Brent Vouri knew he was going to die.

It was his most severe asthma attack yet, and his lungs had completely seized, just like a car engine when it finally runs out of oil.

The last thing he remembered that night was the hospital floor rushing up to meet him. His coma lasted for fifteen days, during which time he dropped forty pounds. When he finally awoke, he was unable to speak for another two weeks. For the first time in years, he had time to think.

Why, at only twenty years of age, had his life almost ended?

Asthma had been a part of Brent’s life since birth. He was well-known at the hospital after numerous visits to stabilize his condition. Despite having lots of energy as a child, he was never able to participate in physical activities such as skating or hockey. His parents divorced when he was ten, and the next few years were a continuous downward spiral of drugs, alcohol abuse, and a smoking habit that consumed thirty cigarettes per day.

He didn’t finish school and aimlessly drifted from one part-time job to the next. Even though his health was steadily getting worse, he chose to ignore it—until that fateful night when his body said, “no more.” With time to reflect, he concluded that he had brought this on himself through years of making bad choices. His new resolve was, “Never again; I want a life.”

Brent gradually became stronger and was eventually released from the hospital. One of his initial goals was to win a T-shirt for completing twelve fitness classes. He did it. Three years later he was teaching aerobics. The momentum was building. Five years after that he competed in the National Aerobics Championships. Along the way he decided to further his education by first completing his high school diploma and then successfully working his way through university.

Next, he and a friend started their own manufacturing business, specializing in producing apparel for retail chains. Starting with only four employees, Brent built the company into a multi-million-dollar enterprise supplying high-profile clients such as Nike. By deciding to make better choices and create better habits, Brent Vouri turned his life around—from yesterday’s zero to today’s hero.
Isn’t that an inspiring story?

Life doesn’t just happen to you. You determine how you respond to every situation, and bad choices often lead to unpleasant outcomes. Your everyday choices determine your destiny; however, one poor choice doesn’t doom you to make poor decisions forever.
Consistent choices lay the foundation for your habits, and your habits play a major role in how your future unfolds. This includes the habits you display to the business world every day, as well as the variety of behaviors that show up in your personal life. The truth is, successful people have successful habits—unsuccessful people don’t!

YOUR HABITS WILL DETERMINE YOUR FUTURE

Simply stated, a habit is something you do so often it becomes easy. In other words, it’s a behavior that you keep repeating. If you persist in a new behavior, eventually it becomes automatic.

For example, learning to drive a car with a standard gearshift is often difficult. One of the initial challenges is figuring out how to synchronize the clutch and accelerator pedals so you have a nice, smooth gear change. If you release the clutch too quickly, the car stalls. If you press down too hard on the accelerator without releasing the clutch, the engine roars but you don’t go anywhere. Sometimes the car jumps down the street like a kangaroo, surging and stopping as the new driver struggles with the pedals. However, with practice, the gear change eventually becomes smooth and you don’t think about it anymore.

We are all creatures of habit. When I drive home from my office every day, there are nine traffic lights along the route. Often I get home and don’t remember any of the lights.  It’s like I’m unconscious as I drive. If my wife asks me to make a detour to pick up something on the way home, it’s not uncommon for me to totally forget because I’ve programmed myself to take the same way home every night.

The great news is that you can reprogram yourself any time you choose to do so. If you’re struggling financially, this is important to know!
Let’s say you want to be financially independent. Doesn’t it make sense to check your money-making habits? Are you in the habit of paying yourself first every month? Do you consistently save and invest at least 10 percent of your income? The answer is either “yes” or “no.” Immediately you can see if you are moving in the right direction. The key word here is consistent. That means every month. And every month is a good habit. Most people dabble when it comes to growing their money. They are very inconsistent.

Suppose you start a savings and investment program. For the first six months you diligently put your 10 percent away according to plan. Then something happens. You borrow the money to take a vacation, and you tell yourself you’ll make it up in the next few months. Of course you don’t—and your financial independence program is stalled before it even gets off the ground! By the way, do you know how easy it is to become financially secure? Starting at age eighteen, if you invest one hundred dollars per month compounding annually at 10 percent, you will have more than $1.1 million tucked away at age sixty-five. Even if you don’t start until you are forty years old, there’s hope, although it will take more than what you would have invested at age 18.

The solution is called a no exceptions policy. In other words, commit to your better financial future every single day. It’s what separates the people who enjoy a great lifestyle from those who continually struggle.

Let’s look at another situation. If maintaining excellent health is high on your list of priorities, exercising three times a week may be the minimum standard to keep you in shape. A No Exceptions Policy means you will maintain this exercise habit no matter what happens, because you value the long-term benefits.

People who dabble at change will quit after a few weeks or months. And they usually have a long list of excuses why it didn’t work out for them. If you want to distance yourself from the masses with excuses, understand that your habits determine your future.
Successful people don’t drift to the top. It takes focused action, personal discipline, and daily commitment to creating good habits. Rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, fulfilled or unfulfilled, happy or unhappy—it’s your choice, so choose wisely.

Les Hewitt, author / business coach
(403) 295-0500    www.thepoweroffocus.ca

Many of you are familiar with the Tiger program Preview.  Perhaps you even used to curse its existence—until you successfully set up all your TIFFs, PDFs, and JPEGs to open in Photoshop or Acrobat instead of automatically launching in Preview.

At first glance you may wonder if there is even a point to Preview; it opens your files quickly, but it doesn’t do much else.  But the basic tasks that Preview can perform are turned into speedy Automator actions when you need them, which may be more often than you realize.

Think of your disappointment when you receive a CD from a photographer full of JPEGs that are all rotated 90 degrees.  Creating a Photoshop action to rotate all the files in the folder may be your first instinct, but the faster approach is to use Automator.  

To rotate a folder or several folders from a CD or from files on your server:

1. Select “Finder” in the Library column and “Get Specified Finder Items” in the Action column and drag to the window on the right.
2. Click the plus sign and add your CD(s) or Folder(s).
3. Select “Get Folder Contents” in the Action column and drag below window 1—select Repeat for each subfolder you find.
4. Select “Preview” in the Library column and “Rotate Images” in the Action column and drag to the window on the right.
5. You will get a warning that your images will be changed and the option to copy the items first.  You will need to copy if working from a CD—click “Add”.
6. In window 3, direct your copy to your server or hard drive; you have the option to replace existing files as well.
7. Window 4 lets you choose how to rotate your files.
8. Hit the run button at the top of the window and go back to work in Photoshop or another program while the files are copying and rotating.

Now save this window as a workflow with a specific name; it will now appear in the Library under My Workflows.  But wait, you can still do more.  Save it again using “Save As Plug-in”; give it a name and save it as a plug-in for Finder.  Now when you put in the CD, control click to pop up the contextual menu.  It will appear at the bottom on the list in the Automator section, and you can run it from there.
And as if that wasn’t enough, you can also save workflows as a plug-in for Folder Actions in order to create a hot folder out of your action.

Preview has many more tricks up its sleeve.  To start with, it can apply ColorSync Profiles to your Images.  This feature can both create greyscale images and change RGB colour spaces in your library.  The Action shows the change  with an image preview in the setup. It can also change your image type from JPEG to TIFF or to other formats such as PNG, JPEG 2000, or BMP.

The speed of Preview working in the background is where it really shines. Its feature of asking if you want to copy or overwrite your existing files, is great for moving files off CDs or DVDs.

Another situation we commonly face in which Preview is an asset is 40 inch files at 72 dpi.  They’re a huge pain, since one can only scale to a minimum size in Quark and InDesign.  The “Scale Images” feature of Preview gives you a choice of percent or pixel when scaling.  You can also increase the canvas size of images to an exact amount with the “Pad Images” Action—which includes the option of scaling before padding.
Other useful Preview Actions include “Create Thumbnail Images”, “Crop Images”, and “Flip Images”.  There are other Automator workflows that can be downloaded from http://www.automatedworkflows.com/automator/actions.html.  The site has developed a set of Actions for Preview to filter files by ICC Profile.

