Fourth Paper Increase in 9 months

Date Added: 15:48 PM, 02 September 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

Those greedy paper suppliers are up to no good again. Amazingly they have announced that another raft of increases are to be implemented during September.

The pathetic reasons of old (see my blog on April's increase here) are still in abundance. Currency fluctuations (despite the currency working in their favour) and increased operarting costs (despite huge reduction in power bills) are still being given a s reasons for increases. However we are now seeing new reasons for the increase. An increase in demand, not enough supply, economies such as Brazil China and India growing very quickly.

In fact its all complete tosh.

It is just the greedy paper trade attempting to create an artificial market that promotes increases every two to three months. Paper merchants are sitting on thousands of tonnes of paper that will miraculously increase in price by 8% when another increase is announced. In fact one well known merchant is refusing orders for large orders of paper in the run up to the increase date to stop printers from stocking up. This is because last time Printers (we aren't that thick!), tried to buck the market by ordering large quantities for stock before the date of the increase!! Unbelievable!!

The paper trade will get so greedy that ultimately they stop the demand themselves. Print Buyers or more accurately Media Buyers will begin to question are they getting value from their printed message and move their budget away from print to digital media. The paper trade do not consider the consequences of  this when they keep increasing time and time again.

But sooner or later (more likely sooner) paper merchants will be sitting on stock that isnt moving and if it isnt moving they are not getting any cash coming into their business and the only way to move the stock will be to drop the price, and drop it dramatically.

However, until that day arrives Print Buyers need not despair. There are ways to mitigate these increases and at Pelican Press we can provide advice on alternative stocks, cost effective short runs and changes to the specifiaction of your printed product. Advice which will save you money but not compromise the quality of your print.

Contact our sales team now at sales@pelicanpress.co.uk or call 0161 273 3434

Category: general | Tags: general

Manchester Printers develops its own App for the new iPhone4

Date Added: 13:11 PM, 14 June 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

Hot on the heels of the release of the iPad, Apple has now announced the launch, later this month, of the iPhone4.  http://www.apple.com/iphone. 

The current iPhone is one of the most iconic designs in mobile phone history, along with the “banana” phone from Nokia and the first clamshell or flip phones from Motorola it will feature in history books (or blogs) for decades to come.

However clever the design is for the iPhone it does have its weakness, namely that the phone is poor and despite the hugely successful App Store you can only use one app at a time. Phone’s using the open Google Android system are catching up with the current iPhone so it was only a matter of time before Apple put that right and upgraded their market leading product.

The iPhone 4 is a major upgrade featuring the following changes

Upgrade to the operating system using the same A4 chip that drives the IPad, giving greater battery life, faster processing and allowing multi-tasking

Upgrade the camera to 5Mp, so you can shoot HD movies and edit them using iMovie and post to YouTube all from your iPhone

In addition to the upgraded camera you get a front facing camera, allowing video phone calls over a wireless network, albeit to only another iPhone 4. Apple are calling this Facetime and is making the software available to developers to extend the feature beyond Apple products.

There are improvements to the size, (25% thinner than the current phone) and the glass (which is on the back) is antiscratch, similar to that used in watches.

There are many other smaller enhancements which make the iPhone top of its league again. Apple has always taken ordinary features and made them much better and easier to use. Google Android phones can already multitask, but have nowhere near the number of Apps available in their “App store”. Video calling has been around for a while if you use Skype, but the quality is poor and not too reliable, Apple’s version will be significantly more intuitive. The camera upgrade is nothing special but with I-movie added it gives the iPhone something no camcorder can do.

For those of you who reads my blogs regularly I am the proud owner of an iPad (http://www.pelicanpress.co.uk/Blog.aspx?id=8) and I can see most of these upgrades coming the way of the iPad, especially if they get a forward facing camera in the iPad for video calls.

The iPhone is now starting to be used in the printing world. At IPEX Heidelberg announce the launch of an App that mean a press’s performance can be monitored from your phone; give key performance indicators of uptime, number of sheets printed and reporting any faults. A number of pre-press suppliers are developing Apps so that artwork can be uploaded straight into your print providers workflow and it follows that proofs can be viewed on your iPhone (although the iPad will be better for this with its bigger screen).

