This interview first appeared in the UK edition of the PrintWeek daily trade newsletter just before Drupa 2012 opened in Dusseldorf, Germany.

“I’m more energised and excited than ever”: an interview with Benny Landa
By Jo Francis Wednesday, 02 May 2012

Can Benny Landa do it again? He spearheaded the digital printing revolution in 1993 when he launched his Indigo E-Print 1000, promising “a print run of one”. Now, after selling Indigo to HP in 2001, he has sensationally returned to print with Landa Digital Printing and Nanography – a new method of printing that he believes will be the basis for a second digital revolution.

On the eve of Drupa 2012, PrintWeek’s Jo Francis asks Landa about his fresh ambitions to transform print by creating a new industry standard.

Benny, we spoke with you at Ipex 2010, where you received a Champions in Print award, and it felt very much as though you’d stepped back from your involvement in print. Not in a million years would we have imagined seeing you with a brand new print technology at Drupa 2012. Welcome back – how does it feel?
Fantastic! I’m more energised and more excited than I’ve ever been.

At the time you told us you were working on a new venture in nanotechnology in the field of energy. At what point did it become something that had a print application?
Years ago, at Landa Labs, we needed to develop super small particles for our energy work. Nobody had a way of doing that so we had to develop our own method for producing these tiny nano particles. We had a breakthrough in making them, and I guess, because I’ve spent my whole life in printing, the moment I saw it I thought “Hey, maybe this will work for pigments too”. That’s when suddenly the bell went off and the light bulb lit, and we realised we had the answer for print.

Why are the nano pigments so special?
Many materials dramatically change their properties when you make them as nanomaterials – metals, for example, dramatically drop in their melting temperature. And all sorts of optical properties appear. Organic materials also change their properties and become much more efficient absorbers of light, so you need a lot less pigment if it’s a nano pigment. And almost as important, nano pigments only absorb light, they don’t scatter it, so you get pure colours.

How big are your nano particles?
Our pigments are a few tens of nanometres in size. They are very small and have totally different properties from regular pigments. They are light absorbers on steroids. They really are amazing particles.

You say Nanography uses ‘ink ejectors’ rather than ‘inkjet’. What’s the difference – how does Nanography work?
Basically our process works like this: with inkjet you eject drops directly on to paper. We don’t do that. We use very similar printheads, but they eject droplets on to a heated blanket conveyor belt. We have had to do some special modifications to the printheads to make them work well with our process, but they are very similar to inkjet heads.

So we eject the drops of ink on to the heated blanket, then we dry the ink image completely by driving the water out of the image with hot air. All you have left is the pigment and the polymer. It’s an ultra-thin layer of polymeric film. Then, you just laminate that film on to the paper by pressing it on to the paper. It transfers with 100% efficiency.

You just press it? It doesn’t need any heat or anything else to make it transfer?
That’s right, it’s just using contact. So the image is on the surface of the substrate, but it’s ultra thin. And because when it’s transferred it’s not a liquid, it’s a plastic film, it sticks to the paper. The moment it touches the paper it’s bonded to it and perfectly dry. All the moisture has been driven off before you touch the paper.

It sounds a bit like a temporary tattoo, or a decal. Is it something like that?
Yes, you could liken it to a decal. But because it’s so very thin, it follows the contours of the paper, so it hardly changes the gloss levels, which is what you want. And it sticks tremendously whether it’s paper or any plastic packaging film, including polyethylene. It’s super simple, but the results are unbelievable.

What about the quality?
There is no printing process that produces these kinds of results. None. We talk about print qualities, not print quality because the combination of qualities is so fantastic. The dots have outstanding sharpness, gloss, uniformity and scratch resistance. I mentioned the unusual properties of nano materials and one of them is abrasion resistance. And because of the very high optical density of the pigments we can print high coverage without any issues.

What have been the main technical challenges in developing it? We’ve seen some inkjet presses have problems with issues like ink drying and the requirement for pre-treated stocks. What was your eureka moment?
One was the breakthrough in producing nano pigments. The second was the realisation that we could do this with aqueous inks, which are preferable both from an economic and from an environmental point of view. There’s nothing like nature’s own pure, clean solvent – water.

What do you say to people who find nano- technology quite worrying, in that they fear the particles could go out of control or leach into the environment in unexpected ways?
Nature is full of nanotechnology. We eat it every day, we drink it. The ones that are dangerous either float through the air or are poisonous and can penetrate the skin. Our inks are innocuous. We use food grade materials that are compatible for packaging.

When you launched the Indigo in 1993 you had one model. You’re coming to Drupa with six including B3, B2 and B1 sheetfed models and two web presses. That’s very ambitious. Tell us about the thinking behind this portfolio of products.
You can do a lot when you take years to do it! We designed these different models to cover the key commercial segments.

