Rick Scrimger
If you’re in the sign industry, and spending any time on the webby-web, you might have seen some of our teasers about a new “4”-like machine. Well, it’s finally here. The original “Pro” line started in 2002, and has been a part of our flagship of printer/cutters ever since. 10-years later, we’re on the 4th edition. It seems like it’s been a lot longer, and in most technology-circles, that’s a lifetime.
We like Dr. Seuss at Roland DGA
We just wrapped up a new video highlighting some of the things you can do with a VersaCAMM. And while it’s obvious we like Dr. Seuss at Roland DGA, as you’ll soon see, it did provide a clever way to tell the story of versatility, creativity & ROI vs. a simple price-driven message that seems to pervade the printer market. It’s also worth noting that when you’re making a printer investment, it’s much more than just the product. It’s the support, service, webinars & education, and more. Ok, I’m off the soapbox. Let’s get on with the show…
Outlook from the pundits
I just wrapped up ISA’s Supplier & Distributor Conference, where Dr. Dietrich from ITR Economics presented an outlook based on key economic indicators like Producer Pricing Index, GDP, unemployment, housing starts and a host of other factors to try to better forecast the business environment looking forward.
Roland DG’s Got Teeth (Literally)
Many of you are familiar with Roland DG inkjets, but you may not be aware of the “other” side of our business which is responsible for some pretty unique applications from 3D milling, scanning and impact printing technologies. The latest Roland DG innovation in this space is aimed at the dental market. That might surprise you, but actually, the benchtop milling machines Roland DG DWX-50 5-Axis Dental Milling Machinewe’ve been perfecting over the last 30-years, primarily for engineers and product designers to prototype 3D models in wax, plastics, wood and a variety of other materials, transition beautifully into Digital Dental Mills, carving out dental prosthetics from a special ceramic called Zirconia (yes, a variant of Cubic Zirconia). Zirconia, a material biologically compatible with the human body and stronger (many times over) than our own teeth, is becoming very popular in the dental industry, however, it can’t be manufactured with their traditional methods (ei. precious metal & lost wax casting). Instead it requires a mill to shape the crown, bridge or coping.
2012 ISA Show Wrap-up
ISA, our biggest show of the year, came early this year and we had a good show! We won 3 awards for top products: LEJ-640 & Matte & Glossy Backlit Film. Attendance was similar to 2-years ago when were previously in Orlando, but we had a bigger booth, more products, got more leads and do what we do best – put on a bigger & better show every year.
Ideas to differentiate your business
Hello, and welcome to 2012! I got a simple email that really got me thinking more about how sign companies can focus on differentiating from the competition. Below is the question, and my response.
Making Money with Metallic Printing
We recently conducted a survey of our users who have “metallic capable” devices from our lineup, and we found some amazing nuggets I’d like to share. The survey was sent to 500+ users, with a 29% response rate, enough that the results are statistically significant.
For starters, 61% of those units are set up to run our metallic Eco Sol Max inks.
SGIA – New Orleans – October 2011
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Just got back from New Orleans and the 2011 SGIA tradeshow. Attendance was solid at over 16,000 (final numbers to be published soon) and — a stat I have a hard time believing — 35% were 1st time attendees to the show. Having new eyes on everyone’s products is a good thing for everyone including Roland DGA. While people weren’t stamped with a “1st Time Attendee” badge on their forehead (and I’m lobbying for it in the future) it meant that we had a great opportunity to make a first impression on everyone that we met at the show.
Graph Expo, Pack Expo, Great Expos!
You know it’s fall when trade shows seem to be back-to-back all the way through October, and 2011 is no different. GraphExpo’s been around for some time now, and while it’s changed (see Jim Raffel’s blog about the history of Graph Expo), this year was a good show for us with quite a bit of interest around our VersaUV lineup with a specific interest in what LED-UV curing inks allow you to print on. Packaging and labels were high on the interest list, as well as being able to print onto commercial print stock for proofing. Also at the show, we had the VS-series units showing metallic proofing applications, which really pave the way as a replacement of aging Kodak Approvals out in the field (at a dramatically lower per print cost).
Seeing Into The Future
I recently sat down with Tom Tetreault from Digital Output Magazine at ISA and talked about our outlook on the industry. While only parts of this interview are incorporated into the publication’s “State of the Industry” article series, I thought I’d share the entire interview here