We are also in discussions with a number of software providers about developing an App for Pelican Press. The App will give you up to date information about lead times and allow you to get simple quotes on your phone in the same way you do with our online quoting now.

We are only scratching the surface as far as Apps are concerned and how technology will improve the print process. The future looks very interesting.

Click here to get your free copy of "21 Mistakes to Avoid When Ordering your Print", written by a Print Buyer and Printer

Category: general | Tags: general

Will the iPad kill off print?

Date Added: 13:04 PM, 02 June 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

My family refer to me as "gadget man". I love all things Apple, especially since purchasing a Mac Book Air last year to replace a stolen PC Laptop, so when Apple announced the launch of the Ipad I could not wait to get my hands on one.

I was very lucky. I got mine on Thursday (delivered by a very flustered UPS guy) before they went on main sale. My first impressions were "wow".

The Ipad is so easy to use, so easy to sync with your Iphone and Mac Book through Itunes and get your email and calendars working quickly. I now wonder much I will use my Mac Book, other than to sync my devices I will only use it for video editing. 

So how much of a "game changer" is the Ipad? I am keen to see how the Ipad will have an impact on the printed word. There was lots of hype about Ibooks before the Ipad was released and talk of some newspapers and magazines providing subscribed content. All I would say is that the hype is reality. The Ipad is a game changer.

Being in the print trade for over 20 years I am proud to promote the value of print as a tactile, mobile method of communication. However this is all about to change. This is what I predict.

Within 5 years

• More books will be read with e-readers (such as kindle or the Ipad) than ordinary books.
• More Newspapers will be read over the internet than purchased as hard copy.
• Consumer Magazines will derive most of their advertising revenue from online advertising as more content goes online.

There has been a gradual increase in all the above predictions over the last few years, the Ipad will accelerate that increase as more content goes online. This will happen because of what the Ipad brings to the game. Its easy to use, the screen size and resolution allows you to view great content and ultimately when Apple resolve their difference with Adobe, flash videos will add to the overall experience. In other words it can do more than the printed word.

The Times and Sunday Times are already offering a subscription service for £9.99 per month, giving all the normal printed content but in greater detail. Compare this with the cost of the printed newspaper of £1 per day!! The content is updated regularly,so it is really a news service rather than a newpaper.

Ibooks is so easy to use, and there is no problem with your eyes reading the screen. Books will go the way of music and be bought and stored digitally. There are now interactive books available. Alice in Wonderland can be bought on I-books and contains extra such as games, quizzes,music and video. Again this is more than the printed word can offer.

The Ipad is made for Consumer Magazines.GQ has an online version that again gives greater content than the printed word, with all sorts of multimedia content giving a richer experience.

What does this mean for print? Well if you are a book printer, magazine printer or newspaper printer you should be worried as your market is going to decline much quicker than it has been. Print will become (as it has been for years) more of a niche product and just a part of the marketing mix.

However there are some obvious negatives. Will people pay upwards of £500 for an Ipad? Well 2 million people already have and there will be cheaper imitations coming out that will allow you to do everything an Ipad alreay does. Will people take an I-pad to the beach or pool, probably not but there are plenty of places you can use it as an alternative to the printed word.

In summary "gadget man" loves his new toy! Will it change my life for good? Probably not! But it will change my browsing habits and will make it easier to find information and store my stuff on. Will it kill off print? Again probably not, but some sectors are going to find it tough in the coming months and years .

PS Since writing my original blog Apple have announced the launch of their new Iphone 4, the main new features being Video conferencing via wifi and multitasking. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the next version of the Ipad will have these features. The laptop may soon be history too!! 

Category: general | Tags: general

Manchester Printers view of IPEX

Date Added: 16:30 PM, 26 May 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

Over the last two days I have attended the UK Printing Industry’s premier exhibition, IPEX, at the NEC in Birmingham. IPEX is held every four years and is where all the great and good in the industry show their latest machines and solutions. Having spent two days looking at all these fantastic products, what were my main observations?

• This was the first major show where digital was bigger than litho. HP Indigo had the largest stand rather than the mighty Heidelberg and this was a general theme. All the Digital print suppliers (Xerox, Canon, Ricoh, Konica Minolta etc) took large display space and all digital press suppliers I spoke to were reporting a positive outlook.