Are there other print-related areas where your nanotechnology could be relevant? What about other sizes, such as wide-format display printing?
Very-wide-format is not immediately going to go to Nanography because our process requires the blanket. Every technology has its sweet spots and I think inkjet does a great job for outdoor signage and will continue to do that for a long time. Just like xerography has its place and a sweet spot. I think for mainstream commercial packaging and publishing – that’s ours.

What’s your sweet spot on run lengths?
It depends how you define it, by A4 pages or B1 sheets. For B1 sheets it’s in the thousands, which is a fantastic breakthrough in terms of crossover. We’re talking about significant run lengths.

What about using Nanography for coatings and laminating?
We expect that some of our heads will be used for lacquers, special colours and protective coatings.

Could there be a stand-alone coating machine?
Maybe.

Who have you partnered with on the press chassis?
All the web machines, from bottom to top are done in-house. The sheetfed machines, because of the crucial nature of grippers and sheetfeeding, we buy from a vendor.

Who is it?
Komori. They did the engineering and manufacturing, to our design.

Are you manufacturing the NanoInk yourself?
Yes, absolutely. And the blankets. We also ship the NanoInk as a concentrate and it’s then diluted in the press using the customer’s tap water. The machine deals with filtering and de-ionising it. This means a smaller carbon footprint and it reduces cost. The containers collapse to have almost no volume and almost no ink left in them, and you can dispose of them along with plastic beverage bottles. So, environmentally, the new technology is completely innocuous, it’s recyclable – just a totally green product.

What front-end software will be driving the presses? Or is it in-house?
There are two answers to that. The first answer is that we are working with leading front-end companies for front-end capability. We’re not going to develop our own, we develop only those things that we have to develop that you can’t buy elsewhere, and in this case you can buy it.

The entry-level configuration of each of these products doesn’t have a fancy RIP. It behaves like a printing press. Instead of sending plates to the press you send a job.

But I could do variable information if I wanted to?
Yes of course. They are specified to be digital presses in all respects.

How much server power is it going to take to drive one of these presses doing variable data at max speed?
For most of the customers in this market I don’t think that’s where they initially want to go. It’ll be an option they can add. For the most part, high-speed variable information isn’t where the mainstream customers need to be initially.

How do you plan to go to market?
We believe Nanography will become an industry-wide standard. In my experience of this and other industries, no standard became universally accepted when it was offered as a monopoly by one company. Xerox invented xerography, and it was alone for 15 years until Canon, Ricoh and others came into the marketplace. We plan to offer Nanography to a broad range of partners.

We’ve had news of your first licensing deals with Komori and Manroland Sheetfed. Can we expect more?
Yes. You can expect others to be in the market with Nanographic products. We think the important thing is not the competition, the important thing is giving the customers the ability to succeed. And customers like a choice. We have the greatest technology in the world. For it really to become a standard – and to do so quickly – we need to open it up. The fact is, customers today are sitting on their hands. They’re not buying offset presses. They see a decline in print, the emergence of digital media, so they think “I’ll wait and see what happens”. We don’t want them to wait too long, so in our view the best thing is for multiple vendors to offer Nanography. We think this can have a profound impact on the industry. (Ed. During Drupa, Landa announced a partnership with Heidelberg.)

Are you already talking to other potential partners, or is that going to start at Drupa?
We’re already talking to people who are very interested in pursuing this strategy. You might have thought that multiple press vendors wouldn’t want to be in the market if they don’t have sole rights to a product. That was the thinking years ago. That’s not the problem today. Their customers would love to buy from them, but they aren’t buying. And that’s the problem everyone needs to solve: how do I get customers to buy? So I think we have a compelling value proposition and expect others will join us as partners. We plan for this to be embraced pretty broadly. Look at how many companies offer offset printing, or inkjet.

When will the presses be commercially available?
We’ll be placing presses in customers’ premises some time in the latter part of 2013. At Drupa, we’ll be taking letters of intent with deposits. We’ve already been deluged by customers who want the first machines, and this is a way for customers to secure their place and we’ll know who’s really serious. We can’t promise them a specific date, but we will give them preference.

What do you need to work on between now and then?
We want to get rid of the bugs we have, and that’s just a matter of time, say six-to-eight months. Secondly, production engineering and value engineering. And thirdly, testing. We want to put a lot of miles into these machines before we put them into customers’ hands. I learned a few lessons at Indigo and I absolutely don’t want machines in customers’ hands until the customers are prepared and the machines are ready. All that takes time. But I’m patient.

What sort of thing is a bug at the moment?
Defects and flaws. But I’m an expert at flaws! The end-product last time [Indigo] is now the industry standard for high quality output. Quality is something we understand. It’s not an added feature, it’s absolutely essential.

You say Nanography has “unmatched” cost-per-page. Can you give us some details about the pricing model for the equipment, the ink, etc. Will there be a click charge?
It will depend. In our case we will most likely offer equipment and clicks. Customers like to have a choice.

Do you think inkjet – in some form – will become the dominant digital print technology in general?
First of all I think Nanography is different from inkjet. You really can’t squirt water on to paper and expect it to be the solution for commercial print.

