ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: 'Get rid of your offset presses'

May 1, 2001 12:00 PM, Katherine O'Brien, editor

One of the liveliest discussions at the recent VUE/POINT conference in Arlington, VA, was the "Creating a Digital Print Arsenal" session.

Moderator Ira Gold, president of Gold Associates (Rockaway, NJ), presided over a panel that included digital print veterans Steve Bearden, Jim Carroll, Mike Chiricuzio and Brian Weiner.

When asked if their customers cared what technology was used for printing a job, the majority said "no."

"Our customers don't care," said Steve Bearden, president of Linemark Printing (Largo, MD), a $9 million, 47-employee operation. "It could be done on an Indigo or DI, as long as it meets their turnaround and quality expectations."

Linemark's digital print arsenal includes two Heidelberg Digimaster 9110s, an Indigo Turbostream and a Quickmaster DI. It also has a QM-46 and Speedmaster 74.

Jim Carroll, executive vice president of Rastar Digital (Salt Lake City, UT), described his customer base as savvy--aware of available digital print solutions and the rationalization for using each.

Rastar Digital, specializes prepress services, has two Xeikons, an Indigo Turbostream and a 74 Karat digital offset press. The $9 million company has 80 employees.

Most of the group are doing some variable-data jobs, with the exception of Noalart (Marlborough, MA), a $4 million, all-digital shop with Xerox and Xeikon systems.

"We're fully enabled to do variable data, but we don't," said Brian Weiner, president. "There's more money with our current, on-demand, high-service work... Clients are reluctant [to pay for variable]."

Carroll, on the other hand, reported that 90 percent of work done on his company's Xeikon and Indigo presses is fully variable. "But we've never had anyone call us to request a bid on a variable-data project. We've had to call them."

Rastar Digital has a variable-data edge--it owns a data mining company.

Mike Chiricuzio, president, OneSource Digital Printing (Phoenix), said his company constantly markets its variable data capabilities, which account for 10 to 12 percent of its work. The company also uses its direct-imaging (DI) press and Indigo for hybrid jobs. One Source is a $3 million, 17-employee company.

WHAT ABOUT DIGITAL PRINT PROFITS?

"It's staggeringly profitable," claimed Weiner. While traditional offset printers may realize three percent to five percent profits, Weiner said a 30 percent profit is realistic for digital printers. "We only take jobs we can make money on--we pass on sophisticated jobs," he explained. Weiner described his customers as having an "I-want-it-now" mentality, as well as willingness to pay for fast turnaround.

Later, a commercial printer asked for advice on implementing digital printing.

Chiricuzio suggested setting up a separate digital division to "lose the baggage" of some conventional print practices--for example, taking two days to write up a job.

"Traditional salespeople are used to selling at a traditional price point," cautioned Weiner. Base compensation on new business and customer retention levels rather than gross sales, he advised.

"Get rid of your conventional presses," submitted Carroll. "We're beating conventional printers on turnaround time and solving customer problems with customer service."

Bearden warned against favoring "the old way," noting that it might be tempting to give priority to long-run jobs, such as annual reports, rather than digital short-run jobs.

Asked where the digital print newcomer should start, Weiner said: "You need to start. I can't tell you the exact system. But the longer you wait, the harder it gets."