• As far as litho is concerned, at least Heidelberg has presses at the show. As a number of litho press manufacturers actually had no presses on their stand at all! (MAN Roland and Mitsubishi to name but two). If nothing else this shows how great the shift in emphasis from litho to digital has been over the last 2 years.

•  Litho is a very mature market and there is still a steady demand for new presses. The latest presses make ready faster and run faster. Virtually all companies purchasing a new machine are replacing multiple presses with the new one, thus reducing their manning levels in the process.

• Digital print is a growing market, doubling in volume every 2-3 years, as more and more buyers of print realise the benefits of digital print. Such benefits are cheap prices for small quantities, no storage costs, more relevance of  printed matter, variable data print, integration with other media (email ,SMS, MMS), web to print and much much more that litho doesn’t offer.

• There is also a shift in power in the digital press providers. Xerox has often been the largest digital print company at major exhibitions. Not this time. Both HP Indigo and Canon had larger stands than Xerox, showing their increasing share of the digital market.

• Visitor numbers were also very positive. As expected they were down on 2006, but the proportion of foreign buyers was significantly higher, particularly from India, China and the Far East. In the past these countries bought European second hand equipment. Now they are buying newer machines as wage inflation in their economies is making it more viable to purchase automated machines requiring less manning. The foreign visitors were also not put off by the ash cloud or BA strikes.

• For me and Pelican Press I concentrated on looking at developments our existing suppliers have made and attempt to feel where we need to be investing over the next 2-3 years.

• Having very recently invested heavily in a HP Indigo digital press and Renz Wiro binding equipment we really do not need to invest in any big ticket items (or “lumps of metal” as I often put it). We already have a great range of services and excellent reliable equipment that is well maintained and operated by experienced people.

• My main focus was in workflow and our Management Information Systems (MIS).  Our business is changing rapidly. Since installing the Indigo we are handling 100-150 extra jobs a month. Most of these jobs are uploaded from our online ordering and as such are quite simple jobs. We need to find ways to process these jobs at the order and pre-press stage so that they flow through to the press room with minimal human intervention. Systems are now available that can automate the whole of the proofing and approval process and it is these areas I will be focussing on improving in the next few months.

In summary, most exhibitors I spoke to were cautiously optimistic about the future and generally happy with the level of interest shown in their products. However that optimism is tempered with a worry over availability of credit to fund investment and what will be the impact of the spending cuts to be implemented by the new government. The reality is that people are now thinking about investing again whether they actually do invest remains to be seen.

Category: general | Tags: general

What is Web to Print?

Date Added: 16:23 PM, 20 May 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

What is Web to Print (or Web2 print) and should you be looking at the implications that the web is going to have on print buying?

When I say “is going to have” I do of course mean is “already having” because web to print solutions have been around for a number of years and many companies, large and small are benefitting from using this technology to reduce their printing costs.

For companies with a multiple locations, a large mobile sales force or a franchise using  web to print will save thousands in procurement costs, keep you brand consistent and save a small fortune in printing costs. The set up costs used to be extremely expensive but at as web to print becomes more mainstream competition is bring this cost down to a level where, financially, it is a no brainer.

In addition to this and more marketers are turning to multi-channel communications (such as SMS, Purls & e-mails) as they try to get to grips with the current economic climate. Getting more “bang for the buck” is the theme of the day.

The traditional printing business model is, therefore, under threat. This is why many printers are taking their businesses online and offering a wider range of services. We have long realised this at Pelican Press and I response to the changing market have set up a new division called Pelican Digital Marketing (or PDM for short).

PDM Business Development Director Allan Brown comments

“PDM is a new breed of consultancy that can help you define and implement a Web to Print strategy that works and is results based. We can advise on a installing a fully templated  web to print solution enabling online ordering of  “versionised” print, such as stationery, business cards or marketing collateral. All ordered by the end user thus enabling the print buyer to focus on more important matters than Joe Bloggs’ needing  250 business cards because they ran out last week!

Personalised URLs (or Purls) are increasingly being used as a great way of gathering information in an innovative way and we offer a great solution to improve conversion rates”

PDM  can make sure the entire workflow of your business is harmonised into a joined up business capable of profiting from the new opportunities in digital marketing  that are presenting themselves.

For more information visit our website www.pelicandigitalmarketing.co.uk or call Allan Brown on 07540 627584.

