrot, a beer and a turtle. The rough feel of the sand in the beach scene is created using spot gritty matte UV, while another side showcases a single flower with gloss UV. Lastly, a scannable QR code includes an electronic link to the company’s website, showing that print succeeds best with multimedia integration.

“This is a unique marketing piece that highlights Bertelsmann’s structural design service and demonstrates how multiple finishing techniques can create similar compelling visual and tactile effects,” Twomey explained. The execution was done by Coral Graphics and Dynamic Graphic Finishing, while Mid Island Bindery was responsible for the diecutting and gluing. Stock Graphics were assembled by BPG prepress using InDesign, and the holographic foils were chosen in consultation with prepress and manufacturing.

Foil stamping was the first step in creating the Tetracontakaitetragon using a BOBST 40″ stamper. Three silver holographic foils were used to highlight the design. “Next, using standard process inks (CMYK), we printed the different Caribbean images, which included overprinting the holographic foils in specific areas using a Komori Lithrone 28,” Twomey said.

Next, the polygon was laminated with a Matte Mylar film, and then a Sakurai screen coater was used to apply spot matte UV to the diver and beach pictures, providing a realistic, coarse feel. Spot gloss UV was used on several of the pictures as well as on the foil. “We then printed over one of the foils to show that depth in water could be created with foil or in contrast with Dynillusion Cast and Cure™ shown on another panel,” Twomey clarified. The piece then had a pass on the BOBST 40″ press for the sculptured emboss before it was scored and diecut on a BOBST Speria 106. A BOBST Visionfold completed the gluing and then the polygon was assembled.

“The special technology used was human creativity,” Twomey asserted. “We challenged our team to be innovative in the design and to use their experience to maximize the effectiveness of each technique.” The team deliberately showed that similar effects can be achieved in more than one way. “The piece shows that depth can be depicted either with light reflectivity from coatings or with embossing,” he concluded.

The design team wanted the piece to be large enough to show the various finishing techniques on each panel, but they didn’t want it to be too large. “We explored the caliper of different paper to ensure that the piece had substance but could still accept all the folds,” Twomey remarked. A 20-point C1S Candesce from Clearwater Paper was chosen to meet this need. Additionally, the laminate offered more bulk, limited cracking and provided a flat surface to lay the ink down upon.

BPG USA Structural Design also created the piece’s decorative packaging in house. The UV accented and embossed blue box, like the polygon, was printed with four-color process inks on 20-point C1S board stock. An image of raindrops of varying size was selected for the box’s design. The text was knocked out on the outside of the box. The traditionally elegant box was printed first on two sides on a Komori Lithrone 28. A silver foil was stamped around the title. Then the piece was laminated with a Matte Mylar film and a spot UV was applied to the larger raindrops to attract attention from refracting light. The box was embossed so that the raindrops had a tactile feel when picked up. Finally, the piece was diecut and glued.

The Tetracontakaitetragon certainly served its purpose. “Clients have been enthusiastic about seeing different techniques compared and contrasted in a live piece, and the only objection,” Twomey joked, “was working with the Bertelsmann Printing Group USA because it can be fattening – thanks to the candy.”

A Walkthrough of a Broken Organization

by Ken Thoreson, president, Acumen Management Group

Strategic sales management is often a weak link in solution provider companies. Organizations may vary in size and areas of focus, and while every client engagement is unique, some problems are common to many corporate cultures and tend to prevent a company from reaching its full business potential.

By taking a walk through a hypothetical client site, it’s possible to illustrate many of the problems management consultants often encounter. Apply “Law and Order” rules to this scenario: “Although inspired in part by true incidents, the following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.”

Walking into the front office, there are a few chairs, a few outdated vendor awards on the walls and employees pass a visitor without offering a greeting or showing much expression or enthusiasm. This is not a positive indicator for the type of reaction the office evokes from prospects who visit.

President

Asking for Bill, the president, the consultant is warmly greeted and taken to the back office, where they begin to chat about his business, his vision, his frustrations and the lack of business profitability. The consultants experienced ears hear:

They just don’t get it.
They really don’t work hard enough.
They really don’t know how to sell what we do.
They don’t seem to care about the business like I do.

Bill is also concerned that his sales manager is focused on functions that have nothing to do with sales.

Vice president

Bill introduces the consultant to his vice president of professional services. During the first 10 minutes of a 45-minute interview, the consultant hears a lot about how much time the sales engineers have to take to help the salespeople in every engagement and that the sales teams get all the credit. “They never take the time to learn the products.” “If it wasn’t for my team and their expertise we would have no sales.”

When the consultant asks when the VP last held a training session for the sales team, he gets a shrug.

Salespeople

As the consultant conducts interviews with each member of the sales team, either face-to-face or on the phone, he begins to connect the dots between what they’re saying and his meetings with the president and the vice president. The salespeople say things like:

Management always seems to dominate every opportunity.
They’re always micro-managing what I do.
The sales meetings are brutal; everything seems so disorganized.
Proposals are a joke.
Management seems to change what we do every 90 days.
They never seem to know what is going on.

Something else emerges from the recordings of each salesperson. Every representative tells a different story when asked, “Why do people buy from you?”

Assessing your own company

While these scenarios are graphic, these are conversations that sadly, take place among many clients management consultants have served.

Does anything here ring a bell? After reading the previous example, it is an excellent time to assess the morale within the current organization and create a plan for the remaining portion of the year to fix elements in the company that need to operate more effectively.

A few concrete steps can go a long way. The following are a few good ways to start changing company culture and maximize business potential:

Create an ongoing sales training program.
Run monthly company meetings for all employees to bring teams together.
Increase communication and recognize achievement.
Make sure management meetings are organized to improve the focus on achieving corporate objectives.
Make “soft” cultural improvements to increase morale and teamwork.

In some cases, the list of projects can be quite long. Take a few each quarter and focus on those topics.

Creating a great organization takes time, vision, energy and a commitment to continuous improvement – which, by the way, is the definition of leadership.

Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 17 years, his consulting, advisory and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for organizations throughout the world. Need more sales management resources? Contact Thoreson at [email protected] or www.AcumenManagement.com.

Ken Thoreson will be speaking on “Building a Culture of High Performance” at the upcoming FSEA-IADD joint conference, April 11-13, Franklin Marriott Cool Springs Hotel, Franklin, Tennessee. For more details on the conference, visit www.fsea-iaddconf.com.

Bound for Success – Loose Leaf Keeps Up with the Digital Age

by Brittany Willes, editor, PostPress

Print is dead. Or so many believed during years of market recession and with the rising prominence of digital files. Against all predictions, the print industry has experienced a remarkable renaissance in the past few years. Recent studies have shown that consumers are experiencing digital overload. As a result, print and digital files have been making strides to coexist in an ever-evolving marketplace. Traditional print products, such as loose leaf binders, have experienced their own renaissance. Loose leaf binder manufacturers are finding new and unique uses for binders, offering greater numbers of styles and enhancements and embracing consumer demands for more environmentally friendly products.

Loose leaf binders have long been a popular choice as a sleek and professional option for displaying information. Different styles and sizes combine to create a unique look and feel for a given project. Smaller binders (1/2 sheet size) are portable, neat and great for presenting information quickly and easily. More visual content – such as photographs – can be shown off using landscape binders, while portfolio binders – generally used to combine product samples and literature – act as a kit or box display. Whatever the style or size, binders represent an attractive and cost-effective way of showcasing important projects.

Not all binders are created equal, however. As with anything else, binders have their points of weakness that must be taken into account. Corporate Image, a Des Moines, Iowa-based binder manufacturer, is well versed in the challenges in designing products that can stand the test of time. For instance, one of the most common points of failure occurs at the hinge. Vice President Michael James stated, “Most binders use lightweight vinyl as the cover material. Over time, the vinyl becomes stiff and brittle.” This leads to cracked hinges that are destined to fail with time.

To overcome this, manufacturers are developing new styles featuring stronger, longer-lasting hinges. Corporate Image has incorporated into its designs a flexhinge spine, where the hinge is created by scoring through one piece of the binder’s board. “This offers an extremely durable hinge that will last for years,” said James. “The hinges are lab tested and proven to open and close over 250,000 times without failure.”

The flexhinge spine is available rounded or square, offering customers greater opportunity for customized products. As James noted, “The rounded spine has an interesting architectural look that sets it apart visually. The square spine is perfect when visual information needs to be presented clearly.”

Ring size also can be a challenge for designers who think outside of the box, but there are unique solutions to such a problem. James explained that almost all ring systems are sized according to standard paper sizes. This poses a problem when it comes to incorporating unique paper and binder sizes. If the paper size is larger than normal, binders can be made to accommodate that size by choosing a ring that does not have boosters, which would normally interfere with the larger sheet. On the other hand, if the paper is smaller than normal, it may be a challenge to find a ring that will accommodate the smaller sheet size.

In addition to designing longer-lasting products, manufacturers have begun finding new and unique uses for binders. For Corporate Image, this has included using three-, four- and five-panel ringless binders to showcase samples such as flooring, wallcoverings, tile, wood and more. Meanwhile, smaller binders are being used to great success for promoting the capabilities of businesses such as law firms and financial planning companies.

The move from straightforward business presentation materials to sample promotions has been a strategic one, as binders become less of a document storage medium and more of an interactive showpiece. According to Dominic Zaidan, director of art and marketing at Vulcan Information Packaging, “With the increased use of digital documents as opposed to printed sheets, loose leaf manufacturers have had to shift their focus to either more packaging products or introduce market ring binder usage into the sample pages segment of the industry.”

For manufacturers like Vulcan, expanding more into packaging has meant broadened manufacturing capabilities and more services offered to its customers, including the ability to convert printed sheets into custom rigid boxes and other presentation products. “Our print partners can sell binder and packaging related products, send us the printed sheets and we can do the converting,” stated Zaidan.

Additionally, Vulcan now is able to produce true prototypes as close to the final products as possible, and theyre able to do so at a much faster rate. “With our UV digital press, automated cutting table and experienced sample makers,” said Zaidan, “we can produce production quality prototypes in as little as 24 hours.”

Zaidan noted that even as manufacturers like Vulcan expand into other markets, loose leaf binders will always have a place in the industry. “Showrooms that offer products such as cloth samples, wallpaper, tile and flooring, wood finishes, surface and countertops will likely always want to have some type of ring binder for presentation purposes,” he said.

Binders will continue to offer attractive and convenient methods for displaying product samples for customers to flip through and see all the available selections. “When used creatively as a sample holder, binders are a valuable solution for stores, marketing groups and sales people to show their samples,” Zaidan affirmed.

Expanding manufacturing capabilities is not the only way in which binder manufacturers have evolved. Consumers today are more environmentally conscious than ever. As such, they are looking for more eco-friendly products. Manufacturers like Corporate Image are more than willing to accommodate these needs.

Corporate Image offers some of the most durable, eco-friendly and designable binders on the market, remarked James. Unlike eco-friendly styles of the past, customers today are not limited in their design options. Corporate Image binder covers and liners are offset printed and offered in up to six colors. “Each binder is made with 100 percent recycled board,” he continued. “Additionally, every binder can be Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, indicating that it has been made from materials that meet certified forestry management practices.” For the “green” consumer, FSC certification is an important design component.

For example, Corporate Image created an environmental binder for a hospice center that featured printing and debossing. “The goal was to create a durable binder that looked recyclable and also was compatible with patients who had chemical sensitivity,” explained James. “To that end, we chose Kraft endleaf paper for the cover material due to its high recycled content, which gave the binder the recycled look the customer wanted.” The binder was printed with special-mix colors to match Pantone colors closely on the brown board stock, and the customer’s logo was blind debossed on the front and back covers. “The combination of the unique materials and finishing techniques created a truly stunning binder,” said James.