These Preview actions can be done on any Mac running Tiger 10.4 or later, which means you don’t even need a copy of Photoshop to do all of these tasks.  The little Preview program that didn’t seem to do much just got a little bigger.

   Andrea Mahoney
Workflow Automation Specialist
TriBay Enterprise
416.729.9687 www.tribay.ca

At first glance, 2007 looks like a gloomy year for paper supply. Prices are weak and have been eroding for two years, and mill capacity remains high as new sources enter the market.

But while newsprint sales are decreasing in North America, digital grades are selling more strongly than ever. Meanwhile, many printing clients are asking for environmentally–friendly grades of paper for their jobs.

For a cost–conscious printer, there are many opportunities to make greater profits and deliver greater value to customers.

Statistics
According to the Paper Trader, a monthly paper markets newsletter, worldwide paper prices are declining. Overcapacity in the North American market is depressing prices below the cash cost levels for some of the higher–cost mills, leading to mill shutdowns and layoffs. The Paper Trader is predicting that the North American market will remain “very weak for 2007.”

The Pulp and Paper Products Council (PPPC) spun off in 2000 from the old Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, and they are the main—in fact, the only—source of reliable statistics on paper production and consumption in Canada. The PPPC’s statistics shown here represent total Canadian figures for newsprint, printing, and writing grades of paper, both imported and domestically produced. That measure is also a good proxy of printing activity in the country, and it shows overall growth as fairly stagnant since the turn of the 21st century.

Total consumption of newsprint, printing, and writing grades of paper across North America peaked in 2000, according to statistics gathered by the Pulp and Paper Council. Since then, it’s dropped, from a high of 3.5 million tonnes to 3.1 million tonnes in 2006. “Consumption has been relatively flat since 2002,” says Paul Leclair, the PPPC’s Chief Economist. And, according to the Paper Trader, the prices for coated mechanical paper grades have been eroding since the end of 2005. In January 2007, prices dropped by an average of $20 per ton (US figure).
Newsprint volumes account for much of the decline, and finer grades of paper, classified as “printing and writing grades” by the PPPC, are not suffering as much as newsprint, says Leclair. Newsprint consumption is down in North America and western Europe, coincident with the growth of the internet. “Specifically, [decline in] newsprint consumption correlates very closely with high–speed or broadband internet growth,” Leclair explains. Classified advertising, mostly of cars, houses, and jobs, is now largely handled by specialized web–based services.

According to RISI (originally Resource Information Systems, Inc., online at www.risiinfo.com), publishers of a number of reports on the global forest products industry, the 21st century ushered in a major shift in the worldwide paper industry. “Between 2000 and 2005 alone, more than 100 mills closed in North America, while capacity continues to grow in Eastern Europe and China with the addition of more than 120 new machines,” reports the company.

The digital shift
One sector of the paper market that is actually growing is digital paper—an awkward term used to describe paper suitable for use in digital presses, printers, and copiers.

“It’s a higher–priced category than offset papers,” says Jim Dorkin, of Precision Fine Papers in Markham, Ontario. Digital presses have different requirements when it comes to a paper stock: they require a different finish on the sheet than an offset press does, and they also require cut stock, usually 8.5 x 11 or 12 x 18 inches. The growing use of digital printing is driving up the consumption of digital paper stocks.
“We have to stock more sizes and formats of cut sheets for the digital printer customers that we have,” confirms Carolyn Daly, Marketing Communications Supervisor with paper supplier Spicers in Toronto.

The other type of paper in greater demand is “environmentally friendly” stock—not just recycled papers, but paper grades that satisfy the requirements of the Forestry Stewardship Council. The FSC is an international not–for–profit organization that works to solve the problems created by unsustainable forestry practices and to reward good forest management. Its “FSC–approved” logo can be applied to the labels of products, including printing paper, produced by companies that meet its requirements for energy use and other practices that reduce their impact on forests and the natural environment.

“Demand for FSC–approved paper is a growing trend,” agrees Precision’s Jim Dorkin. “[But], not that many printers are willing to pay more for it.”

“There’s a much bigger push from the printers for FSC–certified papers than there ever used to be,” says Spicers’ Daly. “Some printers and their customers are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly stocks. However,” she agrees, “most want it and ask for it, but aren’t willing to pay more for it.”

Unfortunately for paper suppliers, meeting FSC standards requires them to pay more—in the form of different kinds of energy generation and other sustainable practices. Says Daly: “The printer will ask for FSC–approved paper, and we’ll go to the mill to ask for it. The mill will make the investment to deliver it, but then the printer will opt for the Chinese paper because it’s less expensive.”

Lots of talk about paper from China
The biggest paper buzz in today’s printing market revolves around the rapid growth in availability and consumption of paper from Chinese mills.

“Over the past three or four years, we’ve starting importing more of the paper we sell. Ninety percent of the paper we sell now is sourced offshore, primarily from China,” says Dorkin of Precision Fine Papers. “From a company that used to be a converter with distribution capability, we’ve become a distributor with converting capability.”

And 80 percent of the paper imported from China is in the form of “finished goods”—that is, cut sheets. “The economics of buying rolls of paper from China are not as good, because the Chinese mills don’t differentiate in price between rolls and sheets like the North American mills do. We generally cut the rolls we import into specialty sizes of sheets.”

“The Chinese mills are starting to take more [North American] market share,” agrees Carolyn Daly. “What’s more significant is that some of the new players in the Canadian market are starting to bring in more paper manufactured from China.”

This trend marks a change in the market’s perception of imported paper, particularly paper imported from China. “Where the paper comes from is not an issue with customers anymore,” says Dorkin. “The Chinese deliver a very high quality sheet, exactly meeting North American specifications for basis weight, caliper, and opacity.”

What’s important to most buyers is that the paper runs and can save the printer some money. As Dorkin puts it, printers “are always looking for paper that will run well on the press at the lowest possible price.”

But Paul Leclair of the PPPC dismisses the impact of the Chinese mills. “There are much bigger exporters of paper in the world than China. Everybody’s afraid of China, because when they start growing in a market, they grow [quickly]. But the US is still by far the largest foreign source of fine grades of paper, and Canada supplies its own market for newsprint.”

Imports from China have risen dramatically in recent years, he agrees, “but they’ve risen from almost nothing—5,000 tonnes in 2000 to 45,000 tonnes in 2006. That’s a big increase, but the total demand in Canada in 2006 was 3.2 million tonnes.” In short, Chinese paper imports account for just 1.4 percent of the total amount of newsprint, printing, and writing grades consumed in Canada last year.
Last month, the U.S. trade department imposed countervailing duties on Chinese paper, among other products. The total impact of this move on paper supplies and prices remains to be seen.

The paper supply in Canada
So, what does all this mean to Canada’s paper merchants and to printers?

For the time being, it means paper prices will probably remain stable. 2006 was the “top of the price cycle,” explains Paul Leclair. Prices will be on a generally downward trend, aided by overcapacity in the domestic market and the arrival of new sources from Asia and Eastern Europe.
In January this year, Abitibi Consolidated of Montreal and Bowater of Greenville, South Carolina announced they would merge, becoming the third–largest paper and forest products company in North America and the eighth–largest in the world, with a total worth of over $8 billion US. Both companies had been losing money in recent years. The effect of the merger on the Canadian printing market have yet to be seen, but will probably help to stabilize prices.

Other paper merchants are finding success in new tactics. Precision Fine Papers, for one, has adopted a more aggressive selling strategy, hiring two salespeople for the first time. “Sales are up significantly because we’re much more aggressive in the market today,” Dorkin explains.

