Screen's Tim Taylor Explains Screen's New Print-On-Demand Strategy
Company refocuses business on inkjet technologies for the future
By Cary Sherburne
January 30, 2008 -- In mid-January, about 150 journalists from around the world gathered in Düsseldorf, Germany, to hear from suppliers to the industry about their drupa 2008 plans. One of the more interesting announcements was Screen's repositioning of its graphic arts business to focus on the print on demand market. Following this announcement, I had the opportunity to speak with Tim Taylor, Screen's European Marketing Manager, who shared a little more detail on the company's POD strategy.
WTT: Today, CTP represents some 90% of Screen's graphic arts revenue, and I understand your forecast is to grow the print on demand business to more than a third of your business by 2011. What are the technologies you include in this print-on-demand business model?
Tim Taylor: We are primarily looking to inkjet as the technology of the future, and that includes products like our TruePress Jet 520, the TruePress Jet 2500 UV which we announced at FESPA and will release commercially at drupa, the Truepress Jet 650 UV for the industrial market and of course, the TruePress 344 digital offset press.
WTT: Do you have any plans to include toner-based engines in the mix?
TT: We currently have no plans or development projects underway with toner. We firmly believe inkjet is the way forward. There is a huge diversity of things you can do with inkjet, with lots of different inks and lots of development going on with inks. We will be focusing on water based and UV inks moving forward, not solvent.
WTT: Let's start with the TruePress 344 digital offset press. During the pre-drupa presentation, you indicated that your plan—and your actual performance—with respect to this product is in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 units per year. This seems fairly small. Can you comment?
TT: People that have these presses love them, and we don't want to give up the product line. And with the revenue stream for consumables, it is a reasonable income for us. I think one of the issues for us has been the fact that we don't have a dedicated sales force for the product in many parts of the world. In the UK, we have a couple of reps that are focused on the product, and that has accounted for our success there. In the U.S., we will be using the Hamada channel, and that may change the picture somewhat in North America.
WTT: Where will your focus be on inkjet?
TT: We see the biggest growth in the short term in the paper-based products, the TruePress Jet 520 and subsequent developments that might come along for that product. There are a huge range of things you can do with the core technology in that area, and that is our home. People who buy CTP are printing on paper, and that will continue to be a core business for us.
WTT: The TruePress Jet 2500 UV is a new product in a somewhat crowded market. Will we be seeing that at drupa?
TT: Yes. The sales launch will be at drupa. The market is crowded, but there is a market at the upper end that we can serve. We do believe that with our gray scale heads, we produce better results than the competition. We are not talking about selling hundreds of machines; we are targeting 90 in the first year, with our fiscal year going March to March. There are enough people who have expressed interest in a higher quality product to buy the product in those volumes.
WTT: The TruePress Jet 2500 UV can be operated at a range of resolutions, up to 1500 dpi. How does the change in resolution affect the print speed?
TT: This range makes the product very flexible. A shop may produce the majority of its work at a mid-range quality at around 40 square meters per hour (430 square feet), but they do have the option to produce photo quality work at about 20 square meters per hour (215 square feet) at 1500 dpi. The ability to rapidly convert from production of roll-fed stock to rigid materials is also important, and expands the number of substrates customers can image from a single footprint.
WTT: With Fujifilm being the exclusive distributor of the Inca line, what will your distribution channel look like for the TruePress Jet 2500 UV?
TT: This will vary from country to country and there are not definitive plans in every country at this stage. However, in many areas our existing dealer channels already sell wide format products and the TPJ2500UV will complement their existing offering.
WTT: How is the TruePress Jet 520 doing in the market?
TT: It is still very early days for us and our partner, Infoprint Systems Company, with this product. Screen only has a single installation in Europe. We wanted to get that in and be comfortable with the training, installation, operational and maintenance processes. With the level of comfort this successful installation brings, we can make a more aggressive market push.
WTT: How are you and Infoprint Systems Company allocating the market in terms of coverage?
TT: There is no formal arrangement about who will sell it where. We will compete with each other in some cases. Although we will try to avoid that, there will be situations where we are both bidding for the same business. There will be a sliding scale from those that want to add an image to transaction documents to those that want to produce more graphically rich documents.
WTT: Other than the AFP controller, can you comment on other expected enhancements?
TT: While I cannot speak specifically about planned enhancements, part of what attracts us to inkjet technology is its scalability in both directions. In addition to the graphic arts market we also expect inkjet to have applications in other areas, such as flat panel displays and the industrial market.
WTT: With CTP still such a large percentage of your business today, how rapidly do you expect that to erode?
TT: We still expect CTP to hold up pretty well over the next three to five years. The predictions to date have been ludicrously off in terms of accuracy. The projections from three to four years ago would say that we wouldn't be selling anything now, but we are—at the rate of about 2,000 units per year. We think perhaps next year we will sell more units than any other year in the past. While Western Europe and North America may be a bit saturated, there is a huge market in China and other emerging economies that offers big opportunities.
Cary can be reached via email at cary@sherburneassociates.com, online at www.sherburneassociates.com and by telephone at 603-430-5463.
Prior to launching her consulting practice, Ms. Cary Sherburne was the Vice President of Marketing Communications and Outsourcing Solutions at IKON Office Solutions. In that capacity, she developed and implemented a branding campaign to build brand awareness for IKON in the marketplace as well as enhance employee pride in the organization, and was responsible for all internal and external communications, including trade shows and events, corporate newsletters, and industry and press relations. In the outsourcing role, she set strategic objectives and priorities for IKON's product and services portfolio in its Outsourcing businesses, including development of programs and sales support materials for that environment.
Sherburne was a Director at CAP Ventures, an internationally known firm specializing in market research and strategic consulting for the digital document and print on demand industry, before joining IKON, where she launched and managed the company's Document Outsourcing Consulting Service.
Her tenure in the printing and publishing industry has also included sales and marketing positions at Xerox Corporation, Indigo America and Bitstream. She is a frequent speaker at industry events and a recognized author.
WTT Full Disclosure Statement: Cary works with numerous companies within the industry and may have ongoing projects with companies named in her articles. These companies play no role in the direction of her articles. The views expressed by our contributing writers are their own and may not reflect those of WhatTheyThink.com. WhatTheyThink.com may have formal business dealings with companies named in Premium Access articles. However, these relationships play no role in the editorial content at this site. See our complete editorial policy by clicking here.