Your new presses will be competing with some of the models made by your old company. Does that feel a bit strange?
The market is so vast, and the playing field so huge, I don’t think people will be wringing their hands saying “Oh, do I buy a Landa or do I buy an Indigo?” because we play in totally different parts of the space. Every technology has its sweet spot, and no digital technology has yet been able to enter the sweet spot we’re talking about.

Benny, it’s fair to say you are renowned for the energy and passion you bring to all your ventures. At Drupa you will be hosting the five daily theatre presentations on the Landa stand, which sounds like some feat – where do you get your energy from?
You’re worried about me getting tired with five presentations a day? I jump out of bed every morning. I pinch myself. I have fantastic people around me, committed hard-working, passionate believers trying to do the impossible. And somehow the impossible becomes possible. It’s really fantastic and very exciting. Last time, with Indigo, I wanted to do everything myself. This time, to do this in my lifetime, I want to see it become ubiquitous. I think that’s the best thing for the industry and the best thing
for us.

One exhibitor, Landa Corporation, proved to be the epicentre of the fair, and a constant scene of frenzied interest. The head of Landa Corporation is Benny Landa, an Israeli, who has been described as the Steve Jobs of printing.

In my opinion, it is not unreasonable to say that the technology unveiled at the Landa Corporation’s stand is as significant as Gutenberg’s press, over 500 years ago, the invention of lithographic (offset) printing, and the unveiling of the first digital press (also by Benny Landa), nearly twenty years ago.

In a nutshell, Benny Landa’s Nanographic technology is a new form of digital printing that makes digital competitive with offset for runs up to around 8000 (therefore most print runs). It can print on virtually anything, it can print a wider colour gamut than conventional offset, and it is environmentally friendly. Initial machines are being offered up to B1 in size (1000 x 707mm) as well as B2 (707 x 500mm) and B3 (500 x 353 mm) which overcomes the size limitation which is still an issue for digital printing.

I quote an article explaining Landa’s nanographis technology below. In a separate article, I quote an interview with Benny which proves considerably more detail that the article below, and which I highly recommend.

For now, however, I have one word of warning. I have either been to, or closely followed, Drupa trade shows and the largest English language trade show, IPEX, held in the UK, for 20 years. I have seen many dramatic and usually highly hyped up product announcements. Some have never come to commercial fruition (the A2 Indigo shown in 2000). Others have taken up to four years to come to market (the Xerox iGen shown in 2000). Benny Landa says his presses will be shipping in 2013. I hope so, but I’m not holding my breath. However, we will certainly want to be part of the action when production machines do start shipping.

Here is the article, which is an edited version of a press release issued by the Landa Corporation at Drupa.

LANDA UNVEILS GROUNDBREAKING NANOGRAPHIC PRINTING PROCESS

Rehovot, Israel, 2 April 2012 – Landa Corporation today announced the unveiling of NanographyTM, a new digital printing category.The Landa Nanographic PrintingTM process is a game-changing technology for mainstream commercial, packaging and publishing markets. At drupa 2012, the Company will unveil its new line-up of Nanographic sheetfed and web presses.

Led by the father of digital commercial printing, Benny Landa, who started the digital printing revolution in 1993 with the launch of the iconic Indigo digital press, Landa is now set to ignite the second digital revolution in print. Landa Nanographic Printing Presses offer the versatility of digital with the qualities and speed of offset printing – at unmatched cost-per-page.

“It’s good to be back,” says Benny Landa, Chairman and CEO. “The Landa Nanographic PrintingTM process is the result of ten years of nanotechnology research. It is a true breakthrough that enables our presses to achieve amazing results.”

Landa NanoInkTM

At the heart of the Nanographic Printing process is Landa NanoInkTM. Comprised of pigment particles only tens of nanometres in size (a human hair is about 100,000 nanometres wide), these nano-pigments are extremely powerful absorbers of light and enable unprecedented image qualities. Landa Nanographic Printing is characterized by ultra-sharp dots of extremely high uniformity, high gloss fidelity and the broadest CMYK colour gamut of any printing process.

Nanography – The Printing Process

The Landa Nanographic Printing process creates images of remarkable abrasion and scratch resistance. Most notably, it can print on any off-the-shelf substrate, from coated and uncoated paper stocks to recycled carton; from newsprint to plastic packaging films – all without requiring any kind of pre-treatment or special coating – and no post-drying. Adding to this cost benefit is the fact that Nanographic images are only 500 nanometres thick – about half the thickness of offset images – enabling Landa NanoInkTM to produce the lowest cost-per-page digital images in the industry. All of this from a water-based, energy-efficient and eco-friendly process.

Landa Nanographic Printing Presses

Landa Nanographic Printing Presses employ ink ejectors to create the digital ink images which get applied to the printing stock in a process that can operate at extremely high speeds. Each Landa press, which has an exceptionally small footprint, even when compared to other digital presses, can print in up to eight colours and can operate at 600 dpi or 1200 dpi resolution.