“Also, we’re focusing more on [the] particular segments of the market that we can serve best. We’re not trying to sell to everybody.”
Spicers is sticking to the basics with which it has already had success. The company itself is a relatively new player in Canada, but it’s really a combination of a number of longtime players, having acquired Coast and Cascades paper merchants last year. “Coated and uncoated papers are still our biggest sellers,” says Carolyn Daly. European and North American mills are their main sources, for reasons of quality and reliability, and new mills are still a minor part of the business.

The impact on printers
For printers, the current paper market also offers a number of opportunities. Low prices and high capacity mean there are deals to be made. The glut of papers in the market also means that discerning printers may be able to make high quality available to their customers for less money. Wide availability of FSC–approved papers also means that printers have the opportunity to deliver environmentally–sustainable options to their clients—an option that many clients are now requesting.

New printing technologies and business models go by a range of names: on–demand printing, web to print, short run printing, variable printing. They’re more than just new names – they represent new ways of doing business and of providing services to customers. They are also the heralds of new compensation models, since printing is only a small part of the value that the client receives in an on–demand printing environment.

Technology ties it together
What is short–run printing? More specifically, what is a short run? Is it a quantity under 1000 copies? Or a job that uses fewer than 500 sheets?

Defining short–run printing, or deciding whether to use a short–run workflow, is more than figuring out the minimum quantity that offset printing can produce economically. Most printers who get into on–demand digital printing find that the decision of whether to go to offset or digital output is more often about speed than cost.

“With business cards, we can print 10,000 on our iGen easily because we can put six or eight cards on a sheet,” says Rajith Rao of Sherwood Printers in Mississauga. “With an 8.5 x 11 flyer in four colours, a quantity under 1000 should definitely go to the iGen; 2,000 to 3,000 is [still] a good range [for digital]; between 3,000 and 5,000 copies, it [the press we use] depends on the job and the customer and how fast they want the job; and over 5,000 usually should go to the offset press.

“But then, the job on the iGen can be done right away, while the press takes two or three days, and another day if it has to be folded. With theiGen, we can print, fold, trim, and stitch immediately, all in the same day. It depends how quickly the customer needs the job.”
In the realm of web–to–print solutions, instant printing and variable printing are very different applications, although they do use some of the same technology: high–speed digital presses and printers like Xerox’s iGen3, Hewlett–Packard’s Indigo line, Kodak’s NexPress, and the Xeikon line; high–speed copiers and printers like the ImageRunner from Canon, the BizHub series from Konica Minolta, and others. The instant printing capabilities of such technologies enable them to handle extremely short–run, on–demand printing, and variable printing—which is, in essence, the shortest run of all: one copy.

These different types of printing enable many different models of customer interaction. Consider, for example, the combination of print and other media that’s enabled by short–run and variable printing.

Web to print is a unique way of doing printing: it puts primary control of design and content, as well as production scheduling, into the client’s hands.

In web to print systems, the client navigates to a web site that contains design templates, text templates, and images. Using the web browser, the client can select the design, images and text, and sometimes can edit the text or upload new images.

Once satisfied with the layout, the client then fills out a web form, choosing the quantity to be printed and in some cases the location for printing, and fills in billing and shipping information. This information is transferred to the printer, and in some systems, automated workflow systems start the production process; in other cases, a customer service person receives an e–mail with details on the requested print job.
The software generates a file to be printed, which includes all text and graphics. The system can produce a hard copy or a soft proof, which is then sent to the customer. Once the client signs off (which can also be done through the web or e–mail), the workflow system sends the job to output.

The printer can set up the design templates and can guide the development of the website that allows such customer autonomy, or the printer can merely be the output provider in a system set up by programming or marketing experts.

Regardless, the primary value of web to print products, and the service for which the client pays the most, is not the actual printing. Rather, it’s the intelligence that set up the system, and the services involved in keeping it functioning and improving. The pricing model is thus very different from that of traditional printing.

Using print as just one component of a multi–media communications campaign is nothing new, but a new version of that involves “personalized URLs,” (universal resource locators)—that is, a unique web address.

This kind of marketing communication requires qualified leads, complete with proper names and addresses. The prospect gets a personalized mailer informing him or her of a unique website with an address based on the prospect’s name (like www.marketingcompany.com/ prospectsname), and a unique user name and password. Once the prospect visits the website and enters his or her user name and password, he or she is usually rewarded with some kind of premium or gift and given more marketing information. These sorts of initiatives have proven very successful for insurance companies and similar businesses. But they’re also difficult to set up, and require strict adherence to design and communications standards.

“Web to print is here, but it works really well only in very select ways,” says Frank McPherson, president of Custom Data Imaging of Markham, ON. “It will take a few more years before the market is really using it effectively.”

Printers can assume a central role in web to print by managing all of the different processes involved in developing the messages, developing the website, managing the mailing, and more. If you’re not ready for a major web to print initiative, try taking on something relatively minor, such as variable printing of some postcards.

Why do customers want on–demand printing?
Printers know that customers select digital, on–demand printing for two reasons: favourable pricing for short runs and faster turnaround. However, more and more customers are selecting it because the quality is acceptable compared to offset printing. “A lot of people who don’t want digital printing just aren’t familiar with it,” says Rajith Rao of Sherwood Printers. “But once they see the results off the digital press, and understand that the “proof” is an example of the actual output, they start to see the light.”

One of the biggest users of on–demand and variable printing is the university sector. Universities have been using short–run, on–demand printing for many years to produce sets of readings and specialized textbooks that contain only the material the professor determines necessary; it reduces costs of textbooks, paper consumption, storage and ordering time, benefiting both students and the university.
But that just scratches the surface of the capabilities of on–demand printing. Every university has to do fundraising to make ends meet, even Canada’s largest, the University of Toronto. They found an 80 percent increase in the number of donors to their annual alumni direct–mail donation drive when they started using personalized direct mail.

In 2004, the U of T fundraising committee tested variable printing with their print provider, Custom Data Imaging. The university and the printer worked closely together to develop a direct mail piece that had a personalized letter to each alumnus from his or her graduating faculty, plus a return donation slip also imprinted with the donor’s name, address, graduating faculty, and amount of last donation, and another full–colour slip that showed the impact of donor support on that same faculty. Each of 32,500 individuals could receive up to five pieces of personalized mail—a huge undertaking for a printer.

The initial test worked: the number of individual donors who responded increased by 80 percent over the year previous, when the university did not use personalized mail. And the gross donation total increased by 30 percent as well. And that was with a mailing list half the size of the one used the year before.

Custom Data Imaging did a lot to make U of T’s campaign successful. It has two Indigo digital presses—the model 1000 and the model 5000—as well as a Heidelberg 9110 offset press, two Konica Minolta single–colour copiers, a Konica Minolta BizHub black–and–white high–speed printer, and a Konica Minolta 3800 four–colour printer. The company specializes in short runs, but has the capacity for longer runs upon client demand.

“Most of our production is on–demand printing, and of that, 60 to 65 percent is variable printing,” says Frank McPherson, president and “head decision maker.” Their jobs vary widely, from postcards, to brochures, to folders, to direct mail. “I don’t track sheets per month or clicks or anything like that; I’m not interested in that,” McPherson explains. “I have a different mindset about this business. I see our equipment as a facilitator for making money in design, output and mailing services, and [for] delivering value to our customers.”

“I don’t sell on price, either,” he continues. “We give a quality of service, and I will walk away from a project when a customer is looking for the cheapest price.”

It’s an approach that works: Custom Data Imaging has grown every year since McPherson started six years ago. “We offer solutions, a way to satisfy customers’ needs,” he says. “Unfortunately, in the printing industry, value added is usually seen in its financial connection—what you get when you take out the manufacturing costs. But you can’t make money in this business selling that kind of value added. The real added value has got to do with service.”

Finding your value added
There are obvious similarities between short–run, on–demand, and variable printing. Once the technology is in place, many printers find it difficult to resist the temptation to offer the full range of variable printing services.