Incorporating more specialty finishing techniques, along with finding greater uses, will ensure binders continue to thrive in a digital world. As Zaidan explained, “Using binders as sample holders is a growth area that will keep our product relevant. As long as a company wants to present a ‘touch and feel’ of their samples, binders will remain relevant. In many instances, companies have tried a digital catalog only to realize they are missing the personal show-and-tell perspective of fabrics, furniture and construction materials present in a ring binder. The loose leaf binder market is still very strong and still in demand.”

Cold Foil is the Hot Choice for Metallic Enhancements

The use of foil and other multisensory packaging effects has become more and more common in a crowded marketplace competing for customer attention. Metallic foils are often a simple, yet effective, way to enhance a product’s aesthetic and set it apart. Evolving out of the hot stamping process, the use of cold foil has become more and more common in the last few years. Despite its popularity, there are still areas of confusion when it comes to the cold foil process.

PostPress sat down with Eagle Systems President Mike King to discuss some of the most common questions finishers and printers have regarding the cold foil process. Well versed in the design and manufacture of foil stamping and print enhancement equipment, Eagle Systems has encountered many of the issues experienced by those switching to cold foil. King offered the following insights for those looking to expand their knowledge of cold foil and its benefits.

Is cold foil replacing hot foil stamping?

Yes and no. I started building hot stamping machines with my father more than 40 years ago. That’s where my background comes from. However, over the past 11 years, my focus has shifted to involve more cold foil machinery due to market trends and customer demands.

Hot foil stamping is still a better fit for many foil applications, but cold foil has come a long way in quality and feasibility. It can be used for many applications. Most cold foil retrofits are on 40-inch sheet-fed units, and cold foil is most effective for shorter run work. In fact, most jobs around the world are less than 10,000 sheets. This is where cold foil really shines with economics. Savings is extreme in these cases.

What are the main benefits of cold foil?

Because the foiling and printing can be done in a single process, cold foil can lead to significant savings when it comes to time and money: Time because it is one pass on a press and money because of no tooling costs (dies) that are needed. For example, a job that normally would take two separate machines – one machine for the printing and one to apply the foil – and take an additional eight hours of press time, can be accomplished in about 20 additional minutes with cold foil.

In addition, cold foiling can be an excellent alternative to printing on foil laminated board. Cold foil does not require special UV inks and dryers that can add costs to the process. The areas of the design that do not include a metallic finish can be reversed out on the sheet, so white opaque ink does not need to be applied in a separate station on the printing press, where sometimes even two hits are needed to cover the metallic laminated board.

What are the cost differences of cold foil vs. hot foil?

With the increased interest in cold foil today, the foil itself is more freely available, while the cost is similar to that of hot foil. However, cold foiling does consume more foil product if the entire full web of the foil is used. Cold foil equipment today can have up to eight narrow webs. The operator can select the foil width required according to the area to be foiled, which can save a great deal of overall foil usage.

The design of the piece or sheet will determine which method is best and which method will be the least costly. If there is only a small area of metallic foil on the design, then hot stamping may be the best choice. If there is a large area of metallic and several foil colors specified, cold foil is probably best.

Like hot foiling, cold foil has developed its own market. Printers and finishers offering cold foil to their clients can make it so that those clients only work with cold foil in their designs.

How is cold foil applied?

Cold foil is like a sticky offset ink, and it is applied using a conventional printing plate and blanket in the areas where the metallic foil is needed to adhere. Essentially, it works like a printable glue on the sheet. Today, there are a number of cold foil adhesive suppliers.

Does adding cold foil slow down the printing press?

Utilizing the right foil, adhesive and cold foil unit, a printing press can run at full-press speeds for many applications. Cold foil does not slow down the printing press process.

Why has the cold foil process taken so long to catch on in the offset sheet-fed market?

A few years back, cold foiling was still considered a risky process. Many finishers had bad experiences early on, which may have contributed to the slower acceptance of the process. However, developments in foils, adhesives, blankets, etc., have helped mature the process, and today cold foiling is widely accepted and becoming more and more common.

Where have you seen the most growth in cold foiling?

I would say packaging where brand owners need differentiation in areas such as cosmetic, pharmaceutical, healthcare and confectionery. We are even seeing a demand in food products as well and, of course, the tobacco and label industries are full of potential. Interest also has started with those producing magazines and catalogs, since this type of foiling does not leave an impression in the paper, allowing for perfect printing on both sides of the sheet.

Mike King is president/CEO of Eagle Systems, a leader in the design and manufacturing of cold foil, hot foil stamping and Cast and Cure print enhancement equipment. For more information visit www.thefoilexperts.com.

Dishing Up New Traditions – Digitalpress Produces a Unique Cookbook for the Ages

by Sabine Lenz, president, PaperSpecs

Before the age of 24/7 food shows, cooking used to be such a personal affair. It was a skill most people would pick up from a family member or two, honing and refining their craft until they were finally deemed worthy of inheriting grandma’s recipe book. Inside could be found dog-eared pages, delightful scents from meals long past and handwritten notes from grandma herself about what worked, what didn’t and why a particular dish meant so much to her.

It’s this same sense of cookbook as heirloom that Digitalpress, Sydney, Australia, reproduces so beautifully in “Dish,” a volume featuring 86 recipes from 44 of Australia’s finest chefs. All profits from the sale of both the $75 standard version and $100 limited edition (signed by a number of the chefs featured) go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which brightens the lives of seriously ill children and their families in Australia through hospital programs and experiences.

Designed by co-publisher and creator Kelly Shield – a former chef turned graphic designer and avid cookbook collector – “Dish” is not only a great collection of recipes (rosewater milk pudding with watermelon granita, anyone?), but an impressive example of the quality that can be achieved with digital printing today.

The text pages were digitally printed CMYK (plus blue on the special fifth unit to closely match the required Pantone blue) on Sovereign Offset 120 gsm, a smooth white uncoated stock, using a Kodak NEXPRESS, explains Digitalpress owner Theo Pettaras. These were then Smyth sewn with blue thread to match the title on the cover before being casebound into the covers.

