Monthly Archives: November 2009

Signage frownage

By , Monday, 30 November 2009, Be the first to comment

I’ve just returned from this year’s foray to the hot punsch and sausage fest that is Vienna in the Christmas season. Regular readers may recall that after a similar jaunt last year I returned greatly excited by the Viennese decorated toilet scene.

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Credit, but only where it is due

By , Thursday, 26 November 2009, 2 Comments

Late payment. Annoying and destructive, but
seemingly an inevitable part of business life, and a problem that has only
become more acute during the recession.

This revealing Telegraph article about the last
days of Woolworths, which is worth a read if you have a spare five minutes,
contains a fascinating snippet about the retailer’s wholesale arm,
Entertainment UK. Apparently this business paid its suppliers in 30 days, while
waiting 60 days to be paid itself. The inevitable result being a cashflow black
hole. I realise this isn’t a late payment problem per se, as it seems they
chose to operate in that way, but it did put me in mind of some recent conversations
on the topic.

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Print pick-me-up

By , Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 3 Comments

Yesterday I was presented with an
array of interesting print samples and this caused me to have a flashback to
the ECMOD show for cataloguers and e-businesses, which took place last month.

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Christmas is coming, time to print a list

By , Monday, 23 November 2009, 1 Comment

A mere 32 shopping days until Christmas, or more accurately 31.5 at the time of writing.

Time, then, for the discerning gift-giver to consider a veritable cornucopia of print-based seasonal delights while there’s still plenty of time to order. And thanks to some Twitter-based interactions I have also garnered some suggestions to add to my own list, so here goes.

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Tender angst

By , Friday, 20 November 2009, Be the first to comment

Another week has gone by, and still no news about the outcome of the IPC print tender.

Perhaps yesterday’s announcement from the publisher about structural changes to its organisation goes some way to explaining the delay, as the Ignite division, which was part of the print review along with a host of Southbank titles, will cease to exist as a result.

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Sweet dreams and supposition

By , Thursday, 19 November 2009, Be the first to comment

There’s nothing like a personnel merry-go-round to
get people talking. As such, I’ve lost count of the number of calls and messages received about a hot topic of current supposition, that being “is it true that Charles Jarrold is going to join BGP?”.

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Customer service conundrum

By , Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 2 Comments

Interesting chat with a (relatively) happy print boss this morning.

He imparted a snippet about winning back some work previously lost on price to a print management type of operation. The customer returned for two reasons: one, the excellent customer service offered by Printer A, compared to Print Manager B, which of course the client only really fully appreciated in its absence.  Two, the customer also realised that they were losing out by not having a direct relationship and rapport with their print supplier, especially as printed materials are a key driver of sales for the customer’s own business.

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Océ’s openness has paid off

By , Monday, 16 November 2009, 1 Comment

Earlier this year I was
lucky enough to visit Japan as part of Océ’s celebrations to mark its 75th
anniversary of trading in that country. It was fascinating to hear how much
effort the company had gone to in establishing its business there, and in
adapting some of its processes and products in order to successfully meet the exacting
requirements of its Japanese customers and distribution partners. For example,
in Japan
if goods arrive at a customer with damaged packaging the consignment will be
rejected, even if the goods themselves are undamaged. And when an engineer
turns up, he or she had better be able to fix whatever fault is causing a
problem.

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Future of print is fun and funky

By , Thursday, 12 November 2009, 2 Comments

Following up on the ongoing “future of
print” debate (which at least has merit in generating lots of column inches…),
I came across something yesterday that seemed to be the perfect example of
harmonious pixel and print interaction.

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What shape the printing press manufacturer of the future?

By , Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 1 Comment

Oh for a time machine. If it were possible to travel forward in time to the next drupa, in 2012, I wonder what we would find?

The future is a closed book, but what’s written large in the latest results from Heidelberg is that life will never be the same again for our press manufacturers.

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