But success in on–demand printing requires a different approach to customer relations than traditional offset printing does. Business success and growth aren’t based on the cheapest price per sheet or the best ink coverage on the sheet anymore: they’re judged according to a much more complex formula that accounts for speed, accuracy and “value added.” The abilities of the printer to solve challenges and to create new products and new opportunities for clients are what clients are willing to pay for.

The last word belongs to Frank McPherson of Custom Data Imaging: “The industry is waking up to the fact that they’ll have to make money by adding value for the customer—offering solutions, a way to reach their customers.”

Careful preparation for candidate interviews can hugely improve your chances of making the right hiring decision and yield significant long–term returns for your business. In fact, a recent study concluded that hiring excellent staff is the single largest factor affecting a company’s fiscal growth. Accordingly, last month’s and this month’s column provide suggestions for conducting effective hiring interviews.

Know the law
In both the U.S. and Canada, it is illegal to question job candidates on their race, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability, or pardoned convictions. National variations also exist; for instance, American law also prohibits questions on some aspects of military service and discharge. Interviewers therefore need to know their own country’s legal restrictions and how they apply in practice.

For example, while it is illegal throughout North America to ask “Do you plan on having more children?” or other questions related to pregnancy, it is permissible to inquire about anticipated length of stay at a job or ask “Do you foresee any long–term absences in the future?” To be legal, however, these inquiries must be strictly job–related and must also be universally asked of all candidates, males and females of all ages. Similarly, although you can’t ask “Do you have any physical disabilities?”, you can legally ask each candidate “Are you able to lift a 100–pound weight and carry it 50 yards, as that is part of the job?”

Test for skills
For operator positions, you can easily evaluate whether candidates’ skill levels meet your requirements by testing them on your equipment and examples of your typical projects, either during the interview or at a separate time. Such practical tests confirm subjective verbal definitions of skill levels.

Observe non–verbal displays of interest & professionalism
Be aware of candidates’ personal appearance, body language, firmness of handshake, eye contact, and emotional tenor. In most cases, these non–verbal factors demonstrate fairly quickly whether or not a candidate meets your requisite level of professionalism and enthusiasm. Evidence of prior research about your company, the liveliness of candidates’ questions, and their tone all reveal their respective levels of interest in the job.

Adjust depth as you go
Because your first task in interviewing is to get a feel for a candidate’s overall suitability, we recommend sticking to basics at the beginning and reserving more penetrating questions for later. One reason is that both you and the candidate will feel more open and comfortable as the interview progresses. Additionally, if you determine early that a candidate is unsuitable, you can conclude the interview as soon as courtesy permits. Conversely, you’ll want to invest extra time to get better acquainted with desirable prospects and, assuming their skills are in high demand, acquaint them with the advantages of working for your company.

Other helpful measures in the later stages of interviewing include arrangements for promising candidates to talk with more than one company representative. Multiple interviewers provide broader feedback on candidates and help ensure consistency in their answers to vital questions. Letting a candidate chat with the person who may become his manager also helps to uncover philosophical and personality conflicts that could spell disaster down the road.

Letting candidates tour your workplace, when possible, provides a chance for them to evaluate both the environment and the workforce they will be expected to join. Their reactions are a good measure of their potential to fit in.

Additionally, you may choose to hire one of many reputable firms to perform psychological profile testing on promising candidates. Reliable tests can furnish details on candidates’ personal attributes as they relate to the requirements of the position.

Balance instinct with reason
Take sufficient time to make an analytical hiring decision—unlike the 90% of interviewers who decide impulsively whether or not to hire within the first 5 to 9 minutes of an interview, and then use the time remaining to gather information to justify their choice.

Interviewers may also naturally gravitate toward hiring people similar to themselves—perhaps a good idea if the similarities that attract you have proven effective in your marketplace, but a dangerous practice if company goals require broadening your base.

In any hiring scenario, the stakes for your business—the direct and indirect costs of a bad hire—are simply too high to leave the decision up to gut instinct or affinity with candidates alone. So supplement your instincts by taking lots of notes during each interview, then evaluate and compare each set of notes later in order to reach a rational verdict.

Victoria Gaitskell, Placement specialist
PrintLink    1.877.413.2600
vgaitskell@printlink.com

With a record–setting 1.8 million net square feet of space (35 football fields) and 2 700 exhibitors, the 2007 International CES in Vegas is the world’s largest technology trade show. It is the ultimate show for anyone interested in consumer electronics, including television sets, car and home stereo systems, cell phones, still and video cameras, MP3 players and accessories, and much more.

While attending the CES, I got out my notepad and started to make out my birthday wish list, copies of which I will inconspicuously leave lying around the house. A theme of both my list and the show was the digitization of everything, and it’s clear that everything with a digital heartbeat will soon be connected, one way or another. So here are my 5 favorite new toys for 2007.

Apple iPhone
As everyone waited with baited breath, Apple introduced iPhone. This cool new toy combines three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop–class email, web browsing, searching, and maps—into one small handheld device. At Macworld 2007 Steve Jobs announced that “iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”

The phone runs a version of Apple’s desktop operating system, OS X, and includes Widgets, Google Maps, the Safari browser, and iTunes with CoverFlow. Apple has partnered with Google and Yahoo to bring maps and email to the device, which is set for US release in June of 2007. The 4GB model will be priced at $499 and the 8GB model at $599 (US).

103–inch Panasonic 1080p plasma
If price were no object, I would certainly spring for the 103–inch Panasonic 1080p plasma, which will sell for around $70 000 (US) and can deliver more than two million pixels (1,920 x 1,080) of HDTV performance. Panasonic exhibited its prototype in grand style, with six 103–inch displays swiveling in sync at its booth.

Canon HV10 HD camcorder
A friend of mine had told me to have a look at the Canon HV10 HD camcorder. He had just purchased one for his family and was raving about its convenient size and superb picture quality. Well I wasn’t disappointed. Canon’s CMOS sensor delivers the best possible video in a compact and stylish package. Its 10x optical zoom lens and 2.96 megapixel CMOS image sensor ensure meticulous detail and superior color reproduction, all in an easy–to–use package. It sells for around $900 US.

NextGen Home Experience
The NextGen home is the coolest home ever. It showcases the latest developments in contemporary living, from advanced home connectivity to storm resistant construction, energy efficiency, and “green friendly” lifestyle enhancements. NextGen brings together technologies from Lifeware, HP, Windows Vista, and others. With one click of the remote, the lights fade down and the surround sound cranks up. Remote access to surveillance cameras lets you watch over the house while you’re away. Watch the news, check the markets and read email while moving from bedroom to kitchen to den. At night, the house turns off the lights and dials down the thermostat. This ConnectedLife Home system package, including installation, sells for $14 999 (US).

Alpine Blackbird: Fully Loaded Portable Navigation

The new Blackbird is loaded with a bevy of new and upgraded features, including a built–in hard drive for preloaded NAVTEQ map data of the United States and Canada (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands). There are four intuitive map viewing options, including 3D mapping, 2D full map, split map and turn–by–turn arrow view. Its built–in Bluetooth module enables users to answer phone calls, dial out using the on–screen 12–key phone dial, and access call data via the Blackbird when connected to a Bluetooth–enabled mobile device.

A 90–day free trial of the NAVTEQ Traffic RDS tuner is also included, with continuously updated traffic flow, incident information, and re–routing capabilities in 50 major U.S. markets plus Toronto, Ontario. It’s $60 per year to subscribe. Blackbird also has information about points of interest, including restaurants, hotels, and gas stations, and can play back up to 4 GB of WMA/MP3 music files with its SD card slot. The FM modulator can transmit music and driving directions wirelessly to any FM car stereo, giving turn–by–turn vocal driving instructions that automatically recalculate if (or when) you miss a turn. I’m sure my wife thinks this is something I can really use—and at $499 (US), it’s not a bad deal either.