“The cover was digitally printed with a Tuffkote matte celloglaze as it provides a more robust finish and it’s hard to scratch, plus it avoids marking, particularly when you’re in the kitchen,” says Pettaras. “Then a high-build spot UV was applied to give the cover some texture and further visual interest.”

As can be clearly seen, that “visual interest” is nothing short of recreating a dinner plate right on the cover, complete with border decorations and a couple of authentic-looking cracks, all against another entirely textured background.

The exposed binding further enhances the homemade feel, suggesting that this is indeed a piece to be treasured. The blue thread matches both the title on the cover as well as that other fantastic detail: the diecut and white-foil-stamped slipcase made from Arjowiggins Curious Matter paper. As the paper nerds out there will recall, Curious Matter is made from potato starch – fitting for a cookbook.

Cracking open “Dish,” readers not only find a bevy of new recipes inside, they also will discover personal comments by the chefs themselves, rendered in a handwriting typeface, concerning their experiences with food and cooking – a nice little personal touch.

This might not be grandma’s recipe book handed down through the generations, but its unique design and conversation-starting cover are enough to make this volume worthy of being passed down to children and grandchildren for generations to come.

PaperSpecs.com is an innovative space for highly committed creatives who are in love with the tactile and interactive experience provided by paper and print. PaperSpecs.com inspires, shares insights and provides access to crucial, hands-on tools and resources to bring exceptional print creations to life.

Four Drivers for Luxury Packaging Markets

Provided by Smithers Pira

The distinction between mass-market and luxury products is becoming blurred, prompting luxury brands to turn to innovative technologies and strategies to attract customers to their high-end goods.

According to the new Smithers Pira report, The Future of Luxury Packaging to 2022, the luxury packaging market was valued at more than $13.77 billion in 2016, with global sales forecast to increase by 3.4 percent in 2017 to $14.25 billion. In volume terms, a growth rate of 2.6 percent was forecast for 2017, after which the world market is expected to increase by an annual average of 1.3 percent up to 2022.

The study pinpoints the main developments in technology that are expected to aid market growth over the next five years. The following developments are among the four principal drivers:

Using packaging as a medium to present a product as premium
Creating a consumer connection via personalized and customized print
The growing importance of consumers in nontraditional markets
Engaging with an online sales culture

Premiumization

Premiumization is a trend apparent in many sectors of the packaged goods industry. Brand owners are seeking to attract consumers by offering products positioned on an “everyday luxury” platform, and packaging is seen as a way of achieving this.

The food and drink industry has been one of the main pioneers of the trend toward more premium forms of packaging. One successful example from the UK food industry is the Gü range of desserts, which are marketed on an indulgence platform and whose black-colored packaging marks it as a premium product.

Appearance and aesthetics are major factors when designing packaging in this sector and in other fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) industries. Considerable attention is paid to areas such as color, images and graphics. Increasingly, brand owners are having to consider what packaging for their products looks like on screen as well as on the shelf, given the fact that more people are now purchasing goods via online channels.

Post-print embellishment

Premium-look packaging can be reached via various routes – design, material selection, post-print embellishment, retail store or shelf positioning – or, more often, a combination of several or all. Embellishment is one area of focus for brands and, as there is a general shift toward a cleaner, high-end look, there is a corresponding interest in innovative finishing options that can further differentiate a pack.

Designers are exploring the potential of new embossing, metal effect (both inks and foiling), glittering and tactile/haptic surfaces technologies. Luxury applications, with their higher price margins, demonstate the need to differentiate goods. This has lead to the arrival of “experience packaging.” The focus on the act of opening or unboxing as part of the enjoyment of the contents helps make this area a key testing ground for these enhanced effects prior to deployment in higher-volume applications.

Another option is laser cutting for finishing. It can be employed to cut a complex pattern into a pack, working from a CAD file. These are gaining popularity for boutique products including personal care, fragrances and jewelry. The principal substrate material is cartonboard.

As with several other post-print enhancement options, laser cutting is looking to integrate with the increasingly popular digital print systems that enable new options for consumer engagement through customization and personalization of packs.

Personalization and customization

Global luxury packaging sales by region, 2016 (percent shared by value)

Digital printers in many parts of the world increasingly benefit from the recent growth in demand for personalized gift products, a trend that carries strong implications for the luxury packaging industry. Personalized printed products are now being offered by many leading brands, with consumption peaking during gifting occasions, such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day. For example, the UK market for personalized gifts was valued at nearly $1.3 billion in 2015, with an average expenditure per consumer of almost $47.

Some more recent examples of this trend specifically within the luxury goods sector include:

Chocolate – Companies competing at the upper end of the chocolate confectionery market now offer personalized products and packaging, most of which are targeted at the gifting market. For instance, in the UK, Thorntons now sells personalized chocolate boxes in the form of Alphabet Truffles, in which the chocolates can form messages, such as birthday wishes. Ireland-based firm Lily O’Brien’s offers consumers a choice of chocolate box packaging and the ability to upload photos or images to personalize the printed pack.
Premium alcoholic drinks – A number of premium brands, particularly within the Scotch whisky sector – such as Glenfiddich, Glengoyne, Gordon & MacPhail – now offer personalized labels, mainly for gifting purposes, with individual messages.
Jewelry – In this sector, personalized gift packaging is usually in the form of gift boxes or bags, although some companies have started to customize secondary packaging, such as tissue paper and ribbons. Keenpac’s jewelry boxes are created on a bespoke basis and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Ordering such gifts is increasingly easy for the consumer due to the proliferation of web-to-print ordering systems.

Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke campaigns featuring bottle labels carrying common individual forenames, remains the most well-known example of a major brand applying customization to create a more personal connection with its consumers. Coca-Cola has sold more than 150 million of its personalized bottles.

The print costs of such campaigns – using toner or, increasingly, inkjet presses – are declining, but remain significant. Luxury segments have and will continue to be a key area for this pioneering technology, as one that can accept the premium for such printing for special and seasonal editions more readily. The range of options available is now being supplemented by new printing equipment and finishing systems for new pack formats – flexible pouches and folding cartons – and high-grade substrates optimized for accepting digital print graphics.