“Nanography is a truly ground-breaking development,” Landa stated. “At drupa, we will be unveiling a complete family of sheetfed and web presses. These include B3, B2 and B1 sheetfed perfecting presses which operate at up to 11,000 sheets per hour for commercial and packaging printing as well as web presses for publishing and flexible packaging that range in width from 52 cm to 104 cm and operate at up to 200 metres per minute. Such performance places Landa Nanographic Printing presses squarely in the heart of mainstream commercial printing. For the first time, commercial printers don’t have to choose between the versatility and short-run economics of digital printing and the low cost-per-page and high productivity of offset printing. Now they can have both.”

The Landa family of six Nanographic Printing presses will be of interest to commercial printers and packaging converters for applications that include general commercial printing, books, magazines, direct mail, labels, folding carton and flexible packaging for food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and more.

And from the Landa web site (http://www.landanano.com)

A short evolution of Nanography™

The worldwide digital explosion
We are surrounded by offset-printed goods that generate over $800 billion in annual revenue. But society is changing at computer speeds. Digital media is rapidly replacing many traditionally-printed products. What does this mean for the future of printing?

When it comes to digital, printing is no exception
Benny Landa’s visionary statement, “Everything that can become digital will become digital. Printing is no exception.”, has proven prophetic. There has been an explosion of digital printing devices of every kind. And digital printing has certainly experienced explosive growth, going from zero when Landa first introduced it in 1993, to a multi-billion dollar industry today.

But can digital printing go mainstream?
For the most part digital printing has only nibbled around the edges of mainstream printing. In order to really become mainstream, digital printing must be competitive with offset in terms of quality, speed and cost ‒ not to mention format size and the ability to print on virtually any kind of ordinary untreated paper.

Nanography™. Digital for mainstream.
Landa has developed a new category of digital printing: Nanography™. It combines quality, speed and cost with formats and paper types. It offers a winning formula that will transform printing into a fully digital industry.

The second digital printing revolution is underway!
Nanography™ has already gained wide recognition with industry leaders Komori, manroland sheetfed and Heidelberg on board. The second digital printing revolution has begun.

Given the financial doom and gloom emanating from Europe, it was always going to be interesting to see how well attended Drupa was, and whether the feeling there was positive or negative.

Numbers were down from 390,000 to 320,000, however it appears that the feeling was overwhelmingly positive, as the following report makes abundantly clear.

A colleague of mine attended Drupa this year and has returned with an interesting take on it. He says that printing is very much alive and well in Europe and in the USA, which he says is in stark contrast to Australia, where the printing industry is in the doldrums and is anything but healthy or positive. He thinks the situation in Australia is at least in part being driven by trade associations whose reports on the health of the industry and invariably negative. I certainly endorse that sentiment.

As far as we are concerned at KainosPrint, this take on Drupa is good news, as we have a number of initiatives in the pipeline which assume that printing is alive and well, and is not going away any time soon.

Undoubtably the highlight of Drupa was the launch of Benny Landa’s Nanographic presses. I will post a separate blog on this later today. Suffice to say that Benny Landa, an Israeli, who launched the first digital press at the IPEX trade fair (largest English speaking fair, held every four years in the UK) in 1993 appears very much to have done it again. In 1993 he launched the Indigo digital press. He sold Indigo to Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2002, and the HP Indigo now commands a significant share of the digital printing market.

Here is the report, which first appeared in the UK PrintWeek daily newsletter, 16/5/12

A feeling of renewal was apparent as Drupa 2012 drew to a close, with some viewing it as the “evolution Drupa” where digital printing became mainstream.

Despite visitor numbers contracting by 18% since 2008 – the expected total will be down from 390,000 to 320,000 when the show closes today – manufacturers and suppliers said the quality of customers had increased dramatically with decision makers arriving ready to do business.

Landa, which created a sensation at the show with the launch of its nano printing technology, took deposits for ‘hundreds’ of Nanographic presses, with the S10 B1-format model notching up the most orders according to founder and chairman Benny Landa. He said: “I’m on such a high, the show has been so fantastic for us.

“One of our objectives was to try and jump-start the industry, by coming here with a more optimistic and positive outlook. I imagined we would have a big impact, but what amazed me most has been the customers’ response. It’s been amazingly positive, both to our message and our technology.”

Digital press sales were also booming elsewhere. HP doubled its sales target for the new B2 HP Indigo 10000 and reported “huge” sales of the new HP Indigo 5600 and HP Indigo 7600 as well as successes with its Inkjet Web Press Series and labels and packaging presses.

Francois Martin, worldwide marketing director, HP Graphic Solutions Business said: “As such, drupa 2012 proved itself this year to be a show for all print markets where visitors come to do business around commercially available solutions. “

Elsewhere, KBA told the drupa report daily it had signed orders totalling “three-digit million Euros”.

The company also reported a 4% increase in group sales for the first quarter following an 8% increase in sheetfed orders with more being signed during the show as well as web press orders from Germany and France.