Peter Dulis
Wide Format Printing Specialist
T: 647.895.3315
E: pdulis@iprimus.ca

Welcome to spring and to a new look for Graphic Arts Magazine. Our editorial board has been meeting three times a year for a number of years now, and their input has been invaluable in coming up with our new design. We would also like to thank Alive Pro Studios for all their efforts in assisting with the redesign. We look forward to hearing your feedback, as we’re always looking to serve our readers better.

This month features an article regarding On-demand printing on page 18, as well as an article on page 22 focusing on the current paper market. Jonathon Anderson also delivers part 2 of his “Killer costing” feature, continued from last month.

John’s article is a needed wake-up call for the printing industry—did you know that the average profit of an Ontario printer is negative 0.5 per cent? Why are printers willing to send money out of their own profits just to keep people busy? Unprofitability, in my opinion, is the most important issue facing our industry. Let me know what you think at joe@graphicartsmag.com.

And speaking of profitability, one of the best ways to improve your bottom line is to ensure that your staff are suited to your business. This month, Victoria Gaitskell brings us the second half of a two-part series on effective interviewing. Her suggestions should be required reading for anyone involved in hiring decisions.

We have just returned from the Grafik’Art show in Montreal. As with any show there were new products to see and old friends to greet, as well as new contacts to be made. See Tony Curcio’s highlights and photos of a very successful show on page 28.

The environment seems to be front page on most people’s agendas, as Al Gore and others are emphasizing the importance of government involvement to bring about significant changes. John Piggott writes about the environment as it relates to our industry on page 42.
Then don’t miss Catherine M.A. Wiebe’s report on her recent trip to New Hampshire to check out Dimatix/Fuji on page 62. Inkjet is an emerging force in the printing marketplace, and staying up-to-date on the latest possibilities will help ensure your success in years to come.

Enjoy the spring and as always, stay positive and stay focused.

I recently bought my first Mac after using a PC for years. On my PC, there were thumbnails of each picture in folders with images. How do I see the same thing in the Finder?

With Mac OS X, you can view a folder of images as preview icons. In the Finder, open the folder with the pictures. Then switch to icon view by pressing the Apple key and “1”. You can also click on the “View” icon at the top of the Finder window. The View icon allows you to change the folder view from view as icons to view as list or view as columns. You’ll probably see either the generic preview icon or the icon of the application that created the file.

With the “view as icons” set, open the View menu and choose “View Options” (or press Apple and “J”). A small view options pallet will open. At the top, you can choose to have the settings apply locally with “this window only” or globally with “all windows”. Below this setting you’ll find a slider that will let you choose the size of the icons; the default size is 48 by 48 pixels.

Further down is the section with checkboxes. Place a check in the third choice and you will select the “icon preview”. If you applied your change to all windows then your Finder windows will behave in a similar way as those of Windows XP.

I often find that I cannot send email from my laptop when I am in different locations, such as a wireless hotspot or while I’m visiting another company. Why?

The problem has to do with the SMTP server you have set up in your email client. Early in the days of the Internet, you could send and receive email from just about everywhere. Unfortunately unscrupulous email users took advantage of this fact, so, as a defense, you can no longer “relay” mail off any SMTP server you choose.

A bit of background: Email requires two separate servers (or services), one is a POP3 (post office protocol) to collect your email and an SMTP (simple mail transport protocol) to send your email. When you use your email client—such as Outlook, Mail, or Entourage—to get your mail, you log on to your POP3 server with a username and password. When you send an email, it is sent via a nearby SMTP server, usually hosted by your Internet Service Provider—which is on the network you’re connected to at the office or at home.

When you travel around you may not know who the provider is—and when your email program tries to send, you may get an error stating that “you are not permitted to relay email”. This message is sent to you by the SMTP server, telling you that you are attempting to send email while your computer is on another network.

Spammers look for networks that do allow relaying email, called “open relay” networks, as one of the ways to send their messages. On an open relay, spammers can masquerade their identity and use another server to spread their useless messages. Additionally, when spammers discover an open relay they bombard the mail server with millions of messages—which also ties up the server and network.

So what’s the solution? Well there are at least two workarounds. Your current SMTP server may already require you to log in with a username and password (usually the same as your POP3 login) and therefore prove your identity before allowing you to relay. This extra step may create a delay in sending, but you are also assured that you are in control of the process. Another solution, if your provider doesn’t allow for authentication, is to enquire of your host what their SMTP server is and temporarily adjust your settings.

If you have two regular locations, you can also create two accounts for sending email—one configured for the office SMTP and the other set to your home network’s SMTP. Set them up with the same email and choose which to send with depending on where you are. Soon you’ll be sending email like an IT guy!

Timothy Mitra, IT specialist (IT Guy)

Do you have a question you would like answered by the IT Guy? tim@it-guy.com  416.278.8609

Our company recently put an ad in the local paper seeking a graphic designer. I never expected to get such an overwhelming response! Perhaps you, or someone you know, have recently decided that you would like to enter the profession full–time. If you love doodling, picking colours, creating, and using computer programs, a career as a graphic designer might be just right for you.

You may wish to start off by taking a course. Graphic design courses range from a few months to a few years, so it is important to research the program prior to making a commitment. Most graphic design courses include classes in specific computer programs, portfolio development, and an internship.     Many graphic designers are self taught. Taking this route involves a lot of commitment, hard work, and a true love of the industry. Whether you decide to take a course (which I would recommend) or want to try designing on your own, your goals will be as follows: Build a portfolio. Gain experience. Make money doing something you love.

Once you’ve determined your course (or non–course) of study, your first objective is to build a portfolio. Fill it with everything you’ve been involved in—and if that’s not much, then it is time to get involved. Offer to design logos and stationary for friends who have their own businesses. Design birthday cards or invitations for family events. Why not volunteer your services to a not–for–profit organization—it will allow you to gain some experience and make great potential contacts.

Be sure to keep samples of all of your work. If you don’t feel that your portfolio is extensive enough, there is nothing wrong with getting creative! Make up companies and develop ad campaigns for them. Find a logo for a company and present a “before and after” of how you would improve it. Including hand–drawn illustrations will show you that you are a competent visual artist. Draw, illustrate, and click your way to success!

Now that you’ve created your samples present them well. As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) once said, “A clear plastic binder makes all the difference.” A portfolio case is like a well–chosen picture frame—it should highlight your work and help it to jump off the page. Frankly, shoving a few samples into a folder and trying to sell yourself on that will not work; professionalism is key to becoming a graphic design professional.

Ideally, you should develop both a digital and a hard copy of your portfolio. For your hard copy, purchase a black portfolio case to showcase your work. Your pride in presentation will illustrate your style, attention to detail, and workmanship. Print out high quality colour prints if you do not have actual print samples. Arrange your work tastefully.

Your digital portfolio can be on a website or simply on a CD. Ensure it is user friendly, and, once again, attractively presented. Both portfolios should remain well–maintained and up–to–date.

Armed with your stylish portfolio, it is now time to gain some more experience in the workforce. You may want to start by taking on non–remunerated internships; internships provide great experience, and you’re often hired at the end! Contact local print and graphic shops and they will likely be happy to take you on for a few weeks. It’s a help to them (not many entrepreneurs will say no to free labour) and it’s a great opportunity for you to further your skills and, of course, grow your portfolio.

Once you officially enter the workforce, you have two basic options: freelance or full–time. If you decide to freelance, it would be wise to take a course in running a small business, as you will be responsible for setting up your own business. Along with the freedom that many entrepreneurs enjoy, you will have to take control of your marketing, financing, accounting, and all other tasks relating to running a company. You may find that you love running your own business. Or you may find that you prefer to focus on what you love—designing—while letting someone else take care of the administrative details.