Category: general | Tags: general

More Paper Price Increases for Manchester Printers

Date Added: 11:18 AM, 10 May 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

On April 1^st I blogged about the imminent paper price increases and their effect on the printing industry. Although I was concerned about the level of the increase my real gripe was what might happen if the increase was accepted within the printing trade. My point was that if the increase went thorough another increase would follow very quickly.

Unfortunately my prediction has come true. Paper mills and merchants have announced another round of price increases in the region of 8-12% from the beginning of June, with further quarterly increases already being discussed in September and December.

Last time the reason (excuse) for the increase was because of the Chilean earthquake and Norwegian dock strikes. These issues have now been resolved themselves but now we have more reasons/excuses for the increases, such as the need to improve profitability and be able to invest in their businesses.

This is all rubbish. The increases are for one reason and one reason alone. Greed.

As the world economy gradually improves the demand for paper has increased and the supply/demand balance has gone slightly out of kilter, with demand now outstripping supply on some grades. Paper mills know this and hence the ramping up of prices we have now.

This is all rather short sighted, as history has recently shown. The last time the scenario of rapid increases happened (in the mid 1990’s) the price peaked after the fourth 10% increase and tumbled by half in the space of 6 months, settling at a lower price than when they started increasing!

Why the sudden tumble in prices? In the mid 1990’s marketeers looked for alternative ways to promote their message, print procurers changed their buying patterns and demand quickly fell away giving paper producers a glut of stock they couldn’t give away. This actually happened despite the fact the internet was virtually unheard of as an alternative medium to print. This time around the web is all powerful. It is a fact that more print will migrate to the web when the price of print becomes excessive.

I predict what happened in the mid 1990’s is what will happen now, but we are in for a turbulent 12-18 months of paper price rises and falls.

However it is not all bad news. There are some easy actions print buyers can take to mitigate their increases. Here are my tips.

• If you have a large order to place in June place your print order in May so that the paper can be ordered in advance of the increase. Speak to your print provider they should be able to give you some good advice.
• Consider reducing the weight of the paper, a reduction in weight from 130gsm to 115gsm will mean a saving of over 10% in paper costs.
• Consider using a cheaper grade of paper. Most papers are of a decent quality now and changing down a grade won’t necessarily reduce the impact of the printing.
• If specifying recycled papers consider specifying FSC paper which are up to 40% cheaper and just as environmentally friendly.

More radically consider printing just what you need (print on demand). Reduce your run lengths and save on storage and a host of other costs. These savings far out weigh the additional costs for producing small quantities.

To do this you need to work with a progressive, forward thinking company who has invested in Indigo 5500 digital print technology. Using Indigo technology will enable you to produce litho quality work at digital prices.

Naturally Pelican Press are the only Manchester Printing company with Indigo 5500 technology and we are producing litho quality brochures, magazines, leaflets, flyers, stationery, business cards and much much more.

Category: General | Tags: General

Improving Customer Service

Date Added: 15:22 PM, 06 May 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

The Manchester Printing scene is a pretty competitive enviroment, I recently did an excercise with our Sales team to identify who our competitors are and what do they do that we didn't do.

It is often difficult to identify why customers choose their suppliers. Even if you ask customers directly "why do you do business with xyz" they struggle to come up with an answer other than they like doing business with their supplier. People buy from people and despite the advent of e-commerce and online ordering most people like doing business with someone they like.

It is not enough to have an all singing website where customers can login and order their print. There is nothing more frustating than dealing with an "online" company when you have a problem and not being able to speak to a human.

Our strategy over the last two years has been to invest in our online offering, but more importantly, back this up with a customer service team who can react to your print requirements in a personal manner that gives you confidence your instructions are acted upon.

It hasn't been an easy journey creating this team and we have sometimes got it wrong but today we now have a 6 strong team managing all our customers accounts. Alan Hague has recently joined us as Estimator helping long suffering John Cooke with the quotes and booking in work. Alans appointment will mean we can react far quicker than before to your requests for quotes, especially those urgent ones.

Kelly Saunders is has also recently joined as Customer Service Representative helping Jean  Rebbitt in dealing with all aspects of your job management from receipt of order, scheduling, proofing and final delivery. And lastly there is Raney Nixon and Jannette who both work with the Key Accounts.