Finishing equipment supplier Duplo reported more good news raking in €3m (£2.4m) during the show, €1m above expectations, while it made 2,200 leads across 109 countries.

And Canon, too, notched up strong figures with 270 production printer sales across the Canon and Océ range and over 10,000 new leads. Echoing the feeling of many at this year’s show, professional print director David Preskett called drupa 2012 “a real success.”

Drupa 2012 president, and Heidelberg chairman and chief executive Bernhard Schreier said the show had “breathed new life into the sector”.

“Here in Dusseldorf, business transactions have been agreed and the groundwork has been laid for the industry’s successful future,” he stated.

I read the following short article a few days ago.

The technology used to drive digital presses has, in the past, made for some limitations in graphic design. Some presses (especially older presses) have tighter registration than others, for example, which could be a challenge if you need to match hairlines across the fold. Digital presses have also been notorious for having difficulty with large areas of solid color and with vignettes and other subtle gradations.

With the newer generations of presses, however, this is far less of an issue that it used to be. In fact, there are many who would argue that these issues no longer exist. Newer presses have largely overcome traditional design limitations, and especially in publishing, the issues of registration and halftones have been remedied. Still, every press is different, and even if your digital printer is working with an older machine, its prepress and design staff can often help you overcome these challenges with workarounds.

Thus, as with print quality, these and other design limitations are really a non-issue in most cases. If you have settled on digital output for your next print job, talk to your service provider about any accommodation your designer might need to make, if any.

I can think of really only three limitations imposed by digital printing. The first is quantity. Digital printing is competitive up to around 1000 copies of a printed piece — and that could be a simple flyer, up to a multi-page book or booklet. The exact cut-off point varies, but we have found that digital printing is almost always the most competitive option up to 750 copies, and often the most competitive up to 1000 copies.

A second limitation is sheet size. Sheet fed digital presses are all limited to oversized A3, or slightly bigger (in the case of the Xerox iGen and Kodak NexPress). There are no A2 or A1 sheet fed digital presses, although that situation may change at the forthcoming Drupa in Germany (May 2012) — bear in mind, however, that such ‘announcements’ can take up to five years to become reality for the printer who wants to purchase the new machine.

The third limitation is paper weight. Digital presses struggle to print anything over around 350gsm. Offset presses as a rule can print heavier weights.

So, bearing in mind that three caveats above, our opinion is that there is no longer any reason to shy away from digital printing.

IN A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY, APRIL 1, Heidelberg has revealed that it will be supplying a new range of presses with space under the delivery to house a dog. It is the fulfilment of the prediction that one day a printing press would become so automated that only one man a dog would be needed to operate it. The man to feed the dog and the dog to stop the man touching the controls.

“With the Hundehutte press that day has arrived,” says a spokesman for the company. “The press will be available in all formats and as a result so will the dog that goes with the press.” The VLF presses will come with a large mastiff type breed, the B3 machines with pekinese dogs. Buyers of mid sized presses can choose between labradors, German shepherds and dalmatians. It is likely that the different countries will elect to have their own dogs the spokesman adds.

HEIDELBERG HAS TRAINED ITS ENGINEERS TO care for the dogs as well as for the machines themselves, something which has caused some problems and some engineers have needed to be treated in the medical facilities at the Wiesloch factory. A dedicated kennels facility has been created in a hall once used to machine parts.

In operation press minders will be expected to feed and exercise the animals that come with each press. This is timed to happen at make ready, the time when an operator would be most tempted to fiddle with the machine. As the pallet is removed from one job, the minder will take up the lead and walk his hound, returning to find that the press is up and running again, in colour and in fit. Thus there is no need for the operator to touch the press.

THERE HAVE BEEN BETA SITES TESTING THE dog technology and reports coming back have praised the quality of the printing and the press, but there have been some problems with the dogs. “Our dog came and was obedient to the engineer from the factory,” says one French beta user, “but our operator could not get the dog to do as it should. Fortunately the hospital says he will eventually make a full recovery and that the scarring is not severe. We discovered that the dogs came only with German instructions, and nobody here speaks Geman.”

As a result Heidelberg is considering the implementation of a local training programme so that dogs understand instructions from their users. While this will be fine, it will present problems when the press is sold on the secondhand market and the dog accompanies the press to a different country. It may be easier to train printers to give commands to their dogs in German.

HEIDELBERG EXPECTS TO ROLL OUT THE PROGRAM in almost every corner of the globe, with the exception of Korea where initial testing resulted in the belief that the dog was a gift for a celebratory banquet.

Heidelberg’s rivals are keeping a close eye on developments and should the HH presses prove popular will have to follow suite. KBA has refused to confirm reports that it is advertising for dog handlers in the Dresden area while Roland is promising to declare its plans at Drupa.

Recently filed figures reveal that Kodak’s results for 2011 were awash with red ink. US sales at its consumer business halved to US$864 million ($825 million), and were down 36% overall worldwide at $1.7bn.