However you decide to work, you will have to sell yourself—either to clients or to employers. An honorable work ethic and a commitment to quality and creativity are both vital as you strive for success. As with most challenges, “it is our Attitude, not our Aptitude, that determines our Altitude!” Good luck! 

Jasmine Brooks, Project Coordinator
MPR Communication
jbrooks@mprcommunication.com

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.

I’m not sure what actions Einstein was referring to, but one of the dumbest things we humans do today is forget to check on our credit reports. The potential for harm and misinformation within a credit report is huge—you exist electronically in places you didn’t even know existed. There’s a lot of financial information floating around about you and your business, and you are the only one who can ensure its accuracy.
“Credit reporting” is really a misnomer, it should be called “subjective data compiled about payment habits of individuals by disinterested creditors.” But that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well. Granting credit used to be a personal experience, but now the decision to grant you credit (or not) is made every time you swipe a credit or debit card, refinance a mortgage, deposit a cheque, and so on. Each of these transactions are recorded in a data bank of debt repayment encompassing any credit granted to you—including credit cards, car loans, mortgages and any public records of litigation or security registered against your assets to ensure repayment.

Every time you make a payment recorded by a credit granter, such as a credit card company, that payment is noted as paid on time or not. The information is then sent to the credit reporting clearinghouse, which updates your file, thereby painting a picture of your creditworthiness based upon payment history. If you’re late in paying your credit card bill, that’s noted. If you’re late a few times over the last year, that’s also noted. The picture that emerges is solely based on your ability to get your payments in on time—not on your net worth. You might be worth billions, but if your payments are received late, your credit report will indicate a credit risk to lenders.

Your credit report evaluation, in the form of a “Beacon Score” or “FICO score,” is the product of a statistical model calculated by computer software which determines whether you are a good risk or a bad risk. Everyone starts out with a perfect score of 1000. If you have a few credit cards, that’s okay, but if you have dozens of credit cards, your score drops.

Now say you refinance your mortgage through a mortgage broker, who shops your deal to a dozen prospective lenders. Each lender pulls up a credit report, and their enquiry is noted on your report. A high number of enquiries is bad, according to the model, so your score drops again.
Perhaps you guaranteed your child’s student loan. If he or she defaults, the bank may sue you for recovery of the loan principal. That litigation is also noted on your credit report, so your score drops yet again.

None of these situations necessarily mean that you are making late payments, yet your credit score has dropped significantly. If it drops below 600, the statistical model will tell your lender that you are statistically likely to default on your loan.

Such a situation would make it difficult to secure a loan personally, but may be even more upsetting if you’re a business owner. As an owner, you will often be asked to personally guarantee any business financing for which you apply. In order to support such a guarantee, a lender will invariably refer to your credit bureau report—yet another reason to make sure it’s in order and accurately reflects your ability to repay your debts.

Equifax and TransUnion are the two major credit reporting agencies, and you should check your report with them periodically. You can access your reports easily online.

After finding your report, read it. Look at the number of credit enquiries. Who’s making them? How many have been made over the past 12 months? Are they legitimate? Look at your accounts. Are they correct? Is your payment history correct? Look at the public information, is it correct?

If you find inaccuracies, you will have to send proof of your claim to the credit reporting agency and wait for them to rectify it to your satisfaction. You may have to enquire several times before they respond, so keep copies of everything you send and be persistent.

You can also submit a 100-word statement to be appended to your credit report. You might use this statement to explain that your written-off credit card debt is because of identity theft, and shouldn’t have been reported at all. Or perhaps you’ll state that the car loan being reported as late was actually paid off months ago, but credited to the wrong account. Every effort at accuracy helps, especially in something this important.
Lastly, when accessing credit, particularly business credit, it is prudent to meet face-to-face with a decision maker at the lending institution. Meeting with a branch manager who can attest to your creditworthiness based on a personal interview and documentary support will greatly assist you in securing your loan. Credit reporting is not a perfect system, but it generally works, and you now have the knowledge to make it work as well as possible for you. All that remains is for you to take action.

Sid Karmazyn, Chartered Accountant
905.771.3813
skca@idirect.com

It has been almost 20 years since I last visited La Belle Province, despite my maternal family’s roots in St. Lambert, Quebec. Frankly, I didn’t know what to expect. But any misgivings I had were quickly swept away, and to say that I was enthralled with Montreal, its people, Grafik’art’s organizers, and the ever-smiling exhibitors would be a huge understatement.

To prepare for my trip, I had memorized: “Pardonez-moi, mon Français est terrible.” But despite the language barrier, I quickly felt right at home.

The 4th edition of Grafik’Art spanned April 19 – 21 at Montreal’s Place Bonaventure, and welcomed 145 exhibitors who quickly transformed the show’s 120 000 square feet of floorspace into a fascinating, colourful world of the latest in printing equipment, techniques, and products. Louis Bernard is the show’s founder and organizer. The day before the show’s opening, he did an amazing impression of an octopus, lending helping hands to just about every exhibitor.

“I’ve already received calls from many businesses,” he said. “They were happy with the show and some said that they’ll exhibit at our next one, which we’re planning to expand to 200 000 square feet.”

Upon entering the show, a virtual female—suspended in an overhanging sphere—greeted me with a congenial “bonjour.” I asked her for a date, and I believe she responded en français “you’re not my type.” I assume she was once a compositor.

You could converse with this “bubble girl” via a floor microphone. This clever, entertaining technology was the creation of the Afficom, Michel M'nard interscène, and software specialist Bernard Tessier.

This year’s event boasted an international flavour as well as national participation. Exhibiting for the first time were Sashsenfahnen, a German-based company specializing in banners and related products, as well as Korean-based Brain Union System, a company specializing in ultra-high-resolution flatbed printing on a variety of unconventional media.

Product-wise, the show had some notable premiers. HP unveiled its all-new Designjet Z6100 Printer, Fuji demonstrated its pre-press equipment for offset and wide-format, with its Vybrant printer making its Canadian debut, and Spicers showcased DuPont’s Cromaprint 18UV, a 72” combination Flatbed/Roll-to-Roll UV Cure Digital Printing System.

Many exhibitors reported major sales, as you’ll note in the following special show feature.

Danny Ionescu, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Graphic Arts, Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co., was impressed with the quality of visitors.
“For the most part, they were industry leaders—professionals in terms of wanting to explore new ideas and grow their customer base,” he said. “Visitors to our booth were especially intrigued by our specialty printing applications, collateral marketing materials, and printing solutions on various types of unique media. We also made a major sale at the show—a Super-Wide Scitex XL1500 was purchased by Helene De Fonvieille, General Manager of CPS Digital, Montreal.”

“Heidelberg Canada was very pleased to participate because the Quebec market has always been very important to us and [it is] a significant part of the Canadian printing industry,” said Don Robinson, Vice President, Sales and Service, of Heidelberg’s Sheetfed & Finishing Division.
“We had the chance to meet with several of our wonderful customers, showcase our new Suprasetter A52/A74, and start discussions about some of our new technologies, such as the revolutionary new Speedmaster 52 with Anicolor. Over the last few years, we’ve taken important steps that have now positioned Heidelberg as the leading graphic arts consumable supplier in Canada.”

Another smiling face was Robert Jollet, Regional Manager, Canada, for Expand Systems llc. His booth might have been one of the show’s best kept secrets as he’s now poised to introduce an exciting new product to the Canadian market—the Busjet Flatbed Printer, which can print on glass, ceramic, and a host of unconventional media with remarkable sharpness of colour, thanks to incredibly high resolution outputs. The technology originates from Korea’s Brain Union System, a global leader in flatbed printing and eco-friendly ink solutions, and Jollet is the exclusive Canadian distributor.