Non-Western growth markets

As the market for luxury goods has become more international, the leading brands have commanded a wider geographical footprint. From a supply perspective, the luxury goods market is highly concentrated. It is estimated that the larger European brands currently account for up to 70 percent of global sales, which gives some indication of their long-standing strength and heritage across much of the world.

Sales of luxury goods in non-Western regions have benefited from factors such as the emergence of a more affluent urban consumer base and a greater number of youthful and Western-oriented consumers. Much of the growth in the global luxury goods market has come from China. According to recent analysis, global luxury sales would have contracted by around two percent (on average) between 2012 and 2015, had it not been for Chinese consumers.

Shopping for luxury goods while traveling is an increasingly common activity for the emergent middle class in China and elsewhere, with airport malls a focus for this trade. Some research shows shoppers at airport malls accounted for six percent of total worldwide expenditure on luxury goods in 2016, up from four percent the previous year.

Online sales and “showrooming”

Online channels are making a greater impact within the world market for luxury goods. Online sales of luxury goods are set to reach almost $42 billion by the end of the current decade, up by more than 95 percent from levels observed in 2014.

The growing importance of the online sector also has contributed to the “showrooming” trend, whereby consumers research products in-store, only to complete their purchases via online channels. This has been apparent in the luxury goods market, particularly since many of the world’s leading fashion houses have been relatively slow to adopt e-commerce. It was estimated in 2016 that up to 40 percent of luxury brands had little or no online sales capability. Consumers are becoming increasingly price conscious and are, therefore, attracted to the special offers and discounts typically offered by online retailers.

In-store shopping is expected to remain a mainstay of the luxury goods market, since most consumers still want to touch, feel and smell products prior to purchase. Traditional retailers already have responded to the growth of the online/mobile sector via tactics usually referred to as “reverse showrooming” – sometimes called “web-rooming” – whereby consumers research products online, and then complete their purchases in-store. The increasing popularity of “unboxing” videos on social media also places a new focus on materials and design, with “experience” packaging making this process part of the overall enjoyment of the product.

There has been a growth in “Click and Collect” schemes within the industry, with retailers offering improved convenience and knowledgeable staff to entice consumers. The coming years are therefore likely to see retailers of luxury goods operating across multichannel platforms, combining in-store, online and mobile purchase points.

These four trends are examined, analyzed and quantified in greater depth in the Smithers Pira report. Other major topics explored include:

The growing need for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection,
Wider use of intelligent and interactive packaging,
Greater availability of haptic effects to give packaging a luxury feel, and
Brand owner and consumer desire prompting the development of new sustainable and/or environmentally preferable packaging materials.

Smithers Pira is a worldwide authority on the packaging, paper and print industry supply chains. It provides world-leading expertise and market intelligence and offers a range of testing services supported by comprehensive facilities in the US and UK. “The Future of Luxury Packaging to 2022” presents an analysis of market trends in value and volume terms for luxury packaging during the period 2012-17 and market forecasts to 2022, including analysis by end-use sectors, material types and geographic markets. For more information, visit www.smitherspira.com.

FSEA News

FSEA•IADD Joint Conference Coming to Nashville Area in April

The Foil & Specialty Effects Association (FSEA) and the International Association of Diecutting and Diemaking (IADD) will hold the 2018 Joint Conference April 11 through 13 at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, Tennessee, USA, near Nashville.

The conference offers a supplier trade fair, educational programming to address new technology and trends in the industry, and an awards reception where the recipients of the FSEA Gold Leaf Awards, FSEA Lifetime Achievement Award and IADD Presidential Award will be honored.

This year, conference attendees will have the opportunity to share best practices on a variety of subjects with industry peers as part of the networking workshops held during conference programming. For more information, go to www.fsea-iaddconf.com.

Nelson Stevens to Be Honored as FSEA Lifetime Achievement Awardee

On Thursday, April 12, Nelson Stevens will be recognized as the recipient of the 2018 FSEA Lifetime Achievement Award at the FSEA•IADD Joint Conference in Franklin, Tennessee. The award honors Stevens for his four decades of leadership in the industry, working with BOBST as a sales manager for 12 years before starting Independent Machinery, Inc., in the early 1980s.

Among other successes, in 1991, Stevens signed an agreement with Gietz to bring its line of foil stamping equipment to North America and was a significant contributor to the growth of foil stamping in the wine and spirits label market.

Those wishing to honor Nelson are encouraged to attend the conference and awards reception. Register at www.fsea-iaddconf.com.

FSEA Partners on New Alternatives for Foil Waste Disposal

The disposal of used hot stamping and cold foil has been a challenge for the foil industry for many years. FSEA has announced a new partnership with Channeled Resources Group (CRG) to help eliminate used or obsolete rolls of hot and cold foil from the waste stream.

CRG has qualified this by-product as feedstock for energy with two current partners. One partner, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, mixes these materials with other nonrecyclables and then shreds it to be extruded as fuel pellets. The pellets are burned in a commercial boiler and the energy sold to the grid. The other partner, located in Gary, Indiana, shreds materials to fluff, which then is used as an alternative to coal in a limestone kiln.

“Our research has found that any type of trucking/shipping costs involved with the foil waste will be similar to landfill costs, or even less, depending on the location,” explained Calvin Frost, CRG. “And, best of all, it will create a sustainable choice for FSEA members and others.”

“We are very excited to work with Calvin Frost and CRG on this project,” stated FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson. “We have been working to find alternatives to the landfill for foil waste for several years, and the partnership with CRG is a great start in this initiative.”

For more information on how to get started with FSEA and CRG, contact Jeff Peterson at [email protected] or 785.271.5816.

FSEA Welcomes New Members

FSEA would like to welcome the following new members. You can see more details on each of them at www.FinisherFinder.com.