The previously profitable division went into reverse by more than half a billion dollars, moving from a $278 million profit in 2010 to a $349 million loss in 2011. Kodak said this was “largely due to the decrease in revenue from the non-recurring intellectual property agreements” as well as price competition in consumer markets.

Last summer the group said it would sell off a raft of its digital imaging patents, a process that stalled in the run-up to Chapter 11 due to legal technicalities, including ongoing patent infringement claims against Apple and RIM.

Losses at Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group doubled to $191 million, on sales that nudged up 2% to $2.7 billion. Gross profits fell 19%, which Kodak blamed on industry price competition. It put increased costs at its digital printing business down to “continuing start-up costs associated with the stabilization of the Prosper printing systems”.

The only part of Kodak to post a profit was its Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group, where profits fell by 63% to $34 million, on sales down 12% at $1.5 billion.

Kodak’s bottom-line loss for 2011, including a $133m restructuring charge, was $764 million, with sales down 16% at $6 billion.

Earlier this month a meeting of Kodak creditors was held in New York. Court filings reveal that Kodak’s general unsecured creditors are owed many millions of dollars.
A host of graphic arts-related suppliers are among those waiting to find out if they have any hope of recovering the monies owed.

Printing equipment and services suppliers are among those listed, including District Photo, which lays claim to being the world’s largest producer of direct-to-consumer photo products, and is the parent group of Harrier LLC. It is owed $1.5 million.

Online print services specialist Mimeo.com also has an outstanding bill of $795,076.

Some of Kodak’s creditors – including Mimeo.com, which runs Nexpresses – are in the unusual position of being a creditor, an ongoing supplier, and a customer of the embattled imaging giant.

Under the Chapter 11 process, Kodak is able to pay for goods and services ordered subsequent to its bankruptcy filing in January. And some creditors have been able to make so-called reclamation claims relating to items supplied in the days immediately prior to the filing.

Kodak had floated plans to create a two-tier system of creditors to avoid problems with its critical suppliers, but this process has been shelved.

Lawrence Gamblin, president at Collins Ink, believes unsecured creditors have little chance of being repaid no matter what the outcome is of Kodak’s Chapter 11 process. Collins is owed $1.9m.

“The situation with Kodak will only work out positively for creditors if Kodak somehow manages to sell the patent portfolio they put on the market for a large number. Otherwise there are too many people in line ahead of unsecured creditors like Collins,” he said. “Even if Kodak realizes an enormous windfall from the patent sale, it is hard to see Kodak going back and repaying unsecured creditors.”

Kodak has yet to file its reorganisation plan, which will include information about the likelihood of trade creditors being paid or not.

Some of the largest amounts are owed to suppliers that are part of Kodak’s global sourcing operation. Chinese electronics manufacturer Nanjing Wanlida, which includes digital photo frames in its product offering, is owed $3.7 million.

In the UK, aluminium strip manufacturer Bridgnorth Aluminium has an outstanding debt of $47,243, while graphic arts chemicals producer Varichem is owed $58,620.

Also listed among the unsecured foreign creditors is Switzerland’s Matti Technology, which specialises in high-speed inkjet printing systems. It is owed CHF35,000 ($36,835).

Managing director Dieter Woschitz told PrintWeek: “Our bill is for a lot of small parts – things like lamps and switches. We have not written it off, but we don’t know how we can get it back.”

The enormous costs being incurred because of Kodak’s bankruptcy became even clearer this week, when the first wave of bills relating to legal and financing costs during the January 19-February 29 period were filed. Banker Lazards Frères has sent in a bill for $7 million; lawyers Sullivan & Cromwell has claimed for $5.4m of work done; Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor has billed $692,000; while fees at Linklaters for the same period were $323,292 and at Groom Law Group were $31,616.

This article originally appeared at printweek.com

The transactional print and communications giants have launched their first-ever joint venture by joining with US developer Zumbox to createDigital Post Australia (DPA), a “communication delivery service that will provide a free, secure online digital postbox for every Australian”.

Computershare and Salmat each have a 40% stake in the venture, with 20% held by Zumbox. Computershare Communication Services managing director David Hynes has taken the role of DPA chairman.

DPA has been in discussions with the top 30 mailers over the past six months to get them onboard before the service launches to consumers in the second half of the year.

The idea is that the first time a consumer opens up his or her digital postbox, it will already be filled with PDF versions of essential mail, such as bank statements and bills.

Salmat and Computershare will be able to lean on their close relationships with the major mailers. Salmat already controls 60% of the business-to-consumer mail in Australia.

Hynes stressed that DPA would be complementary to printed mail. “The need to deliver physical items isn’t going away anytime soon, but the need to deliver transactional communications online through a secure channel has evolved – and Digital Post Australia is bringing this to the market.”

A Salmat spokesperson told ProPrint: “We see this as a clear extension of our multichannel communications strategy and complementary to existing mail services.

“In the longer term, that might change if there is huge adoption but this is essentially Salmat ensuring we are ahead of the curve. There is no point putting your head in the sand.”