Donald Schroeder, Vice President of Sales for C.P. Bourg, was a first-time Grafik’Art Show exhibitor. “We thought Friday created the most traffic, however, there was steady traffic at our booth on Thursday and Saturday too,” he said. “What’s even more impressive [is that], MD International, the new authorized C. P. Bourg Dealer, signed and sold at the show a complete tower collating system with BDF Bourg Document Finisher—and have had requests for proposals from multiple prospects.

This being the first Montreal-based graphic trade show Bourg has participated in, I was extremely pleased with the support and turnout from the graphic and digital print community as a whole,” he added.

“Also, the students and graphic designers who attended the show all showed interest in the entire process, from the creation of the idea through the finished product—which you can understand interested us.” Will c.p. Bourg participate in another show in Montreal if asked? “Yes, with pleasure!”

John Thibault, President of Unigraph International, said the show was a very positive experience.
“We were able to thank many of our distributors and printers for their business and discuss future projects,” he said. “We also received a request for our product line from a graphic arts distributor from Algeria! We’re looking forward to developing this relationship.”
“The show gave us the opportunity to exhibit our products and equipment which helps printers reduce their impact on the environment.”
Unigraph International Inc. is a manufacturer of environmentally friendly pressroom chemicals and equipment servicing printers across North America.

This was Terry C. Stapley Co.’s fourth year at the show and president Bob Brickell Sr. showcased several products—cover material from Fibermark North America, displays of the various Ring Metals from US Ring and samples of Wire-O Wire from James Burn—which were used in conjunction with the machinery they displayed. He also made several new contacts which he’s confident will become customers in the near future.

The company specializes in cover material, wire binding and book cover materials for loose-leaf binders, to name a few.
Marc Primeau of Amtech (Analogue Media Technologies Inc.) told me that he met a lot of people at the show who required their services, which include CD/DVD replication.

“A lot of printers get calls from clients needing CDs or DVDs and we can supply them with the best on the market,” he said. “Also, our Taiyo Yuden blank media created a lot of interest at the show.”

Tim Housser, Regional Manager, International Binding & Laminating Systems Inc., was another exhibitor impressed with the quality of leads. “Decision-makers attended and we obtained some solid leads,” he said. “We sold our first IBLS 6000 perfect binder to Cheriton Graphics in Ottawa. It was also a great show for networking and we made a lot of new contacts,” he added.

As you can probably tell, the negatives of Grafik’art were few, although it would have been nice if there was more traffic, shorter registration line-ups and more ramps leading into the show.

Another thought: When I got into this industry 35 years ago, young designers were taught to focus almost entirely on composition, and didn’t seem interested in what was referred to, at the time, as “downstream”—i.e. pre-press, finishing, and so on.

It was very inspiring to see how fascinated visiting students were with almost every facet of production. And while student attendance at these types of shows doesn’t translate into immediate sales, keep in mind that these young people represent the potential printers, production houses, and advertising agencies of the future.

I welcome comments at acurcio@telsec.net.

Yogurt probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of emerging inkjet technologies, but if Fujifilm/Dimatix has its way, perhaps the two concepts won’t seem unrelated much longer. Dimatix, acquired by Fujifilm in 2006, is the manufacturer of Spectra inkjet heads and is excited to expand the possibilities of inkjet beyond conventional graphics. That said, my recent trip to Dimatix’s offices in New Hampshire also offered a lot of ideas for more conventional applications of digital inkjet technology.

Inkjet image quality is still lower than that of offset presses, but the flexibility of inkjet technology is its real selling feature. For example, since the print heads never actually touch the substrate with inkjet, substrate possibilities are much more numerous than for offset.
And regardless of the substrate, ink is not the only thing you can extrude with jetting technology. John C. Batterton, President and CEO of Dimatix, says he thinks of inkjet as only a subcategory of “materials deposition technology.” If you can jet ink, why not food dyes? If food dyes, why not food flavourings? If food flavourings, why not actual foods? Printing flavoured cartoon pictures onto yogurt, printing computer circuits onto flexible substrates, and “printing” pharmaceuticals are just a few of the applications when you “think outside the ink” with regards to jetting technology.

But as neat as such applications seem, most of them are some time away from trickling down to small and medium–sized print shops just looking for some value added for their customers. Here, too, inkjet technologies offer benefits, although they are not without their disadvantages as well.

For applications where speed or flexibility, rather than image quality, is the primary concern, inkjet is well–positioned to expand in coming years and months. Look out for more hybrid digital/offset presses, as well as digital add–ons to existing offset systems. Combining the flexibility of digital for direct marketing, and other such variable data possibilities, with the quality and proven performance of offset could be a winning strategy for small and medium–sized shops looking to stay competitive and offer value–added services to their target market. The disadvantage, of course, is that combining offset and digital is rarely as easy as simply snapping on an inkjet component at the end of your offset press. While the possibilities for integrating the two methods have improved in recent years, there are still many ways to enhance digital/offset integration.

For printers focusing on the wide–format market, there are also some possible improvements on the horizon. Rather than the traditional scanning heads of inkjet printers, have you thought about a single–pass arrangement of inkjet arrays? An array can be custom–built to your needs, and involves either a giant head the width of your substrate or, more frequently, several smaller heads bundled or linked together to give coverage over the width of your media.

These inkjet arrays are an obvious plus in terms of efficiency, as your printing speed will be substantially increased. Also, arrays are often designed with built–in redundancy, so that one jet malfunctioning or clogging won’t result in unacceptable image imperfections.
Arrays’ benefits are also their main disadvantage. The high volume of ink, coupled with higher efficiencies, means problems at the drying or curing stage. Existing UV lamps may not be able to quickly or completely cure the volume of ink extruded, and aqueous inks will take much longer to dry. If you’re thinking about switching to an inkjet array, make sure that your whole system will be able to handle the new process—otherwise, you’re just creating a new bottleneck to replace the former scanning inkjet bottleneck.

On a related note, Dimatix’s VersaDrop jetting technology, which allows users to adjust drop sizes on the fly, could nicely augment an inkjet array. Using smaller drops for high–contrast areas and larger drops in areas needing deep, rich colour is an example of how variable drop sizes could improve image quality. Variable drop sizes could also mitigate the problems of high ink volumes in single–pass technology.

The presence of Spectra heads in so many different inkjet printers means that they will certainly benefit from the current and coming market expansion. And while the cutting–edge possibilities of materials deposition may not be relevant to most mid–size Canadian companies, developments in arrays, drop size, and single pass may soon find their way to a print shop near you.

    Catherine M.A. Wiebe
catherine@graphicartsmag.com

Everyone wants to take pictures that look when printed like they did in the viewfinder, but getting such accuracy isn’t as easy as point and shoot. The broader problem at issue here is colour temperature, and you can understand and use colour temperature to your advantage by turning to your camera manual. But if you don’t have your manual handy, the following are some tips and tricks to keep your colour temperature in check.

If you take digital images with the light from a tungsten light, then your image will turn orange. If you take pictures under fluorescent light, your image will have a greenish cast to it. With conventional film, the use of a colour temperature meter tells you what filters to use. After putting on a filter, though, you will have to increase the exposure to compensate.

If you’re using digital rather than film, as most of us are, you’ll instead want to set the camera’s white balance to the light you’re in. You can usually choose between Auto, White preset, daylight, incandescent (tungsten), and flash; some cameras have even more choices—just check your manual.

Since my camera has auto white balance, I set the camera to auto, place an 18 per cent grey card over the entire viewing area, and press the white balance button—the camera does the rest. If you use a flash, there may be white balance settings for it as well.

Shooting under fluorescent light will likely give you the most white balance choices as there are many different types of tubes on the market. If there are many different types of tubes in a given area, such as White, Daylight, and Daylight White or Neutral, your camera may be confused as to the proper balance. When different tubes are present, you as the photographer must decide which type of light is predominant and adjust your white balance accordingly.

