Save a tree with digital printing?
I recently went to an amazing event called THRIVE: The Future of Printing sponsored at GSB’s print production facility and sponsored by HP. The format was pretty cool, it took place at in Long Island City. The backdrop was two amazing 21st century machines, the HP Indigo 5000 and the HP Indigo 5500. A couple hundred people filled the room to hear from experts Stephan Steiner, President, GSB, Rob Mangini, Director of Sales, GSB, Francis McMahon, Director of Marketing, HP and Jan Reicher, Vice President & GM Graphics Solutions Business & Imaging.
Having printed on the HP Indigo before, I was not too surprised to hear the virtues of digital printing. I knew that digital printing was perfect for high-quality, short run and quick turnaround. But what I didn’t realize, in those 2 hours, that digital printing indeed has come along way from a few short years ago. Rivaling the quality of offset printing, all but the highly-trained eye can tell the difference. And when the UV coating is applied all bets are off.
So what about the future? And what about the trees?
Quite frankly the future is now with digital printing. The web-2-print process is unbelievably hi-tech and environmentally-friendly at the same time. Instead of traditional offset printing where a client had to order a large up-front quantity of collateral, then store it in a warehouse with the hopes of one day being delivered to the end-user. All-too-often most of the collateral ends up in the old trash can. Not only is this not environmentally-friendly but extremely cost-ineffective.
Perfectly suited for large organizations, such as BMW, as cited by Francis, HP Indigo and its web-2-print process can be deployed by posting actual files on a web platform, then the user can order and personalize on-the-fly and even distribute to it’s targeted audience. More impressively, the response rate can be tracked and analyzed. That is sooo 21st century. To take this a step further, you can incorporate a PURL, which is personalized website, to further capture your target. But that is for another day.