Salmat and Computershare each have an enormous stake in printed mail. Both made multimillion-dollar investments in equivalent high-volume printing lines in 2010, Salmat with Océ Jetstreams and Computershare with InfoPrint 5000s.

The decision to go with Zumbox came through Computershare Communication Services USA’s relationship with the software developer.

Zumbox is already active in this region following a deal with New Zealand Post in April 2011.

Hynes said: “Zumbox is a technology platform that has been tried and tested in other markets. Zumbox is a provider whose core technology is already up and successfully running in the USA.”

Zumbox chief executive John Payne said: “This is Zumbox’s second engagement outside of the US and we are excited to be advancing international markets’ push toward digital postal mail.”

The DPA website makes it clear that the project “is not an Australia Post business”, and the move into electronic mailboxes seems to have stolen a march on the country’s postal service.

However, Australia Post has been quick to respond to the news, with a spokesperson telling The Daily Telegraph it will launch its own digital post service “within a few weeks”.

Talk of a digital postal service for Australia started in August last year, when shadow communication minister Malcolm Turnbull told the National Digital Inclusion Summit of the Opposition’s plans to launch an electronic “pigeonhole” for every citizen if the party is returned to power at the next election.

“Government could save hundreds of millions – if not over time, billions – of dollars by saying to any Australian who wanted it: we will give you a lifetime address, a lifetime pigeonhole,” said Turnbull.

This article first appeared in ProPrint Daily Newsletter, 20th March 2012

“Do you know which stock is the top performer of the past 25 years (in the USA)? Guess again. (You said Apple, didn’t you?) After you’ve exhausted your list of high-tech guesses, I will point you in the opposite direction. Think nuts and bolts. Fastenal, a hardware supplier founded in 1967, is up a staggering 38,565 percent since the market crash of 1987. Lagging far behind at 9,906% and 5,542% respectively, are Microsoft and Apple.

“So why, in The Digital Nirvana, am I talking about a hardware company? Like the printing companies and mailers of all sizes striving to become “marketing services providers”, Fastenal’s products are not in the least bit exciting, but are necessary, just as printing and mailing are still important components of marketing communications strategies. Unlike many of those printers and mailers, Fastenal, with its low-tech products, is consistently growing revenue and is consistently, respectably, profitable – the stock market does not respond with such enthusiasm to “just okay” companies.

“For printers and mailers challenged to transition to being marketing services providers, presumably requiring less big hardware, (and square footage), and more robust software technology and new skills, here is a very successful company to examine and compare to.

“If you are unfamiliar with Fastenal, as I was, much of what we believe we know about successful businesses today would compel us to make some assumptions. Surely it is internet-based with strategically placed warehouses and sophisticated inventory and distribution management software and systems, right? The reality is the opposite, at least the “internet-based” part; we’re talking serious brick and mortar – stores in all 50 states and internationally, and several manufacturing sites around the country. The company focuses on the customer, and being close to them. Its innovations, quality, and process improvement efforts are customer-centric. It has enjoyed consistent revenue and profit growth and is as efficient as it’s ever been. The robust continuous improvement culture even includes providing process mapping and process improvement support to customers, as well as being a key part of internal operations.

“So, do printers and mailers have to completely abandon their roots in favor of new marketing communication channels in order to be relevant in this age of declining paper-based communications? It would seem not – nuts and bolts are not sexy. But this example would suggest that there must be a continuous commitment to understanding what the customer needs, a vision of solutions to meet those needs, investment in appropriate technology, and a structured ongoing process improvement effort to achieve the necessary efficiencies to be cost competitive and profitable over the long haul.

“There are certainly no big surprises here, but it’s good to be reminded that there is no silver bullet, and a successful company is the sum of many parts. Being a process person myself, I was very happy to see how important and integral process improvement appears to be for this company. Process improvement drives efficiency, eliminates waste, streamlines operations, and supports effective integration of new systems and technology, resulting in lower costs. It can be an integral component of greater success for the companies that embrace and commit to it.”

Forewarned is forearmed. Once you’ve gone through this list of strategic errors, you’ll know what not to do when working on print projects with folds.

Make the following mistakes and you’ll cost yourself time, money, maybe even a client. Here’s the good news: The errors are easy to avoid.

Have you ever designed a gatefold and been terribly disappointed when you got the finished product back because the gap between the fold-in panels was huge? If what comes back is a surprise, it’s usually because you gave up control. Maybe you didn’t shorten your fold-in panels in the digital document and you casually asked the printer to trim them for you, or you didn’t communicate how important a tight gap was; the point is, you let someone else decide for you, and it was a disappointment.

Cost: the respect of your printer and a quality portfolio piece.

Lesson learned: take control of your projects. Set up your file correctly or have a discussion with your printer, rather than leaving important decisions up to interpretation.