And, of course, when you switch to a different lighting situation you will have to change the white balance to the conditions in which you are shooting, otherwise the balance will be off. If you’re shooting in RAW and forget to change the balance, it won’t be as big a deal. But if not, then you will have to try to colour correct the image in an imaging program.

Even once you’ve taken the colour temperature of your scene, there are still issues which may pop up as you try for the greatest verisimilitude possible in your photos.White articles of clothing—such as dresses and shirts—or objects made from white cloth often have whitener added to them as part of their manufacture. When you wash such articles, the detergent itself may also have a whitener added, which will make the dress or shirt iridesce. “Iridescing” simply means that the objects will have a magenta or blue cast once the flash on the camera hits the material.
You can correct white iridescence by putting a UV cutoff filter—easily obtainable from major camera stores—over the flash. I have this filter permanently mounted on my flash head. A polyester filter is my choice, since fingerprints can be cleaned off with a cloth. If you shoot with more than one flash then all the flashes have to have this filter over the flashes.

I get around the problem of multiple flashes by having a compendium lens shade that goes in and out to cover the different lenses that I have. I have one filter that fits into the lens shade that works with my entire lens. The other remedy is to affix the filter over the camera lens. Affixing the filter over the lens means that you will need either a separate filter for each lens size or a filter that fits the largest lens and adapters to step down to the smaller lenses. Don’t attempt to step up a smaller filter to fit a larger lens, as you will vingette the image and see arcs (pieces of the filter) in the corners of your image.

And one final tip—most people do not use a lens shade. This shade protects the lens from sidelight and stops lens flare, otherwise known as the bright marks that are caused by the sun hitting the lens.

It’s hard to get white right, but understanding your colour temperatures and adjusting for different types of light and the particular problems of white clothing will go a long way towards making your pictures look just like the real thing.

Alex B. Wright, professional photographer

I am always amazed that businesspeople spend such volumes of time and money planning for new equipment, developing market plans, and negotiating with suppliers, yet pay such little attention to their human resources—their only unique asset! Products can be duplicated and the same equipment can be purchased by every competitor, but no one else can duplicate your group of employees.

Despite the above mentioned truth, employers continually ignore many aspects of good employee relations, instead preferring to hope—often in vain—that nothing will go wrong. Reviewing the business landscape, one sees managers continuing to make the same risky and often foolish decisions about their human resources.

Succession Issues Go Unaddressed
Fallacious though they may be, most employers exhibit at least one of the following qualities as regards succession issues:
i) belief in his own immortality
ii) being too busy to plan for her successor
iii) ignoring the succession issue in order to maintain an autocratic position

Those who fail to address succession issues often do not realize the time needed to prepare for such an event, instead preferring to believe that they just know who their successor will be. Such an approach often ignores the question of whether the assumed successor has the necessary competencies to take over the reins of the business. Another often–faulty assumption is that the successor an executive has in mind will actually want the position when the owner is ready to retire or dies. It may be that the candidate’s lifestyle desires do not align with the duties and responsibilities of being the chief executive.

Regardless of who a successor is, long–term planning and preparation is vital to succession success.

Safety Measures Ignored
Few managers want to put their employees at risk, though managers do take risks in their quest for greater efficiency.Safety policies are not strictly enforced. Short cuts are taken to speed up processes. Working conditions that have been in place for years are maintained even when they do not comply with regulations. Safety committees and their required duties are ignored as a nuisance.

Managers are again foolishly playing the odds, betting that no one will be injured, and thus no one will complain. If injury does occur, though, the company may face criminal charges and fines.

Proper Discipline Process Ignored
In the years since I became involved in human resource management, managers’ failure to properly administer discipline is one fact that hasn’t changed. Managers continually complain about poor performance, dysfunctional behaviour, and incompetence, but complaining is the extent of their action.

Without fail, the situation worsens until it culminates in the manager firing the offender,  an action often followed by a visit from the terminated employee’s lawyer, who of course wants to know the employer’s justification for the firing.
Management justifies their action with multiple anecdotes of mistakes, malingering, and exhibitions of insubordination, but without a written record of said anecdotes, management has no legal justification for the firing.

Training dollars wasted
I am a strong proponent of training, but I am simultaneously appalled at the money wasted on it.
Too often, an employer’s approach to training is like throwing down a fifty–dollar bet on an event that she knows nothing about. Training dollars are spent on courses or seminars that sound worthwhile but do not contribute to employees being better able to perform their tasks.
When spending money on training, employers should determine how they can get maximum payback. Can other employees benefit from what the person taking the training learned?

Pay increases and performance are not aligned
Shockingly, many employers fail to see why they should align pay increases with performance. Increases are too–often given out on the basis of length of service or favoritism, rather than for proven performance.

With limited funds for pay increases, the manager that does not tie increases to performance is herself not performing well.

Looking forward
My above list of human resources errors is by no means all–inclusive, and I recognize that most organizations do not have the ability to fix all their human resources problems in a single year. But you can easily pick at least one problem to change in your organization this year, and the payoff will be greater than any rewards you get from foolishly playing the odds.

Fred Pamenter
PPBDconsulting@aol.com

Would you choose to enter an industry where you were all but guaranteed to lose money? The obvious answer is no, unless you’re a printer. I have been fortunate enough to attend many a printer’s banquet and hear many speeches at such banquets. While I forget the speaker, I will never forget this saying: “the best way to make a small fortune in print is to start with a large fortune.” You may think your financial situation is beyond your control and blame events outside your company. Instead, try considering some of the things within your control which may negatively affect your bottom line.

Many printers operate on the 80:20 principal of business distribution—80% of revenues come from 20% of clients. Pleasing those clients is thus essential to continued success. Unfortunately, clients are too–easily swayed by lower prices for anyone to bank on their continued business.

In response, some printers diversify their product and service offerings in an attempt to gain more clients, while others narrow their focus, trying to retain existing clients. The first approach is harder initially, but has better long–term prospects. Set your growth and profit goals before deciding what direction to take your company, and envision the long–term consequences of your decisions.

While many printers worry about who is selling what to whom for how much, I rarely see their internal costing addressed. Many printers set their Budgeted Hourly Rates (BHRs) by industry standards, rather than actual production outputs. I interned with a company whose actual daily output was just over half of their presumed output—a fact I was able to highlight in a costing study. And they wondered why everything was always late.

Knowing your BHRs from a timing and costing standpoint shows you where you are making or losing money. Low BHRs will not necessarily make you more competitive—you must make money to stay in the industry. Using industry rates as a benchmark is fine, but don’t set your rates so that you are taking jobs which lose you money.

While your own BHRs are important to how you conduct your business, I shake my head at companies that use fake equipment in their estimating. The ghost press is something I have seen at a few companies, and I completely endorse it when trying to understand a competitor’s pricing. But from the perspective of your costing, a ghost press is a surefire cost killer: you’re trying to base your production on a scenario that you’re unable to reproduce. It’s not surprising that most Ontario printers report –0.5% annual profit.

Ghost pressing is a valuable tool for gauging what competitors are doing, but you are agreeing to not make money anytime you extend these prices to a client. How much are you willing to spend out of your pocket to keep people busy?

Another too–common practice is agreeing to produce a job before you have seen one piece of information on it. Or, even worse, agreeing to a price before seeing the job. I rarely see jobs that exactly match their quoted specifications. By entering into such a verbal contract you are accepting all the potential hardships that could come along with the variances in the job. You are also in a position to profit greatly if the job turns out to be easier than expected. The former is definitely more common, though—review your quote once you have all the information and leave yourself wiggle room so you can make a profitable bid.

After reading the above, you can see that you do have the power to make your bids more profitable. Unfortunately, there is still no regulatory board to lead printers toward profitability. And even if there was, they could only help—there are still factors hurting our bottom line that are truly beyond our control. More on those next month in “The external price killers”.

Johnathon Anderson
johnathonanderson@graphicartsmag.com