We are pretty  unique in the Manchester printing game in not having any sales representatives and this has been a deliberate strategy.Print sales isn't  what it used to be. Despite the fact that people by from people most print buyers simply dont have the time to sit down with an army of sales people and talk about Corrie or the footy.

The modern day print buyer often doesn't have a print background but is an experienced buyer. In addition to this printing is not the technical dark art it was a few years ago. Buyers need information, often quickly and often with some technical advice that will help their job run smoothly. This is where the customer service team is so important in making the buyers life easier.

Our aim is to provide a hassle free print buying experience, we dont profess to be perfect but our customer service team with over 100 years of print experience between them are there to help.

Category: General | Tags: General

Another Cycle Ride for Ian

Date Added: 13:10 PM, 04 May 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

I am back on my bike again, however I am not repeating my epic Lands End to John O'Groats trip of last year. I fear a divorce would be looming if I suggested it to Jayne! Instead I am competing in the Etape Caledonia, http://www.etapecaledonia.co.uk/ on May 16th.

The Etape is the only closed road cycling event to be held in the UK, meaning the roads are closed whilst the event is on, giving it a proper "Tour de France" experience. The route is 81 miles of reasonably flat cycling, starting in Pitlochrie and follow the shores of Loch Rannoch before the one major climb up Schiehallion. I am praying for good weather.

I will be cycling with nearly 4500 other people, all of us hoping that we can raise a massive a mount of money for Macmillan Cancer Support, http://www.macmillan.org.uk/. So please get your credit cards out and donate on my Just Giving page http://www.justgiving.com/Ian-Crow0. If you donate on Just Giving tax relief is added to the donation, stopping Mr Darling getting his bit too.

I have been training reasonably hard on my new superlight bike, doing one big ride at weekend and commuting to work on a regular basis, so I should be in good shape for the event. I will be tweeting in the run up and you can follow my exploits at www.twitter.com/iancrow. I have entered for a few more events over the next few months, with possibly a Coast to Coast route being done in the early autumn.

Thank you all for your support it is greatly appreciated.

Category: Charity Work | Tags: Charity Work, Macmillan Cancer Support, 2010

Paper Increases

Date Added: 12:49 PM, 01 April 2010 | Author: Ian Crow

Many of you will be aware of impending paper increases. All Paper Merchants are putting their prices up by between 8-12% on April 6th. The reasons for this are 3 fold. Firstly there has been a dockers strike in Finland in early March. Many paper mills closed down their paper making machines as stock levels (at the docks) were growing at an unsustainable level. Although the strike finished last week this action has meant there is shortage of certain grades of paper throughout Europe, things should return to normal in a month or two. Secondly, the Chilean earthquake resulted in two main pulp factories being damaged, leading to a worldwide shortage of pulp (and the inevitable increase in price). Printweek cover these two stories in greater detail.

The third reason is more deep seated and is the main reason for the increases (according to the Merchants) and is due to the weakness of the £ .We do not manufacture any fine paper in the UK. Most paper comes from Europe and the Far East and as the £ has weakened against other currencies the cost of imports has risen. It will be interesting to see if the £ recovers whether or not paper prices will reduce. Historically this has not been the case. The last lot of price rises, a couple of years ago, were because of excessive energy costs. As energy prices have fallen in the last 2 years did the price of paper come down? No it didn’t. And this is the crux of the matter. Despite increase of 8-12% being announced, not one paper merchant can confirm what their prices will be after April 6th. They are all acting as one in pushing this increase through. In doing so they also create a “buying bubble”. Paper buyers (such as myself) will buy in advance of an increase and hold more stocks to mitigate any increase for as long as possible. This creates a shortage of stock at the merchant. The merchant places more orders with the paper mill and they put their prices up again, leading to more Papers buyers buying for stock, etc.etc, until the prices of paper becomes so high that marketers begin to look at alternatives to print. Print volumes fall and paper falls back to the price it was before the increase’s started! The paper merchants will cry foul that they aren’t making any money but there are 4 main groups in the UK along with numerous Independents all doing pretty well. The unfortunate thing is that we are all in for a period of paper increases and rapidly changing prices when all we want as manufacturers is costs to be consistent and predictable so we can give customers the best service possible.

Category: General | Tags: General, Paper Increases, 2010