Quinta Groupe, Inc.
Chester, New York
www.quintagroupe.com

Print Panther
Oakville, Ontario Canada
www.printpanther.ca

Specialties Graphic Finishers
Toronto, Ontario Canada
www.sgfteam.ca

DMS Color
Pelham, Alabama
www.dmscolor.com

Grain Direction – The Long and Short of It

by Brian Cowie, CEO, The Paper Mill Store

The direction of the grain plays a key role in how the paper will react when it comes to folding, scoring and binding.

Will you fold, score and bind your paper, or will you crush, break and warp your paper? That is the question.

Proper folding, scoring and binding of paper are mostly a matter of understanding the major properties of paper fiber. One of the most important properties to understand about paper fiber is grain direction – the direction in which the fibers align on a specific sheet of paper. Yes, that pesky little grain direction issue – which is stated in so many swatch books, printing guides and all over paper mill literature – really means something and should be understood by everyone from graphic designers, printers, finishers and binders to home hobbyists. When working with paper, it is vital to know which way the grain flows.

Grain direction unraveled

A quick “Paper 101” on grain direction.

As paper is made, all the fibers within the pulp stew begin to line up in the direction in which the paper machine is moving. The cellulose fibers align, side by side, much like logs floating down a river during turn-of-the-century logging. The end result is that many more fibers than not are pointed in the same direction along a sheet of paper, forming a “grain direction.”

Typically, when using an 8.5×11-inch sheet of paper, the grain is in the 11-inch, or the “grain long,” direction, meaning that the vast majority of fibers are aligned parallel to the 11-inch length of the paper. In contrast, if the sheet was cut “grain short,” then most of the fibers would be pointing across the short side of the sheet in the 8.5-inch direction, or what is called the “grain short” direction.

Now you know

Paper has a grain direction. So, what? We all have our issues, right? Now hold on; it’s not that easy. Grain direction is very important and makes a huge difference as to how the paper will react when attempting to fold, score and bind it. Therefore, knowing the grain direction and how it will affect the layout of a project makes a big difference in the quality of the finished piece. A few minutes spent learning about and understanding grain direction will help for years to come.

Folding and scoring with the grain direction

Knowing why grain direction is important will be helpful as well. As a visual aid to the grain direction concept, think of paper fibers as a dozen wooden pencils lying side by side on a table, forming an imaginary sheet of paper. If this imaginary sheet of paper were to be folded, it can easily be imagined that folding in the parallel direction to the pencils is easiest. Fold across the parallel direction of the pencils, and the pencils will all snap in two.

While it is not exactly the same in paper as with pencils, the concept does illustrate that the best way to fold and score paper is with the grain direction parallel to your fold and score. Folding and scoring parallel to the grain will break fewer fibers and have a stronger and cleaner fold or score.

This can easily be demonstrated by taking a light cover stock, perhaps a 65 lb. cover, and folding it the length of the sheet and then folding it the width of the sheet. Examine both folds, and it can be seen that one fold is decisively cleaner and smoother than the other. The cleaner, smoother fold is parallel to the grain, and this illustrates how the paper fibers react more favorably when folded in the parallel direction.

Binding with the grain direction

Binding with the grain direction is very important for all methods of binding. Whether doing a simple saddlestitch or a more complex perfect binding, binding parallel to the grain is vital. The reason that grain direction is so important to successful binding is different from when folding and scoring; it is not a matter of breaking fibers. It is a matter of how paper fibers expand and contract in the open air. While this is a much less understood concept in the industry, it is an extremely important one to understand to avoid disastrous binding episodes.

Paper fibers constantly expand and contract, mainly due to ambient conditions as well as glues and moisture associated with many binding processes. Most likely, the expansion and contraction of unbound paper won’t be seen or noticed, but it is happening. Paper fibers expand and contract as much as 400 percent more across the grain direction of the paper fiber than with the grain direction.

This means that if paper is bound into the spine across its grain direction, as the paper expands and contracts, there will be as much as 400 percent more movement of the paper fighting against the anchor of the binding. This can result in very unpleasant consequences, including gusseting of the spine of the finished piece. Gusseting is the extreme warping of the spine due to the expansion and/or contraction of the bound paper. There is almost no way to repair a gusseted book once it is bound, but this issue can be avoided by using proper binding techniques.

When trying to visualize what happens in gusseting, imagine a pair of hands making a “time-out” sign – the fingertips of the right hand pressing into the palm of the left hand. The fingertips of the right hand represent paper fibers bound perpendicular to the spine of the book, which is represented by the left palm. Now, imagine the right-hand fingers spreading representing the paper fibers expanding. The right-hand fingers move across the left palm, which represents the spine as it stays stable. What results, in this scenario, is severe warping of the sheets as they try to move within the bound spine. The strength paper has to pull a spine into funky shapes with just the small expansion and contraction movements of cross direction paper fibers is amazing.

How to determine the grain direction

From graphic designers to home hobbyists, anyone who works with paper should be knowledgeable about grain direction.

The easiest and best way to determine the grain direction of paper is to order it in the direction required, whether grain short or grain long. Grain direction is noted on most paper packaging, swatch books and paper mill stock sheets in one of a few different formats. Most commonly, grain direction will be noted as the last dimension of the sheet.

As an example, 11×17-inch would be grain long (fibers run in the 17-inch direction), 17×11-inch would be grain short (fibers run in the 11-inch direction). Sometimes the side of the sheet with the grain direction is bolded, so 11x17-inch would be grain long or 11x17-inch would be grain short. The grain direction may be underlined, 11×17-inch would be grain long, or 11×17-inch would be grain short.

Often there will be multiple indications of the grain direction on the label of a ream of paper. Whichever format is used, paper mills make a big effort to indicate the grain direction of every sheet of paper.

There are few things worse than experiencing an avoidable problem. By paying attention to grain direction, it is possible to avoid some of the all too common production errors that occur due to incorrectly formatting projects with respect to paper’s grain direction.