You were pretty sure that, after feeling the page of a paper swatchbook, you had found the right sheet for your project. When the finished product delivered, it was floppy and lacked presence. Everyone in the office commented on how nice the design was but questioned the paper choice.

Cost: a frustrated client or boss, and the value of a first impression.

Lesson learned: Folding and paper go hand in hand. Choose the wrong stock and a great folded piece can look cheap and flimsy, or distractingly bulky and heavy. Don’t take a guess at an important decision. Ask your printer or paper representative for a folding dummy in the weights you’re considering.

You had a special project, maybe a cool specialty fold with a custom envelope, and you sent it to your neighborhood printer, who ultimately had to outsource part of the production, or who had to do the finishing work by hand. Since your quantity was large, the per-piece cost ended up being very high. The end result was nice, but you feel like you paid too much.

Cost: extra money, potential reduction in quality and efficiency.

Lesson learned: For certain projects, it can pay to search for a specialty printer or bindery. “Extreme” printers and binderies love a challenge and may have additional resources, production tricks, technologies, techniques, and design services that can take your project to the next level. They also might be able to automate a process that would have been hand-folded in most mainstream print shops. I don’t recommend shopping around every project—I believe in loyalty and relationship-building—but it’s nice to know where you can go when you need specialized services.

Trying a new or specialty fold can be intimidating. Maybe it didn’t seem worth the effort, or maybe you didn’t have the time to figure it out, or maybe you thought you’d mess it up. But you talked yourself out of it and went back to your comfort zone.

Cost: a delighted client, a great portfolio piece, and a valuable learning experience.

Lesson learned: Next time, challenge yourself to take on something new. If you don’t know where to start, ask your printer for help with file setup.

At the start of a project, it always seems like there’ll be enough time later to deal with the details of exact fold placement and format. It’s much more fun to dive into the concept work instead. But time always gets tight at the end, and suddenly the printer is waiting for the file and you’re scrambling to measure and make adjustments and critical details are overlooked.

Cost: stress, plus the expense of production edits or revised proofs.

Lesson learned: Next time, think finishing at the beginning. Take the time to nail the production details first so you can relax and focus the rest of the time on design.

You had an idea for a cool die cut on the front cover of your brochure, but you figured you didn’t have the money because you were already pushing the budget with scoring. What you didn’t realize was that your printer could have scored and cut in the same letterpress die, or that they were using an economical rotary score on the folder and you actually could have afforded your die-cut.

Cost: missed opportunities.

Lesson learned: It never hurts to ask. Maybe you have a project coming up and you want to do something unique on a tight budget. Ask your printer if they have any interesting dies in storage that you could look through. You might be able to cut the cost of making the die by finding a used one.

Your printer suggested scoring and you gambled to save a few bucks. The result was a poor-quality product.

Cost: regret.

Lesson learned: We score for many reasons—for 170gsm text weight and above, for folds against the grain, for folds through areas of heavy ink coverage, for critical fold placement, and for jobs that require hand folding. Next time, listen to your printer. If they’re recommending scoring, it’s for a reason. There are many economical ways to score these days, so ask your printer to explain your options.

It didn’t seem to matter what size the folded self-mailer was as long as it was within min/max Letter Mail sizing constraints. The surprise was when you were told that the piece missed aspect ratio by 5mm and would require an extra 20¢ per piece surcharge for nonmachinability.

Cost: unnecessarily high postal costs, paper waste, poor aesthetics, or even (gasp!) a reprint.

Lesson learned: The size of a printed project can make the difference between paying steep postal surcharges for direct mail, getting an extra piece up on a sheet, or fitting a standard envelope or holder. Depending upon what you’re doing with the piece—mailing it, putting it into a literature rack, or an envelope—the size is an important decision. When in doubt, ask a project manager, postal representative, or printer for help in choosing the right format for your project.

Printer’s proofs are always hand-folded. Often designers look at the proof and assume the printer knows that the color break is supposed to be exactly at the fold, or that when the “real” job prints, the fold-in panels will trim tighter. They make an assumption and sign off on the proof. Then inevitably there’s confusion and disappointment when the job delivers.

Cost: an imperfect product, a frustrated client.

Lesson learned: Always take the proof for exactly what it is, note any issues for the printer, and be very clear about folding intent.

This mistake is number one because it’s so common and unnecessary. Sometimes you have a great idea and you work on it and sell it to your team and your client, and you wait to talk it through with your printer until it’s time to think about printing the piece. What’s the big deal about a 10-panel accordion, right? It’s just an accordion fold—nothing fancy. What you didn’t realize was that an accordion with more than 6 parallel folds will likely require hand folding to finish. That, and the fact that you have to jump to a larger press sheet, will bust your budget. Nobody wants to crawl back to the client to ask for more money, or to tell them that the solution they love is out of reach.

Cost: angry client, disappointment, time spent on an alternative solution.

Lesson learned: Talk to your printer early and often. In many cases, they can help you get whet you want, and offer production tips to improve the quality of the product. Think of the printer as an extension of your team—that’s the best money-saving tip I can offer.