Professionals and hobbyists alike have trusted The Paper Mill Store, www.thepapermillstore.com, since 2004 to provide great papers at great prices. Thousands of brand-name papers, envelopes, card stocks, swatch books, samples and other products are available with an array of custom services including paper cutting, perforating, scoring, drilling, envelope printing and custom watermarking. The Paper Mill Store is located in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Simple Tests to Determine Grain Direction

Paper, like wood, has a grain. Adhesive binding on paper with the wrong grain direction can produce disastrous results. Here are some simple tests to determine paper grain direction:

Folding Test – When folding a small sheet of paper, notice that it folds more easily and smoothly when the fold is parallel to the grain. If folded against the grain, the small fiber particles break and make an unsatisfactory fold.
Moisture Test – If moisture is applied to one side of a sheet of paper, it immediately starts to curl in one direction. The expansion is on the cross-grain edge, the curl indicating the paper grain direction.
Bending Test – Thicker papers are best tested by bending them in both directions. One direction offers considerably more resistance than the other. Parallel to the grain direction, the resistance is far less than against the grain.
Tearing Test – A sheet is torn in longitudinal and transverse directions. The tear pattern will be straight when parallel to the grain and jagged across the grain.

Thank you to Kater-Crafts Bookbinders for this information – www.katercrafts.com.

Industry Influencer: Deborah Corn

As the “Intergalactic Ambassador to The Printerverse,” Deborah Corn is uniquely suited to helping all sides of the graphic communications community access relevant information and achieve success with social media campaigns. Spreading “printspiration” across multiple platforms, Corn strives to help printers, suppliers and other industry professionals amplify all they have to offer.

Founder and cultivator of Print Production Professionals, the largest print group on LinkedIn, Deborah Corn has more than 25 years of experience working in advertising and marketing. As the Principal, Chief Blogger and self-styled “Intergalactic Ambassador to the Printerverse™” for Print Media Centr, Corn is dedicated to bringing relevant and topical information and resources to the print and Integrated Marketing Services communities. Working behind the scenes, she helps printers to form meaningful relationships with customers and industry suppliers and assists printers in achieving success with their social media marketing endeavors.

How did you find the print industry as a career?

It found me!

I ended up here by accidental association provided by my 25+ year career as an adverting agency print production manager. I was networking for a new position and started a LinkedIn group – Print Production Professionals. Within a few years the entire print industry supply chain from manufacturer to end-user had joined the group. As a result, I found myself in a unique position of being able to speak to and help many people find help and access information by virtue of sitting in between them. Today, Print Production Professionals has over 95,000 members and is the number one print group on LinkedIn.

How does your work with Print Media Centr uniquely suit you to influence the industry?

My goal has always been this: Help everyone create and produce the most effective and efficient print communications as possible – and have a little fun along the way.

The LinkedIn group, in addition to the 30,000+ industry professionals that have gathered through my site and social channels, give me access to events, industry leaders and resources. As the “Intergalatic Ambassador to The Printerverse,” I am able to stay diplomatic and help all sides get the information they need without taking any sides. In simple terms, the entire graphic communications community is my client. I work with industry partners and share printspiration, information and resources to get them whatever they need to succeed.

What role will social media play in the success of print?

Social media contributes to the success and effectiveness of a marketing campaign, and, when effectively used, contributes to the success of marketing a print business. In that sense, we could say that social media is a tool for amplifying all we have to offer.

Whether that is successful, however, is completely reliant on how its used. Not all social media is good, but no social media is definitely bad – especially with the digital natives rising to power by 2020. If you aren’t somewhere in the socialverse – you don’t exist.

How does International Print Day work to serve the industry?

I started International Print Day in 2014. It grew out of an existing weekly, international celebration of print. Every Wednesday the best and brightest print and marketing industry pros from around the world gathered on Twitter for my weekly #PrintChat. These are the real influencers: the print professionals who go to the webinars and read the blogs and attend the demos and go to events and search the sites and USE SOCIAL MEDIA – and share the information they gather to influence their companies, products and services. Taking it global was a natural next step.

Using the same formula of open knowledge sharing through social media, I picked a day in October and – for 24 hours, starting in Australia at 6PM ET (their 9AM) and ending in the US at 6PM ET – we pick a theme and “Help Print Trend the Planet.”

Since its inception, our holiday has been celebrated on six continents, recognized by the US Capital and the United Nations, and generated more than 80 million impressions dedicated to print, shared by thousands of global contributors on Twitter alone. #IPD18 is set for October 17th…save the date!

What are some industry trends you’ve witnessed over the last few years?

The most significant trend lies in the lack of formal communication from the industry directly to the print creators and purchasers. When the paper industry consolidated and, in some cases, removed their spec. rep. force, the end users really took a hit on getting information about new print possibilities that paper swatch books and promotions illustrate so well by example.

Yes, print customers can seek out this information if they know whom to ask, but they don’t in many cases. That leaves them at the mercy of their vendors and the equipment they have. Is a vendor going to share information about a new print technology that they dont own but that could be a better fit for their customer? They aren’t neutral, so no. Paper companies and paper merchants, for the most part, are. They have their partners, but they spread the love and make it clear who they are. The press makers also have paper certified for their machines, so, for me, swatch books and paper promotions are still the best way for a print customer to truly understand and see for themselves what is possible with paper, ink and finishing.

How do you predict these trends will develop over the next few years?

I think the industry lightbulbs started going off in 2017 that there is a huge gap between what is possible and what is actually purchased and produced by print customers. That’s what led me to start #ProjectPeacock and partner with suppliers like Canon Solutions America, Domtar, Scodix and Miralupa to create a digital print show-and-tell program. Our mission is to share printspiration and show the new possibilities with digital print, inkjet, wide format and integrate some cool augmented reality (AR) technology. #ProjectPeacock created digital print fans and new digital print customers. The end game here is to keep the education flowing online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

How will social media continue to shape the future of the industry?

I think we will see more tie-in to social media channels through print campaigns as AR and other such bridges to digital gain more consumer popularity through brands. However, that is a marketing decision, not a printing decision. As I mentioned earlier, specifically related to the print, I believe social media is a critical communication and marketing tool that is preferred by digital natives. Anyone still ignoring that has no chance of survival – in any industry.

Job Costing – Using Data Collection to Determine Estimated vs. Actual Profits

by Mark Porter, president, Dienamic MIS Software, Inc.

In any business, knowing costs is important. After all, isn’t the mathematical formula Profit = Sales – Costs? If companies don’t know their costs, how can they know their profits? Sure, at the end of the year anyone can say “I made money” or “I lost money,” but when businesses control costs and use cost data to make better business decisions they may not lose any money. Better yet, they may be able to say, “I made more money.”

Data collection

Whether done via time sheets or shop floor data collection, job costing is the process of tracking every minute of every day of each machine and employee. This not only allows us to get accurate costing of how much each job cost to produce but also allows us to analyze all aspects of our operations.

Job costing involves several different aspects, one of which is data collection. Data collection, particularly when it comes to the shop floor, is one of the most valuable resources for determining exactly how much a single job costs. For instance, how much of employee John Smith’s time last quarter was chargeable (rebilled), and how much was nonchargeable? How many hours did the company spend repairing that old Kluge press last year?

Collecting shop floor data allows companies to easily find this information. Furthermore, this type of information can allow companies to control their labor costs and make more informed decisions regarding the company’s machines.

It is possible to extend this further by tracking characteristics of jobs. For example, what was the average running speed on 28×40 sheets of 10pt coated stock run 2-up on the Bobst press? How much time was spent waiting for customer ABC to do press oks?

This type of information can help with providing more accurate estimates. This is important because, if a job is quoted at 3000 per hour but only achieves 2500 on the shop floor the company is losing money as soon as it gets the order. Conversely, if quoting at 2500 per hour and achieving 3000 on the shop floor, the company is losing jobs it could be producing profitably.

Companies do not have to be limited by software analysis. All this data can be sent to software such as Excel, where it can be sorted and analyzed in ways that answer questions that are specific to individual companies.

A wealth of information is available on the shop floor every day. Companies simply need to start collecting and analyzing it to help improve productivity and profitability.

Purchasing for profit

Another piece of the job costing puzzle involves purchasing. All companies must purchase both materials and services in their day-to-day activities. The levels of those purchases can vary from industry to industry and from company to company. Certainly, the industries of print finishing, trade binding and diemaking are more labor-based than material-based, but purchases must still be made.

Whenever money leaves the company, accountability for that money is vital, as is confirmation of the expected value received for those funds. Purchase orders should be generated for all purchases. This includes items for specific jobs, materials for inventory, any outside labor services and general office purchases, such as supplies.

Whether written or verbal, issuing purchase orders is the same as writing a check from the company to the vendor. Whether the company makes many purchases or only a few, each purchase represents money leaving the company that should be controlled. A purchasing system should record every purchase order issued. This provides accountability of who is issuing purchase orders and where they are being sent. By making people accountable for the purchase orders they issue, companies will ensure employees are more careful with the purchases they make.

When goods or services are received they should be matched to the original purchase order. This helps ensure the full order has been received and serves to check if more was received than originally ordered. The print and finishing industries are so job-based, it is often a good idea to take a step back and view purchases by vendor and employees issuing POs.

By ensuring employees follow these procedures, companies can tighten their financial control of the business to ensure maximum success.

Job closing routines

Another valuable step in collecting job costing data is to establish a strong job closing routine. When a job is complete, is it simply passed to invoicing so that the customer can be billed based on the estimated amount? If so, a lot of valuable information is probably getting missed. Closing a job in an automated system should generate several useful reports and functions.

Close the job to prevent additional charges

When creating the invoice, the last thing companies want is to have employees still incurring costs against the job. Trying to get a customer to pay additional charges after the original invoice has been sent is, at the very least, embarrassing.

Once the billing process starts, part of the closing procedure should prevent additional time, materials and purchases from being placed against a job without a supervisor OK.

Full listing of all costs incurred

The job closing process should generate a report that lists all labor hours and costs material costs and purchases that went into producing that job. The company should be aware of all funds that went into the job. The closing report should offer the option to view the data by department, cost center, operation or transaction level.

Generally, these reports are viewed at a cost center level. This means there should be a total hours and total dollars report for each machine used on the job. If a cost center looks unusually high or low, drill down to an operation level to see if the cause was the makeready or run time. Identifying the source means being able to evaluate even further to a transaction level to see which employees worked on a job.

Actual vs. estimate report

This report provides a comparison of the estimated hours and costs for all labor, material and purchases for the specific job to the actual costs. This is a valuable report that can quickly identify actual costs that are not in line with the estimated costs. This could prove to be a onetime exception that nothing could prevent, or maybe it is a process that needs to be evaluated. If a machine is estimated to run at 5000 per hour and it is actually running at 4000 per hour, the company is losing money every time it wins a quote. Conversely, if it is running at 5000 per hour and with a quote of 4000 per hour, the company is losing jobs it should be winning.

Changes report

When a job is complete, it should be possible to get a listing of all changes made to the job from the time it was agreed to produce the job to the final product that was shipped to the customer. It is important to track these changes, as they are needed to explain time and cost variances and, also, to help correct legitimate extra charges.

Collecting extra charges can be a great source of additional revenue, and having a complete backup of information about the extra charge – i.e. who, what, where, why and when a change was made – allows for recovering that extra charge without damaging the relationship with that customer.

Problem history

Provide employees with a problem history system they can use to enter problems with jobs as they happen. When closing a job, a list of its problems can be viewed. These problems may help explain some of the variations and issues on that job. This saves the time of office staff to track down employees and ask what happened two or three days ago. Problem history is also valuable when quoting or running the same job in the future.

By following good closing procedures, companies can ensure that all costs are captured, all legitimate extra charges are recovered, all production variances are accounted for and all processes are running as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, by collecting data regarding the shop floor itself, as well as purchasing information, companies maximize their profits while gaining a better understanding of all aspects of the business.

Mark Porter serves as president of Dienamic MIS Software, Inc. He can be contacted at 800.461.8114 or by email at [email protected].